Coat Check | Christ Koumadje

the Year with the Delaware Blue Coats, Chris Kumaji. We are recording this on June twenty fifth, fresh off of the award, literally a week to the day of when the award was announced. Chris, I'll start with this, what has the support been like since winning the award? It seemed like everybody was showing you love, seventy sixers players, Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson, a lot of your Florida State

teammates as well, really everybody. So what's that support been like? Oh? Yeah, I definitely got a lot of law from my teammates, uh, you know, especially the awns from College, also family members and a few vents from the Sixers. Tobias give me a shout out. I think Josh Richardson and also Kylo Quinn did too so and uh chimmate like Sha moved reach style. A bunch of my guys from G League also reached out. So it was really I mean a lot really too, you know, I have those guys reached

out and like, congratulate you. That's awesome. And just a quick rundown for our listeners out there, we will touch on your rookie season this year in the G League. We will do, of course, our Healthy Lifestyle segment ended by Christianna Care as doctors, nurses and caregivers and as neighbors and friends. Christianna Care is a partner in everyone's journey to greater health and well being. Why do they do it for the love of health? Visit Christianacare dot org.

From there, we'll get into a little bit of your background for anybody who wants to know more about your upbringing. We did do a we had a conversation a few months ago in April. They can find that on the Bluecoats website, which has a little bit more detail about your upbringing and background, but we will touch on that before are at the buzzer questions. At the end, we'll have a little fun talk about soccer and a couple

other fun topics. But let's start with this season in Delaware, your rookie year, first player in Delaware franchise history to win G League Defensive Player of the Year honors. What does being recognized in that way mean to you? Now? It definitely means a lot. You know, from the point

that I started playing basketball. I can just remember, you know, like you know, five six years ago, and it's just you know, at this point, to get better commission and you see your other words, just you know, you see the result of your hot work. It just means a lot, you know. And also for like my people back home, you know, you know, everybody's kind of very happy for me.

They're very inspired. The young young people really looking up to me, So that that definitely means a lot as a rookie and your seven foot four For those who don't already know that, or for those who might not have seen you play, you led the G League in block shots per game. Four per game is incredible. You led the league in total block shots one hundred and thirty three, which was a single season record for the

Delaware franchise. What were some of the factors that contributed such to such a strong transition from college to the pros for you this year. I think it's just you know, the work and also the experience, you know, expirits that I had in camp. A lot of from from the coaching stuff on just like you know, being being active, being you know, using my advantage my height, and also just uh you know, you know, being just being vocal, you know, being a defensive presidence, you know, altering shots,

you know, also working on my time. It's a lot of stuff that you know, coming come and play, but you know, the ones that I can remember. I definitely just like, uh, you know, just the stuff that I learned with the coaching stuff on not fouling, you know, verticality. It was the biggest thing that I had to really get better from college ship to the GROS. And you reference camp. Of course, you were in training camp in

Summer League with the Philadelphia seventy six ers. But let's talk about a specific game from the G League regular season February first at Erie. That's the Triple Double Game eighteen points, twenty rebounds, twelve blocks, which was a G League season high for block shots in a game this year. Take us through what was going through your mind during that game with the twelve blocks and the triple double. Honestly, I didn't know I had to I'm in the rebounds

and blocks. I was just you know, I was just had the energy. I was just you know, running around blocking shots. Uh. I mean, I definitely know I had more than ten rebounds, but I didn't know, you know, when we when we won the game, and then coach kind of say that in the locker room. So that was definitely that was definitely a really really great moment for me. Uh, exciting game. I had a lot of energy that game. I wasn't really thinking. I was just

just playing. Are you ever thinking, like when you have a game where you get to three, four or five blocks, like, what are you thinking after each block shot that you rack up? Honestly, after five, I don't think any player can really come because after five, just like the first two years, okay, I got two blocks or something, but

like after that is just you lose cover. Well pretty much every game you had like two blocks, So I'm sure it was hard to keep track for you, um, and we covered this before, but for any of our new listeners, where does your celebration after blocking the shots when you do a thumb or thumbs down? Where does that celebration come from? I think Ibaca used to do it with one hand, yeah, and then in college I sawt of doing it and then I was like, maybe I should be double Tom down and like, you know,

switch it up with something. Well, it definitely worked for you this year, and I think the fans and your teammates and the staff got a lot of enjoyment out of seeing that celebration. We have done the healthy Lifestyle segment before, so I'll try to gear the questions in a little bit of a different direction. But it is time for our Healthy Lifestyle segment, presented by Christiana Care And obviously this segment's all about doing things for the

love of health. As we record this, you're coming off or as yesterday, you're coming off a workout. You've been working out daily during this time. What types of workouts have you been doing recently? A lot of on court, you know, just to get you know, stay in that basketball shape. Also lifting, you know, just to you know, tune your body up, you know, like the react type of lift mobility and that's flosive type of lift. Well,

mostly just a lot of on core conditioning. Have you picked up any new workouts or training methods, I mean, even dating back to the start of quarantine when you were mostly in the house, did you try anything new. I saw a little bit like like like just body weights, but I feel like everybody kind of did that. But that's something I've never really been before. But you know, I kind of like, you know, I mean, push offs is you know, part of it, but like also stuff

like bibbs, a lot of other stuff. You can have fun with it. So I saw, I saw, I saw looking more into that. How is the meditation going if you're still doing Oh? I used the calm the Calm app and it really really has going to help me, especially before going to bed. I gotta try that. Somebody told me to download that, so I think I'm gonna start. Maybe you should you should put the language in French because this is very suiting when he's in French, just

just says the voice. See. Maybe I'll try it. We'll see, I'll report back. Let's touch a little bit on your background here for those who don't know you. You grew up in Chad in the capitol city for for most of your childhood, and you grew up playing soccer before you literally outgrew the sport as you got taller, and you started playing basketball at age sixteen. And you've obviously developed over the years during your career from Montvert Academy

in Florida to Florida State and now the pros. But what were some of the low points along the way that made you stronger on and off the court. The low points definitely, Uh, the situation back home and living here. I know I was gonna get a better opportunity anyway, you know, with basketball with school definitely, so you know, coming here, I just have to focus on that party, you know, getting good grades and also working hard on

the courts. And also my days a month very you know, I wasn't really you know, I was just not picking up the game. So that was some of my worst days with basketball because I was just not moved to the game and I could have keep up with the guys there, and that was some of my worst days in basketball. I would see, Well, I do want to talk about Mott Verd for a second. Here because there are for our listeners, there are Sixers and Blue Coats.

Connections obviously from your high school days. Who were some of your teammates on that team? Ben Simmons was there the two years that I was there from uh I think fourteen and fifteen. Yep, it was good. He graduated. I DeAngelo Russell was also in the mix. I think I don't know if you played with him, Yeah, he was done my June. And then Dural Moore as well, who you were teammates with in Delaware this past season. So connections all around. Oh yeah, I got you, I

got you. What traits like, what kind of traits skill wise, workout wise, whatever it might be. Did did Ben Simmons have even back then? That kind of stood out to you? I think it was just an efficiency and how consistent he was with his work, Like he knew exactly well he needed to work on. So when he getting you know, some guys would be there for like, you know, an hour lifting, but he just knewbody needed to do. So he's just like intense and then you know, you just

get it done. That's something that I've noticed with him, just efficiency. So a lot of what we talked we have talked about Chris, kind of it's all pointing in the direction of the NBA. I mean, you have some NBA experience at Summer League training camp, you had a great season as a rookie in the G League, So a lot of arrows are pointing to the m b A. What do you think your family say to you if you are able to become the first player from Chad

to see the floor in a regular season NBA game. Oh, my mom definitely just meant the ward to her because you know she can just remember, you know, me leaving Senegal in the situation that we was in, and it was just meant a lot for her. You know, like she in college, she didn't really know much about basketball, but now that she's very invested in because you know, I kind of like keep her, keep her in touch with the sport and stuff like that. So she definitely

meant a lot for her. My uncle's my host family here and i'd been you know, being with me this whole time. Me just a lot for them, you know, just see them smile. We'll have more with Chris Kumachi coming up, but first, the more Sports Medicine believes that highly personalized one on one physical therapy for young athletes is paramount to a speedy and complete recovery. Learn more at moores dot org slash pt. All right, Chris, now it's time to round things out with our at the

Buzzer segment. Just some fun questions. I've kind of themed these out over the past couple episodes, and the first one is about travel. You're definitely a well traveled person and kind of thinking in terms of this past season in the G League. What was your favorite road city that you played in this season and why? I think it was one one to play the Toronto G League team. It was just niceier, you know, going to kind of there for for the first song. And also Toronto was

a really nice city. Diversity. I didn't know it was not diverse, it was. It was really nice to set. Yeah, Terry Harris said the Raptors trip as well. You said that was your first time in Canada. Yeah. Nice, Yeah, definitely a good choice. I would say there are some unique stops on that schedule, but that was only a player favorite this year. How about your jersey number, and it could be either of these. What's the story behind your current jersey number twenty or your all time favorite

jersey number if it's not twenty. I used to wear twenty one, twenty one in high school. Where does that come from? I don't, I don't know. I just I just maybe something just a superstition. But I never really thought about it, you know, to like, uh like he really doesn't have any any deep meaning behind it. But I just liked the number twenty one, and I liked

that range from like twenty to twenty one. So it's just it's just, uh, you know, it's just that I think I lost you a little bit there at the end. But it was twenty one taken on the Blue coats this year. I should know that, but I can't. You were twenty, I was twenty because I mean when I was at camp, I couldn't. I couldn't wear Oh you're saying, you're saying he couldn't wear twenty one with the sixers. I wonder why that is? No, I could. I could

the twenty. So it was just I think it was just you know, ho twenty deaths, so it would just be easy having twenty on the on the blue coach. Gotcha, Let's get you out of here with this one. Um, this is like the fun fact theme question. You listed your your hidden talent as soccer this year, and anybody who has read about you know is that soccer was a big part of your journey. So maybe it's not a hidden talent to them, but we saw you break out the skills the soccer skills um on media day.

How good are you at juggling a soccer ball? Like? How many times in a row? Or how long could you go for? Man? I used to I used to go longer, maybe maybe for like two minutes. But now the longest I can go maybe I don't know, a minute seconds. I lost that. We'll have to do a video follow up or something at some point where juggle as soccer ball at some point, but that's gonna do it. Chris, thanks a lot for giving me some time. Congrats again on Defensive Player of the Year. And I know you

have a birthday coming up pretty soon in July. Happy early birthday to you, Man. Thanks as always to our listeners. Once again, he is the first NBA G League Defensive Player of the Year in Delaware franchise history. Chris Kumaji and I'm Matt Murphy. Until next time, take it or leave it at the coach check