Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. It
Speaker 1: was one heck of an offseason for Tobias Harris. He
Speaker 1: got engaged. She's very much more low key. So if
Speaker 1: I let her hand with the wedding, I think it
Speaker 1: would be half the price, and so I'm fine with that.
Speaker 1: Held an audience with the future Vice President of the
Speaker 1: United States. She just comes up to me and she's like,
Speaker 1: what's up, cousin, And I'm like, yeah, we are cousins.
Speaker 1: You know, we got the Harris last name. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: And he was reunited with the head coach he had
Speaker 1: more success under than anyone else. He did an amazing
Speaker 1: job with allowing me to expand my game and my career.
Speaker 1: So I'm always thankful, without thankful for any of us coach,
Speaker 1: thankful for him as a individual. I'm Brian Selter, and
Speaker 1: on this episode of the broadcast, Tobias Harris in his
Speaker 1: own words about the eventful few months that have now
Speaker 1: set the stage for a much anticipated season. How are you,
Speaker 1: seventy six ers pod peeps. I hope you are good,
Speaker 1: getting ready and pumped up? For the first of two
Speaker 1: preseason games. That's right. Seventy six Ers exhibition slate starts
Speaker 1: on Tuesday night, seven thirty against the Boston Celtics from
Speaker 1: the Center in South Philadelphia, first since March eleventh, the
Speaker 1: night the season was ultimately postponed. Games gonna be on
Speaker 1: ninety seven five The Fanatic if you're listening in the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia area, also on NBC Sports Philadelphia and TNT. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be good to see the guys back out. They're
Speaker 1: also going to be great to see, in particular Tobias
Speaker 1: Harris back out there, because in the event that you
Speaker 1: forgot last we saw Harris and the Sixers in a
Speaker 1: game scenario. It was a really scary sight. It looks
Speaker 1: like we have a serious injury. Take a look at
Speaker 1: what's happened here to Tobias Harris, who was laying down
Speaker 1: in the court for the Philadelphia seventy Sixers at then
Speaker 1: led to an uncomfortable a few minutes. They have called
Speaker 1: for crit cool assistance of Tobias Harris, but ultimately the
Speaker 1: outcome was a relief, grateful sign that Tobias Harris is
Speaker 1: up and walking off the court under his own power.
Speaker 1: Because a moment ago he was somehow Tobias Harris returned
Speaker 1: to play after that nasty collision with Boston's Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: in Game four of the first round of the playoffs
Speaker 1: inside the bubble. That Tobias came back out on the
Speaker 1: court didn't change the seventy six ers fate. They were,
Speaker 1: of course swept, but after leaving Orlando, there would be
Speaker 1: a lot of excitement on Harris's horizon. I'm gonna turn
Speaker 1: over now to our Lauren Rosen, who recently caught up
Speaker 1: with the Sixers veteran. Obviously, you had a lot of
Speaker 1: emotions sort of on the court and then off the court.
Speaker 1: But it seems like you're in a good place, are you.
Speaker 1: Are you a happy guy right now? Yeah? I mean yeah,
Speaker 1: A lot of it's gone on off the floor. Got
Speaker 1: a gauge this. I wouldn't even call him summer fall.
Speaker 1: So that was a fun experience and um one I've
Speaker 1: been waiting to do. So that was awesome. And or
Speaker 1: all just being able to have a lot of time
Speaker 1: to reflect all myself and and and help myself grow
Speaker 1: and learn different areas, and obviously a lot was going
Speaker 1: on with the presidential election and just a lot of
Speaker 1: things to be able to be a person of impact.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited and I love the life that I live.
Speaker 1: I love being who I am and waking up every
Speaker 1: day and trying to better myself each and every moment
Speaker 1: I get. So I'm happy for that. Bless Your engagement
Speaker 1: obviously went viral. You've set the bar really high for
Speaker 1: like all men moving forward. What was that process like
Speaker 1: of deciding to do something so big and how do
Speaker 1: you feel now that you've sort of surpassed this big
Speaker 1: milestone in your life. Well, I wanted the moment to
Speaker 1: be as memorable as possible for a Jasmine and uh
Speaker 1: and myself. UM, so definitely wanted to go all out
Speaker 1: on the flowers as you saw. Uh it did go.
Speaker 1: It did definitely go borrow. If I had to do it, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I probably would only posted like one photo because it
Speaker 1: was everywhere. I am a pretty um private person, but
Speaker 1: the moment was so special and I wanted, you know,
Speaker 1: to to put it out there for people who follow
Speaker 1: me and follow my life and and um people bring
Speaker 1: positivity toward towards myself and and uh and family going forward.
Speaker 1: Uh So, Yeah, it was a lot of planning that
Speaker 1: went into it, um No, a lot of strategic planning
Speaker 1: to making sure it was a surprise and that it
Speaker 1: was specially memorable. So it was a fun moment. Sources
Speaker 1: say that there was a harpist there, that you had
Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff going on, and I know that
Speaker 1: you made it made it sure like you made an
Speaker 1: emphasis to promote black owned businesses and black business owners
Speaker 1: when you went and did this. So why was that
Speaker 1: so important? And can you just run us through all
Speaker 1: the things you had because the people need to know,
Speaker 1: all right everything. Yeah, So we had a harpist there
Speaker 1: who played a beautiful song once I got on a knee.
Speaker 1: We had I had an event planner. Me and her
Speaker 1: were on the phone pretty much constant for like three weeks,
Speaker 1: well a month up until it. And caterer so food.
Speaker 1: So what the idea I wanted was like a sunset
Speaker 1: dinner too after the proposal and to get jazz one
Speaker 1: up to the to the land. It was actually I
Speaker 1: had told her it was a we were doing a
Speaker 1: photo shoot with our architectural digests, so you know, I
Speaker 1: mean yeah, So she was like okay, So there was
Speaker 1: like all these other details I had to go along
Speaker 1: with it, and I did make an emphasis to support
Speaker 1: black owned businesses, So that's down to my plan or
Speaker 1: the harpist, the photographers, the outfits, all the way down
Speaker 1: the line, and that was something that I wanted to
Speaker 1: incorporate in this because you know, when you when you
Speaker 1: want to do something big and have something that essentially
Speaker 1: went viral, it's no better feeling to know that jon
Speaker 1: people were able to put this together, and that was
Speaker 1: a good feeling for me, and they did a phenomenal job,
Speaker 1: which I also expected, so it was it was a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. How are you going to possibly top
Speaker 1: the proposal for the wedding? I'm not getting involved in
Speaker 1: that one bit, said Jasmin. She got the wedding. I
Speaker 1: did the proposal, so you can do all the planning
Speaker 1: for the wedding and set it up. I don't want
Speaker 1: to know issues any problem. So however, she wants a wedding,
Speaker 1: But jas was also somebody that likes doesn't like being
Speaker 1: in the center of attention, so she's also very much
Speaker 1: more low key. So if I let her handle the wedding,
Speaker 1: I think it would be half the price if I
Speaker 1: handle it, So I'm fine with that. Okay, something else
Speaker 1: exciting that happened for you. Shortly before the proposal, you
Speaker 1: met now Vice President elect Kamala Harris. Can you take
Speaker 1: us through that experience, maybe from start to finish when
Speaker 1: you found out you were going to do that with
Speaker 1: Donovan and CJ and then what it was like to
Speaker 1: actually meet her in person. Yeah. So I got a
Speaker 1: call properly on It was like Tuesday afternoon, Hey, comments
Speaker 1: doing a a round table with She wants to do
Speaker 1: it with you Donan Mitchell and CJ McColl and we
Speaker 1: would you be interested? And I said, yeah, I would
Speaker 1: be interested. Just give me some details. And then it
Speaker 1: was like, all right, you need to get on a
Speaker 1: plane tonight. And I was like tonight, Like that's come on,
Speaker 1: about to go work out. He also they actually ended
Speaker 1: up changing it to the next day and he was
Speaker 1: able to get on a plane. It's kind of kind
Speaker 1: of weird because when you're dealing with the vice president,
Speaker 1: you got to go through secret secret services and whatnot,
Speaker 1: so every call is like you get a call and
Speaker 1: you get another call like however, and they don't want
Speaker 1: people tapping the line whatever. But UM, it was a
Speaker 1: it was a great experience with UM with somebody who
Speaker 1: wants to do so many great things for the country,
Speaker 1: wants to do amazing things for the African American culture.
Speaker 1: And to be able to have that type of sit
Speaker 1: down and to be able to meet her was awesome.
Speaker 1: Like she's so down on earth. She just comes up
Speaker 1: to me and she's like, what's up, cousin, And I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we are cousins. You know, we got the Harris last name.
Speaker 1: That's that's awesome. So um. It was cool though seeing
Speaker 1: when we got there to do the interview is you know,
Speaker 1: she she rolls deep. It's like thirty people deep for
Speaker 1: one person, like thirty coming off this plane. And I
Speaker 1: was like, man like and then like you're in this.
Speaker 1: We're in this like aviation and just secure secret service
Speaker 1: here here, here, here, like always guarding every move and
Speaker 1: that was that was real interesting to see too. So
Speaker 1: it was an amazing experience, a really good sit down
Speaker 1: that happened with some some some great people you know
Speaker 1: down the Mentell CJ. McCollum, great dudes, and we had
Speaker 1: a fun time do it. You guys roll pretty deep
Speaker 1: too when you travel there's a big group of people.
Speaker 1: You guys have your own security. What was it like
Speaker 1: to meet someone that's sort of like just far and
Speaker 1: away on a whole other level when it comes to
Speaker 1: how many people are are involved in their operation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean you see a full team, and especially during
Speaker 1: a presidential election, and yeah, there's two people, Donald Trump
Speaker 1: and um Joe Biden, and you have all these resources
Speaker 1: that go into this campaign. You you really saw what
Speaker 1: goes into I mean, she's getting over plane flying doing
Speaker 1: this interview forty five minutes straight up, gets up, it
Speaker 1: has to go to the next city, get down and
Speaker 1: do it again. Like it's a lot, but ah, what
Speaker 1: if it at the end of the day to get
Speaker 1: to win. So it's kind of like an organization, but
Speaker 1: it's one person maneuvering around. So I thought it was
Speaker 1: a cool thing to see from behind the scenes all
Speaker 1: of the stuff that you did and the way that
Speaker 1: you spoke up and used your platform going into this election.
Speaker 1: I think it really made a difference, especially when you
Speaker 1: look at what happened here in Philadelphia where a lot
Speaker 1: of your fans and followers are. How did it feel
Speaker 1: to look back and feel like you made an impact
Speaker 1: during such a pivotal time in history. Yeah, to be honest,
Speaker 1: in the moment, you don't realize it, but then when
Speaker 1: you see you finally so and you see how close
Speaker 1: it was, what it truly came down to, you really
Speaker 1: start to think, like, wow, every you get a true
Speaker 1: gratitude feeling of every vote counts, like wow, my vote counted,
Speaker 1: or hey, Latisia's vlog countered, counted up, Hey the NBA
Speaker 1: opening up arenas for voting places truly counted. So this
Speaker 1: could go whichever direction. And I think we really just
Speaker 1: got a taste and found out how important it is
Speaker 1: to speak up and voice your opinion and give people
Speaker 1: that type of that type of knowledge of what we're
Speaker 1: going through, but also what we're capable of doing with
Speaker 1: our platform. And that was important that that was really
Speaker 1: a moment where I think, as you know, I'm speaking
Speaker 1: for an NBA player, but I think we all we
Speaker 1: all kind of knew what we're capable of doing. But
Speaker 1: I also meet Percy want to give true thanks to
Speaker 1: the people on the ground that we're really getting the
Speaker 1: most work done in the communities, in the cities, getting
Speaker 1: people to vote, signing people of registering them. You know,
Speaker 1: those are the people that truly deserve all the praise.
Speaker 1: It may not have the followings, but they were the
Speaker 1: ones that were really on the ground making it happen,
Speaker 1: and those are the want that I appreciate the most.
Speaker 1: Before we continue this terrific conversation between Lauren Rosen and
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris, just a quick seventy six ers Podcast Network PSA.
Speaker 1: If you like what you're hearing and are not yet
Speaker 1: a subscriber or follower of ours, please consider changing that.
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Speaker 1: hit us with a few ares if you are so
Speaker 1: Incline also got to give a shout out to new
Speaker 1: seventy six er and like Tobias Harris, a strong Island native,
Speaker 1: Danny Green and our guy Harrison Sanford have a tremendous
Speaker 1: podcast themselves. It's called Inside the green Room. They started
Speaker 1: their new season last week. Look for Inside the green
Speaker 1: Room wherever you get your podcasts by searching Inside the
Speaker 1: green Room. Now back to Lauren and Tobias, it feels
Speaker 1: like you really developed a lane or a brand. Or
Speaker 1: a platform online at least from my perspective, and it
Speaker 1: really does revolve around speaking out for what you believe
Speaker 1: in and being an advocate for others that don't have
Speaker 1: as big of a platform as you do. Are you
Speaker 1: proud with the way that sort of your off court
Speaker 1: brand has started to take shape? And do you agree
Speaker 1: with me that it's that it's changed a little bit
Speaker 1: this year? Yeah, I agree with you. I think it
Speaker 1: ash change. People will understand that you're not just coming
Speaker 1: to just a basketball player's page. It's like, it's deeper
Speaker 1: than that. I'm a really good basketball player, but I'm
Speaker 1: also a person who is very diverse in different areas
Speaker 1: of life, and I look to continue to expand that brand.
Speaker 1: I think you know when I and I had this
Speaker 1: conversation with Matiss, Like when I first came to the league,
Speaker 1: I was very politically correct because I didn't want to
Speaker 1: step on anyone's toes. And now I've gotten to the
Speaker 1: point where, no, like you don't you don't have to
Speaker 1: be like that. You can be yourself. You can speak
Speaker 1: up for what you believe in, and if some people
Speaker 1: don't like it, it is what it is. Not everyone's
Speaker 1: going to agree with you. So even sometimes I have
Speaker 1: to take myself away from social media because there can
Speaker 1: be a lot of toxic energy on there with a
Speaker 1: lot of people who have direct access to you. But
Speaker 1: you have to That's why it's so important to really
Speaker 1: work on yourself and know who you are and the
Speaker 1: people you impact and everyone you're around. And that's truly
Speaker 1: what I try to do on a daily basis, and
Speaker 1: I think that's only shape the person that I am
Speaker 1: to be better every day. Your friendship with Matisse and
Speaker 1: last time I asked you how he was doing as
Speaker 1: a rookie. I think you were joking, but you gave
Speaker 1: him like a C plus B minus type range. When
Speaker 1: you look back at the whatever six to eight months
Speaker 1: that followed going to the Bubble, him creating the blog,
Speaker 1: him speaking out along with you about about really important issues,
Speaker 1: did he crack that a range for the final Like,
Speaker 1: how did he do by the end of his rookie season? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he cracked a range? Sure, he uh he did. I
Speaker 1: thought he did an amazing job. He's he's such a
Speaker 1: creative person. So sometimes we just need to watch watch
Speaker 1: him a little bit because we need him to also
Speaker 1: play basketball. We don't want him to get you know,
Speaker 1: a plus, Rangie might just leave us, so we want
Speaker 1: him to be say, but now I think he's of
Speaker 1: those guys that he'll have a long career and when
Speaker 1: he's done, he'll be moving on to another adventure where
Speaker 1: he's comfortable and feels great at at doing whatever he
Speaker 1: wants to do. No one will ever take away from
Speaker 1: from what you and Bobon have. But how has your
Speaker 1: friendship with Mattis evolved and are you excited to continue
Speaker 1: on your journey with him? Yeah, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: Matissa is uh obviously like when he comes in, he's
Speaker 1: a rookie and I'm gonna make sure that he's on
Speaker 1: the right path of having the longest career he can have. Um,
Speaker 1: you don't never take bobon spot. Only Bobon could call
Speaker 1: me at seven forty five in the morning and be energetic,
Speaker 1: and I have to say, Bobon, what are you doing
Speaker 1: at seven forty five? But Mattie is a very well
Speaker 1: rounded person who is into a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: You know, he's really interesting financial literacy and those are
Speaker 1: things that I'm interested into that we can we talk
Speaker 1: about different investments and things along that line. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things where your teammates but
Speaker 1: friends for life, you know. So I and I look
Speaker 1: at that build a lot of my teammates that I've
Speaker 1: played with, and that's important when you know on this
Speaker 1: NBA journey, different cities, playing competing to to really enjoy
Speaker 1: the whole, the whole thing. When he did the media
Speaker 1: circuit that you did today a couple of days ago,
Speaker 1: he said that he's all basketball right now. The blogs
Speaker 1: is going to have to wait. He's super locked in.
Speaker 1: So you've been getting through him, Yeah, he's he's an
Speaker 1: emails with who back to basketball stuff? Um? The last
Speaker 1: thing I wanted to ask, um, when you think about
Speaker 1: reuniting with Doc and continuing your efforts for social justice,
Speaker 1: where does he fit into all that? Because he's been
Speaker 1: an icon in this base for a long time. Are
Speaker 1: you excited for that off court potential that you guys
Speaker 1: can continue to push that messaging together. Yeah? I am.
Speaker 1: I think you know, even during election, there was a
Speaker 1: lot of things he was doing that I was following
Speaker 1: up on and seeing and I thought it was important.
Speaker 1: So I think being here in Philadelphia, will Will both
Speaker 1: be trying to do things to make an impact and
Speaker 1: further help bring unity together. And I'm excited for that
Speaker 1: because that's what it's about. It's being you know, using
Speaker 1: your time, using your space to impact and help and
Speaker 1: bring awareness. So he is an icon in that area
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that in a in a coach, your
Speaker 1: relationship with him, I know, even before he was in
Speaker 1: the conversation to be your coach again, you talked about
Speaker 1: having a good relationship with him when you left LA.
Speaker 1: How did you guys day in touch? And then when
Speaker 1: there was a coaching vacancy, what were your conversations like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: well we talked from time to time throughout the year,
Speaker 1: you know, like we were playing he saw something, he
Speaker 1: would always just text me, Hey, think about doing this.
Speaker 1: So there was always a that type of still coached
Speaker 1: the player relationship that that we've always had from being
Speaker 1: able to be coached by him for a year and
Speaker 1: a half in LA. It's just the type of person
Speaker 1: he is and the type of coach that he is.
Speaker 1: He cares about his players no matter what, no matter
Speaker 1: what team you're on. So I mean, obviously he's not
Speaker 1: gonna tell me what I should be doing when we
Speaker 1: play them, but anytime we we'll go to play in
Speaker 1: La or he'll come here, we'll talk for a little bit.
Speaker 1: He's just that type of individual. So we have great relationship.
Speaker 1: When the job was well, when he got release from
Speaker 1: the Clippers, I just text him make sure he was good,
Speaker 1: and you know, he texts me back saying he's all
Speaker 1: he's all fine. So it was like that. I didn't
Speaker 1: really want to get too much in what's going on,
Speaker 1: but you know, I text him. I text him back
Speaker 1: and I said, I know a place that'd be a
Speaker 1: good fit for you. You know, you know, we got
Speaker 1: the phone, spoke a little bit. But I was excited
Speaker 1: when he got the job. I thought it was amazing
Speaker 1: and I'm excited for this year. What does it mean
Speaker 1: to you to have someone in your life that, even
Speaker 1: before he was your coach again, he cares enough to
Speaker 1: reach out to you. You clearly care enough to reach
Speaker 1: out to him when things change in his life. What's
Speaker 1: it like to have someone that's been a mentor for
Speaker 1: you and that's been in your ear now be able
Speaker 1: to go on the rest of this journey with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just it just goes to show, like the type
Speaker 1: of the type of people you're around the type of
Speaker 1: relationship you have the coach from here when you go
Speaker 1: out there and you play for him, you know he
Speaker 1: he uh did an amazing job with allowing me to
Speaker 1: expand my game and my career. So I'm always thankful
Speaker 1: for them, thankful for him as a coach, thankful for
Speaker 1: him as say individual. So you know, even when he
Speaker 1: texted on the fall, it makes you know, like it's
Speaker 1: not just about basketball, like it's about life in general,
Speaker 1: because you know, for a lot of people that I I was,
Speaker 1: even myself, it was a real scary moment of uncertainty
Speaker 1: and not knowing what can happen. So to know that
Speaker 1: it was impacted somebody and you have that type of
Speaker 1: relationship and dialogue with them and a trust and care
Speaker 1: with them is important when you think about the way
Speaker 1: that the season ended though, and now to have this
Speaker 1: opportunity to try again. Really it was a condensed offseason, right,
Speaker 1: like that wasn't that long ago? How does how does
Speaker 1: the end of last season and now inform the way
Speaker 1: that you're looking into this season? So so really, I
Speaker 1: mean it was it wasn't a great way to I mean,
Speaker 1: it was terrible in this season. Um, and I think
Speaker 1: for all of us, it's we have a lot to prove. It's, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we we have to get our respect back.
Speaker 1: It's it's adept redemption season for us as a whole.
Speaker 1: I think um and U. For us, it's it's a
Speaker 1: you know, it's a it's a humble pie type deal
Speaker 1: where we needed to be humbled. We are humbled, and
Speaker 1: we got to really fight for everything coming forward and
Speaker 1: we get back to where we want to be, uh well,
Speaker 1: really to get to where we want to be, and
Speaker 1: that's to win a championship. So we're starting basically over
Speaker 1: right now, new staff and everything goes. We have we
Speaker 1: got to be pretty much stellar to get things done.
Speaker 1: After pulling off a proposal that would be hard for
Speaker 1: just about anyone you would think to replicate to meeting
Speaker 1: with Kamala Harris and getting ready for a new season
Speaker 1: under Doc Rivers. Great to hear Tobias Harris in a
Speaker 1: very good place as he in the seventy six ers
Speaker 1: get ready for preseason action. The debut on the exhibition
Speaker 1: slate is Tuesday, December fifteenth against the Boston Celtics at
Speaker 1: the Center. The second and final preseason game is Friday
Speaker 1: on the Road against the Indiana Pacers. Thanks to Lauren
Speaker 1: Rosen and Tobias Harris for the interview. Thanks to you
Speaker 1: for listening. I'm Brian Seltzer. Talked to next time here
Speaker 1: on the broadcast