A Letter From the New Publisher: Austin Krell Joins Sixers On SI

Hello!

I am Austin Krell. I will be covering the Sixers for On SI going forward. You might know me from my time on the Sixers beat before today.

I spent three seasons covering the team for a small website called The Painted Lines. I did a season with 97.3 ESPN radio. I’ve spent the last year and a quarter at a start-up called On Pattison.

Before we get to my vision for this next chapter, here’s how it all started.

I didn't show much interest in sports until I turned 12. My dad followed football, basketball, and baseball with regularity, so those were the three major sports I was raised on. School required students to play two sports out of the three seasons of the academic year. I went to the football meeting ahead of tryouts. Not a chance. That meant baseball in the spring and basketball in the winter.

I had less experience playing basketball than I did playing baseball. I did not make the team as a player, but I was asked to be a manager. I liked the camaraderie. Getting to play in a game was thrilling. But I thought I loved baseball.

Here's the thing — I stunk at baseball. I did not have the awareness to consider that I would improve if I took the time to work on my skills. I just thought I'd show up and my prior (limited) experience playing would do the talking for me.

I still remember the first batting practice of tryouts. I smacked the first pitch for a double down the left-field line, and I didn't get another hit in my turn at the plate. Whiffs and foul balls until they'd seen enough. Yikes.

So, I had a tantrum in the car on the way home from the last day of tryouts. I remember vowing to myself and to my mom that that was it. Baseball was no longer my favorite sport. That would surely show them!

Basketball it was. My life changed forever.

My obsession with the game grew without restraint. The first basketball YouTube video I ever searched for was a compilation of NBA buzzer-beating game winners. But my love for the game goes beyond the final seconds of the contest. I find shooting heaters to be absolutely intoxicating. I've watched the highlights of rookie Brandon Jennings' 55-point game against the Golden State Warriors more times than I care to admit.

To this day, three-point shooting blows my mind. It should be incredibly unlikely that a jump shot goes in. How can someone launch a ball directly into a basket that is much smaller than the entire nearby area that is not the basket?

I suppose that's why the NBA holds my attention like nothing else can.

I've covered the Sixers beat for six years. I've watched dozens of practice drills and game-day shootarounds and countless pregame workouts. How do those guys hit the nylon without the ball touching the rim over and over again? I don't care that they're open practice shots. How are they so precise that grazing the rim elicits expressions of contempt from the shooter?

What is my point in all this? That's my explanation for why the NBA has ruled the majority of my life.

That's why I cover the NBA. Why I write. Maybe I'm searching for this forever-elusive basketball enlightenment that I'm certain exists. That one day, I'll uncover the secret to guaranteeing a positive outcome in this game. That perhaps I'll achieve expertise. Is it possible to earn a doctorate in basketball?

Maybe that's why I found purpose when I picked up blogging as a college senior in 2018.

The feeling of analyzing the game, of telling a story by way of keyboard and of feeling like I found my calling was powerful enough to make me appreciate transcribing press conference audio at midnight. That's why I stayed up until 2 a.m. writing NBA G-League game stories on Friday nights as a senior in college for no pay. It's why I was happy to effectively lose money traveling to and from South Philadelphia to cover Sixers home games once Zoom media availability went away following the worst of COVID-19.

For the first four years of my career writing about the NBA, I was doing what I loved. When I first signed a contract to do it for pay in the fifth year, I was achieving a goal.

And as I type this letter as the new Publisher of Sixers On SI, I can say I'm living a dream that I frankly thought was still years away.

So you're going to get something I'm proud of with each piece of content that is published on this website.

You know Bryan Toporek from Forbes Sports, Bleacher Report, Liberty Ballers, and FanSided. Bryan is one of the very best people I know in this business, both in quality of person and content value.

The very second this opportunity was floated to me, I started thinking about my vision for the outlet.

We want to partner to deliver the most thorough, thought-provoking content we can; to use our resources to keep readers informed on what is happening on the cap sheet just as much as what is happening on the court; to see what the possibilities are when two people who’ve spent as much time on this franchise as we have work together.

This is not a role I take lightly. It is an endeavor at which I will not be perfect, but it is one about which I'm already eager to grow into. It is one that will require some help as I navigate more responsibility, and it is one for which I have entrusted the very best to be my second-in-command.

Bryan and I are going to cover the Sixers. We're going to work to deliver content that has the depth and flavor that Philadelphia-area NBA nerds deserve.

Of course, is it really work if you love it?

P.S. - You can follow along at a few different places beyond the On SI website. Bryan posts his content and thoughts about the NBA on Bluesky. I streamline our content and provide real-time updates from the Sixers beat on Twitter and Bluesky.