Introduction
My name is Derek Bodner. I cover the NBA for various outlets, including:
- Associate editor at LibertyBallers, a Philadelphia 76ers Blog
- Sixers reporter for 97.3 FM ESPN, South Jersey’s ESPN Radio affiliate.
- College basketball scout for DraftExpress.com
So what is this site for?
This site is going to be my own personal blog, where I’ll talk about my thoughts on the Sixers, the upcoming NBA draft, and the NBA in general. But mostly the Sixers. I’ll also link to all articles I write for other sites, as well as any radio of television appearances I make that you can watch on demand.
The kind of stuff that will appear here will be stuff that doesn’t really have a home on any of those other outlets. Maybe it will be quick thoughts that aren’t really worthy of a LibertyBallers post, or maybe it will be thoughts I have on a topic that one of the other writers at LibertyBallers has already covered. One of the great things at LB is that there are 15 writers on staff, each with their own thoughts and opinions, each coming at the team and the sport from a slightly different perspective. From a users perspective, having that many different voices presents a great wealth of information and fresh content, but as a writer, you end up with situations where you have opinions on events that have already been covered in depth. Some of those opinions I will share here.
You’re not likely to find breaking news here. For that LibertyBallers is definitely the place you’ll want to go, as we work hard not only to break news ourselves but also to quickly relay news that has been reported elsewhere to keep you up to date on your Sixers fix. However, what you are likely to find here is some depth and explanation that you may not find at some of the more traditional outlets. If I have one goal with this site, it’s to put context around the news for those curious on the “why” aspects of roster and personnel decisions. It’s one thing to know that the Sixers waited until late September to sign Nerlens Noel to his rookie contract. My goal here is to inform you of why that happened.
If you see a comment like this1, which will be highlighted yellow followed by a superscript, that means that there is more information available. It’s not included in the article for a few reasons: it could be repeated information that you already know, extra details that aren’t absolutely relevant, or it might kill the flow or the article. But it’s extra information to provide context or clarification. You can get that information either by hovering over the yellow text, or heading down to the bottom of the article, which will have footnotes on the bottom providing this extra context.
To be clear, I will still be contributing to those other sites, and this is in no way meant to compete against or replace my contributions at any of those sites, nor is it meant to act as its own media entity. It’s simply meant to supplement my contributions there, and to give me an outlet to share my own personal thoughts about a sport I love. It goes without saying, but the views expressed here are not necessarily representative of the views of LibertyBallers, DraftExpress, ESPN, or any other affiliation. They are solely my own.
You can follow me on twitter at @DerekBodnerNBA, and you can reach me via email at derek.bodner@draftexpress.com and by phone at 215-839-9635.