Coat Check | Connor Johnson

searching Delaware Bluecoats wherever you get your podcasts. Recent episodes include conversations with Mariel Shayak and Chris Kumaji. But how about we bring in their coach so without for they're ado. Connor Johnson joins me here on Coach Check, the second year head coach of the Delaware Bluecoats, following a few years on Brett Brown's staff in Philadelphia. Connor, it's been a little while now since you and I have caught up when it comes to the buzz word or phrase

quarantine activities. What are some things that you were or are up to at home during this time? Murph Man good to talk to you. You're right, it definitely has been too long. But the quarantine for sure has been interesting. I think I've been lucky, you know, my family and

everyone doing well through it all. But a lot of it is kind of gearing up getting ready for next season, and Coach Brown has been pretty gracious and including our staff and a lot of the work that they're doing for getting ready for when they head down to Orlando, and kind of we were on zoom calls with them a couple of times a week with the development staff, so I felt like we're getting as much basketball as we can without actually being on the word, but still

different to what we normally do doing this this time during summer quick rundown for our listeners. We will get into the NBA bubble with the timing of when we're recording this. Everybody wants to talk about that. You and I will take a specific look at some of the recent Bluecoats who are with the seventy six ers, shake Milton, Mariel Shayak, and Norvelle Pelle who spent a lot of time in Delaware over the last couple of years and even prior to that. Then we will go to our

Healthy Lifestyle segment presented by Christianna Care. Of course as doctors, nurses, and caregivers and as neighbors and friends. Christianna Care as a partner in everyone's journey to greater health and well being? Why do they do it for the love of health? Visit christiana Care dot org. From there, will transition into the Bluecoats season. A successful season that was obviously cut a little bit short, but a lot to talk about

from a team perspective as well. Once we touch on the individuals here in a moment who are with the Sixers, but a good year for the Bluecoats in your second year, and we will round it out at the buzzer with some fun stuff at the end. But let's jump in with the Orlando restart. We're recording this prior to the start of scrimmage play for the Sixers this week, and Shake Milton has really been a big story with the Sixers, to say the least. Before the season was paused, he

was playing very well. What has it been like for you and your staff in Delaware to watch him achieve this period of NBA success. Well, I think we're excited as everybody else is, and proud, and it's just great to see him a play at the level he does. I mean, we talk about the Clippers game with the Sixers played where he just takes over and puts up some monster numbers playing against some really high caliber opponents.

I think it's good to see. I think we've had a lot of guys on our team that you can really root for, and shakes no exception to that. He came in. I think he started a little flow in our year and then by the end he was really something that everyone was excited about. And to see it come to fruition at the NBA level, it is really cool. I think it's kind of points to what we're trying to do here the G League. He becomes a great poster child for kind of our young program and what

we're trying to do. The six years have done a heck of a job kind of keeping him on that right progression, working with the development coaches and Tyler Lashburg on a day in and day out basis. I'm excited to see I think he's gonna have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, but I'm hoping he's ready for it, and I'm gonna play really well once they get gone right.

And let's stay on Shake for a second here. He obviously played mostly in the G League during his rookie season, but he did play in six games with your team again this season, and you coached him in summer league. What were the biggest areas of development for Shake from year one to year two. I think that he really established himself and he gained a lot of confidence in year one. I think in year two it's it's all about you get a short windows to kind of prove

your success in the NBA. That the Sixers coaching staff and just the way the NBA works is that when you show up, you got to play well right away. If you don't, you take a back seat to somebody else that they're not. They don't have that same long term ability to give guys minutes when they're not producing

right away. And so I think what we did in the second year was just trying to get him back up to the same confident level that he was if he might not have been at that time, and so you get a short window to really prove what you can do. And lately, in the kind of back half of the season, he was playing as well as anyone.

But when he came to us around Christmas time and we were at the showcase, he wasn't getting a lot of minutes he was he had an injury, he wasn't playing a lot, wasn't in the rotation, and so I think we offered him, and I think he really took advantage. That was just kind of getting his swagger back. How he can play, the strength of his game. Why should Sixers fans be excited about the way Shake Milton fits into their current lineup what they have in Philadelphia. Yeah,

I think that's a good question. I think his versatility is number one, that played with guys like Ben and Tobias and Alan Joe, guys that are going to command a lot of attention. You need well rounded players around the guys who can get them the ball and positions to score, but also guys that can score themselves. So

I think I see Shake. I think the role he's fitting really well is as a complimentary ball handler who can make plays off the drib will make shots when he's open, but also knows how to facilitate and get those guys and play through them. So he has a nice balance of knowing how to play and being able to do a lot of things at a high level, which I think co exists really well with the talent, the tremendous talent the Sixers have at the top end

of their roster. This year's number fifty four overall pick by the Sixers was Mariel Shayak, and he had a fantastic rookie season with the Coats. What parallel else can be drawn between his season and the rookie year of the guy we just talked about, Shake Milton, I think a lot, you know. I think the rookie year for everyone is about getting your feet wet to some extent, building up your confidence, and then understanding kind of the

nuances and what can make these guys successful. I think Mars got a great opportunity going down to Orlando with the Sixers that he can play every day in front of those Sixer coaches, playing against there's a lot of practice time. I think that's something that maybe people on the outside might not be able to see quite as clearly.

But in the Sixers start their season and they have training camp for five days, they play another game, they play another practice or two, and then boom there playing preseason games and they playing games from there on out. But here they're this unique stretch where they just had I don't know what it is, eight nine, ten days of legitimate practice where every guy is getting a lot

of reps and a lot of opportunity. One to get better playing against him, but two to be seen and be really kind of evaluated by their coaches every single day, and those coaches helping Marget better. So Mars got a great, fantastic opportunity that I know, the silver lining of the quarantine, so to speak, as that Mars, they're practicing every day with these guys and hopefully getting better and showing them what they can do. So we've been talking to Marrow

all throughout the summer. Of course, like you said, very very proud of the season he had. He put up incredible numbers, really showed everyone how he can score in a lot of ways, score at the ram, hitting jump shot, shooting threes. But now it's great for me. I couldn't be more excited for him in Orlando, kind of showing those guys what he can do. How about a guy who is truly a Bluecoats fan favorite, Norvelle pell Bluecoat

for Life, Novelle. We love that guy. Oh yeah, and he signed a standard NBA deal with the Sixers in February. How rewarding was that moment for you and your staff? I mean, just like we said with Shake, we're excited for all of our guys and we were lucky in our first year that a lot of guys went on to have. They finished the season in a better position

than they started, the opportunities that they had. Norvelle shows it was a G League player for us, got a two way now is on a standard NBA contract, and that's exactly what we're trying to do with all of our guys. And like you said, Norvelle's a fan favorite, he's a coach favorite too. He's a great guy to have around, tons of personality. I think he brings as much on the court as he does sitting on the bench with the Sixers waving the towel and getting everybody

fired up. So I think that say it's kind of similar with mar that now Norvelle as they get back into it. I think Norvelle's got an opportunity where you never know what's going to happen. The Sixers have a lot of big names playing in front of him, but in a short season where they got eight games to kind of get ready. I think he'll get a crack at some time on the court and showing people. We saw the shot blocking, and we saw when they played the Knicks in one of those games, just what he

could do in a short stretch. So obviously he's gotten better the talents there. He's going to get kind of back in the swing of things. And he's one, like you said, well or we will always root for, and you mentioned his personality. I think playing without fans, he himself has talked about everybody five no question, what's that I said, He'll have to bring the fire, no question,

an empty bell might take it over. He has actually said that everyone's gonna need to bring their own energy in a different matter, and I think he's a great candidate to be that hype man when he's not on the court. In Orlando, I mentioned briefly your summer league coaching experience from this past summer league. How do you think the bubble experience down there might compare to that

in terms of the on court feel. I think similar to coach Brown in these zoom meetings that we've been in where he's been prepping the staff or going down there, and he's kind of doing that all throughout the break. He would talk about his Olympic experience and how I kind of reminded him about being in the Olympic village where you're playing the day in and one day off, then you're on. You play kind of every other day

and the other. Like you're saying, I think the Summer League is the other kind of really good example of what it's like to have the teams all contain in the same area, playing on a regular basis at the same place. And so I'd be lucky to do the Summer League now for four or five years, being the

head coach of the last year. And in some ways I think Vegas is a bit of an example because there's a lot going on there, but even just kind of being around and kind of having the aa you feel of seeing the other team and stay in the same hotel and people really locked in focused on basketball that the bubble, and for these guys who've been away from basketball for so long, I think they got to be just dying to get back to it. So I think you're right on. It will have a similar feel.

I think it's going to take the guys a little bit to get in rhythm, and I don't not sure the basketball will be as crisp as as we might expect right away. But the flip side of it is that the games matter. That Normally the season starts out, guys are a little rusty and kind of getting off to a rocky start, but it's the exhibition games, or

it's game one of an eighty two game season. Here it's you're playing eight games to get seating where you want and kind of moving up in those ranks and also proving to your teammates and your coaches of what you can do while the team tries to build confidence. So I think the stakes are pretty high for these guys having to get back in the swing of it after so long. Let's dive into our healthy lifestyle segment before we get to the success of the Bluecoat season

and round things out. The healthy lifestyle segment, presented by Christianic Care, all about doing things for the love of health. And I know many coaches have their routines. Coach Silas has told me on this podcast he's a big peloton guy. What do you do when it comes to staying active

during this time? Oh well, I'm not totally sure that I should be the model for the listeners, but through the pandemic, we were able to get some kids, some dumbells, and some workout here into the house, and that's been something that on a kind of regular basis, I've been trying to do, as well as when the weather has been nice and not hot like it is now, getting

out to run. So those have been Again, I don't know if this is the v model we should be falling when you look at me, but I do appreciate the healthy lifestyle part, and that's something I am, I'm sure aspirationally trying to be a part of one more in here. But we're gonna shift it just towards routine in general, because many coaches stick to a routine, and you've worked with Brett Brown, you've also worked with Jay

Wright at Villanova. What did you observe about their routines not necessarily related to health and wellness, but in just

in general. I think one the thing that really stands out a little bit related to your health and wellness is coach Brown's game day routine that he's got the whole thing kind of scheduled out to the minute of what he wanted to do, whether it was in the morning for a pregame meeting, was shoot around and in that meeting, what's going to be covered, the offense, defense, the scouting report, what we're trying to get accomplished too.

Whether that was a pregame walkthrough that they had gone before, he did his run every day before the game. But what I really took away from him was the level of preparation and that his ability to kind of know exactly what was going to happen at each segment. I think maybe took away a lot of the kind of guesswork of what was going on. Allowed them to focus more and make the most of their time. With eighty to two games, I think it's something that's really difficult

to do. Games are on you playing three or four a week. It's hard to really prepare for each of them. But by having that kind of same schedule day in and day out that he followed pretty strictly, I think that really helped. And that's something that we try to do the same thing with our staph in Delaware. We know what to expect, we know what the meeting is going to cover, we know what order going to hit people are ready to roll to get the most out

of it. Before we round things out at the buzzer, let's talk about the season for the Delaware Bluecoats, because although the season was cut short, the Bluecoats were in position for a playoff spot. They were hovering in the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference of the g League, and there are a few team stats that we should point out for the fan base. But before we get there, what were your main takeaways about the success of the Bluecoats season. Yeah, I thought we had a great year.

I think it was unfortunate, like you're saying that for a lot of other reasons, but part of it for our team not getting to kind of finish out the year that we had started. I thought defensively, we really played well. I thought our guys bought into being as physical and aggressive as we could. I think that we were lucky. I think Matt matt our GM Matt Lily gave us great not only great players, but great guys a kind of bought into the system to the culture.

Our whole hope is to develop these guys and help them achieve their next level, whether or not that's with the six years or somewhere else. But then on top of that, we want to have team success and I think the number of games that we want I think the way our defensive rating kind of ended at the end.

Those were things goals that we set out at the beginning of the year, and to have met most of them, I think is a tribute to the players who were talented players who worked hard and bought into what we needed in a short G League season. Right. There's a handful of the stats. I'll pick out a couple, but some of them are on the defensive side, second and half court defense, second, most games with a defensive rating

of one hundred or below, a couple other ones. Franchise records seven game winning streak, first in restricted area field goal percentage. I could go on and on, but are there any in that group or the ones that I didn't mention that you're most proud of? Yeah, I think a lot of it. The whole point for us, again is to get these guys to get to the next level and play well. And so a lot of the work that we do putting into these guys and the work that the players are doing, I mean, they're just

a bigger part of it. Of course, we don't see the rewards right away, right We're hoping for next year these guys get better contract opportunities or can play at a higher level. So part of it is like we gotta to do everything we can to plant the seed to help these guys as they move on. But like you're saying, we still want to be cognizant of what's going on in the immedia. See how we're playing, Are

we winning games, are we developing winning habits? And I think, like you're saying, having a seven game win streak for the first time in the history of the program something we got to be proud and our guys got to be proud of because they really were playing at a high level and they were seeing hopefully we see that success in the future, but they were seeing it right in the near term as well. The defend run share motto,

where does that come from? I mean, truthfully comes from Coach Brown and what they're doing up there, but we kind of molded it to ourselves kind of starting the last Summer League because of the traits that we thought would or do really best translate to our guys having success to the other level that if they there's no, there's no way they get to the NBA and the coach is gonna say, Oh, this guy's too good a defender,

this guy defends too well. No, like, you can never be too good a defender, you can never run too hard, and you can never be too good of a teammate. And so are those are all categories our guys can always get better at. And by getting better at they're helping their value, They're helping their chances of playing at a higher level or getting a better contract. And so I think our staff picked those three terms as things we wanted to dive in on and pride ourselves about.

And that's why a lot of our goals reflected that defend, run, and share like those are the most important things we can do. So it's good to hear you say those defensive stats, which we kind of set out on day one as defense being our main priority, to see that a lot of that came to life. We'll wrap things up with Connor Johnson at the Buzzer in a second, But no More's 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 nemours dot org slash pt. All right, coach, let's go at the buzzer. I had a tailor these more towards you and less so some of the players that we've had on recently, But the first one still applies. In terms of travel, what's your favorite road city to travel to and why? Portland, Maine. We've coached Peters who we had last year, found us a great restaurant for some lobster roles, that great little

downtown that's that's the hotel we stay there. Not the greatest, but the vibe we get in the city and we actually won't want to want a great gig down there last year, so I'm putting that number one. I love it. Fun fact wise, we ask the guys what they're hidden talent is anything that you bring to the table in terms of a hidden talent in yourself. I know, I mean pretty amateur in this, but I do. I do enjoy some music and playing the pianos kind of in

one one thing I've done throughout my entire life. So I hit in town might be a little strong, but that's where I go. Hey, you learned something new every day. I didn't even know that one about you, and last one, I just remember you saying something about this maybe the first time I had you on the podcast. I think you're a fan of podcasts, and I'm curious, have you been listening to more less the same amount even though you've been in quarantine over the last certain amount of time.

I actually say about the same amount, because I think the drive I live in Philadelphia and so they drive down every day to Delaware was a good hour of just kind of like thinking about the team, but also trying to learn something new or get my mind off something with the podcast and not having the same time in the car as decreased, but I think a little

more free time in general has probably increased offsetting. I'm going equal at the end, all right, I'll take that, And I think you now hold the record for most guest appearances on Coach check yourself. I think this is number three for you. Hopefully, I'll means we're doing this something right, all right, So that's gonna do it for this episode. Connor, thanks for joining us for the third time. Yeah, all the best, Murphy, appreciate your time is always in

a thanks to our listeners as well. Once again, Delaware Bluecoats head coach Connor Johnson, and I'm Matt Murphy until next time. Take it or leave it at the coach check