From the Inside, with Brett Brown | Episode 1

living in a hotel room and watching videotape. People need

to live. So you come into the into the bubble and you start to try to learn what are the resources that are available to us, you know as NBA coaching staff and athletes and for my players, what are the resources in the NBA is so far out in front of so many things to create, you know, gaming devices and gaming areas for the players, you know, the being tossed on lawns, there's poolside activities, there's putting greens, there's stuff to keep you know, people engaged and connected.

Like I've uncovered an unbelievable routine where you can get up and although it's a confined space. You know, you get up really early. I can I can get my run and walk in um there's access you know to a lake that is connected to another lake through a canal, and each team has their own you know boat. It's a pontoon boat that goes slow, but it just lets you, you know, not feel like you're trapped and have sort

of cabin fever. And so for me, I try to do I try to go out, you know, you make phone calls, you think, you try to clear your head sometimes get ready for the day because it's in the morning. Sometimes you have morning activities so it's later in the afternoon. But it really, for me has become a part of my personal routine where you just you know, try to get space, piece clear your head and you know, not

feel like you're you're you're in a tight bubble. You're not like you're out in sort of nature, which I love. Now that the seeding games are here, everything is amplified. It's it's go time. Now you're in the bubble. You know, you're spending a lot of time with the team and the coaching staff and video tapes. The reality that you're gonna blink in the playoffs are going to be right on your doorstep is ever present, and we all feel it. You know. Initially you come down here and it's like

a sophisticated basketball camp. You know, we're all here. You feel like you're a little bit back at college in some ways, where it is a campus, you know, and you bump into people all the time, and you know, we all sort of got the same kind of flow to our lives in this bubble. There are three areas in my bubble. You know, you have teams like Dallas and in Oklahoma City and Memphis and so on, and so like you bump into those coaching staffs and the

play is all all the time. And now that like the games are starting to you know, be played regular season and you know, the playoffs around the corner. Like the reality of the serious side, the kind of business side of the NBA season is here. And initially, you know you didn't feel it like that. You're all trying to figure out what's the world look like nowadays as it relates to NBA basketball, And I think the dust is now settled now you're starting to understand, you know,

how to navigate our new living environment. And most importantly the reality that the playoffs are right around the point. At this point, not much with Joel surprises of me. I wouldn't say no as quickly as I just did if I didn't feel that his fitness base coming into the bubble, coming here to Orlando was as good as it's ever been as it relates to starting, you know,

a new season. And I think that that because of the work that he put in, although he missed you know, two games in the preseason games for him to jump into the regular season in the way that he has, I say no quickly because of that. Like we all get his talent level, but his fitness level was a thing that has to me mostly allowed him to dominate the way that he has dominated. Looking ahead to the next week, I mean the number one thing by a mile is continuing to learn how to you know, play

the team. It's we understand, it's part of it. You just there are so many bullets that have happened this year as it relates to health, you know, only nineteen out of sixty five games, I believe that's the number in the regular season, did you have you know, your starting group and do the math. It's a huge number. Of where you didn't and to come in now and like I look forward to getting Glenn Robinson back and

like figuring where does that slot in. You know, we've test driven you know, Ben at a fore man and then then with the ball a little bit more the last game prior to his injury. And so my my number one thing, and we're very close, is letting the dust settle on the best makeup. I believe that we'll go to a rotation of nine. I don't see it swelling up to uh, you know, eleven. It could go to ten based on you know, foul trouble or matchups,

but that that is number one. You know. I can get into coach speak on parts of our defense or parts of our offense, but to me, the bottom line, the starting point is rotating playing different combinations the team. There is a committed, unified I desire to make people aware of all of the issues with Black Lives Matter

that we've discussed. The flashpoints that have happened over the past what three four months that bring attention to this issue have galvanized you know, the players and the coaches, and you've seen it come together in a significant way here in the bubble from just an example of how we've decided to interact and be unified during a national anthem. There is a very sort of defined fraternity that you feel a part of just as a member of the NBA.

And as it relates to to OTI in the seventy six is you know they just they're back at college. You know, it's like this incredible basketball camp. It's a campus. You you know, you eat together, you you live in the same building together, you get on the same bus together, you have a restaurant that you can go to, a team meals together. And there's still enough wiggle room where people all of us like your space and your privacy, and so I don't have any complaints truly of how

this whole setup has happened. I feel like because of this environment, the peripheral benefit of team stuff, you know, togetherness, stuff, interaction where you may not have it as much stuff is heightened. It really is an environment that can produce those opportunities. This is from the inside with me Brett Brown. Thank you for listening. I'll talk to you next week.