Speaker 1: The NBA China games have come and are just about gone.
Speaker 1: Before heading back home one last installment in our NBA
Speaker 1: China Game series, we'll talk to some members of the
Speaker 1: team about the trip. First, a twenty year old Turk
Speaker 1: who's opened eyes this fall in the preseason. It's my
Speaker 1: first time in China. Fans out of like you. And
Speaker 1: then an assistant coach with the seventy sixers who played
Speaker 1: here for a bit. Wherever basketball takes me, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's Washington Goal. It's time of my life.
Speaker 1: Rid literally had two bags packed and just waited from
Speaker 1: Agen to just let me know where I was going.
Speaker 1: Fir Con Korthms and assistant Dwayne Jones our guests on
Speaker 1: this episode of the broadcast and one last time from
Speaker 1: the far East here in China, we say, nieha, I
Speaker 1: bring you into another episode of the broadcast or NBA
Speaker 1: China Series. I'm Brian Seltzer, and I am back in
Speaker 1: the hotel. Following the second and final game of this
Speaker 1: year's China series, the Sixers in Dallas played a competitive
Speaker 1: game on Monday. The Sixers came up just short, one
Speaker 1: fifteen to one twelve. But it's the preseason, so at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, would have been nice for
Speaker 1: the Sixers to go unbeaten on their exhibition schedule. Yes,
Speaker 1: but all things considered, this was a really strong preseason
Speaker 1: performance by the Sixers, and in particular, even though Monday's
Speaker 1: game was a loss, I mean, how good was Joel
Speaker 1: embat again? He has just been dominant at stretches. As
Speaker 1: Brett Brown talked about throughout the preseason, twenty nine points,
Speaker 1: a bunch of vicious dunks. It was a good night
Speaker 1: for the seventy Sixers on several fronts, even though they
Speaker 1: did not come away with the win. So for our
Speaker 1: final episode of the NBA China series, we're gonna hear
Speaker 1: from furkon Corkmaz and Dwayne Jones Furcon of course, as
Speaker 1: furkon Dwayne. Some of you hardcore Big five Philly hoop
Speaker 1: hads might remember Dwayne. He was on the Jamir Nelson
Speaker 1: Saint Joseph's team that went undefeated in two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: and he had a career, played some time in the
Speaker 1: NBA and his professional journey took him to China, and
Speaker 1: we'll talk to him about that. Both of those conversations
Speaker 1: are coming up in just a moment. We would like
Speaker 1: to remind you first that to subscribe to the podcast,
Speaker 1: please just go to anyone of your favorite podcasting platforms
Speaker 1: that could be Apple Podcasts, Google Plays, Stitcher, SoundCloud, tune in.
Speaker 1: Just type in Sixers podcast Network and that will take
Speaker 1: you to our feed. So in the first installment of
Speaker 1: the NBA China podcast series, here on the broadcast, we
Speaker 1: heard from a guy named Kenneth Law who is steeped
Speaker 1: in Chinese basketball history, played here, is a commentator now
Speaker 1: and has just witnessed firsthand the rise and growth of
Speaker 1: the NBA in this part of the world, and he
Speaker 1: explained why it's taken on so much interest. Then we
Speaker 1: heard from a true all time great anywhere you go,
Speaker 1: that is the view of d Keema Mutombo in this
Speaker 1: world when it comes to basketball, and he had some
Speaker 1: wonderful thoughts about Joel and beat in the seventies Sixers.
Speaker 1: And now we're going to talk to some current members
Speaker 1: of the team, both a player and an assistant. We'll
Speaker 1: start with Furkan Korkmas, who had a great preseason, really encouraging,
Speaker 1: built off a terrific summer run when he was playing
Speaker 1: in the FIBA European World qualifiers with Turkey. Corkmas shot efficiently,
Speaker 1: showed growth defensively, and seems to be in a good
Speaker 1: place heading in two regular season at number two. So
Speaker 1: before Monday's game at Shenzen at Universe A Sports Center,
Speaker 1: I caught up with Furkhan Furkan. Amazingly, we're at the
Speaker 1: end of the trip. What have you made of this
Speaker 1: whole experience? So first of all, I want to say, like,
Speaker 1: this is my first time in China. You know, I
Speaker 1: was really excited before I came here. But I love Shanghai.
Speaker 1: I love Shenzen. Really good cities, really good people here,
Speaker 1: really good country, good culture. You know, the people's are
Speaker 1: really nice against us, you know, and the fans are
Speaker 1: like crazy and they love you know, before I knew
Speaker 1: that because i'd been some of Asia is but now
Speaker 1: I can feel more different cities though, right, Shanghai and
Speaker 1: shen Zen. What did you notice about how they're different?
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, I saw the population, how
Speaker 1: the people lives here, you know, what's data culture. I
Speaker 1: try to learn most of things about them. And then
Speaker 1: like the fans, you know, we are here for play
Speaker 1: basketball and then they are here to watch us. They
Speaker 1: really like showing good support. You know, here is a
Speaker 1: really big Sixers fans, especially in China. I knew that
Speaker 1: before I came here. This twos like make me really happy.
Speaker 1: Your career has definitely taking you all over the planet.
Speaker 1: But just the amount of people that are in China,
Speaker 1: it's kind of crazy. It's like Shenzen is, I guess
Speaker 1: considered a small city by comparison to Shanghai, but it's
Speaker 1: still twelve million people, which is just massive. It's like amazing.
Speaker 1: You know. The Shanghai maybe one of the biggest city,
Speaker 1: more crowded, you know, but here also Schanzen here is
Speaker 1: so crowded. Also, you know, the population is crazy. Doesn't
Speaker 1: matter how small or how by your see, just people
Speaker 1: love each other. You know. He was like, every better
Speaker 1: love each other. And it's amazing to see too, how
Speaker 1: a sport brings common interest together for people of all
Speaker 1: different walks of life from anywhere on the globe. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was like like everywhere, you know, here's also different
Speaker 1: people from different countries, different cultures, different religions, you know,
Speaker 1: but everybody is together. Everybody love each other, everybody respect
Speaker 1: each other. I think for me, that's the key, you know,
Speaker 1: to live together, doesn't matter what culture, what's your what's
Speaker 1: better from you know. That's why I love I love
Speaker 1: a cool dynamic the Sixers create is that they give
Speaker 1: you the opportunity. You guys as players who bring someone
Speaker 1: along on the trip. You brought your dad, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: brought my dad also. He was really excited about the strip.
Speaker 1: So this is probably like one of the good story
Speaker 1: for us, you know, to being in China with my father.
Speaker 1: What are some of the things that you guys have
Speaker 1: done on the trip? Uh? Me, a lot of like foods.
Speaker 1: You know, he had more time than me, like to
Speaker 1: go around, you know, to see the culture here because
Speaker 1: we are having to practice you know games, we have
Speaker 1: different schedule than my father. But we spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time together. You know. He's also really happy to
Speaker 1: be industry. Has he come to see you a lot
Speaker 1: of the course of your life? Did he follow you
Speaker 1: whether you were playing in Turkey for fes or band
Speaker 1: Witten now in Philadelphia? I mean yeah every time, not
Speaker 1: just my father, you know, each each member of my
Speaker 1: family that support me, you know, my mom, my sister.
Speaker 1: You know. Also I have one in the field, you know,
Speaker 1: he's in field right now. Many for me to get
Speaker 1: back like everyone is supporting me just for the strict
Speaker 1: specifically my father game with me, you know, because usually
Speaker 1: if we don't have the chance to bring someone to
Speaker 1: our chips, you know, on the road games. And that's
Speaker 1: why I like you also as the players. Did you
Speaker 1: try anything crazy to eat? What was the most bizarre thing,
Speaker 1: strange thing that you tried? It's not really because I'm
Speaker 1: not that kind of guy, you know, until they trying
Speaker 1: new teams, I usually go with what I know you
Speaker 1: know before. But when somebody like, oh, for me, you
Speaker 1: should do this, you should do this, I will go
Speaker 1: with the Yeah, I will try. I'm with you. I
Speaker 1: didn't do anything too much, but I had I had
Speaker 1: a duck. Yeah. Now, are you doing any advanced scouting
Speaker 1: of the country of China for the members the Turkish
Speaker 1: national team, because if things continue to go as they've
Speaker 1: gone in FIBA qualifying, you guys presumably will be here
Speaker 1: this time next year. Yeah. I was thinking the same team,
Speaker 1: you know. That's why I wanted to get culture more
Speaker 1: to share with my teammates in Turkey national team, Turks
Speaker 1: national team. I hope people make it. You know, we
Speaker 1: will be here next summer. Also just like can't wait
Speaker 1: to being my teammates here. Give me your thoughts on
Speaker 1: the preseason so far. First, how do you think the
Speaker 1: team is done? I think everybody knows what we can
Speaker 1: go on the court, you know, I think we have
Speaker 1: positive ways to win the games, you know, to play
Speaker 1: good basketball. And then now like the team knows each
Speaker 1: other much better. You know, this is like the program
Speaker 1: is still continue for me. This is my second year.
Speaker 1: You know, I know everyone here. That's why I feel
Speaker 1: really confident. You know, just this is a preseason in prisason.
Speaker 1: Everything can happen, but you can win the game, you
Speaker 1: can lose the game. We are winning all the games
Speaker 1: right now. I just want to say, like we just
Speaker 1: need to keep winning because this is also like should
Speaker 1: be out of culture to winning, you know. And you
Speaker 1: said that you're feeling confident. You also feel good about
Speaker 1: the way that you've played in the three games so far. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I did a great job, you know, after
Speaker 1: some malleg and then after national teams, I know what
Speaker 1: I got in my pockets. So in the training camp
Speaker 1: I came, I came into training camp like ready, I
Speaker 1: was ready. You know. I played more ning more games
Speaker 1: than all the players during the summer. They so I
Speaker 1: was really feeling good about basketball. Physically you feel like
Speaker 1: you're holding up okay, yeah, physically also like I feel okay.
Speaker 1: You know last year I work hard. Really, That's what
Speaker 1: I like this year. For me, this year was the goal,
Speaker 1: you know, to play against some minutes, to play the rotation.
Speaker 1: My goal is still the same, you know, just I
Speaker 1: need to step up. Lastly, you guys, ridiculously a week
Speaker 1: from now, you're going to be in Boston going up
Speaker 1: against the Boston Celtics. What's been the mood like inside
Speaker 1: the locker room about approaching the regular season, especially starting
Speaker 1: off that way against Boston. I think, of course first
Speaker 1: games against Boston. You know from last year we had
Speaker 1: one not book against them. You know, now I'm weill
Speaker 1: pay against Boston. You know what they got. We know
Speaker 1: also love you got. You know, we just to show
Speaker 1: him the courts, yes, you guys, we just need to
Speaker 1: tell them and then we just need to be in
Speaker 1: the games because this is the first game. You know,
Speaker 1: for us, it's so so so important to get more
Speaker 1: confidence and winning, winning, and especially if there's a busting.
Speaker 1: You know. That's why fur Coon sounds I get a
Speaker 1: great trip and a great preseason. Thanks so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Always good to get a word with two thou sixteen
Speaker 1: number twenty six pick furkn quirkbas a guy who did
Speaker 1: not have quite as extensive an opportunity to get in
Speaker 1: the mixed last year due to injury with the Sixers,
Speaker 1: but this year has come back, as he said, confident
Speaker 1: and I'd also throw in determined. He said on multiple
Speaker 1: occasions he wants to be in the rotation this season,
Speaker 1: and in the preseason he definitely played like it all right.
Speaker 1: Now on to Dwayne Jones. Dwayne Jones played at Saint Joseph's,
Speaker 1: went undrafted after he left Hawk Hill in two thousand
Speaker 1: and five. For his career, he played in a total
Speaker 1: of eighty two regular season NBA games. There is most
Speaker 1: definitely something to be said for that, and he also
Speaker 1: was in the G League and played at various destinations abroad,
Speaker 1: one of which was China. So I thought, hey, why
Speaker 1: not let's speak with Dwayne Jones not just about his
Speaker 1: experience here in China, but also what he thinks about
Speaker 1: his current work with seventy six ers and things are
Speaker 1: looking for two eighteen twenty nineteen Way what if you've
Speaker 1: made it. The trip hasn't been so far, it's been
Speaker 1: a great trip. I think our guys were, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of a bonding trip. You know, it's kind of
Speaker 1: going on the other side of the world and you know,
Speaker 1: kind of be together as a group kind of. It
Speaker 1: was a good experience. I think the guys getting a
Speaker 1: lot out of it. You've been in basketball all your life.
Speaker 1: There really is something to that, right when you guys
Speaker 1: as a group, as a team spend a condensed amount
Speaker 1: of time together because really the only people you have
Speaker 1: are yourselves, especially I would think in a foreign country
Speaker 1: and place like this. Ah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I
Speaker 1: think I think it kind of builds like the brotherhood,
Speaker 1: and I think it kind of helped with the new
Speaker 1: guys we have, and you know, the continuation from last
Speaker 1: year kind of everybody getting together and you know, kind
Speaker 1: of kind of having fun. Like you said, everybody, you know,
Speaker 1: we're kind of here together. It was, you know, the
Speaker 1: seventy sixers brand and everybody, you know kind of spend
Speaker 1: time together and it was cool. Some people might recognize
Speaker 1: your name from your time on Hawkhill. You spent multiple
Speaker 1: seasons in the NBA. Can you give us an introduction
Speaker 1: to what you're doing with the Sixers now and as
Speaker 1: a system. Oh yeah, I'm the player development coach this
Speaker 1: year just gona be my first year with this role. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, my main thing will be helping some of
Speaker 1: our younger guys that we have and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: along with wasn't Chandler, I'll have Jonah Bolden, so kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, two newer guys, said the Sixers organization and brand,
Speaker 1: and you know, just kind of helping those guys get
Speaker 1: acclimated and you know, trying to just you know, fit
Speaker 1: right in with our returning guys. You've been around the
Speaker 1: team for parts of a couple of seasons, now, did
Speaker 1: you always know that coaching was the direction you wanted
Speaker 1: to get involved with after you're done playing? It was
Speaker 1: something I kind of thought, so, I think about maybe
Speaker 1: six or seven years ago actually, when I was playing
Speaker 1: for the Mavericks G League team at the time, Texas Legend,
Speaker 1: and I was down there and Donnie Nelson we were
Speaker 1: at dinner or something one time. He was I think
Speaker 1: he would be a good coach, And I never thought
Speaker 1: about it like that, and then kind of got, you know,
Speaker 1: everything kind of rolling in my mind thinking about getting
Speaker 1: into it, and you know, being friends with John Bryan
Speaker 1: and kind of seeing his journey me and him growl.
Speaker 1: He's kind of talking about, oh maybe when when you
Speaker 1: get done playing, like it might be time to you know,
Speaker 1: trying to think about getting into coaching. And it's been great.
Speaker 1: I'm sure if Donnie Nelson someone like him says something
Speaker 1: to you, you take stock of that and put some
Speaker 1: value into it. But what do you think he saw
Speaker 1: in you? Is having the potential to be a coach? Um?
Speaker 1: I think it was just as a player. I think
Speaker 1: I started to learn as I got a little older
Speaker 1: in my career. It's just being just being a vocal leader,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's calling out you know on defense,
Speaker 1: you know, calling out the opposition plays and just things
Speaker 1: like that and just kind of having, you know, growing
Speaker 1: my mind for the game and just being able to
Speaker 1: kind of rebalize it to the teammates. Just being a
Speaker 1: leader as a player. And then the way that you
Speaker 1: deal with players as a coach is their their differences.
Speaker 1: There is at a different style, different approach. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: because I think you know, as team make sure your
Speaker 1: peers and here it is kind of a different situation.
Speaker 1: You know, you were in their shoes, but you're not
Speaker 1: in their shoes anymore. So you got to be able
Speaker 1: to have, you know, a good balance of you know,
Speaker 1: you know, talking to them and talking with them. So
Speaker 1: you left Saint Joseph's after two thousand and five, spent
Speaker 1: a total of eighty two games over multiple seasons in
Speaker 1: the NBA. But I really wanted to talk to you
Speaker 1: about the experience you had in China in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eleven two thousand and twelve. Walk us through that
Speaker 1: how you ended up here and then what it was
Speaker 1: like playing here. China was a great experience that it
Speaker 1: was actually my second year playing here. I actually got
Speaker 1: a chance to play with the current sixer in Wilson Chandler.
Speaker 1: We were teammates for a month. You know, it was
Speaker 1: a cool experience. We were in a city called Hanjos,
Speaker 1: about two hours south of Shanghai, and it was a
Speaker 1: cool experience. How would you describe that city versus Shanghai,
Speaker 1: which is where the Sixers were earlier in the trip,
Speaker 1: and even here in shenzen Uh it's a little, i guess,
Speaker 1: a little smaller of a city. And that's in you know,
Speaker 1: in China. Smaller means you know, you go from twenty
Speaker 1: millions ten, but you know, for them, that's a that's
Speaker 1: a smaller city. So it was a little smaller city.
Speaker 1: But other than that, it was you know, it wasn't
Speaker 1: like being in a villa train anything like that. I
Speaker 1: think everybody was it was. It was a cool place
Speaker 1: to be when you're going through a career and you're
Speaker 1: trying to carve out steady opportunities as a pro. Is
Speaker 1: it one of those situations where when you get the
Speaker 1: call wherever it is to play, that's where you're going. Uh? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it got to the point in my career,
Speaker 1: like after you know, my Clive years in NBA and
Speaker 1: you know, multiple time spending the G League where it
Speaker 1: was just like, you know what, I think it's time
Speaker 1: to you know, wherever basketball takes me. You know, I
Speaker 1: think that's why I should go. And it was it
Speaker 1: was a time. It was time in my life where
Speaker 1: I literally had two bags packed and just waited from
Speaker 1: age Diches let me know where I was going in
Speaker 1: What ways did you have to adapt when you were here?
Speaker 1: Um definitely had to, you know, with the language barrier
Speaker 1: and just you know, what I could eat and couldn't
Speaker 1: need it. It took me a couple of weeks to
Speaker 1: just kind of feel my way around here, and then
Speaker 1: once that happened, I was I was good to go.
Speaker 1: I would think that having some American teammates though Rodney
Speaker 1: and White was also on your team one year, right,
Speaker 1: did that help? Uh? Yeah? Well, actually I didn't play
Speaker 1: with Rodney the first year I was here. I played
Speaker 1: with Um, played with Patrick O'Briant. We played in Fuji
Speaker 1: and together, and then uh, Andre Emmett came. We played together,
Speaker 1: and it definitely helped because it was it was two
Speaker 1: of us and a translator, so they were only people
Speaker 1: speaking Neglish. So we definitely bond it. And it's always
Speaker 1: good to have when you're overseas, having somebody who have
Speaker 1: shared experience and then you kind of know where you're
Speaker 1: coming from. Did you internalize any of the language while
Speaker 1: you were here? Uh? Not really. I learned being quiet,
Speaker 1: which was ice because that's what I was always asking
Speaker 1: for with the trainers, But other than that, that was
Speaker 1: about it. In the standard and knee how and she
Speaker 1: she that was all I kind of picked up for me.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was really clear, right, off the bat,
Speaker 1: just how not only passionate but knowledgeable and educated the
Speaker 1: fans are here. Do you remember what impression the fans
Speaker 1: left upon you your first time here and what you
Speaker 1: made of that. Oh? Yeah, they love basketball. They're they're
Speaker 1: basketball crazy, is it? So it was interesting being here
Speaker 1: because here, with the time difference, you can wake up
Speaker 1: at seven in the morning and there's NBA game plan,
Speaker 1: So a lot of people here wake up before they
Speaker 1: go to work watching an NBA game. And I think
Speaker 1: that that just kind of you know, obviously, with Yaoming
Speaker 1: and guys like that, I just think they really became
Speaker 1: passionate with basketball and they love it. Has anyone recognized
Speaker 1: you or stopped you or remembered you while the team
Speaker 1: has been here, No, not yet, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: besides being an American, I think I've got recognized by that.
Speaker 1: And they just like to take pictures of just about everybody. So,
Speaker 1: but nobody has been like, oh, Dwayne Joan and you
Speaker 1: you led the league and rebounding and seven years ago.
Speaker 1: One of the guys, as you said, that you get
Speaker 1: to work with this year is Jonah Bolden. Tell me
Speaker 1: what you're seeing, Jonah, and what have you observed from
Speaker 1: him so far. His thirst for knowledge is just incredible.
Speaker 1: He's a very smart player. He's always asking questions. He's
Speaker 1: always in a good way, Like we go through drills
Speaker 1: and he wants to know why we're doing what is
Speaker 1: how's this going to translate from being on the floor?
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, I think he has a
Speaker 1: very bright future. You know, his ability to shoot or
Speaker 1: stretch the floor and defend, I think is is going
Speaker 1: to be valuable for us. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see his growth with us. Anyone who
Speaker 1: plays basketball, I gotta believe the end goal is they'd
Speaker 1: love to get to the NBA. But Jonah, he's gone
Speaker 1: through so much to get here, and that seems like
Speaker 1: it's been such a motivational factor for him, for all
Speaker 1: the different places he's been to finally be so close
Speaker 1: to this opportunity where he is now. Definitely, he does
Speaker 1: not take this opportunity for granted. He's he's a very
Speaker 1: serious guy on and off the floor, and it's kind
Speaker 1: of funny. Sometimes you gotta tell him like it it's
Speaker 1: okay to smile every now and then. I know, you know,
Speaker 1: you want to be seriously want to go to go
Speaker 1: through the workout and appreciate it, but it's okay to
Speaker 1: you know, kind of sit back and enjoy the moment.
Speaker 1: But I think, you know, for a young guy to
Speaker 1: come in hungry and realize what this opportunity is and
Speaker 1: like you said, you know, being able to you know
Speaker 1: the journey he went through just to get here, and
Speaker 1: I think he values every minute of being an NBA player.
Speaker 1: All Right, as we look back on me preseason for
Speaker 1: the seventy sixers, we are gonna be some of the
Speaker 1: takeaways that you come away with us. You guys now
Speaker 1: are amazingly within striking distance of your first game of
Speaker 1: the season. Uh. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting just to
Speaker 1: see how you know, everything kids together with the new guys.
Speaker 1: That was interesting our first training camp. You know, we
Speaker 1: were in practice and I think at one point we
Speaker 1: all kind of looked around. It was like, this feels
Speaker 1: like a continuation from last year. Like guys were hi,
Speaker 1: guys were happy, guys were smiling, like guys were excites
Speaker 1: of being a jim together. And I think, you know,
Speaker 1: guys are ready to kind of seize the opportunity from
Speaker 1: last year and continue with it. Good stuff. Dwayne, thanks
Speaker 1: so much for a few minutes, No problem, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Part of that memorable Saint Joseph's Hawks run in two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, two thousand and four. Dwayne Jones, also
Speaker 1: another current seventy six Er assistant, was on that team.
Speaker 1: John Bryant's part of a strong Hawk contingent with the
Speaker 1: Sixers coaching staff right now, between Dwayne jb and also
Speaker 1: Job Jim O'Brien a true true Hawk rate in his
Speaker 1: own right now special advisor to Brett Brown is Jim O'Brien. See,
Speaker 1: it was at least I enjoyed being able to hear
Speaker 1: from fur Con and Dwayne Jones. One guy in Furkon
Speaker 1: had never been at to China before Dwayne his career
Speaker 1: taking him back to this part of the world. So
Speaker 1: that'll be it for our NBA China Games podcast series.
Speaker 1: Hope you enjoyed the three episodes that we did. We
Speaker 1: got regular season basketball to talk about in the days ahead,
Speaker 1: as the Sixers set sights on an anticipator return to
Speaker 1: td Garden Tuesday, October sixteenth, game number one of eighty
Speaker 1: two in the regular season. Yeah, we got some real
Speaker 1: legit stuff that we're about to sink our teeth in two.
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you next time. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: following along while we've been in China. Se