The cover of my second book, which is scheduled to be published on February 19, 2027.
By AARON BRACY
September 24, 2026
In the old days of DVD’s, I used to love watching the behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the movie that often came along with the disc you rented or bought.
So, I thought it might be cool for all of you to get an inside look into the making of my second book, Are You Kidding Me? The Incredible, Inspiring Story of Allen Iverson and the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers (Brookline). It is scheduled for publication on February 19, 2027. Between now and then, I plan to bring you a multipart series titled, “The Making of Are You Kidding Me?”
Part 1 of the series, published on September 14, 2026, gave an inside look into the Idea and Proposal for the book. You can read, watch, or listen for more.
Today’s Part 2 gives insight into my Interview Process, specifically exploring the interview I did with former 76ers center Todd MacCulloch on December 5, 2025.
In addition to reading below, you can watch Part 2 on Bracy Sports Media on YouTube and/or listen on the Bracy Sports Media podcast.
Enjoy!
Todd MacCulloch (right) speaks with former 76ers part-owner Pat Croce at the 25th anniversary reunion for the 2001 76ers on January 31, 2026 at Xfinity Mobile Arena. I interviewed MacCulloch over the telephone for my book on December 5, 2025. (Photo: Scott W Anderson Photography)
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Preorder: Are You Kidding Me?
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Click HERE to preorder at Brookline.
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The Interview Process
I interviewed more than 50 people for the book, and the conversation with MacCulloch came during a flurry of interviews that were happening just about every day.
Here is a step-by-step look at my process:
1) Coordinate:
This is an underrated part of the process, but extremely important. Finding a time that works for both parties at a time where neither feels rushed can make or break an interview. With MacCulloch being on the West Coast that eliminated an early-morning interview for me. No problem. We settled on 4 p.m. EST on Friday, December 5, 2025. All of this was done over text. And a big shoutout to 76ers PA announcer Matt Cord for putting MacCulloch and me in contact.
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2) Prepare:
For a 30-minute interview like this one, I spent probably three hours or more preparing. The first step was to review all of my own notes for the book and find notes on MacCulloch that would be interesting to ask, such as getting drafted by the 76ers in the second round in 1999, playing in the 2001 playoffs in his home country of Canada, and his strong play against Milwaukee in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals and the Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. That was just the tip of the iceberg. Then, I just started researching everywhere about MacCulloch, including scouring the Internet, watching YouTube, and reading old newspaper articles. There was so much that I learned that proved pivotal during the interview. I usually write all of my notes out by hand, and you can see here some of my prep for the MacCulloch interview.
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3) Come up with questions:
After doing all of my research, I come up with a list of questions that I would like to ask and prioritize them in the order that I would like to ask them. This is both important and challenging. It is important because we have a limited time, so I have to get the questions I most want to ask high on the list. It is challenging because there is usually so much I would like to find out that pushing a question to the bottom of the list–or even off my list–is painful. For the MacCulloch interview, I ended up coming up with seven key areas to cover with questions. You can see the list of questions below.
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4) The interview:
If I can’t do an interview in person, which is always my first choice, my preference is to do a phone interview rather than over Zoom. While it is helpful to see someone’s face and gauge their reaction, I personally find the conversation flows more comfortably over the phone. Also, I like to take notes as we are speaking because it helps me to really listen to what is being said and, if necessary, change course from my script or ask a pertinent follow-up question. You can see some of my hand-written notes from my conversation with MacCulloch here.
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5) Interview keys:
Some things that I try to do in any interview that I do, as in this one with MacCulloch, is to make the interviewee feel comfortable with a friendly greeting and some small talk. But I try not to overdo the small talk because time is limited, and I have a lot of questions to ask! I also try to be succinct with my questions, both for the sake of time and for clarity of understanding my question. With MacCulloch, I was able to get through everything on my list. As always, I ended the interview with an open-ended question, asking if there was anything he wanted to add or anything he wanted to expound upon.
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6) Transcribe:
This is the not-fun, but necessary part of the writing process. I transcribe all of my interviews myself by listening back to the recording on my iPad. I don’t use AI or apps like Otter, and I don’t use any help from another person transcribing. I do it all myself. As time-consuming as it is–a 30-minute interview like MacCulloch might take anywhere from an hour to three hours to transcribe–transcribing the interview while listening back to it helps to spark ideas for how I can use what I learned for the story. (Even if I think I might not use something, I transcribe it anyway just in case!) After transcribing, I always print out the interview so I can look at the words on paper. For my books, I like to put things in “buckets” and use a numbering system to help organize everything. As you can see below, the “General memories?” answer went into the No. 2 bucket.
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From Interview to Chapter
That is pretty much my interview process. The MacCulloch interview went even better than expected. He was really friendly and insightful, and the preparation really paid off, as I learned so much about both him and the 2001 76ers. I ended up turning this interview into an entire chapter in the book. I’ll be sharing more about my process for writing a chapter in a future editing of “The Making of Are You Kidding Me?” Stay tuned!
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Preorder Reminder
You can preorder your copy today on Amazon, Brookline, Barnes & Noble, and other places where books are sold.
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Aaron Bracy has covered sports in Philadelphia for nearly three decades for various publications and as a freelancer for the Associated Press. His first book, A Soaring Season: The Incredible, Inspiring Story of the 2003–04 Saint Joseph’s Hawks (Brookline), can be ordered HERE. His second book, Are You Kidding Me? The Incredible, Inspiring Story of Allen Iverson and the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers (Brookline) is scheduled to be published in February 2027. You can preorder it HERE. Follow Bracy on social media HERE. Contact him at bracymedia@gmail.com.