Comedian Chris Trew is a New Orleans Pelicans superfan who has a single season ticket directly behind the visitors’ bench inside New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center, where he chats with and listens to the opposing team. He will be documenting some of his interactions with players and coaches here for us in a regular column called Behind the Bench. You can follow his in-game interactions live on Twitter at @ChrisTrew. The Pelicans’ opponent in this column: the Philadelphia 76ers.

Times weren’t so joyful the last time Pennsylvania’s basketball team, the 76ers, stepped on the hardwood in New Orleans. Joel Embiid wasn’t around yet, Ben Simmons was still hanging around Baton Rouge, and tissue boxes were taking dives (while we’re here, I credit the tissues with the Sixers finally landing that top draft spot).

While their winning percentage isn’t that much different this season, their smiles are bigger, the laughs are louder, and their body language was perky-ish, as if they were saying, “the process is, in a way, nearing completion, and we’re all very pleased with that.”

How did I read all of that from just looking at their bodies? I was sitting directly behind them analyzing their movements and conversations more than I was analyzing the scoreboard.

Here are the highlights:

– After shootaround the Sixers were parched, and the hydration station hadn’t been set up yet. When Gerald Henderson couldn’t figure out how to reach around the Gatorade jug to pour his own cup (not his fault, by the way, it’s positioned awkwardly) I offered to grab a gin and tonic for him to down before tip-off. He smiled, I smiled, and we both overheard Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry chatting with Sixers coach Brett Brown. The question was basic: “How you doing coach?” Gentry’s answer was sobering: “Struggling like hell.” Gerald declined the gin and tonic.

– After Hollis Thompson drank half his orange Gatorade, I asked him for a sip because that’s how I like to introduce myself to role players in the middle of the first quarter. For the first time in my history of sitting behind the bench, he obliged, craning his right arm over to mine. I grabbed the Gatorade, made a joke I’m not very proud of (“how much can I get for this on eBay?” smh) but then exhibited the kind of follow up I am very proud of (actually putting the cup for sale on eBay).