WEBVTT - Breaking Down the New Schedule with Tom McGinnis! 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:03.400 The seventy six Ers two thousand, nineteen two thousand and 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.440 twenty regular season schedules outs and we're going to talk 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:07.600 with a guy who's going to have one of the 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:09.719 best seats in the house to each of the team's 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:12.640 eighty two games. When you think of Opretty Night, you 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:15.240 just know the building is going to have great energy 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:18.560 and to become really an incredible home court advantage for 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.160 the basketball team to be at the Center in Philadelphia. 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:24.760 Check it in with the one and only Tom McGinnis. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:35.040 Schedule style on this episode of the broadcast, whether it's Tuesday, 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:38.160 February of the eleventh against the LA Clippers, or perhaps 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.520 a little bit later on on Tuesday in March thirty 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:45.120 first versus the semi revamped Houston Rockets. Plenty of dates 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.559 to circle on the calendar for the fall winner and 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.000 spring ahead as the seventy six Ers two thousand, nineteen, 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:55.440 two twenty slate is outs great to be on this 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.520 occasion chatting with you once again. Can't wait to connect 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.680 with Tom McGinnis and just the moments and I will 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.560 recap some of the many subplots and storylines the seventy 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.920 Sixers upcoming slate for this year, something that makes the 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:13.600 season feel that much more real and within reach as 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.480 we bide time here in the summer off season. We're 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.959 gonna get to that interview in a moment. First reminders 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.960 that to subscribe to the podcast, all you gotta do 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.840 is go your favorite podcast listening platform. Maybe it's Apple Podcasts, 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:35.560 Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, tune in, Stitcher. We're there. Just type 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.120 in Sixers podcast Network and that will take you to 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:42.400 where you need to be, all right. The seventy Sixers 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:47.520 highly anticipated season number seventy one schedule for the franchise 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.400 came out on Monday, August the twelfth, and moments after 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.760 the schedules made official, had the opportunity to speak with 0:01:55.800 --> 0:02:00.559 Tom McGinnis. He and I look ahead forecast, if you will, 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:03.960 what could be in store for the seventy Sixers starting 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.080 October twenty third, when the regular season tips off at 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.440 home against the Boston Celtics. It is great to catch 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:13.840 up with the man who will be at every single 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.920 seventy Sixers game this season, preseason, regular season, postseason knock 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.120 on wood. It is, of course Tom again is Tom? 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.359 How are you? I'm doing great? Brian real excited with 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.120 the schedule out to get ready for yet another sixer season. 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.600 Where do we find Tom again? Us at this stage 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:32.880 of the offseason, middle of August, kind of looking ahead, 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:35.639 we're not too too far away, but still a few 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:40.160 weeks to enjoy the summer life. Well, the summer life 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.639 is for me. It's just a big time with the family, 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.480 and we live at the Jersey Shore for the most part. 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.120 And we'll have the Shore Tour coming up a ninety 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.640 seven five as a fan fest at Xfinity Live in 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:54.919 a couple of weeks on a Saturday. But on a 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.160 day like today, you know where the schedule comes out, 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:00.480 you know, now you really start to go over that 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.880 with a fine truth comb. But it's been a great time. 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.080 My mom has been here throughout the course of the summer. 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:08.960 She's ninety years old, and you know, we play tennis 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:10.600 and golf and go to the beach in the Bay 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:13.280 and just to hang out. It's just been a beautiful 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.320 summer and real quality time with our family. And I 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.359 read all the time and watch the Phillies and whatnot, 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:22.720 and do a lot of things that people do on 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.640 vacation and feel very fortunate to be able to do it. 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:28.600 But now I say, as you say, going forward, and 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.520 you know the schedule, there's so much excitement about the 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:37.200 Sixers with this roster in large part, and then so 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:39.720 many of the great games at the center. And as 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.080 far as like calling the games, it's never about me. 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.040 I'm just a conduit with the Sixers fans on the 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.560 radio of voice of the basketball team. But the schedule 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.560 kind of is personal because for those or seven months, 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:55.840 it's my life, and especially the road where I'm away 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.040 from my family, and just looking at it real quickly 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.320 last night, I think the number is like st seven, 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.839 you know, days and nights, not completely the whole day 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.400 or whatnot, but some combination thereof being away and eight 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:10.840 day road trips. And as you know, the league is 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.160 spaced out the schedule more and the interest of player 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:17.160 health and safety and getting guy rest and so that's 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.680 made for longer road trips. And then we interverse the 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:23.839 fact that the Sixers are on television twenty four times 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.120 some of those dates and some of those road trips. 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:28.960 Those those trips get a little longer because they wanted 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.279 to get to Thursday where TNT is going to air it, 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.440 or Saturday in Oakland where the Sixers will play the Warriors. 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:38.160 So it's all exciting because the Sixers have marquee talent 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:40.159 and they're expected to be a really good team and 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:44.119 have been over the course last two three years. And 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:47.520 to be in this position to play on Christmas and whatnot. 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:52.960 Like I said, it's something to really upgraded to four. 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:55.320 I don't know how it is for you, but for me, 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:57.799 when the schedule comes out, this is when it really 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.760 starts become more of a reality. You know. You go 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.800 to the press conference events where new guys are in 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.800 like Al Horford and Josh Richardson and they bring back 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:09.560 to Bias Harris and that's all well and good, and 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:11.320 you start to see some of these new faces and 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:15.200 new bodies. But when the schedule comes out and you're like, okay, Wednesday, 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:20.119 October twenty three, Boston Celtics, the fanatic ESPN seven thirty center, 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:22.479 All right, I can mark that. Get ready to go. 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:25.600 November twenty third, Saturday Night, finishing up a back to 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.280 back against Jimmy Butler in the Miami Heat. Like this 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:30.239 is when you can really start to sink your teeth 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.400 into how season landscape could look right well for sure, 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.040 and you know, especially when you think of opening night. 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.440 The Sixers have been on the road for the Openers 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.800 in fact, opened at Boston last year National and TV, 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:44.760 and you just know the building is going to have 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:49.279 great energy in the Sixers once again have anticipation that 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:52.480 every game would be sold out. It's become really an 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.760 incredible home court advantage for the basketball team to be 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.480 at the Center in Philadelphia. But I also look at 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:03.640 it as a basketball guy in a basketball since, you know, 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.440 like the schedule is different this year, I mean forever, 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.640 the Sixers traveled out West in that trip after Christmas 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:15.160 and into the calendar New Year, and this year the Sixers, 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:16.960 for the first time since eighty eight, are playing a 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:20.559 home game on Christmas, the third straight time they've played 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.760 on Christmas. But to host Milwaukee at two thirty on 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.440 six ABC is incredible that the boy you talk about 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.839 a marquee position. And then the other part about the 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:34.880 schedule is now you look into that first week in 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:39.839 November and that's the West Coast trip. And so if 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.359 you look over the last couple of seasons, Brian and 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.440 you know this, but Brett Brown's teams have gotten better 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:47.960 as the season has gone along. Last year, there were 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.120 a lot of changes during two parts of the season, 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.720 and even in going back the year before where they 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.520 had that eighteen game winning streak. So you can look 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:58.400 at it two ways. And I know people say it's, oh, 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:00.200 it'll be good for the new group to be together 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.640 on the road, and there's certainly there's credence in that. 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.159 I'm not discounting that, but those are some difficult games. 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.320 You know, you're going to Portland, you're playing so Denvers 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.080 in that trip, You're playing some quality Western Conference teams, 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:15.960 and you know that may not to be the best 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.520 version of the Sixers just a week or two into 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.680 the regular season, and it is what it is. I mean, 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.240 there's also the old school of thought that red hour 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:26.040 back and I believe Larry Bird when he was the 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.840 Pacers coach, and they would look at the schedule and 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.120 they didn't interpret it on so many different levels and nuances. 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:36.400 They were like, but forty one home and forty one road. 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.040 And there's certainly something to that. But I think for 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.080 people like I said that in my case, that this 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:43.960 is their life. This is a tunnel that we're going 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:46.080 into for these next few weeks. And I know the 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:49.480 basketball staff, the team, you know, Brett his job is 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.280 to coach the team, but Elton Brand in the front office, 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:53.920 they're gonna look at it. They're gonna look at home 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.440 and home or excuse me, like you know, road and 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.560 then home back to back. They get into it in 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.560 depth and they get into the prison. L T also 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.520 like with the different like Kemba Walker coming in on 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:07.680 in that game with Boston and not Brooklyn with a 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.600 huge player with Kyrie on the team. So there are 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.800 there's so many different levels that one can really get 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:17.880 down to a granular level and assess the schedule. One 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:19.760 thing that I do like about a time is that, yeah, 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.480 there is the early West Coast trip and a handful 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.040 of road games in November and then stretches December, but 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:30.120 after the second West Coast trip in the beginning of March, 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.800 when they're at the Clippers, Lakers, Kings, and Warriors on 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.760 the first week in March eleven out of the last 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:39.760 eighteen or at the Center and in years past, it's 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.720 felt a little bit less balanced. So as I just 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:44.600 look at the grid where you have the red and 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:46.600 blue boxes for home and away games, it seems like 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:50.320 there's a little bit more balanced this year, right and again, 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:54.080 so taking that same paradigm that I just mentioned about 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:57.040 getting better late. So eleven out of your last eighteen 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:00.520 at home, that's a positive, and there is again there's 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.720 different ways to look at things. You can think about 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:06.720 that West Coast trip, the first one in November and 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:10.240 getting it out of the way, and then in years past, 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.240 I mean years ago, like fifteen, eighteen, twenty years ago, 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.120 that that March trip oftentimes came later in the month 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.600 and sometimes again that was four games and five nights. 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.680 When you look at that game, that trip that you 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:28.319 mentioned with the Clippers, that's Sunday afternoon on network television 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.600 and then Saturday evening in the Warrior, I mean, how 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.600 cool is that to play at Staples against Kawai and 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:39.160 Paul George. I believe the Lakers are on that trip 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:43.720 a Tuesday, and that's a nationally television televised game on TNT. 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.880 I mean the marquee matchups. That's I don't think we 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.400 can that. That's still pretty cool. I mean, even if 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.640 you get that for five or ten years in a row, 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.920 which is the whole thing the sixties have talked about 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.200 is sustained success, and this is part and parcel that 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:03.080 you become a r key team for television purposes with 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.080 these young stars and as you say, Tobias and Joel 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.360 and Ben and Al Horford and Richardson and I like that. 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:14.840 But those are those games that that's pretty neat right there. Yeah, 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.880 there's there's things that have shifted, and in that home 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.200 schedule at the end of the year is hopefully advantageous 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:25.320 in that twenty twenty Porsche of the campaign. Of course, 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.240 you know, Tom, if you're a fan or a medium member, 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.199 and i'd even think a player or a coach or 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:33.600 an executive to a certain degree, you know you're you're 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:35.520 looking at some of the headline teams like when we 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.440 playing the Clippers at home? Or when are we going 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.160 to take on the Lakers? Because I got right a 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.720 D right exactly, Pelican, Zion Williamson, all that stuff. But 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.720 I feel like this offseason there were so many moves 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:48.760 that could affect the parody in the league. I don't 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:50.960 know if you saw it a similar way that you 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.120 look across. I just feel like, more so than previous years, 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.480 there've been move mads. Whether it's the big marquee guys 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.720 like the Russell Westbrooks or the Kawhi Leonard, but another 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:05.480 perhaps B level or maybe a minus to MIDB level 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:08.760 players like a Malcolm Brogden going to India. Of course, 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:12.240 t J McConnell's there now, you know Porzingis with Dallas 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:14.400 teaming up with Luca don Chis. You know, you look 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.640 all around and it seems like to me there's more 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.520 parody this year than in previous season. That's just the 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:22.360 way I see it. Well, parody is one way to 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.800 put it, and you're probably right, but there's been a 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:29.439 big players shift this offseason. I don't think there's been 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:32.679 anything like this in years before. You know, before you 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.680 had the decision with Lebron years ago, but that was 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.120 one player, and of course Bosh went there. And when 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.760 Shock moved so many you know, over two decades ago 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:46.680 from Orlando to to the Lakers, but even when Shaquille 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:51.120 shifted seasons. So just for the listeners of your podcast, 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:54.520 and I think that a stute NBA fan is aware 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.840 of this. But like we all know, the Christmas schedule 0:11:57.840 --> 0:12:00.600 has been out for over a week week ago and 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.000 they make a splash in a punk relations in a 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:07.040 marketing sense, the league does with those games, but that 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:09.360 means the whole schedule has kind of been built. But 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:12.120 it really that's the top of the pyramid, the way 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.480 the schedule is built, and it's built just what I 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.319 was talking about with the Sixers being one of those 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.360 teams that are going to be on ABC's six times, 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:24.400 like the Lakers with Lebron and these marquee attractions and 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:29.120 namely the top players. That's what drives the deal, you know, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.840 and then the schedule kind of fills out after that, 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:34.520 and you know Brian's you know that the schedule is 0:12:34.559 --> 0:12:39.280 now made with like an algorithm years ago, like Matt Winnick, 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.320 and again going back, you know, ten plus fifteen twenty 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.040 thirty years ago, it was done by hand. Can you 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:48.400 imagine in pencil? I would think I was sorry, I 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.120 canna cut you off real quick. So I was at 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:52.199 Summer League a few years ago and someone pointed out 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.680 this guy, Matt Winnick, who was at the league office forever, 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.400 who literally, like you just said, wrote out the schedule 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:58.960 by hand. And I'm looking at him, and I like, 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.280 to me, that's like a deified figure. I'm like, this 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.240 is the guy who somehow figured out how to do 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:08.400 all this by hand, right, and now Tom Correlli, who 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:12.080 was the longtime VP of Broadcasting in the NBA. That's 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:15.960 his job. And we've known Tom for years because obviously 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.319 we're in the area of broadcasting, and that's he got, 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.920 and he'll tell you he got like a new role 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.720 within the same company. It's almost like his career shifted 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:30.000 because the marketing dollars and the revenue that that pours 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.560 into the NBA is from in large part these television partners, 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:38.079 and obviously they deserve to get the marquee Action, the 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:43.839 primetime Action Christmas Day, Saturday night, Sunday afternoon, Thursday night 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:47.880 on TANTI, ESPN, and so. And the NBA does an 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.360 incredible job of marketing the stars in our league and 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:56.120 it's really, i think, unsurpassed in that regarding professional sports. 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.160 So it's pretty cool and it is a daunting task. 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.720 And Correlli would mind me sharing, but a few years 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:05.040 ago when he first got when he was one of 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:06.600 the first couple of years that he'd done this, this 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.040 might be the fifth or six year and that he's 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:12.480 done it, and he said he woke up and oh 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:14.240 my god, he almost had the cold sweats, and I 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:16.280 was thinking, I thought he was gonna say that he 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:18.839 forgot a team or forgot a game, and know the 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.560 realization was that I got to do it again next year. 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:26.240 So I'm sure it's getting a little bit easier. But yeah, 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.920 it's it's a huge thing, and obviously the NBA is 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:32.760 it's a year round thing, but this this regular season 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:38.440 is really obviously a huge primary focus setting everything up 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:42.040 to the NBA postseason. Whether it's some of the headlining opponents, 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:46.000 tom or some other teams that have made some under 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:49.920 the radar more subtle moves, any particular opponents or games 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:53.920 in particular that you are most intrigued by. Well, the 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.600 road schedule starts We mentioned Boston at home, and the 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:00.280 road schedule starts Detroit. That's where the six Or got 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:02.320 their first win a couple of years ago. They had 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.400 success last year there, uh, you know, and a lot 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:08.560 of these teams are going to be so much improved, 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:11.640 you know, I mean, and the Pistons are one of them. 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.520 Then you go to Atlanta right after that, and you know, 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.600 there's to me, there's certain they circles some sites like 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:19.760 they went down there the Sixers and lost twice to 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:23.120 the upstart Hawks, and they're going to be better. I mean, 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:25.200 that group under Lloyd Pierce is going to be on 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:28.280 the rise. I think there's a lot of teams that 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:30.920 are so I think Chicago is going to be a 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.840 much improved team. I think people are counting Boston out 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.200 just because their rosters changed, but they're still going to 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.280 be really good and so and the Knicks I think 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.040 are going to be better. And you know, like again 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:47.400 dropping back into a bit of a from a basketball mindset, 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:50.680 you got to be able to take care and handle 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.280 the teams that you should beat. So, yes, a lot 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:54.960 of these young teams are going to be better and 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.880 on the rise. But you know, the Sixers, they've got 0:15:57.880 --> 0:15:59.800 to handle this team. You gotta win three out of 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.920 four against these young teams and take care of business 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:06.200 against teams quote unquote you should beat. And again there 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.920 are missteps like the Hawks. You know, coach Pierce came 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.880 to the playoffs last year at the center with Kevin Herder. 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:14.320 I'm like, geez, I'll bet you wish you could play 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.880 the six Ers fifty times three out of four times. 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:20.640 He had like a little knowing glance too. You took 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.000 that in stride. But again, and another part of the 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:28.360 formula is in order to win fifty plus victories a 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.680 year games like the Sixers have done over the last 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.480 two years, you gotta win, you know, at least half 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.000 your road games and then be a dominant team at home, 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:39.080 and the Sixers have done that. I thought last year 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.600 that home a dominant for the Sixers was just enormous 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.120 and really put them in a position to be as 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.440 good as they were in the regular season and obviously 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.480 into the playoffs. So there's no doubt about the marquee 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.200 matchups to your point, but you gotta be, you know, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:17:00.040 on the rise, steadily consistent, dominate when you can, and 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.440 put yourselves in a position to win as clichek as 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.280 it is on the road and do a good job 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:08.360 against a lot of these teams out on the road. 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:11.520 The Brooklyn Nets are a team within the seventy sixers 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:15.160 very own ultra now competitive division that added some huge 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:20.000 hooge talent obviously this off season between Durant Irving, DeAndre, Jordan, Wilson, 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.760 Chandler a really fine role player go to the Nets 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.200 as well. But it's interesting note Tom looking at when 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:27.560 the seventy Sixers play Brooklyn, three out of the four 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:33.000 matchups come between January and into February, and you know, 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.080 you're thinking, like, hey, Katie, people will estimated maybe around 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.000 a nine month recovery time. That could be just outside 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:43.160 the window the Sixers have to play the Nets. That's 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:45.399 going to be a fascinating storyline regardless of when the 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.520 Sixers play Brooklyn is just when is Katie coming back? 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:49.840 And then what will he do to Brooklyn and what 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:51.640 will Brooklyn even be at that stage of the season 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:54.800 when he does return. Yeah, I guess what. Kevin Durant 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:56.680 might miss the whole year though, you know, I mean, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.320 I think Clay Thompson is a little bit more at 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:05.000 with that injury for February or March, but with the Achilles, 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:08.320 I'd be surprised, you know, I don't think really there's 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:11.000 a realistic expectation that Durant is going to play in 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.080 January and that that's just me and you know that's 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:16.520 getting into player of health. But you talk about Brooklyn 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.960 many good. So they still have di In Witty, they 0:18:20.040 --> 0:18:22.840 still have Karris Lebert, Joe Harris had a great year 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:27.159 and now you add Kyrie Um and Jordan is certainly 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:29.240 going to help in terms of with Jared Allen in 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:33.160 that five position and Kenny Atkinson, those guys they really 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:36.119 jumped further ahead than I think, by their own admission, 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.920 h than where they expected to be in their whole rebuild. 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.679 And Shawn Mark has done a terrific job. And you know, 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:44.960 I talked about some of these young teams and you know, 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.720 we forget about Toronto the NBA champions. And again, I 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.560 know Kawhi left, but you know Siakam had a breakout year. 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:55.879 Kyle's not going away. They're gonna be good. You know, 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.920 they're they're that there's still the team that's that's won 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:04.080 the division and they're going to be really competitive. So yeah, 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.480 I mean, it's it's it's difficult in New York as still, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.640 I don't know, maybe got the players that they were 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.520 looking for, but they got an unbelievable young, talented player 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:15.800 in r J. Barrett. Knox is going to be good. 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:18.199 Like I said, they're one of those teams that I 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.320 don't know if you can say don't count them out, 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:21.920 but I think they're going to be better than maybe 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:25.439 people think. T mac last question before I wrap up, 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.320 let's just remove the idea of the caliber of opponent players. 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:34.960 What's the top three Tom McGinnis travel Loog destination list 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.520 in the NBA. Say that again, travel Loog? What's that? 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:41.200 What are the top three cities for Tom McGinnis to visit, 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.840 regardless of opponent or team in the end? Right? Right? Okay, 0:19:45.280 --> 0:19:49.640 So still Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous arena, 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.960 is the most fun plays to go. Even when they're 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:55.320 not five hundred, our games seem to be close with 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.720 them all the time. It's very exciting. The electricity in 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:01.639 the garden is as far as roads city is the best. 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:05.040 And then Chicago is where what kind of like I 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:08.200 started while I grew up in Illinois and started going 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:10.399 to NBA games as a as a young guy. And 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.800 it's still, like I said in years past, like a 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:17.159 little serum trickles down into my heart. It's just a 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.840 really great feeling to go back and and love being 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:21.639 in that city. Has still have so much family and 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:24.280 friends in that area. And uh, and I love to 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:26.480 going to Los Angeles, There's no doubt about it. You know. 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:29.560 The thing with LA and going out west is our 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:31.879 games out there other than that Clippers game is going 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.960 to be you know, in the afternoon, but you know, 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.959 our games you're you're in a Pacific time zone, so 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:43.080 it's ten ten thirty. That Warriors game will be at eight, 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:46.120 which will be great, and that's another great venue that'll 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.880 be interesting to go to the Chase Center, but going 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.240 to Los Angeles is always excited. And obviously the Clippers 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:55.240 anily Akers. Now those would be my top three things 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:58.240 I think t Mac. Always great to hear the sound 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:00.240 of your voice, particularly as we get to talk about 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:04.520 some material, concrete, tangible details of the next season coming 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:08.440 up in twenty nine twenty. Thanks so much, man, appreciate it, Brian, 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:16.000 look forward to it whenever the Accase schedule release. Maybe 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.920 I'm just seeing him around the office in Camden. Always 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.880