Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: search seventy sixers podcast wherever you get your Podso welcome
Speaker 1: in to coach Check, the official podcast of the Delaware
Speaker 1: Blue Coats, the NBA G League affiliate of the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: seventy Sixers. I'm Matt Murphy, back with another episode of
Speaker 1: the podcast, and you can get us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Speaker 1: all those great places. Actually, we're now in the seventy
Speaker 1: sixers podcast network as well, in addition to the Delaware
Speaker 1: Bluecoats feed and the Little Peak behind the Curtain. The
Speaker 1: plan is to go every other Thursday in those feeds
Speaker 1: at the current point in time. And on that note,
Speaker 1: let's introduce today's guest. It's another good one. It is
Speaker 1: Bluecoat's wing Heywood high Smith, making his second appearance on
Speaker 1: the Coach Check podcast. So that's a milestone in and
Speaker 1: of itself. Heywood, but we're happy to have you fresh
Speaker 1: off of the MBA two K League three for All Showdown.
Speaker 1: How have you been man? I've been good. I've been good.
Speaker 1: How have you been? Not too bad? Let's get right
Speaker 1: into it, because, like I said, we're recording this on Tuesday,
Speaker 1: April seventh, so legitimately right off of a unique opportunity
Speaker 1: for you as part of the NBA two K League
Speaker 1: three for All Showdown. We'll talk about that, We'll talk
Speaker 1: about your background as a player. I know you've been
Speaker 1: on before, but we'll get into some different stuff about
Speaker 1: maybe high school, college. We'll get to our healthy Lifestyle
Speaker 1: segment presented by Christiana care, We'll talk about this season
Speaker 1: with the Bluecoats, and do our at the buzzer questions
Speaker 1: as well. All coming up on this show. But in
Speaker 1: terms of that two K League tournament that you were
Speaker 1: a part of, let's just run it down for the
Speaker 1: fans real quick. It was a three on three tournament
Speaker 1: and a lot of different influencers, pro players, G League players,
Speaker 1: w NBA players and of course professional two K players
Speaker 1: as well. And ironically you played alongside your Blue Coats
Speaker 1: teammate Michael Bryson, who was our most recent guest here
Speaker 1: on the Coach Check Pod, and you also were joined
Speaker 1: by Chelsea Gray of the Los Angeles Sparks out of
Speaker 1: the w NBA. So what was that tournament experience like
Speaker 1: for you? Video game style? Yeah, I mean it was
Speaker 1: definitely fun con out there, you know, playing three ords
Speaker 1: and three having some fun with um, you know, some
Speaker 1: good competitives. We played against skys with professions two K players,
Speaker 1: so it was definitely a new experience from me since
Speaker 1: you know, going up against those guys and the definitely
Speaker 1: you know, talented, you know, and good at the game,
Speaker 1: and um, it was just fun plan a side Mike
Speaker 1: and Chelsea. Chelsea's a great WA player and Mike's you know,
Speaker 1: one of the team as I ever passed two years,
Speaker 1: so it was definitely fun. I loved it, you know,
Speaker 1: just couldn't come up with the doub but it's it's
Speaker 1: all good. Yeah. Chelsea's a multiple time w NBA All
Speaker 1: Star and you and Michael obviously have that chemistry of
Speaker 1: being in Delaware for a couple of years together. I
Speaker 1: know you play a lot, So how much two K
Speaker 1: do you typically play? And who are some of the
Speaker 1: guys on the Bluecoats that play. I don't know how
Speaker 1: much Michael plays himself, but I know guys like Justin Robinson.
Speaker 1: Who else are some of the guys who play NBA
Speaker 1: two K? Yeah, I think, Um, I was there before
Speaker 1: before he got ways, he was playing some and then
Speaker 1: I played Terry once or twice. I know, Julian is
Speaker 1: pretty good actually, and um yeah, Michael, and then you
Speaker 1: got Xavier Mouth also plays as well. So there's a
Speaker 1: couple of guys one team that definitely play Isaiah Miles,
Speaker 1: Terry Harris, Julian Washburn and Xavier Month for a couple
Speaker 1: of the Blue Coats from this season. Before we move
Speaker 1: on to your background and a little bit more about
Speaker 1: your journey, you played we mentioned professionals. It was really
Speaker 1: a family affair because it was the two K League
Speaker 1: team that's part of the Harris Splitzer Sports and Entertainment
Speaker 1: family that the Blue Coats, the Sixers and many more
Speaker 1: entities are a part of. It was seventy Sixers GC,
Speaker 1: so the professional two K League team that's a part
Speaker 1: of HBSc. What stood out about the game of those
Speaker 1: guys on seventy sixers GC, How good were they? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean it was they just know how to play,
Speaker 1: you know, you know the little things to do, you know,
Speaker 1: they know, they just know how to play. On at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, like they was sitting some
Speaker 1: tough shots, but they was like making like a lot
Speaker 1: of their shots. But they just knew their their man's
Speaker 1: like release down pack like so like on two K
Speaker 1: you like, it's different releases for each player, So every
Speaker 1: time they would like get open, they would just knock
Speaker 1: down the shot because they did that. Man, with these
Speaker 1: down pay you can tell you just where you're going
Speaker 1: stuff like that every day, just knowing your release and
Speaker 1: just knowing how to play your mom to move it
Speaker 1: up to the the ball now playing defense. So he was
Speaker 1: just definitely just sold me. You know, it's a lot
Speaker 1: of guys out here that just you know, do this
Speaker 1: for a living and they really are good. So I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Well, you did get some praise from the
Speaker 1: guys over at seventy six ers GC. They they actually
Speaker 1: said you were controlling the game from the point guard position.
Speaker 1: Mike was hitting some shots, but they gave you some
Speaker 1: praise as well for your slashing and dishing ability. But
Speaker 1: let's talk about real basketball, and we did this with
Speaker 1: Michael Bryson on the last episode, just kind of taking
Speaker 1: us back to your upbringing a little bit and a
Speaker 1: lot of Blue Coats fans. I mentioned it was your
Speaker 1: second season with the team. They know that you're a
Speaker 1: relatively local guy. You're you're from Baltimore. How would you
Speaker 1: describe growing up where you did. Yeah, I mean bottom wire,
Speaker 1: a lot of great hoovers. You know, it's a tough
Speaker 1: place to play. You know, the fans are going to
Speaker 1: let you know when you're not good, and then they're
Speaker 1: gonna twenty one you are good. But Baltimore is definitely
Speaker 1: a tough, hard city. You know, has gritty, grundy players
Speaker 1: who just play hard. Play defense is definitely not going
Speaker 1: to be no easy lay ups for buckets and Baltimore
Speaker 1: you better take a heart to the whole better play
Speaker 1: some defense, for sure. So I mean just growing up
Speaker 1: in here and Bartimore definitely mainly tougher as a basketball player,
Speaker 1: as a person off the court. Archbishop Curly High School,
Speaker 1: I think they won a championship this year. Yeah they did,
Speaker 1: They actually did. Yeah, So that's your alma mater. I
Speaker 1: believe that we and I have heard you talk over
Speaker 1: the years about how you were kind of a late
Speaker 1: bloomer in high school for sure. For sure, definitely a
Speaker 1: late bloom Ye. So you ended up at Wheeling University
Speaker 1: in West Virginia. Wheeling, West Virginia. It was, as you
Speaker 1: have said, close enough that the family could come out
Speaker 1: to watch you, but still got away from home a
Speaker 1: little bit, and of course your family still comes out
Speaker 1: to watch you. But yeah, with with wheeling, describe the
Speaker 1: game against West Virginia the Mountaineers, because that seems like
Speaker 1: a pivotal part of your journey, Elton Brand checking you
Speaker 1: out and things kind of falling into place from there.
Speaker 1: How important do you think playing against West Virginia on
Speaker 1: that stage was to where you are right now? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean definitely was important for me to just go
Speaker 1: out there and show that could compete with, you know,
Speaker 1: D one guys. My school was a Division two school,
Speaker 1: it wasn't one of the top Divisen two schools, but
Speaker 1: I also wanted to show that I can compete with
Speaker 1: some of the high D one guys, you know, and
Speaker 1: show them what I guy and show them that you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not you know, I'm not you know, scrubbing. I
Speaker 1: can definitely play up there, I feel like when I
Speaker 1: was in college. So, I mean, it was definitely it
Speaker 1: was an exhibition game. You know, our coaches wanted us
Speaker 1: to go there and just play hard, trying to get
Speaker 1: better and try to learn from from that experience. You know.
Speaker 1: I went out there, had a pretty good game. Actually,
Speaker 1: I actually played without two of my other seniors who
Speaker 1: are hurt. So that was pretty a pretty tough game.
Speaker 1: We didn't have our point guard or our starting small forward,
Speaker 1: so it's pretty tough trying to go up against Press
Speaker 1: Virginia starting pointing guardians all for But you know, we
Speaker 1: don't we battle. You know, we show some great and
Speaker 1: some grounds, so it was fun. Wow, I did not
Speaker 1: realize that. Yeah, that's not the type of team you
Speaker 1: want to play against when you're missing some of your
Speaker 1: key players, especially when when you're the guy that defense
Speaker 1: was probably all over you. But I know you still
Speaker 1: put up some very good stats like you did throughout
Speaker 1: your career in college and now transitioning. We'll talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about your professional career in just a second,
Speaker 1: but let's interject here with our healthy Lifestyle segment presented
Speaker 1: by our friends at Christianic Hair. This is an interesting
Speaker 1: addition of the healthy Lifestyle segment because it's a quarantine
Speaker 1: addition and like your answer might different a little bit
Speaker 1: than maybe what you said on media day, where it's
Speaker 1: what are you up to? What are you doing for
Speaker 1: the love of health? But given the current circumstances, what
Speaker 1: are you doing for the love of health? I've seen
Speaker 1: some posts about running. I know Terry Harris has been
Speaker 1: running and you were talking to him on social media.
Speaker 1: So what have you been doing. Yeah, me and Terterry
Speaker 1: we um it's actually like a beautiful park in Wilmington
Speaker 1: that's not too far from our apartments. And we went
Speaker 1: out there, you know, a couple of times and running
Speaker 1: get some miles, three or four miles and you know,
Speaker 1: it's pretty nice. You know, it was some hills. We
Speaker 1: gotta come up, you gotta go down some hills to
Speaker 1: a very actually beautiful party. I didn't even know that
Speaker 1: park existed until you know, Terry told me about. It
Speaker 1: was definitely a beautiful park. You know, a lot of
Speaker 1: families out there, a lot of dogs out there. It
Speaker 1: was actually a beautiful, nice run and you know it
Speaker 1: was it was fun, you know, and stuff like that
Speaker 1: definitely makes a difference, you know, during this quarantine time
Speaker 1: and you can't really get into a gym or get
Speaker 1: into a tread mill or try to get your exercise up,
Speaker 1: like just running outside and stuff like that. Just being
Speaker 1: just being away year surrounded and trying to just I guess,
Speaker 1: just take advantage of whatever you can do. I guess
Speaker 1: as far as outside and not being able to get
Speaker 1: to the chump, definitely definitely important to get outside, walking, running,
Speaker 1: getting an outdoor work out in whatever it might be.
Speaker 1: Let's do a follow up here in our healthy lifestyle segment.
Speaker 1: What are some of the healthy options in your kitchen,
Speaker 1: your fridge, your cabinets. Now I should preface this by saying,
Speaker 1: we know that you've expressed on social media that you're
Speaker 1: not much of a cook. But what are some of
Speaker 1: the healthy options that you might have or some of
Speaker 1: the things that you try to eat or drink as
Speaker 1: part of your your health routine. Oh, for sore fruits
Speaker 1: and vegetables, you know, can't can't go wrong with that,
Speaker 1: And I'm just I guess, like greens, broccoli and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. Oh, I try to make some smovies sometimes.
Speaker 1: My mother, he's actually very good at making this movie,
Speaker 1: so she tried to do that from time to time
Speaker 1: as well. So I mean smovies, fruits, vegetables, grains, stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and also like proteins, shakes and milk and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. What's your favorite smoothie that your your
Speaker 1: mother makes? Like a strawberry watermelon sometype sometime sometype of
Speaker 1: Smoothe like that was pretty good. She makes some pretty
Speaker 1: good Strawberry is actually one of my favorite fruits, so yeah,
Speaker 1: that sounds sounds pretty good. So yeah, talking talking about
Speaker 1: the Bluecoat season a year two, like I said, for you,
Speaker 1: and you spent some time with the Sixers last year
Speaker 1: and in summer league, which we'll get to. But you
Speaker 1: had a number change this year twenty four to seven,
Speaker 1: and I know that you were number seven with the Sixers.
Speaker 1: How did you end up with seven? Because I know
Speaker 1: you've kind of embraced it. Yeah. I remember when I
Speaker 1: was on to two, they told me I couldn't wear
Speaker 1: you know, twenty four because it was retired as a sixer.
Speaker 1: So they gave me some number outcase. I looked them
Speaker 1: over and I was, you know, just thinking in my
Speaker 1: head and seven with the I guess seven stuck out.
Speaker 1: I guess I would in football when I was warning quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: I always liked the number seven. You know, Michael Bick
Speaker 1: were number seven. Everybody like number seven football. But also
Speaker 1: when I picked the number seven, I was thinking in
Speaker 1: my head like oh wow, I was warning twenty four
Speaker 1: with the Blue Coats and seven with the Sixers. So
Speaker 1: it was like twenty four to seven, Like, I don't
Speaker 1: even know how that came to about, but it actually
Speaker 1: came out of nowhere and that it actually worked, you know.
Speaker 1: And then eventually I just wished to seven all around,
Speaker 1: lucky number seven. It's always been one of those numbers
Speaker 1: I always like, Actually got to chain put the number
Speaker 1: seven on it for myself, so it was pretty nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: twenty four to seven flows perfectly. And I was going
Speaker 1: to ask about the chain because I know that it
Speaker 1: came in I guess before the season or during the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season. What kind of chain is it?
Speaker 1: Describe it for the listeners out there. Yeah, I always
Speaker 1: wanted to chain and just you to represent me as
Speaker 1: a person and you know who I am, not just
Speaker 1: as a basketball player, but just you know, just something
Speaker 1: that just represents me and makes me feel, you know,
Speaker 1: like myself. So you know, I got a guy reached
Speaker 1: out to me, Nolan wanted to do it for me.
Speaker 1: He's from the DC area, and you know, he told me,
Speaker 1: you know, he wanted to put Dominds in it. Um,
Speaker 1: So you know, I got the diamonds put it. He
Speaker 1: put them in and I went to go vision. It's
Speaker 1: it's a pretty nice chain. It actually, like shine's really
Speaker 1: bright and light and you know it definitely you definitely
Speaker 1: can have it on you in the water. So it's
Speaker 1: a pretty nice chain. Definitely not not too expensive, but
Speaker 1: not it's definitely not she I wouldn't say cheap it off.
Speaker 1: That's big time. That's big time though. Um In terms
Speaker 1: of earning the call up to the seventy sixers from
Speaker 1: the Blue Coats last season on that two way contract,
Speaker 1: how does that milestone currently motivate you? Yeah, and of
Speaker 1: course I want to get back there and you know,
Speaker 1: and stay there this time. But you know that just
Speaker 1: I always look at those memories, you know, I's on
Speaker 1: my phone, you know, pictures and not me playing the
Speaker 1: NBA game Like that's you know, still that's still the
Speaker 1: end good to day. You know, it's motivation for me
Speaker 1: because you know, I was there and I was there
Speaker 1: for a reason, so obviously i'd get back there. It's
Speaker 1: all about putting it together and be consistent and I
Speaker 1: definitely think, you know, we'll be there and you know,
Speaker 1: be there eventually. What is your Twitter bio dreams to
Speaker 1: reality mean to you? I mean, everybody you know, growing
Speaker 1: up as an athlete, you know whatever, you always got
Speaker 1: dreams of playing on those big stages in front of
Speaker 1: the fans and pecked out the ring. And you know,
Speaker 1: I've always you know, imagined myself sometimes when I was
Speaker 1: in class as a young kid, I would imagine myself,
Speaker 1: you know, being you know, in the NBA or maybe
Speaker 1: because I was I was younger, I always wanted to
Speaker 1: play you know, football, basketball, maybe NFL, NBA, But you know,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. You think back too, and you know,
Speaker 1: look at me now, like that's that's that was a dream.
Speaker 1: You know I made a reality. So that's just it's
Speaker 1: just crazy how the world works, and I was crazy
Speaker 1: how God works. But when that was a blessing, and
Speaker 1: you know, I'm definitely grateful for that. For sure. Good stuff.
Speaker 1: And we will have some football questions here at the
Speaker 1: Buzzer as we wrap it up in just a moment.
Speaker 1: But last thing on the Blue Coats this season, defend
Speaker 1: runs Share, being the motto of Connor Johnson, the head coach,
Speaker 1: Matt Lilly, the GM and the whole staff and the team.
Speaker 1: Lots of good defenders on the Blue Coats, thinking particularly
Speaker 1: about guys like you and Zaire Smith and Julian Washburn
Speaker 1: on the wings. How much pride did you guys take
Speaker 1: in your defense? Well, I mean you definitely missed the
Speaker 1: one of our biggest defenders on the big guy, Chris
Speaker 1: Chris Kumile. Well, well, when you got a big man
Speaker 1: at the room like that, it's so easy to be
Speaker 1: so aggressive when the wing because you know he got
Speaker 1: your back, so he makes out job with so much
Speaker 1: more easier. But I mean we're definitely we definitely got
Speaker 1: good defenders of the wing. Michael Bryce is actually a
Speaker 1: very good defender as well, so I mean Julian Zay
Speaker 1: are Michael. We all line from each other as far
Speaker 1: our defending and tries to be physical. Connor always tells
Speaker 1: us to be physical, blow stuff up, you know, because
Speaker 1: we got Chris at the room demo the rim also
Speaker 1: had novel, so it was just it's just a lot.
Speaker 1: It's a lot to deal with our defense. This is crazy.
Speaker 1: That leads us nicely into our final couple questions at
Speaker 1: the buzzer. Do you prefer a steel leading to a
Speaker 1: dunk or hitting a big three pointer? Oh, I mean
Speaker 1: you said a big three point like I said gang winner,
Speaker 1: So I don't even know how to answer it. But
Speaker 1: let's let's Heyward, let's say that both of them are
Speaker 1: a part of like a big run for your team.
Speaker 1: But I know there was a certain game against Erie
Speaker 1: this year where you did have a steal that led
Speaker 1: to a dunk and that type of thing. So both
Speaker 1: of them a big momentum swing. Which one is I
Speaker 1: think it's still leading to the dunk defense turning into offense.
Speaker 1: There's just so much beautiful for me. I love playing defense.
Speaker 1: It's crazy because I hate a playing defense as a younger,
Speaker 1: but now that I'm playing in the pros like, I
Speaker 1: love playing defense. I love Trevor people. But yeah, still
Speaker 1: leading to offense. I'll take that any day for sure.
Speaker 1: Let's finish up with the Baltimore Ravens. Why don't we? Yeah,
Speaker 1: right now, got the Baltimore Ravens. So it goes without
Speaker 1: staying that you're a Baltimore native and you're a huge
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens fan. When and how did you become a fan?
Speaker 1: Were you just born into it and you've been a
Speaker 1: fan of your whole life? It's crazy. The Ravens started
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety six and I was born in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six, so that makes two of us. Yeah, oh nowhere, yes, sir, oh,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that meant yeah, nineteen ninety six six
Speaker 1: starts that I was born. My father was always on
Speaker 1: the TV when I was younger, so obviously I was
Speaker 1: just I grew up. I grew up in the Ravens house,
Speaker 1: so I had no turgy come a Ravens fan. You know,
Speaker 1: I love the Ravens, twenty the best franchises in my opinion,
Speaker 1: since they started. You know, one won two Super Bowls.
Speaker 1: I've seen them win two somethings. I love it. You know,
Speaker 1: I love Lamar. I've actually I'm actually in the Madden
Speaker 1: League right now playing with the Ravens. But it's not
Speaker 1: the real Ravens team. It's a fantasy draft team. But
Speaker 1: I'll playing with the Ravens trying to bring a ship
Speaker 1: back to Baltimore and bad right now, So we'll see
Speaker 1: how that goes. I've heard some complaints from people who
Speaker 1: are in those leagues that you have to wait for
Speaker 1: the commissioner to advance the advantage. It's crazy. It's crazy,
Speaker 1: it's it's fun. You just got to have the right
Speaker 1: people in the league who can play. Like now, everybody's
Speaker 1: in the household. I mean, it should be easy to play,
Speaker 1: but like currently in my in my league, we just advanced,
Speaker 1: like we played like so many games in a certain
Speaker 1: amount of days, like you played like the whole season
Speaker 1: like a week. Because like we're all in the house
Speaker 1: and now we're at the super Bowl and I'm kind
Speaker 1: of about to play a super Bowl against this other
Speaker 1: guy and I posed a play later today, So we'll
Speaker 1: see how this goes. But just wish we luck, right,
Speaker 1: good luck. Who are some of the key players on
Speaker 1: your team? If it was a fan of man Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, he's a dog. Travis Kelsey, such a dog.
Speaker 1: Who else I got? Oh? Harrison Smith, I don't even
Speaker 1: know where it is from the plays? Yeah, safety right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: safety Aj Green as well. But Aj got hurt. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry but he got hurt. But it's all good. I'm
Speaker 1: bringing it back to the the bottomre for sure. All right,
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to circle back on that. I wish
Speaker 1: we could stream it like we streamed the two K
Speaker 1: League show that I wish we could. Yeah, I'll have
Speaker 1: to catch up with you on that, but that's gonna
Speaker 1: do it. Thanks for the time. You're a two time guest.
Speaker 1: Now on coach check and go get a championship in
Speaker 1: in your Madden League. All right, thanks for having to
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Now, that's Delaware Blue Coats wing Heywood high Smith,
Speaker 1: and I'm Matt Murphy. Until next time, take it or
Speaker 1: leave it at the coach Chick. M