The BroadCast | The BIG Season Preview, feat. Joel Embiid

make you happen. We go one on one with Joel Embiide chatting about fatherhood, change and the year ahead. Lauren Rosen is also here, and we'll recap training camp and give a sneak peek at what might be in store for the Sixers. You ask about feeling, and that's something that I feel like I've asked almost every player on the roster, and they don't feel like there is a feeling. They feel like this group has everything that it needs

to go all the way. They believe in themselves. They believe in the group, and I do think that the starts plus important information about how you can help the seventy sixers, help support local businesses throughout the season. I'm Brian Seltzer, and this is the broadcast from the seventy Sixers podcast Network. Welcome in seventy sixers, hoot peeps. It is just about time. There is so much to get to on this big season preview edition of the broadcast.

Opening night is a Wednesday at the Center against the Washington Wizards Lauren Rose and I will get to that a little bit later on, but first I wanted to start with a conversation with a guy on whom a very large part of the franchise's fate. Hinges, don't worry. His shoulders certainly are big enough. He wouldn't want you to feel sorry for him because of the burden he bears.

An after an offseason that saw Joel Embie'd become a dad and get a new head coach and president of basketball operations, our interview naturally began by talking about the notion of change and whether or not Joe is actually feeling much of it. No, really, I mean, I just I'm still the same you know, I've always been family type of guy. Family over over int it. So I'm still the same man, you know. Having a new edition, I mean kind of she changed them a little bit

in me, but I'm still the same. Man. I'm excited to be, you know, a new dad and you know, be able to raise a kid, and so I can go from there. Because I'm a dad myself. I gotta ask you some dad questions. I can't remember the first two and a half months of my twins life. I can barely remember the first two and a half years

of their life. What's it been like for you? It's been great, h It's actually it's funny because every time we go the doctor season like he's just like she's just so impressed of like, well, it's doing as far as the stuff that he's doing already at his age um advance is U So that's pretty good. Like I just I love when it just you know, just looks at me and just starts laughing and uh so, I mean it's it's been amazing just spending a lot of time with him. Man. Yeah, have you been able to

see any personality traits developed so far? Have you gotten any smiles? Oh? Yeah, for sure, I've been. It's been That's that's the whole thing. Like even the doctor was saying, I mean, it's only eleven weeks, and he's been smiling for the past five weeks basically, like just like smiling all stop and you know, screaming over the place and which is which is pretty crazy. Do you have any good stories so far? I look back at pictures my kids puked on my head, they went to the bathroom

on me. Any happy disaster stories that you can share with us. No, he's been an amazing key. He's been doing great. It's tremendous. You know. It's obviously hard to ignore the connection between New Life and Arthur, your son, and Arthur your brother. How far along did you feel like you wanted to honor your brother that way? I mean, did you know in advance that you were having a boy or a girl? And when did you start thinking about honoring your brother's legacy in that way? Um? In

ment a lot for me and my family. Obviously, losing my little bother the way we did it was very tough on me, and you know, almost quite basketball because I heard I was and also from my mom. She's been dealing with this since then. He's been very tough on the So giving my son that name was huge. Uh and um, he didn't help get over it, buddy, also kind of help relax a little bit more than just be more open to life again. But he meant

a lot, and uh, I'm glad I did it. I was going to ask you about that because this obviously isn't the first time you've done something to recognize Arthur. I mean, there's the Angels Foundation in Cameroon, if I'm not mistaken. In the court I think this time a year ago that you opened in the Frankfurt section of the city. I know no one gets over anything, but does it help you cope a little bit more and keep the thought of him present us? I mean, it

stay hard. But that's why all this stuff that I've been done in his name I've happened because you know, you try to, you know, being so young and have you hadn't done anything in life, you try to, you know, just carry his name and it's like you can see um for as long as you can, as long as I'm in this planet, I'm still gonna do the same thing. And you use that too also help a lot of

people in needs. Uh, And that's what we've been doing with the foundation, and you know the court that we open here in his name, and you know, my little my son. Uh. And then there's a few other stuff that my parents do back in Camon as far as our charity and donations and stuff like that. There's obviously been dramatic change with the Sixers. As we shift the conversation to basketball, can you walk me through the timeline of your reaction to the coaching change and Doc Rivers,

a championship winner getting hired by you guys. Uh, it was, man, I have a lot of love for coach bou and you know we've been here for a long time. Man, I was. I was sad too losing as Uh, you know, I cared a lot about him. Uh. And then but um, perhaps you know, could us to the owners for also, you know, going out and hiring guys like Darren Moore, who I think he's the best um in this job,

at this job, in this league. Uh. And you know, just talking to him, he's a very very small guy like this, we can talk about anything, and that's why we do. We just talk about anything. We talk about more stuff than actual basketball, just more life stuff. And that's what I like. And just like you when you talk to somebody and I just focus on basketball. And you were able to talk about life. That's how relationship I has been. And then coach adding coach who has

won the championship. I think I thought it was great too. I think he's gonna be a great leader and he's gonna trying to push us every day and to be better. Can you take me inside some of the meetings that you and Doc and Ben have had together. That's something that Ben Simmons talked about. What are certain things that you guys have been looking at discussing to get on the same page for the start of the season. We've just been talking about you know, we gotta, you know,

be accountable towards each other and the whole organization. We just gotta take on the vole and just be better than what than whipping in the past, and just lead, lead by example especially and just doing the white things and just dominique together and go back to what we used to do and two or three years ago, you know, just play together, dominate together. Half fun. The game was very fun two or three years ago, just moving the ball,

all sharing the ball, everybody's happy. So we just got to get back to that, and that's why we've been talking about along those lines. I feel like you've been putting in and I know that you have because you've talked about it a ton of work over the offseason. But it seems like for guys in professional sports, some of the success with the coaches, like, well, how can you elevate my game? How can you help me evolve

and develop? Are there certain things that you're hoping A new staff, a new set of eyes, new sets of minds can help do to bring your game to an even higher level that it's been at so far. A man, the only thing I want them to be is, you know, just want I just want everybody to be open about anything, really, because I feel like I can't help, you know, this organization in so many other ways other than just be

a postal player. And I'm sure have seen it just playing against me or just being here in the past couple of days. Just about how much I can do other than just posting up. And you know, I can be used as a playmaker. I can be used as a screener. I can't can do everything. I can pick him pop, I can handle the ball. I can, you know, just set up my teammates. So there's a bunch of stuff I can do when I want to be used in that complete role. You've talked about the responsibility you

feel for the city. How often do you think, because I know you talk about a championship, but when you think about what that could mean for the city, do you have certain visions in your mind, like dream about what would look like going down Broad Street? Hopefully the world's in a place where we can all be around each other. Are those types of visions that you have? Yeah, I have a vision about being like just like just had to parade and you know, just talking and giving

a spitch and all that stuff. But now I just dream about, you know, just having a lot of fun, acting crazy at the parade and all that stuff. And that's why it's like it's so important to me. And then also just being here, starting the family here and being here for a long time and wanting to finish your so yeah, that's why I want to make it happen so much. Do get him, Joe, Thanks so much, Thank you, Joel Embiid Ready to rock the twenty twenty

twenty one season. Before I bring on Lauren Rosen to continue our big season preview, Just a quick seventy six ers podcast network PSA. If you like what you're hearing, and you are not yet a subscriber or a follower of ours, please do consider changing that. And if you're listening on Apple, give us a rating. We ask, we gravel, We plead it helps us get discovered selfishly, we would

love for more of that to be happening. Also, I want to give a shout out to Danny Green New seventy Sixer and our man Harrison Sanford and their excellent podcast Inside the green Room Search Inside the green Room wherever you get your pods to listen to new episodes every week. And a reminder that's coming up on the

seventy Sixers podcast network this week. On Coach Check, which will premiere on Tuesday, December the twenty second, Matt Murphy of the Bluecoats speaks with Jamir Nelson, who's now going to be the assistant general manager for the Coats as well as a scout for the seventy Sixers. That's coming up on Coach Check. The episode drops on Tuesday, December twenty second. My sixer's coverage partner in crime, of course, is none other than Lauren Rosen, pumped to go on

a podcasting journey throughout the season with her. Lauren joins us now and I don't know about you, Lauren, but I feel like this season. Maybe it's just the twenty twenty effect, but I feel like this season has been going on for years that it's never really stopped. I completely agree. I don't think there was an offseason. Like you can try to tell me that there was, but when I look back on my calendar, I just can't

find it. No, especially for the last four weeks since the draft, it's just been at such a rapid, NonStop pace, fun pace, exciting pace. But it's incredible that amidst everything else that tappened, draft, free agency, preseason, that was took place two games in four days, that the games are here and they're about to count, which excites me. It's exciting, but it's a lot, and I think that the seventy

six ers themselves would agree. I mean, two of them were in the bubble far longer than the rest of them because they want a championship, and then they had to move across the country. Then we have rookies that got drafted a couple of weeks ago and they're already wearing uniforms on the court at the center like it's been a whirlwind for us, but let's acknowledge that it's been maybe a bigger whirlwind for them. This whole thing is just like I've said this the entire hiatus, but

it's really hard to wrap your head around. In a traditional world, I would feel like at this point I would add a big megaphone affect my voice where I say, and now it's time for the big season preview. And I'm not trying to diminish what we saw in the two preseason games or what's been said and done at the training complex the last couple of weeks. But I think the reason why I'm not adding that big megaphone booming effect to my voice is because I'm kind of

in a wait and see mode. I gotta be honest, like, I just don't know how much stock you can place in the two preseason games, and in a cool way, in a different way, like we just got to see. It might be a couple of weeks, it might it might be a month, it might be longer. I don't know. Well, the good news is, if you want to put stock into two preseason games, we saw a lot of good obviously, the second one in Indiana there was some sloppiness, but

there were some rallying. There was great stuff from the bench, So if you want to put stock into either of those games, you can certainly find good there. But I agree with you, it's all way too soon to really make any definitive declarations or predictions, at least for me, about what that this group is gonna look like. Like I said, there was a lot of good there, but there is a lot that remains to be se I

agree with you. I think it definitely warrants getting into what we did see, and it's just I guess maybe more it's not so much as what to make of it, it's how much is going to actually translate. Because some good came late in games when only reserves played. Some good came when other teams didn't have their top guys,

or even the Sixers didn't have their top guys. But for me, and I was talking about this on the radio with the Von Gives after the game on Friday, personally, I went into the preseason feeling a lot of positivity and great vibes coming from the Sixers, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing during those two games that made me feel any different, Like I'm coming out of the preseason with hope, with optimism. I think that the main guys who have a body of work over time, who you kind of

know what they're about, showed you some great stuff. Talking about a lot of veterans, members of the starting five. And then for some players who you might want to see have a bounce back here insert Mike Scott, might want to have a build upon good they did last year. Insert for a concorkmuse, Guys who you didn't know anything about, rookies Tyrese, Maxie Hillo. Those were areas where I was like, now, if they can continue to build, we're going to be

in a really good spot. And look, we're not usually the two to talk about struggles, but where the team faltered. There are reasons for chemistry not being fully there for a group of people that met each other a couple weeks ago, Guys coming back from injuries, Guys that have never worked in a system that looks like this system. So I think, considering the stuff that we saw that might have been a little bit harder to swallow, those are things that can be built upon and errors that

can be addressed rather quickly. I think in a lot of situations. So I agree with you. I think everybody sort of has if there's a positive narrative there for everybody if you want to, if you want to find it. And I'm really excited about what this is going to look like, because, like he said at the very beginning, we have no idea really yet what the team looks

like and how good they can be. It seems like going into this year and I'm still trying to wrap my mind exactly how to interpret some of what Doc Rivers has been saying. I know that he wants defense to be the bread and butter this team, but it's been interesting to me that he's been talking about the

offense a lot. I think he knows what the defensive potential is, but the challenge for him it's not saying offense is more important, but he feels perhaps the biggest growth area this team could be on the offensive side. If they played defense like how they've done in the past, amped up a little bit more, combined with some real offensive tweaks and improvements, that's where this team can get

to the next level. Well, I also think when you think about defense, there are a lot of established defenders on this team. There are guys on this team, whether or not they've played together before Danny Green, who are really really good defenders, and we know they have it, and we know that that's a skill that they can turn up. And that's across the roster. There are a

lot of really strong defenders on this team. I agree with you it seems like Doc's focused more on offense right now, but that's because maybe there's more to build there and there's more to learn there, and there's more intricacy on that end of the floor that this group hasn't. They're going to have to play a totally new way. It's a totally new roster, the options are totally different.

So I understand the need to put a little bit more emphasis on the offensive side when it comes to what there is still to learn, Whereas on defense, these are guys that know how to defend, and it's going to be about how much they engage there and how intense they can be for a full forty eight minutes.

One thing that we know coming into this year, the Sixers wanted to enhance spacing, and I felt in the two preseason games we saw examples of that with a couple different lineups opportunities were there, shots might not have always gone down. But I think for me that's how I kind of look at the preseason two is are there indicators? Are there signs where in a perfect world and the team spends more time together and plays more games like the foundations, they are for things to actually

come together and be executed upon. Well, you talk you mentioned spacing, and to me, that's just shooting, right, And there's so many shooting options now in both units. I know we're going to talk about this a little bit later, but the idea that there's a whole first unit and a whole second unit that can play together separately and have great options in both units, I mean, that's not something that depth wise, that's not something we've seen, at

least in my time with the Sixers. So I'm excited about how the spacing looks on the first unit and on the second unit, and how all those shooters are going to be able to interact with the Joel Embiid, with the Dwight Howard, with a Bed Simmons, because I think it's going to be really cool and and like you said, it already looks a little different. It feels a little different. Those options around the perimeter are making

a difference already. As we dive a little bit deeper into what we know, what we might not know after two preseason games, getting regular for the rest of the season. What we do know. I'm pretty good with what I saw from the starters. Yeah, kill you theirselves. The guys we've been watching for a long time look like themselves. Obviously we didn't get quite as much Joel Embiid as we wanted to see, but what we saw was good. What we saw for Ben he looked very good. We

know that Tobias can bring a certain skill set. We know the same with Danny and Steth, even though they

haven't played for the Sixers before. It does feel like that's a unit where we are going to know what we can get and a lot of them are going to continue to improve as they get to know each other better and as they gel better, no question about it, And specifically when it comes to Joel Embiid, only played about a half in the first preseason game, had the non COVID illness in the preseason finale against the Pacers.

I'm good with Joe. I'm great. He looked excellent in that first preseason game, and at this point I do kind of trust that he knows what he has to do to get himself Freddie, and I think in hearing Doc Rivers talking about him, he knows what he's going to get out of too El Embid. I think the Doc Rivers Joel Embiid relationship is really something to watch because the way that Doc talks about how good Joel can be, it feels like they've already really developed something.

And we saw it in the preseason games. We've seen it in some of the practice videos. But the two of them are really talking and really communicating, and I am excited to see what Doctor is able to add to Joel's game. Like you said, we only got one half out of him, but he did look really strong in that half. He looked in shape, he looked happy to be out there, and that's all we can ask

for for Joel and Mead. What do we think as we take a look at two preseason games that clearly is not enough sample size the ceiling for this group can be. I think I think there's a potential and this is just based on the fields that I get.

I think there's a potential for a solid start I just think it's one of those seasons where, like, I feel like the energy is good, and there's obviously a lot of factors that are making this year so different, But I could see in a perfect world, how you know, the team gets off to a nice start, has something

to build upon real quickly. Well, you ask about ceiling, and that's something that I feel like I've asked at least at some point in the last few weeks almost every player on the roster, and they don't feel like there is a ceiling. They feel like this group has everything that it needs to go all the way, and I'm going to trust that. It seems like when they

say it, they're saying it with conviction. They believe in themselves, they believe in the group, and I do think that the start could be really, really good, especially compared to other teams around the league years past. For the Sixers, it feels like they have all the pieces and now it's about fitting them together properly and getting ready to go,

and we'll see what happens. I'm excited. I am excited to see how they really look in real competition outside of preseason games, because one of the things is is we're talking about, oh, there's all these unprecedented factors at work against the Sixers, but the same is also true for twenty nine other teams in the NBA. And I think that we can agree on this about the Sixers. And yeah, we view the world through glasses with red, white and blue tint, but I think that you could

ask objective observers about this as well. Even though there's a lot of newness with the Sixers, there is still talent, high level talent, all Star, All League talent, and there's depth. And when you look at some of the early games on the Sixers schedule, and again, I don't know how much sense it makes to start looking at things like this, you know, to the first two or three weeks. There are teams that have also undergone change in the offseason that I would think, on paper, aren't in quite the

same position as talent as the Sixers are. That's just my opinion. I mean, when I look at the schedule the way I'd say it is, it seems like the beginning of the season that the team should capitalize on because of who they're going to face. These are teams that they can they can afford to have a couple errors or a slow start, but these are teams that they should be able to rather handlely find paths to victory. It's something that you said in your response previous of

that path the victory. We need to keep path to victory as part of our normal phraseology. Can't just be a November thing. No, I love what you said about depth. I think that's something to watch with this team for sure. I like the idea that they can play a whole first unit and a whole second unit. That's something that Doc has expressed his interest in doing. And when you look at that second unit, that's a second unit that

did great against Indiana. That team outscored the Indiana bench, they outscored Indiana starters, they helped the Sixers rally to a victory. And that's a group that's not even finalized. There's competition to make it into that second unit. So the depth thing, to me is really exciting because you know, even in regular seasons, there are people that are going to get hurt, there are people that are going to

miss games, and you need that depth. And this season, more than ever, I think depth is going to be really important because of all the intangible factors that you alluded to couldn't agree with you more I think that. So I did the games in the radio for Tom Aguinnis in the preseason, and I'm the only one doing it. So in those situations you end up talking to yourself a lot and creating these internal conversations. But the one consistent internal conversation that I had was looking at the team.

The bench made me feel really, really good. I know Boston didn't have Kemba and Tristan, but even after those guys, I'm looking at their bench and I'm like, I just I don't As of right now, I don't see it in the same way that I see it with the Sixers bench. I look at Indie's bench, didn't see it the same way. And these are two teams that are you would presume, going to be right in the thick

of things, with the Sixers in the Eastern Conference. I think that if Mike Scott can build upon the preseason shake was fantastic. Obviously Dwight Howard is I am. I am so on on team Dwight right now. It's not even funny, or I should say Team Morey, team brand in the front office forgetting him. I think you start with those three guys, and then you look around and see where a Tyres Maxie could fit in a Batist thible fits in a fir Con cork mose. I feel

solid about this bench, I do. I think the bench could be a real weapon. I think the chemistry between Dwight Howard and Shake Milton is one of my favorite things that I've seen so far with this group, and the way that they talk about each other too. We keep saying it, we haven't seen them play a ton. Everything is different this year. We don't have the ability to watch practice the way that we used to. We've

only seen two preseason games. What we've seen and what we've heard from those two, specifically the way they talk about each other, the way Shake says he's learning from Dwight, the way that Dwight says that Shake is this transcended type guy. And then the chemistry that we've already seen between them on the court For two guys that just met a couple weeks ago. They are really feeling the vibes and I am excited to see how they can

leave that second unit together. Shake was great in the preseason, thirty four points. That was by far the most in the sixers. He shot over fifty four percent overall, five of eleven from three, eight assists, seven boards. Love it. He was terrific. Seems like there's this quiet I'm going

to prove it to you type confidence about our man Shake. Well, what's interesting about Shake is I think from his sort of breakout period in the spring now whatever, nine months ago, there's been all this conversation about is Shake the real deal? And time and time again he has proven that he really is, and he's put in the work and now he's shown in multiple settings that he is able to do it. He took this weird off season and clearly got better. He says he's put on weight, he said

his confidence is clearly also rising. So those things together, coupled with, like you said, this thirty four point team leading scoring wise performance throughout the preseason, I mean he Shake Milton is the real deal. We can stop asking that question. I'm with you. Two more things I wanted to get to before we wrap up our not so quite big preseason preview, but enthusiastic season preview. I think

we can say it's an enthusiastic season preview. Tyrese Maxie, I don't know how it's going to come together, especially in the beginning. I do think he seems to have a demeanor about him where he's going to force the issue, not be deterred and go confidently forward and try to assert himself and make sure that he can get minutes if they're there to be had. I think confidently is

the key word there. This is not a guy that looks like he spent one year in college, how a condensed offseason, didn't play in summer league, moved straight here, had to miss time during training camp, all of those things, and he's still looking as good as he is. I'm excited to see how he looks in real NBA competition, maybe going up against team's starting units as opposed to going up against reserves, which is which is who he

faced throughout most of the preseason. But like you said, he looks confident, he's smiling, he's happy to be here, and that's someone that you can't not root for. He's been awesome, a pleasure to watch, a pleasure to talk to, and as is the rest of the city, we are all rooting for Tyree's Maxie Well ended on this the Eastern Conference. Doc Rivers joked he just seems to go where the tough conferences are. I would say a very balanced Eastern and Western conferences this year. They could be

very tough, especially in the Atlantic Division. Atlantic might be the toughest division in the league. Yeah, Pacific is probably right up there too, but Atlantic. You've now got Brooklyn with kde and Kyrie two and O in the preseason. That's something I definitely have my eye on. What Boston missing Gordon Hayward means, Miami can they do it again? Atlanta? Where are they going to be? Toronto's made some changes,

The Knicks went three in one of the preseason. What type of world do you expect to see in the Eastern Conference this year? Well, it's going to be a competitive world first, Sure, I agree with you. It seems like the conferences are sort of narrowing up when it comes to talent and teams that really could go all the way. I almost think that, yes, the West has this reputation for being better, but I think the East actually has more teams that could get it done, that

could win a title this year. And I might be exposing myself now, but I am a constant consumer of basketball content. There are a lot of friends in the pod space that I listen to enthusiastically, and something that I've noticed as I've been consuming content over the last few weeks is the predictions that people have are all so different. There are so many teams that could win it all. There are so many teams that could go

all the way that could surprise us. So I'm just excited for the parody that I think we're going to have all year long. It's not one of those seasons where you go in knowing who's going to come out of it, and I am looking forward to that. The journey officially beginning for the seventy six ers Wednesday at the Center against Russell Westbrook, Bradley Beale and the Washington Wizards.

Looking forward, Lauren, to going on that journey step by step with you right here on the pod throughout the season. It's a journey. I'm looking forward to it too self. Of course, you should be following Lauren on Twitter if you are not yet already at Lauren m Rosen. One more order of business before our big season preview edition of the broad cast is said and done. A few

weeks back. Not sure if you caught this, you might have seen us drop a video on our Sixers social channels promoting a new small business support initiative that the organization has taken up. Hey, I'm Vain. I'm the owner of Power Cafe here and watches Square West Coffee Accured meets. Our coffee is untampered, no frills, just delicious coffee. We were happy to collaborate with the Philadelphia seventy six Ers

and effort to support small businesses. We know everyone, but especially local businesses, those right here in our own backyard have been hit hard by the pandemic over the last nine plus months, and the seventy Sixers have been thinking about ways they can lean in support and help, and to set some more light on that, I thought it would be good to talk briefly with seventy six Ers team president Chris Heck. Chris, we know the past nine and a half months have been unlike anything anyone has

ever experienced. It's nice, I think to see NBA bassketball being played again, But specifically I wanted to ask you, how are the seventy sixers trying to help people businesses in their own backyard with the new season getting underway. Yeah, thanks, Brian, I think we have a real opportunity in front of us to support our local small businesses, and I think

it's a really critical time to do so. So we have partnered up for the first half of the season with thirty six different small businesses, and each one of those small businesses will will launch the tune in details on game day through our social media platforms. So what that means is that they basically will tell everybody how to tune in to watch our games, how to tune in to listen to our games, and also when to do so. And on top of that, and this is

the really fun part. It seems to be very much a a passionate cry for what uniforms we wear in a particular night, and they get to do launch that as well and share with everybody their own message to the community on how their business can be supported. So we're going to do that in front of every single game day, and we're gonna give everyone in that platform, these small businesses the platform to share their great products with our community. I'll be honest. The rollout on social

was fantastic. The video was so awesome seeing some of the places you go to shop, eat, do whatever else being featured in line with the seventy six ers and the excitement building for the start of this season. Have you heard any response from some of these businesses through people that either work in our organization or talking to some of these businesses directly. Yeah, I mean, listen, that's

how we've got the thirty six businesses on board. They're all in our community, right so we may live down the street from them, and we may be neighbors with somebody that manages a store, or we may have a family member that works there and or owns a property. And so we reach out to our staff and we put together a little committee on this project and give everyone, give everyone an opportunity to nominate someone that they're close with or that they're familiar with. And so within twenty

four hours we had all the slots filled up. And the real hope is to continue this, not to finish it when the first half of the season ends in March, but also to do it in the second half too if it's effective, and we think it will be effective. I've been with the team. I think this is gonna be my sixth season, and I always know that serving the community the region has always been at the forefront, whether it was through things like projects seventy six, seventy

six hours of community service. But I also can't think and I'm sure many people would be hard pressed to find a time looking back over the last nine months a set of circumstances that brings more to the focus the importance of a brand, a company, and organization a member of the community to try and use their platform to lift others up. And I mean that seems to

be the spirit that's been driving all this. Yeah, I think if anything in COVID has taught us at the Sixers is that we do have a great platform and we all should use it for good. And so that is a very much a part of our DNA, and it's not just at certain levels, but everyone in the organization. Um you know, um, Sean Spencer, he runs our content department.

This was his idea, his original idea, and he wanted to do it for Opening Night and then it expanded to the entire season and um you know you throw in uh Maggie's Irby and Alex Ers and Nick McCain. Um, these these people are artists and they're at their craft, and their craft is is storytelling and capturing. Um, this beautiful city, UM in social media and giving it to the world and so UM. You know, we we like to we like to jump on UM projects that we're

already pretty good in that space and UM. And we also like to do things that just click and just resonate within our group because we do have people from all walks of life in our staff and and it's nice to hear from everybody because everybody is contributing. Before we wrap up, one more thing I wanted to ask

you about. I was lucky enough to be part of the group that was in the house for the seventy six ers first game of any kind played at the Center since March eleventh, when they hosted the Celtics for the preseason game. One of the most interesting quotes I heard after the game was not Doc Rivers talking about pick and roll between Shake Milton and Dwight Howard or dwell and Be dominating the first half, or Debias Harris

getting a near double double. It was him shouting out the game, ops, we're talking about the Derek Hayses, the Ryan COLLETTI is the I heard it too, you know, I was in there with you, even though we were so isolated. I didn't get First of all, watching the game was awesome. It was great to be there. It just felt good because you had our home court down

and our you know, look and feel and um. But there's obvious this gigantic void of having the best home court advantage in the entire MBA where we've sold out one hundred and twenty four straight games. But our fans, our fans are so authentic and loud and supportive when it's when the effort is there and uh and and certainly have a presence like no other, and that was missed.

But it was also a little bit maddening. Like sitting there, there's no one to talk to, right, so you realize what a community type environment it is at a sporting event, not just at the six Ers, but any sporting event, and so like that, that kind of was a tough hit. Um. Well, that's why we're putting on a live entertainment show, um inside the very socially distant center where our games are

played in. And I think that a little nod to our fans that we want to be lively and active with the very few people that we can have in the arena right now. So it's just a nod back to our fans. But the roundabout answer to your question, I heard Doc say the same thing. He has not met Derek Hay's yet. But it wasn't just Derek who orchestrates this. Matc Cord his delivery was just exceptional. He was really great. To hear his voice again, it was

Christian Crosby. He always brings back a positive vibe and a great smile. And even though you couldn't see it behind his mask, you know we had the entertainment team out there. It was just a really nice effort, even though we can't have our true home court agreed and whether it was things like free throw distractions, ringing the bell chance, we know that's all going to be a part of the game day environment at the Center. But Wendy's frosty trees out will be back. I will tell

you that it's going to look a little different. We're still working out the kinks, but so that'll be fun. I love it. Kudos to you, Chris and the staff for coming up with all these creative ways to simulate as much of a South Philly field of games of the Center as possible, and also for leaning in to help small businesses in the Philadelphia area. Chris Heck always great speaking with you. Happy start of the season. Man, all right, thanks Brian, appreciate what you do. Awesome local

business support initiative being rallied by the seventy sixers. Be sure to look at our social feeds every game day for more information about how you can help. Thank you to Chris, Lauren Rosen, Joel Embiide for joining the pod. Thank you for listening. Have a great holiday if you have not yet already celebrated, and be on the lookout next week Monday, we're gonna have an announcement here on the podcast. I'm Brian Seltzer. Talked next time, let's see it.