Speaker 1: I'm Sorry's Meg Si and you're listening to the seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers Insiders podcast.
Speaker 2: This podcast is part of the seventy six Ers podcast network,
Speaker 2: presented by Stern and Cohen Law. Search seventy six Ers
Speaker 2: Insiders wherever you get your podcasts. Suffering an injury at
Speaker 2: work can cause physical pain, but also great uncertainty about
Speaker 2: your rights. You need to retain a worker's compensation law
Speaker 2: firm that is a winner like our sixers, a firm
Speaker 2: that gets some of the best settlements, but is also
Speaker 2: willing to go toe to toe with the insurance company.
Speaker 2: No settling on the cheap. This is Philly. We have
Speaker 2: grit and fight in us. Call the workers Compensation Law
Speaker 2: Firm of Stern and Cohen or visit their site Sterncohenlaw
Speaker 2: dot com. The consultation is free. Stern and Cohen are
Speaker 2: the official partners of the seventy six Ers. They'll go
Speaker 2: ring the insurance company's bell here with Temple University football
Speaker 2: tight end kJ Martin. We'll talk about that in just
Speaker 2: a second, but at this point of the offseason. The
Speaker 2: last time that we talked to you was in July
Speaker 2: in Vegas at Summer League. Since then, what has life
Speaker 2: been like for you? I know that includes the the
Speaker 2: Rico Hines runs with the Sixers team as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's been cool. I mean I seen y'all
Speaker 1: at Summer League. I came out here, I did physicals
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, obviously, just signed, and then I
Speaker 1: went back home to La so well, a bunch of
Speaker 1: the guys were out there, so it was just easy
Speaker 1: for me to go and work out with a team
Speaker 1: like I was home, so I was just working out
Speaker 1: and chilling, being with my family and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And then no, I'm back here getting started for the season. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The day that we spoke to you at summer League
Speaker 2: was literally the day that the news came out about
Speaker 2: your contract, and you said your dad was saying, you're
Speaker 2: going to be paying for dinners.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure going forward, for sure. Yeah. No, he
Speaker 1: was like, oh, you got some money now, So every time,
Speaker 1: all the times I've paid for dinner for you, it's
Speaker 1: time for you to pay now. So I'll still go
Speaker 1: make him pay though.
Speaker 2: Don't worry before we talk Temple football with these practices
Speaker 2: and runs have been like here at the Penn Medicine Philadelphia,
Speaker 2: seventy six years training complex coach Rico Hines, because you're
Speaker 2: you're out on LA and dating back to your teenage years,
Speaker 2: your relationship with him, what was year one together? Like
Speaker 2: with an NBA organization.
Speaker 1: It was the same between me and Rico, Like it
Speaker 1: was just he knowed me since I was like fourteen
Speaker 1: maybe fifteen, so like I was always working out with
Speaker 1: him since then every summer. So when I came in,
Speaker 1: we already had a relationship. So it was just like,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, it's the same thing. And
Speaker 1: that's how he is with everybody, Like, oh, he yes,
Speaker 1: he helps us, he's our coach, but he doesn't make
Speaker 1: it seem like that. You feel me like it's kind
Speaker 1: of like he like an uncle to us, like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's gonna help us and this whatever we need, he
Speaker 1: got us, and he's gonna let us know the truth.
Speaker 1: And whether you like to hear it or not, it's
Speaker 1: just he knows for the better of us as people
Speaker 1: and basketball players. So just having him around hopes a lot.
Speaker 2: How high stakes are the free throws that you the
Speaker 2: free throw you have to make at the end of
Speaker 2: the game.
Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, no, that's that's the biggest thing. He was
Speaker 1: he's like, no one's guarding you. You always have to make it.
Speaker 2: So he has said that at the end of those
Speaker 2: reco runs, he's seen eighty ninety NBA free throw shooters.
Speaker 2: To win the game, is it to seven? Yeah, you
Speaker 2: have to attack on the free throw. So it's cool
Speaker 2: to hear for sure, those types of stories. But then
Speaker 2: on the court down below us, when the team is
Speaker 2: getting ready for the season, whether it's September and leading
Speaker 2: into early October, obviously training camp, after media day and
Speaker 2: all that, there's this sort of football theme that we
Speaker 2: talked to head coach Nick Nurse about. There's like football
Speaker 2: tackling dummies and yardage markers and then the helmet. So
Speaker 2: for anyone out there who hasn't seen the photos on
Speaker 2: the six or social media, you were in the Temple
Speaker 2: University football helmet. Yeah, what did you have to do
Speaker 2: to earn that?
Speaker 1: The core is marked and we have to get like
Speaker 1: a certain amount of throw aheads, so it's like you
Speaker 1: throw ahead like a football player or whatever. So I
Speaker 1: had the helmmet it on and I think Tyrese got
Speaker 1: the glove, so I took the helvet. I put the
Speaker 1: helvet on, and they posted it and Temple's like, oh,
Speaker 1: we need our helmet back. We got a game. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I could start at tight end. So I mean I
Speaker 1: always think, like if I play basketball, I think I'll
Speaker 1: be a damn good football player. At tight end, I
Speaker 1: always have to put a little bit of weight on.
Speaker 1: But besides that, I think I could be pretty good.
Speaker 2: Did you ever play football?
Speaker 1: Yeah, for like one two years. I just didn't like
Speaker 1: practicing outside like that.
Speaker 2: What position?
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so I think my hands are good enough.
Speaker 1: But obviously I'm athletic enough and I'm tall enough. So
Speaker 1: the one thing is just gaining that weight and getting
Speaker 1: used to getting a hit like that. But besides that,
Speaker 1: I'll be good.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Tyrese MAXI thinking back to AAU days in Texas. Yeah,
Speaker 2: what have you seen from him and his development just
Speaker 2: as a basketball player and as a person.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, me tyres were in the same grade.
Speaker 1: So we always like against each other on the UIBL
Speaker 1: certain kid, like literally year after year after year, so
Speaker 1: I mean we knew each other. He's from Dallas, my
Speaker 1: dad's from Dallas, and most of my dad's side of
Speaker 1: the family still live there, so we kind of have
Speaker 1: that connection. But no, you could just see just like
Speaker 1: year by year, both of us just getting bendured, getting
Speaker 1: better constantly is getting better. Obviously he went to college.
Speaker 1: I did it, went my own route, and then then
Speaker 1: we met obviously at the NBA were in the same
Speaker 1: draft class, so you know, it's just cool to see
Speaker 1: and just be around that. Like all we played against
Speaker 1: each other listence is sixteen years old, and then now
Speaker 1: we're at the highest level.
Speaker 2: So it's dope, you got your contract. How do you
Speaker 2: feel to see him?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Great, great, I mean he works his tail off,
Speaker 1: so this is always great to see. You know, guys,
Speaker 1: especially my like we get the same age, same draft class,
Speaker 1: so that we know each other for a while, so
Speaker 1: I'm super happy for him.
Speaker 2: A lot of new players on the team, including some
Speaker 2: that you've crossed paths with in your NBA career, which
Speaker 2: we're going to quizy towards the end on the early,
Speaker 2: very earliest stages of your NBA playing career, which isn't
Speaker 2: that many years ago, so you have an advantage over
Speaker 2: some of the vets. But some of those vets are
Speaker 2: guys you played with, so I know it was a
Speaker 2: brief overlap in LA with Paul George, but then also
Speaker 2: in Houston with Eric Gordon. Yeah, so if you would
Speaker 2: talk about each of those guys, what stands out about
Speaker 2: Paul George and Eric Gordon PG.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously he's one of the best to do it.
Speaker 1: Six ' nine, he can great defensively, great hands, and offensively.
Speaker 1: I mean he's amazing. You really can't do anything to
Speaker 1: stop him. So just my time in LA just being
Speaker 1: in a training camp and practicing with like him every
Speaker 1: day and just having you know, to compete against a
Speaker 1: guy like that and guard him every day. That helped
Speaker 1: me a lot. And then now that he signed here,
Speaker 1: I mean, we already have that relationship, so it's dope
Speaker 1: to have you know, him back on my team. And
Speaker 1: then me and EG we were in Houston for a
Speaker 1: while so well, I think it was like three years,
Speaker 1: I believe. So my first three years he was like
Speaker 1: basically one of my vets. He was always helping me,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, whatever I needed, I always
Speaker 1: knew I could pick up the phone and call him.
Speaker 1: After we went our own separate ways for the year,
Speaker 1: I still like kept in contact with him and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. So just having him back on the team
Speaker 1: is dope. Also, just having somebody with that experience and
Speaker 1: we have that relationship off the court, it's gonna help
Speaker 1: us a lot.
Speaker 2: How was it having PG also at UCLA for the
Speaker 2: pickup game?
Speaker 1: And it was cool? It was dope. It's dope to
Speaker 1: get out there and him just you know, get a
Speaker 1: feel for everybody and the guys he hasn't played with,
Speaker 1: kind of understand like where they're going to be at
Speaker 1: and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So it was And I mean some college guys like third,
Speaker 2: younger players there that are sharing the court with with
Speaker 2: Paul George that are less used to it than someone
Speaker 2: like yourself. You shared a locker space next near Rickey
Speaker 2: Council the Fourth and I wanted to ask you about
Speaker 2: your dunk contest experience. But there's starting to be some
Speaker 2: rumors about maybe Rickey Council the Fourth getting onto that
Speaker 2: stage some day. Yeah, him as a dunker, how do
Speaker 2: you think, how do you think he would do?
Speaker 1: He would do good. I mean I told a lot
Speaker 1: of people when I did the dunk contest, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: like winning is you alviously want to win. But my
Speaker 1: my whole thing about it was just having fun, Like
Speaker 1: that's the experience that you only you know what I'm
Speaker 1: saying once twice maybe, so I was Wally go out
Speaker 1: and have fun and this experience being a part of
Speaker 1: All Star Weekend. So I mean, I think he could
Speaker 1: win if if he does it, for sure, But at
Speaker 1: the same time, I would just go have fun and
Speaker 1: just taking everything of All Star Weekend because obviously you
Speaker 1: get the All Star Game, the best players in the
Speaker 1: NBA and the three point contests and all this stuff,
Speaker 1: and then off the court there is a bunch of
Speaker 1: events going on and stuff like that. So my biggest
Speaker 1: thing is just have fun with it.
Speaker 2: So you're experiencing the dunk contest. If Ricky Counsel the
Speaker 2: fourth was to do it, would you want to go
Speaker 2: against him? Would you ever want to get another crack
Speaker 2: at the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
Speaker 1: I don't think I'll go against him. I think I
Speaker 1: would just let him go and if it was just
Speaker 1: and other players, for sure just want him to try
Speaker 1: and go win. But at another time I would do
Speaker 1: it for sure. But I mean I think he should
Speaker 1: do it. I mean, you'll have a great shot to win,
Speaker 1: and just to go out and just have fun and
Speaker 1: experience this the All Star weekend in general, it's really fun.
Speaker 2: So reflecting further back, January twenty twenty one was your
Speaker 2: NBA debut, What do you remember about your first regular
Speaker 2: season NBA game.
Speaker 1: I wasn't nervous until I actually got on the court.
Speaker 1: Like at first, I'm just like, oh, it's chill, and
Speaker 1: then once I get up. Once I got on the court,
Speaker 1: I was like, damn, I mean you grew up going yeah,
Speaker 1: Like it was just so different because it was just
Speaker 1: like everything up to like going on the court felt
Speaker 1: pretty normal because I always just watched my dad do it,
Speaker 1: so it wasn't anything that was like a surprise to me.
Speaker 1: But like then once I actually got on the court,
Speaker 1: then I actually was like, Okay, this is different because
Speaker 1: that was why really my first time the NBA corner,
Speaker 1: the NBA game, So that was probably the only thing.
Speaker 1: But everything up to that point, though, it was like normal,
Speaker 1: like since I was a kid. Up to that point,
Speaker 1: I'd literally seen it damn near every day.
Speaker 2: So it was for the Rockets. Do you what other
Speaker 2: details do you recall.
Speaker 1: I think my first point was at aliub Actually it
Speaker 1: was it was Alube Dunk. I forgot who passed it
Speaker 1: to me, but I remember it was Alube dunk and
Speaker 1: I think we were playing who he played? Was it
Speaker 1: the Magic? Maybe it was the Magic? It was a
Speaker 1: magic so big win. Yeah. So yeah, my first points
Speaker 1: was a dunk, So that was that was that was dope.
Speaker 2: You had seven points, didn't miss a shot, made a three,
Speaker 2: three for three overall. The final score was one thirty
Speaker 2: two ninety Oh yeah over the magic?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Can you name the starting lineup of that team of
Speaker 2: Houston Rockets starting lineup? January eighth, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: John Wall yep, Christian Would yep, Jayshawn Tate not that game, thinking,
Speaker 1: Christian Wood, DeMarcus Didymus start?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: Uh, I don't think James played that game. He might
Speaker 1: have James did James? So John James, Christian Wood, Startling Brown, No,
Speaker 1: We'll start PJ. Tucker And uh, well.
Speaker 2: You just named like the whole roster and I was
Speaker 2: like yes or no? So yeah, I'm.
Speaker 1: Trying to think a little bit. Who else was? So
Speaker 1: John James, PJ. C.
Speaker 2: Wood, La native high school and college ball in La.
Speaker 1: David Da Dave, Okay, I want to.
Speaker 2: Take a crack at any of the Magic starters.
Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh, twenty twenty one. Who I can't even
Speaker 1: tell you who was starting on them. Let me think,
Speaker 1: Let me think, let me think. Was Voshvich on there?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Vousovich? Dj Augustine wasn't on that team because he was.
Speaker 1: Was Terrence Ross, No, I don't even know. I just
Speaker 1: know was on the team.
Speaker 2: You did well, you did well with your own team.
Speaker 2: Butrevic Cole, Anthony, Dwayne Bacon, James Ennis the third and
Speaker 2: Gary Clark so not their typical.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's starting line. Yeah, I think he is the
Speaker 1: only one that's still there.
Speaker 2: Nice job, though, kJ Martin, thank you so much.