Episode 27: Bucks Schedule Breakdown with Tom Carelli

This week on Hear District, Marques and Kris celebrate Schedule Release Day! And who better to celebrate with than the NBA's SVP of game scheduling, Tom Carelli. Tom explains how he got into the wild world of scheduling games, and how it was at first done by hand one game at a time, and now the NBA sifts through billions of possible combinations before deciding on a final schedule for each team. Tom also addresses why the Bucks won't play on Christmas this year, and how narratives and storytelling influenced the NBA's decision to open the Bucks season versus the Philadelphia 76ers for the third year in a row. He then digs back into the archives of when the NBA would schedule the Bucks teams that Marques would play on to three games in three days and four in five days. Lastly, Tom gives additional insight into how the league leading number of back-to-backs this season may help the Bucks. Marques and Khris then share their takeaways from this year's schedule, how old they were when they first dunked, and why the NBA's elder statesmen seem to be aging so gracefully and still dominating against the world's best competition. The episode wraps up with a conversation of how historic last season was for Damian Lillard, with the Bucks superstar point guard accomplishing something that has only happened three times before in NBA history, and why they think he will be coming back better than ever. For more, follow @bucksplusaudio - the official podcast network of the Milwaukee Bucks - on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook, and check out all Bucks+ podcast content at www.bucks.com/plus