Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers Podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy Sixers Podcast wherever you get your pods. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Brian Seltzer. No, it's been a little quiet on
Speaker 1: the pod the past few weeks. I personally just didn't
Speaker 1: feel like it was right using my voice or this
Speaker 1: space to talk about anything that would detract or take
Speaker 1: away from the issue that we should all be thinking
Speaker 1: about right now, and that should be on the forefront
Speaker 1: on all of our minds, and that of course is
Speaker 1: racism and racial injustice and most significantly, what we can
Speaker 1: do to change it, and not just begin to gradually
Speaker 1: change it, but do something whatever it is we personally
Speaker 1: can do in our own respective lives to drive change
Speaker 1: and start to drive change. Right now, There's going to
Speaker 1: be a time and a place to talk about the
Speaker 1: potential return of the NBA, what it means for the
Speaker 1: seventy sixers, and the pursuit of a championship. But simply put,
Speaker 1: I don't think I need to be the one telling
Speaker 1: you this. It should be pretty obvious. This is not
Speaker 1: a stick to sports moments in our history. We need
Speaker 1: to do more, We need to talk about more, We
Speaker 1: need to affect change more. Now that being said, there's
Speaker 1: obviously a way to use sports as a vehicle to
Speaker 1: amplify crucial messaging to make people heard louder. We've been
Speaker 1: seeing it the last couple of weeks throughout the NBA
Speaker 1: and more specifically when it comes to the seventy six ers.
Speaker 1: How awesome has it been to see some of the
Speaker 1: guys speaking up on social media, participating in peaceful protests, rallies,
Speaker 1: and demonstrations. Whether here in Philadelphia it's all about unity,
Speaker 1: all about coming together or elsewhere, but just about the
Speaker 1: progress pushing out the message. One particular player who recently
Speaker 1: launched an initiative to fight racism and end police brutality
Speaker 1: is Glenn Robinson, the Third through his Angels a Real
Speaker 1: Indeed foundation, which he named after his daughter. So for
Speaker 1: this episode of the podcast, we're going to talk to
Speaker 1: Glenn about his campaign and his thoughts on everything that's
Speaker 1: been going on in the world as it relates to
Speaker 1: racism and racial injustice. I also thought it was important
Speaker 1: for this interview to be conducted by someone who's experienced
Speaker 1: some of these same issues firsthand. With that, I'm going
Speaker 1: to turn things over to the one and only the
Speaker 1: awesome Divon Givens from ninety seven five to fanatic. He's
Speaker 1: on the pod all the time. We do six ers
Speaker 1: and sixty together during the season. D take it away.
Speaker 1: Thanks Seltz, appreciate it Here. Joining us now is Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy six ers forward swing man do it all, Glenn
Speaker 1: Robinson that third, Glenn, thanks so much for joining us man.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I appreciate you having me today. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you joining us. It's been a difficult time and an
Speaker 1: interesting time and unprecedented time for all of us. So
Speaker 1: first I wanted to ask how are you doing, how
Speaker 1: the family feeling. Everything is good as we've been on
Speaker 1: the tiatus. I appreciate it. Everything is good. You know,
Speaker 1: family is healthy, and that's all I can ask for
Speaker 1: it right now, you know, with everything going on, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously it's a tough time for us, just like everyone else.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think that we're just trying to
Speaker 1: maintain you know, we're trying to educate each other, educate
Speaker 1: everyone that we can, and just continue to move forward
Speaker 1: in the right way. Yeah. So speaking of educating everyone,
Speaker 1: we know what's been going on in our country. Of course,
Speaker 1: first with the pandemic with the coronavirus knocking everyone down,
Speaker 1: keeping us all isolated and not being able to move
Speaker 1: freely like we're accustomed to. But then the last few
Speaker 1: weeks late, may we get what we get when it
Speaker 1: comes to the murder of George Floyd unfortunately, and in Minneapolis,
Speaker 1: and the country just went crazy once we all saw
Speaker 1: it on video. Many people have never seen anything like this,
Speaker 1: at least live, face to face and certainly capturing it
Speaker 1: on video. But you've decided that you wanted to start
Speaker 1: a foundation to area foundation with the initiative to fight
Speaker 1: against racism too, and of course police brutality. Could you
Speaker 1: help us all out and understanding why you decided to
Speaker 1: take the standard you are taking and of course starting
Speaker 1: the foundation. Yeah, I appreciate it, you know I started.
Speaker 1: So I started the foundation at the beginning of this season,
Speaker 1: and our goal and our mission is to empowered fathers
Speaker 1: and then help families who don't have father figures in
Speaker 1: their lives, and then be a resource to everyone so
Speaker 1: that we can continue to move forward because we face
Speaker 1: a lot of trauma as men in general, for black
Speaker 1: men especially, And then you see a lot of players
Speaker 1: in the NBA who are fathers. You see that we
Speaker 1: can use our brand just like we are now with
Speaker 1: the racial issues and use it in a good way.
Speaker 1: It's in a positive way. So starting the foundation. Having
Speaker 1: a daughter, Arianna, she's too and we call her Ari
Speaker 1: So angels are real. Indeed, it is named after her
Speaker 1: wearing the sweatshirt right now. But I decided to start
Speaker 1: that foundation because that's just who I am as a person.
Speaker 1: You know, I've always been a giving person. I've always
Speaker 1: tried to help others and use my talent as a
Speaker 1: basketball player, as a professional athlete, and just my brain
Speaker 1: and my image to help others, you know. And it
Speaker 1: started off when I was actually in my hometown with
Speaker 1: the Pacers and this wrist band I wears for a
Speaker 1: kid who had got cancer twice. He was seven. Elite
Speaker 1: basketball player's name is Brodie, And I started off like that.
Speaker 1: I just read a story in a newspaper and went
Speaker 1: to go visit him about every week and we played
Speaker 1: two K video games. And just being that type of
Speaker 1: person that I am made me want to start the foundation.
Speaker 1: And now we get to hear in the past couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, and you know, we see everything that's going
Speaker 1: on in the world, and like you said, people haven't
Speaker 1: seen situations or issues like these. And I think the
Speaker 1: educational piece is so important because it's these things have
Speaker 1: been happening in time and time again, and at what
Speaker 1: point it doesn't stop? You know, enough is enough? We
Speaker 1: often hear those words and people saying the right things
Speaker 1: or you know, when an issue like this comes out,
Speaker 1: everyone's quick to make a statement. But what are you
Speaker 1: gonna do, How are you gonna help? How are you
Speaker 1: going to help your community? How are you going to
Speaker 1: stop these these issues? Because it is a problem. So
Speaker 1: my goal with my foundation that I already started was,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm from Gary, Indiana, where we have a
Speaker 1: struggling community already, and how can I help these people?
Speaker 1: How can I give back and use my platform to
Speaker 1: say more than just words. So we decided to donate
Speaker 1: to three organizations from Gary, Indiana and organizations that mean
Speaker 1: a lot from me and my whole families from there
Speaker 1: as well. And it just means a lot to me
Speaker 1: to be able to say more than just words. And
Speaker 1: it's my daughter's legacy who I'm representing, and that means
Speaker 1: so much to me. And if I can just represent
Speaker 1: her in the best way possible and help people. It's
Speaker 1: a win win for me. And so you mentioned the
Speaker 1: three organizations. What are those three organizations if you don't
Speaker 1: mind to share with everyone? Yea, we got a Brother's
Speaker 1: Keeper in Gary, Indiana. We got Gemmesis and then we
Speaker 1: got Sojournal Truth House in Gary, Indiana and I'll get
Speaker 1: all that information. But we have our website as well
Speaker 1: where you can go to and I'll be matching every
Speaker 1: donation that's put forward to the foundation. And like I said,
Speaker 1: these three organizations are representing in Gary, Indiana. They're found
Speaker 1: in Gary, Indiana, and they either help women with domestic violence,
Speaker 1: they help fathers, and they go out and find the
Speaker 1: right families to who needs help and to specialize for them.
Speaker 1: And it's important to me come from Gary, Indiana. You know,
Speaker 1: we right off of Lake Michigan. We have a great
Speaker 1: tremendous opportunity. But it's almost like we've been giving up
Speaker 1: on you know. So it's how do we kind of
Speaker 1: restructure that give people faith, give people hope, you know,
Speaker 1: and just who I am that I just want to
Speaker 1: continue to give back. I do a free basketball camp
Speaker 1: every year in Gary, Indiana for the kids there. My
Speaker 1: dad can started that legacy and I continue it. That's
Speaker 1: pretty cool. Free cancer. You get it. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: get a great turnout, don't you a great turnout? And
Speaker 1: every event that we do for the foundation is also free.
Speaker 1: I don't charge any thing my merchandise that has my
Speaker 1: logo on and I sell it on my website. That's
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of the proceeds go back to the foundation.
Speaker 1: So it's not about me. It's not about taking money.
Speaker 1: And I wanted my nonprofit to do exactly what that
Speaker 1: means is giving back to people and not taking in
Speaker 1: the money, you know, having to be an actual nonprofit. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And as you talked about your daughter, ariana great logo
Speaker 1: by the way, on your sweatshirt, slick logo. But yeah,
Speaker 1: and of course with her being a two year old
Speaker 1: and not knowing what's going on right now. If you
Speaker 1: think about it, you at what twenty seven six right now,
Speaker 1: and myself at forty two years of age, never Glenn,
Speaker 1: that I think that we would still be having this
Speaker 1: type of conversation. You think back to what happened in
Speaker 1: Tulsa in nineteen twenty one, ninety nine years ago, Rosewood
Speaker 1: in nineteen twenty three, and here we are in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty where in this particular case with George Floyd, unfortunately
Speaker 1: and many others, there are cameras now, so that's the
Speaker 1: only thing that's been able to allow things to have
Speaker 1: the light shine on them. But Glynn, I mean, why
Speaker 1: are we still having these conversations as you should with
Speaker 1: the change that needs to be me Why is this
Speaker 1: stuff still happening? It's it's really you know, it's a
Speaker 1: sad topic and a sad issue because it's about being failed,
Speaker 1: you know. And I don't understand how everyone can't be
Speaker 1: treated equally in us being in America and we're supposed
Speaker 1: to be free, you know. And I think that a
Speaker 1: lot of people would agree on that statement. And I
Speaker 1: think that that's all it comes down to, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think the biggest thing, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of black people we respect the amount of care and
Speaker 1: the amount of people that are tweeting and posting on
Speaker 1: Instagram and posting a black square, But what are you
Speaker 1: going to do? You know? And I think that is
Speaker 1: that's the issue. That's the problem. Is, like I said,
Speaker 1: huge companies, Nike, Google, everybody wants to put out statements,
Speaker 1: but what are the what are your actions on those words,
Speaker 1: you know, because people forget about that those words tomorrow.
Speaker 1: You know, what are you gonna do to help our community,
Speaker 1: to help Philadelphia, to help we have so many fans,
Speaker 1: so many African American black fans that come to our games,
Speaker 1: that watch our games continuously like why why can't we
Speaker 1: provide this help? You know? And especially being us as
Speaker 1: great of an organization as the NBA. And that's why
Speaker 1: I've been so proud of just to see my brothers
Speaker 1: across the our team and just the NBA to be
Speaker 1: able to help so many people and to be able
Speaker 1: to use their voice to to commit to what we
Speaker 1: stand for. Because if you I see a lot of people,
Speaker 1: if you stay stay silent, we don't like you, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's like I think, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: if you can use your voice to create a great
Speaker 1: platform for people, you'll always be looked at as a
Speaker 1: good guy, you know, And I think that that's that's
Speaker 1: what it comes down to. Yeah, absolutely, and a lot
Speaker 1: many people speaking out and and you think about twenty
Speaker 1: sixteen when you had I believe it was Dwayne Way, Lebron,
Speaker 1: James Carmelo, Anthony and Chris Paul speaking at the ESTs
Speaker 1: and making that big speech of Roger Goodell of the NFL,
Speaker 1: the commissioner, coming out and basically apologizing to his players
Speaker 1: for not listening to what they said years ago, four
Speaker 1: years ago. And now, as you just said, the words
Speaker 1: are great. Now what's next with the action. So we'll
Speaker 1: see what ultimately comes together with all of that. But
Speaker 1: as you speak about Gary, Indiana, your hometown, you've seen
Speaker 1: many protests around the country. They've been in every state,
Speaker 1: and you having your connection here to Philadelphia, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you saw what was going on here. What was it
Speaker 1: like in Gary, Indiana during this past I guess week
Speaker 1: and a half as protests have been going on, what
Speaker 1: was going on out there? Were you able to even
Speaker 1: go out there yourself and get involved. I haven't had
Speaker 1: a chance to go home, actually, but at home, we
Speaker 1: have basically one major mall and that's where they held
Speaker 1: most of the protests, and that's where a lot of
Speaker 1: people were out there representing and it was it was
Speaker 1: it was great to see the community come out and
Speaker 1: it was great to see actually people wearing the logo
Speaker 1: the Glynn Robinson the third logo out there in the
Speaker 1: middle of protests, you know. So we got some some
Speaker 1: some great content of that, like people getting pepper sprayed
Speaker 1: and beat up and they you know, they're wearing that,
Speaker 1: they're wearing the shirts, you know. So I just thought
Speaker 1: that made it even more clear that what the work
Speaker 1: that I needed to do from my hometown and how
Speaker 1: much they care about me. It goes both ways, you know.
Speaker 1: And I tell people all the time, professional athletes, we're
Speaker 1: the same. We're the same as everyone else out there
Speaker 1: on the streets. And I think that now is a
Speaker 1: time where the community can really see that we are
Speaker 1: the same, that we do stand up for the same things,
Speaker 1: and even though we might be people that are looked
Speaker 1: at stars or celebrities are seen on TV, we got
Speaker 1: their backs as well well. Since you are the same,
Speaker 1: and you're right, y'all human beings have this athletic talent,
Speaker 1: this great gifts, the skill that you guys have to
Speaker 1: do what you do as entertainers. But also people, what
Speaker 1: were your experiences like growing up as a as a
Speaker 1: as a guy twenty six years old of black men, Yes,
Speaker 1: talented of course in basketball and a famous family, but
Speaker 1: everyone is dealt with something. This is something that you
Speaker 1: have had to deal with as a black man in America. Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: you know, first off, how your parents raise you. You know,
Speaker 1: I think, uh, most of every black black man that
Speaker 1: grows up or a woman that grows up in a family,
Speaker 1: umh with with other people who are black. You know,
Speaker 1: you you you get a set of rules that you
Speaker 1: don't necessarily understand when you're young why you're told these
Speaker 1: things and maybe some other people that you go to
Speaker 1: school or some friends aren't. So the first thing being
Speaker 1: the police, you know, um, how to you know, how
Speaker 1: to treat, how to how to act when you do
Speaker 1: get pulled over, how to treat the police, you know,
Speaker 1: how to mind your business. So um, I think a
Speaker 1: lot of those things are are what we're taught growing up.
Speaker 1: And then also everyone, every every black person I'm convinced,
Speaker 1: has their stories, has their situations where racism has occurred.
Speaker 1: You know, I think prejudice has occurred. And um, me
Speaker 1: being in Indiana, a lot of a lot of this
Speaker 1: stuff is here. You know, We've seen a lot of
Speaker 1: this stuff throughout history, um, throughout the years being started
Speaker 1: any Indiana, So growing up, you know, I would see
Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff being from Gary, Indiana, which
Speaker 1: is basically the hood. And you know, as I got Actually,
Speaker 1: I remember an interesting story. I remember my rookie year
Speaker 1: I got drafted. I ended up my dad helped me
Speaker 1: get a Panamera, a porch panamera. I'm driving it back home,
Speaker 1: had just got it. My two friends are in the car,
Speaker 1: all three of us are black, and I ended up
Speaker 1: getting pulled over and they asked my license and seeing
Speaker 1: my license, all Gwyn Robinson, you just got drafted, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just got drafted. I would go right down here
Speaker 1: to the high school and let me go. But they
Speaker 1: wanted to know why a black man is in the porch.
Speaker 1: Why is a black man in the course with three
Speaker 1: friends leaving? We were leaving a target, going to get
Speaker 1: some you know, junk food or whatever. Why are why
Speaker 1: are they those three leaving a target? So there are
Speaker 1: situations that occurred like that every single day for us,
Speaker 1: and you know, waking up as a black man. These
Speaker 1: are things that we have to think about that we shouldn't,
Speaker 1: you know, These are things that we have to move
Speaker 1: a certain way, but others that others don't, you know,
Speaker 1: And that's all we want to be able to do.
Speaker 1: You know. I know when I drive past a police
Speaker 1: like whatever's going on, you don't feel comfortable, you know,
Speaker 1: as a black man, you don't feel comfortable. You're nervous,
Speaker 1: every one of us. I know. So those are those
Speaker 1: are just little things that um, those are what we want,
Speaker 1: you know, those are those are the small detailers of
Speaker 1: where we shouldn't have to live our lives right, And
Speaker 1: just to interject myself in as where you're right, you
Speaker 1: drive and you know everything is good, your your license
Speaker 1: is good, the car find everything is straight. But even
Speaker 1: still when you ride past one at maybe sitting by
Speaker 1: themselves in the parking lot, just sitting there, and you, oh,
Speaker 1: am I going too fast? Am I going two miles
Speaker 1: over the speed limit? If my seat belt tight enough?
Speaker 1: When me crack this window because my tenant windows are
Speaker 1: two yards right? And you worry about those things. And
Speaker 1: even when you do get pulled over, as you said,
Speaker 1: hands on the steering wheel, windows down, if you have
Speaker 1: the tent, and you just hope for the best that
Speaker 1: the person that is in fact the officer is kind
Speaker 1: enough to just understand that all right, he's clean, he's good,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let him go. And sometimes you do ask,
Speaker 1: but maybe maybe you know you're just getting those moments
Speaker 1: where you're a little tensing. You say, I want to
Speaker 1: ask what I did? But can this escalate into something
Speaker 1: that you don't want it to escalate into? Exactly right,
Speaker 1: And most of the time it does just by asking
Speaker 1: that simple question, you know. So, yeah, it's a crazy world. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it definitely is. Not have three daughters older than your
Speaker 1: Ariana at two, but still even as as girls, you
Speaker 1: have to black men, but young ladies as well, to
Speaker 1: make sure that they understand that while not all are bad,
Speaker 1: of course, and we have police officers, law enforcement and
Speaker 1: our family friends of that nature, but you also you
Speaker 1: want them to feel comfortable but also understand what is
Speaker 1: out there, of course in America exactly, and that's just
Speaker 1: something that's part of that's just part of the skin.
Speaker 1: If you will, yeah, you know, raising raising a girl,
Speaker 1: you know it will it will definitely be interesting for me,
Speaker 1: you know, first first child for me and only child.
Speaker 1: But you know, I see videos of black women and
Speaker 1: they're at work and they have curly hair and white
Speaker 1: women just touching their hair and it's like they don't understand,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's like they don't understand that we
Speaker 1: have our space. We have our boundaries. You can't do
Speaker 1: certain things like that, you know. So even like you said,
Speaker 1: black women, there are situations that occurred that you have
Speaker 1: to teach them so they are that so that they
Speaker 1: do understand it, even if they know where where they
Speaker 1: come from. And um, you know, like my daughter has
Speaker 1: a bunch of black baby dogs, you know, just so
Speaker 1: that as she grows older, she knows, you know, that
Speaker 1: she is a black female in America, you know, and
Speaker 1: just like you said a black man, we also have
Speaker 1: to teach our women as well. Absolutely so when when
Speaker 1: you look at what we all saw in America that
Speaker 1: has started this big uproar in our country, and rightfully
Speaker 1: self that what were your thoughts you first saw George
Speaker 1: Floyd's video? Disgusted? You know, um, stomach turn you know,
Speaker 1: how can you how can you do that, you know,
Speaker 1: to to to another human being black, white, whatever, to
Speaker 1: put your knee, you know, on the guy's neck and
Speaker 1: you know he's he's he can't breathe and he's saying
Speaker 1: it and he's screaming for his mom. And it's a
Speaker 1: sad situation, you know, and I don't understand it, and um,
Speaker 1: really want justice to come to those who that were
Speaker 1: in effect of that, but I was just disgusted by that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was very difficult to see. And as
Speaker 1: we talk about your foundation already foundation and everything that
Speaker 1: you're trying to do, it was great to see so
Speaker 1: many people of all races come together to try to,
Speaker 1: you know, put the message out there that this needs
Speaker 1: to stop again the many many years that this has
Speaker 1: been going on. To see a murder like that from
Speaker 1: the hands of the police and the knee in this
Speaker 1: particular case, it was it was just unsettling in even
Speaker 1: as something that we've seen before or her just from
Speaker 1: interactions with people we've grown up with. It's never easy.
Speaker 1: It's never easy. Sometimes it's just a simple shake of
Speaker 1: the head. But then some of them hit a little
Speaker 1: different and for some reason. But I don't know, this
Speaker 1: one seems like this might hit different. Seeing seeing his daughter,
Speaker 1: you know, in the protests and hearing her say, Daddy
Speaker 1: changed the world. That's Stephen Jackson. Yeah, yeah, with Stephen Jackson,
Speaker 1: that that's the truth, you know, And that is when
Speaker 1: I look at my daughter and I look at her
Speaker 1: in the eyes, you know, and I know that I
Speaker 1: don't love anything in this world as much as I
Speaker 1: do her. He really changed the world, and I believe that,
Speaker 1: and I believe that moving forward, we really have to
Speaker 1: make an effort together as everyone to commit to being better,
Speaker 1: being better overall. It's all it boils down to and
Speaker 1: our society, you know, we need it right now. We
Speaker 1: need each other and all we can get. So I'm
Speaker 1: glad to see all the knowledge that's coming out. I'm
Speaker 1: glad to see all the power from message. Just like
Speaker 1: I said, my brothers on my team that's been promoting
Speaker 1: this and just really speaking positive messages to people right
Speaker 1: now because that's what we need to hear. Yeah. Have
Speaker 1: you had a chance to speak with Tobias Harris latistible
Speaker 1: general manager Elton brand out there with the protests Peacefully
Speaker 1: protests in this past weekend. Have you had a chance
Speaker 1: to speak with those guys and just their experiences and
Speaker 1: what they went through by going out there. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: haven't got the chance to speak to him about the
Speaker 1: protests being there, but you know, we do our almost
Speaker 1: weekly zoom calls and everything with the team, so you know,
Speaker 1: me and Tobias were just talking a little bit about
Speaker 1: what was going on. He Tobias very smart, so just
Speaker 1: I like to learn from everyone, So hearing from him
Speaker 1: and you know, Teas and just everyone on a team
Speaker 1: and hearing different perspectives about this. No one's wrong, you know,
Speaker 1: and that's the unique and that's the great thing about this.
Speaker 1: Not a person is wrong or what they said so far.
Speaker 1: Just to see our team come together. I just see
Speaker 1: this creating more chemistry for us already. Yeah, so speaking
Speaker 1: of as we train position a little and of course
Speaker 1: this will never go away. Hopefully we continue to speak
Speaker 1: and have those those uncomfortable conversations. Let's have a comfortable
Speaker 1: conversation about basketball. You guys ended the season unfortunately March eleventh,
Speaker 1: after defeating the Detroit Pistons thirty nine and twenty six
Speaker 1: year record. And this is, as we said at the top, unprecedented,
Speaker 1: something that we've never seen before. But you have been
Speaker 1: able to have the zoom meetings with the team, with
Speaker 1: the coaches, with the entire staff. What have those been like?
Speaker 1: How have you guys been able to communicate? What have
Speaker 1: you been doing to stay in shape? This is not
Speaker 1: like a lockout, This is totally different. In the middle
Speaker 1: of the season's what's been going on? How how have
Speaker 1: things been for you, and what have those meetings been like.
Speaker 1: So I'm back home in Indianapolis where I'm from myself
Speaker 1: at my house here, so there's a private gym here
Speaker 1: while I'm able to get into my trainer. So about
Speaker 1: four or five weeks now, I've been going at it
Speaker 1: and just trying to maintain shape, maintain physicality, lifting, and
Speaker 1: just being ready for whatever happens. We can't control anything
Speaker 1: at this point. We all know that, but I think
Speaker 1: that we all knew that we would be starting up
Speaker 1: probably uh sometime soon, so you know, I just kind
Speaker 1: of got to work and just been maintaining. The first
Speaker 1: couple of weeks are very different, very weird for a
Speaker 1: professional athlete, not being able to leave the house, being
Speaker 1: our quarantine, having to fold right, yeah, doing in home workouts.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm either on a bike in the garage
Speaker 1: or doing just dumbbells in my house. So that part
Speaker 1: was just very weird, very different being a professional athlete
Speaker 1: and going to the gym every day. But as far
Speaker 1: as communication with the team, I think it's been great,
Speaker 1: you know, And I've talked to players from other teams
Speaker 1: and I'm not quite sure everything that every other team
Speaker 1: is doing but I want to say that we're up
Speaker 1: there with the sixes as far as our chemistry, as
Speaker 1: far as making monthly Zoom calls and keeping in and
Speaker 1: texting each other on our little group chat. So that's
Speaker 1: important to have that chemistry to remain that brotherhood and
Speaker 1: leading into the play I was leading into this, this
Speaker 1: this late push, We're gonna need all that chemistry that
Speaker 1: we can. So I'm very glad that we've been able
Speaker 1: to keep in touching. Like I said, I'm with my
Speaker 1: brothers on a team more than I am with my
Speaker 1: family anyway. So this has been a weird situation and
Speaker 1: it's been very different, but we've all kept in touch
Speaker 1: and kept in communication. And speaking of the chemistry, as
Speaker 1: you just pointed out, you're playing twelve games. You and
Speaker 1: Alec Brooks coming too the team in February, how did
Speaker 1: you feel you were playing and how did you how
Speaker 1: did you feel that you were adapting to everything with
Speaker 1: the team. As you start started to talk about the
Speaker 1: push that you guys were making, Yeah, I really felt
Speaker 1: like I had just joined the team, you know, because
Speaker 1: I did, you know, having twelve games, you know, that's um.
Speaker 1: It just really felt like I was taking that turn
Speaker 1: of learning the plays, learning my teammates, gaining that chemistry.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited to get back, you know. I know
Speaker 1: me and Alec both are because that changed that situation.
Speaker 1: It was different, but it was fun as well, you know,
Speaker 1: I think Brett made it really fun. Ben Joel to Bias.
Speaker 1: The leadership there has been great, you know, and it's
Speaker 1: it's been great to come together with. If you're on
Speaker 1: the other side of things, you see this roster and
Speaker 1: it's loaded, you know, But once you come to the team,
Speaker 1: you can see the egos get dropped in the doorway.
Speaker 1: Everybody's on the same team, same side of things, and
Speaker 1: we all just want to compete and win. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: this is as we look ahead to Orlando, Walt Disney
Speaker 1: Wide World of Sports Complex, no fans, just your team,
Speaker 1: the staff, NBA personnel officials. Have you allowed yourself to
Speaker 1: process what could be coming and how you I was
Speaker 1: I was talking to you guys right and I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about this. You playing Summer League, of course, being drafted,
Speaker 1: playing in summer League. There's been the Orlando Summer League,
Speaker 1: the Las Vegas Summer League, the two different arenas for
Speaker 1: Vegas where you have Thomas and Mack, which is you know,
Speaker 1: blown out and then you have sometimes when you see
Speaker 1: the games in the Cocks Center that not many not
Speaker 1: as many fans. So that's the only way I've been
Speaker 1: able to incorporate it. How have you looked at it
Speaker 1: like a practice setting? Have you looked at it like
Speaker 1: what you've seen from Summer League with not a lot
Speaker 1: of fans? How have you allowed to you know, at
Speaker 1: least think because you have to be curious about it, right,
Speaker 1: I think that it's just gonna be I mean, nothing
Speaker 1: like we've ever seen before, just like this whole situation. Um,
Speaker 1: I think it'll be weird. I'm interested to see what
Speaker 1: the TV cameras will do. As far as presenting it
Speaker 1: to two people at home, I think that that will
Speaker 1: be the best bet, you know, watching it, Auntie. It
Speaker 1: won't be as many maybe distractions or other things going on.
Speaker 1: It'll be sotally focused and locked in on the game
Speaker 1: and to play and maybe different angles of the game.
Speaker 1: But um, I haven't got to got a chance to
Speaker 1: really think about what that's gonna be like. Um with
Speaker 1: no crowd and you know, I know, off if we
Speaker 1: need off fifteen guys, especially more than ever now, you know,
Speaker 1: we need everybody who will be on the bench. That's
Speaker 1: the five that's not you know, the five that's in.
Speaker 1: They gotta go play hard the other guys, the other
Speaker 1: guys that our other ten that's on the bench. We
Speaker 1: need to be screaming on the top of our lungs
Speaker 1: because that's that is our crowd. So really we got
Speaker 1: each other's backs, and that's how we got to kind
Speaker 1: of look at it right now. Yeah, well we're gonna
Speaker 1: do it right now. We're having to think about We're
Speaker 1: gonna think about it right now. They're even talked about
Speaker 1: experimenting with two k crowd noise. Yeah, listen, I don't know,
Speaker 1: but that's that's been all these sports have been covered
Speaker 1: with my advice at the beginning. I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: the big jumbo trying to just goes defense. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: we need to we need that throughout the whole defensive possession,
Speaker 1: you know, So hopefully that'll be a crowd. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you've been playing it up. Yeah, I hear you. But
Speaker 1: you've been playing it from the crowds your entire career.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be totally different. It is, you know,
Speaker 1: the only thing I can say, is open gyms, summer runs, practices. Um,
Speaker 1: we're also used to not playing in front of people.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that it can it can almost
Speaker 1: drive maybe even better basketball. You know, we're not as
Speaker 1: like I said, we're personally not distracted. There's nobody yelling
Speaker 1: at us. There's nobody cheering or boing. You know. It's
Speaker 1: really just focused, you know, and it's stuff that might
Speaker 1: be coming from the bench or the coaches, so we
Speaker 1: can lock in even more. But who knows, we might
Speaker 1: see the best basketball we've ever seen just because it's
Speaker 1: no distraction and we've limit everything else now we can
Speaker 1: just solely focus on I want to know how much
Speaker 1: the mics are gonna pick up whatever you guys are saying.
Speaker 1: That's what I Brett Brown cave you whispering in the
Speaker 1: year ear wanted trying to hear exactly what is being
Speaker 1: said to you. So it's gonna Yeah, it's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 1: Final one for me about this, The NBA and the
Speaker 1: Players Association, I think have done a tremendous job with
Speaker 1: so many different ideas to get this to come together right,
Speaker 1: to come to fruition and hopefully everything goes according to
Speaker 1: plan and it goes on without a hitch when you
Speaker 1: guys get underway. Your thoughts again, just totally with what
Speaker 1: the league and the Players Association have been able to
Speaker 1: do to put this entire thing together. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that they've done a great job with the
Speaker 1: situation they've been handed. We've all we been handed right now,
Speaker 1: coronavirus and having to shut the season down like we did.
Speaker 1: I remember being in the locker room immediately after the
Speaker 1: Detroit game and hearing Rudy had got it, you know,
Speaker 1: and we're like, what's going to happen next? And Elton
Speaker 1: comes in and saying the season might be shut down,
Speaker 1: And as soon as he said that, everybody was just
Speaker 1: completely confused about the whole situation. So to turn things
Speaker 1: around to make it positive for the fans and the players,
Speaker 1: you know, I think that that's been a great thing
Speaker 1: about the Players Association and the NBA. And sometimes it's
Speaker 1: hard for the two to work hand in hand together,
Speaker 1: but I thought that they've done a great job of,
Speaker 1: like you said, experimenting with ideas, kind of bringing and
Speaker 1: pushing in ideas from everyone, including players, you know. So
Speaker 1: we'll see how all of this works, but hopefully we're
Speaker 1: in the best position, and I think the most important
Speaker 1: thing is just the safest and most healthy position for
Speaker 1: all the players and coaching staff and everybody who will
Speaker 1: be an attendance, because that's that's the most important thing.
Speaker 1: You know. I come home and look at my daughter
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, and being healthy, being
Speaker 1: safe is the most important thing. So as long as
Speaker 1: we were accomplishing, you know, I have no problem with it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I live one more. You took us tickets into the
Speaker 1: locker room again. March eleventh, you beat Detroit. Elton comes in,
Speaker 1: says everything that he points out about what he's hearing
Speaker 1: from the league. Normally, you guys, you know, we come in,
Speaker 1: we interview, you do what you need to do, You
Speaker 1: talk a little bit, and you get out. How long
Speaker 1: were you in the locker room that night? And what
Speaker 1: was the next day? Like? Once you heard everything from
Speaker 1: the course the league. But yeah, I'm laughing because you know,
Speaker 1: I'll back up a little bit. As soon as Ellen
Speaker 1: said that, he followed up with you know, everybody was like, oh,
Speaker 1: the season might be shut down, Like we kind of
Speaker 1: got caught off guard, and he was like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't get too excited those checks might start getting everybody
Speaker 1: those dear those dear eyes came on real quick, so
Speaker 1: those headline eyes. So that's exactly what I remember after that,
Speaker 1: and I stayed in the locker room another twenty minutes
Speaker 1: trying to get on Instagram and Twitter. At that point,
Speaker 1: I had not had an iPhone. I was on a
Speaker 1: low tech phone. I have a flip phone. So it's
Speaker 1: funny because of all of this stuff, I had to
Speaker 1: go back to my iPhone. I had to go back
Speaker 1: to my technology and get back on Twitter just to
Speaker 1: see that from my news and to keep up to date.
Speaker 1: So I remember that moment exactly. I'm talking to teammates.
Speaker 1: I can't get on my flip phone on social media,
Speaker 1: so I'm talking to Kyle o'quint like, Yo, what's going on?
Speaker 1: Calling his mom like, hey mom, it's coronavirus. I might
Speaker 1: be coming home. I'm at home. It was just a
Speaker 1: mess in the locker room. So I'm excited to get
Speaker 1: back with the fellas and really reconnect and get back
Speaker 1: to basketball. All right. Now. See, I keep saying I'm done,
Speaker 1: and then you give me more. You're not gonna get
Speaker 1: away from not explaining the flip phone. Yeah it man,
Speaker 1: my tiss. Like when he first he sits, he sits
Speaker 1: right next to me. The ko kylo quincis exactly feat
Speaker 1: over And when he first see me walk in the
Speaker 1: locker room and I had that, he was completely lost.
Speaker 1: Why do you have that? Who are you? What's going on?
Speaker 1: You know? But being twenty six, I've never been interested
Speaker 1: in material things, you know, materialistics. My dad was in
Speaker 1: the league, and I grew up around so many nice
Speaker 1: things and was blessing enough to see that that who
Speaker 1: you were as a person attracting me more. Who what
Speaker 1: you could do, how you can help people? Those are
Speaker 1: the type of things that I'm interested in. Um. Socially,
Speaker 1: I don't have a personal social media anymore, just because
Speaker 1: it's not my thing. But that's why I run the foundation,
Speaker 1: just to help others. That's who I am. That's why
Speaker 1: I'm about that. In basketball and taking care and being
Speaker 1: a father, Um, those are the best and greatest blessings
Speaker 1: that I can achieve. And I think that I'm just
Speaker 1: holding on to that and just taking the day by
Speaker 1: day and taking it easy and slow. That's that's kind
Speaker 1: of the person I am. I'm easy going, mellow, and relaxing,
Speaker 1: just love to love, to do right as a person
Speaker 1: and give back and hopefully we could continue to do
Speaker 1: that with the foundation. And um, like I said, angels
Speaker 1: are really real. Well listen man, hey, they all connect
Speaker 1: the same right. It's a phone exactly, if I can
Speaker 1: tell you absolutely as we don't break up to yours
Speaker 1: might not bring cop as much as the iPhone or
Speaker 1: some other smartphone out there. Service absolutely so, Glenn, just
Speaker 1: one more before we go, can you let us know
Speaker 1: the websites for ri we Foundation. Of course the R
Speaker 1: Foundation trying to make sure we fight against racism, police
Speaker 1: brutality and social injustice. And of course your own website
Speaker 1: where you can get the merchandise for the GR three shirts.
Speaker 1: And yep, everything is connected on RI foundation dot Org
Speaker 1: is the website. Our instagram is RI dot Foundation. And
Speaker 1: you know we have a helpline on the instagram as
Speaker 1: well that help that you can fill out. It'll help
Speaker 1: you and we can get back to you about whatever
Speaker 1: it is that's going on and however we can help.
Speaker 1: So we have a helpline, we have the merchandise we
Speaker 1: also have on there where you can donate and help
Speaker 1: our calls. So like I said, our mission is just
Speaker 1: empower fatherhood and to provide resources and to help families
Speaker 1: who don't have fathers in their life. And hopefully we
Speaker 1: continue on the right path and just being angels. And
Speaker 1: those who do want to connect on Twitter, you can
Speaker 1: just simply follow you at g R three correct on
Speaker 1: Twitter as well. Listen man, well, I think it's a
Speaker 1: great thing that you're doing. Thanks for allowing me to
Speaker 1: have this conversation with you. It's been just been enlightening.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what you do with the
Speaker 1: ARI Foundation, Good luck with everything with your daughter, and
Speaker 1: can't wait to see you out there on the floor.
Speaker 1: Can you make that deep run so we can keep this, Yes, sir, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: We're gonna do it for Philly. Man, thank you so much,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate you having me and it's great. It's
Speaker 1: pleasure to talk to you, a pleasure listening to that
Speaker 1: conversation and divine, I would be totally remiss before letting
Speaker 1: you go if I did not ask you about your
Speaker 1: very very initial first impression gut reaction thoughts about the
Speaker 1: potential return to play of the NBA and what it
Speaker 1: could mean for the seventy six ers, So what do
Speaker 1: you got? Well, First, thank you, that was an easy
Speaker 1: conversation with Glenn and I appreciate. I hope everyone enjoys
Speaker 1: to that. And here's what he had to say. But
Speaker 1: as far as basketball season looks for me as they return,
Speaker 1: I'm very curious to see how it plays out. I'm
Speaker 1: excited that from what we've heard from both Brett Brown
Speaker 1: and Elton Brand that Ben Simmons's back issue doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to be something that is any is holding him up
Speaker 1: any longer. So I'm curious to see how he is.
Speaker 1: First and foremost when he gets back out there on
Speaker 1: the floor, of course, Joel Embiid and what he's what hey,
Speaker 1: he has been able to do during this time off,
Speaker 1: and how they will look because at the end of
Speaker 1: the day sets when it comes to this basketball team,
Speaker 1: everyone is important. Everyone plays their roles, but we know
Speaker 1: who really drives this team and those two names are
Speaker 1: Joel Embid and Ben Simmons. With that, in this new
Speaker 1: bubble scenario, this new format that they're going to have
Speaker 1: with the eight game regular season and then getting ready,
Speaker 1: they have an opportunity to make some noise for me,
Speaker 1: and I remember saying this to you at the beginning,
Speaker 1: very beginning of the season that I thought the team
Speaker 1: would be a top two seed and I had them
Speaker 1: number one in the Eastern Conference in advance into the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals. And while we have sixty five games as
Speaker 1: a primer to know what this team has been through
Speaker 1: this thirty nine and twenty sixth record, they've had something
Speaker 1: that is in their favor just like the rest of
Speaker 1: the league. So I'm not excluding everyone. This is not
Speaker 1: only for them, but the opportunity of time and rest,
Speaker 1: and if this team, these players are as good as
Speaker 1: I thought they were at the start of this season,
Speaker 1: there's no reason to believe that they cannot again come
Speaker 1: in get their feedback underneath them. With the mini training camp,
Speaker 1: the possible preseason games, and of course the eight regular
Speaker 1: season games to be as dangerous as we thought they
Speaker 1: would be at the very beginning, it is going to
Speaker 1: be a tough route. It is going to be something
Speaker 1: that of course all of Philadelphia and all six of
Speaker 1: fans around the country in the world are going to
Speaker 1: be focused on. But they are still a very good,
Speaker 1: talented basketball team that still hold the same personnel that
Speaker 1: was there before with the inclusion of Alec Burke's and
Speaker 1: Glenn Robinson the Third a young batis style that is
Speaker 1: making noise, shake Milton, who was making a name for
Speaker 1: himself before things went on cause and I can only
Speaker 1: look at this and say they are going to be
Speaker 1: one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA once
Speaker 1: the season resumes in Orlando in July. So I look
Speaker 1: forward to it. You know, I'm a basketball nut and
Speaker 1: I want to see this team do well. I want
Speaker 1: to see them make this deep run. Glenn told us
Speaker 1: during the interview that they will be ready, So I
Speaker 1: expect nothing less but for them to be ready during
Speaker 1: this new playoff format once things kick off again in Orlando.
Speaker 1: Great hearing from me, man, Thanks so much. We'll be
Speaker 1: talking soon he as well. Thanks man. This podcast was
Speaker 1: published on Tuesday, June sixteenth, and on Wednesday, June seventeenth,
Speaker 1: will be releasing an article about Glenn Robinson the Third
Speaker 1: efforts to take a stand against racial injustice. Look for
Speaker 1: it from Lauren Rosen on six ers dot Com, the
Speaker 1: Sixers app, and all of our social channels. Then later
Speaker 1: this week, a new episode of our posted up mini
Speaker 1: series featuring Batist Thible and on Sunday a special Father's
Speaker 1: Day edition of the pod, when I speak with a
Speaker 1: player on the Sixers who just a few months ago
Speaker 1: welcome not one, but two new kids in the world.
Speaker 1: That's coming up this week on the seventy sixers podcast Network.
Speaker 1: Subscribe or follow search seventy sixers podcast wherever you get
Speaker 1: your pods, and please do rate and review us on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. It helps the cause a lot. I'm Brian Seltzer.
Speaker 1: Talk to you next time see it.