Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast network
Speaker 1: Search seventy Sixers podcast Wherever you get your Pods. Vince
Speaker 1: Rosman has been with the seventy sixers for fifteen years,
Speaker 1: but he's never experienced anything like the last few months. Honestly,
Speaker 1: it's been a pretty unique opportunity because you get a
Speaker 1: layer deeper on players that time never really permitted before.
Speaker 1: It's been challenging, but in a lot of ways, it's
Speaker 1: presigned new opportunities for us to get better. Through everything
Speaker 1: that's happened since the pandemic hit, the shutdown, the restart,
Speaker 1: and now an accelerated off season, Rosman is confidence that
Speaker 1: the seventy six ers are ready. When you're told you
Speaker 1: know you're adding a guy like Barrel to your staff,
Speaker 1: you're pretty excited. Obviously, he's been incredibly successful throughout his
Speaker 1: career in the NBA, and I think he's a guy
Speaker 1: that if you want to learn from, you can learn
Speaker 1: a ton from. I'm Lauren Rosen and I'm Brian Seltzer,
Speaker 1: And on this episode of the broadcast, we preview the
Speaker 1: draft with the seventy Sixers vice president of Scouting, Vince Rosman.
Speaker 1: Oh baby, this week in the NBA, Sit back and
Speaker 1: get ready for it. I mean, who knows where things
Speaker 1: will be at at the time this podcast comes out.
Speaker 1: Trade window began on Monday, NBA Draft on Wednesday, Free
Speaker 1: agency negotiations start on Friday, and then signings can begin
Speaker 1: on Sunday. Listen, the pandemic is awful, horrible. Seriously, be safe,
Speaker 1: mask up, do your thing. But if you need a diversion,
Speaker 1: perhaps the most dramatic tent pole moments of an NBA
Speaker 1: offseason are all coming together and combining for a crazy
Speaker 1: week long stretch. It's insanity, but for me personally, I
Speaker 1: cannot wait to see how it unfolds. The seventy six Ers,
Speaker 1: of course, find themselves in a very intriguing position. They
Speaker 1: have a new president of Basketball Operations and Daryl Morey. Obviously,
Speaker 1: they have two other key new editions the front office
Speaker 1: and executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Peter Dinwiddie and
Speaker 1: Vice President of Player Personnel Prosper Krangua. But a guy
Speaker 1: who's been in the Sixers front office for fifteen years now,
Speaker 1: who has seen so many different iterations, evolutions and eras
Speaker 1: of the seventy Sixers is a guy by the name
Speaker 1: of Vince Rosman, and if you've listened to the podcast
Speaker 1: over the years, we've had Vince on a handful of times.
Speaker 1: He is outstanding and there's a reason that he's been
Speaker 1: around as long as he has. Vince is the vice
Speaker 1: president of scouting for the Sixers, and with the draft
Speaker 1: being on Wednesday, Lauren Rosen and I felt the timing
Speaker 1: would be perfect to catch up with Vince and look
Speaker 1: ahead to Draft Night twenty twenty. Well, Vince, it is
Speaker 1: great to be speaking with you in the days before
Speaker 1: this year's unprecedented draft. Can you get us caught up
Speaker 1: to speed on just how the pace has been for
Speaker 1: you guys leading up to the draft this year? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it's always a bit chaotic those previous a
Speaker 1: few days. This season is is no different, if anything.
Speaker 1: You know, it's compounded by you know, our front office
Speaker 1: is all new and we're trying to you know, feel
Speaker 1: each other out a little bit, and then you know,
Speaker 1: we're going to blink and the draft is over and
Speaker 1: we're right in the free agency and then the free
Speaker 1: agency period is over and we're right into the season.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's pretty nuts. It's pretty much. I think
Speaker 1: we're ready, but it's it's been quite the process. So
Speaker 1: can you give us like a little bit of perspective
Speaker 1: on what it's been like to plan the draft, especially
Speaker 1: given the exterior circumstances that you guys are dealing with
Speaker 1: with the pandemic. Just sort of what it's looked like
Speaker 1: from your department, maybe from the job and up until now,
Speaker 1: for sure, I guess you know, if you if you
Speaker 1: think back in in April, we were preparing to have
Speaker 1: the draft in June still, and we were preparing to
Speaker 1: do it, you know, not knowing what workouts may or
Speaker 1: may not look like, or what reviews may or may
Speaker 1: not look like, or or anything, honestly, um, and I
Speaker 1: think we were prepared for that, and and then that past,
Speaker 1: and then we were prepared to do the same thing
Speaker 1: in August whenever the draft was supposed to be in August,
Speaker 1: and that past, and then and now we you know,
Speaker 1: each time we've gotten a regroup a little bit and
Speaker 1: and like you know, identify, all right, if we have
Speaker 1: a few more months, you know, whereas time best spent
Speaker 1: um to to you know, make an incrementally better decision
Speaker 1: based on whatever new information we can find. So it's
Speaker 1: been Um, honestly, it's been a pretty unique opportunity because
Speaker 1: you get to a layer deeper on players that time
Speaker 1: never really permitted before, or you get to, you know,
Speaker 1: the next set of players that you would consider, um
Speaker 1: in the G League, you know, with Matt Lilly and
Speaker 1: and the Blue Coats, and talk through those guys a
Speaker 1: little bit more than than would have been available in
Speaker 1: the past. So it's it's been challenging, but in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, it's it's presented, you know, new opportunities
Speaker 1: for us to get better. Vince, you brought up some
Speaker 1: part of this equation that I think is probably the
Speaker 1: most fascinating in that there have been these sliding mile
Speaker 1: posts along the way for when you guys had to
Speaker 1: be ready. So one thing that I've just kind of
Speaker 1: wondered about is how much has changed, whether it's with
Speaker 1: you or what you've gathered with teams around the league
Speaker 1: on opinions and views on players in between these different
Speaker 1: mile markers. Like you said, originally the draft is supposed
Speaker 1: to be in June, then maybe it was gonna be
Speaker 1: later than that, So how much could change about these
Speaker 1: players as the scale moved along to later dates. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess it's not. You know, that happens every year.
Speaker 1: You know, you're you're in the week before the draft
Speaker 1: and you know your staff starts to move on a player.
Speaker 1: You just need to be cautious. I think we encourage,
Speaker 1: you know, guys to change their minds as they learn
Speaker 1: more about players. But I think for us, the key
Speaker 1: is understanding like why, Like okay, if us collectively or
Speaker 1: one of our scouts individually are are forming a new
Speaker 1: opinion on a player, we want to know, like, okay,
Speaker 1: what's changed? You know, what did you watch that that
Speaker 1: made you think this? What is the specific reason that
Speaker 1: you think he may be you know, more or less
Speaker 1: likely to become a good NBA player at this point.
Speaker 1: So it's the changes are going to happen, like it
Speaker 1: just happens every year, and some some for the better,
Speaker 1: some for the worst. I think that the key is understanding,
Speaker 1: like the reasons why and the inputs behind all of those,
Speaker 1: all of those opinions, to make sure you know their sound. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of information that floats around
Speaker 1: and a lot of things that can kind of push
Speaker 1: you off track, whether it's this rumor or you know,
Speaker 1: reading such and such article from from such and such website,
Speaker 1: You just have to stay guarded. It sounds like despite
Speaker 1: all these sort of intangibles that you guys have dealt with,
Speaker 1: whether it's the pandemic or a somewhat new staff that
Speaker 1: you're pretty comfortable and confident with, with the week that
Speaker 1: you're heading into, if you had to explain maybe why
Speaker 1: you're feeling good about this draft, why would it be.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess, I guess it starts with I
Speaker 1: think our staff is awesome, um and and do you know,
Speaker 1: just do incredible work all year, So I think, you know,
Speaker 1: we put processes in place that I think, you know,
Speaker 1: the college season's over, if we need to make a
Speaker 1: decision then, which we don't have to, but like I
Speaker 1: think we're prepared for that. And then any any step
Speaker 1: along the way that that gets added, it's just you know,
Speaker 1: you get better and better information or you refine your
Speaker 1: thoughts a little more. But I think, you know, whether
Speaker 1: it's it's getting intel on players or evaluating them in
Speaker 1: a really thoughtful way. Our our group is just good
Speaker 1: and I was believe in them and I'm proud of them,
Speaker 1: and I think like they help me and help me through,
Speaker 1: Like you know, My goal is to have el In
Speaker 1: and now Elton and Darryl as prepared as possible with
Speaker 1: all the information they need. And I think we go
Speaker 1: well beyond like what is like a really really good
Speaker 1: set of both like depth of information and quality of information,
Speaker 1: And I think we're Yeah, I think we're ready to go.
Speaker 1: I feel like this is the age old question that
Speaker 1: gets asked every year because it has to be, but
Speaker 1: probably changes because every year is different. Is this is
Speaker 1: a draft for need, draft for the seventy six ers,
Speaker 1: draft for best player available? Or does that depend on
Speaker 1: the circumstance and the draft where your guys slot comes up. No,
Speaker 1: I think that's in fairness to Darryl, like kind of
Speaker 1: a question for him and where his philosophies lie there.
Speaker 1: Obviously the two works we've we've been together, I'm learning
Speaker 1: kind of how he ticks and what he thinks. I
Speaker 1: don't know that I'm I'm perfectly there yet, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I think every every draft kind of has its own
Speaker 1: own flow there, and you've got to, you know, make
Speaker 1: the best decision for the team when you're on the clock.
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's like a set answer to
Speaker 1: that question so much it seems about getting ready for draft.
Speaker 1: Vince is injecting out what a player could ultimately be.
Speaker 1: And you've used the word information a handful of times already.
Speaker 1: You've been at this for a while. What have you
Speaker 1: learned over the years about how to inform your gut,
Speaker 1: your hunch, the way you view a player and to
Speaker 1: know when you feel like the information you're getting a
Speaker 1: sound or what type of information to kind of let
Speaker 1: pass through and maybe disregard. I think the key is
Speaker 1: every year we go back and or not every year,
Speaker 1: every couple of years you go back once the dust
Speaker 1: settles a little bit from the draft and review what
Speaker 1: you had and how accurate it was, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's more than just like, you know, we had
Speaker 1: a guy in this range and he went in that
Speaker 1: range and he was good, but it's like, did you
Speaker 1: have him right for the right reasons? Is he is?
Speaker 1: Like did you project the skills properly? Did you project
Speaker 1: his role properly? Did did the intel we have like
Speaker 1: does that seem like it's true? And if it's not,
Speaker 1: or if we're wrong in one area or another, like
Speaker 1: we review why And it's creating processes and guard rails
Speaker 1: to like you know, you know, guard yourself from bad
Speaker 1: information or prepare yourself at the right points in the
Speaker 1: season to evaluate the right things or evaluate players in
Speaker 1: the right settings or whatever, you know, wherever that might be.
Speaker 1: But we I think there's a lot of like you know,
Speaker 1: self analysis that our group goes through every year to
Speaker 1: try to get better. So as much as you can
Speaker 1: tell us without being too specific, when you're scouting primarily
Speaker 1: over video as opposed to in person, how has that
Speaker 1: changed things for you? And and maybe are there certain
Speaker 1: advantages that you might not have seen before in like
Speaker 1: the video scouting world. Just what's that been? Like? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I actually I think, you know, I don't know that
Speaker 1: we're necessarily unique in this, but I think our group
Speaker 1: collectively has always valued video scouting, for lack of better term,
Speaker 1: a lot, and probably more so, you know than live scouting.
Speaker 1: One you can you can just get deeper. You can
Speaker 1: try to answer us to the question about a guy
Speaker 1: or like rewind, which is you know something you can't
Speaker 1: do if you're at a at a live game. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, live scouting events has its benefits. You know,
Speaker 1: you get to meet people and you get to kind
Speaker 1: of see a player's body language a little bit see
Speaker 1: his interactions with his teammates or his coaches, or get
Speaker 1: a little bit better sense for his you know, his
Speaker 1: physical like attributes. Um, but if you really want to
Speaker 1: learn about a player, I think, you know, locking yourself
Speaker 1: in a room and watching hours and hours and hours
Speaker 1: of tape is the best way to get there. And
Speaker 1: you know, we've had months, let alone hours to do so. Obviously,
Speaker 1: a big part Vince, of draft prep in years past
Speaker 1: is the interview with prospects. Typically that would happen at
Speaker 1: the combine or at the training complex, if you brought
Speaker 1: guys in for workouts. Have you guys been doing that
Speaker 1: this unprecedented year? And when did you start doing that? Uh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think like way back in May, and we talked
Speaker 1: about earlier, you know, COVID presenting challenges. It's no different
Speaker 1: than like you know, you're ideally, I think we would
Speaker 1: be in the same room having this conversation and that's
Speaker 1: just not available. So we just adjusted and did you know,
Speaker 1: zoom interviews from starting in May and going all the
Speaker 1: way up to last week. Honestly, and I think in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways it's not perfect. But also we've
Speaker 1: been able to do more than we would have otherwise,
Speaker 1: just you know, time permitting, and you don't always get
Speaker 1: to have a guy come out to the city or
Speaker 1: you're not assigned to them in the combine. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, agents this year maybe have been a little
Speaker 1: bit more cooperative. It's easy to sit a guy on
Speaker 1: a couch and put them in front of a laptop
Speaker 1: and you know, let them talk to thirty teams or whatnot.
Speaker 1: So if we look back at the last few drafts,
Speaker 1: whether it's for con or Shake or Matise last year,
Speaker 1: it seems like you guys have had a lot of
Speaker 1: success with those picks being able to come in and
Speaker 1: actually make an impact within whatever it was their first
Speaker 1: couple months or first couple of years in Shake's case.
Speaker 1: And then obviously mar was awesome in the G League
Speaker 1: last year. So it does seem like you guys are
Speaker 1: sort of on a role when it comes to your picks.
Speaker 1: What do you attribute that too, and how can those
Speaker 1: successes inform this year? And I think a lot of it,
Speaker 1: honestly is luck. Um. I think a lot of it is,
Speaker 1: whether it be with our NBA staff or or' connor
Speaker 1: and his staff in the G league. We have a
Speaker 1: really really thoughtful, awesome player development staff, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, from a from a player standpoint, I think
Speaker 1: the one thing that we have focused on are our
Speaker 1: guys that are are you know, grown ups, I guess,
Speaker 1: the guys that can take all the challenges that are
Speaker 1: thrown at them in the league. I think you know,
Speaker 1: you mentioned Shake and fur con Um either those guys,
Speaker 1: like you know, we're good right away. Shake had to
Speaker 1: go through a year and even a lot of time
Speaker 1: this year in the G League and through it. Um
Speaker 1: so like to be able to overcome adversity. Fir con Um,
Speaker 1: you know, his first few years probably weren't what he
Speaker 1: was expecting to go through, and he continued to work
Speaker 1: and work and work and is mentally tough and and
Speaker 1: incredibly confident and and you just have to have guys
Speaker 1: that can fight through those challenges because it's not always
Speaker 1: so easy. Um. You know, Matisse found a lot of
Speaker 1: success early and then had some bumps in the road
Speaker 1: as well, and and you know was a guy that
Speaker 1: we relied upon in the playoffs because he was you know,
Speaker 1: he's a fighter. So I think there's all that, but yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, Luck is also pretty pretty huge, A modest
Speaker 1: Vince Roseman joining us on the podcast. Uh, you know
Speaker 1: this this year, it's a situation where I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised mins if some fans kind of woke up a
Speaker 1: week or so ago. They might wake up the day
Speaker 1: before the draft or on draft Day and they're like,
Speaker 1: what is this year's draft class all about? How would
Speaker 1: you summarize this year's draft? I think outside of the
Speaker 1: top one or two picks, like every year, it's all
Speaker 1: about the same, you know, Zia of the Beholder. If
Speaker 1: you need a big, you can find a big you like.
Speaker 1: If you need a guard, you can find a guard
Speaker 1: you like. If you need like defense, you can find
Speaker 1: a defender you like. So I think, you know, every
Speaker 1: every draft kind of presents the same opportunities, and it's
Speaker 1: just you know, how how teams view him. So I
Speaker 1: know it's only been a couple of weeks with Darryl Morey,
Speaker 1: but what are your early impressions of him, what difference
Speaker 1: does he add to your group, and what's that partnership
Speaker 1: looking like with the draft coming up? Um, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a great question. You know, obviously, when when you're told
Speaker 1: you know you're adding a guy like Daryl to your staff.
Speaker 1: You're pretty excited. Obviously, he's been incredibly successful throughout his
Speaker 1: career in the NBA, and you know, if you I
Speaker 1: think he's a guy that if you want to learn from,
Speaker 1: you can learn a ton from. Um. I guess like
Speaker 1: this has been a little bit of a firefight these
Speaker 1: two weeks because he's getting acclimated and we're still you know,
Speaker 1: getting Peter and prosperous feed on the ground. Uh. So
Speaker 1: I think it's like it's a it's a question I'm
Speaker 1: excited to answer. Like as time goes by, it's hard
Speaker 1: hard to say. Now, I would say one thing that's
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's surprising, but it's it's been
Speaker 1: pretty great. Is you know, we have a bunch of
Speaker 1: new people in the room together, and I think it's
Speaker 1: the rapport has has been Um, there's a connectivity right away.
Speaker 1: Um we're having you know, arguments right away and nobody's
Speaker 1: offended and you know that's how you get it's a
Speaker 1: better answer. So I think from that part it's been
Speaker 1: really enjoyable. And for the rest it's just I'm as
Speaker 1: excited as anybody else to see where where all goes.
Speaker 1: And you know, the opportunity to work for him, obviously,
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for how much generally speaking, Vince, are these discussions,
Speaker 1: these quote unquote arguments about guys based on what's been
Speaker 1: seen and put on film, what they might be character stuff?
Speaker 1: Is that all the above that goes into this pot
Speaker 1: that you guys banter about. I mean, yeah, not even
Speaker 1: necessarily just like players specific, but you know, conceptually, you know,
Speaker 1: how do you build a roster or how do you
Speaker 1: think about this or that. I think it's you know,
Speaker 1: kind of all of the above. That's great. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's such a whirlwind process, it seems like for you
Speaker 1: guys right now. And I'm not asking you to confirm
Speaker 1: or deny this, but we have heard that the check
Speaker 1: in checkout schedule at the seventy six or training complex
Speaker 1: as of late has been somewhere in the range of
Speaker 1: eight in the morning to ten at night. So these
Speaker 1: are kind of be really really long days, how you
Speaker 1: guys like stamina wise, just getting ready for something like this,
Speaker 1: Like it's such a huge crucial time of the year.
Speaker 1: And like you said at the beginning, it's not just
Speaker 1: the draft this year. You've got free agency starting twenty
Speaker 1: four bigger part forty eight hours after the draft ends. Essentially, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess you just don't really think about it, right,
Speaker 1: It just is what it is, and you fight through it. So,
Speaker 1: you know, all the conversations and all the work is stimulating.
Speaker 1: You know, we all we all do this because we
Speaker 1: love it. So it's you know, this is the fun time,
Speaker 1: less fun for I guess our families. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just you know, it's it's the enjoyable part. So you
Speaker 1: get through the draft events on Wednesday night, and then,
Speaker 1: like we said, free agency is right on the cusp,
Speaker 1: and after that, can you kind of map out for
Speaker 1: fans what mode you guys shift into immediately or how
Speaker 1: you're splitting this up? Like I'm almost wondering, you know,
Speaker 1: I hear the coaching staff sometimes it's like you have
Speaker 1: the game that's right in front of you, and then
Speaker 1: you have someone else advancing. How are you guys preparing
Speaker 1: for the next step of the offseason right after the draft?
Speaker 1: You know, that's a great question. And this year is obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, massively unique as a compared to previous years.
Speaker 1: I think what we've learned through these past few months
Speaker 1: in life, I guess as much as in work is like,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna have to stay nimble. We don't know
Speaker 1: exactly what the NBA season is going to look like,
Speaker 1: or the college season, or the international season, or how
Speaker 1: long any of them may or may not last. So like,
Speaker 1: you know, if if it may, we can get back
Speaker 1: out on the road again, like we If not, we'll
Speaker 1: keep cranking through video like we've we've gotten quite used
Speaker 1: to over the past few months. I think, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I guess I'm as curious as you are,
Speaker 1: But I think we're just ready for whatever challenge comes,
Speaker 1: and we'll adjust to it. It is truly such a
Speaker 1: fascinating and crazy compelling time for NBA front offices, and
Speaker 1: not specifically the seventy sixers, but I would argue the
Speaker 1: Sixers have a distinct case this year. They've got a
Speaker 1: new head coach in Doc Rivers, who's gonna bring a
Speaker 1: different style of play, and then, of course a new
Speaker 1: president of basketball Operations and Daryl Moray, plus two great
Speaker 1: additions to the personnel department in Peter Dinwiddie formerly with
Speaker 1: the Indiana Pacers, and Prosker Karragua last with the Orlando Magic.
Speaker 1: I for one cannot wait to see how this comes
Speaker 1: together in the coming days. And my personal takeaway from
Speaker 1: the interview with Vince was that the Sixers feel really
Speaker 1: good about their preparations. They've been able to catch all
Speaker 1: the new members of the front office of coaching staff
Speaker 1: up to speed because the preparation they did, and that
Speaker 1: there's a healthy alignment of vision going into the draft
Speaker 1: and free agency. We'll have a draft recap edition of
Speaker 1: the podcast coming away on either Thursday or Friday. I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be Thursday, but just in case,
Speaker 1: Friday at the very latest, so be on the lookout
Speaker 1: for that. Enjoy Draft Night and the start of free agency.
Speaker 1: Talked to you next time here on the broadcast. See
Speaker 1: him