Speaker 1: The seventy six Ers two thousand, nineteen two thousand and
Speaker 1: twenty regular season schedules outs and we're going to talk
Speaker 1: with a guy who's going to have one of the
Speaker 1: best seats in the house to each of the team's
Speaker 1: eighty two games. When you think of Opretty Night, you
Speaker 1: just know the building is going to have great energy
Speaker 1: and to become really an incredible home court advantage for
Speaker 1: the basketball team to be at the Center in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Check it in with the one and only Tom McGinnis.
Speaker 1: Schedule style on this episode of the broadcast, whether it's Tuesday,
Speaker 1: February of the eleventh against the LA Clippers, or perhaps
Speaker 1: a little bit later on on Tuesday in March thirty
Speaker 1: first versus the semi revamped Houston Rockets. Plenty of dates
Speaker 1: to circle on the calendar for the fall winner and
Speaker 1: spring ahead as the seventy six Ers two thousand, nineteen,
Speaker 1: two twenty slate is outs great to be on this
Speaker 1: occasion chatting with you once again. Can't wait to connect
Speaker 1: with Tom McGinnis and just the moments and I will
Speaker 1: recap some of the many subplots and storylines the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers upcoming slate for this year, something that makes the
Speaker 1: season feel that much more real and within reach as
Speaker 1: we bide time here in the summer off season. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get to that interview in a moment. First reminders
Speaker 1: that to subscribe to the podcast, all you gotta do
Speaker 1: is go your favorite podcast listening platform. Maybe it's Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, tune in, Stitcher. We're there. Just type
Speaker 1: in Sixers podcast Network and that will take you to
Speaker 1: where you need to be, all right. The seventy Sixers
Speaker 1: highly anticipated season number seventy one schedule for the franchise
Speaker 1: came out on Monday, August the twelfth, and moments after
Speaker 1: the schedules made official, had the opportunity to speak with
Speaker 1: Tom McGinnis. He and I look ahead forecast, if you will,
Speaker 1: what could be in store for the seventy Sixers starting
Speaker 1: October twenty third, when the regular season tips off at
Speaker 1: home against the Boston Celtics. It is great to catch
Speaker 1: up with the man who will be at every single
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers game this season, preseason, regular season, postseason knock
Speaker 1: on wood. It is, of course Tom again is Tom?
Speaker 1: How are you? I'm doing great? Brian real excited with
Speaker 1: the schedule out to get ready for yet another sixer season.
Speaker 1: Where do we find Tom again? Us at this stage
Speaker 1: of the offseason, middle of August, kind of looking ahead,
Speaker 1: we're not too too far away, but still a few
Speaker 1: weeks to enjoy the summer life. Well, the summer life
Speaker 1: is for me. It's just a big time with the family,
Speaker 1: and we live at the Jersey Shore for the most part.
Speaker 1: And we'll have the Shore Tour coming up a ninety
Speaker 1: seven five as a fan fest at Xfinity Live in
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks on a Saturday. But on a
Speaker 1: day like today, you know where the schedule comes out,
Speaker 1: you know, now you really start to go over that
Speaker 1: with a fine truth comb. But it's been a great time.
Speaker 1: My mom has been here throughout the course of the summer.
Speaker 1: She's ninety years old, and you know, we play tennis
Speaker 1: and golf and go to the beach in the Bay
Speaker 1: and just to hang out. It's just been a beautiful
Speaker 1: summer and real quality time with our family. And I
Speaker 1: read all the time and watch the Phillies and whatnot,
Speaker 1: and do a lot of things that people do on
Speaker 1: vacation and feel very fortunate to be able to do it.
Speaker 1: But now I say, as you say, going forward, and
Speaker 1: you know the schedule, there's so much excitement about the
Speaker 1: Sixers with this roster in large part, and then so
Speaker 1: many of the great games at the center. And as
Speaker 1: far as like calling the games, it's never about me.
Speaker 1: I'm just a conduit with the Sixers fans on the
Speaker 1: radio of voice of the basketball team. But the schedule
Speaker 1: kind of is personal because for those or seven months,
Speaker 1: it's my life, and especially the road where I'm away
Speaker 1: from my family, and just looking at it real quickly
Speaker 1: last night, I think the number is like st seven,
Speaker 1: you know, days and nights, not completely the whole day
Speaker 1: or whatnot, but some combination thereof being away and eight
Speaker 1: day road trips. And as you know, the league is
Speaker 1: spaced out the schedule more and the interest of player
Speaker 1: health and safety and getting guy rest and so that's
Speaker 1: made for longer road trips. And then we interverse the
Speaker 1: fact that the Sixers are on television twenty four times
Speaker 1: some of those dates and some of those road trips.
Speaker 1: Those those trips get a little longer because they wanted
Speaker 1: to get to Thursday where TNT is going to air it,
Speaker 1: or Saturday in Oakland where the Sixers will play the Warriors.
Speaker 1: So it's all exciting because the Sixers have marquee talent
Speaker 1: and they're expected to be a really good team and
Speaker 1: have been over the course last two three years. And
Speaker 1: to be in this position to play on Christmas and whatnot.
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's something to really upgraded to four.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it is for you, but for me,
Speaker 1: when the schedule comes out, this is when it really
Speaker 1: starts become more of a reality. You know. You go
Speaker 1: to the press conference events where new guys are in
Speaker 1: like Al Horford and Josh Richardson and they bring back
Speaker 1: to Bias Harris and that's all well and good, and
Speaker 1: you start to see some of these new faces and
Speaker 1: new bodies. But when the schedule comes out and you're like, okay, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: October twenty three, Boston Celtics, the fanatic ESPN seven thirty center,
Speaker 1: All right, I can mark that. Get ready to go.
Speaker 1: November twenty third, Saturday Night, finishing up a back to
Speaker 1: back against Jimmy Butler in the Miami Heat. Like this
Speaker 1: is when you can really start to sink your teeth
Speaker 1: into how season landscape could look right well for sure,
Speaker 1: and you know, especially when you think of opening night.
Speaker 1: The Sixers have been on the road for the Openers
Speaker 1: in fact, opened at Boston last year National and TV,
Speaker 1: and you just know the building is going to have
Speaker 1: great energy in the Sixers once again have anticipation that
Speaker 1: every game would be sold out. It's become really an
Speaker 1: incredible home court advantage for the basketball team to be
Speaker 1: at the Center in Philadelphia. But I also look at
Speaker 1: it as a basketball guy in a basketball since, you know,
Speaker 1: like the schedule is different this year, I mean forever,
Speaker 1: the Sixers traveled out West in that trip after Christmas
Speaker 1: and into the calendar New Year, and this year the Sixers,
Speaker 1: for the first time since eighty eight, are playing a
Speaker 1: home game on Christmas, the third straight time they've played
Speaker 1: on Christmas. But to host Milwaukee at two thirty on
Speaker 1: six ABC is incredible that the boy you talk about
Speaker 1: a marquee position. And then the other part about the
Speaker 1: schedule is now you look into that first week in
Speaker 1: November and that's the West Coast trip. And so if
Speaker 1: you look over the last couple of seasons, Brian and
Speaker 1: you know this, but Brett Brown's teams have gotten better
Speaker 1: as the season has gone along. Last year, there were
Speaker 1: a lot of changes during two parts of the season,
Speaker 1: and even in going back the year before where they
Speaker 1: had that eighteen game winning streak. So you can look
Speaker 1: at it two ways. And I know people say it's, oh,
Speaker 1: it'll be good for the new group to be together
Speaker 1: on the road, and there's certainly there's credence in that.
Speaker 1: I'm not discounting that, but those are some difficult games.
Speaker 1: You know, you're going to Portland, you're playing so Denvers
Speaker 1: in that trip, You're playing some quality Western Conference teams,
Speaker 1: and you know that may not to be the best
Speaker 1: version of the Sixers just a week or two into
Speaker 1: the regular season, and it is what it is. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's also the old school of thought that red hour
Speaker 1: back and I believe Larry Bird when he was the
Speaker 1: Pacers coach, and they would look at the schedule and
Speaker 1: they didn't interpret it on so many different levels and nuances.
Speaker 1: They were like, but forty one home and forty one road.
Speaker 1: And there's certainly something to that. But I think for
Speaker 1: people like I said that in my case, that this
Speaker 1: is their life. This is a tunnel that we're going
Speaker 1: into for these next few weeks. And I know the
Speaker 1: basketball staff, the team, you know, Brett his job is
Speaker 1: to coach the team, but Elton Brand in the front office,
Speaker 1: they're gonna look at it. They're gonna look at home
Speaker 1: and home or excuse me, like you know, road and
Speaker 1: then home back to back. They get into it in
Speaker 1: depth and they get into the prison. L T also
Speaker 1: like with the different like Kemba Walker coming in on
Speaker 1: in that game with Boston and not Brooklyn with a
Speaker 1: huge player with Kyrie on the team. So there are
Speaker 1: there's so many different levels that one can really get
Speaker 1: down to a granular level and assess the schedule. One
Speaker 1: thing that I do like about a time is that, yeah,
Speaker 1: there is the early West Coast trip and a handful
Speaker 1: of road games in November and then stretches December, but
Speaker 1: after the second West Coast trip in the beginning of March,
Speaker 1: when they're at the Clippers, Lakers, Kings, and Warriors on
Speaker 1: the first week in March eleven out of the last
Speaker 1: eighteen or at the Center and in years past, it's
Speaker 1: felt a little bit less balanced. So as I just
Speaker 1: look at the grid where you have the red and
Speaker 1: blue boxes for home and away games, it seems like
Speaker 1: there's a little bit more balanced this year, right and again,
Speaker 1: so taking that same paradigm that I just mentioned about
Speaker 1: getting better late. So eleven out of your last eighteen
Speaker 1: at home, that's a positive, and there is again there's
Speaker 1: different ways to look at things. You can think about
Speaker 1: that West Coast trip, the first one in November and
Speaker 1: getting it out of the way, and then in years past,
Speaker 1: I mean years ago, like fifteen, eighteen, twenty years ago,
Speaker 1: that that March trip oftentimes came later in the month
Speaker 1: and sometimes again that was four games and five nights.
Speaker 1: When you look at that game, that trip that you
Speaker 1: mentioned with the Clippers, that's Sunday afternoon on network television
Speaker 1: and then Saturday evening in the Warrior, I mean, how
Speaker 1: cool is that to play at Staples against Kawai and
Speaker 1: Paul George. I believe the Lakers are on that trip
Speaker 1: a Tuesday, and that's a nationally television televised game on TNT.
Speaker 1: I mean the marquee matchups. That's I don't think we
Speaker 1: can that. That's still pretty cool. I mean, even if
Speaker 1: you get that for five or ten years in a row,
Speaker 1: which is the whole thing the sixties have talked about
Speaker 1: is sustained success, and this is part and parcel that
Speaker 1: you become a r key team for television purposes with
Speaker 1: these young stars and as you say, Tobias and Joel
Speaker 1: and Ben and Al Horford and Richardson and I like that.
Speaker 1: But those are those games that that's pretty neat right there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's things that have shifted, and in that home
Speaker 1: schedule at the end of the year is hopefully advantageous
Speaker 1: in that twenty twenty Porsche of the campaign. Of course,
Speaker 1: you know, Tom, if you're a fan or a medium member,
Speaker 1: and i'd even think a player or a coach or
Speaker 1: an executive to a certain degree, you know you're you're
Speaker 1: looking at some of the headline teams like when we
Speaker 1: playing the Clippers at home? Or when are we going
Speaker 1: to take on the Lakers? Because I got right a
Speaker 1: D right exactly, Pelican, Zion Williamson, all that stuff. But
Speaker 1: I feel like this offseason there were so many moves
Speaker 1: that could affect the parody in the league. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you saw it a similar way that you
Speaker 1: look across. I just feel like, more so than previous years,
Speaker 1: there've been move mads. Whether it's the big marquee guys
Speaker 1: like the Russell Westbrooks or the Kawhi Leonard, but another
Speaker 1: perhaps B level or maybe a minus to MIDB level
Speaker 1: players like a Malcolm Brogden going to India. Of course,
Speaker 1: t J McConnell's there now, you know Porzingis with Dallas
Speaker 1: teaming up with Luca don Chis. You know, you look
Speaker 1: all around and it seems like to me there's more
Speaker 1: parody this year than in previous season. That's just the
Speaker 1: way I see it. Well, parody is one way to
Speaker 1: put it, and you're probably right, but there's been a
Speaker 1: big players shift this offseason. I don't think there's been
Speaker 1: anything like this in years before. You know, before you
Speaker 1: had the decision with Lebron years ago, but that was
Speaker 1: one player, and of course Bosh went there. And when
Speaker 1: Shock moved so many you know, over two decades ago
Speaker 1: from Orlando to to the Lakers, but even when Shaquille
Speaker 1: shifted seasons. So just for the listeners of your podcast,
Speaker 1: and I think that a stute NBA fan is aware
Speaker 1: of this. But like we all know, the Christmas schedule
Speaker 1: has been out for over a week week ago and
Speaker 1: they make a splash in a punk relations in a
Speaker 1: marketing sense, the league does with those games, but that
Speaker 1: means the whole schedule has kind of been built. But
Speaker 1: it really that's the top of the pyramid, the way
Speaker 1: the schedule is built, and it's built just what I
Speaker 1: was talking about with the Sixers being one of those
Speaker 1: teams that are going to be on ABC's six times,
Speaker 1: like the Lakers with Lebron and these marquee attractions and
Speaker 1: namely the top players. That's what drives the deal, you know,
Speaker 1: and then the schedule kind of fills out after that,
Speaker 1: and you know Brian's you know that the schedule is
Speaker 1: now made with like an algorithm years ago, like Matt Winnick,
Speaker 1: and again going back, you know, ten plus fifteen twenty
Speaker 1: thirty years ago, it was done by hand. Can you
Speaker 1: imagine in pencil? I would think I was sorry, I
Speaker 1: canna cut you off real quick. So I was at
Speaker 1: Summer League a few years ago and someone pointed out
Speaker 1: this guy, Matt Winnick, who was at the league office forever,
Speaker 1: who literally, like you just said, wrote out the schedule
Speaker 1: by hand. And I'm looking at him, and I like,
Speaker 1: to me, that's like a deified figure. I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is the guy who somehow figured out how to do
Speaker 1: all this by hand, right, and now Tom Correlli, who
Speaker 1: was the longtime VP of Broadcasting in the NBA. That's
Speaker 1: his job. And we've known Tom for years because obviously
Speaker 1: we're in the area of broadcasting, and that's he got,
Speaker 1: and he'll tell you he got like a new role
Speaker 1: within the same company. It's almost like his career shifted
Speaker 1: because the marketing dollars and the revenue that that pours
Speaker 1: into the NBA is from in large part these television partners,
Speaker 1: and obviously they deserve to get the marquee Action, the
Speaker 1: primetime Action Christmas Day, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon, Thursday night
Speaker 1: on TANTI, ESPN, and so. And the NBA does an
Speaker 1: incredible job of marketing the stars in our league and
Speaker 1: it's really, i think, unsurpassed in that regarding professional sports.
Speaker 1: So it's pretty cool and it is a daunting task.
Speaker 1: And Correlli would mind me sharing, but a few years
Speaker 1: ago when he first got when he was one of
Speaker 1: the first couple of years that he'd done this, this
Speaker 1: might be the fifth or six year and that he's
Speaker 1: done it, and he said he woke up and oh
Speaker 1: my god, he almost had the cold sweats, and I
Speaker 1: was thinking, I thought he was gonna say that he
Speaker 1: forgot a team or forgot a game, and know the
Speaker 1: realization was that I got to do it again next year.
Speaker 1: So I'm sure it's getting a little bit easier. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a huge thing, and obviously the NBA is
Speaker 1: it's a year round thing, but this this regular season
Speaker 1: is really obviously a huge primary focus setting everything up
Speaker 1: to the NBA postseason. Whether it's some of the headlining opponents,
Speaker 1: tom or some other teams that have made some under
Speaker 1: the radar more subtle moves, any particular opponents or games
Speaker 1: in particular that you are most intrigued by. Well, the
Speaker 1: road schedule starts We mentioned Boston at home, and the
Speaker 1: road schedule starts Detroit. That's where the six Or got
Speaker 1: their first win a couple of years ago. They had
Speaker 1: success last year there, uh, you know, and a lot
Speaker 1: of these teams are going to be so much improved,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, and the Pistons are one of them.
Speaker 1: Then you go to Atlanta right after that, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's to me, there's certain they circles some sites like
Speaker 1: they went down there the Sixers and lost twice to
Speaker 1: the upstart Hawks, and they're going to be better. I mean,
Speaker 1: that group under Lloyd Pierce is going to be on
Speaker 1: the rise. I think there's a lot of teams that
Speaker 1: are so I think Chicago is going to be a
Speaker 1: much improved team. I think people are counting Boston out
Speaker 1: just because their rosters changed, but they're still going to
Speaker 1: be really good and so and the Knicks I think
Speaker 1: are going to be better. And you know, like again
Speaker 1: dropping back into a bit of a from a basketball mindset,
Speaker 1: you got to be able to take care and handle
Speaker 1: the teams that you should beat. So, yes, a lot
Speaker 1: of these young teams are going to be better and
Speaker 1: on the rise. But you know, the Sixers, they've got
Speaker 1: to handle this team. You gotta win three out of
Speaker 1: four against these young teams and take care of business
Speaker 1: against teams quote unquote you should beat. And again there
Speaker 1: are missteps like the Hawks. You know, coach Pierce came
Speaker 1: to the playoffs last year at the center with Kevin Herder.
Speaker 1: I'm like, geez, I'll bet you wish you could play
Speaker 1: the six Ers fifty times three out of four times.
Speaker 1: He had like a little knowing glance too. You took
Speaker 1: that in stride. But again, and another part of the
Speaker 1: formula is in order to win fifty plus victories a
Speaker 1: year games like the Sixers have done over the last
Speaker 1: two years, you gotta win, you know, at least half
Speaker 1: your road games and then be a dominant team at home,
Speaker 1: and the Sixers have done that. I thought last year
Speaker 1: that home a dominant for the Sixers was just enormous
Speaker 1: and really put them in a position to be as
Speaker 1: good as they were in the regular season and obviously
Speaker 1: into the playoffs. So there's no doubt about the marquee
Speaker 1: matchups to your point, but you gotta be, you know,
Speaker 1: on the rise, steadily consistent, dominate when you can, and
Speaker 1: put yourselves in a position to win as clichek as
Speaker 1: it is on the road and do a good job
Speaker 1: against a lot of these teams out on the road.
Speaker 1: The Brooklyn Nets are a team within the seventy sixers
Speaker 1: very own ultra now competitive division that added some huge
Speaker 1: hooge talent obviously this off season between Durant Irving, DeAndre, Jordan, Wilson,
Speaker 1: Chandler a really fine role player go to the Nets
Speaker 1: as well. But it's interesting note Tom looking at when
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers play Brooklyn, three out of the four
Speaker 1: matchups come between January and into February, and you know,
Speaker 1: you're thinking, like, hey, Katie, people will estimated maybe around
Speaker 1: a nine month recovery time. That could be just outside
Speaker 1: the window the Sixers have to play the Nets. That's
Speaker 1: going to be a fascinating storyline regardless of when the
Speaker 1: Sixers play Brooklyn is just when is Katie coming back?
Speaker 1: And then what will he do to Brooklyn and what
Speaker 1: will Brooklyn even be at that stage of the season
Speaker 1: when he does return. Yeah, I guess what. Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: might miss the whole year though, you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think Clay Thompson is a little bit more at
Speaker 1: with that injury for February or March, but with the Achilles,
Speaker 1: I'd be surprised, you know, I don't think really there's
Speaker 1: a realistic expectation that Durant is going to play in
Speaker 1: January and that that's just me and you know that's
Speaker 1: getting into player of health. But you talk about Brooklyn
Speaker 1: many good. So they still have di In Witty, they
Speaker 1: still have Karris Lebert, Joe Harris had a great year
Speaker 1: and now you add Kyrie Um and Jordan is certainly
Speaker 1: going to help in terms of with Jared Allen in
Speaker 1: that five position and Kenny Atkinson, those guys they really
Speaker 1: jumped further ahead than I think, by their own admission,
Speaker 1: h than where they expected to be in their whole rebuild.
Speaker 1: And Shawn Mark has done a terrific job. And you know,
Speaker 1: I talked about some of these young teams and you know,
Speaker 1: we forget about Toronto the NBA champions. And again, I
Speaker 1: know Kawhi left, but you know Siakam had a breakout year.
Speaker 1: Kyle's not going away. They're gonna be good. You know,
Speaker 1: they're they're that there's still the team that's that's won
Speaker 1: the division and they're going to be really competitive. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's difficult in New York as still,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe got the players that they were
Speaker 1: looking for, but they got an unbelievable young, talented player
Speaker 1: in r J. Barrett. Knox is going to be good.
Speaker 1: Like I said, they're one of those teams that I
Speaker 1: don't know if you can say don't count them out,
Speaker 1: but I think they're going to be better than maybe
Speaker 1: people think. T mac last question before I wrap up,
Speaker 1: let's just remove the idea of the caliber of opponent players.
Speaker 1: What's the top three Tom McGinnis travel Loog destination list
Speaker 1: in the NBA. Say that again, travel Loog? What's that?
Speaker 1: What are the top three cities for Tom McGinnis to visit,
Speaker 1: regardless of opponent or team in the end? Right? Right? Okay,
Speaker 1: So still Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena,
Speaker 1: is the most fun plays to go. Even when they're
Speaker 1: not five hundred, our games seem to be close with
Speaker 1: them all the time. It's very exciting. The electricity in
Speaker 1: the garden is as far as roads city is the best.
Speaker 1: And then Chicago is where what kind of like I
Speaker 1: started while I grew up in Illinois and started going
Speaker 1: to NBA games as a as a young guy. And
Speaker 1: it's still, like I said in years past, like a
Speaker 1: little serum trickles down into my heart. It's just a
Speaker 1: really great feeling to go back and and love being
Speaker 1: in that city. Has still have so much family and
Speaker 1: friends in that area. And uh, and I love to
Speaker 1: going to Los Angeles, There's no doubt about it. You know.
Speaker 1: The thing with LA and going out west is our
Speaker 1: games out there other than that Clippers game is going
Speaker 1: to be you know, in the afternoon, but you know,
Speaker 1: our games you're you're in a Pacific time zone, so
Speaker 1: it's ten ten thirty. That Warriors game will be at eight,
Speaker 1: which will be great, and that's another great venue that'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to go to the Chase Center, but going
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles is always excited. And obviously the Clippers
Speaker 1: anily Akers. Now those would be my top three things
Speaker 1: I think t Mac. Always great to hear the sound
Speaker 1: of your voice, particularly as we get to talk about
Speaker 1: some material, concrete, tangible details of the next season coming
Speaker 1: up in twenty nine twenty. Thanks so much, man, appreciate it, Brian,
Speaker 1: look forward to it whenever the Accase schedule release. Maybe
Speaker 1: I'm just seeing him around the office in Camden. Always
Speaker 1: excellent to speak with Tom McGinnis, gets you that much
Speaker 1: more excited for the games ahead, which for the seventy
Speaker 1: six ers begin in Earnest with the regular season opener
Speaker 1: at home on October the twenty third verse of the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. Last time on the pot a Teas Day
Speaker 1: chat with Trey Burke. Unless something crazy happens that will
Speaker 1: come to you the next time we talk, which should
Speaker 1: be either I don't know, maybe later this week or
Speaker 1: first thing next week. So I'll be on the lookout
Speaker 1: for that. Thanks so much, see you