76ers: ESPN Wants NBA Lineup Intros to be 'Great' Again

Last week, ESPN and the NBA released the highly anticipated Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls documentary 'The Last Dance.' Despite having a date set for June, ESPN did us all a solid and sped up the editing process so basketball fans can at least enjoy something sports-related during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you can expect, 'The Last Dance' is all everybody wanted to talk about before the 2020 NFL Draft kicked off this past Thursday night. For good reasons, too, of course. The documentary has already done a stellar job highlighting a legendary dynasty through two episodes.

Many things stood out. To ESPN's Zach Lowe, something that was worth talking about was the Bulls' pregame introductions from back in the 90s. In his latest "Five NBA things I like and don't like" piece, Lowe mentioned he wants the NBA to "Bring back great starting lineup introductions." Here's precisely what he said:

"We need to restore starting lineup introductions to their Jordan-era glory. All these years later, I still get goosebumps when that pulsing, spaced-aged opening to "Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project gathers momentum into: "AND NOW, THE STARTING LINEUP FOR YOUR WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO BULLS!"

"Teams today work really hard on JumboTron hype videos that run before the starting intros. They are mostly good. Some get you amped up. But they all blend together: dunks and fancy passes interspersed with players screaming into the cameras and doing basketball things with, like, fire around them or something."

Does the Philadelphia 76ers' Introduction Need Work?

Lowe's point about teams relying on Jumbotron hype videos with fancy dunks and passes is valid. Like most NBA teams, the Philadelphia 76ers have themselves a pump-up video on display before introducing the team's starting lineup.

Although it switches every season, the 76ers do an excellent job with theirs by adding an intriguing song, along with an entertaining highlight reel, which includes the entire roster. Does the actual introduction itself need work to become 'great,' though?

Honestly, there's really nothing not to love about the 76ers' starting introductions from a fan's standpoint. The energy from in-arena announcer Matt Cord is excellent -- so good that an opposing league MVP had to give him credit where it's due in the past.

Is it perfect? I wouldn't say that exactly. I have heard complaints about the actual quality of the sound being too distorted, which I can't disagree with. Technical issues aside, however, the 76ers shouldn't fall under the category of not having a 'great' starting lineup introduction routine at the Wells Fargo Center.

While the Bulls' early 90s routine was undoubtedly great -- we can't deny the fact that the quality of the players being introduced might've intensified the hype. I mean, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Michael Jordan! Come on now, of course the introductions are going to electrify the crowd. We shouldn't let something like that discredit today's NBA starting introductions, though -- not in Philadelphia at least.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_