Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: Search seventy Sixers podcast Wherever you get your pots Hi.
Speaker 1: This is Tom McGinnis. Over the course of twenty five
Speaker 1: years of calling seventy Sixers games on the radio here
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia, I've met hundreds of people. It's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite things about the job. From courtside conversations to
Speaker 1: filling time when the visit in a hotel lobby, getting
Speaker 1: to know folks around the game of basketball has always
Speaker 1: been a treat. This is Tom's Talks, my new podcast,
Speaker 1: Tipping Things Off. In a first episode, I talked to
Speaker 1: a long time friend, former Sixers center Todd McCulloch, a
Speaker 1: fan favorite, the Big Man from Winnipeg, Canada, also at
Speaker 1: one point joined me on the radio. Here's our conversation. Well, Todd,
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. First of all, how are
Speaker 1: you doing? What's quarantine looked like outside Seattle and the
Speaker 1: McCulloch house. We're getting used to kind of a new
Speaker 1: normal here. So we're learning how to how to home school.
Speaker 1: And we've got a got a sixth grader and a
Speaker 1: fourth grader, so we're learning how to be sixth grade
Speaker 1: and fourth grade teachers. We're doing the best we can
Speaker 1: with that, and we're having lots of lots of family
Speaker 1: time together and and everybody gets to Uh, we got
Speaker 1: a lot of movie movie nights together, so they're kind
Speaker 1: of learning about my movie taste. And I'm watching a
Speaker 1: lot of Pixar Marble movies, and you know, my wife
Speaker 1: is getting some of her picks in there as well.
Speaker 1: So we're learning about each other's movie taste and spending
Speaker 1: a lot of time together. But we're we're getting through.
Speaker 1: If I remember having visited your house once when Seattle
Speaker 1: was still in the NBA, you had a huge movie
Speaker 1: room with I mean chairs that I think the Seahawks
Speaker 1: played the front of the Alignment of the Seahawks because
Speaker 1: set there is that still where you guys watch your movies.
Speaker 1: Uh sometimes, yeah, I was in there last night. It's
Speaker 1: a it's it's a comfortable place to to watch movies.
Speaker 1: But mainly we're just in the family room is kind
Speaker 1: of connected to the kitchen, and so that's kind of
Speaker 1: where we where we congregate and that's kind of our
Speaker 1: family space. So that the media room sometimes and most
Speaker 1: of the time it's just the TV kind of in
Speaker 1: the kitchen family room area. You have a beautiful home.
Speaker 1: I remember when we visited. We were with the TV
Speaker 1: crew of what is now NBC Sports Philadelphia, and your
Speaker 1: garage is a three story garage and that's where you
Speaker 1: had a lot of the machines, and we went to
Speaker 1: one level after another, but you were kind enough to
Speaker 1: treat us with subway. We had some catered food there.
Speaker 1: And Quilla, our good friend, and the great producers such
Speaker 1: as Television said, and your house looks like Villanova's gym.
Speaker 1: It's got white panel pine. It's gorgeous, as they said,
Speaker 1: and Jr. Said, Geez, Codd surprised with how nice your
Speaker 1: house is that your neighbors are so close. You let
Speaker 1: me go. That's the garage. I remember that. That was
Speaker 1: That was a funny moment. So we're fortunate to have
Speaker 1: some space here to not be on top of each other. Right. So,
Speaker 1: Washington was one of the first places in the United
Speaker 1: States where COVID nineteen, the coronavirus started out there in
Speaker 1: Kirkland with that nursing home situation. Was that kind of
Speaker 1: wild that it started in your region of the country. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. That really hit home literally, just to see
Speaker 1: what was going on. In China, and then to hear
Speaker 1: about some of the European countries, and then to have
Speaker 1: some of the first cases here in Seattle was very alarming,
Speaker 1: and just to see what was going on in the
Speaker 1: Kirkland area. And fortunately, I think our governor, you know,
Speaker 1: took things very seriously right from the beginning and instituted
Speaker 1: some pretty tough, tough manasures and it you know, it's
Speaker 1: been tough economically for a lot of people, but what
Speaker 1: I think it's done is it's curtailed some of that
Speaker 1: exponential growth that other cities are seeing. And so I
Speaker 1: think Seattle kind of went down into a lockdown situation
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier than some other people. So while
Speaker 1: we still have increasing numbers, it doesn't seem to be
Speaker 1: happening on an exponential level. And I think that's because
Speaker 1: of some of the early steps that were taken in
Speaker 1: this area. Right. So you went to the University of Washington,
Speaker 1: and so did seventy six ers rookie Matisse Bible and
Speaker 1: I know you watched him play at u W and
Speaker 1: are a big fan. Tell us a little bit about
Speaker 1: your impressions of Matife so far and what it was
Speaker 1: like to watch him play as a husky out there
Speaker 1: in the Pacific Northwest. No, I haven't met Matize, but
Speaker 1: I already loved the guy. I know. I know people
Speaker 1: that know him, and they spoke extremely highly of him,
Speaker 1: and just watching him, even if you didn't know him
Speaker 1: as a person, just to see that kind of effort
Speaker 1: and how hard he plays that I loved watching him play,
Speaker 1: and he just had this quiet intensity to just get it,
Speaker 1: get it done, and he never quit on any play ever.
Speaker 1: And so when I heard that Philadelphia drafted Who, I
Speaker 1: was thrilled because I knew that you guys would fall
Speaker 1: in love with him. I knew how hard he worked
Speaker 1: and how much the fans would appreciate that effort. And
Speaker 1: I also had heard from people what a great guy
Speaker 1: he was and how much people would like him personally.
Speaker 1: So I thought that was a great fit, and I
Speaker 1: was happy that the Sixers got such a such a
Speaker 1: great teammate. And that doesn't surprise me at all that
Speaker 1: he's uh that that people really like the way the
Speaker 1: way he plays. So I'm looking forward to meeting him
Speaker 1: one of these times when when he comes back to Seattle.
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm enjoying watching him play because I
Speaker 1: think he's phenomenal and he just has incredible instincts. And
Speaker 1: you combine those instincts and those gifts with effort and
Speaker 1: it makes makes for quite a quite a difficult player
Speaker 1: to score on. And Mike Hugh, he's got great, great
Speaker 1: character and he's a wonderful person to have a run
Speaker 1: our team and in our organization. What was it like
Speaker 1: for you to play at the University of Washington. You
Speaker 1: grew up in Winnipeg, You play at at UW for
Speaker 1: Bob Bender, and what was it like at the time,
Speaker 1: I'm assuming it was the Pac ten Pac twelve to
Speaker 1: play in that league, and at what point did you
Speaker 1: realize that you might end up being an NBA player.
Speaker 1: Took It took a little while. I loved playing here.
Speaker 1: It was a big adjustment for me coming from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Speaker 1: I believe I was the first player to go directly
Speaker 1: from a Manitoba high school to a D one college,
Speaker 1: and so it's kind of an uncharted path. And I
Speaker 1: was not prepared for for the weight room, for the fitness,
Speaker 1: for the athleticism, and few adjustments a few seas in
Speaker 1: those early days. You wouldn't have thought I would have
Speaker 1: been much of a college player at all, but I
Speaker 1: but I stuck with it and ended up having a
Speaker 1: very good experience at the University of Washington. I read
Speaker 1: shirted my first year, and that was a challenging year
Speaker 1: for me, but I came a long way. And I
Speaker 1: think it was my freshman year, which would have been
Speaker 1: after my red shirt year, we went to Michigan and
Speaker 1: at the time they had two players from the Fab
Speaker 1: Five left at Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. And we
Speaker 1: were coming off a tough season the year before nine eighteen,
Speaker 1: trying to get a winning record, trying to get to
Speaker 1: some post post season play, and it came right down
Speaker 1: to the wire and I think we got a shop
Speaker 1: blocked at the buzzer and we lost by one. And
Speaker 1: while I was not happy that we lost, I was
Speaker 1: happy that we were competitive against a team that had
Speaker 1: some prestige. And I think I had twelve points and
Speaker 1: ten rebounds, and I think at that point I thought, Okay,
Speaker 1: I just had a double double against this Michigan team
Speaker 1: that a lot of people still know, So, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe I have a chance to be a decent
Speaker 1: college player if I can get a double double against
Speaker 1: a high profile team like this, so it gets a
Speaker 1: tough opponent. And that's I think when I started, the
Speaker 1: coaches always believed in me. I think they could see
Speaker 1: the potential that I had. But for me, I think
Speaker 1: that that made me realize that if I keep going,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe I can have an impact at the
Speaker 1: college level. And when you got drafted to the NBA,
Speaker 1: what did that moment feel like? It was a little
Speaker 1: bit bitter sweet. I was just talking to a friend
Speaker 1: of mine about that. I mean, I think it's it's
Speaker 1: all about your your perspective. And I ended up going
Speaker 1: on to a good college career, and I think I
Speaker 1: wanted to be a first round pick. I think anyone
Speaker 1: that you know, it's it's it's obviously an honor to
Speaker 1: get drafted, and there's only maybe sixty people that are
Speaker 1: drafted each year and on this planet, and it's a
Speaker 1: huge honor. But I think my expectations and my hope
Speaker 1: was to be a first round pick, and I thought
Speaker 1: that maybe I'd done enough in my four or five
Speaker 1: years at Washington to get one of those top thirty spots.
Speaker 1: That didn't happen, and so I was sort of devastated
Speaker 1: and I was looking looking back, I was very uh,
Speaker 1: I was sad, and it just wasn't a celebratory moment
Speaker 1: for me, and that that came later, and I had
Speaker 1: an assistant coach that had some champagne there to celebrate
Speaker 1: and he could sort of see that I wasn't in
Speaker 1: a celebratory movement and he said, you know what, we're
Speaker 1: going to We're keep this for another time. We're going
Speaker 1: to celebrate later. And that moment did happen later in
Speaker 1: my career, and so I think I used that as
Speaker 1: a motivation and I ended up playing with Team Canada
Speaker 1: that summer with teammates like Steve Nash, and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, that confidence that I felt like I had
Speaker 1: lost I was reading. I realized, you know what, I
Speaker 1: am a good basketball player, and playing with somebody like
Speaker 1: Steve Nass that he makes everybody look good. I started
Speaker 1: to believe in myself again and played well that summer
Speaker 1: and ended up ended up with a two year contract
Speaker 1: with the Sixers. And we'll get into that, but you've
Speaker 1: shared over the years some of those stories about Nash
Speaker 1: after games, like meetings on the beach and the leadership
Speaker 1: that he showed and the way he connected everybody. I
Speaker 1: know he's still involved with Team Canada. A little bit
Speaker 1: about Nash and your experience in the international game with him.
Speaker 1: The most unbelievable person, teammate, competitor guy. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: obviously a great basketball player. He's been a two time
Speaker 1: NBA MVP. It doesn't get much, there's no there's not
Speaker 1: a bigger accolade, I think than being named the MVP
Speaker 1: of this amazing group of athletes, and he's done that twice.
Speaker 1: But that's he's even a better guy than that, which
Speaker 1: he's just an amazing leader. And we were so much
Speaker 1: better with him, and not only were we better in
Speaker 1: the court, but we just had more fun off the court.
Speaker 1: I mean, we won a game in Puerto Rico and
Speaker 1: at center Circle we would get together as a team
Speaker 1: and uh and thank the crowd for their support. And
Speaker 1: then Steve said, all right, when we get back to
Speaker 1: the hotel in San Juan, I want everyone in the
Speaker 1: in the ocean we're playing. We're playing five hundred and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pitch you know you guys are and be
Speaker 1: on the ocean. It was just like, oh, this is great.
Speaker 1: We did our work, we won as a country, and
Speaker 1: now Steve. Steve's going to be throwing the soccer ball
Speaker 1: to us in the in the ocean Puerto Rico, and
Speaker 1: then we would be ready to play the next day.
Speaker 1: But he really kept it fun. And we'd be riding
Speaker 1: on a school bus and he'd be sitting on the
Speaker 1: luggage just strumming away in a guitar, just like a
Speaker 1: camp fire field. He would give up his first class
Speaker 1: seats on the plane to big guys like myself, just
Speaker 1: just just you know. He was an unbelievable teammate. What
Speaker 1: great memory. So you come to the Sixers and Larry
Speaker 1: Brown was the coach, Iverson was on the team. What
Speaker 1: was your initial reaction coming to Philadelphia. I don't know
Speaker 1: what to think, but I was just excited to be
Speaker 1: part of an NBA franchise. And I had met coach
Speaker 1: Brown at the at the press conference, and then he
Speaker 1: was in the Olympic tournament in Puerto Rico as well,
Speaker 1: so I'd had a chance to get to a coach
Speaker 1: Brown a little bit. And you know, I met Matt
Speaker 1: Geiger right away, and I met a bunch of the
Speaker 1: other guys, and I Aaron McKee and Iver Soon and
Speaker 1: George Lynch and you know Tyrone Hill, if you right,
Speaker 1: love just a great group of guys and I really
Speaker 1: liked them right from the start. And people people helped me.
Speaker 1: They helped me defensively, They helped me with all the
Speaker 1: aspects that I was going to improve on to be
Speaker 1: an effective India player. And no more than Coach Brown,
Speaker 1: who loves to coach and he loves to teach. And
Speaker 1: so being one of the young guys, you'd come in
Speaker 1: early and he would run us in two on two,
Speaker 1: three on three, so we would have a little mini
Speaker 1: practice before the real practice started. And so he I
Speaker 1: think he really enjoyed teaching and I was ready to learn,
Speaker 1: try and figure out how to adapt to this NBA
Speaker 1: style game. They called you dip fondly, what was the
Speaker 1: genesis behind that nickname Dip? So my first NBA game
Speaker 1: was against the San Antonio Spurs, and this was right
Speaker 1: after they had won the abbreviated fifty game season, and
Speaker 1: so we were there in San Antonio for the first
Speaker 1: game of that season and that's when they received their rings.
Speaker 1: And so Coach Brown and Coach Popovich were good friends,
Speaker 1: and so Coach Brown said, hey, let's let's pay our
Speaker 1: respects and let's let's you know, this is where we
Speaker 1: want to be. So let's let's honor these guys for
Speaker 1: the season they had last year, and let's try and
Speaker 1: be that team this year. And so this is this
Speaker 1: is my first NBA game, and here we are, you know,
Speaker 1: watching San Antonio Spurs get their rings. And David Robinson
Speaker 1: is somebody that I looked up to as a youngster,
Speaker 1: someone with a lot of I see number fifty there
Speaker 1: and in behind you, and he wore number fifty. I
Speaker 1: ended up wearing number fifty. Just thought he was a
Speaker 1: class act and had incredible skills and was a very
Speaker 1: well rounded person as well as being a great basketball player.
Speaker 1: So here I am now trying to guard him. And
Speaker 1: this was the old NBA rules where the defensive principles
Speaker 1: were a little bit different and somebody legal defense was
Speaker 1: different and you could really at the floor. So David Robinson,
Speaker 1: you know, I think he was looking as chops when
Speaker 1: I get into the game and he said, like ISO,
Speaker 1: So everybody just the red Sea parted and everybody went
Speaker 1: in the four corners the baseline and it was just
Speaker 1: me trying to trying to stay in front of David Robinson.
Speaker 1: It didn't go well for me, and they ended up
Speaker 1: having a pretty good game. But I did go up strong,
Speaker 1: which for me wasn't necessarily dunk in the basketball. But
Speaker 1: I went for a power two hand layup and I
Speaker 1: went up and I saw David Robinson's hands and then
Speaker 1: I saw Tim Duncan's hands, and there's these four massive
Speaker 1: hands that were going to block me, and I thought
Speaker 1: I got to do something. This power layup isn't gonna work.
Speaker 1: So I just brought it down, did a little dip dip,
Speaker 1: and then threw it up and somehow, you know, I
Speaker 1: was trying to look like Jordan in the playoffs against
Speaker 1: I think Portland or he had that incredible play. It
Speaker 1: didn't look like that, but somehow it avoided all four
Speaker 1: of those huge hands went off the backward and went in.
Speaker 1: And I was as shocked as anybody. And I looked
Speaker 1: at the bench and I thought they would have been
Speaker 1: like yeah, but they were all laughing and they could
Speaker 1: look you gave him the dip. What is this? You're
Speaker 1: the dip down, So that Aaron McKee was like, what
Speaker 1: is this? That's how I got the nickname. I didn't
Speaker 1: realize it, but that's probably when are you kidding me? Started?
Speaker 1: And probably that would that would make sense. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: I couldn't do that I want to gain in a
Speaker 1: million years. But I knew I had to try something
Speaker 1: because going up not getting it done on those guys.
Speaker 1: And just to be clear, they gave me that when
Speaker 1: I was fifty some years ago, so I didn't steal
Speaker 1: your number. It just it was a birthday gift from
Speaker 1: the seventy sixties. So look, what was it like playing
Speaker 1: with Iverson and traveling with Iverson? Because I remember those
Speaker 1: years too, and you know how the fans, the autograph
Speaker 1: seekers were at the hotel, I mean obviously with Lebron
Speaker 1: and Michael and like that, and on some level it
Speaker 1: was the same thing. So what was it like from
Speaker 1: your perspective to travel with Alan Iverson? Oh? It was
Speaker 1: he was a He was a riot and so I
Speaker 1: always had, you know, a disc man with you know,
Speaker 1: back back in the day, pre pre iPod, and I
Speaker 1: you know, I was at music listen to you. But
Speaker 1: I never wanted to do it because I didn't want
Speaker 1: to miss the Iverson show and I didn't want to
Speaker 1: miss the jokes. He was cra and just how entertaining
Speaker 1: it was, so I didn't want to missing me, so
Speaker 1: I didn't use my music player very much at all.
Speaker 1: And I remember, you know, people would talk about him
Speaker 1: hanging out at Friday's when I first got to fill
Speaker 1: it Fridays, and I thought Fridays must be something happening
Speaker 1: club and I found out that it's TGI Fridays and
Speaker 1: it was near the practice facility. So I went there
Speaker 1: with my Winnipeg friends and where maybe a month or
Speaker 1: two into the season and I'm with my Winnipeg friends.
Speaker 1: They can't believe him in the NBA. I can't believe
Speaker 1: him in the NBA. And Iverson is with his friends
Speaker 1: in the in the corner, and I think he went
Speaker 1: past my table to maybe use the restroom or something.
Speaker 1: And I'm still a little nervous and start start. Even
Speaker 1: though we're teammates. I mean, he's just the larger than
Speaker 1: life personality and just people want to be around him.
Speaker 1: And I was no different. And I said, Helen, I
Speaker 1: don't mean to bother you, but will you take a
Speaker 1: second here and maybe sign an autograph for my friends,
Speaker 1: maybe take a picture. And he was like, yeah, sure,
Speaker 1: I'll take a picture of your friends. All the sign
Speaker 1: but who were you When I go what And he's like,
Speaker 1: I got you, man, They'll be so gable. And he's
Speaker 1: making fun of me in front of my friends, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's not funny out So he was. He
Speaker 1: was cool. Great, And then that team, of course made
Speaker 1: it to the NBA Finals eventually in two thousand and
Speaker 1: two thousand and one season, and you know, you didn't
Speaker 1: play that much, but there were injuries and you backed
Speaker 1: up to Ken Bay a little bit. What was your
Speaker 1: experience like, uh, playing in the NBA Finals and put
Speaker 1: that whole playoff run. Yeah, that was. That was, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of a dream come true to make it to
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. And I hadn't played much leading up
Speaker 1: to that final series. I think I had gotten in
Speaker 1: once in the Milwaukee series, and I hadn't gotten in
Speaker 1: in the Indiana series, and I don't think I've gotten
Speaker 1: in the Toronto series. So I kind of just assumed
Speaker 1: that I wouldn't get in in the UH in the
Speaker 1: series against Milwaukee, and I think there was a time
Speaker 1: out where coach Brown drew up the play and I
Speaker 1: wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been,
Speaker 1: And it's just kind of a reminder for young guys
Speaker 1: to always be ready and be prepared. And I wasn't
Speaker 1: really listening as well as I should have been. And
Speaker 1: sometimes a coach at the beginning of the time I
Speaker 1: will say, you know, Tad get Geiger a tug tyrone,
Speaker 1: and then you're like, oh, I'm in the game. I
Speaker 1: better pay extra attention. But in this case, the substitution
Speaker 1: happened after the time out, and I didn't think I
Speaker 1: could go up to coach and say, hey, coach, yeah,
Speaker 1: can you run through that again? Yeah, I wasn't listening.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna need you to drive up that play. So
Speaker 1: then I thought, you know, I should have gone to
Speaker 1: Eric Snow or somebody, and they said, what are we doing?
Speaker 1: But I just, you know, I thought most of my
Speaker 1: plays start with me on the right hand side of
Speaker 1: the court behind the three point line, so I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna go there. And I can hear a coach saying, no, Todd,
Speaker 1: not there, and so I'm like, well, maybe I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to be on the left side of the court. So
Speaker 1: I go to the left side of the court and
Speaker 1: he says, no, Todd there. I'm like, I don't know
Speaker 1: where I'm supposed to be I have to get this rebound.
Speaker 1: I don't care, so I for some reason, I knew
Speaker 1: the shot would be missed from whoever took it, and
Speaker 1: I crashed the boards and I pushed everybody out of
Speaker 1: the way and I got the rebound because I had
Speaker 1: to make something positive happen. And then I laid it
Speaker 1: in and I got fouled, and I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I had to make something positive where I was getting
Speaker 1: yanked out of this game. So then I was a
Speaker 1: little more prepared for every time out and now we
Speaker 1: make it to the NBA Finals, and I just wanted
Speaker 1: to do the best I could, and I thought check
Speaker 1: is better than me in every way. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try and run hard. I'm gonna try and beat them
Speaker 1: down the floor. I'm gonna try and give that extra effort,
Speaker 1: and if and when he blocks me, I'm gonna try
Speaker 1: and get it and I'm gonna try and go right
Speaker 1: back up with it. So I just had an attitude
Speaker 1: of just trying to do just try and play within
Speaker 1: myself and do the things that I do and try
Speaker 1: and do them as best I could. And winning Game
Speaker 1: one was a huge thrill, and I think surprised a
Speaker 1: lot of people, and unfortunately we just couldn't couldn't keep
Speaker 1: that momentum going. And the Lakers had a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of clutch players, and so I think we
Speaker 1: were in a lot of those games and it came
Speaker 1: down to some key situations and whether it was Derek
Speaker 1: Fisher or Robert Orry or Rick Fox, they had a
Speaker 1: lot of veterans that calmly knocked down big shots and
Speaker 1: it was a little tough to rebound from that type
Speaker 1: of maturity that they had. We'll have more with Todd
Speaker 1: mccunnick in a moment, but during these unprecedented times, here's
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Speaker 1: more of my chat with Todd McCulloch, lo and behold
Speaker 1: you go back to the NBA Finals on the O
Speaker 1: two nets team that faced the Lakers with Jason Kidd
Speaker 1: and that whole crew. What was that experience like? And
Speaker 1: then you're back in the finals against Shaquille O'Neil. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it was all great, except having to go
Speaker 1: up against Shaquie O'Neil again in the finals. But I
Speaker 1: was obviously thrilled to be on another team to go
Speaker 1: back to finals. I'd had such a great year, such
Speaker 1: a great time the year before, and then to go
Speaker 1: back with these guys. I think many of them who
Speaker 1: was there their first finals appearance, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd was our leader, and we had some really
Speaker 1: good draft picks that year, and we all just kind
Speaker 1: of came together. A new offense had put into place,
Speaker 1: and we had a lot of a lot of movement,
Speaker 1: and I was a starter that year, so I got
Speaker 1: more minutes, and so I think it meant a lot
Speaker 1: to feel a little bit more a part of the
Speaker 1: team in term so production on the court. And unfortunately
Speaker 1: the finals didn't go well. We didn't get that, we
Speaker 1: didn't get a win in the finals and we were
Speaker 1: swept for nothing. But we considered it a successful season
Speaker 1: to win the East, and unfortunately that Lakers team was
Speaker 1: just as dominant at the end of that postseason as
Speaker 1: they were the year before. I remember a story shared
Speaker 1: where you were in the center jump circle with Shaquille
Speaker 1: O'Neal and he was telling you, I'm assuming just prior
Speaker 1: to the ball going up for an important finals game,
Speaker 1: about how one of his cars was retro fitted so
Speaker 1: he could fit in it. Do you remember that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I remember we had lost one of the games in
Speaker 1: New Jersey and it was we were leaving that while
Speaker 1: we lost all those finals games, and so we now
Speaker 1: were in the tunnel and the valet has brought my
Speaker 1: car around, which was a nineteen ninety seven Porsch at
Speaker 1: the time, and Shack was getting on the team bus
Speaker 1: and he sees me with this door open of this
Speaker 1: little porch about to get in, and you know, I'm still,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of star struck a little bit. I mean,
Speaker 1: Shack is literally larger than life, and I have, you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of respect for him and that whole team.
Speaker 1: And he said, Todd, what are you doing? And I said,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna get in my car and I'm going
Speaker 1: to drive home. He's like, that's not your car. Have
Speaker 1: the valet hasn't made a mistake. Have him go get
Speaker 1: your car. You don't fit in that car. And I
Speaker 1: was like, does was my car? Shack? I gotta go,
Speaker 1: and I get in the car and I drive away
Speaker 1: because I don't know what to say NICs. Later we
Speaker 1: play them again and we're jumping center circle and right
Speaker 1: at the tip, be careful, and I'm thinking to be careful,
Speaker 1: Like what what does he mean be careful? He's liked,
Speaker 1: be careful driving home in that little car. I don't
Speaker 1: want to get hurt, and I was like, man, you're cool.
Speaker 1: So just he was looking up for my safety and
Speaker 1: he just thought it was a little unsafe for me
Speaker 1: to be driving this time a little portion. Eventually I
Speaker 1: figured that out and uh and traded it in. So
Speaker 1: I did have the jump ball thing correct, but it
Speaker 1: came on the on the back end. And now you
Speaker 1: get traded, you get traded back to the sixers. And
Speaker 1: that's when the injury. You're you're having pain in your
Speaker 1: feet and you end up being diagnosed with something that
Speaker 1: your there had and that was, if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 1: three French doctors as Charcott Marie tooth syndrome and you
Speaker 1: had a foot neuropathy that ended your career prematurely. That
Speaker 1: had to be an incredible year, I believe, twenty nine
Speaker 1: years old a really tough thing to handle. How did
Speaker 1: you get through that? And tell us a little bit more.
Speaker 1: It was devastating to have a neuropathy and to have
Speaker 1: my feet not work the way that they should or
Speaker 1: the way that they did, um, and to you know,
Speaker 1: to make it to the NBA level. And then, you know,
Speaker 1: my confidence wasn't great when I when I started. And
Speaker 1: then after being in the NBA for a few years
Speaker 1: and having some success and um and you know, making
Speaker 1: it to the finals as a starter, I started to think, like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I think. I think I do belong
Speaker 1: and I think I can play in this league. And
Speaker 1: I think I was improving and gaining confidence. And then
Speaker 1: just as that was happening, is when my foot problem started.
Speaker 1: I and I couldn't play anymore, and so I was
Speaker 1: It was devastating in a lot of ways just to
Speaker 1: feel like I was, I was getting my feet under me,
Speaker 1: and then to have them fail on me and I just, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it was. It was a very difficult time,
Speaker 1: and I think the thing that helped get me out
Speaker 1: of it was was being able to work with you,
Speaker 1: and and to have Billy King give you an opportunity
Speaker 1: to jump on the radio, and it really kind of
Speaker 1: brought me out of a funk, and it made me
Speaker 1: realize I was still part of the Sixers family, and
Speaker 1: I was I had now the players as my old
Speaker 1: family and the broadcasters and the TV guys as my
Speaker 1: new family. And over the next five years, I think
Speaker 1: it really helped me sort of transition out of, you know,
Speaker 1: just that that headspace of just really feeling feeling bad
Speaker 1: for myself and feeling down, and then to kind of
Speaker 1: bring me out of that and still be a part
Speaker 1: of the family. So it was it meant a lot
Speaker 1: to me to spend that time working with you, and
Speaker 1: I appreciate You're great and you're a great analyst. As
Speaker 1: I say, sometimes players don't realize what an expert you are.
Speaker 1: I mean, just because again your experience, and you're a huge,
Speaker 1: intelligent person with a great basketball I que. And then
Speaker 1: you lend so much to to the broadcast and then
Speaker 1: you actually out there in the Pac twelve you I
Speaker 1: believe you did some studio work for the for the
Speaker 1: University of Washington for their games. Correct, it was for
Speaker 1: the whole Pack ten. It was the through Fox Sports
Speaker 1: when they were you know, the station that was covering
Speaker 1: the Pac ten, and I did some pregame and some
Speaker 1: halftime and some postgame analysis for them in the studio
Speaker 1: first season when I when I first got back here,
Speaker 1: and then I think Fox Sports was absorbed or maybe
Speaker 1: became a different affiliate, and so I hadn't done anything
Speaker 1: with them after that, but it was it was kind
Speaker 1: of fun, well lasted, and I think I had the
Speaker 1: confidence to do that because of the time that we'd
Speaker 1: spent together and hopefully some of the provements I was
Speaker 1: able to make in broadcasting, and you really do you
Speaker 1: see the game in a different way, And and I
Speaker 1: really had blinders on when I when I played at
Speaker 1: the center position. And while I think that that helped
Speaker 1: me in some ways, I had a pretty narrow focus.
Speaker 1: If I get the ball, post the basket, I need
Speaker 1: to go up strong and I need to finish it.
Speaker 1: But I think when you're up there with you you
Speaker 1: see the whole court, You see the plays developed, and
Speaker 1: you really see it. I think, well maybe more from
Speaker 1: a point guard's court of view of just the way
Speaker 1: the game is moving. And I think I almost wish
Speaker 1: that I'd had that experience before. I think it would
Speaker 1: have made me a better player, just to really understand
Speaker 1: where I where I fit in and not just have
Speaker 1: that that those that narrow perspective. But I think when
Speaker 1: you're when you're in the game, it's a little different
Speaker 1: than when you're when you're watching. But I did see
Speaker 1: the game with a different pair of eyes, and I
Speaker 1: think it helped me understand the game better. Your condition,
Speaker 1: this foot neuropathy doesn't go away. How are you doing now?
Speaker 1: I'm doing a little bit better. So I've I've constantly
Speaker 1: been trying to find ways to reduce the neuropathy. And
Speaker 1: so I've done all sorts of laser treatments, and I've
Speaker 1: I've had I'd had surgery, and I've did some stem
Speaker 1: cells injections to try and regrow some of the myolency
Speaker 1: surul nerves, and you know, different different laser treatments and
Speaker 1: some of some of those things have have helped, and
Speaker 1: it's helped to improve some of those symptoms and reduce
Speaker 1: them and it maybe helps some of those nerves regenerate.
Speaker 1: And so I still have neuropathy in both feet, but
Speaker 1: I think I think some of those things have been
Speaker 1: turned down a little bit on the knob, and so
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit more comfortable than I think I
Speaker 1: was when I was first diagnosed. And so I'm continuing.
Speaker 1: You know, that's been quite a while, and there's been
Speaker 1: some some medical advancements in science and treatments and things
Speaker 1: like that. So I'm always looking for ways to reduce
Speaker 1: it further and try and eliminate it completely. But it's
Speaker 1: it's at a better place than it was, which which
Speaker 1: I think makes me a better, better father, and being
Speaker 1: able to be on my feet a little more and
Speaker 1: play with my kids and just be in a better
Speaker 1: headspace and not always be distracted by by the constant
Speaker 1: nerve pain. Good for you, glad for you now as
Speaker 1: you see we're right by all these pinball machines. And
Speaker 1: as a professional athlete, having the game taken away, you
Speaker 1: have to find something to compete at the say that
Speaker 1: competitive bug you found of all things pinball? Tell us
Speaker 1: why and what that's all about. It's a great, great question.
Speaker 1: It's something that I've always enjoyed ever since I was
Speaker 1: a kid. I mean that the roller skating rink is
Speaker 1: a junior high kid, or the ice skating rink, or
Speaker 1: if I was getting my seven eleven slurpees, seven eleven
Speaker 1: would have pinball machines. Or it was the eighties and
Speaker 1: there was arcades everywhere, so if I had a quarter
Speaker 1: or two in my pocket, I was putting it in
Speaker 1: a pinball machine. So I think that was already in me.
Speaker 1: And then when I became a net, I started collecting
Speaker 1: pin machines, and that collecting continued when I came back
Speaker 1: to the sixers. And so I'd always enjoyed the game.
Speaker 1: I wasn't really aware of a competitive avenue for it.
Speaker 1: I just it was just something that I love to
Speaker 1: do and I love to share with people. And then
Speaker 1: a friend of mine, Rick Prince, from from Philadelphia, there
Speaker 1: was a guitar store, and I think it was in
Speaker 1: somewhere not too far from me, and I went in
Speaker 1: there to try out this pinball machine. And the guy said,
Speaker 1: and I said, and I realized that it's as much
Speaker 1: a social thing too. I love to play pinball with
Speaker 1: people or compete against people, and I want to share it.
Speaker 1: And so he's, this guy is gonna gonna turn on
Speaker 1: this pim machines are gonna play, And I said, you
Speaker 1: want to play with me. Do you want to play doubles?
Speaker 1: And he's like, nah, it's not even my machine. My
Speaker 1: friend Rick is crazy. He lives down the road and
Speaker 1: he's got like fifteen of these in his house, and
Speaker 1: I said, what games is he? I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you want me to call him? Hey, Rick,
Speaker 1: some tall guy in here wants to know what pin machines? Hey?
Speaker 1: So he runs down the line and it was basically
Speaker 1: the same titles that I had, and Rick is like me,
Speaker 1: and he wants to play with other people. It's more fun.
Speaker 1: And so he said, hey, you guys want to come
Speaker 1: to my house right now and play it? And the
Speaker 1: guy's like, well, I gotta work. I'm at my job here.
Speaker 1: How about you, tall guy? Do you want to go
Speaker 1: to ricks? I'm like, yeah, this Rick guy sounds awesome.
Speaker 1: So I go to Rick's house and we play for
Speaker 1: the next three hours, and at the end of it,
Speaker 1: it was like, I don't want this to sound weird,
Speaker 1: but I've really enjoyed. I'm like, do you want to
Speaker 1: have a playdate to my house tomorrow? Come play michelmochies?
Speaker 1: And he and I have been really good friends ever since,
Speaker 1: and so he introduced me to the world of competitive pinball,
Speaker 1: and ironically, Pittsburgh is kind of where a lot of
Speaker 1: those world class competitions take place, and so he introduced
Speaker 1: me the world of competitive pinball, and I was I
Speaker 1: was sucked. It was taking this thing that I enjoyed
Speaker 1: and then being able to have it naturally keep score
Speaker 1: allowed me to It's a little bit of that competitive bug,
Speaker 1: but also in a really fun environment where it's almost
Speaker 1: like your opponents are not necessarily helping you, but they're
Speaker 1: kind of cheering you on in a sense, and there's
Speaker 1: a mutual respect and we're all just kind of against
Speaker 1: the machine together. So I think I like the fact
Speaker 1: that it's everyone is kind of kind of rooting for
Speaker 1: the other people and there's a mutual respect, and so
Speaker 1: we are keeping score. It's pretty it's pretty classy. I
Speaker 1: like it. And you've purchased a few over the years,
Speaker 1: as we can see, and they never lose their value,
Speaker 1: and talking to in years past, there's like a little subculture,
Speaker 1: if you will, of people that own machines, and you're
Speaker 1: you've become a big part of that, right. Yeah. It's
Speaker 1: a great community, and there's different communities around around the
Speaker 1: country and people are into different things. And I've got
Speaker 1: a group of car collectors that I meet with here
Speaker 1: on Bambridge Island and they're amazing and I love them.
Speaker 1: Sometimes in the car collecting community, it's like, Okay, you
Speaker 1: can come over or not, or we'll go to car
Speaker 1: and you can look at my car and you can
Speaker 1: tell me how great it is. You can't sit in it,
Speaker 1: you surets that can't drive it, but I just want
Speaker 1: to tell me, like how awesome my car is. And
Speaker 1: the pinball community seems to be like, hey, you're in
Speaker 1: a pinball. I'm in the pinball. You need to come over.
Speaker 1: We need to play my game. I don't know you,
Speaker 1: but I like you already because you're in this game.
Speaker 1: And so I feel like it's this common It's like
Speaker 1: a little bit of a campfire that kind of brings
Speaker 1: people around. And as long as you're as long as
Speaker 1: you're not a jerk, basically you're you're welcome. And it's
Speaker 1: it just seems to be this pretty open group of
Speaker 1: pretty harmless people that kind of just want to have fun.
Speaker 1: And they maybe they grew up in pizza places or
Speaker 1: pool halls or our kides, and really a bunch of
Speaker 1: kids that refuse to grow up, and I'm one of them,
Speaker 1: so I could say that. And so I think that's
Speaker 1: what I like, is just how how inviting the community
Speaker 1: is and how full they are with their skill set.
Speaker 1: And so we kind of band together and we get
Speaker 1: it done, try and help each other keep the machines
Speaker 1: running well. Todd, I so much appreciate your time. You're
Speaker 1: still one of my all time page or a great guy.
Speaker 1: We wish you the best to Janna and your family
Speaker 1: a certainly during this time and throughout the rest of
Speaker 1: the rest of these weeks and months going forward. Now,
Speaker 1: thanks to much, and you're my favorite as well, and
Speaker 1: it was an honor to be able to work with
Speaker 1: you and and maybe someday we can work together again.
Speaker 1: All right, Todd, thank you, Take care, Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to Tom's talks with me Tom McGinnis on the seventy
Speaker 1: six ers podcast network. Check for new episodes every weekend.