Speaker 1: I'matari's Mexi and you're listening to the seventy six Ers
Speaker 1: Insiders podcast.
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Speaker 3: Oh Brah. Have you suffered a work injury? You need
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Speaker 3: the insurance company's bell. Go Sixers. Welcome back to Sixers
Speaker 3: in sixty. I'm Matt Murphy with Lauren Rosen. Thanks so
Speaker 3: much to our fanatic basketball insider for joining us, Bob Cooney.
Speaker 3: We'll have Sixers assistant coach Matt Brozi coming up on
Speaker 3: the program. We're live for this one from the Center
Speaker 3: in Philadelphia before Sixers Bulls to contextualize any stats that
Speaker 3: we give throughout this segment. But some big news around
Speaker 3: the organization was the contract extension for President into Basketball
Speaker 3: Operations Darryl Moury through the twenty twenty seven twenty eight
Speaker 3: NBA season, adding to the continuity for this franchise. And
Speaker 3: it starts at the top with someone like Moury, and he.
Speaker 2: Talked in turn, of course about his relationship with Elton Brand,
Speaker 2: his relationship, his long term relationship and working with Nick
Speaker 2: Nurse starting with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers during Darryl
Speaker 2: Moury's time with the Rockets, but the two of them,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of continuity. There obviously a lot of
Speaker 2: continuity now between Daryl Moriy and Elton Brand over the
Speaker 2: last few years, and the way that Daryl wants to
Speaker 2: continue to build up upon that continuity. Clear. He also
Speaker 2: just talked about how much he loves his team, how
Speaker 2: much he loves this city, how much the city has
Speaker 2: embraced him, the good and the bad. He loves when
Speaker 2: people So if you're listening and you ever see Daryl
Speaker 2: Moray in the street, he wants to know what you think.
Speaker 2: He wants to know what people think about his choices
Speaker 2: when he's out getting his morning coffee. Talked about it
Speaker 2: in his press conference. He's embedded in this city. He
Speaker 2: loves this city, and it's cool to just know if
Speaker 2: you're a Sixers fan that your sort of core leadership
Speaker 2: and your core on the court. When you think about
Speaker 2: Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey figure two be the same
Speaker 2: group of people for the next few years, and if
Speaker 2: this season is any indication, it's a group that's humming
Speaker 2: very well together. When you think about Nick Nurse in
Speaker 2: his first season with of course that supporting cast that we.
Speaker 3: Just mentioned, Coach Brasi is part of that contingent that
Speaker 3: has connections earlier in his career with both Nick Nurse
Speaker 3: and Darryl Moury, and now Moriy and Nurse their contracts
Speaker 3: run through that same season together, Tyrese Maxi being included
Speaker 3: with the names Elton Brand Joel Embiid as well by
Speaker 3: Darryl at his press conference after the announcement, and what
Speaker 3: we found very interesting is that he mentioned the jump
Speaker 3: that Maxie has taken in year four is very very
Speaker 3: rare because you always hear a year two jump.
Speaker 2: And of course Tyree's Maxie famously fell to twenty one. Goodness,
Speaker 2: but Daryl talked about the way that a player that
Speaker 2: falls in the draft can sometimes exceed expectations their rookie season,
Speaker 2: the way that Tyrese Maxey did despite his rookie season
Speaker 2: not really knowing how much he was going to play.
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, of course, back to that thirty nine point
Speaker 2: performance in a game where he wasn't sure how many
Speaker 2: minutes he was going to have. And of course that
Speaker 2: was a strange day that was the COVID season. The
Speaker 2: team was severely shorthanded on that day. But to think
Speaker 2: that that was just a little over three short years
Speaker 2: ago and to see how he's grown. Daryl reflected on
Speaker 2: the fact that, like I said, getting drafted and then
Speaker 2: making a leap, making a leap in year two, those
Speaker 2: are things that you kind of expect out of players
Speaker 2: that are going to end up being good in the NBA.
Speaker 2: But what he said has set Tyrese Maxey apart so
Speaker 2: far is the third year jump and the fourth year jump.
Speaker 2: And Matt, if you're hearing a theme here, you're correct.
Speaker 2: That's a jump every single season and you can expect
Speaker 2: that now moving forward from Tyrese Maxey. It's not a fluke.
Speaker 2: If he's done it four years in a row. It's
Speaker 2: something that you can get used to. It's something that
Speaker 2: Darryl Moray has been really impressed by, and like you said,
Speaker 2: it was cool to hear him named among the mount
Speaker 2: Rushmore of this organization right now, right the pillars of
Speaker 2: this organization right now, Darryl Morey and Nick Nurse, of course,
Speaker 2: but Joel Mban and Tyrese Maxey as a partnership in
Speaker 2: just three short seasons, the beginning of a fourth Darryl
Speaker 2: of course, Darryl's tenure in Tyrese Maxie's tenure match up
Speaker 2: exactly almost to the day in terms of how long
Speaker 2: they've been with this team, and just watching the way
Speaker 2: that Maxie has risen to stardom has been a pleasure
Speaker 2: of course to you, to me, and to six Ers fans,
Speaker 2: but to Darryl as well, and it was cool to
Speaker 2: hear him talk about it.
Speaker 3: One of the most fun duos to watch in the NBA, statistically,
Speaker 3: the best.
Speaker 2: The highest scoring duo in the NBA as of this recording.
Speaker 2: I mean, Matt, we knew they were going to be
Speaker 2: good together. We know that they've been developing chemistry. We
Speaker 2: know that Joel has had a soft spot for Tyrese
Speaker 2: throughout the last three seasons, But we didn't know that
Speaker 2: they were going to be the best duo arguably in
Speaker 2: the NBA. In their first season as permanent starting stars together,
Speaker 2: They've just been awesome.
Speaker 3: It's like the ball is on a string when they're
Speaker 3: pass it to each other in the two man game.
Speaker 3: It's very impressive and it's chemistry that's developed over the
Speaker 3: years and since training camp with this new coaching staff
Speaker 3: empowering Maxi to use his voice more at practice. We've
Speaker 3: seen it firsthand all year and when you think back
Speaker 3: to training camp with this coaching staff, and that's something
Speaker 3: that I talked to coach Brossey about, is it's a
Speaker 3: new staff inheriting the reigning league MVP and someone like
Speaker 3: Maxi who is on his way to potentially all start
Speaker 3: them this season as soon as this season. But they've
Speaker 3: been building this chemistry up since the Fort Collins, Colorado
Speaker 3: training camp, where there was a lot of messaging going
Speaker 3: around and some of that directed towards Tyres and using
Speaker 3: his voice, but a lot from just this coaching staff
Speaker 3: putting their imprint on this existing group with some key
Speaker 3: additions from the offseason too, and things.
Speaker 2: Of course felt really different when you think back to
Speaker 2: Fort Collins, a whole new staff and a lot of
Speaker 2: new players, lots of roster turnover this season, so there
Speaker 2: was a newness a spirit that was different at that
Speaker 2: training camp. And to see how quickly they've all sort
Speaker 2: of assimilated to one another. Matt, I think has been
Speaker 2: really cool. You mentioned the way that the coaches have
Speaker 2: been communicating with the players. They were speaking a different
Speaker 2: language at first, right, someone like Tyrese who we continue
Speaker 2: to mention, but a Jaden Springer another great example. Those
Speaker 2: two have only ever had one coaching staff in the
Speaker 2: NBA ahead of this season, so every NBA rep they
Speaker 2: associate with their former coaching staff. So to get up
Speaker 2: to speed with a brand new staff that has different expectations,
Speaker 2: a different style, a different way of communication, and to
Speaker 2: just be a couple months into that tenure and be
Speaker 2: playing this well. This is a really impressive coaching staff, Matt,
Speaker 2: and I'm looking forward to listening to our first assistant
Speaker 2: coach interview tonight.
Speaker 3: Yes, unpredictable staff, creative coaching staff spearheaded by a head coach,
Speaker 3: Nick Nurse, and players who are eager to take what
Speaker 3: they have to say and try to see if it
Speaker 3: will work on the court. And Joelle Embiid is always
Speaker 3: watching games afterwards on his phone and stuff like that
Speaker 3: and just getting ideas of what might work for him
Speaker 3: and his teammates in an NBA basketball game. And this
Speaker 3: is like the perfect coaching staff for that type of
Speaker 3: thing because they are just so interested in basketball and
Speaker 3: how to gain any sort of advantage. It's a perfect
Speaker 3: fit for a coaching staff like Brozzie and Nurse and
Speaker 3: others that have made their careers from this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Coach Nurse said it on media day, I believe
Speaker 2: if I'm not mistaken, if not, his first media session
Speaker 2: in Port Collins, that the first thing he asked of
Speaker 2: his players this season was to keep an open mind.
Speaker 2: He said he was going to throw stuff at them
Speaker 2: that they've never seen. He was going to throw stuff
Speaker 2: at them that he's never thrown at players before. Because
Speaker 2: of that creativity that you talk about, the innovation that
Speaker 2: has made Nick Nurse a household name in the coach
Speaker 2: that won a championship in his first season as an
Speaker 2: NBA head coach. He asked this team to keep an
Speaker 2: open mind. Thematically speaking, He's talked about the fact that
Speaker 2: he wants them to try things and then throw it
Speaker 2: away if it doesn't work. So the way that they
Speaker 2: have done so that they have embraced it. Matt over
Speaker 2: the last few days, weeks, and months has been very impressive.
Speaker 3: And now our first coach is corner with assistant coach
Speaker 3: Matt Brosie, Matt Murphy with seventy six ers assistant coach
Speaker 3: Matt Brazi and Matt for those of you for those
Speaker 3: out there who don't know your shared history coaching wise,
Speaker 3: with seventy six ers head coach Nick Nurse and Darryl
Speaker 3: Moriot as the president of basketball Operations. Where have you
Speaker 3: been with them before?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I started out with the Houston Rockets as an
Speaker 1: intern and Darryl was the the GM at the time,
Speaker 1: So got to know Darryl and my first year and
Speaker 1: that was that was Nick's first year as a J
Speaker 1: League head coach, so met him a little bit in
Speaker 1: training camp. It was actually the lockout year, so everything
Speaker 1: started a little bit later.
Speaker 4: I got to Houston, met Nick real quick during training camp.
Speaker 1: They went down and Nick had his season down in
Speaker 1: Rio Grand Valley, and then the next summer, you know,
Speaker 1: they kind of put Nick and I together and interviewed
Speaker 1: for a job on his staff.
Speaker 4: I had coached college basketball.
Speaker 1: Before, and my role as intern was more in the
Speaker 1: front office side with Hugh Houston, so it was an
Speaker 1: opportunity to me to get.
Speaker 4: Coaching experience at the professional level.
Speaker 1: And so I met with Nick and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: fortunate enough that Nick hired me on the staff and
Speaker 1: you know went down with Nick to RGB with with
Speaker 1: Doug West, who's on our staff here now. So just
Speaker 1: you know, a great opportunity, right place, right time to
Speaker 1: get my first start, to be with a coach like
Speaker 1: coach Nurse.
Speaker 3: How does it feel to be reunited with them and
Speaker 3: have things come full circle in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4: It's awesome.
Speaker 1: It's it's a great, great, uh great thing that happened
Speaker 1: to me. And I think think all of us involved
Speaker 1: in this situation that.
Speaker 4: You know, kind of being reunited. Everyone's kind of done
Speaker 4: their own thing.
Speaker 1: You know, Nick obviously very successful head coach in the league,
Speaker 1: won a championship, had great success at Toronto, and then
Speaker 1: an opportunity here and.
Speaker 4: I'm just very fortunate to be a part of it.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: I was stayed in Houston for a couple of years
Speaker 1: after that, I was in Portland for a year, I
Speaker 1: was in Italy last year, but then just to come back,
Speaker 1: it's just you know, awesome experience with an awesome group.
Speaker 1: And you know, in life, you want to work with
Speaker 1: people that you respect and.
Speaker 4: You enjoy working with every day and you know Nick
Speaker 4: fits that.
Speaker 3: So you mentioned Doug West, who went from Villanova to
Speaker 3: the Houston affiliate, the Rio Grand Valley Vipers, and he
Speaker 3: was in charge of the defense that I've gathered. You
Speaker 3: were in charge of the offense for Nick Nurses D
Speaker 3: League now G League staff. Is it true that the
Speaker 3: guys preferred your drills in practice because you were the
Speaker 3: fun offensive coach and Doug had to lay down the
Speaker 3: law on the defensive end.
Speaker 1: I don't know about all that, you know, I think
Speaker 1: we had a great group of guys. I mean, Douck
Speaker 1: Doug ran the defense, and you know a lot of
Speaker 1: players want to have the ball and they want to
Speaker 1: score the basketball, so you know, but we had a
Speaker 1: tough group. We had a resilient group. They fought hard
Speaker 1: and you know, we ultimately won a championship. So they
Speaker 1: were locked in on both sides of the court. That
Speaker 1: you know, we valued it all, you know, being very
Speaker 1: efficient on the offensive side of the ball, which we were,
Speaker 1: and then just being tough and gritty on the defensive end.
Speaker 4: You know, a Nick Nurse type team that you'd back
Speaker 4: to see in the NBA.
Speaker 1: We had the D League that year, so Yeah, just
Speaker 1: kind of a cool, you know, synergy of three different
Speaker 1: people with different you know, kind of personalities that all
Speaker 1: all messed together in the right way.
Speaker 3: Which current seventy six ers players did you cross paths
Speaker 3: with and coach before they got to the NBA or
Speaker 3: when they were in the G League.
Speaker 1: So we had Patrick Beverly his first year when he
Speaker 1: came over, he played a couple of games for US.
Speaker 1: That year he was over in Russia, came back and
Speaker 1: played a couple of games for US, and then went
Speaker 1: to the the Rockets after a couple of games. So
Speaker 1: and then when I was in Houston, I was with
Speaker 1: Pat for a lot of years. So I've spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time with UH.
Speaker 4: With Pat when I was a.
Speaker 1: Player development coach was Robert Covington's rookie year and Robert
Speaker 1: was back and forth between the T League Nevada. Smith
Speaker 1: was our head coach at the time, but spent I
Speaker 1: was director of player development, so he'd be doing you know,
Speaker 1: player development stuff with us and being assigned to the
Speaker 1: G League a bunch and actually Covington and I as
Speaker 1: our fourth stint together. Wow, we had we had two
Speaker 1: different ones in Houston. One in Portland and then now here.
Speaker 1: So a guy I've known a long time, danielell House,
Speaker 1: when I was a head coach in the G League.
Speaker 1: It was his second year. He had his first year
Speaker 1: with the Wizards. Then he came down his second professional
Speaker 1: year and played for me for I want to say,
Speaker 1: fifteen games or.
Speaker 4: So before he got a two way contract with the Sun,
Speaker 4: So I.
Speaker 3: Think the year before he actually was assigned to Delaware
Speaker 3: Oka by the Wizards because they didn't have a G
Speaker 3: League team at the time, so he believed they or
Speaker 3: not played for the Sixers G League team while not
Speaker 3: being in the six Ers organization early.
Speaker 4: In his career.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so that's that's just a great story of
Speaker 1: you know, a guy and using the the G League
Speaker 1: system to you know, carve out a good career. And
Speaker 1: all those guys have carved out great careers so far
Speaker 1: with with the use of you know, a developmental league.
Speaker 3: Matt Murphy here with seventy six Ers assistant coach Matt
Speaker 3: Brazi and what are some of your responsibilities within this
Speaker 3: Sixer staff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so with the staff, you know, I help out
Speaker 1: a little bit with the offense. You know, Nick has
Speaker 1: a lot of great ideas that you know, he's he's
Speaker 1: brought to the team that we kind of you know,
Speaker 1: back it all up with him where there's certain drills,
Speaker 1: helping out with them, put it in different aspects of
Speaker 1: the offense, helping with that, and then you know a
Speaker 1: handful of scouts. You know, we kind of split up
Speaker 1: the scouts throughout the staff, So I got a couple
Speaker 1: of those that we do. But just you know, the
Speaker 1: great thing about our staff is we're very versatile. A
Speaker 1: lot of us have coached in the G League that
Speaker 1: we've all worn a lot of different hats, and Nick
Speaker 1: doesn't want guys that are you're just this.
Speaker 4: Guy, You're just this guy.
Speaker 1: So we all kind of have like a lot of
Speaker 1: different roles that kind of maybe are a little different
Speaker 1: than your traditional NBA staff and we kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: mix and match different things together that you know a
Speaker 1: lot of staffs don't and it makes it better for
Speaker 1: for ideas and decisions are based on the group rather
Speaker 1: than I'm the offensive guy, or I'm the defensive guy,
Speaker 1: or I'm this that you know, we kind of share
Speaker 1: a lot of things within each side of the ball
Speaker 1: and that you know, makes.
Speaker 4: Our decisions when we work together as.
Speaker 1: A group, you know, more fluid, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: kind of more open mindedness instead of making decisions to
Speaker 1: help maybe what might be your segment.
Speaker 3: It's largely a new staff with the reigning MVP. What's
Speaker 3: it like to coach Joel Embiid?
Speaker 4: It's awesome. I mean, Joel is incredible.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's super talented, he's a great team guy.
Speaker 1: He's you know, he's a he's a willing learner and
Speaker 1: wants to be coached. And you know, he's got a
Speaker 1: great personality as a lot of people see when when
Speaker 1: they watch him play, and you know that's that's a
Speaker 1: daily thing. So being around the talent of you know,
Speaker 1: obviously Joel is our guy, but you know all the
Speaker 1: supporters around him too or is just just an awesome group.
Speaker 1: And you know, because they are very coachable, it gives us,
Speaker 1: like you said, a brand new staff that we.
Speaker 4: Can throw ideas out.
Speaker 1: They're they're receptive to them and they want to do
Speaker 1: it and you know, if it doesn't work, we try
Speaker 1: the next one. And so so that's kind of the
Speaker 1: fun part about you know, working for a team that
Speaker 1: Nick runs is you know, we try a lot of
Speaker 1: different things, and we want to see what works, and
Speaker 1: you know, creative ideas are strongly encouraged.
Speaker 3: Ending with a little bit more about your own individual path.
Speaker 3: When you were playing and you were on the team
Speaker 3: at the University of Arizona, you were coached by Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame coach Luke Olsen, who is your grandfather. Rest
Speaker 3: in peace, of course. But what was that experience like
Speaker 3: to play for him?
Speaker 4: It was awesome.
Speaker 1: I mean his resume speaks for himself of you know,
Speaker 1: as a coach and a Hall of Famer, and win
Speaker 1: in a bunch of games, in a national championship, in
Speaker 1: multiple final fours, but you know, just being able to
Speaker 1: learn from him every day, you know, going to the
Speaker 1: coaching profession. I mean, my sister was a coach in
Speaker 1: the WNBA for seventeen years with the Phoenix Mercury. She's
Speaker 1: won multiple titles too. That I mean, that was just
Speaker 1: all we knew as kids. That's all I know as
Speaker 1: an adult is how to coach basketball. That it's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he would pick us up and take us
Speaker 1: to practice as we're kids, and then you know, as
Speaker 1: we got older, you know, going to his camps and
Speaker 1: working his camps and you know, I went to to
Speaker 1: junior college to play, and then you know, you have
Speaker 1: a couple opportunities to go to maybe smaller schools to play,
Speaker 1: and you know, I had a conversation with him about
Speaker 1: being a walk on his team and you know, kind
Speaker 1: of learning basketball at that level at you know, what
Speaker 1: I believe was the greatest school in the world, the
Speaker 1: University of.
Speaker 3: Arizona number one as we speak in mid December and
Speaker 3: the a people.
Speaker 1: For sure, we got a big one against purdueing in
Speaker 1: Annapolis this weekend that we'll get done. But yeah, just
Speaker 1: you know, to be able to learn from him, and
Speaker 1: you know, I had the unique opportunity of being a
Speaker 1: walk on his team and seeing the day to day
Speaker 1: stuff of preparation and getting the team ready to go.
Speaker 4: And then you know, I had.
Speaker 1: A unique opportunity after that, after my graduation that I
Speaker 1: was on his staff as well. So just kind of
Speaker 1: seeing everything he did and learning from him, and you know,
Speaker 1: he taught a lot of life and basket well lessons
Speaker 1: to me that you know, I'm fortunate to be able
Speaker 1: to you know, have a grandfather that was, you know,
Speaker 1: in the same profession that I'm in, and the type
Speaker 1: of character that he was and just kind of learn
Speaker 1: from him firsthand that I'm I'm very fortunate to be
Speaker 1: able to have that opportunity.
Speaker 3: And finally, how did you end up coaching Haities national
Speaker 3: basketball team? And when did you do that?
Speaker 4: So I'm still currently the head coach.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of you know, hoops that we go
Speaker 1: through with FIBA and competition and stuff like that. But
Speaker 1: I was coaching CHI League team in Real Grand Valley
Speaker 1: and one of one of our guys on staff, Nick Friedman,
Speaker 1: He's went to grad school at University of Miami. He
Speaker 1: was on staff there and then he was with me
Speaker 1: and rgv's currently with the Charlotte Hornets.
Speaker 4: Kind of came up to him. He was like, hey, man,
Speaker 4: we got this opportunity.
Speaker 1: We know these Haitians they want to have a national
Speaker 1: team hadn't played in like thirty seven years, and they
Speaker 1: want to have a team. They want to have a program,
Speaker 1: but you know they want to have a coach that
Speaker 1: coach at the professional level, and you know, would you.
Speaker 4: Be interested in doing that?
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, let's do this. He said, well, they
Speaker 1: don't pay any money. Then I said that's fine. We
Speaker 1: have the opportunity.
Speaker 4: We want to have this, this this journey.
Speaker 1: Of a group of guys that we like, our coaching staff,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's a it's a beautiful country.
Speaker 4: We've done. I've been there two different times.
Speaker 1: We've played in a pre qualifying tournament with them, and
Speaker 1: it's just it's just a great experience to to be
Speaker 1: able to give back.
Speaker 4: I mean, we're all very fortunate to be.
Speaker 1: Able to to coach basketball for a living.
Speaker 4: And then there's perspective when.
Speaker 1: You go to a country like Haiti that's you know,
Speaker 1: the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere that you go
Speaker 1: in and you know you're able to change lives, you're
Speaker 1: able to go there. We go, we do camps for kids,
Speaker 1: we do camps for boys, we do camps for girls,
Speaker 1: we do uh, you know camps you know that include
Speaker 1: coaches to help them coach and you know stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So it's really, you know, it's it's it's a good
Speaker 1: opportunity for us to give back to the game of
Speaker 1: basketball because we're able to you know, get a lot
Speaker 1: from the game that we can give back. We can
Speaker 1: go to the country and you know, it's an ongoing
Speaker 1: project of we're you know, always looking to grow it
Speaker 1: and you know, just waiting for more competitions that we're
Speaker 1: able to take part of and just keep growing the
Speaker 1: game throughout the country.
Speaker 4: That's great stuff. Thanks so much, Matt, awesome, appreciate you