It was a massive undertaking, a major project that required an intensive, thoughtful plan and a whole lot of time. But the seventy Sixers are now ready to unveil their brand new sweatshirt, gray, Rocky and Creed inspired Nike City Edition uniforms. TJ McConnell's going to share some stories from his instantly iconic photoshoot at the Kissing Fresh Meat Soccer. They told me about it, and I said, let's go
all in with it. So when to kine re enact that scene from Rocky And there's frigid in there, but it's still fun. And we'll also here from Zach Low, the excellent ESPN hoopswriter who did a story on the City Edition unis and will also pick his brain about the state of the Sixers too, including Joe Ellenby. I think defensively he's given better than he was last year, and just his post game is just outrageous. There's just no one that can stop him. That's coming up on
this City Edition centric edition of the broadcast. Good to be speaking to you out there in podcast land, seventy Sixers podcast Land, to be exact, my name is Brian Seltzer from Sixers dot Com. Thank you as always for checking out the podcast. Yes, we are going to be discussing in depth the City Edition uniforms for this year. I like them. I really really like the shorts with that retro seventy six logo on the side, inspired by
the bi centennial logo for the City of Philadelphia. But it really is just an amazing process to learn and uncover more details about everything that not only the seventy Sixers Business Operations department went through to work with Nike to put the City Edition uniforms together, but also the buy in and the engagement and the support that players on the team themselves had in the campaign to launch
the City Edition uniforms. The Sixers will debut the uniforms in their game on Friday at November the ninth against these Charlotte Hornets and wear them seven more times on the season after that. So I think it's a cool storyline. It's something different, and we're gonna hear from t J McConnell and Zach Low about that subject. And Zach will also dig a little bit deeper into what he's been seeing from the Sixers through the first three weeks of
the season. Reminders before we get started that. To subscribe to the podcast, you can do so in a couple of ways. You can head two Apple podcasts. You can go to Google Play, you can go to Stitcher, pocketcasts, SoundCloud, tune in, type in Sixers Podcast Network. That will take you to our feed. I'll tell you, at least in the world that I live in it. It is always great to podcast, but even better so after an encouraging outcome,
and the Sixers had that on Wednesday night. They went to Banker's Life Fieldhouse, a difficult place to play in Indianapolis, looking to bounce back after a bumpy defeat on the road at Brooklyn on Sunday, and you know what, the Sixers they did just that, one hundred ninety four third win in their last four games seven and five on the season. Joel Embiid was great per usual, Ben Simmons
highly impactful per usual. But what was a really nice development from the win at the Pacers was the Sixers got some really important contributions from members of the supporting cast, guys like Dario Charge. How awesome was that to see Dario breakout for an eighteen point game four to six from three point territory Robert Covington all thirteen of his points in the second half, big and giving the Sixers
a boost going into the fourth quarter. Mark el Foltz was at the controls and the Sixers made their move to take control of the game. And more great things from Landry Shammon, who had twelve points in the game. So a nice note for the seventy Sixers to head in to the weekend on. But yes, as we look ahead, in particular to Friday's home game versus the Charlotte Hornets Military Appreciation Night, Sixers gonna be rolling out those great
City Edition uniforms. We're gonna get Zachlo's thoughts on those in just a moment, But first let's go to TJ McConnell. TJ was involved in the Sixers marketing campaign launch for
the City Edition uniforms. He'll talk to us about that, but we first started off our conversation after practice about how Brett Brown handles the team after a tough game like the one in Brooklyn, setting the tone for a bounce back victory the likes of which the Sixers had Wednesday in Indie, keeping the spirits up, telling us what we did wrong, and we just have to be better.
It's on us players. I mean, he could complain and tell us what we did wrong until he's blow in the face, but if we don't go out there and change it, there's really nothing he can do about it. So it's on us as a team. And he did his part as a coach to tell us what we did and now we got to go fix it on the court. Three weeks in, what have you liked? What do you think are some of the biggest areas for improvement. Um, I just think offensive, we've got to keep moving the ball,
play with pace, and that'll lead to our defense. We're scoring and getting back and that's whe're at our best is when our defense is set. We just gotta we just gotta talk about it and like I said, play together as a team, all right. Cededition uniforms. First of all, give me your astute design. I review of the City Edition uniforms. You know that's not my line of work, So you know, I think they're cool. Kind of shows the heart of the city and you know, I like
the gray. It's a nice little change of pace and I hopefully will play well. And I know you guys as players put in so much work preparing to go out there for a game. But when you read about the amount of thought the business side puts into the circle of stars, the sweatshirt, gray text or all that stuff, does that ever kind of like blow your mind that on the marketing side that much thought is put into it. I mean, you got to give them so much credit
for being able to do something like that. So I'll credit to them and for the amount of work they put in. Hopefully we can put that same amount of work on the court and play. Well. How did you get approached about the idea of going to Kissing Meats for what is now a very instant iconic photo. They told me about it, and I said, let's let's go all in with it, um, wanting to kind reenact that scene from Rocky And there was frigid in there, but
you know, it's still fun. Did you watch Rocky a lot back in your younger days, back in the day? But I still could rewatch them again. Where will that photo in the McConnell household go next to the wedding pictures? Do you think or is there a place for it yet? I think that will be, uh, you know, right in the ceiling when we wake up so we can both see that lovely picture in the morning, all right, TJ. Thanks,
thank you. T J. McConnell. Rare does an interview go by where there is not at least some dose of tongue in cheek commentary from the fourth year seventy six er. You've probably had to have seen by now. The photo or photos from t J at the Kiss and Fresh Meats factory locker in Fishtown, just off at Delaware Avenue. It is great recreating that scene from Rocky with the black nit winter cap, the cutoff sweatshirt with another sweatshirt
underneath it, the bloodied tape wrapped around the hands. Just phenomenal stuff. All part of the seventy Sixers Set Edition uniform launch. It's going to debut on Friday versus the Charlotte Hornets. We'll hear from Zach Low in a moment, but first let me tell you about the Delaware Bluecoats. Upcoming home season is going to start because the seventy
Sixers Field House in Wilmington is still under construction. It's going to start at the Center, Yes, the same building with the seventy Sixers play on November the twentieth at seven o'clock and the big thing is this, The first ten thousand fans through the gates will receive a limited edition bobblehead of the big Man himself, All Star Joel and beat tickets starting in just fifteen bucks for the
Lower Bowl and they're on sale now. A great opportunity to bring the family out, get them close to some live professional basketball action, and leave with a complimentary on the house Joel Embid bobblehead. Here's the ticket information Sixers dot com backslash Bluecoats, or you can call three zero two five zero four seven, five eight seven three zero two five zero four seven five eight seven Coach Coats. Zach Lowe one of the best basketball writers covering the
NBA around He is the senior writer for ESPN. In addition to being able to break down all thirty of the teams in the league at the drop of a hat and probably tell you about each of the seventeen players on each of those thirty teams, he is also big into marketing things around the league, whether it's court designs jerseys. He also did an article on the Sixers City Edition uniform release called Gonna Fly Now Inside these Sixer's new rocking spired uniforms. And it is great to
be able to welcome Zach to the podcast right now. Zach, what's up? Thanks so much. We're taking a few minutes my pleasure. How are you doing? Doing great? So let's just start and get right into it. What do you think of the unis? I like them. I like them actually more than more than I thought I would when I first saw them in person, whenever that was like, um, you know, the actual jerseys themselves. My first instinct was, Oh, they're a little dull. I like the idea, but they're
a little dull. And the more I saw them, and the more I looked at them, the more I liked them. I like them overall. What were some of the finer point details that stood out to you? I like the I like the blue and red striping. I think that gives it a little pop that it needed. Everyone's gonna love that. Like like that championship belt thing that goes along the belt area of the jersey. And I think they were I think it was a cool idea to go no letters. I think that's going to be controversial.
There are only a couple of jerseys that I've ever done that but I just feel like, if you're gonna have nine thousand jerseys every year, like at least have some at least go crazy on some of them. And that's kind of what the city Edish in space should be four, right, I mean it seems like it's something different, a place in space to experiment in, right, Yeah, it
should be. I mean something that's like hyperlocal, a little bit experimental, like these teams that just have these boring just like let's just make a black alternate of our regular jerseys, or let's just care like the Spurs or just carrying over the same camouflage jersey every year, Like come on, let's let's let's get with it a little bit. I know that you were big into NBA art in jerseys and stuff like that. Were you pleased to see that Ball and Ben has a little bit more of
a prominent presence in these uniforms. I do like Ball and Ben. I'm a fan. I think I think years ago, didn't they have some poll about like what the mat mat Scott should be and it was between him and a moose and something else, and I don't remember who won, but I thought ballin Ben was clearly the best of those of those options. He's kind of had a mercurial path in Sixers logo history, like he's been there, it's been subtled. But now he's front and center. I think
it's a good look for him. I think it's a nice spot. Yeah, he's front and center, but he's small. I think too much ball in Ben like it is Ben Franklin. You don't want to like caricature Ben Franklin too much. But I think you're like a little just a little small doses here and there. I think are good, just because I'm so hypercentric on what happens in seventy sixers Land and the way that the business operation works here.
This whole campaign, it seemed like there were lots of layers to it from not just the thought that went into the jersey design, but what they did taking players out into scenics throughout the city of Philadelphia. Robert Covington on Ninth Street in the Italian market. T J. McConnell at Kissing Meats. Do most teams go to this extent when it comes to building out a campaign, When it comes to their marketing operations, for sure? No, um uh,
some teams don't do anything. Uh some teams do do do stuff, but not not to the extent of having all those photo shoots, right. And it's also like teams are it's impossible to keep these jerseys a secret now no matter how hard teams try and UM, and you know, you do risk to some degree. The more people that see it, the more photo shoots there are, the more stuff that you know, Robert Covington's running in public, people are going to start wondering what the hell is going
on with that? So you risked that a little bit, Yeah, but teams don't. Teams don't go to that that length typically. And credit to the Sixers like they take it. They take it seriously well from what you've found out and speaking with executives here, why does that matter to them? On the business side, I think you know there is first First of all, they all want to make money, right of it. Let's let's not let's not overlook obvious, right, Like these jerseys are items to be sold to fans,
and they want fans to buy them. I do think the Sixers care about UM. Like I hate the word brand just as a just on its face. I hate it.
I hate the way it's used, But I do think the Sixers have some sort of it almost reminds me of the Celtics in terms of like they have a deep sort of respect and understanding for Okay, this is like an original NBA franchise essentially with like a pretty glorious and important history, and not only that, with an identity that's linked to American history, a system of iconography that's like you know, red, white and blue stars all that.
Like they like, let's let's if we're going to deviate from that or if we're going to um, if we're going to move away from that, Like, let's be careful because that's a pretty significant like brand of art, a pretty significant look. And you know, this is the franchise of Wilth and Doctor J. Like let's not get a little too crazy. Everything we do looks pretty good. Let's be respectful of that, even as we try things like Rocky and wherever else they're going to try in coming years.
The franchise now also t J McConnell and a meat locker. TJ has done a lot of great, unexpected things in his career, but if this is truly TJ's lasting legacy, there will at least be that photoshot of him in the meat locker there needed to be. I'm a I'm a little bit disappointed, as others have noted that there was not also TJ McConnell chasing chickens and rooster that needed to happen that See, it seems like a no brainer. I don't know why that didn't happen. Well, I think
it's a great point. I got to ask you about what we're actually seeing from the six or so far on the court in a second. But I also was interested when when was your love and kind of your niche focus in this realm of NBA dumb Where did that come from? Was there like a young Zach Low gearhead, jersey collector, sneaker guy that sort of thing. No, I was never a sneaker guy ever, I don't know. I
always liked T shirts. I was a big like a lot of guys my age, like I'm forty one, that like those those T shirts with where everyone had the oversized heads of the cartoons with the oversized heads. Those became popular. Like I always liked going to sports memorabilia stores and buying posters and you know, a little knick
knacks here or there. So I've always just kind of liked all the side stuff about about the NBA and about sports in general, and I just when when I started writing about it here and there, I think there were people that were skeptical that like anyone cared, and I kind of trusted in my gut. I was like, I think people will read something that's sort of funny and good about court designs, Like I think people actually kind of are interested in this stuff, and it turns
out that they are. Like people are really interested in like these goofy little things that you wouldn't think they're interested in. All right, let's if you would in the limited time we have left, as we talk about the seventy six and what we've seen so far from them, would have been your impression the first three weeks of the season. I was relatively, I think a little bit low on them compared to the consensus that so I'm not surprised that they're having some hiccups offensively trying to
integrate Folts and Simmons with embad and all that. Those those are very Folts and Simmons are very unusual offensive pieces, and it's been a little bit of a struggle, and you know, figuring out how much to go back to that lineup with Reddick that killed the whole league last year and some of their depth issues. But like, I don't I've since just sort of reading blog recaps of six of the games that I didn't I haven't watched, um, you know, nights. I don't watch them. I sense like
some panic among fans, like, oh, this isn't working. I wouldn't go there, like this was always going to be sort of a long term play trying to figure out how folks fits, and particularly the way Mbiad has played has been super encouraging, So I'm not worried about them yet.
I think their defense should be better than it's been, and they are eventually going if we get forty games into the season and the fault Simmons thing isn't working as well as they expected, you know, and you've already seen Brett I think, start to stagger them a little more the last three or four games, But they will eventually have to have sort of a come to Jesus moment of like how much can we really roll all
these guys out on the floor together. I feel like everyone has their own different idea of this, but to you what would constitute a successful productive season for markl Faults when it's all said and done in terms of what the Sixers are able to get out of him. I mean, he should defend well. I think he's been a little hit or miss on that end, but he'll be good. He's explosive in transition, like all that stuff is there. It's just you know, he's got to be
confident shooting the ball. I mean, I don't really care about anything else. Honestly when I watch him. All the other stuff is there, the passing, the transition, attacks, the you know, occasional little cuts here and there. If he just didn't gonna shoot and he's shooting here and there, he he just has to shoot when the offense dictates that he shoots, and if he gets to that point,
that's successful. I don't really even care about anything else but because that's going to dictate how well he fits with Simmons. And by the way, Simmons Simmons is, the game hasn't really evolved either. Now it's only his second full season, so maybe that's not fair to expect, but those are two really strange NBA players, very talented. Simmons I put him on an All NBA team last year. Yeah, I don't think he ended up making it All NBA team,
but he made my third team All NBA. But that's that's not an easy It's it's a good problem to have in terms of they're both number one picks and mbiad is super talented, but it's not that easy of a fit. As for Joel Embiid, another cornerstone for this team, numbers have been fantastic so far. I mean, even if what he's doing for the first three weeks isn't quite sustainable at this level, I mean, have you seen progress
as far as what he's displayed to this point. Yeah, I mean I think I think defensively he's easy, even better than he was last year. He's about as advertised and just um, you know, his post game is just outrageous. I mean, he filed out almost the entire Pistons team the other day. He's not There's just no one that can stop him. I don't have the numbers in front of me right now, but I don't see as many sort of wild turnovers from him as I did last year, and that so that was sort of the next leap
for him is one of two things. Either shoot better from three on the ones that you do take, or you know, when you get doubled in the post, handled that a little bit better. And I think he's handled that a little bit better. And part of that is, I mean, no one can stop him without fouling him.
He's on the free throw on the entire game. The irony is that that game against the Brooklyn Nets earlier in the week, the turnovers all came from the Sixers pretty much trying to get him the ball, rather than what happened once he got the ball. So at least it seems like the reads like you were saying, he's
picking stuff up a little bit more. And the other thing is, I mean, I'm not sure if you get a sense of this from people you talk to, whether it's executive other coaches, or players, but for his as much as he may talk when he's on the court, it seems like once it's all done, I mean, there's like an underlying sense of either appreciation or respect or a combo of both that people have for him. I don't know if you see it that way, but on
the outside that it seems like that exists. Yeah, I think, you know, I think there are teams who would who think he kind of talks a little bit too much, but I honestly, I hear even from teams who feature
some of his favorite targets in the league. I think teams kind of like it because they sense almost that like it's not coming from a malicious place, that it's coming from a place of like I like the competition, like I want you to bring it at me because I'm gonna bring it at you and if you don't bring it too, like I'm gonna falue right out of
the game. But like I want to get under your skin because I want the best out of you, because that like that's what's fun for me for me Joel Embiid And I think I think coaches and executives on other teams are like, if he's gonna he's gonna nudge our players who maybe don't defend as hard as they should all the time or whatever, like to to be better. Like we kind of like that. Got two more questions for you. Number One, Any surprised at all that JJ Reddick is still ticking the way he does it at
this stage of his career. Nah, he several years ago he knew I gotta I gotta be super serious about my body and my craft and and to stay around as an impact player in the league. And he does it, and he is he just he is remarkable the way he moves around the floor. I mean, they're just the only two or three guys in the league that really can do that, and he's one of them. And lastly, I know you had him on the podcast just before the start of the preseason, Elton brand new general manager
of the seventy six ers. What do you think he brings to that role. Certainly viewed as one of the all time nice good citizens in the NBA, and now he's in a position where he gets to mul division of a franchise. Yeah, it being one of the all time nice good citizens of the NBA means that everyone knows you, everyone likes you, and everyone talks to you, and you get you give. You get very good at gathering credible intel on players, which is a really underrated
part of the job. And I think, look, Elton's going to keep his vision close to the best as he should. But I think I think and I tend to gravitate toward guys who aren't afraid to sort of stick their necks out and have unconventional opinions or disagree with people, or see something in players that maybe other people don't see, or see that they could thrive in a role that
they're not in right now. And I think Elton is a creative thinker who is not afraid to disagree with the consensus and if he feels like it's backed up by his own research in his own work, I think, I think, I think that's really important to have it. In ENERGYM wouldn't expect anything less but great stuff from busy man Zach Low. Zach, appreciate a few minutes. Thanks so much, my pleasure, have fun A wealth of knowledge from Zach Low, ESPN senior writer, the host of the
outstanding podcast The Low Post. Elton brand, as we said, was on it towards the end of September, and I thought that was a really interesting point that Zach made about the relational side and strengths that Elton brings the table and how that might actually be able to benefit the Sixers in some intelligence gather Anyhow, great stuff from Zach. We appreciate him taking a few minutes. Same goes for t. J. McConnell, and same goes to you out there for listening to
the podcast. As always, be on the lookout for game rewind editions of the podcast that come your way the day after every seventy Sixers game. And also, if you're on the feed, check out the Sixers History podcast that our bud Curtis Harris did with some of the guys from Basketball Reference. Great stuff, all right, talk to you next time see it.