Meet the Prospects | Tyrese Maxey x John Calipari Interviews

Sixers got to steal. If we would have played the finish of the season, he would have been a ten, eleven, twelve pick, maybe lower depending on how well you played. So they've got that pick where they got twenty one. With workouts in training camp just days away, Maxie is

actiously awaiting the start of his NBA career. That's gonna be one of my main attributes to the team is that my defensibility, and I feel like it's going to be really cool and played a different guys like Dan and other guys on a team that who enjoy playing defense. I'm Brian Seltzer and this week on the broadcast, it's our Meet the Prospects miniseries. Up first the seventy Sixers

top pick Tyrese Maxie. Exciting times in Sixers Land. There's the big Draft Night with some big moves a few weeks ago, and then two days after that, the start of an active free agency period for the Sixers, and now when the calendar flips from November to December, the start of individual one on one workouts for the Sixers at the training complex on December the first. It is crazy how fast things are moving, just three weeks out essentially from the start of the twenty twenty twenty twenty

one season. Hobey at a great holiday weekend. I got a chance to enjoy it in whichever safe and fulfilling way that you could. Yes, this week it is going to be Meet the Prospects week here on the broadcast. Very excited about that. Each episode, and there's of course going to be three of them because the Sixers made three draft picks. We're gonna hear from the pick himself

and also we'll interview his former college head coach. So on Wednesday it'll be Arkansas's Isaiah Joe and his head coach Eric Musselman, a former NBA coach, and then on Friday, we'll hear from DePaul's, Paul Reid and Dave Lado. But to tip off this series, we begin by featuring Tyrese Maxie. We'll get more analysis about him from his head coach John Calparry from Kentucky in a bit. But first, Lauren Rosen went one on one with the number twenty one

selection the morning after the NBA Draft. First of all, we're thrilled to have you. We're excited to see you in Philadelphia. Did you get any sleep last night? Yeah? I did. I did. I want to sleep last night, man, I mean getting I get up early in the morning, so you know, workout starts early in the morning, so I like to sleep at night. But I did. It was this exciting night. I'm very blessed and thankful for the Philadelphia as an organization and I really appreciate at

the opportunity. Well, we're excited to have you. I'm curious. Are you in Texas right now? Are you're in your hometown? I am, I am. I just got here Monday night. Awesome. Well, I happen to be in Houston right now, so not too far away. What I wanted to ask you though, normally today we'd all be in Camden at the training complex, we'd be getting to know you in person. How does

this all feel to you? I know growing up you must have imagined sort of last night and today, but how does it feel to be doing it from home in this crazy year? Honestly, the draft at home was kind of cool because you can get you can kind of have like a more intimate, you know, setting, like when my family was there, and it just like kind of it was really cool. It was really cool. I know it's different and uh, you know via zoom. It was cool to be the inaugural in a class of

doing that. I don't know how you know, all playoff for years to come, but you know, it was really cool. It was still a blessing. I think about the same way, and like I said, I'm very very thankful of the organization for taking that chance. Well, we're excited to have you as well, Not that I had anything to do with it at all, but I really excited to see you come along. So just logistically, like, take me through how does this all work now? Because normally we'd be

getting ready for free agency. You probably meet us at the summer League. Um, we'd have a couple of months, you find a place in Philadelphia. What does the next ten or eleven days look like for you in this sort of sprint to training camp. Um, probably like a little in a exploited process that you just said, I mean, just all that bundled them, like you said, those well eleven to twelve days, so you know, it's it's amazing time and it's exciting time. And that's one reason why.

That's the exact reason why my whole thing during this, you know, the quarantine process and this this layoff was my body right uh, standing up getting the best shape of my life because you I never known when you know they were gonna snap their fingers and we'll be lane drafted. Is the eighteenth, the training camp December first, So now I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm ready to go. That's awesome.

You said that you felt like it was maybe a little bit cooler to do the draft at home, more of an intimate experience. Can you tell me what it was like to have your family react alongside you. When you look back at last night, what are you going to remember the most I think I'll remember in a laughing at the table, in the conversation, just throughout the whole process before the draft started. You know, those are memories, the pictures that my sisters, my three sisters were taking,

the Snapchat videos, and my mom sitting there last. You know, just just that that whole experience was great. You know, it means a lot for me, you know, for those my family members to be there, just because I know they sacrificed so much, you know, for me just trying to change these dreams. My sisters, my oldest sister, I tell her thank you. I'm thankful for her so much, just because I had to travel so much, my parents had to spend a lot of different money just because

you know, the path I was trying to take. And I'm very thankful for that. And as soon as you got drafted, I know usually you guys get a call from some important people in the Sixers front office. Who did you get to talk to and what were those conversations? Like I got talked to a lot of different people, you know Highlight, you know, coach Doc Rivers and Ben Simmons,

and you know a great conversation. You know, men would just saying how happy he was and just seeing them in Las, seeing him workout, seeing him seeing me workout, you know, building NAX type of relationship. It was really cool, really cool to get, you know, get drafted to a team where someone like Ben Simmons own clutch family and that I know him and coach Doc River was just telling me, you know, he can't wait to get started. You mentioned Ben, and I do want to ask you

a little bit more about that. What do you just as a basketball player, What do you admire most about Ben? And how excited are you to now be teammates. I don't mind his creativity. I mind his creativity and his work ethic. You know, every time I saw him, he was, you know, putting work in the gym, and you know that's that's something that someone of his caliber is really you can you can tell the work that he's put in.

So and I'm the same way. I feel like I'm a gym right and I'm getting up in early in the morning and that the things like that they impress me. So yeah, like I say, it's creativity. The way he plays the game fast paced, the way he defends, you know, the way he takes you know, pride and actually defending in the passion that that that's the one thing I really really appreciate. I know you also spent some time

with Lebron James and Rondo as well. What have those guys been like for you as mentors as you get ready to join them in the same league. It's been great. And the Rondo it was, he was amazing for me. Um. I was able to work out with him pre Bubble at six o'clock in the morning every every single morning before you know he left, and I'm very thankful for

him letting me come in there. Um. I told trainer Chris Josh that I wanted to be the first one in the gym, and he said, okay, well then you know you're gonna work out Rondo at six untill he leaves. And then I worked out by myself to the end. But you know, it was great. He taught me a lot of different things. Like I felt like I learned so much in a short window, Like I was only willing for like three or four weeks, but it was every day, so I feel like I learned like something

new every single day. It was. It was. It's a great feeling and I really appreciate it for that, and then go into the Lebron situation. You know, it's just a family, family oriented, like we clicked even with Ben Lebron and different other different guys around the league, and I really appreciate them as my older brothers, and I

can't wait to get started. I feel like that's something that anyone going into a new career would be happy to have, right, people that are already successful at what they do, that are willing to offer you advice and willing to sort of guide you. What types of questions are you going to have for those guys, Like what's top of mine? Now? Is you get ready to make this transition? Oh? I don't know. You know, It's gonna be a lot of different questions. I'm a very curious person.

My first question is like I want to know how, like the gym works, the facility works, Like do we have twenty four hour access? How can we you know? Because like I like to work in the morning, like six am, So like can I just walk in and work out? I don't know how it works? Yit so because at college I could just when I wanted to work at six I could just go in and scam out a little my eyes in, you know, walk right in and work out. So I'm just that was my

movie my first question. And then you know, just a little tours of the cities, like you know, I know a lot a little bit about Philly just because just what I've seen on the Internet and what I've seen it in movies like Rocky and different things like that. But yeah, I just can't wait. Well, I can tell

you you're in very good hands. I know after you're done speaking with me, you're going to meet some of the folks at the facility, and normally you'd get the Grand Tour, but I know that that's coming soon enough. And I think that you keep mentioning how early you work out, how much effort you put into your craft and into your game. And I can tell you for sure, people in Philly are gonna love that. People in Philly are all about hard work and going the extra mile.

Where does that come from? Do you just love the game? Are you? Are you focused on self improvement all the time? Where does the fire come from for you? Yeah? One is my respect for the game, you know, and my thing is I want to get one percent better every single day at the end of the day, like when it's all saying down and the ball stops bouncing. I want to be able to say and I put my

all into it. I want I don't want to be I don't want to have any what ifs or dang I wish I would have did that and and that's not that's not how I roll. I want to be able to say, I put put it all on the line, maximize my potential, and well, like I said, got one percent better every single day. So before we dive in a little deeper to the basketball side of things, I've been in the league myself a couple of years now

doing what I do. And as soon as the Sixers drafted you, I had some friends around the league say, you got a great guy. He has a great personality, he's so fun to work with. What does that sort of reputation mean to you, and how would you describe that personality because clearly it's a vibrant one. But who are you as a person off the court? This is me? This is me on the court off the court, Like one thing about me is yes, I am a very competitive person and I love to win and you're gonna

see it. And I feel like from day one. You know they're gonna realize that. And I don't like losing. Whatever it is. You know, it doesn't matter whatever I'm whatever, if it has a winner in it, I want to win. I mean, ain't what it is. Life is a competition in my eyes. But this is just me, this is my personality. I mean, I enjoy life. Um, I'm very very blessing of the Lord has blessed me to do, uh, do what I love get up every morning and a lot of people can't say that. You know that they're

able to do that. So get on my knees and pray every single night. And you know he has helped me keep this smile on my face all the time. And you know, it's just it's it's great and I really like enjoy it being like this. Well, it's very clear that that you're an awesome, engaging Sorry, it's the word I was looking for, guys, So we're stoked to have you. A couple other things I heard about you off the court. I've heard you're a big marvel guy. Is that true? That that is? That is one hundred

percent true, man, that's one hundred percent. That used to be like a secret now every I think everybody knows about it. They exposed you, they got me. Man, Man, it's okay. It's a good thing. So what about that universe excites you the most? And do you draw any comparisons maybe to any of the heroes in that world.

My thing when Marvel is is like the way they create the narrative and how it just it goes from story to story and all ties in as one big story like that, right there is an amazing to me how they're able to keep that, you know, in mind, and all the different the different movies, different filmmaks. And I, at the end of the day, like I like I like acting, so like when I was younger, I was in The Wizard of Oz. So at the end of the day, I want to become I want to be

one of those, you know, one of those characters. And and that's that's one of the reason why I think I really like the Marvel Cinematic University. So, if this NBA thing doesn't work out for you, are you gonna go the acting route. I'm well, let's hope it does. You know, I'm work extremeal hard to make it work out. And then you know, like I said, when a bass. I was bouncing, and I want to my personality. I feel like I can do a lot of different things.

So you know, I think I have a common being a commentator in mine because I like to talk, you know, I'd like to engage with different people. And then you know, the acting the side as well. You know, it just being you know, personal being having this personality, smiling all the time and being able to hold conversations with people. I think that's you know, some of them my liking. Well, you're gonna be lightening it up on the court and

stealing my job at the same time. I can already tell so I need to up my game to keep up with you. Yeah, hey, you know, I may have a play and then you know, do the interview. Never know, I can tell you that will happen. That is a thing that happens. So you need to get ready for that first moment. All right, So let's do talk about basketball a little bit now, even though I could go on about this stuff forever. Actually, who did you play in the Wizard of Oz? I need to know before

we move on. I was so I played the lead of the man what is it called the henchmen for the Witch that's what I was. I was that and then I did I did something else with them. What do they called the um I can't even remember the name, but the evil side. You were on the dark side. Yeah, for my for my main part, but I was an extra in a different situation too. I can't remember what the little things were called. But you know, it was really cool. I would have continue with it, like when

a little further. But I mean, I love basketball so much and it took up a lot of my time. Like I said, the six A workouts and different things like that. You know, that takes up a lot of time. So when it's all setting done, you know, at the end of it, I'm definitely gonna an adventure over the munch there it is, man, I can't even I'm you know, my my theater tip. You're gonna be mad at me if you see this. So you did. You were one of the henchmen, you were one of the munchkins. Maybe

a utility player on the stage. Now you're a versatile guy on the court. I'm working on my segways as you might be able to tell, but if you could, if you could describe your game a little bit, maybe for folks that haven't gotten to watch you play that much. Who are you on the court? I think I'm a competitor first and foremos. I think that you know, that's the that's my I feel like that's a skill. Winning is a skill. You know, it's a it's an attribute

to have to your game. And I feel like that that's my main my main pitch to people like, um, I'm a very like I said, been talking about the whole time off its cars, dominant doesn't matter. I compete and I think that's what the Philadelphia fans are gonna see from day one. That and I like to win. And I'm really glad to be a part of the

organization because you know, they're contending. In my eyes, you know, the guys like Jodlan bib Ben Simmons coach like Doc Rivers, I feel like, you know, they have they have one goal in mind, and you know that's that's a common goal of Mint in whatever situation I'm in. But you know, just just going into play style, I feel like I can play on and off the ball. I feel like, um, you know, at the University of Kentucky coach Kal I mean, all my life, I've been playing on the ball, point

different things like that. But when I got to Kentucky, you know, they already had four starters. So he told me he had one spot for me and to play. He needed me to do this. He needed me to you know, defend, and he needed me to play off the ball and you know, trying to you know, get it how I live. And that's what I did. And I really appreciate him for that because now I feel like I fit into the role of the hybrid guards.

And then the new age NBA guys like Jamal Murray, the guys like c J. McCullum, guys who can play on the ball so asiliate for their teammage runner team and score while they're on the ball, and then play off the ball as well, and play off guys like Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid and knocked down open shots. Well, you mentioned Ben and Joel. And to wrap this up, I don't know how much you might have watched the Sixers prior to the draft, but what excites you most

when you think about this roster. I'm sure you sort of scrolled through last night. What gets you the most excited about joining this group? I think the defense of the potential defensively, Like, it's just a lot of different guys on this team that looks like they enjoy playing defense, and that's that was my main thing. I enjoy playing defense. I enjoy stopping people. I enjoy, you know, smothering different

guys and making guys feel uncomfortable. And that's that's gonna be one of my main and one of my main you know, attributes and attribution to the team is that you know my defensibility, and I feel like it's going to be really cool and to play with different guys like Ben and other guys on a team that who enjoy playing defense. Yeah, I can tell you right now, you're gonna have some teammates that are going to be thrilled to go wire to wire with you on the

defensive end. So, Tyrese, thank you for doing this with me today. That's all I've got for you. I'm looking forward to meeting you in person. You seem awesome on and off the court, and we're really excited to work with you. Likewise, I really appreciate y'all. Nice meeting. Thank you, Tyrese, Maxie, thank you, Lauren Rosen. We'll hear from John Caliparry in a moment, just a quick PSA before we get to

that interview. If you like what you are hearing, you are not yet a subscriber to the seventy six Ers podcast network. Change that, and if you're listening on Apple, please give us a rating. Wherever you get your podcasts, all you gotta do is search seventy six Ers podcast and that should take you right to our fee. We know this already from either watching highlights we're hearing his chat with Lauren Rosen. Tyrese Maxie is full of energy.

Well so is the guy who coached him at Kentucky last year, John cal Parry, who, by the way, not sure how many of you out there remember this. He was a seventy Sixers assistant during the nineteen ninety nine two thousand season in the iver scenari of the year before the seventy six Ers went to the NBA Finals. A cool footnote which we're definitely gonna bring up in a few minutes, but right now it is a pleasure

to be joined by coach cal John. What type of prospect of the seventy sixers getting in Tyrese Maxie, Well, I think it's for both it's gonna work well. I have great respect for Doc, always have one of the most authentic people. Forget about coaching, one of the most authentic people you'll ever meet, not a whole lot of bs with him. Keeps it real. And then they also have Sam Cassell, who has tutored two of my other guards, John Wall and Shaye Alexander. And now he gets Tyrese.

Maxie called me right away and we're getting another one, and so I'm happy for that side of it for Tyrese. Tyrese, if we would have played the finish of the season, my guess is we would have been an Elite eight, maybe better team. I thought we had a chance to win the whole thing because of how we were playing. He would have been a ten to eleven twelve pick, maybe lower depending on how well he played. But he

was playing really well. So they've got that pick ten eleven twelve where they got it twenty one, So they got steal. He's another player, and I've had many that I'll say on draft night, the people that passed on Tyree's will regret. They'll look back and say, what were we thinking? He's He's a competitor. Um he'll he's not he'll earn everything. He's not expecting everything to come his way. He'll go take what he wants. He'll bet on himself.

He's a gym rat. His father was a coach, coached him, really good coach Tyrone was, and so he's learned from an early age dribble drive, spacing, That's what his dad taught. He took it from Memphis when I was there and brought it in to where he was in Dallas. But he did it better than me. When I went watched the team actice, I'm like, jeez, you're running our stuff

better than we running. So the kid understands lane touching, running downhill, floaters, spacing the court, being able to get by people straight line drives, all that stuff physically good enough to guard, like really get on you, play through pick and rolls, play through screens, be able to stay in front of people, so they've got they got to steal. Do you mind us sort of walking us through the

beginnings of your relationship with Tyrese? When do you remember watching him first and how excited were you to bring him to Kentucky. Well, you know, we watched these kids early and then they grow he was on one team and AU went to another, and now all of a sudden, wasn't the same guy. And then went back and I liked what I saw when he wasn't playing as well, wasn't connected to the teammates, because you always want to know when it doesn't go right, how will they handle it?

Because it doesn't go right all the time, and there's points of your career that you may take a step back. How do you deal with it? He was unbelievable. Never stop smiling. He's another one to walk into Jim and have the biggest smile on his face. And when you're coaching it, you walk in and you love to see him like he makes you happy. The other thing I'll tell you we went into home the first time. There

were two things. He walked me up to his bedroom because he wanted me to look at a picture he had drawn as a ninth grader with him in a Kentucky basketball uniform. So now I already know, all right, I want to coach this kid. Let's see where this goes.

They also had their whole family there, including grandma. He wanted his grandmother there to okay me as a coach and me as a person and it's the kind of family and you look at it and say, look, he gets unconditional love, but they challenge him, they hold him accountable all those things. So all the stuff that maybe some other kids are going through that ain't gonna be it. It's gonna be Jim time. How do you want me to play? Tell me what you want me to do?

He could play on the ball like Jamal Murray, off the ball like Jamal Murray. Same with Tyler Hero, same with Shale Alexander. Those guards don't have to have it the whole time, but if they do, they can play pick and roll, make place. They can be a place starter if you need him to be. So you mentioned that he's smiling all the time. He's told us about that work ethic that you also alluded to his six

am workouts. So when it comes to obviously he has a lot of grit and a lot of drive, but he does seem like a really smiley, happy, engaging type of guy. Can you just tell us a little more about his personality and sort of who we're getting off the port. Yeah, that's that's who he is. He's another one that I said about Doc being authentic. This kid

is authentic. None of that is fake. When you see fake, whether you're a team teammate or a coach, you know like, oh no, you you know when you walk in with him every day, you say, this, dude is authentic. This is there's a spirit about those kind of guys. Jamal Murray used to walk in our practices and be smiling and look at me and point to his mouth, tell me to smile. And Tyrese is the same. They're comfortable in their skin, They're comfortable with where they're going. They're

comfortable earning their way. You don't have to guarantee something. You don't have to run every play too. How many guys in the NBA that are rookies walk into the league and are volume shooters and you were running everything through you. There are none you got And if you're at a program, and I always say this, here, they learn to fight. They earn their way here. If you don't fight, it's flight you run. It's one of the two. You earn your way here. Nothing is guaranteed. And you

understand the competitiveness of practice every day. Not you play a thirty one game schedule. There's eight guys as good as you during the year that you're plan every day in practice. You got to bring it to get better. And he's gone through it. He's a guy that was in the gym in the morning. At night if he had a bad shooting night, he went in the gym. I mean, there you're and again with Doc, with Sam, you're gonna have a kid that is going to be

tutored to be something special. You can correct me, coach if I have this wrong. But something interesting and reading up on Tyres in this past season that I saw was after a game in February. I think it might have been ad Vanderbilt put up some great numbers, but I think you were quoted as saying after the game that was really the first time he showed some toughness and some real fighting him After that game, can you tell us what that meant to you, what you observed?

And then for a rookie, especially you're going to the next physical level, despite Tyres being a physical specimen, what that toughness could do for him trying to carve out his first year in the NBA. All right, so let me tell you what all these When I get guys here, my biggest challenge is teaching them and getting them to create professional habits. A high school habit is you bounce it beside yourself and then maybe enough. A pro habit is the ball is by the man. You can't get

the ball by the man. You're not getting by the man, so you gotta think in terms of ball by the man. Second one is in high school, you get bumped, what do you do? You spend you step back, you're doing individual work. Pick up the tennis ball, kick the volley ball, go through the cones, step back and shoot. Well, you gotta be a pro. Habit is one bump, two bump, keep going. A high school habit is bump's been away, step back. So he came in with some of that, and in that game, it was the first game I

saw him playing through bumps. He created the contact before, not avoiding it. He created it physically stepping in, taking a charge. And it went like, if that's who you are, you're on an unbelievable path now. But it's all these kids, it's it's what we have to teach. Some of them will fight you, and it takes longer. Some of them are delusion on, say you don't understand I can shoot these step backs. Hey, you make thirty percent, seventy percent of the time, we lose the game. So we're trying

to win. And you won't believe this. This is not about an individual workout. It's about winning. It's about competing. This is about battling, about being tough, about being efficient. How about this one. Make a really really hard play look easy. Don't make a layup look like some circus. It's a layup. It's a layup. But when you can make a step through Euro off the wrong foot, Tyler hero and lay it in lefty. Only the people that play basketball, other players, coaches, you say, holy Kyle, and

he made that look easy. That is a special player. But again the M one tape showtime, whoa you know stuff they get in high school. Oh, you'll see that. It's all those things. You don't try to break habits too hard because they've been doing it for ten years. You create new habits. And that's what we did with him. And let me just tell you again one of the great stories. A team that was trying to get him fell in love with them, and they called me and said,

here's why. And I want to know you two tell me how do analytics evaluate this? How would an analytic what numbers go to this? Okay, we want he played three bad games, and they went back to all three of the games and said, you know, what about this game? What about this game? What about that game? And he went like this, We won all three games. Now, how do you analytically evaluate that? I'll say this to you.

In those games where he didn't feel it going offensively, he stepped back, and he stepped up defensively and rebounded in creating shots for his teammates. Tell me where the analytics are in that? Where are the analytics? How do you analytically rate a guy that's gonna shoot twenty five times every game and no one else on the team shoots, and you analytically say, but his numbers and this and this, Tell me how you analytically rate that? And Anthony Davis,

I'll give it to you. In the final game, Championship, National Championship, Millions, it's two big teams, blue bloods, Kansas Kentucky. He can't make a basket. He's over six. At halftime, he's running into the locker room. Anthony Davis says, can't make a shot. I'm gonna block shots. I'm gonna rebountle like crazy and defend you guys, score the balls. He goes one for ten for the game, and we win the national championship and he's the most outstanding player. What's

the analytics on that? And that's what again here, it's about winning. It's about if you have to step wall. I was told I was going to play off, and it's all right, so we're gonna follow you off the cliff. You're one for twenty two now and you just keep the world again. How do you anna politically rate a player who could be on the ball but is willing to play off the ball and do whatever he has to to help the team win. How do you where's

the analytics? And that's why my guys go to that league and they perform beyond where they're drafted in most cases, I'm gonna say seventy percent of the time. And that's why collectively our guys in eleven years I think will make their contracts add up to currently, not from forty years ago when I was coaching. I'm talking now, it's almost three billion dollars. Three billion. I didn't say million billion, no shoe contracts. I take million. Honestly, I would take million.

And it's not shoe contracts, it's not endorsements, it's none of that. It's not seeing Anthony Davis with his hands out and Gator. It is contract. And that's why that means to YouTube, Lauren, they got to get to second and third contracts. Well, how do you do that? You're ready for the league. You're going and perform. And like I said, it's not every single kid, but as seventy

percent of them. So to wrap this all up, I will say, we were already excited to have tyreech join us, and now you've made me even more amped about it. So your enthusiasm is shining through for sure. Just to wrap this up, I know we started with your connection to the Sixers. Do you have any memories that stick out of your time on this staff, of your connection to Philadelphia? What stands out to you when you think

back on those times. Well, it is a great sports tale, a great sports twe I love walking in that building, you know, I love you know every time you walked in and again we had terrific guys. Ai and I got a little great I mean, you know, he and I to this day Aaron McKee who's now coaching the temple, you know you had hill. I mean, we had guys that all clicked and came together, and it was a

ball to be around them, all of them. And my time spent there, I learned I was with coach Brown again, where I My whole thing was how do I help him so that I make his job easier? And that's all I tried to do. And part of that was creating relationships with the guys. Eric Snow, I love Derek Snow. He was showing me and teaching me stuff. So all those guys that were there, George Lynch and I shouldn't have started naming names because then I'd have to name

every name. But it was a ball there. And the one thing I'll tell you a great sports town, can I disclaimer? If you're winning, If you're winning, if you're winning, it's unbelievable. But why would you want to be anywhere else other than engaged fan base, whether it's baseball, football, basketball, they are engaged and they want to win, and they take pride in the city of Philadelphia. I mean, this is and it is the most. I mean. Herb McGee

is a good friend of mine. Herb mcgie and I were in we coached the USA Basketball stuff together in Denver, Colorado. He had never been out of Philly. I said, dude, when do you leave Philly. Not only doesn't he leave Philly, he doesn't leave his area. He has the same restaurants, the same thing where he goes to lunch. He's like the normal Philadelphia fan, coach, player, person. It is Philadelphia.

He hit a ball in Denver, we're playing golf, wouldn't stop because we were high, and the ball kept going and kept going and kept going and kept going. He looks at me and says, I'm moving to Colorado, which was we both left because he ain't leaving his little niche.

But that's Philly. That's why Philly is the way it is. Tremendous. Well, I think we'd all agree that one of the lasting impressions of this past NBA season in the bubble was Big Blue between Anthony Davis, Tyler Hero of course, absolutely, Jamal Murray. So we can only homes right, Let's keep the juju going? Well, can I keep going? They were like all these guys performed and ended up being like

the face of their teams. I mean, you know, how about Kelton Johnson, how he was one of their best players San Antonio Spurs in the bubble, I mean, And I could go on and again missing guys. But how about Devin Booker You even mentioned ain't know? I mean, and there he was scorn thirty a game. How about him? He played on a team with other really good guys.

He didn't even start. Still mad at me today, But he didn't start because I had two returning twins and I wasn't gonna break them up, and they got us to a final four of the year before the national championship game. But he played with Tyler Tyler Ulis and he played together and could tell how good he was. But it's all these guys. They earned their way, They learned to fight, they learned what competition was. You don't have to say, we're running all this stuff for you.

How about if that's how you played your whole career, You're like, why aren't you gonna run my place? No, dude, the game has become random. It's it's lane touches, It's how do we get started and then just play where the rotations coming from? Where how are we they're not plays their actions? It's random. Well, every player was run for me. And they ain't playing. That's not how it is right now. And so I'm proud of our guys.

I'm proud of Tyreees. I still have a special place in my heart from Philly because I was there, stayed on City Line av you know, right near the practice facility at that time where it was. But Pee come. But I wish you guys well, I'll be watching from a distance. And you know, I'm good friends with Doc, I'm good friends with Sam, so I'm gonna be watching close. Tremendous coach cal Really appreciate the time. That was great, Thank you. Thanks from stories about Tyres Maxie to a

great story about Philadelphia Icon heard McGee. Excellent stuff from John cal Parry. Really appreciate him taking the time. With the Wildcats season now underway, meet the Prospects a week here on the broadcast continues on Wednesday, we hear from Isaiah Joe and I definitely, you know, can't hope with the Staxus. You know, I've watched Ben, Joel Tobias, so I'm looking forward to playing with all of them, playing with Tyree's, playing with Paul, So I think we're all

ready for that. For the next step we're gonna have a great team. Now, it's all about building that chemistry on and off the court, and you know, waiting for what's happening to Nick. And we'll also talked with Isaiah's former college head coach at Arkansas, Eric Musselman. Then on Friday, we'll hear from Paul Reid and his college head coach at de Paul Dave Leato. I'm Brian Seltzer, Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time here on the broadcast. See him