Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. Quote
Speaker 1: quote Clotolo who welcome into Coach Check, the official podcast
Speaker 1: of the Delaware Blue Coats, the NBA G League affiliate
Speaker 1: of the Philadelphia seventy Sixers. Coat Check is presented by
Speaker 1: land Rover Wilmington. I'm Matt Murphy. Don't forget. We've got
Speaker 1: new episodes of Coach Check every two weeks on the
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers podcast Network, or you can find us by
Speaker 1: searching Delaware Bluecoats wherever you get your podcasts. Recent episodes
Speaker 1: include conversations with Mariel Shayak and Chris Kumaji. But how
Speaker 1: about we bring in their coach so without for they're ado.
Speaker 1: Connor Johnson joins me here on Coach Check, the second
Speaker 1: year head coach of the Delaware Bluecoats, following a few
Speaker 1: years on Brett Brown's staff in Philadelphia. Connor, it's been
Speaker 1: a little while now since you and I have caught
Speaker 1: up when it comes to the buzz word or phrase
Speaker 1: quarantine activities. What are some things that you were or
Speaker 1: are up to at home during this time? Murph Man
Speaker 1: good to talk to you. You're right, it definitely has
Speaker 1: been too long. But the quarantine for sure has been interesting.
Speaker 1: I think I've been lucky, you know, my family and
Speaker 1: everyone doing well through it all. But a lot of
Speaker 1: it is kind of gearing up getting ready for next season,
Speaker 1: and Coach Brown has been pretty gracious and including our
Speaker 1: staff and a lot of the work that they're doing
Speaker 1: for getting ready for when they head down to Orlando,
Speaker 1: and kind of we were on zoom calls with them
Speaker 1: a couple of times a week with the development staff,
Speaker 1: so I felt like we're getting as much basketball as
Speaker 1: we can without actually being on the word, but still
Speaker 1: different to what we normally do doing this this time
Speaker 1: during summer quick rundown for our listeners. We will get
Speaker 1: into the NBA bubble with the timing of when we're
Speaker 1: recording this. Everybody wants to talk about that. You and
Speaker 1: I will take a specific look at some of the
Speaker 1: recent Bluecoats who are with the seventy six ers, shake Milton,
Speaker 1: Mariel Shayak, and Norvelle Pelle who spent a lot of
Speaker 1: time in Delaware over the last couple of years and
Speaker 1: even prior to that. Then we will go to our
Speaker 1: Healthy Lifestyle segment presented by Christianna Care. Of course as doctors, nurses,
Speaker 1: and caregivers and as neighbors and friends. Christianna Care as
Speaker 1: a partner in everyone's journey to greater health and well being?
Speaker 1: Why do they do it for the love of health?
Speaker 1: Visit christiana Care dot org. From there, will transition into
Speaker 1: the Bluecoats season. A successful season that was obviously cut
Speaker 1: a little bit short, but a lot to talk about
Speaker 1: from a team perspective as well. Once we touch on
Speaker 1: the individuals here in a moment who are with the Sixers,
Speaker 1: but a good year for the Bluecoats in your second year,
Speaker 1: and we will round it out at the buzzer with
Speaker 1: some fun stuff at the end. But let's jump in
Speaker 1: with the Orlando restart. We're recording this prior to the
Speaker 1: start of scrimmage play for the Sixers this week, and
Speaker 1: Shake Milton has really been a big story with the Sixers,
Speaker 1: to say the least. Before the season was paused, he
Speaker 1: was playing very well. What has it been like for
Speaker 1: you and your staff in Delaware to watch him achieve
Speaker 1: this period of NBA success. Well, I think we're excited
Speaker 1: as everybody else is, and proud, and it's just great
Speaker 1: to see him a play at the level he does.
Speaker 1: I mean, we talk about the Clippers game with the
Speaker 1: Sixers played where he just takes over and puts up
Speaker 1: some monster numbers playing against some really high caliber opponents.
Speaker 1: I think it's good to see. I think we've had
Speaker 1: a lot of guys on our team that you can
Speaker 1: really root for, and shakes no exception to that. He
Speaker 1: came in. I think he started a little flow in
Speaker 1: our year and then by the end he was really
Speaker 1: something that everyone was excited about. And to see it
Speaker 1: come to fruition at the NBA level, it is really cool.
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of points to what we're trying
Speaker 1: to do here the G League. He becomes a great
Speaker 1: poster child for kind of our young program and what
Speaker 1: we're trying to do. The six years have done a
Speaker 1: heck of a job kind of keeping him on that
Speaker 1: right progression, working with the development coaches and Tyler Lashburg
Speaker 1: on a day in and day out basis. I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see I think he's gonna have a lot of
Speaker 1: responsibility on his shoulders, but I'm hoping he's ready for it,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna play really well once they get gone right.
Speaker 1: And let's stay on Shake for a second here. He
Speaker 1: obviously played mostly in the G League during his rookie season,
Speaker 1: but he did play in six games with your team
Speaker 1: again this season, and you coached him in summer league.
Speaker 1: What were the biggest areas of development for Shake from
Speaker 1: year one to year two. I think that he really
Speaker 1: established himself and he gained a lot of confidence in
Speaker 1: year one. I think in year two it's it's all
Speaker 1: about you get a short windows to kind of prove
Speaker 1: your success in the NBA. That the Sixers coaching staff
Speaker 1: and just the way the NBA works is that when
Speaker 1: you show up, you got to play well right away.
Speaker 1: If you don't, you take a back seat to somebody
Speaker 1: else that they're not. They don't have that same long
Speaker 1: term ability to give guys minutes when they're not producing
Speaker 1: right away. And so I think what we did in
Speaker 1: the second year was just trying to get him back
Speaker 1: up to the same confident level that he was if
Speaker 1: he might not have been at that time, and so
Speaker 1: you get a short window to really prove what you
Speaker 1: can do. And lately, in the kind of back half
Speaker 1: of the season, he was playing as well as anyone.
Speaker 1: But when he came to us around Christmas time and
Speaker 1: we were at the showcase, he wasn't getting a lot
Speaker 1: of minutes he was he had an injury, he wasn't
Speaker 1: playing a lot, wasn't in the rotation, and so I
Speaker 1: think we offered him, and I think he really took advantage.
Speaker 1: That was just kind of getting his swagger back. How
Speaker 1: he can play, the strength of his game. Why should
Speaker 1: Sixers fans be excited about the way Shake Milton fits
Speaker 1: into their current lineup what they have in Philadelphia. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's a good question. I think his versatility
Speaker 1: is number one, that played with guys like Ben and
Speaker 1: Tobias and Alan Joe, guys that are going to command
Speaker 1: a lot of attention. You need well rounded players around
Speaker 1: the guys who can get them the ball and positions
Speaker 1: to score, but also guys that can score themselves. So
Speaker 1: I think I see Shake. I think the role he's
Speaker 1: fitting really well is as a complimentary ball handler who
Speaker 1: can make plays off the drib will make shots when
Speaker 1: he's open, but also knows how to facilitate and get
Speaker 1: those guys and play through them. So he has a
Speaker 1: nice balance of knowing how to play and being able
Speaker 1: to do a lot of things at a high level,
Speaker 1: which I think co exists really well with the talent,
Speaker 1: the tremendous talent the Sixers have at the top end
Speaker 1: of their roster. This year's number fifty four overall pick
Speaker 1: by the Sixers was Mariel Shayak, and he had a
Speaker 1: fantastic rookie season with the Coats. What parallel else can
Speaker 1: be drawn between his season and the rookie year of
Speaker 1: the guy we just talked about, Shake Milton, I think
Speaker 1: a lot, you know. I think the rookie year for
Speaker 1: everyone is about getting your feet wet to some extent,
Speaker 1: building up your confidence, and then understanding kind of the
Speaker 1: nuances and what can make these guys successful. I think
Speaker 1: Mars got a great opportunity going down to Orlando with
Speaker 1: the Sixers that he can play every day in front
Speaker 1: of those Sixer coaches, playing against there's a lot of
Speaker 1: practice time. I think that's something that maybe people on
Speaker 1: the outside might not be able to see quite as clearly.
Speaker 1: But in the Sixers start their season and they have
Speaker 1: training camp for five days, they play another game, they
Speaker 1: play another practice or two, and then boom there playing
Speaker 1: preseason games and they playing games from there on out.
Speaker 1: But here they're this unique stretch where they just had
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, eight nine, ten days
Speaker 1: of legitimate practice where every guy is getting a lot
Speaker 1: of reps and a lot of opportunity. One to get
Speaker 1: better playing against him, but two to be seen and
Speaker 1: be really kind of evaluated by their coaches every single day,
Speaker 1: and those coaches helping Marget better. So Mars got a great,
Speaker 1: fantastic opportunity that I know, the silver lining of the quarantine,
Speaker 1: so to speak, as that Mars, they're practicing every day
Speaker 1: with these guys and hopefully getting better and showing them
Speaker 1: what they can do. So we've been talking to Marrow
Speaker 1: all throughout the summer. Of course, like you said, very
Speaker 1: very proud of the season he had. He put up
Speaker 1: incredible numbers, really showed everyone how he can score in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, score at the ram, hitting jump shot,
Speaker 1: shooting threes. But now it's great for me. I couldn't
Speaker 1: be more excited for him in Orlando, kind of showing
Speaker 1: those guys what he can do. How about a guy
Speaker 1: who is truly a Bluecoats fan favorite, Norvelle pell Bluecoat
Speaker 1: for Life, Novelle. We love that guy. Oh yeah, and
Speaker 1: he signed a standard NBA deal with the Sixers in February.
Speaker 1: How rewarding was that moment for you and your staff?
Speaker 1: I mean, just like we said with Shake, we're excited
Speaker 1: for all of our guys and we were lucky in
Speaker 1: our first year that a lot of guys went on
Speaker 1: to have. They finished the season in a better position
Speaker 1: than they started, the opportunities that they had. Norvelle shows
Speaker 1: it was a G League player for us, got a
Speaker 1: two way now is on a standard NBA contract, and
Speaker 1: that's exactly what we're trying to do with all of
Speaker 1: our guys. And like you said, Norvelle's a fan favorite,
Speaker 1: he's a coach favorite too. He's a great guy to
Speaker 1: have around, tons of personality. I think he brings as
Speaker 1: much on the court as he does sitting on the
Speaker 1: bench with the Sixers waving the towel and getting everybody
Speaker 1: fired up. So I think that say it's kind of
Speaker 1: similar with mar that now Norvelle as they get back
Speaker 1: into it. I think Norvelle's got an opportunity where you
Speaker 1: never know what's going to happen. The Sixers have a
Speaker 1: lot of big names playing in front of him, but
Speaker 1: in a short season where they got eight games to
Speaker 1: kind of get ready. I think he'll get a crack
Speaker 1: at some time on the court and showing people. We
Speaker 1: saw the shot blocking, and we saw when they played
Speaker 1: the Knicks in one of those games, just what he
Speaker 1: could do in a short stretch. So obviously he's gotten
Speaker 1: better the talents there. He's going to get kind of
Speaker 1: back in the swing of things. And he's one, like
Speaker 1: you said, well or we will always root for, and
Speaker 1: you mentioned his personality. I think playing without fans, he
Speaker 1: himself has talked about everybody five no question, what's that
Speaker 1: I said, He'll have to bring the fire, no question,
Speaker 1: an empty bell might take it over. He has actually
Speaker 1: said that everyone's gonna need to bring their own energy
Speaker 1: in a different matter, and I think he's a great
Speaker 1: candidate to be that hype man when he's not on
Speaker 1: the court. In Orlando, I mentioned briefly your summer league
Speaker 1: coaching experience from this past summer league. How do you
Speaker 1: think the bubble experience down there might compare to that
Speaker 1: in terms of the on court feel. I think similar
Speaker 1: to coach Brown in these zoom meetings that we've been
Speaker 1: in where he's been prepping the staff or going down there,
Speaker 1: and he's kind of doing that all throughout the break.
Speaker 1: He would talk about his Olympic experience and how I
Speaker 1: kind of reminded him about being in the Olympic village
Speaker 1: where you're playing the day in and one day off,
Speaker 1: then you're on. You play kind of every other day
Speaker 1: and the other. Like you're saying, I think the Summer
Speaker 1: League is the other kind of really good example of
Speaker 1: what it's like to have the teams all contain in
Speaker 1: the same area, playing on a regular basis at the
Speaker 1: same place. And so I'd be lucky to do the
Speaker 1: Summer League now for four or five years, being the
Speaker 1: head coach of the last year. And in some ways
Speaker 1: I think Vegas is a bit of an example because
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on there, but even just kind
Speaker 1: of being around and kind of having the aa you
Speaker 1: feel of seeing the other team and stay in the
Speaker 1: same hotel and people really locked in focused on basketball
Speaker 1: that the bubble, and for these guys who've been away
Speaker 1: from basketball for so long, I think they got to
Speaker 1: be just dying to get back to it. So I
Speaker 1: think you're right on. It will have a similar feel.
Speaker 1: I think it's going to take the guys a little
Speaker 1: bit to get in rhythm, and I don't not sure
Speaker 1: the basketball will be as crisp as as we might
Speaker 1: expect right away. But the flip side of it is
Speaker 1: that the games matter. That Normally the season starts out,
Speaker 1: guys are a little rusty and kind of getting off
Speaker 1: to a rocky start, but it's the exhibition games, or
Speaker 1: it's game one of an eighty two game season. Here
Speaker 1: it's you're playing eight games to get seating where you
Speaker 1: want and kind of moving up in those ranks and
Speaker 1: also proving to your teammates and your coaches of what
Speaker 1: you can do while the team tries to build confidence.
Speaker 1: So I think the stakes are pretty high for these
Speaker 1: guys having to get back in the swing of it
Speaker 1: after so long. Let's dive into our healthy lifestyle segment
Speaker 1: before we get to the success of the Bluecoat season
Speaker 1: and round things out. The healthy lifestyle segment, presented by
Speaker 1: Christianic Care, all about doing things for the love of health.
Speaker 1: And I know many coaches have their routines. Coach Silas
Speaker 1: has told me on this podcast he's a big peloton guy.
Speaker 1: What do you do when it comes to staying active
Speaker 1: during this time? Oh well, I'm not totally sure that
Speaker 1: I should be the model for the listeners, but through
Speaker 1: the pandemic, we were able to get some kids, some dumbells,
Speaker 1: and some workout here into the house, and that's been
Speaker 1: something that on a kind of regular basis, I've been
Speaker 1: trying to do, as well as when the weather has
Speaker 1: been nice and not hot like it is now, getting
Speaker 1: out to run. So those have been Again, I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is the v model we should be
Speaker 1: falling when you look at me, but I do appreciate
Speaker 1: the healthy lifestyle part, and that's something I am, I'm
Speaker 1: sure aspirationally trying to be a part of one more
Speaker 1: in here. But we're gonna shift it just towards routine
Speaker 1: in general, because many coaches stick to a routine, and
Speaker 1: you've worked with Brett Brown, you've also worked with Jay
Speaker 1: Wright at Villanova. What did you observe about their routines
Speaker 1: not necessarily related to health and wellness, but in just
Speaker 1: in general. I think one the thing that really stands
Speaker 1: out a little bit related to your health and wellness
Speaker 1: is coach Brown's game day routine that he's got the
Speaker 1: whole thing kind of scheduled out to the minute of
Speaker 1: what he wanted to do, whether it was in the
Speaker 1: morning for a pregame meeting, was shoot around and in
Speaker 1: that meeting, what's going to be covered, the offense, defense,
Speaker 1: the scouting report, what we're trying to get accomplished too.
Speaker 1: Whether that was a pregame walkthrough that they had gone before,
Speaker 1: he did his run every day before the game. But
Speaker 1: what I really took away from him was the level
Speaker 1: of preparation and that his ability to kind of know
Speaker 1: exactly what was going to happen at each segment. I
Speaker 1: think maybe took away a lot of the kind of
Speaker 1: guesswork of what was going on. Allowed them to focus
Speaker 1: more and make the most of their time. With eighty
Speaker 1: to two games, I think it's something that's really difficult
Speaker 1: to do. Games are on you playing three or four
Speaker 1: a week. It's hard to really prepare for each of them.
Speaker 1: But by having that kind of same schedule day in
Speaker 1: and day out that he followed pretty strictly, I think
Speaker 1: that really helped. And that's something that we try to
Speaker 1: do the same thing with our staph in Delaware. We
Speaker 1: know what to expect, we know what the meeting is
Speaker 1: going to cover, we know what order going to hit
Speaker 1: people are ready to roll to get the most out
Speaker 1: of it. Before we round things out at the buzzer,
Speaker 1: let's talk about the season for the Delaware Bluecoats, because
Speaker 1: although the season was cut short, the Bluecoats were in
Speaker 1: position for a playoff spot. They were hovering in the
Speaker 1: sixth spot in the Eastern Conference of the g League,
Speaker 1: and there are a few team stats that we should
Speaker 1: point out for the fan base. But before we get there,
Speaker 1: what were your main takeaways about the success of the
Speaker 1: Bluecoats season. Yeah, I thought we had a great year.
Speaker 1: I think it was unfortunate, like you're saying that for
Speaker 1: a lot of other reasons, but part of it for
Speaker 1: our team not getting to kind of finish out the
Speaker 1: year that we had started. I thought defensively, we really
Speaker 1: played well. I thought our guys bought into being as
Speaker 1: physical and aggressive as we could. I think that we
Speaker 1: were lucky. I think Matt matt our GM Matt Lily
Speaker 1: gave us great not only great players, but great guys
Speaker 1: a kind of bought into the system to the culture.
Speaker 1: Our whole hope is to develop these guys and help
Speaker 1: them achieve their next level, whether or not that's with
Speaker 1: the six years or somewhere else. But then on top
Speaker 1: of that, we want to have team success and I
Speaker 1: think the number of games that we want I think
Speaker 1: the way our defensive rating kind of ended at the end.
Speaker 1: Those were things goals that we set out at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the year, and to have met most of them,
Speaker 1: I think is a tribute to the players who were
Speaker 1: talented players who worked hard and bought into what we
Speaker 1: needed in a short G League season. Right. There's a
Speaker 1: handful of the stats. I'll pick out a couple, but
Speaker 1: some of them are on the defensive side, second and
Speaker 1: half court defense, second, most games with a defensive rating
Speaker 1: of one hundred or below, a couple other ones. Franchise
Speaker 1: records seven game winning streak, first in restricted area field
Speaker 1: goal percentage. I could go on and on, but are
Speaker 1: there any in that group or the ones that I
Speaker 1: didn't mention that you're most proud of? Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of it. The whole point for us, again
Speaker 1: is to get these guys to get to the next
Speaker 1: level and play well. And so a lot of the
Speaker 1: work that we do putting into these guys and the
Speaker 1: work that the players are doing, I mean, they're just
Speaker 1: a bigger part of it. Of course, we don't see
Speaker 1: the rewards right away, right We're hoping for next year
Speaker 1: these guys get better contract opportunities or can play at
Speaker 1: a higher level. So part of it is like we
Speaker 1: gotta to do everything we can to plant the seed
Speaker 1: to help these guys as they move on. But like
Speaker 1: you're saying, we still want to be cognizant of what's
Speaker 1: going on in the immedia. See how we're playing, Are
Speaker 1: we winning games, are we developing winning habits? And I think,
Speaker 1: like you're saying, having a seven game win streak for
Speaker 1: the first time in the history of the program something
Speaker 1: we got to be proud and our guys got to
Speaker 1: be proud of because they really were playing at a
Speaker 1: high level and they were seeing hopefully we see that
Speaker 1: success in the future, but they were seeing it right
Speaker 1: in the near term as well. The defend run share motto,
Speaker 1: where does that come from? I mean, truthfully comes from
Speaker 1: Coach Brown and what they're doing up there, but we
Speaker 1: kind of molded it to ourselves kind of starting the
Speaker 1: last Summer League because of the traits that we thought
Speaker 1: would or do really best translate to our guys having
Speaker 1: success to the other level that if they there's no,
Speaker 1: there's no way they get to the NBA and the
Speaker 1: coach is gonna say, Oh, this guy's too good a defender,
Speaker 1: this guy defends too well. No, like, you can never
Speaker 1: be too good a defender, you can never run too hard,
Speaker 1: and you can never be too good of a teammate.
Speaker 1: And so are those are all categories our guys can
Speaker 1: always get better at. And by getting better at they're
Speaker 1: helping their value, They're helping their chances of playing at
Speaker 1: a higher level or getting a better contract. And so
Speaker 1: I think our staff picked those three terms as things
Speaker 1: we wanted to dive in on and pride ourselves about.
Speaker 1: And that's why a lot of our goals reflected that defend, run,
Speaker 1: and share like those are the most important things we
Speaker 1: can do. So it's good to hear you say those
Speaker 1: defensive stats, which we kind of set out on day
Speaker 1: one as defense being our main priority, to see that
Speaker 1: a lot of that came to life. We'll wrap things
Speaker 1: up with Connor Johnson at the Buzzer in a second,
Speaker 1: But no More's Sports Medicine believes that highly personalized one
Speaker 1: on one physical therapy for young athletes is paramount to
Speaker 1: a speedy and complete recovery. Learn more at nemours dot
Speaker 1: org slash pt. All right, coach, let's go at the buzzer.
Speaker 1: I had a tailor these more towards you and less
Speaker 1: so some of the players that we've had on recently,
Speaker 1: But the first one still applies. In terms of travel,
Speaker 1: what's your favorite road city to travel to and why? Portland, Maine.
Speaker 1: We've coached Peters who we had last year, found us
Speaker 1: a great restaurant for some lobster roles, that great little
Speaker 1: downtown that's that's the hotel we stay there. Not the greatest,
Speaker 1: but the vibe we get in the city and we
Speaker 1: actually won't want to want a great gig down there
Speaker 1: last year, so I'm putting that number one. I love it.
Speaker 1: Fun fact wise, we ask the guys what they're hidden
Speaker 1: talent is anything that you bring to the table in
Speaker 1: terms of a hidden talent in yourself. I know, I
Speaker 1: mean pretty amateur in this, but I do. I do
Speaker 1: enjoy some music and playing the pianos kind of in
Speaker 1: one one thing I've done throughout my entire life. So
Speaker 1: I hit in town might be a little strong, but
Speaker 1: that's where I go. Hey, you learned something new every day.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that one about you, and last one,
Speaker 1: I just remember you saying something about this maybe the
Speaker 1: first time I had you on the podcast. I think
Speaker 1: you're a fan of podcasts, and I'm curious, have you
Speaker 1: been listening to more less the same amount even though
Speaker 1: you've been in quarantine over the last certain amount of time.
Speaker 1: I actually say about the same amount, because I think
Speaker 1: the drive I live in Philadelphia and so they drive
Speaker 1: down every day to Delaware was a good hour of
Speaker 1: just kind of like thinking about the team, but also
Speaker 1: trying to learn something new or get my mind off
Speaker 1: something with the podcast and not having the same time
Speaker 1: in the car as decreased, but I think a little
Speaker 1: more free time in general has probably increased offsetting. I'm
Speaker 1: going equal at the end, all right, I'll take that,
Speaker 1: And I think you now hold the record for most
Speaker 1: guest appearances on Coach check yourself. I think this is
Speaker 1: number three for you. Hopefully, I'll means we're doing this
Speaker 1: something right, all right, So that's gonna do it for
Speaker 1: this episode. Connor, thanks for joining us for the third time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all the best, Murphy, appreciate your time is always in
Speaker 1: a thanks to our listeners as well. Once again, Delaware
Speaker 1: Bluecoats head coach Connor Johnson, and I'm Matt Murphy until
Speaker 1: next time. Take it or leave it at the coach
Speaker 1: check