Speaker 1: What's been the seventy Sixers bread and butter in recent seasons.
Speaker 1: He group throws it away t J McConnell and a drive, Hito,
Speaker 1: the late right and left good and a five on
Speaker 1: Los Angeles and the Lakers are bloating here. The Sixers
Speaker 1: are stealing the ball left and right, no doubt defense
Speaker 1: the past few weeks, with new personnel continuing to get
Speaker 1: more and more acclimated, things seem to be rounding into
Speaker 1: form on that side of the floor. The team has
Speaker 1: been playing like a top three unit. Guys are just
Speaker 1: getting a little bit more comfortable now. I really think
Speaker 1: it is we need them to lock into every possession.
Speaker 1: We are not there yet. I'm just going to be honest.
Speaker 1: We're not there. We don't take that level of concentration
Speaker 1: to every possession. But we're trending in a good way
Speaker 1: as the numbers been around. That's assistant coach Billy Lang.
Speaker 1: He oversees the Sixers defense and he'll be our guest
Speaker 1: on this episode of the broadcast. Greetings seventy Sixers podcast
Speaker 1: people from the West Coast of the United States. The
Speaker 1: seventies Sixers road Trip rolls on, as does our podcast
Speaker 1: feed right and Seltzer is saying hello, Sixer has been
Speaker 1: doing some good stuff as of late, and once again
Speaker 1: we are set to wrap up a month of January
Speaker 1: under the coaching tenure of Brett Brown, and we look
Speaker 1: back over the last thirty days or so and you
Speaker 1: can say with pretty good authority that the Sixers have
Speaker 1: been making headway. That's been the case the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. It seems like January as the time that
Speaker 1: this team comes together. And definitely, at least for me,
Speaker 1: what stood out with the exception of that Denver game,
Speaker 1: aside when the Sixer has had some circumstances working against them,
Speaker 1: the defense has been really, really solid as of late,
Speaker 1: and that is a good sign. That has been the
Speaker 1: calling card of this club with Brett Brown as coach.
Speaker 1: And we're going to dive into some of the nitty
Speaker 1: gritty details of what the Sixers has been doing as
Speaker 1: of late, but also how things were set up this
Speaker 1: year on the defensive end of the court and what
Speaker 1: changed and how the team has had to adjust since
Speaker 1: the Jimmy Butler trade and also bringing in a guy
Speaker 1: like Corey Brewer or making some other personnel tweks. We're
Speaker 1: going to talk to billing in a sixth season as
Speaker 1: a Sixers assistant about that. But before we get started,
Speaker 1: a reminder that to subscribe the podcast, you can do
Speaker 1: a couple of things. You can go to Apple Podcast,
Speaker 1: you can go to Google Play, you can go to
Speaker 1: stitchers SoundCloud. Tune in, type in Sixers podcast Network that
Speaker 1: will take you to our feed. So if you watch
Speaker 1: the Sixers game against the Lakers earlier on on this
Speaker 1: road trip, a game the Sixers one twenty one to
Speaker 1: one oh five, the start of that game was nuts.
Speaker 1: It was totally out of control of the Sixers came
Speaker 1: out out of the gates with defensive stoppers Joel and
Speaker 1: b Jimmy Butler and Wilson Chandler back in the mix.
Speaker 1: They're just flat out punched the Lakers in the mouth.
Speaker 1: They were swarming, they were aggressive, They created turnovers. They
Speaker 1: had seven turnovers in the first I think it was
Speaker 1: six minutes, and at that point had fourteen points off turnovers.
Speaker 1: They were scoring off miss shots, and I really felt
Speaker 1: the defensive intensity helps set the tone for that game,
Speaker 1: and that's been emblematic of a larger growing trend for
Speaker 1: the seventy sixers. When we look back over the last
Speaker 1: two weeks. Since the fifteenth of January, the Sixers have
Speaker 1: been the third best defense in the NBA, and they're
Speaker 1: putting up numbers in terms of their defensive rating that
Speaker 1: would put them good enough for fourth overall in the league.
Speaker 1: So the Sixers, they made some adjustments in the offseason
Speaker 1: and they've been growing. I think there's been more cohesion
Speaker 1: so that it'd be a good time to pull up
Speaker 1: a chair. As you'll hear where with assistant coach Billy
Speaker 1: Lange has been with Brett Brown since day one for
Speaker 1: the seventy Sixers left Santa Monica and route to San
Speaker 1: Francisco to continue this four game Western Conference road trip.
Speaker 1: This is a message out there for our wives. If
Speaker 1: you're listening, what you hear in the background, perhaps the
Speaker 1: rolling crescendo of waves, the rustling of palm trees. It's
Speaker 1: not that it's just ambient static in the atmosphere. Natural
Speaker 1: things had happened when you podcast, right, Billy, that's right.
Speaker 1: I'm just happy this is not on video. True true statement.
Speaker 1: So maybe in our minds we can just imagine that
Speaker 1: we're only about fifty feet from the Pacific Ocean. It's
Speaker 1: around seventy degrees sunny, a nice breeze coming in on
Speaker 1: the West coast. Seventy six is picking up a great
Speaker 1: twin against the Los Angeleslers. So right now, at this
Speaker 1: very moment, life is excellent, Yes it is, it is.
Speaker 1: But we do have the Warriors coming up in like
Speaker 1: a little over twenty four hours so and then that'll
Speaker 1: be excellent because it's a learning experience. But we're blessed man.
Speaker 1: We do what we love to do regardless of the results.
Speaker 1: We have to always remind ourselves look at what we're doing,
Speaker 1: you know. And we've got great supportive families back home
Speaker 1: and you know, our coaching staff. This is something Money
Speaker 1: and I talk about all the time, just how you
Speaker 1: know strong our wives are, our families are for us
Speaker 1: to be away from them. And the same thing goes
Speaker 1: with the players, you know, like we look at these
Speaker 1: guys as these young, invincible people, but they're away from
Speaker 1: support staff a lot. That's where earth they're support system.
Speaker 1: I should say. It's why it's great to see a
Speaker 1: lot of these parents that are able to fly and
Speaker 1: watch their children play, you know, because there's still their
Speaker 1: children even if they're they're in their mid twenties. These
Speaker 1: are their kids. We've got a great basketball family with
Speaker 1: the seventy six ers, but we have to remember that
Speaker 1: we have these families back home, and we're just really
Speaker 1: blessed to have the sport we do. It's funny is
Speaker 1: still a relatively fresh father myself. I'm looking at the
Speaker 1: game against the Lakers the other night, and there down
Speaker 1: to the corner of the base line is Dave Simmons
Speaker 1: sitting watching Ben put together another terrific performance. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: this guy who's really played the sport at about as
Speaker 1: high level as you could without being in the NBA
Speaker 1: and talking about Ben's dad, but it's still got to
Speaker 1: be just such an amazing feeling to sit there and
Speaker 1: see your kid do something to the level that Ben does.
Speaker 1: It must be unreal, I'll tell you what's crazy. Actually,
Speaker 1: that same thought after the game yesterday. Really yeah, just
Speaker 1: you know, because you're on this stage in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a state, right and you're you're watching
Speaker 1: your child play, and that your son's in the NBA,
Speaker 1: you know, and you know, think about all the things
Speaker 1: that the Simmons had to do and all these parents
Speaker 1: had to do to help get their children here, the
Speaker 1: commitments they made, the sacrifices they made, the dollars they spent.
Speaker 1: You know, they made a decision to move, you know,
Speaker 1: to come to the United States to get Ben against
Speaker 1: the competition over here. For all these kids. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, Joel and Beat left the country, left his
Speaker 1: family to come over here to play. You know, it's
Speaker 1: all the hours that you know, t J. McConnell's father
Speaker 1: spent with him in the gym. It's just a huge commitment.
Speaker 1: So to see their children on this stage and in
Speaker 1: this limelight of Los Angeles, and then they probably still
Speaker 1: remember holding them and burping them and giving them passifiers
Speaker 1: on all the things you're going through right now. You
Speaker 1: probably understand what a binkie is more now than you
Speaker 1: did a year ago. And you know, this is just
Speaker 1: part of life. But it has to be really cool
Speaker 1: for them to see that. So the Sixers bounced back,
Speaker 1: got the full personnel back against the Lakers, and the
Speaker 1: start of that game was outrageous, really was. It was
Speaker 1: like when you think even Sixers basketball to warp speed, aggressive, defensively, keen,
Speaker 1: scoring opportunities on the break, scoring off missus, Like what
Speaker 1: was going on? What did you see happening at the
Speaker 1: started Well, I want to go back to something you
Speaker 1: said about full roster. It's just important we never make
Speaker 1: excuses for missing people. Okay is particularly coach Brown. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's been here for six seasons, so in the first
Speaker 1: few years of some people could say we were missing
Speaker 1: the whole roster, right, So this is just what we do.
Speaker 1: We have to coach, and we really challenge our players
Speaker 1: after the Denver game because a lot of those guys
Speaker 1: that were on the quarter still in our rotations and
Speaker 1: we trust them and we believe in them. And some
Speaker 1: of the things, the mistakes or noncommittal things that they
Speaker 1: made on the defensive end, and then some of the
Speaker 1: things we did in the on our offensive end in
Speaker 1: the second half. We're not accepting that just because Wilson, Jimmy,
Speaker 1: and Joel were not on the floor, but we do
Speaker 1: understand the impact that they make. What you saw last
Speaker 1: night was probably the result of a challenge to those
Speaker 1: other players to step up and then bringing back those
Speaker 1: three guys. And we're going through a little collision here
Speaker 1: right now, particularly on the defensive end, meaning this you
Speaker 1: can not win in the spring and summertime if you
Speaker 1: do not play solid possessions, valuing each detail, because the
Speaker 1: offenses are not going to turn to basketball over They're
Speaker 1: just not going to do that. That's why they're in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. However, because of Jimmy, because of Joel and
Speaker 1: who he is, and Ben and who he is, and
Speaker 1: TJ and who he is, we have this element, like
Speaker 1: this explosive element that we probably have not had here
Speaker 1: where we're able to jump on people. So now we
Speaker 1: have to find a way to balance that. This is
Speaker 1: what I think Golden State has done a great job of.
Speaker 1: They gamble a lot. Golden State. They are in the
Speaker 1: passing lanes, they leave an assignment to go randomly double
Speaker 1: the ball, and they all rotate and play off each other.
Speaker 1: But then when they have to play Cleveland or Lebron
Speaker 1: or they've got to go against Boston and they have
Speaker 1: to just lock in and be solid and just protect
Speaker 1: the basket and get a key stop, they're able to
Speaker 1: find that balance. We're going to have to find that
Speaker 1: movie forward. But it's pretty cool that we're adding this
Speaker 1: other element right now. Where do you see things defensively
Speaker 1: at this stage of the season, just past the fifty
Speaker 1: game mark. I know you guys are always striving for more.
Speaker 1: But really, I guess a lot of people have made
Speaker 1: a lot of this stretch that you could say started
Speaker 1: back with the home game against Minnesota, and since that point,
Speaker 1: you guys are number three in the league defensively in
Speaker 1: terms of defensive rating, almost right at number two where
Speaker 1: Boston is. So where have you seen some evolutions, some
Speaker 1: growth because as you said, like there have been stretches
Speaker 1: when Jimmy wasn't available for the last three game. Yes, no,
Speaker 1: I mean if you take the whole Minnesota game and
Speaker 1: the whole Indiana game, and then the second half of
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City game, and really maybe quarters two through four,
Speaker 1: and then the whole game against Houston, we were amazing.
Speaker 1: We were not great against San Antonio because the result
Speaker 1: was not great, and part of that was San Antonio
Speaker 1: played amazing. It really did. That was just a well
Speaker 1: played basketball game, and that's going to happen at this league.
Speaker 1: You have an effective offensive players that can do a
Speaker 1: lot of things. But what we did in the last
Speaker 1: four minutes that game, particularly the last two and a half,
Speaker 1: we're just really in line with what the team had
Speaker 1: done prior to that. Since Minnesotas you allude to, where
Speaker 1: I see us right now is still growing. You know,
Speaker 1: a guy like Jimmy Butler has been in the same
Speaker 1: defensive system for almost his entire career, and even though
Speaker 1: things really don't change that much from team to team,
Speaker 1: we have a few nuances that are unique to us,
Speaker 1: and he's getting adjusted. Wilson Chandler is healthy and now learning.
Speaker 1: He's a twelve year veteran or maybe even more that's
Speaker 1: done a lot of things in a different way, and
Speaker 1: now he's getting accustomed to our mantra of trying to
Speaker 1: take away the open three point shot, because you're going
Speaker 1: to need that as you progress forward in the springtime.
Speaker 1: And guys are just getting a little bit more comfortable now.
Speaker 1: I really think it is, Brian, we need them to
Speaker 1: lock in to every possession. We are not there yet.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to be honest. We're not there. We
Speaker 1: don't take that yet, take that level of concentration to
Speaker 1: every possession. But we're trending in a good way as
Speaker 1: the numbers bear out. Walk me through how you guys
Speaker 1: have decided to coach this thing defensively, really going back
Speaker 1: to the summer, like, how does that work with the
Speaker 1: coaching staff when you philosophically decide to tweak a few
Speaker 1: things that we really had been very successful to a
Speaker 1: certain degree last year. Yeah, so a few things I
Speaker 1: think too much has been made of these tweaks, because
Speaker 1: really they were things that we did last year. We
Speaker 1: just didn't make them staples of this is what we're
Speaker 1: going to do. We made them like adjustments, or we
Speaker 1: made them change based on an opponent or an opponent's
Speaker 1: playoff series or losing a game. So everything that we've
Speaker 1: added or emphasized are all things that were in last season.
Speaker 1: We just studied during the summer and say, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not about two thousand and eight seventeen eighteen anymore.
Speaker 1: It's really about, like, if we believe we're this good,
Speaker 1: how are we going to be good in two thousand
Speaker 1: and nineteen to two thousand and twenty two, twenty three
Speaker 1: and behind. And one of it is you have to
Speaker 1: look at your superstar on the defensive end, and Joe
Speaker 1: Ellenbid and how do we craft a defense that allows
Speaker 1: him to play to his strengths. That was one of
Speaker 1: the first things I think we sat down and said
Speaker 1: that that's number one. Number two, we studied a lot
Speaker 1: of playoff basketball. We studied a lot of trends of
Speaker 1: the teams that are moving in that direction, like guys
Speaker 1: that can compete for a championship, teams that can compete
Speaker 1: for a championship. And you notice a few things. You know,
Speaker 1: it's almost all five out, Brian, once you get to
Speaker 1: that level, So you know, rim protection is different than
Speaker 1: when there's three guys around two guys or four guys
Speaker 1: around one. When you go to five out, how do
Speaker 1: you get Joel around the basket as much as you can?
Speaker 1: And why our teams five out because they want to
Speaker 1: drive the ball. Yes, they want to get layups, but
Speaker 1: more they want to kick you in and then kick
Speaker 1: it out for three. So we just went to some
Speaker 1: things that we did last season that we thought were
Speaker 1: effective and then we made them staples. And those things
Speaker 1: took some time, but I think they're rearing itself in
Speaker 1: a good way right now. We still make a few
Speaker 1: more mistakes than we would like to, but that's what
Speaker 1: we always here here for its coaches, is to pick
Speaker 1: out all the little mistakes. Then the crazy thing is
Speaker 1: about a month in the season, you get a four
Speaker 1: time All League defender, a four time All Star Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 1: And while there's been such great young talent here over
Speaker 1: the years, inheriting and absorbing a talent like that, it's
Speaker 1: something you guys have structured thing tours, but it had
Speaker 1: happened until this year. What are some of the nuances
Speaker 1: and subtleties and then maybe even some louder things of
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler's defensive game that you really appreciate, And like,
Speaker 1: I mean number one, we also give up a really
Speaker 1: good defensive player, no doubt, so like and he was
Speaker 1: good and and Rob knew what we wanted to do,
Speaker 1: so like in the end of the day, effectiveness might
Speaker 1: have been equal. But with Jimmy brings is he brings
Speaker 1: this reputation and he is a good like small space toughness.
Speaker 1: He's got like a football like a soccer fullbacks body
Speaker 1: and he's able to get underneath people and it gives
Speaker 1: the team a lot of confidence. And now what we're
Speaker 1: learning is Jimmy has a lot of gambling in him, right,
Speaker 1: So it's not all bad. It's just he sees things.
Speaker 1: He's gotten an intellect about him. So the balance that
Speaker 1: we have to have as a coaching staff between like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we've studied this enough to know we have to be
Speaker 1: solid here versus, Hey, this guy has a unique skill
Speaker 1: and how do you marry those two things? Like that's
Speaker 1: not an easy thing to do because one time Jimmy
Speaker 1: might try to go make a play and it works,
Speaker 1: so we're all happy about the result. Then he tries
Speaker 1: to go make the same play and it didn't work
Speaker 1: and we're not happy about the results. So you know,
Speaker 1: what is the risk and is it worth it? Like
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about it. Did he calculate it? Like?
Speaker 1: Did he think about it? And Jimmy's intellect to your point,
Speaker 1: those are the things that he has brought to us
Speaker 1: that we've needed, Like his ability to see things and
Speaker 1: then visualize it and then take it to his teammates
Speaker 1: and talk about have been good. I mean we've learned
Speaker 1: from him as coaches too. He's been really helpful. More
Speaker 1: with Billy Lange in just a moment, but wanted to
Speaker 1: take a moment to remind you about the Sixers Youth
Speaker 1: Foundation GALLA. Fourth Annual Sixers Youth Foundation GALLA presented by
Speaker 1: Vip Wireless. It's gonna be on March eleventh, So in
Speaker 1: about six weeks from now at the outstanding Fillmore, Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Sixers players, coaches and alums are gonna be on hand
Speaker 1: for a great night as everyone works together to create
Speaker 1: a brighter future for the leaders of tomorrow. Purchase tickets
Speaker 1: to the event at Sixers Youth Foundation dot org slash
Speaker 1: gala Strong Youth, Strong Communities, Promising future six or Strong
Speaker 1: and if you've not been before, the six Or Youth
Speaker 1: Foundation Gala is fantastic. It doesn't feel like one of
Speaker 1: those traditional charity events. This is comfortable. You get to
Speaker 1: mingle with some of the true dignitaries of the seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers family and again support a great cause while
Speaker 1: doing it. Six or Youth Foundation dot org slash Gala
Speaker 1: for more information and to purchase tickets. Hope to see
Speaker 1: you there now. Back North Billy Lane. I feel like
Speaker 1: there's always this narrative and talk about well, is eighty
Speaker 1: two games too many? And is the season too long?
Speaker 1: I've got to think that from a coaching standpoint, in
Speaker 1: this type of situation, it's got to help. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can't. It's not like a sport like football, where
Speaker 1: you live and die with every game. It's more like
Speaker 1: chunks where like here we are right now at the
Speaker 1: end of January, Surprise, surprise once again, and it seems
Speaker 1: like you guys are rounding more and more into form,
Speaker 1: because it does have to take some time for you
Speaker 1: to figure out a guy's tendencies and what he prefers,
Speaker 1: whether that's Jimmy Butler or moving Wilson Chandler up on
Speaker 1: the wing more bring well, I just want to tell you,
Speaker 1: don't be fooled. We live and die with all eighty two, right.
Speaker 1: It's just the fact that we're able to have a
Speaker 1: response to the loss within usually forty eight hours. It
Speaker 1: keeps it in perspective. It just like it allows us
Speaker 1: to be like, okay, did we get Let's take the
Speaker 1: San Antonio game. You know in the game we were
Speaker 1: like our defense thinks you go back and watch it,
Speaker 1: you're like, no, Like, you know, they made some really
Speaker 1: hard threes and DeMar derozen did what he did, but
Speaker 1: he does it against everybody, and our guys gave great effort.
Speaker 1: So the chance to just bounce back and play quickly
Speaker 1: helps us what hurts. Now, there's two things that have happened.
Speaker 1: There's less back to backs, and that is much much
Speaker 1: better for the players. Okay, where it's actually hurt is
Speaker 1: usually when you would have a back to back, the
Speaker 1: next day would be off, and then if you came
Speaker 1: back the next day and didn't have a game, you
Speaker 1: would have it like a real practice. Okay. Now, when
Speaker 1: you're playing four games over seven or eight day span,
Speaker 1: those days in between are like maintenance days. These guys
Speaker 1: are getting shots to taking care of their body. You're walking.
Speaker 1: When I say walking, I mean walking through some things.
Speaker 1: So the game schedule is hurt mostly for us because
Speaker 1: of we just don't get the practice time, which I'm
Speaker 1: sure the players love. So these guys ability to learn
Speaker 1: through video is at a premium, and you need to
Speaker 1: have smart players and we do. Did you do anything
Speaker 1: differently this offseason preparation wise, knowing that you would get
Speaker 1: a shot at overseeing the defense? I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: want to make too much of that, but I'm sure,
Speaker 1: like you know, we it's crazy. We can probably go
Speaker 1: back about a decade or so. I was working at Penn,
Speaker 1: you're at Navy and Villanova, and I feel like you've
Speaker 1: always been a guy to seek out knowledge and speak
Speaker 1: to people. But the type of things that you tried
Speaker 1: to learn and acquire over the summer. Was that any
Speaker 1: different at all? You know, Lloyd and I used to
Speaker 1: talk about this all the time, you know, behind coaches back.
Speaker 1: I guess it won't be anymore because it's a podcast.
Speaker 1: But we're coaches. This is what we do. You know.
Speaker 1: I've been a head coach. I've done all of it,
Speaker 1: you know, player development, I've had to put games straggy together,
Speaker 1: coach offensive, coach defense. Lloyd worked for other coaches. We
Speaker 1: communicated a lot. We were in these meetings for five
Speaker 1: or six years on different you know, responsibilities, but we
Speaker 1: talked and we paid attention to each other. When coach
Speaker 1: puts someone in charge of something, really what he's saying is,
Speaker 1: I need you to be the most intimate person with
Speaker 1: this area during the season. In the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's coaches offense and coaches defense. But he doesn't have
Speaker 1: the time after every game, like we just talked about,
Speaker 1: with the schedule to like dig into every possession. He's
Speaker 1: some games he's like, I need to look at all
Speaker 1: our after timeouts, or I need to watch the last
Speaker 1: four minutes, or today I'm watching all the opponents make
Speaker 1: So Billy, give me all the transition defense, and what
Speaker 1: he's counting on is do I have intimate knowledge of
Speaker 1: the defense. So that's what it means to be in charge.
Speaker 1: So now go back to your question on the off season,
Speaker 1: it was I studied every playoff game for the last
Speaker 1: two seasons. That was my job. Not played in the NBA,
Speaker 1: played in the NBA. So I had to see, like,
Speaker 1: where are things trending? You know, how did you Tall
Speaker 1: play pick and roll against James Harden? Why is Boston
Speaker 1: so good against the three point shot? Why was Golden
Speaker 1: States defense last year? I think, you know, I say,
Speaker 1: only maybe finished like nine ten or eleven in regular
Speaker 1: season rating, but they were amazing in the playoffs. You know,
Speaker 1: you know what makes these teams good? And that was
Speaker 1: the study. And now then take that back and watch
Speaker 1: our Miami series and watch our Boston series and then
Speaker 1: project where we have to be going forward and who
Speaker 1: were we going to have to beat. And that was
Speaker 1: my summer and it was exciting because I got to
Speaker 1: see it through a different lens. It's not that we
Speaker 1: haven't talked about it. We share ideas all year long,
Speaker 1: just as Monnie and Kevin and I do now. But
Speaker 1: like I had to get real intimate with that study.
Speaker 1: Brett gave me a ton of studies. It was a lot,
Speaker 1: but it was a lot of fun. Everyone talks about
Speaker 1: team chemistry, especially in the context of the Sixers now
Speaker 1: with new guys coming in, But there's gotta be something
Speaker 1: the coaching staff chemistry too, right, because I mean really, essentially,
Speaker 1: with the exception of a few guys here and there,
Speaker 1: the same core was together for the first five years. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I mean I missed my relationship with Lloyd Moore than anything.
Speaker 1: We just had a funny way of making each other laugh,
Speaker 1: both doing it in different ways, and we knew how
Speaker 1: to like help Brett, you know. We knew what type
Speaker 1: of mood he needed us to set, and who was
Speaker 1: going to be the good cop and the bad cop,
Speaker 1: and how would we support each other in our different roles.
Speaker 1: This season has been great too, you know, And it
Speaker 1: just starts with this. Brett brings great people, and if
Speaker 1: you have good people like it'll take time to learn
Speaker 1: each other's rhythms and how to give each other's space
Speaker 1: and who will allow who and who's lane and how
Speaker 1: do you play off each other and how do we
Speaker 1: help coach. That's the main thing like, how does this
Speaker 1: group together help coach? But when you have great people, man,
Speaker 1: these things come together. And this has been a great staff,
Speaker 1: a really really good staff. Let's go back to the
Speaker 1: beginning of our conversation. Not to in any way, shape
Speaker 1: or form remotely suggests that we're sitting out on sunshine,
Speaker 1: but the event that I did not apply my SPF
Speaker 1: seventy five or eighty before we did this, I think
Speaker 1: my pigmentation. I should wrap it up. Believe a plane
Speaker 1: to cats to get to San Francisco as well. Top
Speaker 1: to do list items universally for the seventy six ers.
Speaker 1: As we look at we're almost the All Star game break.
Speaker 1: There's still obviously a big two weeks before that. But
Speaker 1: as you look ahead of the rest of the season,
Speaker 1: what are some of the main things that you're looking
Speaker 1: forward to. I think just getting you talked about the chemistry,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like such a nebulous thing that you're
Speaker 1: gonna rub a Genie lamp in it. So it's just
Speaker 1: gonna come out and be good. But it happens through repetition.
Speaker 1: So each game is a learning experience for us to
Speaker 1: deliver us to where we need to be at the end.
Speaker 1: That would be one. Two. I think get tighter offensively, like,
Speaker 1: don't have possessions that we were just too talented to
Speaker 1: waste a possession. It doesn't mean we're not going to
Speaker 1: take a bad shot here and there, but we all
Speaker 1: have to know what is the mission on this possession
Speaker 1: right now? And then I think three. Defensively, it's just
Speaker 1: how do you impose your will for as long as
Speaker 1: you can do in four day minutes? And we need
Speaker 1: you know, Landry and TJ and these guys Michael, guys
Speaker 1: that are coming off the bench. John the Bolton has
Speaker 1: been getting some run now to play defense at a
Speaker 1: high level off the bench. And I think those three things.
Speaker 1: You know, guys just got to get reps together. We
Speaker 1: have to value every possession on the offensive end as
Speaker 1: if it's May and June. And then how do we
Speaker 1: just have more intensity on the defensive end, particularly guys
Speaker 1: coming off our bench. I know you are an Atlantic
Speaker 1: guy through and through, but could someone sell you on
Speaker 1: the Pacific. I'll tell you what. If Aunt Betty's and
Speaker 1: Uncle Bill's pancakes and ice cream were right below us,
Speaker 1: they probably could. I love the Atlantic, I love Ocean City,
Speaker 1: I love the city of Philadelphia. That's where I'm from.
Speaker 1: This is really cool, though, this is really cool. I
Speaker 1: could definitely get used to this, but I always look
Speaker 1: at it. I got this an hour from where I live.
Speaker 1: I just when I have the time to do it,
Speaker 1: I'll do it. If we were sitting ocean side, of course,
Speaker 1: that's right, of course, all right, Billy, Thanks as always,
Speaker 1: man a Pacific Ocean Front Conversation with seventy Sixers Assistant
Speaker 1: Billy Lang. Always enjoy chatting with Billy regardless of location,
Speaker 1: but certainly you had the elements from southern California. It
Speaker 1: just makes the vibes the atmosphere that much better. But
Speaker 1: appreciated Billy's insights. Hopefully you enjoyed them and found them informative,
Speaker 1: and as always, thank you for checking out the podcast.
Speaker 1: Talk to you next time. See you