9. If there was one part during the Actual Sixer Interviews that actually made me note “Hmm I wonder if I’ll end up calling back to this moment at some point of consequence during the regular season?” it was definitely Dario admitting that he was emphatically not OK with coming off the bench this year. Fair enough -- guy’s proven he’s a worthy starter -- but if Markelle makes a push for the starting lineup, fact remains that The Homie remains the likely odd man out from that first five. Just a situation to monitor as the Sixers carefully tread further into unchartered Too Good territory.

10. My parents are largely Process-conversant already, so I only had to really explain two things to them after the evening was over: Dave Silver and Yeah You Know Lickface. And lemme tell you: You may think you have a grasp on how dumb and ridiculous Yeah You Know Lickface is, until you realize that to properly explain it to your parents, you not only have to remind them who Henry Sims is, try to remember the inspiration behind the “Lickface” moniker, and explain why we all thought it necessary to come up with a secret password call-and-response to weed out any Process-Come-Latelies -- you also have to provide appropriate context for the chorus to Naughty By Nature’s implicitly filthy 1991 rap hit. Only then, friends, can you truly understand the shame that Mike has to regularly internalize, twice a week for the rest of forever.

11. I was proud of a lot of things over the course of Live Ricky III, but the thing that really made my heart swell was just the unending thought of this is something we have that no other fans of any other sports team in history have ever had. Not like we’re the first bats-in-the-belfry fans in pro sports by any stretch, but no other base’s mania has ever been this focused, this organized, this concerned with historical continuity. No other base has ever risen above the actual results of the team we’re celebrating in this way. No other base has realized so brilliantly that it’s always been just as much about us as it is about them.

And, well, no other fanbase has ever sold 1000-plus tickets to an unsanctioned, offseason, offsite rally on a Saturday night. I tweeted about this already, but I kept thinking back to that Noel Gallagher of Oasis quote of all-time hubris: “Has God played Knebworth?” The Golden State Warriors may have three championships, a starting five consisting entirely of All-Stars, and nothing but further joy and prosperity on the horizon. But they’ve never played the fucking Factory.

12. And I’m telling you now, we’re getting Joel Embiid for the next one. I’m not basing this on any kind of actual knowledge or anything that Spike or Mike have told me. As a matter of fact, I’m at least 70% sure that Spike is gonna edit this part out by the time we publish because he won’t want me committing to something that may ultimately be impossible for him to deliver.

But I don’t care -- I’m saying it right now and I’m not hedging or equivocating shit. We’re getting him. Because we have to. It’s all ramped up too perfectly to it: T.J., then RoCo, and now Dario. Each one leading inextricably to the next one, three of the Core Four of the Process. Joel’s the next guy. He has to be. It’s Process Destiny.

And then after him, there’s only one guy left. And we’re gonna get him too. And it’s gonna be perfect. It’s gonna be worth it. It’s gonna be goddamn Hall of Fame worthy. Yeah, you know Lickface.