Speaker 1: A busy week of draft preparations in the books for
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers, a total of twenty five prospects and
Speaker 1: all passing through the Sixers training complex and camping New
Speaker 1: Jersey since Monday, and on this episode of a podcast,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hear from some of them. Cal Bridges, Miles Bridges,
Speaker 1: Lonnie Walker, the Fourth, Kevin Knox, and Winnie and Gabriel.
Speaker 1: All that coming up on this episode of the podcast
Speaker 1: in just a moment. A reminder that to subscribe to
Speaker 1: the podcast, we would love to have you go to iTunes,
Speaker 1: Google Play, Stitcher, type in Sixers Podcast Network, or you
Speaker 1: can go to SoundCloud at SoundCloud dot com backslash sixers
Speaker 1: and that will take you to our feeds. Yes, indeed,
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers personnel staff hard at work this past week,
Speaker 1: between members of the front office, head coach Brett Brown,
Speaker 1: his assistance, and the scouting staff. They were all on
Speaker 1: hand for the series of workouts that were conducted on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and again on Friday. And on Tuesday afternoon there was
Speaker 1: actually an individual workout with none other than Villanova's mcal
Speaker 1: Bridge is the pride of Great Valley high school and Malvern, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: coming off an All American season and a second national championship.
Speaker 1: When we caught up with McHale after his workout with
Speaker 1: the Sixers, we start off by making reference to the
Speaker 1: fact that is Mom Tania heads up the human resources
Speaker 1: efforts for us here at the seventy six Ers. Probably
Speaker 1: are too many potential lottery picks who got to knock
Speaker 1: out individual pre draft workout and then say hi to
Speaker 1: Mom in the very same place. But one of the
Speaker 1: many things that distinguishes mcal bridges how did it go today?
Speaker 1: It went really well. You know, they pushed me and
Speaker 1: a lot. It was loud, running, shooting defense and Joe's
Speaker 1: It was fun though it was it was really you know,
Speaker 1: testing me, see my conditioning and and see I am
Speaker 1: as a player. What type of physical toll does a
Speaker 1: solo workout take. That's got to be pretty strenuous. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's this. I mean, you gotta be mentally tough for
Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna you're gonna get tired, and I mean,
Speaker 1: and they know that it's a matter of what you
Speaker 1: do when you're tired. You're going to give up or
Speaker 1: you're going you know, keep trying to make shots and
Speaker 1: keep going hard. And I mean just you know, going
Speaker 1: through Nova, That's how I was built, you know, built
Speaker 1: mentally tough and came in here, you know, get a
Speaker 1: little tired, you know, suck it up and just keep
Speaker 1: getting through it. From being around here, from your family
Speaker 1: connection to people who you worked with the Bill Nova
Speaker 1: who are now at the seventy six you probably have
Speaker 1: a pretty decent sense of what this organization was about.
Speaker 1: But being here today, what extra did that add to
Speaker 1: your perception of the way the Sixers work? Um, I
Speaker 1: mean as just knowing you know who they are and
Speaker 1: how they play, and I know that I'm a pretty
Speaker 1: good fit for the team. Is this offensively and defensively?
Speaker 1: You know they love to play defensive coach loads to
Speaker 1: do and I mean I probably myself in that. So
Speaker 1: just going in there knowing that I fit well with
Speaker 1: the team, and you know, like like the things that
Speaker 1: they do for someone on the outside of prospect who's
Speaker 1: trying to break into this league. Just how much has
Speaker 1: the perception around the seventy Sixers changed over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years, just you know, going from you know
Speaker 1: not you know, one of the worst teams to you know,
Speaker 1: the top teams in the yo in an NBA, and
Speaker 1: you see, you got two tons of guys that you know,
Speaker 1: and Ben and Joel, and you know they'll just finding pieces,
Speaker 1: you know, to you know, correlate with them, and I
Speaker 1: mean they defending, they behinds off and they would get
Speaker 1: out on transition, which I love to do. So, I
Speaker 1: mean it's really cool watching them and seeing the things
Speaker 1: they've been doing. So you were ham filing over for
Speaker 1: four seasons. You red shirted your first year. Can you,
Speaker 1: to the best of your memory, walk me through year
Speaker 1: by year what your to do list was, where you
Speaker 1: wanted to improve and how you expanded your game with
Speaker 1: each passing season. Yeah. So my freshman year, I've read
Speaker 1: shirted and took time off, you know, just to get
Speaker 1: stronger and you know, be able to play, you know,
Speaker 1: with all that strength out there in physicality in the game.
Speaker 1: And then sophomore year just going out there defending, you know,
Speaker 1: playing my role, which just coming to bringing sparks off
Speaker 1: the bench, things like that. In my junior year, third
Speaker 1: year playing basically my second year, the second year playing
Speaker 1: with my third year, you know, you came a starter
Speaker 1: and try you know, still be that deep as a guy.
Speaker 1: Also make plays, you know with Josh and Chris and
Speaker 1: seniors and Darrow, just trying to make plays with them.
Speaker 1: And last year, you know, just being a leader and
Speaker 1: getting better, you know, throughout the summer and just you know,
Speaker 1: try to lead on and off the court, and you know,
Speaker 1: try to dominate whenever you know, I get on the court.
Speaker 1: Did you sense that there was a lot riding on
Speaker 1: this season for you personally? The people started to pay
Speaker 1: more attention to you after your sophomore season, if they
Speaker 1: were expecting big things for you this year? Ah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know, just getting better here. You know, it's
Speaker 1: just not even for the people, just for myself. You know,
Speaker 1: I always, by end of my time, I just want
Speaker 1: to be the best basketball player I can be. And
Speaker 1: I mean I'll just trying to get better every year.
Speaker 1: And I'm Michael Subber too, I'm the best I can
Speaker 1: possibly be. So I mean it's just more myself trying
Speaker 1: to be trying to get better. And you know that's
Speaker 1: why I did and continue I'm gonna continue to keep
Speaker 1: doing that. And so begin to wrap this up, what
Speaker 1: would you say your skills that are most NBA ready
Speaker 1: are and then what are some areas where you're like,
Speaker 1: I can't to get in the league and work on this. Um,
Speaker 1: probably defense and shooting for sure, and transition. Um what
Speaker 1: to work on probably is gonna be ball handled playmaking
Speaker 1: and just reading things like that. It's probably gonna be
Speaker 1: the biggest thing. Impressions with coach Brown. Yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: really cool, really cool guy. And uh, I mean you
Speaker 1: could tell that he's he's about it. You know, he's
Speaker 1: about winning. He's about defending and playing hard. And I
Speaker 1: mean that's the same thing at Nova, and you know
Speaker 1: I love that how much when you look at your
Speaker 1: own personal package and profile, do you think that being
Speaker 1: a part of a winning program and contributing to a
Speaker 1: pair of national championships does in the way people you
Speaker 1: aside from the natural gifts and skills to you, Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: I might just work hard. You know, I got a
Speaker 1: really good work ethic. And it's not a lot a
Speaker 1: lot of it, some of the talent, but ibou, you know,
Speaker 1: the work you putting in. I mean, you know that's
Speaker 1: the thing I kept with me that Jailing is always
Speaker 1: telling me. You know, you know, you work too hard
Speaker 1: for this and just all of a sudden, I cotting
Speaker 1: back in my mind just to know myself on that floor.
Speaker 1: You know, I work too hard to not be doing
Speaker 1: this and that, And I just take that with you
Speaker 1: where abo I go. I probably would menure to say
Speaker 1: that just about everyone here at the training complex. If
Speaker 1: they were asked who was the hardest working person on
Speaker 1: this campus, they would say VP of Human Resources today?
Speaker 1: What is she? In part upon you? What? What part
Speaker 1: of your makeup your DNA comes from your mom? You know,
Speaker 1: especially being a good person. You know, it's just it's just,
Speaker 1: you know, it's sticking to it. Don't stop. That's she's
Speaker 1: Sometimes things will go well, but she doesn't stop. She
Speaker 1: doesn't quit. And she always told me out to be
Speaker 1: a quitter of things, and I took it on life
Speaker 1: and all right, Michael, best of luck, Thank you, appreciate
Speaker 1: of all the many neat layers to the mccaal Bridges story,
Speaker 1: the fact that he's got a mom who works for
Speaker 1: an NBA team definitely one of them, and man does
Speaker 1: she work hard and clearly did a great job raising
Speaker 1: a guy who very likely will probably not be on
Speaker 1: the draft board past number ten next Thursday. From one
Speaker 1: Bridges to another, mchaal To Miles. Miles was in Camden
Speaker 1: on Monday morning taking part in a six player workout
Speaker 1: that also featured Lonnie Walker. Miles Bridges averaging around seventeen points,
Speaker 1: seven rebounds, and shot seventy one three pointers this past season,
Speaker 1: an All American pick on the second team and one
Speaker 1: of the standouts in the Big Ten first team All
Speaker 1: team selection. He gave us a sense of what his
Speaker 1: day was like with the seventy sixers after he got
Speaker 1: into town. Miles, one of your earlier workouts here with
Speaker 1: these seventy sixers, walk us through what is this day
Speaker 1: like from what you've experienced so far, from when you
Speaker 1: get here to when you get on the court. When
Speaker 1: I hear I mean, I love the facility. This is
Speaker 1: a great facility, newer facility, and most most teams and
Speaker 1: coaches and chinas, they have great, great energy and that's
Speaker 1: what I like about the program. Coming from Mission State,
Speaker 1: UM so, I kind of feel at home here. Brett
Speaker 1: Brown definitely comes off as an energetic guy. Was this
Speaker 1: your first time getting to speak with him? What were
Speaker 1: your impressions? Oh? Yeah, sorry, this is my first time
Speaker 1: meeting them, and Kylor reminds me of coaches in a
Speaker 1: little bit, so that that made me feel that home.
Speaker 1: I said, he brought a lot of energy and talked
Speaker 1: to us after a lot of coaches do that. Um,
Speaker 1: so he's great. Where were some of the pieces of
Speaker 1: advice that he gave you? Oh, just to keep my
Speaker 1: intensity of energy. Um, it's never changed for anybody. UM,
Speaker 1: continue to I said to bring energy to every workout.
Speaker 1: So when you look at where you were this time
Speaker 1: year ago, there were a lot of people, some extremely
Speaker 1: close to you might have said, well, this should be
Speaker 1: exactly what the journey was back in two seventeen. But
Speaker 1: compare this time now to a year ago, and just
Speaker 1: how much have you changed in all facets. I think
Speaker 1: I'm more season, more mature. I know what to expect now,
Speaker 1: so I come into every workout or a lot of energy.
Speaker 1: I think last year I would have came in nonsalantum.
Speaker 1: So that's that's what I learned from having another year
Speaker 1: at Mischian state Confidence any different based upon what you
Speaker 1: individually in the team accomplience this year. Yeah, my confidence
Speaker 1: coming into every workout is through the roof. Um that
Speaker 1: I think that gives me great, great insight on every
Speaker 1: team would be fair to say that you are more
Speaker 1: well random player now than you were after last season.
Speaker 1: It seemed like Michigan State used you in a different
Speaker 1: way this year. Yeah, for certain, Philly is the same
Speaker 1: way that they use everybody, putting out different spots on
Speaker 1: the floor and they could be effective. So that's I
Speaker 1: try to do in Michigan State. I think if I
Speaker 1: came in out fit right in, what do you think
Speaker 1: skill set wise? Is your motive? NBA ready attribute right now?
Speaker 1: Just my versatility. I could guard any player on the court,
Speaker 1: offensive defense, They could put me in any position. So
Speaker 1: I feel like maybeing versatile is going to help any teams.
Speaker 1: You also seem like you can get to where you
Speaker 1: want on the court. Where does that explosiveness come from? Well,
Speaker 1: I didn't really have that explosive them off to dribble.
Speaker 1: I kind of gained that my second year of college.
Speaker 1: So that just comes from Phil watching watching Blail Lah blah,
Speaker 1: and watching a load of choir leonard Um watch those
Speaker 1: guys get to the floor their sweet spots. Depending on
Speaker 1: how people like to look at their stats, You've graded
Speaker 1: out pretty well on the defensive end in two years
Speaker 1: in college. Where do you think that's side of the
Speaker 1: fourth place to your strengths. Oh, it's gonna be a big, big,
Speaker 1: big strength for me coming in as a rookie. You
Speaker 1: have to be able to play defense, get time on
Speaker 1: the floor, and up. It doesn't gonna be big for me.
Speaker 1: How much have you've heard the phrase three and D
Speaker 1: over the last two or three years. I heard that
Speaker 1: a lot. Every team needs needs a player like that
Speaker 1: that could guard and hit hit the three when you
Speaker 1: need it. Um. So that's big green team Michigan State. Obviously,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of pretty reputable and renowned, accomplished alumni.
Speaker 1: Is there one piece of advice from one person that
Speaker 1: you've been trying to carry with you throughout this whole experience. Ah,
Speaker 1: that's I got a lot of advice from Draymond. Keep
Speaker 1: my surfer small on my team, keep a lot of energy,
Speaker 1: Jay rich It just to have fun with everything. So
Speaker 1: those guys at Michigan State, they give me a lot
Speaker 1: of advice maturity wise, that's something that Tom is So
Speaker 1: I want to make sure I don't mess this up.
Speaker 1: I think he called you a blue collar type of superstar.
Speaker 1: When you look at the city like Philadelphia, I'm sure
Speaker 1: like FLYNT. I'm sure like East Lansing, what about it?
Speaker 1: Your personality fits in in a situation like that. I
Speaker 1: mean Flint and Philly, they have a lot in common. Um,
Speaker 1: blue collar, UM. A lot of people come from the
Speaker 1: hood and not the suburbs. UM. And that's what I
Speaker 1: like to see. I like, I like to see toughness
Speaker 1: in the city because that's where I came from. We
Speaker 1: had T. J. McConnell working out behind us. You got
Speaker 1: guys like Joel Ebide, Ben Simmons, Marquelle folks involved here
Speaker 1: as someone on the outside potentially who knows where you
Speaker 1: could end up. What type of perception now is there
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia seventy six ers. Oh, it's a thing to
Speaker 1: be reckon with the future. Right now and in the future.
Speaker 1: Joel He's an All Star Ben Simmons is gonna be
Speaker 1: All Star next year. Mark Kelly's coming up. UM. And
Speaker 1: those are guys that I've I've watched play and play
Speaker 1: with or against. UM. So I feel like I feel
Speaker 1: comfort you coming in. Miles Best, thanks so much. I
Speaker 1: forced to be reckoned with is how Miles Bridges describe
Speaker 1: the seventy sixers, And you could certainly use that same
Speaker 1: description to characterize the man from Michigan State himself who
Speaker 1: had a terrific year number two in a Spartans uniform.
Speaker 1: It's not so often that you find there's a group
Speaker 1: workout setting where you have two prospects who are projected
Speaker 1: to go in and around the same high spot in
Speaker 1: the lottery. But that was the case on Monday in
Speaker 1: Camden when Bridges was in the building and so was
Speaker 1: Lonnie Walker, the fourth out of Reading Senior High School.
Speaker 1: Lonnie Walker not only toured up in Burke's County and
Speaker 1: also in the ACCA. Walker the first Miami freshman ever
Speaker 1: to land a spot on an Accall League team. He
Speaker 1: averaged around eleven and a half points last year. He
Speaker 1: had fifty six threes. Has a versatile skill set out
Speaker 1: of the backcourt. And we chatted with him. Lonnie said
Speaker 1: that even at this dage, he likes feeling some anxious
Speaker 1: excitement going into these workouts that he knows carry a
Speaker 1: lot of weight. Between all the workouts you've been a
Speaker 1: part of so far leading up to this, there still
Speaker 1: is that anxious anticipation that you feel absolutely you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a bit of a grasp of the moment type
Speaker 1: of guy. So you know, being here and playing for
Speaker 1: the sixes. You know, I grew up kind of watching
Speaker 1: allan Ivas and watched old film and Julius Therevan doctor Dreyer. Uh.
Speaker 1: Family oriented. It's forty five minutes away from my house,
Speaker 1: so this is pretty intense for me. Honestly, I was
Speaker 1: starting to a lot of friends like, yo, you're not
Speaker 1: too far from home man. Uh, It's it's exciting. Tell
Speaker 1: me about your impressions of Brett Brown. It was just
Speaker 1: your first chance to interact with him today and one
Speaker 1: type of impression to be leaving upon him. Um, he
Speaker 1: left the great impression. You know. He shows that he
Speaker 1: wants to win. He shows that, you know, it's sixty
Speaker 1: is this community. It's not for everyone. It's all about
Speaker 1: you know, only the strong will kind of survive on
Speaker 1: his team, and you know that's what I'm built for.
Speaker 1: I'm not too far forty five minutes from here. Red infanspan.
Speaker 1: You want to high poverty schools. You talk about that
Speaker 1: grit in that grind and that's swagger like he was
Speaker 1: talking about. Um, that's who I am. So you know
Speaker 1: everything he said, how he talked, how your approach, you know,
Speaker 1: not the same but our intensity is kind of close
Speaker 1: up there. So he wants to win and I want
Speaker 1: to win, and we want to create a dynasty. Saying
Speaker 1: with himself as being a great coach, so great similarities.
Speaker 1: On the outside, it seems like he might be the
Speaker 1: type of prospect who's been on the rise as of like,
Speaker 1: do you feel that yourself? What type of amentum do
Speaker 1: you feel like you've built up over the last few weeks,
Speaker 1: you know, just building my name. Lot of people know that.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm still day in, day out, I'm gonna progress.
Speaker 1: You know, even at Miami, I started off slow, but
Speaker 1: I kind of got better, got better day in and
Speaker 1: day out. So now you come here, you know you
Speaker 1: haven't seen me in so long, and you can kind
Speaker 1: of know us. I'm getting stronger, faster, shouldn't the ball out,
Speaker 1: better handling? So everything is all about progress, and you
Speaker 1: know that's all I want to show is that I'm
Speaker 1: still improving my game. They've been videos out there where
Speaker 1: you talking about your passion and it sounds like you
Speaker 1: view that as a distinguishing characteristic or something that makes
Speaker 1: you a special type of prospect. Where does that come
Speaker 1: from and how does that feel you? My family, my father.
Speaker 1: You know, growing out, my father worked about three four
Speaker 1: jobs and sometimes where you know, if he's working three days, right,
Speaker 1: So you talk about that work ethic, and where I
Speaker 1: get it from, It's just from him, you know, watching
Speaker 1: him get an hour sleep and going to work, watching
Speaker 1: him just continue to work and fight and show that
Speaker 1: you know, even when he has nothing less, he's nothing left,
Speaker 1: he still has more gas to get. So that's where
Speaker 1: I get it from. Now you talk about that passion
Speaker 1: and that heart and that pride. I get that from him,
Speaker 1: But I also get that from my community. You know
Speaker 1: that in Pennsylvania were going to raise and you know
Speaker 1: they take great pride in basketball and who I am.
Speaker 1: So that's where I get it from him. The workout
Speaker 1: that you were involved in also featured Miles Bridges. You
Speaker 1: guys projected to go in the lottery face of the draft.
Speaker 1: What type of atmosphere did that land of the court?
Speaker 1: I see you guys wearing different colored uniforms. You were
Speaker 1: on the white team, he was on the blue team.
Speaker 1: It's definitely very intense. You know, we're around that same
Speaker 1: range of motion and we're all fighting for that same spot.
Speaker 1: So it definitely creates no friends in the court type
Speaker 1: of thing. You know. Off the court, me and him
Speaker 1: a great friends. We talk can there, but on the
Speaker 1: court it's definitely more intense. You're trying to get at
Speaker 1: each other and we both have a target on both
Speaker 1: of our backs. Amongst the other players out here, shake
Speaker 1: Melon is a great guy, you know, great guards. So
Speaker 1: day in and day out, you gotta know that there's
Speaker 1: a target on your back and you gotta give it
Speaker 1: all you've got behind you. You've got a proven pro
Speaker 1: and t J McConnell working out, guys like Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid, Marquel Full It's a part of the fold here.
Speaker 1: Do you let yourself think about where you might be
Speaker 1: able to fit in should this workout? Where do you
Speaker 1: think you could fit in a situation like this? For
Speaker 1: that I can figure right. It's a very transition team,
Speaker 1: very defensive oriented, and a past first team, very unselfish.
Speaker 1: So you talk about getting shots up, transition defense and
Speaker 1: everything and getting under people. This is what the six Summi.
Speaker 1: Such is his name, you know, that's their name, and
Speaker 1: that's where they where they take great pride about. So
Speaker 1: for me, I can talk about my style of player shooting, passing, defense,
Speaker 1: transition and why not. So you know, we kind of
Speaker 1: got a great thing. It's similar. But and also off
Speaker 1: the court, I'm a very great kid, so you don't
Speaker 1: got to worry about that. Um. You know, it's very
Speaker 1: exciting to see where I where I shout to. They
Speaker 1: only make them great in Burke's County. Absolutely, that's a lot,
Speaker 1: Thank you. It is true. All things from Burkes County
Speaker 1: very much great. A terrific place. Walker was part of
Speaker 1: Monday's six man workout. Kevin Knox, who is moving up
Speaker 1: draft boards. It seems a part of Friday's six man
Speaker 1: workout group. Knock someone who the Sixers feel has a
Speaker 1: good touch. They like his tenacity and he can do
Speaker 1: a lot of different things on the wing. He was
Speaker 1: the sec CO Freshman of the Year, and like a
Speaker 1: handful of these other conversations, we start off by asking
Speaker 1: Knox about his impressions of the seventy six ers organization.
Speaker 1: All right, we why don't you start by telling about
Speaker 1: what's the experience been like visiting the seventy six ers.
Speaker 1: It's ready experience read facilities. I think he said in
Speaker 1: September would be two years old, so it's kind of
Speaker 1: brand new night germ, nice facilities, and it's one of
Speaker 1: the best ones I've been too so far. So I
Speaker 1: mean it's the process. I mean, good trainers to have
Speaker 1: good coaches. I mean it's kind of been one of
Speaker 1: the best ones from a hospitality standpoint. Are there certain
Speaker 1: things that this team has done differently than some of
Speaker 1: the others that you visited? I mean no, not really.
Speaker 1: I mean this one we did shoot a lot more
Speaker 1: shots than the ones I've been But that's kind of
Speaker 1: how Coach Brown coaches, and he lets you do a
Speaker 1: lot of threes. It's kind of how contesting threes two
Speaker 1: being physical, be able to shoot off the catch you
Speaker 1: off the run. So kind of started the day off
Speaker 1: shooting a lot of three. So today's probably one of
Speaker 1: the more shooting threes in the other workouts. Sounds like
Speaker 1: you did your homework on the team. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I do. I do my homework on every team I
Speaker 1: go to as good as I know what kind of
Speaker 1: workout you going into, so kind of do my research,
Speaker 1: my agent, do our research my trainers. So it's kind
Speaker 1: of had the right mentality going into these workouts in
Speaker 1: your mind, what type of fit would this scenario be
Speaker 1: it'd be a great fit. I mean, Coach Brown really
Speaker 1: loves me at the three. He loves my versatility and
Speaker 1: loves where I can shoot the ball take it to
Speaker 1: the basket. So I think it's a compliment really well.
Speaker 1: With Ben Simmons, Joel and b you got a big
Speaker 1: fours down low. So he really loves my versatility. He
Speaker 1: loves me at the three. So I think I'll do
Speaker 1: really well here. You don't necessarily come off as a
Speaker 1: young guy man your age, certainly one of the younger
Speaker 1: players in this class. How have you managed that over
Speaker 1: the course of your time dealing with that whole Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, let's kind of get that everywhere I go.
Speaker 1: And you got a lot of guys in the draft
Speaker 1: of the twenty one years old got more experience than me,
Speaker 1: but got really high upside. And that's kind of my
Speaker 1: messages to the teams. I mean, I'm eighteen years old.
Speaker 1: I still got a lot to learn, a lot to
Speaker 1: grow as a person as a player. So I mean,
Speaker 1: just coming towards the team, you have to learn as
Speaker 1: much as I can. I'm gonna keep getting better every
Speaker 1: single year, I mean' So I mean that's kind of
Speaker 1: my message of teams. I mean, I'm really mature for
Speaker 1: my age show. I mean I just kind of don't
Speaker 1: want happen go off for me as a young, immature
Speaker 1: type of player. I mean I'm really old. I'm not
Speaker 1: that old, but I'm eighteens old, but I act holder
Speaker 1: than age. The Sixers sighted yard tenacity, that was a
Speaker 1: quality there said, So where does that come from? How
Speaker 1: How long has that been a part of your profile?
Speaker 1: I mean I could tuck. I mean, you gotta play
Speaker 1: with that. You gotta play with that type of energy,
Speaker 1: that type of fight. I you know, you gotta have
Speaker 1: toughest playing there where you play on the road, I
Speaker 1: mean sold out games. I mean it's kind of how
Speaker 1: it is mean twenty four thousand and rupt and usually
Speaker 1: have that mentality just going there, the right mindset. That's
Speaker 1: kind of how Kyle coaches the coaching staff. Mean, you
Speaker 1: gotta have that right intensity. I gotta have the right
Speaker 1: effort to play in Kentucky. It seems like you knew
Speaker 1: a lot about Brett Brown when he sat down with
Speaker 1: you guys, and with you in particular. What were some
Speaker 1: of the things that he left you with. I mean
Speaker 1: just the city, I mean he talked a lot about
Speaker 1: the city. I mean, is one of the best cities
Speaker 1: in the world, he said. I mean he got a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champions So, I mean the basketball team is
Speaker 1: they would like to play for the play for the city,
Speaker 1: play for the kids theater. It's kind of his message.
Speaker 1: I mean, you gotta come here and be able to fight,
Speaker 1: play with effort, play on Andrewthon, play with Anshy. I
Speaker 1: mean we don't we don't play with mean we played
Speaker 1: for the city. You know. That's kind of how it was.
Speaker 1: And he's a big city guy. It's kind of the
Speaker 1: message he gave to us. Kevin, thanks so much, Thank you.
Speaker 1: I thought that was really interesting to hear from Knox.
Speaker 1: Seems kind of obvious, but just the amount of homework
Speaker 1: and research and due diligence he did and learning more
Speaker 1: about the seventy six ers prior to his visit here
Speaker 1: and certainly sounds like he feels like this could be
Speaker 1: a good landing spot for him should the Sixers go
Speaker 1: in that direction. With number ten final interview on this
Speaker 1: episode of the podcast, We're gonna hear from Winnie and Gabriel,
Speaker 1: who was a member of Kentucky's team with Kevin Knox's
Speaker 1: last season. And this is just to give you a
Speaker 1: sense of how much some of these prospects go through
Speaker 1: this time of year to get themselves in front of
Speaker 1: different NBA teams and try and earn a shot, whether
Speaker 1: it's as a draft pick or a Summer league edition
Speaker 1: or in the G League. Friday's workout for Gabriel was
Speaker 1: his fifteenth overall, So that's for half the teams in
Speaker 1: the entire league, and his fifth straight day of workouts.
Speaker 1: Who's gonna have two days off this weekend and then
Speaker 1: another one on Monday, So just a crazy stretch for
Speaker 1: someone like Gabriel trying to latch on somewhere in the league.
Speaker 1: Quite the journey that Gabriel's been on. He was born
Speaker 1: in Sudan, he lived in Egypt for a while, ultimately
Speaker 1: made his way over to the United States, and now
Speaker 1: he's potentially on the verge of becoming a pro at
Speaker 1: the NBA level. So here's our chats with Gabriel. So
Speaker 1: you've been through a good number of workouts, half the
Speaker 1: teams in the league. How are you feeling at this
Speaker 1: stage of the game. I'm at the home stretch right now.
Speaker 1: I feel like today I had an extra boost of energy.
Speaker 1: Extra first, you know, I have two more workouts after this,
Speaker 1: you know, you know it's gone to Philly and had
Speaker 1: a great workout. To what do you think gave you
Speaker 1: that extra boost? You know, I just you know, I
Speaker 1: talk to my age and talk to my family, and
Speaker 1: you know, it's the home stretch, right you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, dreams about a week away and I start
Speaker 1: thinking about that. You know, when you get a lot
Speaker 1: of energy going forward. So what does it feel like
Speaker 1: to be on the cusp of this and everything that
Speaker 1: you've been through. Describe a little bit of your journey
Speaker 1: getting to this point. It gets to the point. I mean,
Speaker 1: you get a little bit of relief at this point,
Speaker 1: and then it's just you look back and just, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of proud of yourself but what you've been through
Speaker 1: and how you keep pushing forward, and you just look
Speaker 1: like it's a new life coming forward right now. You know,
Speaker 1: your whole life is about a change in a couple
Speaker 1: of couple of days. So this is a great feeling,
Speaker 1: you know, just just some change in your life. You've
Speaker 1: lived all over the world. When did you have a
Speaker 1: sense within your own belief that the NBA was something
Speaker 1: that might be an attainable goal. Um when I blew
Speaker 1: up in my junior year in high school, so I
Speaker 1: went up my first year in the second year old
Speaker 1: the AA circuit, I kind of blow up and had
Speaker 1: a bunch of schools offering So I like to tell
Speaker 1: you want to see do Kansas and just in all
Speaker 1: my dream schools ended up offering me. So I had
Speaker 1: my choice from there, and that's when I kind of
Speaker 1: knew all I have a opportunity to play in the NBA.
Speaker 1: So I really focused on one after What would you
Speaker 1: say your games at right now on both ends the floor,
Speaker 1: what are you feeling good about? What are you focusing
Speaker 1: on working here? I'm feeling good. You know my defense
Speaker 1: has been picking up, you know, being able to switch out.
Speaker 1: I feel like the league is going to that way
Speaker 1: where you know you're going to ball screens and just
Speaker 1: being able to switch or the games played really fast
Speaker 1: from my ability to guard a bunch of different positions,
Speaker 1: so I think I can bring that to the table.
Speaker 1: It's being really versatile and offensively my outside shooting, so
Speaker 1: coming in as a three D type of player, I
Speaker 1: feel I can be plugged in and play in any
Speaker 1: type of offense, So you know, I know, I know
Speaker 1: they played great a lot of defense here in Philly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: shoot a lot of threes, and uh, I think I'm
Speaker 1: at a good three point shooter. I played hard all
Speaker 1: the time, and I defend the rebound at least on
Speaker 1: the outside. It seems kind of amazing that fifteen workouts
Speaker 1: into this whole thing. This was the first one here
Speaker 1: with the seventy six ers where you went up against
Speaker 1: a fellow Kentucky player and Kevin Knox. What was that like?
Speaker 1: It was great. I came in. I think I just
Speaker 1: found out yesterday I was gonna play with him, and
Speaker 1: I just thought it was good to see my old
Speaker 1: teammate and a workout you get to compete with him.
Speaker 1: I kind of want to see how he's been doing,
Speaker 1: you know, how where his game has gone throughout the
Speaker 1: last few weeks. And it's happy soon. Great insights from
Speaker 1: Winnie and Gabriel to your player at Kentucky and all
Speaker 1: the other prospects that we heard from on this episode
Speaker 1: of a podcast. Cal Bridges, Miles Bridges, Lonnie Walker the Fourth,
Speaker 1: and Kevin Knox. More draft coverage on the podcast will
Speaker 1: come your way on Monday, as we keep crossing off
Speaker 1: the dates on the calendar until June twenty one. Enjoy
Speaker 1: the weekend. See