🏀 The Sixers’ summer revival | Morning Newsletter

Happy Sunday! It looks like the start of another beautiful day in Philly.

In today’s newsletter, now that we’ve caught our breath from the news that LeBron James would be joining the Sixers, we’re looking at 76ers president Mike Gansey’s first offseason as a whole.

Also, Franklin Square is celebrating 20 years since its refurbishment from a dusty and dim outpost to a destination for family-friendly fun.

— Ellen Dunkel (morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

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🏀 Grading Gansey’s choices

The 76ers became the talk of the sports world Friday, when LeBron James announced he would sign with the team to finish out his illustrious NBA career.

Some final roster tinkering still must occur before training camp begins in late September. But James’ addition means the bulk of business is finished. In short, it has been a heck of a first offseason for new president of basketball operations Mike Gansey.

How does it all grade out, player-by-player? Reporter Gina Mizell breaks it down.

A revitalized hub

Franklin Square, the once-forgotten green space at Sixth and Race Streets, celebrated a milestone on Saturday: This July marks 20 years since the square’s dramatic revitalization, which transformed it from a dusty and dim outpost to a destination for family-friendly fun.

Franklin Square (originally North East Publick Square and later renamed in honor of Benjamin Franklin) dates back to 1682, when William Penn designed Philadelphia. Penn anchored the city around a quintet of parks.

Reporter Maggie Prosser explains its history and more recent status.

What you should know today

• A Penn professor thought she’d sell 1,000 copies of her Odyssey translation. She sold more than a million this year alone, thanks to Christopher Nolan.
• Philly is beta testing its own version of Boston’s Freedom Trail.
• Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is reportedly negotiating with the Memphis Grizzlies for a buyout to join the Sixers and team up with LeBron James.
• Two Sweet Boutique, known for its viral Kelce Klusters, is busier than ever after a move to Washington Township.
• Five people in a South Philly basement studio are making a whole lot of indie music.
• The publisher of a satirical quarterly is determined to bring the laughs to South Philly.

This week in history

🎤 Now I’m passing the mic to Tommy Rowan with a look back at the first episodes of “Sesame Street,’ which were tested on Philly preschoolers in the 1960s.

Sesame Street may be set in New York, but the iconic children’s show started in Philadelphia.

Over five days in July 1969, producers of Sesame Street broadcast five hour-long test-pilot episodes on WHYY-TV’S UHF Channel 35 on televisions spread across 70 homes throughout Philly.

The program, which can trace its roots to the mid-20th-century Civil Rights Movement, would go on to delight, instruct, and entertain, thanks to the worldview and genius of Jim Henson.

But it wasn’t a complete home run.

Read on for the full story.

❓Pop quiz

Which of the following is not one of the cities where LeBron James played in the NBA on his path to Philadelphia?

A) Los Angeles

B) New York

C) Miami

D) Cleveland

Think you know? Check your answer.

What we’re …

😋 Craving: Some of the airiest potato gnocchi Craig LaBan has eaten all year.

🎨 Admiring: A shrine to the Wyeths that opened at the Brandywine Museum of Art.

🗺️ Revisiting: Gettysburg, which offers loads of Civil War history, of course, but is not a one-trick pony.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram

Hint: This broadcaster announced her retirement.

ANY CYNIC LET

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here.

Cheers to David Laderman, who correctly guessed Saturday’s answer: SHERMAN BROTHERS. Philadelphia shoe retailer Sherman Brothers is moving to the Main Line after 73 years in Center City.

Photo of the day

Photographer Tom Gralish focuses his Scene Through the Lens photo essay on the beauty of walkable Philadelphia. “Center City is compact and easy to explore on foot,” Gralish writes, “with many stores, restaurants, museums, attractions, and parks all within a short walk.”

Gralish is familiar with walks around Philly. In his early days at The Inquirer, Gralish spent weeks walking our streets, leading to this Pulitzer Prize-winning photo essay about how unhoused men survive.

🎶 Today’s song: We’re enjoying “Here They Come” (because of course we are). We like this old-school video someone made years ago for a class.

👋🏽 Enjoy your Sunday basking in the sun, the glow of the LeBron news, or whatever makes you happy.

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