Philadelphia 76ers Well Represented at Rio Olympics

The Philadelphia 76ers are well represented at the Rio Olympics this summer, from players to broadcasters.

If one had to guess which NBA team would be the most represented as far as basketball is concerned in the Rio Olympics, they probably wouldn’t choose the team that had the worst record last season. The Philadelphia 76ers closed out the 2016 season with just 10 wins, one loss shy away from the worst record ever.

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Still, they are well represented at the 2016 Rio Olympics, by both players and broadcasters.

The Sixers have two players participating in the Olympics, Dario Saric and Sergio Rodriguez.

Dario Saric is playing in his first ever Olympic campaign for the Croatian national team. Two other NBA players join him on the team. In the qualifying tournament leading up to Croatia getting a bid to be in the Olympics, Saric scored 14.0 points, pulled in 10.0 rebounds, and dished out 2.2 assists per game in 36 minutes per contest. He also shot 44 percent from the field.

Saric was drafted by the Sixers in 2014, but played overseas for two years in Turkey. The Croatian forward signed his rookie contract with Philly just a few weeks ago.

Sergio Rodriguez comes into this tournament with a bit more experience than Dario Saric. Sergio has not only played more overseas and in the NBA, but was also a part of the London Olympics four years ago. Rodriguez signed a one year deal with the Sixers recently.

The Sixers are one of 12 teams in the NBA (out of 30) that have more than one player participating in the Olympics, according to Brian Seltzer.

But on top of players participating, the Sixers are also represented behind the mic.

The man who calls the play-by-play for all of the Sixers games on Comcast Sports Network, Marc Zumoff, will be calling the women’s basketball games for NBC Sports. Zumoff is one of the classiest, best voices in the business, and has been incredibly consistent for the Sixers over the last several decades. Zumoff said that it’s an honor, but also a challenge:

"It’s a professional challenge in that it’s a bigger stage, it’s a world stage, it’s international competition"

Not only Zumoff, but his partner, Alaa Abdelnaby, will be calling the games on the radio for Westwood One. Abdelnaby is a fluent Arabic speaker, and is calling the men’s games in Arabic. It’s great to see Sixers connections stretch all over the world and spread to so many people.

On the Flat Top Podcast a few months ago, Alaa said that he

"I always marvel at how popular basketball is, how small the basketball world is inside of the big world… I can’t wait for the reception they’re going to have for the best basketball players in the world."

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The Sixers may have had the worst record in the league last year, but they are well represented in this summer’s Olympic games. If that isn’t an indication for them being on the up and up, I’m not sure what is.