Speaker 1: It was a massive undertaking, a major project that required
Speaker 1: an intensive, thoughtful plan and a whole lot of time.
Speaker 1: But the seventy Sixers are now ready to unveil their
Speaker 1: brand new sweatshirt, gray, Rocky and Creed inspired Nike City
Speaker 1: Edition uniforms. TJ McConnell's going to share some stories from
Speaker 1: his instantly iconic photoshoot at the Kissing Fresh Meat Soccer.
Speaker 1: They told me about it, and I said, let's go
Speaker 1: all in with it. So when to kine re enact
Speaker 1: that scene from Rocky And there's frigid in there, but
Speaker 1: it's still fun. And we'll also here from Zach Low,
Speaker 1: the excellent ESPN hoopswriter who did a story on the
Speaker 1: City Edition unis and will also pick his brain about
Speaker 1: the state of the Sixers too, including Joe Ellenby. I
Speaker 1: think defensively he's given better than he was last year,
Speaker 1: and just his post game is just outrageous. There's just
Speaker 1: no one that can stop him. That's coming up on
Speaker 1: this City Edition centric edition of the broadcast. Good to
Speaker 1: be speaking to you out there in podcast land, seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers podcast Land, to be exact, my name is Brian
Speaker 1: Seltzer from Sixers dot Com. Thank you as always for
Speaker 1: checking out the podcast. Yes, we are going to be
Speaker 1: discussing in depth the City Edition uniforms for this year.
Speaker 1: I like them. I really really like the shorts with
Speaker 1: that retro seventy six logo on the side, inspired by
Speaker 1: the bi centennial logo for the City of Philadelphia. But
Speaker 1: it really is just an amazing process to learn and
Speaker 1: uncover more details about everything that not only the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers Business Operations department went through to work with Nike
Speaker 1: to put the City Edition uniforms together, but also the
Speaker 1: buy in and the engagement and the support that players
Speaker 1: on the team themselves had in the campaign to launch
Speaker 1: the City Edition uniforms. The Sixers will debut the uniforms
Speaker 1: in their game on Friday at November the ninth against
Speaker 1: these Charlotte Hornets and wear them seven more times on
Speaker 1: the season after that. So I think it's a cool storyline.
Speaker 1: It's something different, and we're gonna hear from t J
Speaker 1: McConnell and Zach Low about that subject. And Zach will
Speaker 1: also dig a little bit deeper into what he's been
Speaker 1: seeing from the Sixers through the first three weeks of
Speaker 1: the season. Reminders before we get started that. To subscribe
Speaker 1: to the podcast, you can do so in a couple
Speaker 1: of ways. You can head two Apple podcasts. You can
Speaker 1: go to Google Play, you can go to Stitcher, pocketcasts, SoundCloud,
Speaker 1: tune in, type in Sixers Podcast Network. That will take
Speaker 1: you to our feed. I'll tell you, at least in
Speaker 1: the world that I live in it. It is always
Speaker 1: great to podcast, but even better so after an encouraging outcome,
Speaker 1: and the Sixers had that on Wednesday night. They went
Speaker 1: to Banker's Life Fieldhouse, a difficult place to play in Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: looking to bounce back after a bumpy defeat on the
Speaker 1: road at Brooklyn on Sunday, and you know what, the
Speaker 1: Sixers they did just that, one hundred ninety four third
Speaker 1: win in their last four games seven and five on
Speaker 1: the season. Joel Embiid was great per usual, Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: highly impactful per usual. But what was a really nice
Speaker 1: development from the win at the Pacers was the Sixers
Speaker 1: got some really important contributions from members of the supporting cast,
Speaker 1: guys like Dario Charge. How awesome was that to see
Speaker 1: Dario breakout for an eighteen point game four to six
Speaker 1: from three point territory Robert Covington all thirteen of his
Speaker 1: points in the second half, big and giving the Sixers
Speaker 1: a boost going into the fourth quarter. Mark el Foltz
Speaker 1: was at the controls and the Sixers made their move
Speaker 1: to take control of the game. And more great things
Speaker 1: from Landry Shammon, who had twelve points in the game.
Speaker 1: So a nice note for the seventy Sixers to head
Speaker 1: in to the weekend on. But yes, as we look ahead,
Speaker 1: in particular to Friday's home game versus the Charlotte Hornets
Speaker 1: Military Appreciation Night, Sixers gonna be rolling out those great
Speaker 1: City Edition uniforms. We're gonna get Zachlo's thoughts on those
Speaker 1: in just a moment, But first let's go to TJ McConnell.
Speaker 1: TJ was involved in the Sixers marketing campaign launch for
Speaker 1: the City Edition uniforms. He'll talk to us about that,
Speaker 1: but we first started off our conversation after practice about
Speaker 1: how Brett Brown handles the team after a tough game
Speaker 1: like the one in Brooklyn, setting the tone for a
Speaker 1: bounce back victory the likes of which the Sixers had
Speaker 1: Wednesday in Indie, keeping the spirits up, telling us what
Speaker 1: we did wrong, and we just have to be better.
Speaker 1: It's on us players. I mean, he could complain and
Speaker 1: tell us what we did wrong until he's blow in
Speaker 1: the face, but if we don't go out there and
Speaker 1: change it, there's really nothing he can do about it.
Speaker 1: So it's on us as a team. And he did
Speaker 1: his part as a coach to tell us what we
Speaker 1: did and now we got to go fix it on
Speaker 1: the court. Three weeks in, what have you liked? What
Speaker 1: do you think are some of the biggest areas for improvement. Um,
Speaker 1: I just think offensive, we've got to keep moving the ball,
Speaker 1: play with pace, and that'll lead to our defense. We're
Speaker 1: scoring and getting back and that's whe're at our best
Speaker 1: is when our defense is set. We just gotta we
Speaker 1: just gotta talk about it and like I said, play
Speaker 1: together as a team, all right. Cededition uniforms. First of all,
Speaker 1: give me your astute design. I review of the City
Speaker 1: Edition uniforms. You know that's not my line of work,
Speaker 1: So you know, I think they're cool. Kind of shows
Speaker 1: the heart of the city and you know, I like
Speaker 1: the gray. It's a nice little change of pace and
Speaker 1: I hopefully will play well. And I know you guys
Speaker 1: as players put in so much work preparing to go
Speaker 1: out there for a game. But when you read about
Speaker 1: the amount of thought the business side puts into the
Speaker 1: circle of stars, the sweatshirt, gray text or all that stuff,
Speaker 1: does that ever kind of like blow your mind that
Speaker 1: on the marketing side that much thought is put into it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you got to give them so much credit
Speaker 1: for being able to do something like that. So I'll
Speaker 1: credit to them and for the amount of work they
Speaker 1: put in. Hopefully we can put that same amount of
Speaker 1: work on the court and play. Well. How did you
Speaker 1: get approached about the idea of going to Kissing Meats
Speaker 1: for what is now a very instant iconic photo. They
Speaker 1: told me about it, and I said, let's let's go
Speaker 1: all in with it, um, wanting to kind reenact that
Speaker 1: scene from Rocky And there was frigid in there, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's still fun. Did you watch Rocky a
Speaker 1: lot back in your younger days, back in the day?
Speaker 1: But I still could rewatch them again. Where will that
Speaker 1: photo in the McConnell household go next to the wedding pictures?
Speaker 1: Do you think or is there a place for it yet?
Speaker 1: I think that will be, uh, you know, right in
Speaker 1: the ceiling when we wake up so we can both
Speaker 1: see that lovely picture in the morning, all right, TJ. Thanks,
Speaker 1: thank you. T J. McConnell. Rare does an interview go
Speaker 1: by where there is not at least some dose of
Speaker 1: tongue in cheek commentary from the fourth year seventy six er.
Speaker 1: You've probably had to have seen by now. The photo
Speaker 1: or photos from t J at the Kiss and Fresh
Speaker 1: Meats factory locker in Fishtown, just off at Delaware Avenue.
Speaker 1: It is great recreating that scene from Rocky with the
Speaker 1: black nit winter cap, the cutoff sweatshirt with another sweatshirt
Speaker 1: underneath it, the bloodied tape wrapped around the hands. Just
Speaker 1: phenomenal stuff. All part of the seventy Sixers Set Edition
Speaker 1: uniform launch. It's going to debut on Friday versus the
Speaker 1: Charlotte Hornets. We'll hear from Zach Low in a moment,
Speaker 1: but first let me tell you about the Delaware Bluecoats.
Speaker 1: Upcoming home season is going to start because the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers Field House in Wilmington is still under construction. It's
Speaker 1: going to start at the Center, Yes, the same building
Speaker 1: with the seventy Sixers play on November the twentieth at
Speaker 1: seven o'clock and the big thing is this, The first
Speaker 1: ten thousand fans through the gates will receive a limited
Speaker 1: edition bobblehead of the big Man himself, All Star Joel
Speaker 1: and beat tickets starting in just fifteen bucks for the
Speaker 1: Lower Bowl and they're on sale now. A great opportunity
Speaker 1: to bring the family out, get them close to some
Speaker 1: live professional basketball action, and leave with a complimentary on
Speaker 1: the house Joel Embid bobblehead. Here's the ticket information Sixers
Speaker 1: dot com backslash Bluecoats, or you can call three zero
Speaker 1: two five zero four seven, five eight seven three zero
Speaker 1: two five zero four seven five eight seven Coach Coats.
Speaker 1: Zach Lowe one of the best basketball writers covering the
Speaker 1: NBA around He is the senior writer for ESPN. In
Speaker 1: addition to being able to break down all thirty of
Speaker 1: the teams in the league at the drop of a
Speaker 1: hat and probably tell you about each of the seventeen
Speaker 1: players on each of those thirty teams, he is also
Speaker 1: big into marketing things around the league, whether it's court
Speaker 1: designs jerseys. He also did an article on the Sixers
Speaker 1: City Edition uniform release called Gonna Fly Now Inside these
Speaker 1: Sixer's new rocking spired uniforms. And it is great to
Speaker 1: be able to welcome Zach to the podcast right now. Zach,
Speaker 1: what's up? Thanks so much. We're taking a few minutes
Speaker 1: my pleasure. How are you doing? Doing great? So let's
Speaker 1: just start and get right into it. What do you
Speaker 1: think of the unis? I like them. I like them
Speaker 1: actually more than more than I thought I would when
Speaker 1: I first saw them in person, whenever that was like, um,
Speaker 1: you know, the actual jerseys themselves. My first instinct was, Oh,
Speaker 1: they're a little dull. I like the idea, but they're
Speaker 1: a little dull. And the more I saw them, and
Speaker 1: the more I looked at them, the more I liked them.
Speaker 1: I like them overall. What were some of the finer
Speaker 1: point details that stood out to you? I like the
Speaker 1: I like the blue and red striping. I think that
Speaker 1: gives it a little pop that it needed. Everyone's gonna
Speaker 1: love that. Like like that championship belt thing that goes
Speaker 1: along the belt area of the jersey. And I think
Speaker 1: they were I think it was a cool idea to
Speaker 1: go no letters. I think that's going to be controversial.
Speaker 1: There are only a couple of jerseys that I've ever
Speaker 1: done that but I just feel like, if you're gonna
Speaker 1: have nine thousand jerseys every year, like at least have
Speaker 1: some at least go crazy on some of them. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of what the city Edish in space should
Speaker 1: be four, right, I mean it seems like it's something different,
Speaker 1: a place in space to experiment in, right, Yeah, it
Speaker 1: should be. I mean something that's like hyperlocal, a little
Speaker 1: bit experimental, like these teams that just have these boring
Speaker 1: just like let's just make a black alternate of our
Speaker 1: regular jerseys, or let's just care like the Spurs or
Speaker 1: just carrying over the same camouflage jersey every year, Like
Speaker 1: come on, let's let's let's get with it a little bit.
Speaker 1: I know that you were big into NBA art in
Speaker 1: jerseys and stuff like that. Were you pleased to see
Speaker 1: that Ball and Ben has a little bit more of
Speaker 1: a prominent presence in these uniforms. I do like Ball
Speaker 1: and Ben. I'm a fan. I think I think years ago,
Speaker 1: didn't they have some poll about like what the mat
Speaker 1: mat Scott should be and it was between him and
Speaker 1: a moose and something else, and I don't remember who won,
Speaker 1: but I thought ballin Ben was clearly the best of
Speaker 1: those of those options. He's kind of had a mercurial
Speaker 1: path in Sixers logo history, like he's been there, it's
Speaker 1: been subtled. But now he's front and center. I think
Speaker 1: it's a good look for him. I think it's a
Speaker 1: nice spot. Yeah, he's front and center, but he's small.
Speaker 1: I think too much ball in Ben like it is
Speaker 1: Ben Franklin. You don't want to like caricature Ben Franklin
Speaker 1: too much. But I think you're like a little just
Speaker 1: a little small doses here and there. I think are good,
Speaker 1: just because I'm so hypercentric on what happens in seventy
Speaker 1: sixers Land and the way that the business operation works here.
Speaker 1: This whole campaign, it seemed like there were lots of
Speaker 1: layers to it from not just the thought that went
Speaker 1: into the jersey design, but what they did taking players
Speaker 1: out into scenics throughout the city of Philadelphia. Robert Covington
Speaker 1: on Ninth Street in the Italian market. T J. McConnell
Speaker 1: at Kissing Meats. Do most teams go to this extent
Speaker 1: when it comes to building out a campaign, When it
Speaker 1: comes to their marketing operations, for sure? No, um uh,
Speaker 1: some teams don't do anything. Uh some teams do do
Speaker 1: do stuff, but not not to the extent of having
Speaker 1: all those photo shoots, right. And it's also like teams
Speaker 1: are it's impossible to keep these jerseys a secret now
Speaker 1: no matter how hard teams try and UM, and you know,
Speaker 1: you do risk to some degree. The more people that
Speaker 1: see it, the more photo shoots there are, the more
Speaker 1: stuff that you know, Robert Covington's running in public, people
Speaker 1: are going to start wondering what the hell is going
Speaker 1: on with that? So you risked that a little bit, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but teams don't. Teams don't go to that that length typically.
Speaker 1: And credit to the Sixers like they take it. They
Speaker 1: take it seriously well from what you've found out and
Speaker 1: speaking with executives here, why does that matter to them?
Speaker 1: On the business side, I think you know there is
Speaker 1: first First of all, they all want to make money,
Speaker 1: right of it. Let's let's not let's not overlook obvious, right,
Speaker 1: Like these jerseys are items to be sold to fans,
Speaker 1: and they want fans to buy them. I do think
Speaker 1: the Sixers care about UM. Like I hate the word
Speaker 1: brand just as a just on its face. I hate it.
Speaker 1: I hate the way it's used, But I do think
Speaker 1: the Sixers have some sort of it almost reminds me
Speaker 1: of the Celtics in terms of like they have a
Speaker 1: deep sort of respect and understanding for Okay, this is
Speaker 1: like an original NBA franchise essentially with like a pretty
Speaker 1: glorious and important history, and not only that, with an
Speaker 1: identity that's linked to American history, a system of iconography
Speaker 1: that's like you know, red, white and blue stars all that.
Speaker 1: Like they like, let's let's if we're going to deviate
Speaker 1: from that or if we're going to um, if we're
Speaker 1: going to move away from that, Like, let's be careful
Speaker 1: because that's a pretty significant like brand of art, a
Speaker 1: pretty significant look. And you know, this is the franchise
Speaker 1: of Wilth and Doctor J. Like let's not get a
Speaker 1: little too crazy. Everything we do looks pretty good. Let's
Speaker 1: be respectful of that, even as we try things like
Speaker 1: Rocky and wherever else they're going to try in coming years.
Speaker 1: The franchise now also t J McConnell and a meat locker.
Speaker 1: TJ has done a lot of great, unexpected things in
Speaker 1: his career, but if this is truly TJ's lasting legacy,
Speaker 1: there will at least be that photoshot of him in
Speaker 1: the meat locker there needed to be. I'm a I'm
Speaker 1: a little bit disappointed, as others have noted that there
Speaker 1: was not also TJ McConnell chasing chickens and rooster that
Speaker 1: needed to happen that See, it seems like a no brainer.
Speaker 1: I don't know why that didn't happen. Well, I think
Speaker 1: it's a great point. I got to ask you about
Speaker 1: what we're actually seeing from the six or so far
Speaker 1: on the court in a second. But I also was
Speaker 1: interested when when was your love and kind of your
Speaker 1: niche focus in this realm of NBA dumb Where did
Speaker 1: that come from? Was there like a young Zach Low gearhead,
Speaker 1: jersey collector, sneaker guy that sort of thing. No, I
Speaker 1: was never a sneaker guy ever, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: always liked T shirts. I was a big like a
Speaker 1: lot of guys my age, like I'm forty one, that
Speaker 1: like those those T shirts with where everyone had the
Speaker 1: oversized heads of the cartoons with the oversized heads. Those
Speaker 1: became popular. Like I always liked going to sports memorabilia
Speaker 1: stores and buying posters and you know, a little knick
Speaker 1: knacks here or there. So I've always just kind of
Speaker 1: liked all the side stuff about about the NBA and
Speaker 1: about sports in general, and I just when when I
Speaker 1: started writing about it here and there, I think there
Speaker 1: were people that were skeptical that like anyone cared, and
Speaker 1: I kind of trusted in my gut. I was like,
Speaker 1: I think people will read something that's sort of funny
Speaker 1: and good about court designs, Like I think people actually
Speaker 1: kind of are interested in this stuff, and it turns
Speaker 1: out that they are. Like people are really interested in
Speaker 1: like these goofy little things that you wouldn't think they're
Speaker 1: interested in. All right, let's if you would in the
Speaker 1: limited time we have left, as we talk about the
Speaker 1: seventy six and what we've seen so far from them,
Speaker 1: would have been your impression the first three weeks of
Speaker 1: the season. I was relatively, I think a little bit
Speaker 1: low on them compared to the consensus that so I'm
Speaker 1: not surprised that they're having some hiccups offensively trying to
Speaker 1: integrate Folts and Simmons with embad and all that. Those
Speaker 1: those are very Folts and Simmons are very unusual offensive pieces,
Speaker 1: and it's been a little bit of a struggle, and
Speaker 1: you know, figuring out how much to go back to
Speaker 1: that lineup with Reddick that killed the whole league last
Speaker 1: year and some of their depth issues. But like, I
Speaker 1: don't I've since just sort of reading blog recaps of
Speaker 1: six of the games that I didn't I haven't watched, um,
Speaker 1: you know, nights. I don't watch them. I sense like
Speaker 1: some panic among fans, like, oh, this isn't working. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't go there, like this was always going to be
Speaker 1: sort of a long term play trying to figure out
Speaker 1: how folks fits, and particularly the way Mbiad has played
Speaker 1: has been super encouraging, So I'm not worried about them yet.
Speaker 1: I think their defense should be better than it's been,
Speaker 1: and they are eventually going if we get forty games
Speaker 1: into the season and the fault Simmons thing isn't working
Speaker 1: as well as they expected, you know, and you've already
Speaker 1: seen Brett I think, start to stagger them a little
Speaker 1: more the last three or four games, But they will
Speaker 1: eventually have to have sort of a come to Jesus
Speaker 1: moment of like how much can we really roll all
Speaker 1: these guys out on the floor together. I feel like
Speaker 1: everyone has their own different idea of this, but to
Speaker 1: you what would constitute a successful productive season for markl
Speaker 1: Faults when it's all said and done in terms of
Speaker 1: what the Sixers are able to get out of him.
Speaker 1: I mean, he should defend well. I think he's been
Speaker 1: a little hit or miss on that end, but he'll
Speaker 1: be good. He's explosive in transition, like all that stuff
Speaker 1: is there. It's just you know, he's got to be
Speaker 1: confident shooting the ball. I mean, I don't really care
Speaker 1: about anything else. Honestly when I watch him. All the
Speaker 1: other stuff is there, the passing, the transition, attacks, the
Speaker 1: you know, occasional little cuts here and there. If he
Speaker 1: just didn't gonna shoot and he's shooting here and there,
Speaker 1: he he just has to shoot when the offense dictates
Speaker 1: that he shoots, and if he gets to that point,
Speaker 1: that's successful. I don't really even care about anything else
Speaker 1: but because that's going to dictate how well he fits
Speaker 1: with Simmons. And by the way, Simmons Simmons is, the
Speaker 1: game hasn't really evolved either. Now it's only his second
Speaker 1: full season, so maybe that's not fair to expect, but
Speaker 1: those are two really strange NBA players, very talented. Simmons
Speaker 1: I put him on an All NBA team last year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think he ended up making it All NBA team,
Speaker 1: but he made my third team All NBA. But that's
Speaker 1: that's not an easy It's it's a good problem to
Speaker 1: have in terms of they're both number one picks and
Speaker 1: mbiad is super talented, but it's not that easy of
Speaker 1: a fit. As for Joel Embiid, another cornerstone for this team,
Speaker 1: numbers have been fantastic so far. I mean, even if
Speaker 1: what he's doing for the first three weeks isn't quite
Speaker 1: sustainable at this level, I mean, have you seen progress
Speaker 1: as far as what he's displayed to this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think I think defensively he's easy, even
Speaker 1: better than he was last year. He's about as advertised
Speaker 1: and just um, you know, his post game is just outrageous.
Speaker 1: I mean, he filed out almost the entire Pistons team
Speaker 1: the other day. He's not There's just no one that
Speaker 1: can stop him. I don't have the numbers in front
Speaker 1: of me right now, but I don't see as many
Speaker 1: sort of wild turnovers from him as I did last year,
Speaker 1: and that so that was sort of the next leap
Speaker 1: for him is one of two things. Either shoot better
Speaker 1: from three on the ones that you do take, or
Speaker 1: you know, when you get doubled in the post, handled
Speaker 1: that a little bit better. And I think he's handled
Speaker 1: that a little bit better. And part of that is,
Speaker 1: I mean, no one can stop him without fouling him.
Speaker 1: He's on the free throw on the entire game. The
Speaker 1: irony is that that game against the Brooklyn Nets earlier
Speaker 1: in the week, the turnovers all came from the Sixers
Speaker 1: pretty much trying to get him the ball, rather than
Speaker 1: what happened once he got the ball. So at least
Speaker 1: it seems like the reads like you were saying, he's
Speaker 1: picking stuff up a little bit more. And the other
Speaker 1: thing is, I mean, I'm not sure if you get
Speaker 1: a sense of this from people you talk to, whether
Speaker 1: it's executive other coaches, or players, but for his as
Speaker 1: much as he may talk when he's on the court,
Speaker 1: it seems like once it's all done, I mean, there's
Speaker 1: like an underlying sense of either appreciation or respect or
Speaker 1: a combo of both that people have for him. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you see it that way, but on
Speaker 1: the outside that it seems like that exists. Yeah, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I think there are teams who would who
Speaker 1: think he kind of talks a little bit too much,
Speaker 1: but I honestly, I hear even from teams who feature
Speaker 1: some of his favorite targets in the league. I think
Speaker 1: teams kind of like it because they sense almost that
Speaker 1: like it's not coming from a malicious place, that it's
Speaker 1: coming from a place of like I like the competition,
Speaker 1: like I want you to bring it at me because
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring it at you and if you don't
Speaker 1: bring it too, like I'm gonna falue right out of
Speaker 1: the game. But like I want to get under your
Speaker 1: skin because I want the best out of you, because
Speaker 1: that like that's what's fun for me for me Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid And I think I think coaches and executives on
Speaker 1: other teams are like, if he's gonna he's gonna nudge
Speaker 1: our players who maybe don't defend as hard as they
Speaker 1: should all the time or whatever, like to to be better.
Speaker 1: Like we kind of like that. Got two more questions
Speaker 1: for you. Number One, Any surprised at all that JJ
Speaker 1: Reddick is still ticking the way he does it at
Speaker 1: this stage of his career. Nah, he several years ago
Speaker 1: he knew I gotta I gotta be super serious about
Speaker 1: my body and my craft and and to stay around
Speaker 1: as an impact player in the league. And he does it,
Speaker 1: and he is he just he is remarkable the way
Speaker 1: he moves around the floor. I mean, they're just the
Speaker 1: only two or three guys in the league that really
Speaker 1: can do that, and he's one of them. And lastly,
Speaker 1: I know you had him on the podcast just before
Speaker 1: the start of the preseason, Elton brand new general manager
Speaker 1: of the seventy six ers. What do you think he
Speaker 1: brings to that role. Certainly viewed as one of the
Speaker 1: all time nice good citizens in the NBA, and now
Speaker 1: he's in a position where he gets to mul division
Speaker 1: of a franchise. Yeah, it being one of the all
Speaker 1: time nice good citizens of the NBA means that everyone
Speaker 1: knows you, everyone likes you, and everyone talks to you,
Speaker 1: and you get you give. You get very good at
Speaker 1: gathering credible intel on players, which is a really underrated
Speaker 1: part of the job. And I think, look, Elton's going
Speaker 1: to keep his vision close to the best as he should.
Speaker 1: But I think I think and I tend to gravitate
Speaker 1: toward guys who aren't afraid to sort of stick their
Speaker 1: necks out and have unconventional opinions or disagree with people,
Speaker 1: or see something in players that maybe other people don't see,
Speaker 1: or see that they could thrive in a role that
Speaker 1: they're not in right now. And I think Elton is
Speaker 1: a creative thinker who is not afraid to disagree with
Speaker 1: the consensus and if he feels like it's backed up
Speaker 1: by his own research in his own work, I think,
Speaker 1: I think, I think that's really important to have it.
Speaker 1: In ENERGYM wouldn't expect anything less but great stuff from
Speaker 1: busy man Zach Low. Zach, appreciate a few minutes. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, my pleasure, have fun A wealth of knowledge
Speaker 1: from Zach Low, ESPN senior writer, the host of the
Speaker 1: outstanding podcast The Low Post. Elton brand, as we said,
Speaker 1: was on it towards the end of September, and I
Speaker 1: thought that was a really interesting point that Zach made
Speaker 1: about the relational side and strengths that Elton brings the
Speaker 1: table and how that might actually be able to benefit
Speaker 1: the Sixers in some intelligence gather Anyhow, great stuff from Zach.
Speaker 1: We appreciate him taking a few minutes. Same goes for t. J. McConnell,
Speaker 1: and same goes to you out there for listening to
Speaker 1: the podcast. As always, be on the lookout for game
Speaker 1: rewind editions of the podcast that come your way the
Speaker 1: day after every seventy Sixers game. And also, if you're
Speaker 1: on the feed, check out the Sixers History podcast that
Speaker 1: our bud Curtis Harris did with some of the guys
Speaker 1: from Basketball Reference. Great stuff, all right, talk to you
Speaker 1: next time see it.