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Speaker 2: They'll go ring the insurance company's bell. Welcome back to
Speaker 2: the seventy six Ers Insiders podcast. It's actually a season
Speaker 2: premiere for us ahead of the twenty twenty four twenty
Speaker 2: five NBA season. Matt Murphy and Lauren Rosen. We will
Speaker 2: talk about training camp. We will reflect back to media
Speaker 2: day and a little bit of everything else going on
Speaker 2: with the Sixers. But first things first, Lauren Rosen, how
Speaker 2: are the Bahamas the site of the Sixers training camp
Speaker 2: this season?
Speaker 1: Harphi? It is so good to be with you, and
Speaker 1: it is tough to complain when you're looking out at
Speaker 1: the ocean. I know the Sixers enjoying this change of
Speaker 1: scenery compared to Philadelphia, compared perhaps even into training camps pass.
Speaker 1: It's the first time, at least in my tenure, that
Speaker 1: we've been somewhere tropical for a training camp. So I
Speaker 1: know people are enjoying it. But it's an interesting juxtaposition
Speaker 1: with all the hard work that's going on on the
Speaker 1: court during the day.
Speaker 2: Year two of Nick Nurse as the Sixers head coach.
Speaker 2: Fort Collins, Colorado was last year's training camp, and when
Speaker 2: it comes to the Bahamas, I know something that Nick
Speaker 2: has said this week is that when the trip first
Speaker 2: started he didn't have that much time to even walk
Speaker 2: around outside. He said he might at some point this
Speaker 2: week if people have been paying attention to the media
Speaker 2: availabilities with players and with coach. If they have not,
Speaker 2: they will hear you divulge many of those details throughout
Speaker 2: the show today. The reason that we are starting with
Speaker 2: training camp and then reflecting back on media Day is
Speaker 2: because you are coming to us live from the Bahamas,
Speaker 2: where inside that ballroom gym, some of the sweatshirts that
Speaker 2: the coaches have been wearing are the ball wins. That
Speaker 2: is a phrase. I know it has a lot to
Speaker 2: do with rebounding and literally just getting your hands on
Speaker 2: the basketball, But what else have you noticed about mantras
Speaker 2: and those hoodies.
Speaker 1: Well, it's what you said, right, And what I've deduced
Speaker 1: is the idea of the ball wins. And we'll have
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more with head coach Nick
Speaker 1: Nurse about this. He always has mantras with deeper meaning
Speaker 1: and I'm going to do my best to articulate what
Speaker 1: I've seen. But to me, the ball wins means literally,
Speaker 1: like you said, rebounds, but also deflections, forcing turnovers, reducing
Speaker 1: your own turnovers. It's the idea of taking care of
Speaker 1: the ball for as long as possible, right and maximizing
Speaker 1: the amount of time that the team is able to
Speaker 1: have the ball right. The team with the most possession
Speaker 1: throughout the game tends to have a positive yield.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So the idea is, whether you're on offense or defense,
Speaker 1: you're doing everything you can to take care of the ball.
Speaker 1: And that's been an emphasis all week long.
Speaker 2: The reason that I kind of took you down that
Speaker 2: path with it was there was a question about Caleb
Speaker 2: Martin's impact and like steals per game numbers, and where
Speaker 2: the coach went with it was actually first things, first
Speaker 2: defensive rebound and then maybe some deflections that lead to steals.
Speaker 2: On the defensive end, the Sixers were one of the
Speaker 2: best teams in the NBA in steals, but also when
Speaker 2: it comes to that deflections stat that the coaching staff
Speaker 2: cares greatly about. And then it's less of a camp
Speaker 2: about installing things or even getting back to the basics,
Speaker 2: and more of a camp about building off of what
Speaker 2: was established in year one. A lot of the coaching
Speaker 2: staff is the same. Obviously, the leader in Nurse, from
Speaker 2: an execution standpoint, that has been one of the focuses.
Speaker 1: For sure, and today it became a focus because coach
Speaker 1: Nurse said following day's practice, the team's third official practice
Speaker 1: as a group, that the execution is farther along than
Speaker 1: the execution was a year ago today right, saying that
Speaker 1: this is a team that is finding ways to gel
Speaker 1: and execute complex concepts quicker than he perhaps expected them
Speaker 1: to at this point. And it was interesting because he
Speaker 1: said he didn't know exactly why it's coming along as
Speaker 1: quick as it has, but he likes the veteran presence
Speaker 1: on this team, the amount of depth thereies on this team,
Speaker 1: the options that he can go to, which in theory,
Speaker 1: right complicates things a bit. But despite all the options,
Speaker 1: which I know we'll talk about in a second, and
Speaker 1: despite all that depth, which we'll talk about in a second,
Speaker 1: this is a group that has taken rather quickly to
Speaker 1: the concepts that the coaching staff is giving them, which
Speaker 1: of course is exactly what you want in a training
Speaker 1: camp environment.
Speaker 2: Take us through what some of the like when the
Speaker 2: reporters get led in, Like what are you seeing? I know,
Speaker 2: it looks like, uh, college's how it looks. It looks
Speaker 2: at them.
Speaker 1: You see the ballroom, you see the photos, you see
Speaker 1: all the content the sixers are putting out. That's how
Speaker 1: it looks. It's really cool. I think you were about
Speaker 1: to say, we're about to talk about Battle for Atlantis.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that And then in March madness when sometimes
Speaker 2: managers for college teams are taping down like lines from
Speaker 2: the court onto those carpeted areas. I mean that is
Speaker 2: where the courts have been dropped down. You think back
Speaker 2: to the NBA bubble to some of the teams, the
Speaker 2: practice courts were aligned in these types of ballrooms. But
Speaker 2: from an execution standpoint, like, what are you seeing them
Speaker 2: work on towards the end? I know a lot of
Speaker 2: it is just shooting stations and things like that. We
Speaker 2: can't really go into too much more detail, but what
Speaker 2: are you seeing when everybody gets let in?
Speaker 1: Well, a Nick Nurse training camp is extremely lively, right.
Speaker 1: It has been well documented that DJ Ghost of of
Speaker 1: course Sixers in Arena and Philadelphia Fame, has come on
Speaker 1: pretty close to, if not full time, with this coaching staff.
Speaker 1: He is wherever they are. He is responsible for cultivating
Speaker 1: the environment that Nick Nurse said a year ago when
Speaker 1: he took this job that he wanted to produce every
Speaker 1: day high energy, giving energy, pouring as much energy into
Speaker 1: the space as possible. So you're hearing loud music. There
Speaker 1: are guys at every basket. There are two courts, two
Speaker 1: baskets per court, So sometimes in a more traditional training
Speaker 1: facility situation. Two courts means eight baskets because they'll have
Speaker 1: the two sideline baskets on each side as well. Do
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? There are eight places to
Speaker 1: shoot here. There are only four, but they're making good
Speaker 1: use of all four. It's been fascinating. They've installed scoreboards
Speaker 1: in the ballroom. The court is obviously regulation size, there
Speaker 1: are two of them. They put some makeshift stands around
Speaker 1: the arena so that or the arena around the ballroom
Speaker 1: so that executives, coaches, support staff have somewhere to observe.
Speaker 1: It's been extremely professional. You kind of forget where you
Speaker 1: are when you're in that ballroom because there are obviously
Speaker 1: there are no windows, so you don't really know what
Speaker 1: time of day it is. You don't really know that
Speaker 1: you're in a tropical environment. Coach Nurse and his staff
Speaker 1: have done a great job of taking the energy of
Speaker 1: a traditional Nick Nurse Philadelphia seventy six ers practice and
Speaker 1: bringing it to Paradise.
Speaker 2: One of the things that he said was, we've got
Speaker 2: everything we need here, so when they're in those sessions,
Speaker 2: and the music has become a big part of it.
Speaker 2: It's not just with the Sixers, but it's from Nurses background.
Speaker 2: We'll have to talk to DJ Ghost at some point
Speaker 2: maybe about some of the finer details of this thing,
Speaker 2: but we'll have them on the podcast at some point
Speaker 2: to maybe go deeper on this. But I saw the
Speaker 2: Lakers have a DJ before and after practice Lebron James
Speaker 2: and JJ Reddick. JJ said Lebron wanted it, and JJ said, now,
Speaker 2: nobody else can have the ox cord. It's just in
Speaker 2: the hands of the DJ before and after can Sixers players.
Speaker 2: They can make requests song requests, right, And the.
Speaker 1: Coolest thing that I've noticed DJ ghosts now has always did,
Speaker 1: by the way, even before Coach Nurse and his staff
Speaker 1: took over in Philadelphia, DJ Ghost has an understanding of
Speaker 1: each player's favorite artists or favorite type of music.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: So, if you've ever gone to a Sixers game super
Speaker 1: early and you've watched players warm up, the music that's
Speaker 1: being when DJ Ghost is on the ones and twos
Speaker 1: is exactly what that player wants to hear. He knows.
Speaker 1: Just for example, the first thing that popped into my
Speaker 1: head Tyrese Maxie loves Gunna, So anytime that Tyre's is
Speaker 1: out there by himself. That's what he's hearing. Right, anytime
Speaker 1: that he's preparing us to be hearing, I think, because
Speaker 1: we're in the Bahamas, I think of Buddy Heald. But
Speaker 1: Buddy Held listened to a lot of Caribbean music. He
Speaker 1: listened a lot of afrobeats, and DJ Ghost would give
Speaker 1: that to him, even though Buddy Heeld was just on
Speaker 1: the team for a couple of months. Right, So very
Speaker 1: cool to see the way that it's not just a
Speaker 1: DJ playing music. It's a DJ playing specialized music for
Speaker 1: each player, for each scenario. There are certain songs that
Speaker 1: the team warms up to. There are certain songs they
Speaker 1: cooled down to, or that they shoot round to. Right,
Speaker 1: there's a system there. It's not just about music. It's
Speaker 1: very intentional and it's been fascinating to watch as DJ
Speaker 1: Ghost has really become a part of this ecosystem.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Tyrese Maxey. Before we get into some of
Speaker 2: the new players, some of the depth, some of the rookies,
Speaker 2: let's talk about Maxie as a leader. It's an emerging theme.
Speaker 2: It's one that carries over from his fourth season into
Speaker 2: what will be his fifth NBA season. How have you
Speaker 2: seen that play out? In camp, He's.
Speaker 1: Been so comfortable and so confident using his voice. And
Speaker 1: for those of us, you and me, both you and I,
Speaker 1: both who have had the pleasure of watching Tyrese's professional
Speaker 1: career from day one, No, this is something that has
Speaker 1: grown over time. As a rookie, he was relatively quiet, right,
Speaker 1: always bringing energy, always laughing. I remember him spending all
Speaker 1: a time with Paul Reid and Isaiah Joe chatting with
Speaker 1: one another, but certainly not addressing the team. And watching
Speaker 1: the progression year over year of Tyree's feeling comfortable using
Speaker 1: his voice to direct the entire room. Seeing him arrive
Speaker 1: at the point that he's at at this training camp
Speaker 1: has been fabulous to see, really impressive stuff, Coach Nurse.
Speaker 1: Last year, Coach Nurse talked about it following the second
Speaker 1: team practice on Wednesday, said that last year at training
Speaker 1: camp he observes Tyree's communicating with the team and he said, ooh,
Speaker 1: We've got a long way to go in terms of
Speaker 1: growing Tyrese Maxi's communication. And he said, probably about a
Speaker 1: year ago to date yesterday Tuesday, Wednesday of the first
Speaker 1: week of October, that Tyree's has come leaps and bounds
Speaker 1: he's extremely comfortable. The two of them have a really
Speaker 1: communicative relationship. Coach Nurse talked about the fact that Tyrese
Speaker 1: and Nurse had to sit down together a long conversation
Speaker 1: ahead of practice yesterday about what Tyres needed to do differently,
Speaker 1: what types of communication systems they were hoping that he
Speaker 1: would be able to implement, and Nick Nurse said that
Speaker 1: Tyrese was able to produce that minutes later in that practice.
Speaker 1: So you know that the two of them are communicating well. Again,
Speaker 1: we talked about it. It's corny, but people always talk
Speaker 1: about the point guard as the voice of the coach
Speaker 1: on the floor. Watching as Nick Nurse delivers his messaging
Speaker 1: to Tyrese Maxey, Tyres Maxie delivers Nick Nurse is messing
Speaker 1: to the guys on the floor now, two of whom
Speaker 1: at least are future Hall of Famers, if not more.
Speaker 1: It has been very fluid. It has been very easy
Speaker 1: this year. It doesn't feel forced when Tyrese takes control
Speaker 1: of the gym, and that's a big deal for a
Speaker 1: twenty three year old, first time All Star. Very cool stuff.
Speaker 2: And when we talk about floor generals, Nick Nurse, I
Speaker 2: was going to wait to talk about this, and I'll
Speaker 2: cover more of the logistics on it at the end.
Speaker 2: But his background in Iowa, he was a point guard
Speaker 2: on a high school state championship team. He was an
Speaker 2: extension of his head coach. I'll have a full feature
Speaker 2: coming out about Carol Iowa, Nick Nurse's hometown and the
Speaker 2: intersections between the two. But they won the state championship
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty five. People all around his life say
Speaker 2: they could see it as an extension of the coach
Speaker 2: on the floor that he may go on to be
Speaker 2: a coach. It was pretty obvious in all sports. Quarterbacking
Speaker 2: the football team, pitching and playing middle infield in baseball,
Speaker 2: and then as the point guard on the basketball team.
Speaker 2: So he's been in Tyrese Maxie's shoes. He went on
Speaker 2: to be a four year starter at You and I
Speaker 2: Northern Iowa, so he has experience firsthand experience with these
Speaker 2: types of things. Maxie's training camp parastyle. If he keeps it,
Speaker 2: he says he can see a little bit. He was
Speaker 2: joking that he's going to grow even more on the
Speaker 2: court because it's not in his face as much. I
Speaker 2: know he mentioned that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, his were birds in the hours, but he said it,
Speaker 1: How good is he give me this year? Now that
Speaker 1: he doesn't have any air in his face? So we'll see,
Speaker 1: we'll see how long he keeps it. No, he's been
Speaker 1: fantastic qualitatively, quantitatively, shooting the ball well, playing really hard.
Speaker 1: He's doing everything you want him to do. And if
Speaker 1: you've been following Tyrese for a while, that's what you've
Speaker 1: come to expect.
Speaker 2: And if anything else jumps out to you from what
Speaker 2: the guys have been saying, please feel free to throw
Speaker 2: it in. On the opposite end of the maxie spectrum
Speaker 2: would be a Jared McCain, a rookie, which as we
Speaker 2: talk after the Thursday practice of camp, Joel Embiid had
Speaker 2: some high praise for first round pick Jared McCain.
Speaker 3: The guys, I've been looking good. Probably our best player
Speaker 3: has been John McCain, you know, which is pretty good, right.
Speaker 3: I think everybody trying to get on the same page.
Speaker 1: There's a lot to learn.
Speaker 3: We got a brand new team, so I think a
Speaker 3: lot you know, we just you know, we we change
Speaker 3: a few stuff from last year. So yeah, but he's
Speaker 3: been a good so far. MANI he compete, Uh Mayni
Speaker 3: is tough compete. Great shot, I mean shot maker, MANI shot,
Speaker 3: he's been shooting. He's been shooting the ball at triming well,
Speaker 3: great energy. Uh, thank you guys. He has a pretty
Speaker 3: good chance. I don't want to put the expectations out there,
Speaker 3: but you know, I kind of I gotta see, you know,
Speaker 3: I gotta see more. But so far it's been good.
Speaker 1: Very high praise for Jared McCain from across the roster
Speaker 1: and his coach since the beginning of the week, and
Speaker 1: Jared was honest at Summer League Matt Murphy, I know
Speaker 1: you and I talked about this a lot on our
Speaker 1: summer league streams, about the fact that he knew there
Speaker 1: would be a learning curve coming into the NBA. He
Speaker 1: knew that there would be a learning curve when he
Speaker 1: started playing at Duke, and people will remember if you
Speaker 1: watched his due career that he did have a slower
Speaker 1: start compared perhaps to the finish that he had of
Speaker 1: his first season, first and only season as a Duke
Speaker 1: Blue Devil. So that awareness that he had that maybe
Speaker 1: there was going to be a bit of a learning curve,
Speaker 1: and the way that he's clearly attacked it since Summer
Speaker 1: League is extremely impressive. And again, don't take it for me.
Speaker 1: Take it from Eric Gordon, Take it from Tyrese Maxey,
Speaker 1: take it from Joel Embiid, take it from Nick Nurse,
Speaker 1: all of whom have agreed that Jared McCain has not
Speaker 1: been a standout rookie at this training camp. He has
Speaker 1: been a standout player at this training camp. And I
Speaker 1: like what Nick Nurse shared after the second he was
Speaker 1: standing out on the defensive end as well. And of
Speaker 1: course when you draft Jared McCain, you're probably not drafting
Speaker 1: him primarily for his defensive abilities. But what coach Nurse
Speaker 1: has always said is if you can find a way
Speaker 1: to compete, you can find a way onto the floor,
Speaker 1: right And if Jared is competing on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball early in this camp, that's a great sign
Speaker 1: for the growth that he knows, he's known that he
Speaker 1: has needed to demonstrate in order to be a key
Speaker 1: part of this very, very deep team. It's going to
Speaker 1: be hard to crack this rotation in memory.
Speaker 2: McCain mentioned as a standout. It goes down the roster
Speaker 2: gershan Ya Vacelli has been talked about a returner like
Speaker 2: Kelly Oubre Junior has been talked about. I know from
Speaker 2: the fan base perspective, everyone's excited about Andre Drummond being
Speaker 2: in the front court, a front court option for this team.
Speaker 2: Behind Joel Embiid. There's a bunch of veteran guards in
Speaker 2: the mix. Does it just feel like when you look
Speaker 2: around that ballroom that this team has depth galore?
Speaker 1: Well, and what you have to think about at training
Speaker 1: camp now, and for those that might not have followed
Speaker 1: NBA roster evolution as closely, we went from a pair
Speaker 1: of two way contracts to a trio of two way
Speaker 1: contract plus at training camp at least anyone on an
Speaker 1: exhibit Exhibit ten contract is with the big team, Guys
Speaker 1: that project to spend a good amount of time with
Speaker 1: the Bluecoats during the regular season. So twenty plus players
Speaker 1: in the mix every dayDay, that's about a third more
Speaker 1: than you'll see traditionally, for example, a practice on the
Speaker 1: road during the regular season. So there are more bodies,
Speaker 1: first of all. Second of all, you have to think
Speaker 1: about who those bodies are. And as you said, a
Speaker 1: lot of the new faces on this team are bona
Speaker 1: fide respected veterans in THEBA. Reggie Jackson is someone that's
Speaker 1: going to fight his way into this rotation, and he
Speaker 1: is someone with quite the resume, right, I mean, anyone
Speaker 1: you think about, like you said, just guards. Kyle Lowry
Speaker 1: is part of that depth, the rookies that are competing,
Speaker 1: the Jared mccains of the world. So exactly right. So
Speaker 1: I did a bad job of doing that the spectrum
Speaker 1: I was trying to paint for you. I did a
Speaker 1: good bad job of making it linear, right, but on
Speaker 1: a spectrum from Jared McCain to Kyle Lowry or Eric
Speaker 1: Gordon in terms of sort of representing the two age
Speaker 1: ends of this league as it currently stands. There are
Speaker 1: so many options and head coach Nick Nurse discussed that
Speaker 1: as well after practice number three when he thinks about
Speaker 1: putting the puzzle pieces together. Nick Nurse famous for trying
Speaker 1: new things. Try something. If it works, you keep it
Speaker 1: in the toolkit. If it doesn't work, you throw it away.
Speaker 1: He has so many different combinations to keep track up right,
Speaker 1: because there are a lot of new faces, a few
Speaker 1: returning faces, some players that he's worked with in the past,
Speaker 1: but there are so many new faces that are qualified
Speaker 1: for the jobs that they're all seeking. And now he
Speaker 1: has to figure out what the best combinations are of
Speaker 1: the excess of options that he finds himself with as
Speaker 1: a result of his team's deep.
Speaker 2: And like Nurse, like Lowry, Reggie Jackson is an NBA
Speaker 2: champion with the Nuggets. I was reminded on media Day
Speaker 2: when he mentioned it that he went to a finals
Speaker 2: when he was with the Thunder very early at to
Speaker 2: start his career. I'm glad you mentioned the two way
Speaker 2: contracts as well, because what I'll say to that is
Speaker 2: that they have two very experienced players occupying two of
Speaker 2: the three slots here in early October, in Jeff Dalton Junior,
Speaker 2: someone that is very trusted by coach Nurse. They added
Speaker 2: Lester Kenionez, who I remember and a lot of others
Speaker 2: do too, that he scored thirteen points for the Warriors
Speaker 2: in an NBA game in Philadelphia last February. So to
Speaker 2: have those two guys plus rookie Justin Edwards on two
Speaker 2: way contracts during training camp is very solid. But media Day,
Speaker 2: all these players you mentioned a lot of them have
Speaker 2: close friendships from when they played together on other teams.
Speaker 2: Drummond and Reggie Jackson a great example of that. When
Speaker 2: they were with Detroit. We had both of them on
Speaker 2: this podcast. If people want to go back in the
Speaker 2: archives and listen, there are other examples. Caleb Martin has
Speaker 2: a couple with Kyle Lowry and Kelly Oubray Junior because
Speaker 2: his twin Cody, played with Kelly in Charlotte. So that
Speaker 2: was something I took away from media Day. What else?
Speaker 2: What did you take away from this past Monday at
Speaker 2: this point, Well.
Speaker 1: What I wondered on Monday. We've been able to see
Speaker 1: over these last few days, right again, lots of new faces,
Speaker 1: but a lot of connections among the new faces, guys
Speaker 1: that played with each other on other teams. I'm thinking
Speaker 1: of Kyle Lowry and Caleb Martin very recently shared the
Speaker 1: floor in Miami together. Martin has not played for Nurse,
Speaker 1: but Lowry has played for Nurse a ton and just
Speaker 1: played with Martin. Right, So you're seeing these guys help
Speaker 1: each other make these learning curves perhaps flatter because of
Speaker 1: how well they know one another and how they are
Speaker 1: able to translate for one another in this new environment.
Speaker 1: Even an Andre Drummond, who was with the Sixers under
Speaker 1: Doc Rivers, now is back with some of his teammates.
Speaker 1: He's very familiar with Joel. He's familiar with Tyree's but
Speaker 1: he has a new coach, so now he has the
Speaker 1: teammates that he's familiar with onboarding him to a new system.
Speaker 1: It's almost met like the concept of the six degrees
Speaker 1: of Kevin Bacon. Right. These people, even if they haven't
Speaker 1: all played together on the same team, have all played
Speaker 1: with each other at some point, or they had an
Speaker 1: agent in common or a former coach in common. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of continuity for the amount of new faces
Speaker 1: that are playing together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just that comfort level around the Penn Medicine Philadelphia
Speaker 2: seventy six years training complex. For media day, it was
Speaker 2: a very normal media day and not just new play. Also,
Speaker 2: Oubra in year two was just very comfortable at it
Speaker 2: and year two with the Sixers, and I know that's
Speaker 2: carried into training camp. And then Andre Drummond was a
Speaker 2: standout for me just personality wise, kind of being reminded
Speaker 2: of how he operates with the media, how he operates
Speaker 2: with his teammates. And I didn't spend it enough time
Speaker 2: with probably everyone on the roster, but the time that
Speaker 2: I was with Andre Drummond and even in the social
Speaker 2: media content, can we give a shout out to the
Speaker 2: Sixers accounts right now with some of the stuff that
Speaker 2: they've been cooking up. Drummond has been the star in
Speaker 2: some of the different trends and things that they're doing,
Speaker 2: so the fans have gotten to see it, but I
Speaker 2: saw some of it behind the scenes too at Media Day. Now,
Speaker 2: there was the unfortunate news during media Day about the
Speaker 2: passing of the Kembe Mutombo, and it literally happened when
Speaker 2: Darryl Mory and Nick Nurse were addressing the media, so
Speaker 2: we heard Darryl Mory's thoughts on it. We later heard
Speaker 2: Joel Embiid's thoughts on how important to Kenba Matumbo was
Speaker 2: to them and to the basketball universe. The NBA hits
Speaker 2: close to home for the Sixers because he obviously spent
Speaker 2: parts of multiple seasons here. Also was in Houston when
Speaker 2: Daryl Moury was there earlier in his career. So definitely
Speaker 2: a somber note on that day, but it is nice
Speaker 2: to remember all of the great things about to kem
Speaker 2: Bay as well. I know we each can share something
Speaker 2: that relates directly relates to his life and his career.
Speaker 1: I only worked with Di Kimbay once in a former life,
Speaker 1: I was a production runner for ESPN, which was just
Speaker 1: a fabulous way to start a sports media career because
Speaker 1: I got to see everything and I got to meet
Speaker 1: a lot of people, even though my job really was
Speaker 1: stalking the snack table, getting coffee, making sure people got
Speaker 1: to where they needed to get to at the right time.
Speaker 1: And every once in a while I would be exposed
Speaker 1: to somebody like the Kimbe Matumbo, and I will never
Speaker 1: forget the one time that I was able to work
Speaker 1: with him. It was very brief, but he made it
Speaker 1: a priority to not just speak to everybody in the room.
Speaker 1: But what made him special in my memory, was that
Speaker 1: he spoke to every single person in the room, whether
Speaker 1: you were an NBA executive, an NBA player, a TV executive,
Speaker 1: a TV producer, or a twenty one or twenty two
Speaker 1: year old production assistant who stood mostly in the corner.
Speaker 1: Did I in that setting? He made every single person
Speaker 1: feel equally important to him, and I will never forget
Speaker 1: that that is something really special, rare in our industry,
Speaker 1: and I think rare in many industries that someone of
Speaker 1: his stature, with a resume like his, with a wealth
Speaker 1: of life experience and tons of people and entities that
Speaker 1: needed his time, made time for everyone, and he treated
Speaker 1: everyone with respect. And I've always had an appreciation for
Speaker 1: my experience with to Kimbey, but obviously now it feels
Speaker 1: more poignant and it's something that I want to take
Speaker 1: with me as I grow. And so I'm just very
Speaker 1: grateful that I was able to even like cross pads
Speaker 1: with him for a short amount of time and cool
Speaker 1: also to hear about someone like Daryl Moury, who cross
Speaker 1: pads with him four years eight hut having a similar experience. Right,
Speaker 1: it seems like the experience that I had, though small,
Speaker 1: was a universal one for those that interacted with to Kimbae.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for sharing that. Of course, his time
Speaker 2: playing with the Sixers was the champion at the finals
Speaker 2: run in two thousand and one and then into the
Speaker 2: next season as well, an all star season for him.
Speaker 2: And yeah, you just hear all these great stories similar
Speaker 2: to similar to what the tone of what you just
Speaker 2: said about, maybe a radio station reaching out to him
Speaker 2: and then him giving forty minutes of his time or
Speaker 2: on it, who knows, probably a busy day. I don't
Speaker 2: have a personal story to share, but I think back
Speaker 2: to a game that I was fortunate to fill in
Speaker 2: on the radio call of against the Raptors just last
Speaker 2: season when Joel Embiid blocked Pascal Siakam and did the
Speaker 2: finger wag and passed it up to Maxis. It's like
Speaker 2: the first play that is on my reel and my website,
Speaker 2: and I included the part of Joel doing the finger wag,
Speaker 2: which is of course the signature celebration of to Kembe Matumbo,
Speaker 2: who was a size twenty two shoe. And the Sixers
Speaker 2: are about to play one of the other very few
Speaker 2: basketball players with that size shoe. Taco Fall, plays for
Speaker 2: the New Zealand Breakers, which is their opponent for the
Speaker 2: first preseason game on October seventh. A lot of people
Speaker 2: know Taco Fall. He is seven foot five point twenty
Speaker 2: five without sneakers. He wears a size twenty two like
Speaker 2: the Kembe, Like Shaquille O'Neill, will Purdue, Bob Lanier are
Speaker 2: the others. I had to look up Victor Wembinyama. He's
Speaker 2: only a size twenty and a half sneaker. But yeah,
Speaker 2: the preseason will be here in short order, and it
Speaker 2: starts with a non NBA opponent in the New Zealand Breakers.
Speaker 2: The only other home preseason game on the six game
Speaker 2: slate is nine days after that against the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaker 2: But you and I did a full schedule breakdown podcast
Speaker 2: that people can also listen back to on this seventy
Speaker 2: six Ers Insiders feed. But six preseason games a long
Speaker 2: slate and most of it is a way from home.
Speaker 2: But people should take advantage of coming out to those
Speaker 2: two home games, including a chance to see Taco Fall
Speaker 2: and the.
Speaker 1: Breakers absolutely and Matt Murphy. Before we wrap, I want
Speaker 1: to get back to you and one of those away
Speaker 1: preseason games, the aforementioned trip back to Iowa for the
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in
Speaker 1: Des Moines, a neutral site for a preseason matchup with
Speaker 1: tons of lore. There's tons of there there and you've
Speaker 1: done a deep dive. So share what's coming on the
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers podcast network and sixers dot com as
Speaker 1: it relates to Nick Nurse's roots.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I spent I don't know, like three days
Speaker 2: in Carol, Iowa in August, and it will be a
Speaker 2: podcast here, So be on the lookout for those your
Speaker 2: keywords Iowa, Nick Nurse. We're going to have other conversations
Speaker 2: with Nick Nurse soon and throughout the season on this platform,
Speaker 2: but Iowa will be the theme of this one in particular.
Speaker 2: There's also going to be a long form article and
Speaker 2: some social media posts with some of the quotes and everything.
Speaker 2: But it was just embedded during his golf course grand
Speaker 2: opening of Carol National Golf Club, which I think the
Speaker 2: way that I'll tee up this story as a tease
Speaker 2: is just that in the time that I was there,
Speaker 2: I watched a basketball shooting clinic at Kemper Catholic School,
Speaker 2: his alma mater. I attended multiple days of the grand
Speaker 2: opening of Carol National Golf Club, which is formerly Carol
Speaker 2: Country Club that Nick Nurse belonged to with his family. Well,
Speaker 2: it's the course they grew up going to. It's just
Speaker 2: think of your local golf course and that's it. And
Speaker 2: he purchased it when to help with the finances and
Speaker 2: keeping it going last year and then the there were
Speaker 2: multiple days of a concert series that Nick Nurse participated in.
Speaker 2: So the details will be in the story, but really
Speaker 2: cool experience that I got to share with him, and
Speaker 2: he's got he comes from a family with nine kids,
Speaker 2: he's the youngest. So there's a lot to this story
Speaker 2: and I'm really excited since the runway has been so
Speaker 2: long for people to read it and to listen to it, and.
Speaker 1: So listen, it's Eagles season, it's playoff season for the Phillies.
Speaker 1: But if you're going to tune in for the seventy
Speaker 1: and listen, if you're listening to us, we know you're
Speaker 1: locked in on six Ers preseason. That to me is
Speaker 1: the game that I have earmarked as potentially most exciting
Speaker 1: just from a storyline perspective. Very much looking forward to
Speaker 1: seeing head coach Nick Nurse matchup with Timberwolves head coach
Speaker 1: Chris Finch. They go way, way way back, and that'll
Speaker 1: be a part of this long form storytelling that we're
Speaker 1: going to reintroduce any day now. So Matt, thank you
Speaker 1: for your hard work on that. I know it's going
Speaker 1: to be awesome and looking forward to diving in with
Speaker 1: you there.
Speaker 2: So this coming out kind of in conjunction with some
Speaker 2: interviews we've had with the new roster for the six
Speaker 2: yeers season, so we're in full swing preseason time for
Speaker 2: the games, but regular season time for the seventy six Ers.
Speaker 2: Insiders podcast. Apparently that game and I was going to
Speaker 2: be packed. So as you're trying to get ready for
Speaker 2: that game, to watch that game, to listen to that game,
Speaker 2: this will be some additional content to help you prepare
Speaker 2: for the six Yer season. I think there's who knows,
Speaker 2: I'm basing this off nothing but Caitlin Clark the WNBA
Speaker 2: seasons over she grew up going to games there. I
Speaker 2: have no idea, but apparently it's going to be packed
Speaker 2: in Des Moines for this Sixers Timberwolves preseason game. And
Speaker 2: then just be on the lookout for those other podcasts
Speaker 2: as well with not just the coach but the players
Speaker 2: coming up. And the regular season opener is Wednesday, October
Speaker 2: twenty third against the Milwaukee Bucks in Philadelphia, so that
Speaker 2: is just around the corner in a few weeks. Lauren
Speaker 2: Rosen from the Bahamas, thank you so much. Looking forward
Speaker 2: to more of your great content as we are really
Speaker 2: we're doing this thing, so.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you. Matt Verphy, always a pleasure