TOM's Talks | Aaron McKie

In this podcast, he speaks about the powerful and peaceful protest march he took part in on the weekend of June seventh in Philadelphia, his fourteen year NBA career, the Sixers run to the two thousand and one NBA Finals, his longtime friendship in bond with Hall of Famer Alan Iverson, and all the tremendous coaches he played for. Here's this week's episode with coach Aaron McKee. Welcome to another edition

of Tom's Talks. And I so often say this phrase like this is one of my favorites, but this is one of my all time favorites. Were joined by Philadelphia basketball legend Aaron McKee, the current head coach at Temple University. Coach, thank you so much for joining us and taking the time. This is a time of change, turbulent times in our city, for our country, a time to uplift one another and as you're right to try to work towards social justice and racial equality. I know you went to the march

last weekend with your son. Tell me about your experience. I mean, it was great, and I think the one thing that stood out the most to me, it's how I took the train down, you know, because they blocked off a lot of the passageways to get in. And when I got downtown, it was early quiet when I got off the train, and when I made my way around to like fifteenth in market, there was all the

protesters just to see if people. I mean thousands and thousands and thousands of people just out there walking in protests and rallying, and they were all in Unison. It was almost like it was just one voice. There was so many tens of thousands of people out there, and it was almost like it was was one voice, and

we just we just walked right into that. And you know, I looked at my son who was along with me, my son Jared, and I looked at one of my players, JP Mormon, who was with me, and just to look on their face was just like wow. I mean we're we're sitting smack dab in the middle of history. Unfortunately, you know, you certainly don't want to be in a situation where you're fighting for equality and equal equal rights and policy chains and all of those different things, but

that's where we're at in society right now. And and just to have my son along and one of my players along it. You know, those guys are the future and we're fighting for them to have a better future, along with a lot of others. Right and speaking of your players, like your guys are eighteen to twenty two years old, as you say, as coaches, you're trying to uplift them and give them an opportunity to achieve their dreams. That's obviously a huge responsibility, and especially in this time.

What do you say to your guys, Well, just keep your eyes and ears open. There's a lot of information that's being put out there. We know right from wrong. And as I told my guys, I'm in full support of of what they want to do. But carefully think out what you want to do, because before you hit that sin button on whatever message you want to get out there, let's make sure it's the right message. And if you want to march. You want to protest, you want to be a part of a rally. I said,

I'll support you, but we're not getting getting involved. I'm not supporting you getting involved with the other nonsense that

goes along with protests. Coach, You're an amazing story, an amazing Philadelphia story, having grown up in difficult conditions in North Philadelphia and yet achieving publicly championship at Gratz, graduating, then going to Temple and being a star graduating Temple, fourteen year NBA career, ten years, and as assistant coach both in college and the NBA, and now obviously the coach that you're alma mater. Speak to that experience and how it can be a guide an example for others.

I hope. I hope I'm a symbol of inspiration, you know, for a lot of kids, not just kids here in Philadelphia, but just to cast across the country that you know, you certainly can achieve your dreams. But I also like to look at have kids look at it from a perspective outside of sports, because so often, you know, and

they're in a city. You know, kids just feel like, you know, their worth is in entertainment, whether it's you know, singing, dancing, football, basketball, and they have so much more value than just believing that that's all they're capable of. So I hope my story stands as a as a source of inspiration for those kids and and helping them believe that they can

achieve achieve their dreams. Now, with all of that being that is, you know, I like to believe I did things the right way, and I listened to the right people and and just try to do it the right way, and you know, and it worked out for me. You know,

it worked out for me. You know, there was a lot of ups and downs, you know, some highs and lows throughout the way, but you know, again, it's one of those things, you know, for kids like me to come from Philadelphia, to go to Simon Grad's High school, UM to attend Temple University as a student athlete, to play for the seventy six years, it's a hometown kid that's living a dream. It's a dream come true for me,

I would imagine. I know you've talked about coach Ellerb, but to coach to play for Coach Ellerb and then John Cheney, that had to be formative for you a very I mean, they all of those guys and you can you can throw John Hartnett Um and there as well, who was a youth developer um, you know, for me growing up and a lot of other kids that went on to be successful in basketball, and even in all of those guys were pretty much on the same page in terms of raising kids and saying, hey, you know,

we got to make sure we're taking care of business in the classroom, and we got to make sure we're taking care of business on the basketball court by you know, by working hard and being coachable. You know, those guys were great, and they also gave you the life lesson. So everybody was on the same space, on the same

page and speaking the same language. And so many of the guys that I was around growing up were able to go on and be successful because of guys like John Hernett, because of guys like Bill Ellerby at Simon Gradson, you know, obviously because of the legendary head coach at Temple,

John Chaney. And I would imagine some of that is part of your pitch, your spiel, if you will give me a ninety second version of what you say to young players that you'd like to bring to Philadelphia, or stay in Philadelphia to play for your program, the fifth winning this college basketball program you play there. Tell me what you tell these young young guys for starters when you talk about the city. If you want great culture, you want great food, You want to come to a

city that's that's vibrant and full of life. You know, Temple University in Philadelphia is the place in terms of our basketball culture. Again, you just said it. We wanted the fifth winning his programs in basketball history, so you know we stand at the top with a lot of giants. You know, our culture is such of hard work, toughness, commitment, and consistency. And I think that identifies Temple University and

I think it also identified the city of Philadelphia. When you started your NBA career, you went out to Portland, you were the seventeenth pick of the Blazers. What was that? That must have been a huge culture change going all the way out to the Pacific Northwest and playing for PJ. Carlium at that time. Yeah, I was, I guess I was in between on it. I was just excited, static about, you know, getting drafted and being a part of that and being able to live out my dreams and you know,

I'm reaching the apex of basketball. You know, I'm playing at that I get the opportunity to play at the highest level. But being a kid from the inner city of Philadelphia and you go from the inner city of Philadelphia to Portland, Oregon, which is you know, their polar opposite from one another. And I'm kicking and screaming, you know, at the airport, why do I have to go? And it ended up being one of the greatest experiences of

my life. It was a basketball town and you know, the Trailblazers at that time was the only show in town. The fans were great, the city was beautiful, and it was just it just opened my eyes to there's more outside of Philadelphia, and I had a wonderful experience out there. That first year you were still in the old calle cem Clyde Drexler was your teammate. The next year you moved into the Rose Garden. Buck Williams, you know, I would imagine he had a huge influence early in your career.

Talk about those guys, because not only do you played with great players. We're gonna into this, but you had something as we mentioned earlier, great coaches, but what was that like those first couple of years with the Plazers. It was it was great because you know, I go from a college kid now here it is a year earlier.

I'm sitting here just watching these guys on television, and you know, you move out there and here it is now and I'm out here playing pick up all with these guys are like, why am I playing pick up? All that? And this was before the season started with Client Drexler, Ross Strickland and Buck Williams and Jerome Kersey and Cliff Robinson, all these guys. I just watched them

playing the NBA Finals against you know, Michael Jordans. And what I realized right away is the majority of the guys that was on the team were married and kids and you know all of those things. So they were established with their lives. They wasn't guys that was like, hey man, let's go, let's go to dinner and hang out. You know, they having dinner at home with their families

and all of that. And it's so different now as I watched the NBA fall, It's so different down because the league has gotten much younger and so guys are not married and have kids, you know, that are fifteen sixteen years old when younger guys come into the NBA. But those guys were, you know, sitting on a plane reading newspapers and talking about current events and all those

different things. And I just had a good time with them and just learned a lot just from watching them, and in some of my subtle ways that I have about me, I get it from being in Philadelphia and some of the people that I've been around, but I also studied some of the players that I've been around too, and just try to emulate how those guys carry themselves. Right. So you go from Portland to Detroit, but not long with the Pistons. Doug Collins was the coach there. He

ends up losing his job. Alvin Gentry gets the job, but eventually come to Philadelphia, and that was where the main chunk of your NBA career took place. And as you said, being from here but then going to play for the Sixers, that must have been a dream come true.

It was, and again it was it was one of those things where you know, our Detroit team, he was pretty good, we won fifty plus games the previous year, and then, um, you know, I get the news that I'm going to you know, Philadelphia, which was a struggling team at that time, and you know, you were were I was hearing things about you know, Alan Iris, and I was hearing things about you know, Derek Coleman, and just like, man, this is just not a good situation that I want to be in at the point of

my career that I'm at. And uh, you know, right away when I got on the team and I got there, I realized it was something different about those guys, was something different about you know, how we how we approach things, and just getting the opportunity to sit down with Alan, getting the opportunity to sit down with Derek Coleman and and talk to those guys. Man, they were totally different from you know, how people describe them, and they were

more people person than than anything else. And so you know it's you go act to that saying, never judge a book by his cover, And that's one of the things I did with those guys before I got there. Until this day, those guys end up being you know, two of my better friends in life. And Alan credits you so much. He spoke real highly of you all the time, but especially at that Hall of fame speech

in Springfield. You guys created a bond and you were able to guide him a little bit based on being a little bit older and having more experiences speak to that relationship. I mean, you know, time you watched our relationship grow. You was around us a lot, and you know, we we're similar in a lot of ways, but different. You know, we both like having a good time and laughing and cracking jokes, because that's what we did a lot,

you know, with each other. You obviously saw a lot of the card games, and we were sitting back, sit on the plane if it was a five hour trip, were playing cars five hours sometimes, yeah. And you know on a bus ride to the games too, and front games, we sat next to each other in the back. So we spend an incredible amount of time with each other.

We would go to well get on the road, we would go to the movies and stuff together, and just we had an opportunity to get to know each other on a personal level and just sitting and talking about life and family and just the ups and downs and the struggles that you know, we all go through. I mean,

his struggles were a lot more than than mine. And you know, he had a lot more on his plate than I did because of you know, a lot of it was because of you know, who he was, and you know, but you know, he was just a wonderful guy and just you know, he has a heart of goal. You know, he's always looking out for other people. And you know, a lot of the stories don't get told

about him in his heart. But it's okay as long as he knows who he is and how he operates, I think, you know, and that's the one thing I've always respected about him. And as I said, never changed, don't change. You know who you are because of a position that you have, and you know, it's just an incredible person man, and you know, really cool and you know, some things I agree with them and some things I didn't agree, and vice versus some things he agreed with

me on and some things he didn't agree. But that's friendship, that's honesty, and you know, just having people around you that you that you trust. Basketball wise, you guys climbed into the playoffs, got knocked out two years in a row by Indiana, and then that third year your breakthrough. You beat the Pacers. Obviously the big series with Toronto beat Milwaukee in the Conference Finals, and it's actually nineteen

years ago right now as we speak. It was the anniversary if you will have Game three back here in Philadelphia. You guys were banged up, including yourself in the one NBA Finals, but talk a little bit about that in terms of taking the Lakers in that first game and that playoff run in the finals. In general, it was it was just great. It was just an awesome, awesome experience.

Just I even I still myself and just say, wow, you know, I got a chance to play in the NBA Finals from my hometown team, Like, you know, how often does that happen to, you know, two people. I don't know how many guys, I'm sure as there's other guys that got that opportunity. We certainly wanted to win it, and going into that series, we felt we had a really good chance of doing so. But you know, we run up into a dynasty of Kobe and Shock and

you know, their complimentary players were really really good. So they had all the components and they had it clicking and had it in high gear. But it was just an exciting time at least for me um in the city of Philadelphia, you know, with you know, our team and our push. Indiana was our nemesis, and we always felt we had to get through those guys, you know,

the Reggie Miller era, and they were really good. They were well coached, you know, coach after coach and started with Larry Brown, and I think it was Larry Bird maybe stepped in, and then it was Rick Carlile and those guys were always, you know, pretty good, and they was our nemesis. Every time we ran up into those guys into the playoffs, they was knocking us out. And we felt like, you know that O one, that two thousand and oh one year was our year now, and

they took us down. You know, they came in that first game and I believe they beat us at home, and you know, we looked around at each other like here we go again. But we said, hey, we got back to it. We got back in practice and say, hey, we're gonna get these guys. Don't worry about it. We're gonna be fine it. We got out there and we finally got past those guys, and that was that moment for us, like, hey, guys, we could do it. Everything we talked about in the summer, everything we talked about

in the beginning of the year. It's starting to take shape for us. And then we had Toronto, that next series, which was an epic series for US with Vince and Ai, two superstars in the league that's really carrying the banner, helped carrying the banner for the NBA and promoting it. Those both of those guys had outstanding series and it

came down to a last shot. You know, shot goes in, we might not even be here talking about, you know, having this conversation, but the shot doesn't go in, and we get a chance to advance to go on and play the Milwaukee Bucks, which was another really tough series.

And the Bucks was really talented team led by Sam Cassell, Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson and Tim Thomas and you know, those guys up and down the line had some some talent, they had some depth, and we was able to scratching car our way through those guys and you know, met up with the Lakers in the final. You know, it was a pretty good series and it was it was close, but you know, those guys were able to edge us out.

It was just just an awesome experience for me to be able to go through that and you know, be able to share that with family and friends and be able to bring that to the city of Philadelphia and share that with them. Although we didn't win it, but you know, we gave it our best. And one of the things that people loved about that team was the work ethic. And certainly now as a coach, you can share with your team, but the team was built around Alan obviously an MVP, and you were the sixth man

of the Year, but everybody it was shared sacrifice. You talk about and Larry Brown preached this big the North Carolina way, playing the right way, but that's also how you grew up playing basketball, and that's what it takes to be a championship caliber team, right. I mean, everybody has to play for another not care about who gets the credit. And that's what you guys, that was emblematic of how you play. Talk about that. You know, you want to be your better teams or the selfless ones,

and you have to understand your position. You have to understand your role because when you when you understand those things, I think it makes everybody better. You know, Alan was our guy, and you know he took some of the pressure off of us because of some of the things that he could do. We took some of the pressure off of him because of some of the things that we could do. And everybody identify their role and they were comfortable and doing that on and night in and

night out bases. You know. Again, I talked to you earlier about going to dinner and going to the movies, and we would do those things together as a team. So we got really close, and we was a close knick group, and we four for one another and we

had fun. I believe our practices were harder than than the games because we competed so hard in practice, and you know, we wanted to beat you know, we wanted to win, and and and it translated our practice habits translated to how we you know, we played in the games. And then after Philadelphia, in the collective bargaining agreement at that time, there was this amnesty clause and the Sixers exercised that and you end up going to Los Angeles

and you play with Kobe Bryant. You didn't play a whole lot of those two years, but playing with Phil Jackson as the coach, and specifically Kobe because now you're on his team, what was that like seeing him? You know, right there in the prime of his career, he was different. You know. He obviously had that drive to be great,

and I think that's what drove him every day. Just like any other great that dominate their profession, there's something inside of them that says that they're different than everybody else, and they want to show you every day. There's no amount of money that you can put in front of those guys, or gifts or toys or whatever you want to call it, that you could put in front of those guys that's going to motivate them. You know, some people are motivated by money, some people, you know, are

motivated by success. Some people are motivated by being the best at what they do. And for me, he was motivated at being the best at you know, what he did, and that's playing the game of basketball. He wanted to surpass Michael Jordan's he wanted to get out of his shadow to some degree, and that's you know, it's always hard and it's always going to be a fight for the next up and coming player. You know, Lebron is

dealing with that now. But Kobe was just so driven to be the best at what he what he'd do, and he did a really good job of it. And you know, he loved those moments, if it was the moment of getting the ball to him, laid in the games and him taking the last shot. He embraced those those challenges, where whereas you know, some guys don't want those moments, they shy away from it. But he was

one who always who always embraced it. You know, he get a lot of flat for you know, maybe not you know, sometimes not being him a great teammate, and sometimes that what comes with greatnesses. You try to pull others along with you, and sometimes you don't say it, or you don't you don't do it right. I think the intentions were meant well, but some people got different

ways of getting their you know, their point across. And you know he was successful at you know, winning championships and you know, helping other guys get championship rings, and you know, some people look at it like that, and I think over time he learned how to be a better teammate with helping guys and pulling him along. And I guess what I'm trying to say is his language got a little bit better and it helped other guys.

And you saw that with a lot of the commentary that came out after his unfortunate, untimely passing, and that was a good that was a good take on that, you know, for guys to come out and say, hey man, he was a great teammate. He would always text me and call me and you know, give me confidence and stuff like that, because you know, he always got a

bad rap along with Michael Jordans. But for anybody that's as successful as those guys, that's pretty much what you're going to hear about them because they're so driven and they want to win. That's the one thing that they want to do is win, and they want to pour others along with it. In a moment, coach McKee talks about the role his many coaches played in his development,

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visit novacare dot com. Now back to my conversation with coach Aaron McKee. You started a coaching career that was five years with the six years as an assistant and then five years with coach Dumpy at Temple and you really put in your time. What was that like crossing over and being a coach? It was great, I mean

because for me, I was still on the ground. I was still you know, down there with the players and working them out and just talking to him, talking to them and really you you really get to peel the layers back and get to know those guys and just being down there with them and just trying to help them, especially the younger guys, help them through their process, help them through their struggles, help them through the success of basketball and life outside of basketball, all of those things.

So it was great to be able to share because I had those experiences. It was great to be able to put my arms around some of the younger guys that I was around and be able to help them with their careers. And the goal for me was to get them to teach them how to work, but also teach them to have longevity. In the league, not want to come to the league and play for three or four years, but play as long as you want and

then be able to walk away from the game. Now as a head coach, and again I know you're developing the relationships, but and you'll enter your second year coming up here, does the dynamic change where maybe you can't put your arm around a guy as much as maybe you would have as an assistant coach, where you were oftentimes the buffer and the guy, like you said, that's trying to help them along, get to know them a

little bit. What's what's different about being a head coach from that side of things, Um, I would say nothing, Nothing really changes because you want to keep the lines of communication open that you know they are young kids. But I think you run into time constraints. You know you don't have it. There's not enough time in the world for you to spend with each guy as much

as you would like. You give them, you know what they need, and always tell them my doors is open if you want to come in and you want to talk, and you know so I'm always available for those guys to come in and talk. It's just you have other obligations of it as a head coach, sometimes practice can be old. I can be running out the door to you know, get out on the road. Summertime, we out

on the road, different things that we have. You know, I got four kids at home that that needs attention as well, So I'm they my guys know, I'm all always there for him anytime they want to talk or they want to you need to work through something. So it changes a little bit because as an assistant coach, that's you know, that's your your your aim is to

spend as much time with those guys as possible. In the head coach, you're trying to figure out how to you know, run a program and make sure you've got all the right pieces in place. And so you know, I'm always there for my guys anytime they need me, I'm there for I know you still follow the NBA. What do you think of this whole restart beginning at the end of July in Orlando in a bubble, no fans. What do you think that's going to be? Like? Interesting

to say the least. I think about the lockout year when guys were coming back and out of shape and just not ready to go. But it's what those guys want to do, at least some of them. They're excited about it. I think the fan base is excited about it just to kind of see because it's you know, you don't realize how how important a role that sports plays in your life and like anything else, until it's

taken away from you. And people just feel like it's become you know, American culture where you have to have it. You're so used to it, your days are centered around it. I'm gonna go to work, I get off for four, I'm gonna have dinner, five, the game come on at seven o'clock and I'm sit down with my family. I'm gonna sit down with my kids and we're gonna watch

the game. And now you don't have those things, and people are starving for it, and you know, I think it's a shot of you know, positivity that can be shot into America's arm if the guys can come out and perform well and you know, make it exciting for the you know, for the fan base. I think it'd

be great. As a player. I mean, part of my thought is that you know, you guys compete in practice and just the modeling model, competitive juice will bring it out that's one thing, but it also would be less than sincere if you didn't think the fans had something to do than in terms of giving you that extra adrenaline and drive. What about that aspect from your respect, I would imagine that each player would look at it no different than playing pickup on the gym and it's

just you and your buddies in there. You know, that's that's one thing, but it's nothing like running out of the tunnel and you have twenty thousand streaming fans or somebody able to react to a great play on the offensive end or the defensive end, and you won't. You're not going to have that. So you have to use your creativity and your imagination as you did as a child. So it'll be it'll be interesting to see. It'll be interesting to watch it televised, you know, with no fans there.

It's like I'm I'm watching the baseball game and it's just like no reaction to it, you know whatsoever. But you know, they find a way, and you know, as good as these players are on the professional level, they'll certainly make it exciting for you. Last thought, we're gonna circle back to the coaches because again, you're the guys you played for and alongside in terms of like even

when Maurice was an assistant. But Larry Brown, Phil Jockson, Cheney, coach Carlisi, as I mentioned your high school coach, did you pick and get a little something from each one of those guys as you went along? I like to you know, all of those guys were great in their own right, and I don't like to short change nobody. So it gets difficult because sometimes you leave people out right. I just left out right right. I could go back

to my middle school coach, you know. But you know, coach l had me at an early age and just taught me the fundamentals of the game, which was something that carried me throughout my life, throughout my career. You know, Larry Brown, you know, was able to reinforce that on a professional letl you know, Coach Cheney was able to drive me to to be something in life. You know, John Harnett was, you know, he was great and challenged

me every day in the gym. And you know, Coach Dumphy had his way of going about things as as a coach, and he was a subtle man with his temperament, but he had a way of getting his point his point across. So everybody's had a huge influence in my life in terms of my coaching and even even how I deal with my player's name, my beat. Well, Aaron, I thank you so much. I wish you the best. I appreciate your time and root for Temple and your

basketball team going forward. Thanks for having me, Thanks for listening to Tom's talks with me Tom McGinnis on the seventy six Ers podcast network. Check for new episodes every weekend.