The BroadCast: 7/13/2018 ~ Summer League Spotlight - Jonah Bolden

Thomas and Mack Center. There was a lot of good in the game, Isaiah Miles lighting the spark for the Sixers, fur Con Corkmas getting back into a groove. The bench played really well. The Sixers got very nice guard play

from Demetris Jackson and Askia Booker. But on this episode of the podcast, we're gonna focus on a guy whom seventy Sixers Summer League head coach Kevin Young credited for setting the tone for thurs Nights win, and that would be from Australia, Jonah Bolden, who the Sixers praised for going toe to toe with this year's number one pick, DeAndre Aighton of the Sun. So we'll hear from Jonah coming up in just a moment, I reminded that to subscribe to the podcast, you can head to a couple

different places iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and SoundCloud. Type in Sixers podcast Network that will take you to our feed. We do hope that you become a subscriber. Thursday night was Jonah Bolden's fourth game in a Summer League Round two for the seventy six ers. So far this year, he's averaging right around five and a half points six rebounds per to go along with one and a half

steals and about one and a half blocks. He's a very active, obviously lanky, long presence all over the court, especially on the defensive end, and it was in that area that Kevin Young felt that the twenty two year old number thirty six overall pick from the twenty seventeen draft really helped the Sixers immenseally to come away with a win on Thursday nights. So now the Sixers they will play on Saturday at eight thirty verses Dante DiVincenzo

maybe and the Milwaukee Bucks. But that's for then. This is now. Earlier this week out in Las Vegas, had the opportunity to sit down with Jonah bolden and catch up as he was coming off of a five point four rebound, three steel, one block game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Jonah, I think a lot of seventy sixers fans would say, it is good to have you back with the squad in summer League. Is it feeling good so far? Yeah? It is. Um, Yeah, it feels great

to be back here. Um like last year with the team, and you know, same familiar faces and stuff like that. UM. Performance wise, not note up to to to my standards or what I feel. UM. You know it's expected of me. UM, But but it feels great to be here. I think it's like the third day I've been here now, so it's it's it's definitely. The Summer League is a really interesting dynamic though, because there's so many fresh guys coming in from all over the place and trying to find cohesion.

I feel like, whether it's collectively or individually, you'd need a couple of games to discover that. Yeah, no doubt, UM, and the team had been I didn't participate in the training camp um prior to the first game. UM, so the teammate kind of already started jelling. UM. You know, had their plays down and then throwing me. And then I think Fokon had just came up a plane and and Ski had just came up a flight to UM. So there's three new new faces um thrown in there.

And and then then the teammates kind of having to accept that, you know, the rotation wise, having to accept new players coming in and then and then us having to to you know, put time aside to figure out the players and then work our way in within the system. But at the same time just playing playing some of the league basketball. So for you, your last game was about five or six weeks ago. Also, yeah, and that's following a really long season in new experience, new place.

Had you been playing much in between? How did you structure the time off after the season then getting ready for summer? Um? Yeah. So the thing with the um Israelily that I was in there have a it's called the Russian rule. I guess, Um, they can only register I think it's five uh foreigners non Israeli's a game, um, and we had I think it was like nine. By the end of the season, we had nine, um you

know foreigners. So oh eight foreigners. Sorry, So three of the three of the eight would have to sit um every game. UM, and and and towards the end of the season, the coach and then the front office made the decision to sit myself, UM, a couple other guys UM for like the remainder the remainder of the season. So it was like four three or four games back to back to back, UM towards the end where where

we had to sit out. UM. You know, with with respect to them, you know, I would love to play, but they they made the decision and we came out with the win. We got the championships, so that was all it was all. UM, you know good But um. Yeah, like I said, I hadn't played an organized game and say tweaks and then after season ended, I came over, UM, took like five days off and then got back into the swing of things, working out and stuff like that.

But organized basketball, yeah, I'd say it's like it's been a little bit over over a month. You were really involved with Maculbee tell Aviv. This past season started all but three the games you guys played. Hawd you think that season when what was the biggest thing you felt like you came away from the experience with, Uh, yeah, what was my first year you in your league. Prior to that, I had been in Serbia within the ABBA

League and there in their Serbian domestic league. So for me going and playing your league for my first year, I felt I did pretty good. Um, you know, adjusting to the slower but more physical game. UM. I definitely have growth in that aspect um with my position wise into the power forward center. Uh. You know, physicality is always was always high on the list. Um, but that

definitely helped that year. Maturity. Once again, being overseas away from everyone, you feel like you're kind of on your own. You're you're in a with your team. There's also guys that are there obviously by themselves, so you're not really you know, isolated, but but you're definitely He definitely puts you out there to where you have to become more independent. Um. You know, you kind of grow up in a sense

on the court. You know, it helps. I was one of the youngest guys on the team, so me kind of biting off the older guys and the vets that had been in your league for seasons. UM, So it definitely definitely helped. Skill set wise. How were you able to focus on your development there? What was a structure that allowed you to work on your growth. Uh shooting, UM, you know the obviously my past couple of performances won't relay that, but I think I took a big leap

in UM my shooting and just consistency. The the NBA line is longer, UM. And that's that's an adjustment phase, and that comes down to you know, your your kind of form and my form. And I've focused on a lot more load, getting my stance and and shooting. That's

where where they're short those air boards and stuff come in. Um, it's just is based on my legs, um and and and I think that was a main focal point with me last season with Maccabi, was loading before I catched a ball and focusing on that consistency catching and shooting the same way every time. UM, and just just running the floor what I'd do activity defensively and just keeping that that will always be there, but just making sure that that is there and focusing on the offensive, the

offensive side rather than the defense. One of the Americans in the roster had some seventy sixers ties pre Jackson. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Pierre, How was it developing chemistry with with that I feel like it seems like if you look back over the course of your time, well really your life, you've been a man on the move. I want to say, what going back to the middle of high school, it's been a constant move from one place to another, no doubt, no doubt. Um. Yes, I moved when I was like

seventeen over from Australia to high school in Las Vegas. Here. Actually I fin they prep with a couple of guys I, um, a lot of people know now actually. And then um, I went to Brewster Academy with another group of guys that a lot of people would know now um. And then from from New Hampshire Booster Academy to UCLA, I spent my first year red shooting sick and year playing. So two years there and then after that went to back home for a little bit, and then from from

home I went to Serbia. That was a good year for me, probably, I want to say, one of my best years playing wise. Um, we went through like three different I think it's three three or four different coaches. Um. It helped me mature because the language barrier was a major thing over there, so it helped me get patience, you know. I used to be very impatient, and having to take a step back and realize, you know, that it's a little different over here and adjusting to that

helped um. So then yeah, then I was drafted thirty six by the Sixers. Uh Stash went to Macabtela Viv, Israel, and I'm here. You mentioned isolation a few minutes ago. Does that feeling is it ever something that you get used to, because even if you have a lot of experience, yeah, it's still that type of feeling. You know, Yeah, you do have You do have nights, uh, you know, days where it's like damn, you know, you check your phone

and you see guys back home. When you see guys you know wherever you were um or come from, and then you see their you know, friends and family and stuff like that, and you kind of miss it. But but then you know, I also like to relay it back to that. You know, you kind of gotta flick that switch where it's like you got to get back to the reason why you're here. You know, what you came for, where you want to go. You know it might not be the the that might might not be

their mindset. You know, they might not be trying to do what you're trying to do. So sometimes you gotta put yourself in different positions to to get where you want to be. As you said, over the course of your time in the sport, you've been surrounded by some pretty good players in addition to being a pretty good player yourself. So let's let's hit some of the names. At Finlay. Who was yeah Finlay actually I saw today, Kelly Kelly hubre Um he was one. Rashad Vaughan Um

justin Jackson and he was just drafted by Orlando. A couple other guys in college now, sha Usset he's at Syracuse UM. Derek Thornton think he's at USC now UM then at Brewster Academy. Uh, DeVante Graham played rate to Kansas, was just drafted by the Hornets. Donovan Mitchell, I think about everyone over loved the world knows who Donovan is now. Um, Isaac Copeland he's still in college now in Nebraska. Jarrettarell Um he's over here. He's just had a two way actually, um,

you know, congratulated to him. But yeah, So those are those are some some of the names. By being surrounded by such high caliber players and being one yourself. Does that almost in some ways, I feel like a lot of people say, well, you know, here's the first time that a guy might be playing UM NBA type basketball being surrounded by that type of talent. But I mean, You've been surrounded by good players your whole life. So does that help or how does that affect the transition? Yeah? Yeah,

it definitely helps. Um. You know that that that that transition phase kind of hit me in my first two weeks coming from high school, coming from Aushea to to high school over here. Was that was that real transition phase from just different styles of play, UM, bigger, stronger, quicker guys. UM. So I think I'm past that transition, a whole transition fade. You know, I'm not here to really to make excuses about having played in the NBA

and stuff like that. I have the upmost faith and confidence in my game, and I believe I could play in the NBA. And then, don't get me wrong, me being surrounded by the guys that are there now and I have been there before me my high school teammates definitely helped, you know that, Just that that mindset that would come in every day wanting to work and compete to get each other better, so that definitely helps you

grow as as a player. I think the past couple of years, when the Sixers have brought in more and more international talent, people whether it's fans and even for myself, have become more familiar with just how big of a deal EuroLeague is and understanding what that whole scene is all about. And it was amazing that this year there was Luca don Chi all right, and he got the

Rising Stars trophy again. But then there was yourself and Matthias la Sort who was part of the draft class in two thy seventeen that were right behind him in the player index. It was like crossing paths with those guys this year. Uh yeah, it was fun going up against the likes of Luca. Um. You know, Matthias is a familiar face. You know. Where we were saw off the quarter, it was you know, high good talk, but when we saw each other on the quarter, it was,

you know, let's let's let's go against each other. Um. But yeah, like I said, my first time playing your league. Prior to that, I hadn't heard too much you know, everyone's goal growing up. I think maybe it might be different for a lot of Europeans. But my goal was to be in the NBA. So you don't really focus or you know, your focal point isn't really your league until it's like, all right, well that's an option, let's

let's see what it's about. UM. And that kind of came to me maybe somewhere at the end of high school, UM, going into freshman year. A lot of people, me being Australian, a lot of people thought I might have just gone back home rather than go to college or go and play in Europe somewhere. So that's where the U League UM came came became, you know, a familiar talk with with me, UM. But then playing in it is a

different story. You know, it's you don't really you kind of hear about the NBA, and then, like I said, you didn't really hear about your league, util your inner and realize that it's it's it is the second best league in the world for reason. Um. You know, it's different styles of play, but but the IQ and the experience and the players are definitely there, even though you might have been half a world away this past season.

By going through your Twitter feed, it is evident that what was going on in Philadelphia, the seventy six ers and never too far from your mind. Here you get a little quote tweet for Marquel Folks coming back when the team made the playoffs. Just how closely? Where are you following the team and then being in another part of the world. How did you follow the team? Um? Well I was. I was following day to day. Uh. Like I said, my whole thing was was focusing on

getting back to to here. Um. So I was always just watching, whether that's from my phone, Um, you know, waking up and looking at score, seeing stats, seeing highlights, or you know, staying up late nights when we have the day off to like four because that's when the games went over there the games were up to six thirty. Um, so if we had the day off the next day or whatnot, I would stay up and watch games. Um. But yeah, I had the NBA TV, so I was

very watching, very closely. It almost sounds like this has been obviously a pretty great source of motivation to get back, no doubt here to this point, no doubt, no doubt. Yeah yeah. What were your impressions to the team this year? I was impressed, Um, extremely impressed the team. Did they surprised me. I'm pretty sure they surprised a lot of people. I had no doubt what they could do. Um, it was just a matter of time when you know, the

whole trust the process. When when when we were nearing the end or when the team's nearing the end of processing it. UM. I think this past season was a big, big step in that direction. UM, just looking at the speed, the way you know coach Brown just talks to his players, and then how the players feed off each other. The

chemistry just looked fun. You know a lot of my teammates in Maccabee obviously, then you my situation coming over being stashed from from Philly will always you know, when I come to the locker room, they had seen some highlights where they had seen some um you know, some plays and like, yo, those game looks fun. You know that a couple of guys like Michael roll from my him and be like yo, like jj ready just he's

just looking like crazy. You know, it just looks fun to play with a guy like that and stuff like that. So it was definitely fun to watch. UM. And then the stats came out about mileage, you know, how how many how many miles the team had run? Throughout the season and stuff like that. That definitely helped me looking at the way I play and that mobility and being able to run and stuff like that. So it's definitely exciting. Something is normal a part of everyday life as a

FaceTime or a phone call. Yeah, that's something that we experienced with friends, family, just every single day. But to get something like that from Brett Brown this past year, how much does that help mentally keeping you alive? No, it definitely helps. Um and and And I don't know if he timed it correctly or what he did, but he called at the right times, um, throughout the season. Uh, and spoke to me just just put away from basketball, just how I'm doing, you know, a person to person,

you know, human to human rather than coach the player. UM. And that was a good dubs you know, always uplifting and good conversation, especially a couple towards the end of the season where I think he might have got the feeling and a lot of players at that point because you re, league season is very long, UM, and Europe

season starts very long. You league kind of ended early and then we still have our domestic league that goes until you know, mid June UM, and so a lot of players, you know, mentally start start seeing people back home, get home, and and and and the season drags out longer. And then in this past season, we had a you know, those discrepancy with the league announcing that it was over, a lot of guys mentally checked out then and then you know, two days later they're announcing us back on.

So we gotta kind of get back into it. But ye know, the FaceTime definitely helped. Coach talked about, um, you know what I needed to do, um coming into this this season, um, coming into the training camp and stuff like that. Uh, focusing on, like I said, my consistent with my shot. It's old legs. Uh. He's talking about when it's short. You know what it is. It's it's pure legs. Just getting in and loading, uh, and just working on that consistency because that, you know, that

will differentiate me from from a lot of players. And it's amazing because as I think of it, I mean, obviously he's the head coach of the team, so he knows what's going on, but he didn't coach me for a single second last year. It was the assistance. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Um, Billy Lank coached me in Utah last year. UM, and so that was fun and and and coach was there, Coach Brown was there sidelines, and he'd put in his few words before and then after the games, UM, which

which kind of helped going further. But yeah, now he from a coaching standpoint, he never really coached me. UM. But he said, you know, he knew when to speak and and and and then when not to and that the coaches kind of take their role. So, given your pedigrees, you and Ben Simmons cross paths on your way up, what did you expect from him this past season? And then what did you see from him? Uh? What I expected nothing, nothing better than what has happened. Um. You know,

the Rookie of the Year is what I expected. I think I expected that when he got drafted and the situation played out to where he didn't get to play that season, and then coming in I knew that was another chip on his shoulder. You know, I think it kind of made it worse for the rookies this past year, him sitting out because I knew that that that would have fueled his fire. UM. So I expected, you know, nothing less than Rookie of the Year from him. There

was no doubt doubt in my mind. So I gotta think it feels pretty good to be a basketball player of Australian heritage these days. I mean, it's it's amazing the movement that's been coming up. Yeah, no, it is. It is on the come up now. Yeah. I think you look back five years ago, it was kind of still plateauing um, but now it's kind of hit hit the ball, snowball effect is starting to go up. You got the Center Center of Excellence in Canberra. I think they got that NBA kind of thing. I don't know

too much information. I've been back there in a while, but I've heard a lot of good things about that. It's I heard it's, you know, a big attraction for younger players. Wanted to go there and get that you know, exposure and get that development. On the Monday, to think Saturday basis practicing playing and going up against good competition. So it's definitely on the rise. You know, you see it. You see it within the league, you see it within Europe,

you see it within guys. A lot of guys just being motivated, a lot of guys you know, our names you know, a lot of guys don't even know your Australia sometimes and then like yeah, yeah, rush and oh wow. You know. So it's it's definitely a good feeling. What's the goal for the rest of the time here in Las Vegas and what's the goal for the fall? I mean, the goal here is obviously to win as a team who get to some of the championship. UM, I'm gonna do what I can do, like I did last year.

I'm gonna do what I can do. UM, you know, without most of my abilities to get that UM. I think, you know, like like we said earlier, it's still early early days. You know, it's two games in UM and then throwing us US three players in there didn't help. UM, But the chemistry will get there. You know. I have no dubts about that with with myself and with with the guys, and the team and coaches are doing great

job with minutes wise and rotation wise. And I think today we went over a few things, simplifying things, just to just to take it back a step, to scare one and and and move forward from its. UM. I'm definitely excited for what's to come. Na Bold Great Senior thank you talking to me, Thanks so much. Thank you. Jonah Bolton his second season with his rights being owned by the seventy sixers. Who knows, but we will see him around this fall. Thanks to Jonah for taking the

time to talk. Thank you especially for taking the time to listen. Summer League is indeed winding down, but we will still have some podcast coverage for you next week and then settle into perhaps a little bit more laid back and easy rest of summer schedule. But yeah, be on the lookout for something new next week. Join the weekend see him