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I'm Matt Murphy. Let's get right to it. The guest on this episode seventy six Ers two way contract player Dakota Matthias. Really fun to chat with Dakota on Coach Check for the first time. It's a pretty concise conversation that I think covers a lot of ground with the seventy sixers rookie. And it's before the season, or it was recorded before the season. And since then, he's had two really impressive outings for the Sixers towards the end of games. He's played in a few more games than that,
but he has two eight point scoring games. He played seven minutes against Cleveland at the end of December and scored eight points, and most recently as the week of this recording right now, he scored eight points in four minutes on January fourth against the Hornets. So he's getting buckets in limited minutes when he gets in at the NBA level and it's his first NBA action of his professional career, having previously spent time in the G League.
We talked about everything from the half court gym connected to his childhood home in Ohio, his college career at Purdue, the importance of the NBA G League for his career, and a little bit more. On top of that. New episodes of Coach Check every other Tuesday on the seventy six Ers Podcast Network Tuesdays now For the Coach Check podcast, be sure to subscribe to the seventy six Ers Podcast Network, and as always, thanks for listening. Let's hear from seventy
six ers two way contract player Dakota Matthias. I heard about this basketball court in Elidah, Ohio. I read about five years old you were when your family had a gym added to the home. What's the story with that and how did that help shape your path? Yeah? Yeah, so I was fortunate enough I had two older brothers we all love basketball, So my parents decided to build us a little half court gym kneck into our house.
So ever since I can remember, you know, I was out there running around playing, and as I got older, I think the big benefit for me was playing against my brothers. You know, they would have friends come over, so I was always playing against older, you know, stronger quicker players, um, and that that helped me so much. So I can't thank my parents enough for you know, building that at such a young age and spending countless
hours out there working on your craft. I'm gonna quickly ask you to channel your inner radio broadcaster and paint the picture a little bit. What did it look like? What did the court look like? Colors set up all that. Yeah, so my high school was orange and black. So we had, you know, little pads underneath the basket. They were orange and black. The trim around it was all painted orange as well, and we had different flags and um, you
know things like that of the high school. You know, we had a ten foot goal obviously, then on the side we had a little six or seven foot goal that I would use when I was younger. So it was it was really cool and it had like a little you know, V shape all the way to the top high ceiling, so it was it was really cool. And a little weight room right right before you walk in the gym, so we had the whole set up there. It seems very legit, as does your high school career
in general. So before we go to college, what was the high school basketball atmosphere like in your hometown? Yeah, I know it's it's it's top notch. You know Indiana, Ohio, Um, you know, they're known for their high school basketball. Um, and especially where I grew up Northwest Ohio, UM, you know, everybody we had you know, four or five thousand you know seat gyms and they were filled every Friday and Saturday night. Um. You know, the community just love their
high school sports and especially basketball. So I was very fortunate to grow up in that area. And then you go to Purdue Perdue University and I can rattle off the two numbers where you finish your career as the all time leader at the time and games played one hundred and forty one and three pointers made two hundred and fifty. I know Carson Edwards took over that second one from you after the fact, but how would you describe your path through college over the four years, the adversity,
the high points, just the journey in general. Yeah, knows, it was a great journey. You know, I wouldn't trade anything for it. Um. Obviously there were some ups and downs, especially at the beginning. Everybody's a guy, you know in high school. You know, when you get to college, you want it to be like that, but it is not always like that. UM. So I you know, I had some struggles early on my freshman you know, early in my sophomore year, just adjusting to it all. But um,
we had a great coaching staff. Coach Painter is one of the best in the business, and you know, he teaches you so much. UM. You know, I can't thank him enough for giving me the opportunity. And UM, like I said, once I got into my Salt late and sophomore year, and then you know, the next two years, my junior and senior year, UM really got in a groove. And you know, we had a four seniors, um, our senior class. We all came in together and UM, you know, we had a great, great chemistry, won a lot of
games together. So it was it was a great experience. We're about to get into the pro side of things in a second. And here in Philadelphia, a lot's been made about seventy six Ers guard Seth Curry playing for his father in law, Doc Rivers. When you were at Purdue, you're now father in law Greg Gary was part of the coaching staff there. What was that dynamic like for you? Yeah, no, it was, it was It was interesting. Um, you know,
he actually was one that recruited me as well. But you know, we're both you know, we're all about basketball. You know, it's a business for us, and um, you know, we take it very seriously. So there was never any you know, anything you know, weird or awkward about it. So, um, you know, it's been fun. It's been great. Now good stuff.
And in terms of your the start of your pro career, last year, you ranked second in the G League the NBA G League with one hundred and forty seven threes as a member of the Texas Legends, who are the Dallas Mavericks G League affiliate. How important has the G League been for your development? Oh, it was It's everything. My goal has always been obviously to play in the NBA, and um, you know, my first year actually went overseas you know, we played in Spain, UM, and the whole
time I was kind of over there. You know, I wanted to be here. You know, I wanted to be the NBA. And you know, you if you hear the stigma about the G League, you know a lot of negative things, but um, I can't I don't have enough positive things to say about it. You know, especially the place I was at. UM, they treat you great. You know, the G League was was great. You know, we had we actually had a great fan base. Um, you know,
it was it was just a great experience overall. You know, I got to you know, showcase my skills in my game, and um, I wouldn't trade that for anything. It was. It was a great experience. And you know, I love playing in the Guy League and I think it really helped me propel me to where I'm at now. Well, where you're at now is the seventy six ers, of course, the Philadelphia seventy six ers organization. What excites you about
joining the seventy six ers organization? Yeah, you know, just the chemistry and the culture and the history around this place. I mean you walk in and you know you're seeing so many legged statues of legends out here. You're seeing the championship banner um, you know, surrounded by all stars and you know Hall of Fame coaches. So I'm just the history and all the you know, the intelligence of basketball throughout this last couple of years and decades here in the NBA. It's it's it's great to be a
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of health? Visit Christianacare dot org. So how I usually wind these down is just with a couple random questions at the buzzer. I've got three of them for you. The first one has to do with travel, and we'll tie it into the G League. When you were in the G League, what was your favorite road city to visit and why oh, favorite roads city. It's see gonna
be a weird way. Mine was probably Fort Wayne, just because it was really close to home and I got to see about forty or fifty you know, close family and friends, so that I'm gonna have to say that one the mad Ants. Yeah, yeah, good team name too. How about your favorite hobby when you're away from the game. I've heard tennis, I've heard cards. What do you like to do in your free time? Yeah, you know, nothing
too crazy. You like to just hang out with friends, you know, watch movies, and you know, we like to like, say, a lot of a lot of card games. You know, Yuker is a big Midwest game that we like to play as well. I've read that you said if you were a basketball coach, every shot would be a three. Is that still your philosophy? Wow? Yeah, definitely definitely. You know, three is worth more than two. That's always been you know,
good math right there, So we'll take that. But yeah, definitely, I like to shoot a lot of threes, and I think, you know, the NBA is kind of trending that way as well, with the analytics of it. Also, Yeah, that's a good statement. Shooter shoot. Thanks Dakota, thank you,