Speaker 1: A new podcast from the seventy six ers podcast network
Speaker 1: is coming your way in a matter of moments. Before
Speaker 1: we get started, wanted to talk to you for a
Speaker 1: moment about a great way to start your day. You
Speaker 1: know that right now everyone is simply trying to get by. However,
Speaker 1: possible schedules are different totally in flux life habits as
Speaker 1: we knew them have been completely turned upside down. But
Speaker 1: if you do happen to be out and about in
Speaker 1: the morning, Wendy's is here to serve. They've got new
Speaker 1: breakfasts that pretty much eat all the breakfasts for breakfast.
Speaker 1: Here's what you gotta do. Download the app, then get
Speaker 1: deals on your favorite breakfast menu items. There's of course
Speaker 1: classics like the Bacon Eater, but also right now Wendy's
Speaker 1: is trying to do you best during really hard times.
Speaker 1: They're still open for drive through and delivery. Delivery is
Speaker 1: actually free if you order ten dollars or more on
Speaker 1: Grubhub or Postmates. Plus, if you order your breakfast in
Speaker 1: the Wendy's app, you get a free honey butter chicken biscuit.
Speaker 1: That's tough to beat. Wendy's breakfasts. You up for this
Speaker 1: available at participating us Wendy's locations. Now about that new
Speaker 1: pod you up for that, well, here it is. Enjoy it. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Brian Seltzer. Welcome back to the pod. Certainly appreciate
Speaker 1: you checking it out and coming here amidst such a
Speaker 1: crazy time in the world. Hope you, your family, your friends,
Speaker 1: anyone in your network is doing as well as they
Speaker 1: possibly can right now to get by the first episode
Speaker 1: for us in about a week. And what we're gonna
Speaker 1: do moving forward is to just get content as often
Speaker 1: as we can, whenever we can, from wherever we can,
Speaker 1: and then just roll it out as consistently as we
Speaker 1: can to keep this thing updated and moving as we
Speaker 1: wait to find out what is in store for the
Speaker 1: rest of this suspended NBA season. In that vein up
Speaker 1: for we are pumped to bring to you and add
Speaker 1: to our podcast feed, the Coach Check Podcast. Matt Murphy
Speaker 1: does an outstanding job literally doing everything, it seems for
Speaker 1: the Delaware Blue Coats, the seventy six ers G League
Speaker 1: affiliate when it comes to media and content. He calls games,
Speaker 1: he writes, conducts interviews, all that great stuff, and he
Speaker 1: recently caught up with Michael Bryson, one of the players
Speaker 1: in the Bluecoats roster. So here's that conversation in the
Speaker 1: latest edition of the coach Check podcast, available wherever you
Speaker 1: get your pods by searching Delaware Bluecoats Enjoy Welcome in
Speaker 1: to cote Check, the official podcast of the Delaware Bluecoats,
Speaker 1: the NBA G League affiliate of the Philadelphia seventies Sixers.
Speaker 1: Matt Murphy back with another episode. But we've got a
Speaker 1: good guest today, and he is Michael Bryson of the
Speaker 1: Delaware Blue Coats. Can I call you a wing in
Speaker 1: modern basketball? You still want to be called a guard?
Speaker 1: Or is it a wing these days now? Either one
Speaker 1: where ex definitely I run along the wings, but obviously
Speaker 1: if you want to call me a card, I need
Speaker 1: that as well. Bluecoats guard slash wing Michael Bryson joining
Speaker 1: us today. We're recording this on Tuesday, just past the
Speaker 1: first week of March, so March tenth. Just for a
Speaker 1: little background there, we'll get into some of Mike's background,
Speaker 1: his upbringing, high school, college. He's a callie guy, so
Speaker 1: looking forward to having a lot of fun. We'll also
Speaker 1: have our healthy Lifestyle segment presented by Christiana Care and
Speaker 1: talk about the Bluecoats season a little bit as well.
Speaker 1: A second year in Delaware from Mike. So plenty to
Speaker 1: get into here. Let's start, Mike with your hometown. I
Speaker 1: mentioned a California guy. It's listed as Sacramento. So how
Speaker 1: would you describe growing up out there? Oh? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I loved it. I was born in said moved
Speaker 1: out a couple hours of Sacramento, a little outside of Sacramento,
Speaker 1: but you know, grew up there. Love the love the environment,
Speaker 1: love the people. You know, it's really grown. You know,
Speaker 1: the downtown life out there has really grown the last
Speaker 1: few years. You know, there's a lot more to do.
Speaker 1: The Kings obviously moved their facility downtown and they have
Speaker 1: an amazing facility out there. And growing up a King's
Speaker 1: fan all of my life, I've always obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: imagine and you know, dreamed about playing in the NBA
Speaker 1: and being able to put on the you know, an
Speaker 1: NBA jersey. So being able to obviously get close to
Speaker 1: this dream so far as you know, definitely a blessing.
Speaker 1: Foothill High School. I think there's a few different Foothill
Speaker 1: High schools, but Foothill in Sacramento. Technically, I guess in
Speaker 1: terms of the address I saw recently you were named
Speaker 1: one of the best dunkers in the history of high
Speaker 1: school basketball in that area. But just in general, it
Speaker 1: seems like Foothill pretty strong basketball program. What's the reputation
Speaker 1: of your high school in terms of basketball? Yeah, you know, honestly,
Speaker 1: a lot of the reputation falls under my head coach
Speaker 1: I was there, Drew Hibbs. He came to the school,
Speaker 1: I believe in ninety three, won them a Section championship
Speaker 1: the first year ninety four, won them a state championship,
Speaker 1: stayed with them, you know, twelve years later. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: being able to do what he did. And obviously he
Speaker 1: he was a coach there until I think a couple
Speaker 1: of years after I left. But he was able to
Speaker 1: win a state championship in two thousand and three, multiple
Speaker 1: section championships, you know, a bunch of league championships, back
Speaker 1: to backs, you know, triple you know, repeats all that.
Speaker 1: So Drew Hibbs definitely instilled the culture out there at Foothill,
Speaker 1: and obviously I was able to h you know, enjoy that,
Speaker 1: and you know, obviously learned from that. My year of
Speaker 1: two thousand and twelve we were able to win sections.
Speaker 1: But um, you know that was definitely a blessing and
Speaker 1: it taught me a brand of basketball that you know,
Speaker 1: I really haven't seen since, which is, you know, just
Speaker 1: nitty and gritty, you know, blue collar, you know, really
Speaker 1: just you know, head to the ground and just working
Speaker 1: as hard as could every single day. You know, that
Speaker 1: was one of the Obviously as a high school student,
Speaker 1: you really learned, you know, if you really want to
Speaker 1: play this game. And that was a huge test to
Speaker 1: the fact that I knew how much I really loved
Speaker 1: basketball and how much I wanted to be a part
Speaker 1: of my career. About that list that I mentioned, any
Speaker 1: other notable guys that you that are from that area
Speaker 1: or that maybe were good dunkers as well or not really, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they have my boy, Dacari Alan. He plays for the
Speaker 1: Grand Rapid. Um. You know, he's on there as well,
Speaker 1: out of Sheldon. But you know, there's a few on there.
Speaker 1: I need to look over the list again, but there
Speaker 1: was a few on there that you know, it wasn't
Speaker 1: so sure. Phil Ritchie I think was on there. He's
Speaker 1: a coach from Galt. He works or her a coach
Speaker 1: for the Stockton Kings and he went to Galt High School. Um,
Speaker 1: they have him on there. I don't know. I had
Speaker 1: to see the film because I don't believe that man
Speaker 1: used to get up, but uh, you know, that's that's
Speaker 1: my guy as well. Phil Ritchie Huge he was during
Speaker 1: the summertime, obviously comes in and works with us. So
Speaker 1: h there's some good names out there. It's great because
Speaker 1: that community, everybody kind of out there either knows each
Speaker 1: other or no of no of you know a person
Speaker 1: that knows somebody. So it's really nice to be able
Speaker 1: to kind of see some people that you know up
Speaker 1: on in the Sacrament of Beef and a few G
Speaker 1: League connections there as well. Fast forwarding to your college
Speaker 1: days that you see Santa Barbara. We've talked before. You
Speaker 1: were a teammate of current Miami Heat two way contract
Speaker 1: player gab Vinton, so I'm sure you've been following his
Speaker 1: success this year. But you individually at Santa Barbara program
Speaker 1: record for threes, I know the record was like two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty. You finished with over two forty. Have
Speaker 1: you always had the high arc on your three point
Speaker 1: shot even in the college days, Yeah, you know, I've
Speaker 1: always I was always taught that, you know, the higher
Speaker 1: the ball is a better chance that has to go
Speaker 1: in into the rim. So that's just something that's kind
Speaker 1: of become comfortable for me. I've always believed having a
Speaker 1: high arc and you know, when my when it goes in,
Speaker 1: and obviously the proofs in the pudding. But speaking to
Speaker 1: that three point record, I actually was able to break it,
Speaker 1: like you said, my senior year, I was able to
Speaker 1: kind of extend it. And it was one of those
Speaker 1: records that as I'm breaking in and as I'm you know,
Speaker 1: extending it more and more, you know, I'm looking down
Speaker 1: at my you know, my younger guy, Gay, and I
Speaker 1: just know, like, you are going to break this before
Speaker 1: you graduate here, and sure enough obviously had to have been.
Speaker 1: Maybe obviously during his senior year he broke it and
Speaker 1: then completely extended, you know, his own record. So, you know,
Speaker 1: attesting to to Gabe and how good of a shooter
Speaker 1: that boy is he. You know, I'm so happy to
Speaker 1: see what he's doing over there in Miami and the
Speaker 1: fact that he was able to get an ample opportunity
Speaker 1: out there and he's obviously making the most of it.
Speaker 1: I knew coming in he was going to be a
Speaker 1: Freshman of the Year, and sure enough he was. And
Speaker 1: from this point, you know, he's just kind of take off.
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited to see what's gonna happen with him.
Speaker 1: About to jump into our healthy lifestyle segment, but before that,
Speaker 1: how do you balance? I mean, it's not always the
Speaker 1: case that a good dunker is a good shooter. So
Speaker 1: especially in your college days, I mean, you're setting three
Speaker 1: point records, but you're also known as a great dunker.
Speaker 1: How do you balance shooting versus your athleticism as well, because,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's not always the case that guys
Speaker 1: can can do bold. Yeah, you know, I've always been
Speaker 1: a shooter, you know, self proclaimed at this point, but
Speaker 1: you know, I always love shooting. You know, I'd be
Speaker 1: outside all day, all night shooting. You know. Thankfully I
Speaker 1: was able to get some athleticism as I got older,
Speaker 1: as I filled into my body. You know, the first
Speaker 1: day I dunked was actually the day Michael Jackson died.
Speaker 1: I remember coming out of practice, going and get a dunk,
Speaker 1: and then you know, going over you know, going to
Speaker 1: social media to Russian tell everybuddy and finding out okay, well,
Speaker 1: this isn't your day. You know, Michael Jackson had you know,
Speaker 1: has passed. So that was the first day at Dunked.
Speaker 1: From that point, obviously, you know, being able to shoot,
Speaker 1: you know, guys are going to come out and close
Speaker 1: close out hard. So that just makes it easy if
Speaker 1: you can, you know, have a good shot one dribble,
Speaker 1: rip to the rim or two dribbles, get to the
Speaker 1: rim and go dunk on somebody. That's obviously something that's
Speaker 1: going to be you know, attractive within scout's eye. So
Speaker 1: you know, as I, you know, got more athletic, I
Speaker 1: was able to kind of encompass the two and you know,
Speaker 1: string together a little bit of defense in there, and
Speaker 1: so it's obviously just trying to make it all come
Speaker 1: together at this point. Absolutely, let's jump in with our
Speaker 1: healthy lifestyle segment. Just a couple of questions. Healthy lifestyle
Speaker 1: segment presented by our friends at Christiana Care. And you
Speaker 1: probably remember from Bluecoats Media day they asked you what
Speaker 1: you do for the love of health. I know some
Speaker 1: guys like Zayre Smith said he does a thousand push
Speaker 1: ups a day. I don't know if that's true or not,
Speaker 1: but what do you do for the love of health
Speaker 1: for anyone who missed maybe that video or if it's
Speaker 1: changed since earlier this season, no, yeah, and this year
Speaker 1: it was a big I had a big focus on,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to change my diet a little bit,
Speaker 1: eating more regularly, eating at the right times, and at
Speaker 1: least more consistent if I'm not eating at the right time,
Speaker 1: because with traveling it's you know, it's really tough to
Speaker 1: try and schedule everything out, especially when you're on the road.
Speaker 1: But being able to kind of eat a little cleaner,
Speaker 1: being a little more conscious of that. And I think
Speaker 1: a big thing for me was just with mental health,
Speaker 1: making sure that I'm positive, making sure that i'm you know,
Speaker 1: bringing a good energy to the gym, making sure everybody
Speaker 1: around me is you know, it was good and happy,
Speaker 1: and I think that, you know, a happy, happy locker
Speaker 1: room makes for a lot of you know, prosperity within
Speaker 1: the year. All right, shifting gears to the Bluecoats and
Speaker 1: the season. Speaking of positivity, you're known for a guy
Speaker 1: that has great bench celebrations. We've recently talked about this
Speaker 1: on the Bluecoats beat as well. What makes your celebrations
Speaker 1: for your teammates the best in the G League. I'm
Speaker 1: consistent regardless if you know, if we're up twenty, down twenty,
Speaker 1: if you're doing well, if you're doing bad, if you
Speaker 1: do a highlight, you give me something to celebrate, I
Speaker 1: will celebrate. I don't care, you know, if there's nobody
Speaker 1: else in the gym, or if there's a you know,
Speaker 1: a thousand people in the gym, I'm gonna be doing
Speaker 1: the same thing every single time. You know, I enjoy it,
Speaker 1: and it's less less for the fans. Obviously, I'm glad
Speaker 1: that they're happy to see it, but it's definitely for
Speaker 1: my guys. I think that a player knowing that, you know,
Speaker 1: you're not always gonna get rewarded for what you do.
Speaker 1: Sometimes what you do isn't seeing Sometimes it's not, you know,
Speaker 1: rewarded in any way. So at least if you have
Speaker 1: one guy you know is going to celebrate for you know,
Speaker 1: one guy is going to be there for you to
Speaker 1: you know, to you know, back you up and make
Speaker 1: you feel good about what you did, then, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's my only goal is just obviously to help,
Speaker 1: you know, keep a positive morale amongst the team, especially
Speaker 1: on the bench. Is tough. I know for me personally,
Speaker 1: you see it with the Sixers even this year and
Speaker 1: you with the raise the roof celebration that that has
Speaker 1: been a good one I think for the twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty season. You mentioned fans recently as we record this,
Speaker 1: As I said, on March tenth, you guys were up
Speaker 1: in Canada and there was a tweet. You got some
Speaker 1: feedback from a fan, I think a visiting fan, a
Speaker 1: local person. And I'm going to read the tweet via
Speaker 1: Kimberly on Twitter. She said to you, thank you, thank
Speaker 1: you for making this young young man's day today. He
Speaker 1: rushed home to research you. You are his hero, thank
Speaker 1: you for taking the time. And it was a photo
Speaker 1: of a little boy fist pumping you on the sidelines.
Speaker 1: So just thinking about that that recent event and you
Speaker 1: said it was my pleasure, loudest in the gym, without
Speaker 1: a doubt. How did it feel to hear back about
Speaker 1: the impact that you had. You know, it's it's special. Um.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people say they you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's for the money. You know, people are always
Speaker 1: you know, telling you that you know you need to
Speaker 1: do this for you the basketball. You know, it's only
Speaker 1: gonna be a for a sure amount of time. You
Speaker 1: got to get what you can from it. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's the people that you come across, you know, in
Speaker 1: these situations, and obviously more the kids. You know, you
Speaker 1: have a lot of adults and you have a lot
Speaker 1: of older fans that you know, truly love the game,
Speaker 1: and they truly may love the Sixers and they may
Speaker 1: love the Blue Coats, but you know, there's a there's
Speaker 1: a reason that they're there. You know, kids are there
Speaker 1: simply for the love. They love the game, or they
Speaker 1: you know, they love the camaraderie or whatever it is.
Speaker 1: So when you have a kid that you know, it's
Speaker 1: just you know, asking for love, asking for a fist bump,
Speaker 1: it's simple. That's a simple pleasure to be able to
Speaker 1: go over there and you know, give him a fist bump,
Speaker 1: to have a conversation with him, see how he's doing,
Speaker 1: see if he's enjoying his day. And all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: that turned from one fist bump, it turned into him
Speaker 1: cheering for me the entire game. And you know, when
Speaker 1: you see a kid doing that, you have to reciprocate
Speaker 1: in some way. So my biggest thing was just to
Speaker 1: come over there every time I saw him, you know,
Speaker 1: give him, give him a DAP or whatever it was.
Speaker 1: And you know, obviously little things go a long way
Speaker 1: within this industry because you know, they look up to
Speaker 1: you and they're watching you the whole game. And you know,
Speaker 1: it was a great pleasure of mine and it was
Speaker 1: a simple pleasure. It wasn't anything that I had to
Speaker 1: do out of my way. It was a simple fist bump,
Speaker 1: a simple conversation and U to be able to you know,
Speaker 1: hear that that obviously affect to the possibly is something
Speaker 1: I truly you know, I tried to everywhere I go.
Speaker 1: But you know, it makes it worth it for sure.
Speaker 1: That's why we do it right. And you obviously created
Speaker 1: a fan for life. I'm sure he'll be following you
Speaker 1: wherever you go and where you were last year was
Speaker 1: also Delaware with the Bluecoats. But this is a it
Speaker 1: was an interesting season for you that I want to
Speaker 1: get into because if people follow you on social media,
Speaker 1: they likely know about it. But I want to talk
Speaker 1: about your injury from a season ago. You were limited
Speaker 1: to just four games last season due to injury. You
Speaker 1: get hurt early in the year, an ankle injury. Then
Speaker 1: what happened? Yeah, sprained my ankle November third against Toronto
Speaker 1: nine five, sorry the nine oh five team up in Canada,
Speaker 1: and third quarter went to go in the lane, went
Speaker 1: to jump off the ground instead jump off someone's foot. Simple,
Speaker 1: really a simple ankle sprain. Sat on that for a
Speaker 1: few days, and you know, eventually, about five days later,
Speaker 1: after the injury was here back in Delaware, it started
Speaker 1: feeling really inflamed and you know, there was obviously something
Speaker 1: wrong with it when the doctor took them another three
Speaker 1: to four days to diagnose it, but they said I
Speaker 1: had strepping staff in my ankle. I'm not really sure
Speaker 1: as to you know that we didn't have surgery or
Speaker 1: anything before. It was just a simple ankle sprain, but
Speaker 1: it manifested into a you know, a strep and staff infection.
Speaker 1: Had to get rushed into surgery for that, and that
Speaker 1: unfortunately took me out for the rest of the year
Speaker 1: until the last I think six games is what I
Speaker 1: was available, and it played in them four of them. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a tough you know, mentally obviously,
Speaker 1: like I said, my mental health was a big thing
Speaker 1: I had to focus on this year. It was, you know,
Speaker 1: because you know last year I really went through, it
Speaker 1: went through you know, the depression of you know, not
Speaker 1: being able to play, you know, not being active, having
Speaker 1: to really you know, take a setback and you know,
Speaker 1: learn from it and learn about myself and learn about
Speaker 1: my you know how much I truly want this game
Speaker 1: because you know, when things like that happened, you have
Speaker 1: every reason or every excuse to try and say as
Speaker 1: to why you can't come back, as to why you
Speaker 1: can't make it. But you know, took a lot of
Speaker 1: support from my team, took a lot of support from
Speaker 1: the Sixers and the Blue Coats you know staff, and
Speaker 1: you know, Dan Ericsson was a huge, huge, huge, huge,
Speaker 1: huge culprit for a while I was able to come back.
Speaker 1: You know, he was with me daily, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: doing you know, therapy and you know anything extra that
Speaker 1: I needed from him as far as you know, you know, rehabilitation.
Speaker 1: He was obviously there for me in any way that
Speaker 1: he could um. But again, like I said, I truly,
Speaker 1: you know I appreciate the you know, the staff here
Speaker 1: and you know, the team and the everybody here truly
Speaker 1: made it an experience for me that I was able
Speaker 1: to grow from. Um. You know, in every situation in which,
Speaker 1: like I said, I could have been hurt and you know,
Speaker 1: been negative and been down. Um, they gave me a
Speaker 1: reason to you know, keep fighting. They gave me a
Speaker 1: reason to come to the gym every day and to
Speaker 1: be happy and to be positive. And you know that's tough.
Speaker 1: Um It. Like I said, I really learned a lot
Speaker 1: from last year and being able to obviously come back
Speaker 1: this year and play and you know, get some my
Speaker 1: athleticism back has truly been a blessing and you know,
Speaker 1: I just I'm thankful for it. Shout out to my
Speaker 1: fellow South Jersey native Dan Ericson And if anyone was
Speaker 1: following you on social media, I'm sure they saw Dan
Speaker 1: a lot because you chronicled your comeback process in an
Speaker 1: Instagram series Instagram story series called the Comeback. It was
Speaker 1: over thirty days worth of videos of you and Dan
Speaker 1: and everything working out. You mentioned learning about yourself. What
Speaker 1: did you learn about yourself during that return to play process? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You just I think I learned how much I you know,
Speaker 1: appreciate the little things. You know, that first month I
Speaker 1: was you know, in a boot, couldn't apply any pressure
Speaker 1: to my foot, so I was in the you know,
Speaker 1: in crutches. I think just getting up just to you know, obviously,
Speaker 1: to go to the bathroom is something that you know,
Speaker 1: you don't understand how much you take for granted. Obviously
Speaker 1: any day you wake up as a blessing. But to
Speaker 1: be able to get out of bed but two feel
Speaker 1: on the ground and walk to the bathroom is something
Speaker 1: that I had to truly learn to appreciate again. But
Speaker 1: also I just learned about how how strong will it
Speaker 1: I can be if it's something that I truly want
Speaker 1: And obviously basketball is something that I've won since I
Speaker 1: was a child. So being able to you know, put
Speaker 1: my mind to something and every day get up, you know,
Speaker 1: have a mental challenge of you know, today could be
Speaker 1: the day that I give up and don't go or
Speaker 1: today could be the day that adds to the story.
Speaker 1: And ultimately that's what it became. I think posting those
Speaker 1: videos not only made it so that people around me
Speaker 1: were aware of what I was going through and if
Speaker 1: they were going through anything similar than that, they can
Speaker 1: connect and you know look at us for you know, inspiration.
Speaker 1: But ultimately it became an accountability for me because if
Speaker 1: I show up one day and don't have a video,
Speaker 1: I'm going to get asked, you know, where's your video today?
Speaker 1: Why weren't you working? And I think that's something that
Speaker 1: obviously I did have people do, but it's something that
Speaker 1: I needed for myself, you know, because every day, you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's a mental battles that if you're
Speaker 1: gonna get up and if today's gonna be the day
Speaker 1: you quit, or for today's gonna be the day you
Speaker 1: add to the story. And so obviously, thankfully, for like
Speaker 1: I said, the people around me and the people in
Speaker 1: this organization, I was able to keep adding to that
Speaker 1: story and it wound up being, like you said, thirty
Speaker 1: plus days and finally was able to make a comeback
Speaker 1: and get on the floor and here we are today,
Speaker 1: and there was a great ending, well not ending, but
Speaker 1: part of that story where you returned here at seventy
Speaker 1: six ers Field House, and I do want to get
Speaker 1: to that. We'll get to our quick questions at the
Speaker 1: buzzer as well. This has been awesome so far. At
Speaker 1: speaking of Dan Ericson, he and a few other people
Speaker 1: said you were the guy for this podcast, that your
Speaker 1: story is one that we had to tell so we
Speaker 1: appreciate the time. The ending to that return to play
Speaker 1: process was a home game, ironically enough, against the Raptors
Speaker 1: nine oh five, where the injury happened on the road
Speaker 1: March sixteenth of last year. You had ten points and
Speaker 1: you were four of six from the field, including a
Speaker 1: couple of threes. What were your emotions that night? You know,
Speaker 1: there weren't a lot of words to put into it.
Speaker 1: You know, it was obviously nervous. You know, basketball has
Speaker 1: always been something that until the ball tips off, I'm
Speaker 1: very nervous. But it was great. I mean I had
Speaker 1: people around me that truly wanted to see me succeed.
Speaker 1: I had, you know, family back home that was watching.
Speaker 1: I had, you know, like the I said, the fans
Speaker 1: here obviously show support, and they showed love. But you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was a lot, you know. You know,
Speaker 1: it was a situation in which the doctor told me,
Speaker 1: you know, we had waited twelve hours to do the surgery,
Speaker 1: I would have lost full mobility. It would have been
Speaker 1: career ending. So you know, to go from hearing that,
Speaker 1: you know a few months earlier, to being able to
Speaker 1: get on the floor that I love, that had wanted
Speaker 1: to be on all year and to make shots and
Speaker 1: to you actually feel like you did something to you know,
Speaker 1: help with the game, to actually contribute with something that
Speaker 1: you know, it took me away for a little bit,
Speaker 1: and it takes a while for you to realize as
Speaker 1: to how blessed you are in a situation like that,
Speaker 1: but you know, it truly opened my eyes and allowed
Speaker 1: for me to understand that, you know, this is a
Speaker 1: blessing that I have, and you know, from that point on,
Speaker 1: obviously you just got to, you know, try and take
Speaker 1: off a really great story. And thanks for sharing all
Speaker 1: those details. Let's have a little bit more fun as
Speaker 1: we wrap it up with our at the buzzer questions.
Speaker 1: Not always a true rapid fire style, but we talk
Speaker 1: about your explosiveness a lot of times on broadcast. That
Speaker 1: gets mentioned on the road. Twenty eighteen NBA G League
Speaker 1: Dunk Contest runner up, but just to be in the
Speaker 1: running for winning a contest like that, describe your best
Speaker 1: dunk or your go to dunk. I didn't see the
Speaker 1: footage from that contest, but what's your go to and
Speaker 1: what did you achieve during that dunk contest? Yeah, Dennis
Speaker 1: Smith actually had done the same dunk from the opposite wing,
Speaker 1: but it's the three sixty windmills, probably probably one of
Speaker 1: my better dunks. You know, he did it, I think
Speaker 1: the same day or the next the day before, and
Speaker 1: I had already been working on it, and I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and pull that one out.
Speaker 1: I liked the behind the back one. I can do
Speaker 1: that when that one's fun. I have a B grade
Speaker 1: version of the vinsanity dunk, the three to sixty reverse
Speaker 1: wind mill, and that one is absolutely incredible. I can't
Speaker 1: I can't emulate it the way that that Vince Carter
Speaker 1: does it. But man, that's one of my favorite dunks,
Speaker 1: just the way it looks and so awkward and it's
Speaker 1: such a tough dunk to try and you know, get
Speaker 1: down all right. So this one's truly of this or that.
Speaker 1: Who should have won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest this
Speaker 1: year Derek Jones Junior or Aaron Gordon because they both
Speaker 1: put on a show. Oh my gosh. You know, West
Speaker 1: Coast bias would say I would go with Aaron Gordon,
Speaker 1: but you know, my first year I played with Derek
Speaker 1: Jones over with Anaz with their G League team, and
Speaker 1: that man has some bounces I've never seen like before.
Speaker 1: So I'll leave that one to Dwayne Wade since he
Speaker 1: was the one apparently that that snubbed the voting on that.
Speaker 1: But that you know, I'm proud of my guy Derek Jones.
Speaker 1: You know that's only this isn't the end for him.
Speaker 1: Obviously you're gonna see more of fame. Airplane mode is
Speaker 1: still taken off. And he's a local guy from Chester, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: so I know a lot of our listeners are probably
Speaker 1: familiar with him even before that dunk contest. But he
Speaker 1: just floats in the air all right. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you need preparation for this one, but here at
Speaker 1: the buzzer. You told us on media Day either last
Speaker 1: year or this year, that you're hidden talent is whistling.
Speaker 1: Can you give people a little sample? I don't know
Speaker 1: if you have to warm up or whatever. That's my thing. Wow,
Speaker 1: we just got like a full song. What do you
Speaker 1: whistle during games? Practice? You know what? And I've actually
Speaker 1: gotten in trouble for whistling. I don't realize I do
Speaker 1: it sometimes, but yeah, if you ask any of my guys,
Speaker 1: I whistled throughout the airport, throughout you know everything. They
Speaker 1: say it's because I'm happy, but I think it's just
Speaker 1: because I can't sing. That is good stuff. We're gonna
Speaker 1: end on that. How can you not end on the
Speaker 1: whistling solo there at the end. That was awesome. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much Mike for the time on the coach Check
Speaker 1: sounds good. Appreciate you. Excellent to be adding the coach
Speaker 1: Check podcast to our feed. Big thanks to Matt Murphy
Speaker 1: and Michael Bryson for that conversation. Again, we're gonna be
Speaker 1: doing our best to roll out new pods as frequently
Speaker 1: as possible here on the feed, So be on the
Speaker 1: lookout for what's coming your way. Thanks so much hanging there,
Speaker 1: Take care, be safe, stay clean, do the responsible thing.
Speaker 1: I'm brid Seltzer. Talk to you next time. See it.