Speaker 1: Do you know what, Because the podcast was on hiatus
Speaker 1: for a little bit, figured why not do two episodes
Speaker 1: of the pod to get the feeds fired back up
Speaker 1: and revive this week, So here we are once again.
Speaker 1: This is going to kind of be a pote peri
Speaker 1: edition of the broadcast, mixing mashing together some pieces of
Speaker 1: audio content that have been hanging in the queue and
Speaker 1: the hopper for a bit that will bring to you.
Speaker 1: We'll hear from Wilson Chandler, one of the newest seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers acquired via trade with the Denver Nuggets this offseason,
Speaker 1: and we'll also touch base with the president of business
Speaker 1: operations for your Philadelphia seventy Sixers, Chris Hacked, to talk
Speaker 1: about how an NBA team's schedule comes together and the
Speaker 1: sixers upcoming trip to China along with this weekend's final
Speaker 1: short tour events. Before we get into that, of course,
Speaker 1: we must remind you that to subscribe to the broadcast
Speaker 1: and our podcast feed if you have not already, you
Speaker 1: can go to Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, SoundCloud, type
Speaker 1: in Sixers Podcast Network that will take you to our
Speaker 1: feeds and you can subscribe right then and there. If
Speaker 1: you haven't done it. We hope you do. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna hear from Chris Heck in just a few moments
Speaker 1: about the logistics required for putting together an NBA schedule.
Speaker 1: We'll also talk about a kind of social media wager
Speaker 1: he made with one of the seventy sixers young stars.
Speaker 1: That's in just a matter of minutes. But first let's
Speaker 1: hear from Wilson Chandler, NBA veterans swingman, a guy who
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers feel will not only be able to
Speaker 1: add a solid presence on the offensive end of the court,
Speaker 1: but to help add depth on the wing defensively as well.
Speaker 1: He has set for year number eleven in the league.
Speaker 1: The seventy Sixers acquired Chandler from the Nuggets the summer.
Speaker 1: Wilson Chandler was making his first public appearance as a
Speaker 1: member of the seventy Sixers at the Variety Children's charity
Speaker 1: camp just outside of Plymouth. Meeting helped First Trust Bank,
Speaker 1: one of the seventy Sixers partners, present the Variety Children's
Speaker 1: Camp with a twenty five thousand dollar check for future scholarships.
Speaker 1: And it was on that occasion that I had the
Speaker 1: chance to chat briefly with Wilson about the importance of
Speaker 1: getting right out into the community right off the bat
Speaker 1: as a member of a new team, and also some
Speaker 1: of his thoughts looking ahead to the twenty eighteen nineteen season. Wilson,
Speaker 1: you're relatively fresh in town. Why was it important for
Speaker 1: you to come out and be a part of this event? One,
Speaker 1: I think just showing a community. I'm committed to the team,
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm happy to be here. And two,
Speaker 1: it is always good to come out, you know, and
Speaker 1: support everyone, you know, no matter race, special needs, or
Speaker 1: whatever it is. You know, everybody's equal, you know, and
Speaker 1: just want to come out of the part and so to.
Speaker 1: There were lots of smiles on the kids faces, smile
Speaker 1: on your face. Walk us through some of the stuff
Speaker 1: you did with the kids, the kickball stuff, you know,
Speaker 1: some basketball stuff, a couple kids showing their drawings, spoke
Speaker 1: a little bit, so a little bit of everything. You know.
Speaker 1: How much of a responsibility do you take in your
Speaker 1: position as a professional athlete to be a part of
Speaker 1: something like this, Especially now, it seems like, particularly in
Speaker 1: the NBA, there's a real ground swelf support for being out,
Speaker 1: making an impact and making a difference. You know, Um,
Speaker 1: it's always been a big deal, you know to come
Speaker 1: out and you know, show support and just be active
Speaker 1: in communities. But now I think it's an even bigger deal,
Speaker 1: you know, with social media and stuff like that, with
Speaker 1: different platforms and guys like Lebron and you know other
Speaker 1: guys Katie showing U taking initiative and leading like the group.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's always good to come out and
Speaker 1: just continue to do work. To see the way these
Speaker 1: kids light up, it's gotta be a pretty powerful emotion
Speaker 1: that you feel. I think, right, yeah, definitely. You know
Speaker 1: you when you're a kid, you go through all these emotions,
Speaker 1: you know, and like I said, with social media and stuff,
Speaker 1: is at an all time high. So I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it's always good to see smiles kid spaces. What was
Speaker 1: the message that you wanted to leave to the group
Speaker 1: when you spoke with them? Just to know that we
Speaker 1: all equal, you know, and working together is you know,
Speaker 1: one of the greatest things we can do to bringing
Speaker 1: each other up. Philadelphias, you have to get to know
Speaker 1: you with a new acquisition that you are. Was there
Speaker 1: a positive experience that you had when you think back
Speaker 1: on your youth that you felt put you on course
Speaker 1: affected you in a good way. Yeah, definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: going to school and just being around friends and uh
Speaker 1: playing basketball and being around my teammates all the time.
Speaker 1: Just put things in perspective, you know, and how a
Speaker 1: friendships can lead to being family one day and life longer.
Speaker 1: A friendships that you are no stranger to living life
Speaker 1: and professional basketball. But you haven't changed teams a whole
Speaker 1: lot over the course of your career. How does someone
Speaker 1: in your position adjust to a new surrounding. How do
Speaker 1: you get to learn a new situation like the Sixers. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's tough, but you know one thing I could say
Speaker 1: about this organization and the team from top to bottom.
Speaker 1: You know, the day I got traded, everybody reached out,
Speaker 1: you know, from the owners to the player, as to
Speaker 1: the equipment team. Everybody reached out and made me feel
Speaker 1: at home right away. So they made it easy on you.
Speaker 1: When you were with Denver, had a chance to face
Speaker 1: the Sixers during that march Ron and the team was
Speaker 1: on the winning street or your impressions and the team then,
Speaker 1: did you have a sense that something was building in
Speaker 1: terms of a madam for the seventy Sixers. Yeah, definitely. Um.
Speaker 1: The coach first of all, is doing a great job
Speaker 1: coaching those guys, playing everybody in the right position to
Speaker 1: se see, and the chemistry is amazing. And every guy
Speaker 1: plays hard, you know, you know, first to the last
Speaker 1: name of the bench. You know, everybody comes in do
Speaker 1: the job. Everybody plays hard, and it looks like everybody's
Speaker 1: committed to one another and there's no selfish and just
Speaker 1: on the team at all. So you know, look forward
Speaker 1: to playing with a lot of those guys. Calendars about
Speaker 1: to flip from July to August at this stage of
Speaker 1: the offseason. What's on the to do list for you
Speaker 1: to get ready for training camp. I just I've been
Speaker 1: able a couple of weeks now, just you know, talking
Speaker 1: to a couple of the coaches with the strength team
Speaker 1: and the physical therapy team. Just getting to know myself
Speaker 1: and my body and how things work also with the team.
Speaker 1: So you know, I just being around and just getting
Speaker 1: used to everything. And I think, on my end, just
Speaker 1: keep doing what I've been doing, standing shape and I'm
Speaker 1: working on different things I think on my weaknesses. All right, Wilson,
Speaker 1: good to see, Thanks so much. A brief conversation with
Speaker 1: Wilson Chandler trade pick up this summer for the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers at the Variety Children's Camp, a just really phenomenal
Speaker 1: and important, powerful operation out in the Plymouth Meeting area,
Speaker 1: where Chandler made an appearance earlier this summer to hang
Speaker 1: out with the kids, played some kickball, shot some hoops,
Speaker 1: and presented Variety Camp with a twenty five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: check on behalf of seventy six Ers partner First Trust Bank,
Speaker 1: Chris Heck, the ubiquitous on brand president of the seventy
Speaker 1: Sixers business Operations. A lot going on for the franchise,
Speaker 1: so we decided to sit down and talk about it
Speaker 1: earlier this week. I was talking to a colleague, Chris,
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago at the beginning of the month,
Speaker 1: and I remember her saying with her veteran wisdom that
Speaker 1: she considers August, which many people may view as the
Speaker 1: real lull in the NBA schedule, to actually be by contrast,
Speaker 1: arguably one of the busiest months of the year in
Speaker 1: NBA circles. Would you agree with that theory, that view
Speaker 1: that stands. I'm fighting against that theory every year. I
Speaker 1: think this is going to be an easy month and
Speaker 1: then we get crushed, all in a good way. It
Speaker 1: is as the popularity grows, as the attention grows. We
Speaker 1: have so much to do to prepare for the season,
Speaker 1: and the season never ends. This is the one month
Speaker 1: where coaches and players aren't around as much, but they're
Speaker 1: even still here and they're still playing at twelve months
Speaker 1: a year, so it's it's it's the calm before the
Speaker 1: storm in many sense, but we're also run around crazy
Speaker 1: trying to get our work done before September and training
Speaker 1: camp hits. For me personally, the answer to this next
Speaker 1: question that'll ask you is yes, but did you feel
Speaker 1: like the bio rhythms of the NBA calendar you're changed
Speaker 1: just because the team went for an extra month. You know,
Speaker 1: we always tease our friends at other teams that have
Speaker 1: had great success, and I have some good buddies that
Speaker 1: are at the Golden State Warriors and the Miami Heat,
Speaker 1: and I always have mentioned to them with complete sarcasm, um,
Speaker 1: you know, what a shame that you had to work
Speaker 1: all the way until the summertime. And it is true though,
Speaker 1: like our our season extended a whole other month and
Speaker 1: it was fantastic. It was awesome. It was also exhausting,
Speaker 1: and that's for the people that don't even play on
Speaker 1: the court. So the front office and all of the
Speaker 1: people the staff here um really worked hard during the
Speaker 1: playoff run and that was it was a real gift,
Speaker 1: and this team was a gift this past year of
Speaker 1: winning fifty two games. But it shortens your summer and
Speaker 1: it gets all your summer work condensed. And then on
Speaker 1: top of that, when your team has success, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, people want you to play in China and
Speaker 1: leave the homeland for nine days and in the thick
Speaker 1: of it. And that's a great thing too. So it's
Speaker 1: a real treat to work for this team that has
Speaker 1: having so much success on the court. Definitely want to
Speaker 1: get to China. Definitely want to talk about the final
Speaker 1: Short Tour events this weekend. But because I was on
Speaker 1: vacation last week, I'm now going to inconvenience you by
Speaker 1: bringing up something that happened about a week and a
Speaker 1: half ago, the schedule coming out, and you worked at
Speaker 1: the league for a long time, you were exposed to
Speaker 1: different teams and just how this works and really discussing
Speaker 1: how a schedule comes together. Because between thirty teams in
Speaker 1: the league, a building you share with another professional sports
Speaker 1: franchise and that draws concert after concert and other events
Speaker 1: you know, Disney and all that stuff. There has to
Speaker 1: be so much that goes into the making of a schedule.
Speaker 1: So I kind of wanted to explore that a little bit.
Speaker 1: You said it. I mean, I think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of people in Q to m to see where they fall.
Speaker 1: The television networks have a heavy influence with the matchups,
Speaker 1: the travel in the league office does a really good
Speaker 1: job of trying to avoid back to back games and
Speaker 1: home and away and home and away, back and forth.
Speaker 1: So they've done a really good job of of making
Speaker 1: this schedule. But you're right, we are We actually are
Speaker 1: a tenant in a building, um where that is owned
Speaker 1: by a hockey team, and um it's their building and
Speaker 1: they have, um their own preferences of when they want
Speaker 1: to play and uh, and that's part of the game.
Speaker 1: So we we respect the process and we definitely are
Speaker 1: pushing for certain games for our fans and times, but
Speaker 1: a lot of times TV dictates that. So what goes
Speaker 1: into formulating what you guys think would be ideal times
Speaker 1: for fans that sort of thing. What do you pull
Speaker 1: data from that whole deal? Yeah, yeah, we try to
Speaker 1: balance it out a little bit. We like seven o'clock
Speaker 1: games for the most part. National TV all oftentimes drives
Speaker 1: it to seven thirty or eight o'clock, but so seven
Speaker 1: o'clock is our standard. We also like weekend games during
Speaker 1: the day to give kids and families a chance to
Speaker 1: experience our games, even though we're sold out for every game.
Speaker 1: It's such a world now of secondary ticketing market and StubHub,
Speaker 1: and so StubHub is a great partner of ours, and
Speaker 1: we like to give people an opportunity to purchase tickets
Speaker 1: on an individual basis, in addition to our very loyal
Speaker 1: UH season um ticket members that are backing us once
Speaker 1: again UH in a robust fashion this year. Now, you
Speaker 1: were on the best practices marketing business outside when you
Speaker 1: were at the league office. But when does the planning
Speaker 1: um really start for formulating the league wide schedule? And
Speaker 1: like this is just in the most basic ways, how
Speaker 1: do they do it? Yeah? Like how much is manual?
Speaker 1: How much is using Uh, I'm sure plenty of permutations
Speaker 1: with computer program Yeah, yeah, that you would think that
Speaker 1: they would just like throw a bunch of numbers in
Speaker 1: there into a computer and they would spit out a
Speaker 1: optimal um calendar. But it really it's it's this crazy
Speaker 1: algorithm that just is evolving all all the time. And
Speaker 1: and you have you only have so many arenas, right
Speaker 1: and you have so many events and concerts and college
Speaker 1: sports and tournaments in ncuble A, you know, March Madness
Speaker 1: and Circus that comes in down and Disney on ice like,
Speaker 1: all these things come into play, and ultimately it is
Speaker 1: a business, but a teams like ourselves, we are always
Speaker 1: looking for the interest of our fans and our own
Speaker 1: interest too of what's going to give us a competitive edge.
Speaker 1: So it's really important to us to not have the
Speaker 1: whole month of April on the road as we're trying
Speaker 1: to finish up and get ready for the playoffs. You know,
Speaker 1: there's all these different things that come into play, and
Speaker 1: we try to avoid those tough swings to be too
Speaker 1: lengthy or back to back games, and the league is
Speaker 1: very good with doing everything they can to accommodate us.
Speaker 1: The final version of the schedule that is released a
Speaker 1: fans is not the first version that you guys see,
Speaker 1: what type of interfacing is there any with basketball operations
Speaker 1: who from the team side that these different drafts and
Speaker 1: decides where it might make sense to lobby for some
Speaker 1: other type of tweak or change the schedule that that
Speaker 1: type of thing. Yeah, yeah, And Ned Cohen's very influential
Speaker 1: on the schedule, as is Laura Price our COO And
Speaker 1: she's really the one that kind of leads to charge
Speaker 1: And she said many years of experience of seeing teams
Speaker 1: that have had great success on the court and teams
Speaker 1: not so much. And you know, the good news is
Speaker 1: we're in the bucket of the ladder and we have
Speaker 1: when you have two superstar players and you have two
Speaker 1: players that are which usually is indicated by jersey sales,
Speaker 1: it's actually the most fascinating thing if you look at
Speaker 1: the jersey sales and the top ten, I guarantee you
Speaker 1: those are the teams represented for the most national TV games.
Speaker 1: So you could almost follow back on jersey sales in
Speaker 1: popular what the networks are going to choose to be
Speaker 1: their marquee matchups. So if you look right now, the
Speaker 1: teams that have the most national TV game schedule are
Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors, them the Lakers with Lebron. Now
Speaker 1: you got UM Houston and their dynamic team, and the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six Ers. So those four teams are probably
Speaker 1: at the very top of the pecking order, and then
Speaker 1: you got the next year, which is probably like a
Speaker 1: Boston and Oklahoma City, really interesting and good teams. So
Speaker 1: but we're right now in the top echelon. And you
Speaker 1: get that also Jersey sales indication. When you hit the
Speaker 1: Christmas Day game, it's almost like you've arrived, right unless
Speaker 1: you're in New York and you just get it all
Speaker 1: here anyway, so when one day it'll all work out
Speaker 1: for them. The Sixers are kicking off the entire I
Speaker 1: should probably say tip and the entire NBA regular season
Speaker 1: with that opening night game against the Boston Celtics, which
Speaker 1: is pretty telling of where the league views this franchise
Speaker 1: being at right now. Oh it's nuts. I mean, we're
Speaker 1: on national TV every week of the season. It's it's
Speaker 1: unparalleled actually from from our history of how many times
Speaker 1: and how often we're on throughout the country, but also
Speaker 1: globally and the pickup that we're going to get from
Speaker 1: everywhere from Europe to China to everywhere in between. It
Speaker 1: is really really a fun time to be a part
Speaker 1: of the organization and be a fan of the seventy Sixers.
Speaker 1: With this popularity and this growth, use the word interesting
Speaker 1: describe some of these teams, and yeah, you can look
Speaker 1: at a lot of good, successful teams and say they're interesting.
Speaker 1: But for the seventy Sixers, like some of those other
Speaker 1: you know, you look at the Warriors and the Rockets,
Speaker 1: it seems like they're relevant too. It's not just interesting,
Speaker 1: the relevant, they're like compelling people and figures that are
Speaker 1: part of what the Sixers have building here, which I
Speaker 1: think from your standpoint, it's just got to make it
Speaker 1: that much more fun and fascinating for how you try
Speaker 1: and put everything together and bring the franchise out in
Speaker 1: the public. Yeah, it is. You know, you always want
Speaker 1: to balance, but you also want to win early, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes like our schedule this year is heavy front, heavy
Speaker 1: on the less competitive teams unlike the previous season. Unlike
Speaker 1: the previous season, and I think that's where we caught
Speaker 1: everyone by surprise, particularly at the end with the winning
Speaker 1: streak to finish off the season and so and that
Speaker 1: was like that extra gift at the end. But we're
Speaker 1: always tracking where we think our record will be on
Speaker 1: a particular time wins and losses and so forth, and
Speaker 1: basketball ops. Alex Rucker, I go visit him all the
Speaker 1: time of like where do you think will be when
Speaker 1: we're doing the scheduling, as well as even on where
Speaker 1: we value certain games. So it's really it's fun. It's fun.
Speaker 1: It's we're fans too. We're following everybody else, and we're
Speaker 1: super proud of what the team that Brett Brown and
Speaker 1: his staff have created on the court, and we think
Speaker 1: that Philadelphia is responding exactly how we expected, which is
Speaker 1: in a epic fashion of support. In a perfect world,
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'd love to have eighty two regular season
Speaker 1: games played in South Philadelphia. But if you had to
Speaker 1: go on the road, what is the Chris Heck ideal
Speaker 1: NBA road trip? If you had to put together a
Speaker 1: you know, from a personal interest point, like a four
Speaker 1: or five gamer. Okay, So so you have to take
Speaker 1: a couple of things in consideration time of year, Tommy
Speaker 1: woodmonth it is, and let's go like the standard and
Speaker 1: in December at some point maybe either in a December
Speaker 1: middle of March when some of the longer trips usually happen.
Speaker 1: All right, Okay, it's the holiday trip, because that's like
Speaker 1: the bankable long road trip, right right, right? What? Um
Speaker 1: I think that the flight time is uh is important,
Speaker 1: so um I don't. I would not go West Coast.
Speaker 1: I think Miami is always a win, right Yes, maybe
Speaker 1: not on the court, but hopefully on the court holistic
Speaker 1: entire experience, Miami's fantastic. In the wintertime, it's it's perfect
Speaker 1: every day. Um So I do enjoy the weather um
Speaker 1: on on some of the travel. Um But I also
Speaker 1: I love going to Boston when we win. When we
Speaker 1: lose in Boston, it is the most miserable place on
Speaker 1: the planet. But when we win, it's pretty awesome. It's
Speaker 1: a good town. And when we win, I think the
Speaker 1: city that took me by the biggest surprise. It's maybe
Speaker 1: a reflection of how uncultured I was before I came
Speaker 1: to work here. But Toronto to me is like, at
Speaker 1: worst the top three city, and it's a great It
Speaker 1: is h outstand But don't go in January or February.
Speaker 1: I mean it's too cold. It's a when it seems
Speaker 1: like at least one of the games are yeah sixers
Speaker 1: up there in the dead winner. It's a quick trip
Speaker 1: though it's an easy flight. It's a quick trip. That's
Speaker 1: kind of why I like Boston as well. Chicago is
Speaker 1: another town. Like if you get Chicago on a mild day, Um,
Speaker 1: it's an awesome town, but it gets really gold there too.
Speaker 1: Uh Milwaukee Pass, Detroit pass, Cleveland pass, Uh DC, I
Speaker 1: take the train down easy. I love it. Yeah. DC
Speaker 1: is a good town. And uh Charlotte maybe the nicest,
Speaker 1: uh nicest people that you'll ever find working out an arena. Friendly,
Speaker 1: They're great, they're the best. Um and uh you know,
Speaker 1: so there's um Atlanta doesn't do much for me and
Speaker 1: the nice people down there, but uh, Orlando whatever, you know. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's kind of mine. I like to stay on there
Speaker 1: a good idea. Yeah, Indiana pass that way. Yeah, were
Speaker 1: you guys expecting thirty nine nationally televise games because right
Speaker 1: now we're in the phase of the summer. I feel
Speaker 1: like we're seeing a lot of power rankings and looking
Speaker 1: ahead and forecasting into me, Like thirty nine national TV
Speaker 1: games total between ABC, ESPN, t N t NBA TV,
Speaker 1: like that is as big of a power rating indicator
Speaker 1: as anything of what people might perceive a team to be. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I'm super excited about that. And I think it's really
Speaker 1: really fun to show the rest of the country and
Speaker 1: the world of what a special thing we have in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: And I also think it's our obligation to show Philadelphia
Speaker 1: in the best light, because I do think this town
Speaker 1: gets an unfair rap of maybe how things were in
Speaker 1: the decades ago. So this is a great town, this
Speaker 1: is a great sports city. It's the best sports city,
Speaker 1: and it's really fun that we get to show it off.
Speaker 1: A couple other miscellaneous items before we wrap this up
Speaker 1: short tour culminating this weekend. You guys really turn this
Speaker 1: into a tour, which I think is so cool because
Speaker 1: there's so there are many great four points. Some may
Speaker 1: say that they have their own preference in favorites, but
Speaker 1: you're like hitting it all pretty much. Five stops, five stops,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know it is um it's really fun
Speaker 1: to to go to the shore, no matter what beach
Speaker 1: you go to, and see all the Sixers gear, you know,
Speaker 1: kids wearing the jerseys and the T shirts out there
Speaker 1: and the adults wearing It's awesome like that. It really
Speaker 1: gets me going. It's really exciting time for us, and
Speaker 1: and and people are living it down in the Shore
Speaker 1: and we're giving them a little bit of taste of
Speaker 1: the team UM from our legends to some of our
Speaker 1: rookies and and all the games and interactive UM functions
Speaker 1: that we have. It's really fun for us to share
Speaker 1: it with the Jersey Shore UM and Duncan Don. It's
Speaker 1: does an awesome job of making their product a part
Speaker 1: of our business and UH and our fans, so it's fun.
Speaker 1: I'll be down there Saturday. My boss won't let me
Speaker 1: off during the week, but I will be down there
Speaker 1: on Saturday and UH and I'm excited to see all
Speaker 1: the fans in full force. Doctor j Landry Shammitt, Jonah
Speaker 1: Bolden expected be down there. Mark Jackson World be free.
Speaker 1: It's a good run, it is, and Chris Heck yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll be in the back of the room, but but
Speaker 1: it will be enjoyable. You know. It's amazing. Nineteen years ago,
Speaker 1: Brian they started the six Ers started UH the Beach
Speaker 1: Bash and UM. I think there was about one hundred
Speaker 1: people in an empty, empty parking lot UM in Avalon
Speaker 1: and UH and now we're really looking at somewhere between
Speaker 1: two to four thousand people per stop. Um On on
Speaker 1: the short end and um and that five stops in
Speaker 1: one week. So what a time it is to be
Speaker 1: a Sixers fan. It's a terrific segue to really start
Speaker 1: looking forward to the season. That's ahead. Trip to China
Speaker 1: in the preseason, as you mentioned earlier, nine day trip
Speaker 1: specifically looking at China almost one point four billion people.
Speaker 1: That seems like certainly reason enough to want to invest
Speaker 1: some energy into trying to expose what the seventy sixers
Speaker 1: are to that part of the world. Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: we um. You know, I mentioned before that I worked
Speaker 1: at the league office and you know when when David
Speaker 1: Stern and this was now I'm dating myself, but we're
Speaker 1: going back around fifteen years and and David Stern saw
Speaker 1: China is, you know, the next frontier and and what
Speaker 1: he started. What Adam Silver has taken over as the
Speaker 1: commissioner and what they're doing with NBA China is remarkable.
Speaker 1: They have several offices throughout the country. There are over
Speaker 1: three hundred million people in China that play basketball, so
Speaker 1: they're in leagues, they're playing basketball. Three hundred million, that's
Speaker 1: how many people there are in the United States. It's
Speaker 1: it's insane. So it is a basketball crazed market. They
Speaker 1: love Joel, they love Marquel, they love Ben. It's like
Speaker 1: this is gonna be soon. Has a huge following. Ai
Speaker 1: has got a gigantic following, and he is uh. I
Speaker 1: mean it's a bit of what you see when he
Speaker 1: comes visit to visit us at the Center, but it's
Speaker 1: everywhere in China for Ai. So, um, it's a cool
Speaker 1: time to be visiting. And uh, and we expect to
Speaker 1: be um tied into some new partners and getting an
Speaker 1: opportunity to really make our brand global and um, no
Speaker 1: better launching pad outside of the US than in China,
Speaker 1: seventy six ers Field have. Will this effect and change
Speaker 1: things for the Sixers organization? Yes, uh, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: only a short little drive about twenty six miles from
Speaker 1: here in Camden, and I'd say that's a short twenty
Speaker 1: five minutes. It's a pleasant swift twenty five minutes Dan
Speaker 1: to Wilmington. Yeah, yeah, if you drive fast, if you
Speaker 1: drive fast or odd hours, I make a community every day.
Speaker 1: So uh, it's it's really exciting. Um, the our friends
Speaker 1: in Wilmington, Delaware. Um, they're building this with you know,
Speaker 1: we're building it together, this fieldhouse, and it's more than
Speaker 1: an arena. It's a really cool, intimate sized arena for
Speaker 1: the Bluecoats, our G League affiliate. UM, and it is
Speaker 1: super nice that it's it's really convenient for our coaching
Speaker 1: staff and our players to go back and forth. UM.
Speaker 1: Not to mention our front office staff and UM. This
Speaker 1: this arena that's being built is really inside a mega
Speaker 1: complex that's built for youth. It's an elite youth training
Speaker 1: complex and it's going to be you know, indoor fields,
Speaker 1: indoor courts, several basketball courts, I think, uh, three NBA
Speaker 1: sized courts, two indoor soccer fields, about one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty thousand square feet. They'll also have different retail components
Speaker 1: in it that cater to the youth athlete. And uh,
Speaker 1: what a need place to to start a refresh with
Speaker 1: our team or a new rebranded G League team with
Speaker 1: the Bluecoats in Delaware. Renderings are beautiful. Last thing, give
Speaker 1: an update on the social media arrangement or offer you
Speaker 1: extended to the now reigning Rookie of the Year about
Speaker 1: ten months ago. You know, it's funny, we have some
Speaker 1: private meetings in the works as a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I just came from one okay, and I'm not going
Speaker 1: to give you any more information. We're gonna have a nice,
Speaker 1: uh nice dialogue that'll be public when we get closer
Speaker 1: to the season. But uh yeah, we had a little
Speaker 1: fun with that with with our friend Ben Simmons um
Speaker 1: and his uh unique flare and style. So um, we'll
Speaker 1: see where it goes. Can't wait. I don't you know
Speaker 1: if your listeners know what we're talking about. I was
Speaker 1: gonna we have to give a little context that. Back
Speaker 1: in November, Bend made a remark about the Iverson era
Speaker 1: black silver gold ish, I don't never know what the
Speaker 1: color splattering at yesh Iverson era seventy six ers jerseys,
Speaker 1: and you responded by making an offer. Yeah, yeah, we
Speaker 1: uh deal, We said that, yes, so the the the
Speaker 1: response to him was, well, I'm not gonna say that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a green light for the throwbacks. However, if
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons wants to influence one of our next uniforms
Speaker 1: and he wins Ricky of the Year, then we have
Speaker 1: a deal. And he knows some people in high places
Speaker 1: at the company that manufactures the threads, you know, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we have an intimate relationship on many levels. So it's
Speaker 1: all good. It's all good. We think that will make
Speaker 1: our fans happy down the road, something that Chris Hack
Speaker 1: in the seventy six ers strive and succeeded doing on
Speaker 1: a regular basis. Thanks so much, man, You're the best, Brian,
Speaker 1: thank you. You know. For me, at least, it's probably
Speaker 1: because I'm lucky enough to be employed by an NBA team.
Speaker 1: I always find it interesting to learn more about the
Speaker 1: ins and outs of what goes into the functioning of
Speaker 1: a company and an organization of this scope and scale
Speaker 1: in professional sports, whether it's all the different things that
Speaker 1: have to be considered for the making of any two
Speaker 1: games schedule, to everything that has to be planned for
Speaker 1: a trip halfway around the world to China, where the
Speaker 1: Sixers are going in October. To me, it's just, I
Speaker 1: don't know, very insightful to find out more about how
Speaker 1: all this comes together. And as we were talking about
Speaker 1: with Chris, Sixers summer short Tour presented by Duncan Donuts,
Speaker 1: culminating this weekend with stops on the Old Seven Mile
Speaker 1: Island this weekend Friday, it's going to be at the
Speaker 1: White Briar from six to eight pm appearances by former
Speaker 1: Sixers World Be Free and Mark Jackson. And then on
Speaker 1: Saturday afternoon from three to six at the eighty second
Speaker 1: Street Rec Center in Stone Harbor, World B Mark Jackson
Speaker 1: going to be there again along with doctor j Julius, Serving,
Speaker 1: Jonah Bolden, and a Landry Shammis at Short Tour. More
Speaker 1: information at sixers dot com backslash short Tour. All right,
Speaker 1: keep your feeds active and open. We're gonna keep rolling
Speaker 1: out new episodes of the podcast as we work our
Speaker 1: way towards training camp. Um see if you gonna look
Speaker 1: out next week for a new episode Out of the
Speaker 1: Pot see