Speaker 1: The new season is almost upon us, and in the
Speaker 1: context of the seventy six Ers, the hope is that
Speaker 1: markl Folks will add another weapon to the fold. Following
Speaker 1: an encouraging preseason, the Combo Guards seems to be in
Speaker 1: a good place. The stuff that happened to me last
Speaker 1: year only made me a better man named basketball player.
Speaker 1: Some people can look at it as something bad, but
Speaker 1: I look at it as you know and blessing. Ahead
Speaker 1: of this year's season opener, we'll speak with Folts plus
Speaker 1: venture into enemy territory and get some nuggets on the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, where you've got Irving and Hayward coming back.
Speaker 1: Everyone is jacked up around here about what this team
Speaker 1: can accomplish. It's gonna be really interesting to see if
Speaker 1: it can all come together. Coming up on this episode
Speaker 1: of the broadcast, is it could it be? Yes? Just
Speaker 1: about time for the start of the twenty eighteen nineteen
Speaker 1: regular season. What's going on at there? Brian Seltzer saying
Speaker 1: hello and welcome to the broadcast. We are finally going
Speaker 1: to be talking about fresh Sixers basketball of consequence. As
Speaker 1: the Sixers open things up Tuesday night at ted Garden
Speaker 1: against the Boston Celtics. In addition to our feature on
Speaker 1: markl Foltz, we're going to hear from Mark Demiko, who
Speaker 1: does what I do for Celtics dot Com. He'll give
Speaker 1: us a sense of what's been happening with the seas
Speaker 1: throughout the preseason. But first I want to remind you
Speaker 1: that to subscribe to the broadcast, you can do a
Speaker 1: couple of things. You can go to Apple Podcasts, Google Play,
Speaker 1: tune in, Stitcher, SoundCloud, any of your favorite podcasting platforms.
Speaker 1: Type in Sixers podcast Network and that will take you
Speaker 1: to our feed. Now let's go in depth on markl Foltz,
Speaker 1: perhaps no member of the seventy sixers roster, or a
Speaker 1: few other players in the entire NBA for that matter.
Speaker 1: We'll be entering the new season with the same type
Speaker 1: of intrigue surrounding him as Mark el Foltz will. Coming
Speaker 1: up through the amateur ranks. There was obviously so much
Speaker 1: potential about faults, and then there was last season at
Speaker 1: the twenty seventeen consents, number one pick wasn't able to
Speaker 1: consistently stay on the floor, but an offseason of tireless
Speaker 1: work reading in bolden sense of inner belief in the
Speaker 1: twenty year old, and it showed during an encouraging preseason.
Speaker 1: Folts both seems and sounds like he's going to very
Speaker 1: much be a factor this year. I'm feeling great, you know,
Speaker 1: really confident. I put him a lot of work to
Speaker 1: summer preseason. You know, I got a chance to go
Speaker 1: out dare and build my chemistry with my teammates. So
Speaker 1: I feeling really good. Just before training camp started a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago, I had the chance to spend a
Speaker 1: few minutes with Folts and our conversation started talking about
Speaker 1: the summer he spent mostly in Los Angeles training with
Speaker 1: Drew Hanlon and guys like Joel Ebiden former teammate Justin Anderson.
Speaker 1: It was a regiment that yielded Brett Brown estimated about
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty thousand total shots. Pretty much. My
Speaker 1: summer preparation was crazy this year. You know, I literally
Speaker 1: was sleeping in the gym. I woke up in the morning,
Speaker 1: I worked out, I wanted to go eat, came back
Speaker 1: and work out, and then I would come back at
Speaker 1: nineing workouts. Was pretty much doing you know, three workouts
Speaker 1: a day. I was trying to get lifts in, but
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of the day, I was
Speaker 1: just grinding, you know, getting back to the love of
Speaker 1: working hard to get what you want. And that's literally
Speaker 1: what it's been the whole summer. And I had a
Speaker 1: little like little to numb breaks, you know. I had
Speaker 1: to go to China a little bit for you know,
Speaker 1: for things, but even out there, I had a great
Speaker 1: time just interacting with fans and then coming back just
Speaker 1: getting close to, you know, that feeling of being back
Speaker 1: in the season. You know, as it got closer and closer,
Speaker 1: I got more and more excited just to be able to,
Speaker 1: you know, just showcase myself and get back around to
Speaker 1: people that you know made me happy last year, like
Speaker 1: my teammates and everything. So I'm pretty excited. One hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty thousand shots. Is that an accurate number? I
Speaker 1: think that's actually a little bit lower than what I
Speaker 1: shot because you know, those are just shots that I
Speaker 1: shot in gym. Those are not the shots you know
Speaker 1: that people don't see like at home and I'm just
Speaker 1: shooting around or when I go to the playground and play.
Speaker 1: So I mean I definitely shot one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: thousand shots. You know, I put it in a lot,
Speaker 1: a lot of hours, but it wasn't about the shots really,
Speaker 1: it was about the hard work that I put And
Speaker 1: I didn't do it for, you know, for the publicity.
Speaker 1: I did it for myself just to get an outcome
Speaker 1: that I want it and I'm happy with the work
Speaker 1: I put in. So what do you think made the
Speaker 1: fit with you, Drew Hanlon and this team's developed program
Speaker 1: work over the summer. I just think it was just
Speaker 1: an openness. You know. He was opening and try to
Speaker 1: help me, and I was just opening, you know, working
Speaker 1: with him. You know, it was something different for me.
Speaker 1: So for both of us, it was just you know,
Speaker 1: we found a way. We both have a love for
Speaker 1: a game, and he was willing to, you know, to
Speaker 1: put in hours and the gym just like I was.
Speaker 1: So it just happened that we both you know, and
Speaker 1: he has summer in my teammates, you know, he had
Speaker 1: he worked out justin Joel, So it was just cool,
Speaker 1: you know, to be around my teammates and just grind.
Speaker 1: So I'm thankful for what he's done. That Folks was
Speaker 1: looking to surround himself with more people who made him
Speaker 1: feel comfortable. It's easy to understand, especially given hell last
Speaker 1: year went. After peering in the six ers first four
Speaker 1: games the regular season, he was shut down due to
Speaker 1: scapular muscle and balance in his shoulder. It wouldn't be
Speaker 1: until March when Brett Brown made a surprise and ouncement
Speaker 1: before home game against the Denver Nuggets that we'd see
Speaker 1: Folts again in uniform. I want to tell you something
Speaker 1: about Mark L. Folts. He's going to play tonight. Mark
Speaker 1: LL Folks will play tonight. It was his decision. It's
Speaker 1: been fluid, you know. I get goosebumps telling you all that,
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of him. Just listening to that SoundBite,
Speaker 1: you know you can hear it usually Steady Brown was
Speaker 1: emotional that night, and it made sense. Folts had been
Speaker 1: through so much it still managed to persevere through it
Speaker 1: all and get back on the court. He'd gone to
Speaker 1: appear in the six ER's final ten regular season games
Speaker 1: and three more in the playoffs in the series against
Speaker 1: the Miami Heats. Yes, Folts definitely had to endure more
Speaker 1: than his fair share of adversity in twenty seventeen eighteen,
Speaker 1: but in some ways it's been a way of life
Speaker 1: that's become familiar to him. Talk about adversity obstacles. I
Speaker 1: mean I've been going through that since I was young.
Speaker 1: It started at a young gay you're just trying to
Speaker 1: make a varsity and getting cut there and then all
Speaker 1: the way. So you can go back to my last
Speaker 1: year in the NBA, you know, um just uh the
Speaker 1: year I had, you know, I had an injury happening
Speaker 1: and I wasn't able to be my normalself on the
Speaker 1: court and I had to fight through you know, going
Speaker 1: against the media, going against you know, just wanting to
Speaker 1: do something that I love and I couldn't do it anymore. So, um,
Speaker 1: going through that, it was just you know tough, and
Speaker 1: I had to stick to my roots of what got
Speaker 1: me here, you know, just working hard, believing in my
Speaker 1: family and support system and and just praying and going
Speaker 1: by by that. You're expanding that a little bit deep
Speaker 1: instead have helped you push through and overcome some of
Speaker 1: the stuff that you've gone up again. Sure, the biggest support,
Speaker 1: um that I had going through these obstacles and you
Speaker 1: know tough times is definitely my mom, you know, coach,
Speaker 1: my teammates, you know, and just praying and then just
Speaker 1: working hard really so you know, my mom has been
Speaker 1: there no matter what, you know, just telling me that
Speaker 1: I got here for a reason and it's it's a
Speaker 1: reason I got here. And then just being able to
Speaker 1: come into you know where I work at and my
Speaker 1: workplace and just have my team, you know, supporting me
Speaker 1: no matter what, and having a coach and you know
Speaker 1: front office that that understands what's going on with me.
Speaker 1: It just helped you, you know, want to fight more
Speaker 1: for not only yourself, but your teammates and your loved ones.
Speaker 1: If you've been around folks at all or read up
Speaker 1: on him or filed parts of his career, you know
Speaker 1: that his mom, Ebony, is a really important figure in
Speaker 1: his life. So when he mentioned her as part of
Speaker 1: the support group and the source of strength she's helped
Speaker 1: provide him, we talked about her some more. Describe my
Speaker 1: mother first, hardcore First. My mom is you know, loving, caring,
Speaker 1: over protective, sweet, smart, strong. I can go on and on,
Speaker 1: but my mom is really I think she's a superhero.
Speaker 1: So what are some of the sacrifices she's made in
Speaker 1: your life to help you. My mom has made plenty
Speaker 1: of sacrifices, you know, from you know, working two jobs
Speaker 1: just for me to be able to go to work
Speaker 1: out with a trainer, or go to camps, or get
Speaker 1: the shoes that I wanted to, you know, sacrificing her
Speaker 1: meal for me to eat, and now you know her
Speaker 1: being a single mom, it was tough for her, but
Speaker 1: she she always seemed to always have a smile on
Speaker 1: her face when she was around me or my sister
Speaker 1: around people. So my mom made a lot of sacrifices.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful for it. She still does anything that drives
Speaker 1: me crazy. Ah, yeah, she always you know that mom
Speaker 1: is always gonna be mom. I'm a mom's but I'm
Speaker 1: not ashamed admitted. But you know, she still does little
Speaker 1: things but like lick her finger and try to get
Speaker 1: stuff off my face, and like still try to kiss
Speaker 1: me in front of everybody, and little stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But you know, I don't like it. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, I'm still appreciative of having a mom that's
Speaker 1: to care so much about me. There have been plenty
Speaker 1: of people inside the six Ers organization who have leaned
Speaker 1: into faults, with the recently promoted general manager Elton Brand
Speaker 1: being one of them. Brand isn't just a former player,
Speaker 1: but he's a former number one pick as well, so
Speaker 1: he had faults of that in common. The relationship has
Speaker 1: seemed to help, all right, man, Elton, You know we
Speaker 1: chatted since I first got drafted here, you know, just
Speaker 1: him being an ex player and then you know, just
Speaker 1: his experience that he's been through, you know, being a player,
Speaker 1: and now he's of course the GM. He just talks about,
Speaker 1: you know, just keeping the confidence really and just knowing
Speaker 1: what I can do on and off the court, and
Speaker 1: how great of a guy I am. And I'm really appreciative,
Speaker 1: you know, to have somebody I just want to talk
Speaker 1: to somebody that knows a lot, but it's different to
Speaker 1: talk to somebody who's actually been through what you've been through.
Speaker 1: So just being able to talk to somebody who was
Speaker 1: a number one pick and had a lot of expectation
Speaker 1: and playing and Philly, you know, it's really is different
Speaker 1: from most organizations. It was. It was just dope. You
Speaker 1: don't have to be a pro athlete to know that
Speaker 1: playing in Philadelphia is a different kind of beast. We
Speaker 1: know how the town is and it's what makes it
Speaker 1: so great. But put yourself for a moment in False's
Speaker 1: nikes and consider the circumstances that surrounded him a season ago,
Speaker 1: nineteen years old, linked to a major trade, injury issues, expectations,
Speaker 1: all that. Yeah, it's the life false chose, but that
Speaker 1: didn't mean it was easy. In the year and changed.
Speaker 1: Since he's been in Philadelphia, m b native has come
Speaker 1: to love the city and all it has to offer.
Speaker 1: It's nothing like Philly, you know, it's it's it's a
Speaker 1: love hate city. But they definitely love you more than
Speaker 1: they hate you. But they're gonna let you know if
Speaker 1: you're not if you're not doing what you're supposed to do,
Speaker 1: and that's what I love about it. I want somebody
Speaker 1: to hold me accountable for if I'm not doing something.
Speaker 1: So Philly is gonna be behind you and they're gonna
Speaker 1: root for you. But you better not stink it up
Speaker 1: or you're gonna you're gonna know. So give me some
Speaker 1: favorite things to do in the city, favorite places to visit, eat,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Okay, first of all, we're gonna go
Speaker 1: with favorite place to eat and it has to be
Speaker 1: Chick fil A, no matter where it's at in Philly.
Speaker 1: Any Chick fil A, I'll come to you, you know,
Speaker 1: hit you up. But you know, favorite things to do,
Speaker 1: I'll just like you know, riding a bike around the city.
Speaker 1: You know, just being able to be myself, you know,
Speaker 1: a ride a bike. Um, there's a lot of fun
Speaker 1: things you do. You know, you got some history places here,
Speaker 1: but just driving around Philly is is good enough for you.
Speaker 1: You're gonna see almost anything you can think of, really,
Speaker 1: from something good to something bad. But it's definitely, you know,
Speaker 1: a great city to be in where the culture here
Speaker 1: is to win. A season ago, the Sixers still enjoyed
Speaker 1: a breakout year with fifty two wins and a second
Speaker 1: round playoff appearance, even without Folts as a regular member
Speaker 1: of the rotation. Now, one of the team's tasks early
Speaker 1: on in the season will be to figure out how
Speaker 1: to use Foults the best in the preseason he started,
Speaker 1: and that's how Brett Brown plans to keep things with
Speaker 1: one caveat. He could come off the bench to begin
Speaker 1: the second half. Part of my responsibility is to be
Speaker 1: able to put these guys in environments, you know, with
Speaker 1: different combinations and try to figure that out as quickly
Speaker 1: as I'm abel and I believe that that Markel is
Speaker 1: at his best with the ball, and so when you
Speaker 1: watch how I substitute and determine patterns. When you can
Speaker 1: bring him off the bench in the second half, you're
Speaker 1: able to get him like four or five more minutes
Speaker 1: as a point guard, and I believe it's something that
Speaker 1: we will continue to look at. Regardless of how Faults
Speaker 1: is deployed, one thing is clear. The fortunes of the
Speaker 1: Sixers figure to be enhanced if he's contributing. The partnership
Speaker 1: he forges with young stars Joel and beating Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: will also be pivotal. I think it's important, you know,
Speaker 1: the relationship that we have is not only key just
Speaker 1: for you know how the team's going to do, but
Speaker 1: more so, you know, just being comfortable coming in knowing
Speaker 1: that you have a teammate slash brother who's going to
Speaker 1: hold you accountable when you're not doing well or when
Speaker 1: you are doing well, or going to get on you
Speaker 1: when you where you're not going as hard as you should.
Speaker 1: You know. So, I think the relationship that not only
Speaker 1: do us three have, but our whole core team, the
Speaker 1: whole team has is truly special. Up first for Faults
Speaker 1: and the Sixers promising core, the club that ousted them
Speaker 1: from the playoffs last year. Boston opening night against the
Speaker 1: Celtics at Ted Garden has been circled on the calendars
Speaker 1: of many Sixers players, not just Faults. The series this
Speaker 1: past spring was a learning lesson that definitely show us
Speaker 1: what we're capable of, you know, just doing what we did.
Speaker 1: We finished the game on a win streak, and then
Speaker 1: going to the second round of the playoffs, you know,
Speaker 1: competing and building team chemistry and just seeing what we
Speaker 1: how a young group of guys and some vets, how
Speaker 1: we bonded together. It was pretty amazing. So coming back
Speaker 1: this year, you know, we're looking to spend on that
Speaker 1: and just come come in and you know, starting the
Speaker 1: way we finish, not taking any breakcause the way we
Speaker 1: finished last year is the way we want to start
Speaker 1: this year. You know. For me, just listening to Falter's
Speaker 1: words or imagining him as he described it, riding around
Speaker 1: Center City on his bike, he just projects the vibes
Speaker 1: of a guy who's at peace, someone who at this
Speaker 1: point in his life is settled. We'll soon find out
Speaker 1: how it translates the floor. Oh man, I'm super excited.
Speaker 1: I Mean, I don't know if God's can tell or
Speaker 1: people can tell, but I definitely have a different swagger
Speaker 1: coming in the gym this year. You know, I'm definitely happier.
Speaker 1: I don't want to make my teammates happy. I want
Speaker 1: to make everybody you know, joyful, and I'm just ready
Speaker 1: to compete. You know. I feel like I put in
Speaker 1: a lot of work this summer and it's it's paid off.
Speaker 1: You know, I've seen the results, and I'm still working
Speaker 1: even to this day, you know, to get better. But
Speaker 1: I'm confident and happy going into the season. In some ways,
Speaker 1: is that is still aligning to what happened last season?
Speaker 1: Do you think you could have had an outlooked like
Speaker 1: that without hadn't gone through the last year. I think
Speaker 1: it would be different, you know, last year. I think
Speaker 1: that the stuff that happened to me last year only
Speaker 1: made me a better man and basketball player. You know.
Speaker 1: You know, some people can look at it as, you know,
Speaker 1: as something bad, but I look at it as you know,
Speaker 1: a blessing, you know, a blessing for me to see
Speaker 1: that early in my first year in the NBA, you know,
Speaker 1: at a young age or nineteen years old, just to
Speaker 1: be able to go through that, it just makes me
Speaker 1: show that makes me more hungry to work hard, you know,
Speaker 1: It makes me not take anything for granted, and it
Speaker 1: just makes me appreciate it. Where I'm where I'm at.
Speaker 1: Every day I wake up, you know, it's a blessing
Speaker 1: to be here. No matter what's going on in my life.
Speaker 1: I know that. You know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I'm blessed and I'm an opportunity where not many have
Speaker 1: great perspective from a guy who very well, once it's
Speaker 1: all said and done, could be great himself. Coming up
Speaker 1: next on the podcast, I'll speak with my counterpart from
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics. His name is Mark Demiko, and he'll
Speaker 1: give us the pulse of everything that's been going on
Speaker 1: up in Beantown the last couple of months since the
Speaker 1: Sixers and the season last squared off in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the broadcast, but first Sixers fans please
Speaker 1: do listen up. I want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: Club seventy six. Club seventy six is the official season
Speaker 1: ticket waiting list for your team, your town, your Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers. We want you to get priority access for
Speaker 1: two nineteen two twenty season tickets. So here's what you
Speaker 1: gotta do. Sign up for either club seventy six Elite
Speaker 1: or Club seventy six Free. You'll get some benefits. They
Speaker 1: include exclusive seventy Sixers gear and access to special ticket
Speaker 1: offers and events. All you gotta do is go to
Speaker 1: six ers dot com slash join Club seven six, or
Speaker 1: you can email Club seven six at seventy six ers
Speaker 1: dot com or very lastly called two one five, three
Speaker 1: three nine seven six seven six. Again the numbers two
Speaker 1: one five three three nine seven six seven six for
Speaker 1: Club seventy six the official season ticket wait unless for
Speaker 1: the seventy six Ers for two thousand, nineteen, two thousand twenty. Indeed,
Speaker 1: especially when it comes to tickets, we're already talking about
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen two twenty. But in respect to the
Speaker 1: immediate season in front of us two eighteen two nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy six is opening up on Tuesday night. Ted Garden, Boston, Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: the scene of the crime last May, where the Sixers
Speaker 1: were eliminated from the playoffs in a five game series
Speaker 1: in the second round versus their arch nemesis. No rivalry
Speaker 1: in the games and played more frequently than the Sixers
Speaker 1: and the CS, and it was always great to frequently
Speaker 1: touch base with the guy who covers the Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: for Celtics dot Com. His name is Mark Demiko, and
Speaker 1: Mark's gonna give us a preview of what the Sixers
Speaker 1: may have in store on Tuesday night. Mark, what's going on, man?
Speaker 1: I've been great. It's nice to see you again after
Speaker 1: a long off season. I felt like we just saw
Speaker 1: each other. Though. It is very true. I can recall
Speaker 1: the steps that I took in Vegas running into you guys,
Speaker 1: and also like down Boylston Street in the springtime, where
Speaker 1: to revisit now that the Sixers are going back up
Speaker 1: to Boston. But I don't know about you. I love
Speaker 1: the fact that this is not only the first game
Speaker 1: of the season, but the first game of the NBA season.
Speaker 1: It should be. I mean, you look at the way
Speaker 1: the last season played out, and you look at the
Speaker 1: way the offseason played out. Clearly, these are the two teams,
Speaker 1: the top dogs that everyone wants to see in the East.
Speaker 1: Obviously Toronto is there as well, but that's kind of
Speaker 1: a little bit of an unknown that they've got a
Speaker 1: new coach, they've got a new star player in Kawhi.
Speaker 1: So these are the two known quantities in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: You know the Celtics are going to be there. You
Speaker 1: know the Sixers are going to be there, and you
Speaker 1: know the one those team play, they're gonna hate each other.
Speaker 1: Before we jump into looking ahead to this season, can
Speaker 1: you give us a refresher of what the populace in
Speaker 1: Boston and New England thought about last season for the
Speaker 1: Celtics and what they made of it once it was
Speaker 1: all said and done at the end of the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference Finals. Yeah. No, I mean, I think the run
Speaker 1: that they made last season really set the bar for
Speaker 1: this season, if that makes sense. I mean, when you
Speaker 1: don't have Hayward, you don't have Kyrie Irving, you don't
Speaker 1: have Daniel Tyson. Daniel Tyson is a guy who you know,
Speaker 1: in a series against the Sixers would have been really important.
Speaker 1: And same thing going up against the Cleveland Cavaliers in
Speaker 1: the Conference finals. But when you're missing those players and
Speaker 1: you still somehow reach Game seven of the Conference Finals
Speaker 1: and really like they should have won that game. You know,
Speaker 1: Terry Rosier gooes o for ten from three point range.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like a fluke offensive performance, but they
Speaker 1: really had a shot to get to the finals, and
Speaker 1: then who knows what happens there, they steal a game
Speaker 1: or two against the Warriors, but you know the way
Speaker 1: that they handled themselves with such young players like Rogier,
Speaker 1: like Jaylen Brown, like Jason Tatum, who obviously had an
Speaker 1: outstanding series against you guys last season, when those guys
Speaker 1: set the bar so high for what they can do,
Speaker 1: and then they're not even necessarily the top dogs going
Speaker 1: into this season, when you've got Irving and Hayward coming back.
Speaker 1: I mean, everyone is jacked up around here about what
Speaker 1: this team can accomplish. It's going to be really interesting
Speaker 1: to see if it can all come together. Let's start
Speaker 1: with Kyrie. Give us the latest on him, how he's
Speaker 1: looked and how he sounded. He has looked like Kyrie,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean ever since the first ball went up,
Speaker 1: you know, two days after training camp started. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you guys know that, but the Celtics played
Speaker 1: their first preseason game two days or they had two
Speaker 1: days of practice before their first preseason game. And so
Speaker 1: you're you're expecting, especially someone who had an injury last
Speaker 1: season and couldn't get back to playing basketball until mid August,
Speaker 1: You're expecting, you know, him to have a little rust.
Speaker 1: There was no rust. He came out looked just like
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving, cashing in from downtown, driving to the rack
Speaker 1: with ease. The handles are always going to be there,
Speaker 1: So that's how he's looked. He's looked like Kyrie. Although
Speaker 1: he did miss the final two games of the preseason,
Speaker 1: I'm not too worried about that. There's nothing serious lingering there.
Speaker 1: How he sounded, though, is really what has stood out
Speaker 1: last season. When he came to town. It sounded like
Speaker 1: he was, you know, trying to say all the right things.
Speaker 1: And I think he would admit that, you know that
Speaker 1: he was in a new situation. You know, it was
Speaker 1: kind of a whirlwind summer for him with you know,
Speaker 1: filming his movie Uncle Drew, and then getting traded and
Speaker 1: you know, right three weeks before training camp starts. So
Speaker 1: he wasn't I don't think he was himself necessarily last season.
Speaker 1: And I do think he was doing a little bit
Speaker 1: of Uncle Drew last season, like he was acting a
Speaker 1: little bit, you know, trying to act happy. He's not
Speaker 1: acting anymore, at least from what I can see, and
Speaker 1: at least from what he's saying. He is happy. He
Speaker 1: is comfortable and That's why he was in a position
Speaker 1: where he wanted to actually come out and say at
Speaker 1: the recent open practice at Ted Garden Fold the crowd, Hey,
Speaker 1: if you guys are gonna have me back, I'm resigning
Speaker 1: this soft season and this coming off season. And I
Speaker 1: don't think that's something that anyone around here or around
Speaker 1: the NBA expected him to announce before the season even started.
Speaker 1: So he's in a different place. He's in the same
Speaker 1: place physically and being able to do what he's always done,
Speaker 1: but he's in a different place mentally. There's no doubt
Speaker 1: about that. And you just have to think that for
Speaker 1: a player to come out and say something like that,
Speaker 1: I mean, we know that pro sports can be so
Speaker 1: fluid and anything can happen the circumstances change, But just
Speaker 1: to come out and make a declaration like that, announce intentions,
Speaker 1: that just got to lift a whole cloud of questioning
Speaker 1: that could have followed him potentially over the course of
Speaker 1: the entire season. Right, Yeah, no doubt. I mean, because
Speaker 1: if you don't know what's happening with Kyrie Irving, then
Speaker 1: you might not know what to do with Terry Rogier. Right,
Speaker 1: Terry Rogier is entering his final year of his rookie deal.
Speaker 1: So the Celtics obviously they just missed the opportunity to
Speaker 1: extend him. So that's in the rear view and now
Speaker 1: that they would have had to figure out, Okay, you know,
Speaker 1: Kyrie's going into the offseason as an unrestricted free agent,
Speaker 1: he might go somewhere. Terry Rogier is a restricted free agent.
Speaker 1: Do we plot all the money in his pocket and
Speaker 1: assume that Kyrie's going somewhere else? Or do we reserve
Speaker 1: that money for Kyrie and then try to figure out
Speaker 1: what we can do with Terry Rogier and see if
Speaker 1: we can have maybe the best backup point guard in
Speaker 1: the entire NBA for the long term here. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it just clarifies things for the organization. It takes a
Speaker 1: huge cloud out from over their head for the entire season,
Speaker 1: and you know, for the team, I think it helps them,
Speaker 1: like they don't have to deal with those questions every
Speaker 1: single day because as you know, you know, Kyrie wouldn't
Speaker 1: be the only person being asked that question throughout the season.
Speaker 1: Al Horford would be hit with that question, you know,
Speaker 1: Gordon Hayward would be hit with that question, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: Brad Stevens would be hit with that question because we
Speaker 1: meet with him about thirteen times every four days. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's too many media availabilities with the coaches. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I completely agree with you on that a and just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's nice to listen. It's a question that the type
Speaker 1: of question that people have to ask, But it's nice
Speaker 1: to know that that's something regardless of what team you're following.
Speaker 1: And I like the hope that I say the same
Speaker 1: thing if there were a similar situation with the Sixers.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just like that stuff will play itself
Speaker 1: out and you can just kind of focus on the season,
Speaker 1: which is really I think, at the end of day
Speaker 1: what people care about. Yeah, no doubt. I mean I
Speaker 1: think people underestimate how something like that can affect a
Speaker 1: team in a locker room, and people underestimate how important
Speaker 1: the locker room is to the success of a team.
Speaker 1: No doubt it's important. So Gordon Hayward, how about him?
Speaker 1: How is he feeling physically as he continues to get
Speaker 1: back in the gear of things. Yeah, well, you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about Kyrie. Kyrie looks like Kyrie. Gordon does
Speaker 1: not look like Gordon right now, And at least the
Speaker 1: last time we saw him play. He also missed the
Speaker 1: final two preseason games. He had a little bit of
Speaker 1: back pain, so they wanted to take a cautious route
Speaker 1: with that and you know, keep him out of the
Speaker 1: final two games. But the first two games that he
Speaker 1: played in, you know, he did look like he he
Speaker 1: was just off. You know, his timing wasn't there. He's
Speaker 1: his shot wasn't there. He's trying to get it all back.
Speaker 1: But the good thing is that he's coming back to
Speaker 1: a team. You know, if he was out in Utah
Speaker 1: still and he was coming back from this injury, you know,
Speaker 1: he would still be you know, maybe one a you know,
Speaker 1: behind Donovan Mitchell. But here there's plenty of other guys
Speaker 1: who can carry the load, so there's not as much
Speaker 1: pressure on him to return to you know, that all
Speaker 1: star form that he was in that final season in Utah,
Speaker 1: so he can kind of take his time in getting
Speaker 1: that rhythm back. And but yesterday Brad Stevens actually said
Speaker 1: that the three players who have made the most significant
Speaker 1: strides during this kind of nine day lead up of
Speaker 1: practice that the Celtics had before tomorrow Night's opening game
Speaker 1: are Gordon Hayward number one, Kyrie Irving number two, and
Speaker 1: Daniel Tyson number three, all three guys who were coming
Speaker 1: back from injuries. Those three guys are really starting to
Speaker 1: kind of get a little bit of a rhythm. We
Speaker 1: haven't been able to get in and watch those guys
Speaker 1: practice and scrimmage, but you know, all reports sound like
Speaker 1: those guys are, you know, in particular, Gordon Hayward are
Speaker 1: starting to, you know, look a little bit more like
Speaker 1: themselves than they maybe did during those preseason games. Amazing
Speaker 1: just how good the team was for Boston last season.
Speaker 1: Adding two talents like that back, you're expecting that it's
Speaker 1: gonna be Kyrie Tatum, Jalen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford
Speaker 1: as the starting five. That's what I would expect. That's
Speaker 1: what we saw for the first two preseason games when
Speaker 1: everyone was healthy. But you know, Brad Stevens is also
Speaker 1: the kind of guy who will alter a lineup based
Speaker 1: upon who he's playing, And that's really one of the
Speaker 1: interesting storylines that we're gonna have to follow here in
Speaker 1: Boston this season. Is like, Okay, if he's gonna throw,
Speaker 1: let's say tomorrow night. If he wants to throw Aaron
Speaker 1: Baines into the starting lineup because he's a great defender.
Speaker 1: He played very well against Joel Embiid last year in
Speaker 1: the postseason. Who's going to the bench, Like, who do
Speaker 1: you take out? Is it Jaylen Brown? Is it Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: who's clearly on the path to superstart him? Like who
Speaker 1: do you take out? A lot? Or is it Gordon Hewart?
Speaker 1: You know if he's not quite looking like himself. So
Speaker 1: you know that's going to be really interesting to see
Speaker 1: throughout the season. And Brett Stevens has never been shy
Speaker 1: about shaking up the starting lineup based upon matchups, and
Speaker 1: you know Joel Embiid is one of those matchups tomorrow night.
Speaker 1: It'd be really interesting to see if if Baines is
Speaker 1: out there, But I do not expect that. I do
Speaker 1: expect him to go with the small lineup to start
Speaker 1: a high class problem. To have last thing I'll leave
Speaker 1: you with before we wrap this up. Does this game
Speaker 1: sound like it matters much to the Celtics players, Because
Speaker 1: for the seventy six ers, really the drumbeat sin the
Speaker 1: middle of May last year has been more to do.
Speaker 1: Didn't like the way things finished against Boston and certainly
Speaker 1: this matchup, given the opponent has been circled for a while,
Speaker 1: and even that much more so once the schedule came
Speaker 1: out and the players saw that it was the first
Speaker 1: game of the season. So does it sound like, based
Speaker 1: on what guys are saying in Boston, this game is
Speaker 1: being viewed as something extra to them? You know, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it means extra to them, because a
Speaker 1: lot of the questions that they've been facing are about themselves.
Speaker 1: You know, they did not look good during the preseason,
Speaker 1: you know, plane, plane and simple. They didn't look like
Speaker 1: the same team that they were last season when they
Speaker 1: led the league defensively, you know, in defensive efficiency. They
Speaker 1: didn't look the same offensively, they kind of looked discombobulated
Speaker 1: and not really knowing, you know, not wanting to step
Speaker 1: on each other's toes. So that's really been the storyline
Speaker 1: for the Celtics, and that's what they've been asked about
Speaker 1: every day, is like, are you guys gonna be able
Speaker 1: to figure this out? You know, it feels a lot
Speaker 1: like when Lebron and Chris Bosh went down to Miami
Speaker 1: and that first season and that team really kind of
Speaker 1: struggled to find itself over the first three four weeks
Speaker 1: of the season, and that was the storyline from them,
Speaker 1: more more so than you know, who they were playing,
Speaker 1: or you know, if they were playing the Spurs or
Speaker 1: you know, any of the top teams. That's kind of
Speaker 1: what it feels like here in Boston, that the concentration
Speaker 1: is more so on them right now, on the on
Speaker 1: the team, more so than who they're playing. Now, let's
Speaker 1: be real like tomorrow night, when the lights go on
Speaker 1: and you get a little pyro going during pregame and
Speaker 1: you've got the Sixers on the other sideline who are
Speaker 1: clearly you know they're one of the top dogs in
Speaker 1: the East as well. Those guys are gonna be jacked up.
Speaker 1: They're gonna want to grab the win, and it should
Speaker 1: be should be a fun environment. Before you let me go, though,
Speaker 1: I gotta ask you what's up with Markuel Foltz. Looks
Speaker 1: like he's got looking I thought, all things considered, really
Speaker 1: good preseason, promising, encouraging. Um there was one game, the
Speaker 1: second game they played, he really let the pull up
Speaker 1: jump or fly a bit. But kind of like what
Speaker 1: you were saying about Kyrie Irving, more than what you're
Speaker 1: seeing on the court. Seems to be in a very
Speaker 1: good headspace. But yeah, it sounds like he's going to
Speaker 1: start the game and then don't be surprised if they
Speaker 1: bring him off the bench to begin the second half
Speaker 1: and JJ Reddick starts in two guard. Let me actually
Speaker 1: go on that. Brad Stevens has said the exact same thing,
Speaker 1: that he might be willing to change his lineups at
Speaker 1: halftime on a nightly basis, depending on how the first
Speaker 1: half goes. So hey, maybe Reddick's in to start the
Speaker 1: second half and maybe Aaron Bains is out there. Who knows. Listen,
Speaker 1: if Brett Brown and Brad Stevens are doing it, I
Speaker 1: feel like it's got to be a worthwhile endeavor. Two
Speaker 1: guys that are way smarter than us, right, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Great insight, Mark Demiko, Celtics Digital, Thanks so much man,
Speaker 1: all right, Yeah, good to get that insight on what's
Speaker 1: happening in Celtics Land from Mark. Celtics went one and
Speaker 1: three in the preseason seventy six, of course, very auspicious.
Speaker 1: Three and one came up just a few points shy
Speaker 1: of an undefeated preseason with their loss in the finale
Speaker 1: to the Dallas Mavericks in China, and right now we're
Speaker 1: just the point where we're pretty much ready to roll
Speaker 1: game number one of the season Tuesday night, eight o'clock.
Speaker 1: You can watch the game on TNT. You can listen
Speaker 1: to Tom McGinnis beginning year number twenty four behind the
Speaker 1: mic on ninety seventy five to the Fanatic, another Sixer
Speaker 1: radio network affiliates. And yeah, Tuesday Night's gonna be fun
Speaker 1: and it's exciting, but can't wait for Thursday when the
Speaker 1: Sixers open things at home at eight o'clock versus these
Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls. Thank you, as always for listening. Thanks to
Speaker 1: Mark hell Foltz and Mark Demiko for taking the time.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you later this week on the broadcast.
Speaker 1: See you