Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
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Speaker 1: into Coach Check, the official podcast of the Delaware Blue Coats,
Speaker 1: the NBA G League affiliate of the Philadelphia seventy Sixers.
Speaker 1: Coach Check is presented by land Rover Wilmington. Stop by
Speaker 1: their location at forty three ten Kirkwood Highway in Wilmington, Delaware,
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Speaker 1: I'm Matt Murphy. Let's get right to it. The guest
Speaker 1: on this episode seventy six Ers two way contract player
Speaker 1: Dakota Matthias. Really fun to chat with Dakota on Coach
Speaker 1: Check for the first time. It's a pretty concise conversation
Speaker 1: that I think covers a lot of ground with the
Speaker 1: seventy sixers rookie. And it's before the season, or it
Speaker 1: was recorded before the season. And since then, he's had
Speaker 1: two really impressive outings for the Sixers towards the end
Speaker 1: of games. He's played in a few more games than that,
Speaker 1: but he has two eight point scoring games. He played
Speaker 1: seven minutes against Cleveland at the end of December and
Speaker 1: scored eight points, and most recently as the week of
Speaker 1: this recording right now, he scored eight points in four
Speaker 1: minutes on January fourth against the Hornets. So he's getting
Speaker 1: buckets in limited minutes when he gets in at the
Speaker 1: NBA level and it's his first NBA action of his
Speaker 1: professional career, having previously spent time in the G League.
Speaker 1: We talked about everything from the half court gym connected
Speaker 1: to his childhood home in Ohio, his college career at Purdue,
Speaker 1: the importance of the NBA G League for his career,
Speaker 1: and a little bit more. On top of that. New
Speaker 1: episodes of Coach Check every other Tuesday on the seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers Podcast Network Tuesdays now For the Coach Check podcast,
Speaker 1: be sure to subscribe to the seventy six Ers Podcast Network,
Speaker 1: and as always, thanks for listening. Let's hear from seventy
Speaker 1: six ers two way contract player Dakota Matthias. I heard
Speaker 1: about this basketball court in Elidah, Ohio. I read about
Speaker 1: five years old you were when your family had a
Speaker 1: gym added to the home. What's the story with that
Speaker 1: and how did that help shape your path? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I was fortunate enough I had two older brothers
Speaker 1: we all love basketball, So my parents decided to build
Speaker 1: us a little half court gym kneck into our house.
Speaker 1: So ever since I can remember, you know, I was
Speaker 1: out there running around playing, and as I got older,
Speaker 1: I think the big benefit for me was playing against
Speaker 1: my brothers. You know, they would have friends come over,
Speaker 1: so I was always playing against older, you know, stronger
Speaker 1: quicker players, um, and that that helped me so much.
Speaker 1: So I can't thank my parents enough for you know,
Speaker 1: building that at such a young age and spending countless
Speaker 1: hours out there working on your craft. I'm gonna quickly
Speaker 1: ask you to channel your inner radio broadcaster and paint
Speaker 1: the picture a little bit. What did it look like?
Speaker 1: What did the court look like? Colors set up all that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so my high school was orange and black. So we had,
Speaker 1: you know, little pads underneath the basket. They were orange
Speaker 1: and black. The trim around it was all painted orange
Speaker 1: as well, and we had different flags and um, you
Speaker 1: know things like that of the high school. You know,
Speaker 1: we had a ten foot goal obviously, then on the
Speaker 1: side we had a little six or seven foot goal
Speaker 1: that I would use when I was younger. So it
Speaker 1: was it was really cool and it had like a
Speaker 1: little you know, V shape all the way to the
Speaker 1: top high ceiling, so it was it was really cool.
Speaker 1: And a little weight room right right before you walk
Speaker 1: in the gym, so we had the whole set up there.
Speaker 1: It seems very legit, as does your high school career
Speaker 1: in general. So before we go to college, what was
Speaker 1: the high school basketball atmosphere like in your hometown? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know it's it's it's top notch. You know Indiana, Ohio, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, they're known for their high school basketball. Um,
Speaker 1: and especially where I grew up Northwest Ohio, UM, you know,
Speaker 1: everybody we had you know, four or five thousand you
Speaker 1: know seat gyms and they were filled every Friday and
Speaker 1: Saturday night. Um. You know, the community just love their
Speaker 1: high school sports and especially basketball. So I was very
Speaker 1: fortunate to grow up in that area. And then you
Speaker 1: go to Purdue Perdue University and I can rattle off
Speaker 1: the two numbers where you finish your career as the
Speaker 1: all time leader at the time and games played one
Speaker 1: hundred and forty one and three pointers made two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty. I know Carson Edwards took over that second
Speaker 1: one from you after the fact, but how would you
Speaker 1: describe your path through college over the four years, the adversity,
Speaker 1: the high points, just the journey in general. Yeah, knows,
Speaker 1: it was a great journey. You know, I wouldn't trade
Speaker 1: anything for it. Um. Obviously there were some ups and downs,
Speaker 1: especially at the beginning. Everybody's a guy, you know in
Speaker 1: high school. You know, when you get to college, you
Speaker 1: want it to be like that, but it is not
Speaker 1: always like that. UM. So I you know, I had
Speaker 1: some struggles early on my freshman you know, early in
Speaker 1: my sophomore year, just adjusting to it all. But um,
Speaker 1: we had a great coaching staff. Coach Painter is one
Speaker 1: of the best in the business, and you know, he
Speaker 1: teaches you so much. UM. You know, I can't thank
Speaker 1: him enough for giving me the opportunity. And UM, like
Speaker 1: I said, once I got into my Salt late and
Speaker 1: sophomore year, and then you know, the next two years,
Speaker 1: my junior and senior year, UM really got in a groove.
Speaker 1: And you know, we had a four seniors, um, our
Speaker 1: senior class. We all came in together and UM, you know,
Speaker 1: we had a great, great chemistry, won a lot of
Speaker 1: games together. So it was it was a great experience.
Speaker 1: We're about to get into the pro side of things
Speaker 1: in a second. And here in Philadelphia, a lot's been
Speaker 1: made about seventy six Ers guard Seth Curry playing for
Speaker 1: his father in law, Doc Rivers. When you were at Purdue,
Speaker 1: you're now father in law Greg Gary was part of
Speaker 1: the coaching staff there. What was that dynamic like for you? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it was, it was It was interesting. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: he actually was one that recruited me as well. But
Speaker 1: you know, we're both you know, we're all about basketball.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a business for us, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: we take it very seriously. So there was never any
Speaker 1: you know, anything you know, weird or awkward about it. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's been fun. It's been great. Now good stuff.
Speaker 1: And in terms of your the start of your pro career,
Speaker 1: last year, you ranked second in the G League the
Speaker 1: NBA G League with one hundred and forty seven threes
Speaker 1: as a member of the Texas Legends, who are the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks G League affiliate. How important has the G
Speaker 1: League been for your development? Oh, it was It's everything.
Speaker 1: My goal has always been obviously to play in the NBA,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, my first year actually went overseas
Speaker 1: you know, we played in Spain, UM, and the whole
Speaker 1: time I was kind of over there. You know, I
Speaker 1: wanted to be here. You know, I wanted to be
Speaker 1: the NBA. And you know, you if you hear the
Speaker 1: stigma about the G League, you know a lot of
Speaker 1: negative things, but um, I can't I don't have enough
Speaker 1: positive things to say about it. You know, especially the
Speaker 1: place I was at. UM, they treat you great. You know,
Speaker 1: the G League was was great. You know, we had
Speaker 1: we actually had a great fan base. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was just a great experience overall. You know,
Speaker 1: I got to you know, showcase my skills in my game,
Speaker 1: and um, I wouldn't trade that for anything. It was.
Speaker 1: It was a great experience. And you know, I love
Speaker 1: playing in the Guy League and I think it really
Speaker 1: helped me propel me to where I'm at now. Well,
Speaker 1: where you're at now is the seventy six ers, of course,
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six ers organization. What excites you about
Speaker 1: joining the seventy six ers organization? Yeah, you know, just
Speaker 1: the chemistry and the culture and the history around this place.
Speaker 1: I mean you walk in and you know you're seeing
Speaker 1: so many legged statues of legends out here. You're seeing
Speaker 1: the championship banner um, you know, surrounded by all stars
Speaker 1: and you know Hall of Fame coaches. So I'm just
Speaker 1: the history and all the you know, the intelligence of
Speaker 1: basketball throughout this last couple of years and decades here
Speaker 1: in the NBA. It's it's it's great to be a
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Speaker 1: of health? Visit Christianacare dot org. So how I usually
Speaker 1: wind these down is just with a couple random questions
Speaker 1: at the buzzer. I've got three of them for you.
Speaker 1: The first one has to do with travel, and we'll
Speaker 1: tie it into the G League. When you were in
Speaker 1: the G League, what was your favorite road city to
Speaker 1: visit and why oh, favorite roads city. It's see gonna
Speaker 1: be a weird way. Mine was probably Fort Wayne, just
Speaker 1: because it was really close to home and I got
Speaker 1: to see about forty or fifty you know, close family
Speaker 1: and friends, so that I'm gonna have to say that
Speaker 1: one the mad Ants. Yeah, yeah, good team name too.
Speaker 1: How about your favorite hobby when you're away from the game.
Speaker 1: I've heard tennis, I've heard cards. What do you like
Speaker 1: to do in your free time? Yeah, you know, nothing
Speaker 1: too crazy. You like to just hang out with friends,
Speaker 1: you know, watch movies, and you know, we like to like, say,
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of card games. You know,
Speaker 1: Yuker is a big Midwest game that we like to
Speaker 1: play as well. I've read that you said if you
Speaker 1: were a basketball coach, every shot would be a three.
Speaker 1: Is that still your philosophy? Wow? Yeah, definitely definitely. You know,
Speaker 1: three is worth more than two. That's always been you know,
Speaker 1: good math right there, So we'll take that. But yeah, definitely,
Speaker 1: I like to shoot a lot of threes, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, the NBA is kind of trending that way
Speaker 1: as well, with the analytics of it. Also, Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a good statement. Shooter shoot. Thanks Dakota, thank you,