Philadelphia 76ers Media Availability 🎙️ | Mike Gansey | 06.08.26 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Here we go. First off, I'd like to thank
2. 0:02everyone for being here.
3. 0:03Um the main reason I'm sitting up here
4. 0:05is because of these two gentlemen right
5. 0:07here, Bob and Josh, uh along with David
6. 0:10Blitzer.
7. 0:11From our very first conversations, it
8. 0:13was clear we shared a vision
9. 0:15uh for what this organization can
10. 0:16become. Uh and their commitment to build
11. 0:19a championship-caliber culture made this
12. 0:21opportunity I couldn't pass up.
13. 0:24I'm incredibly honored to join this
14. 0:26franchise. It's filled with a rich
15. 0:27history surrounded by a passionate
16. 0:30blue-collar fan base that will push us
17. 0:31just as hard as we will push ourselves
18. 0:35and demand a standard of excellence that
19. 0:36attracted me from the very beginning.
20. 0:39This moment is especially meaningful
21. 0:41because I would not be here without my
22. 0:42family, who I deeply love.
23. 0:45They have sacrificed so much throughout
24. 0:47this journey to allow me to pursue a
25. 0:49career that I'm passionate about.
26. 0:51Their support means everything to me.
27. 0:57I also want to thank the Cleveland
28. 0:58Cavaliers organization. Cleveland has
29. 1:00been home for me, and leaving that
30. 1:02special group was not an easy decision
31. 1:04at all.
32. 1:05I have nothing but gratitude and
33. 1:07admiration for the Gilbert family, Koby
34. 1:09Altman, Kenny Atkinson, the players,
35. 1:12and everyone with that organization that
36. 1:14have that have helped me
37. 1:16personally and professionally.
38. 1:18My philosophy is simple.
39. 1:20Build a culture rooted in character,
40. 1:22work ethic, competitive- petitiveness,
41. 1:25accountability, and teamwork.
42. 1:27Our fans deserve a team that they can be
43. 1:29proud of.
44. 1:30There will be alignment throughout the
45. 1:32entire
46. 1:33entire organization with a relentless
47. 1:35focus on putting our players and staff
48. 1:37in the best position to succeed.
49. 1:39The work starts today. We have an
50. 1:41enormous amount of work ahead of us the
51. 1:43coming months, and I couldn't be more
52. 1:45excited to begin with.
53. 1:46Thank you for your time. I'm looking
54. 1:48forward to building something together,
55. 1:51and go Sixers.
56. 1:53>> All right.
57. 1:59We'll now it up for a question and
58. 2:01answer. We just ask that you state your
59. 2:02name and affiliation prior to asking
60. 2:04your question.
61. 2:06Yeah.
62. 2:08>> Hi, Dan. Hi, Dan Gelston, Associated
63. 2:10Press. Hi. Uh this is two-part question.
64. 2:13First of all, are you and the
65. 2:14organization still committed to having
66. 2:15Joel Embiid around next year or when in
67. 2:17future?
68. 2:19And two, if so,
69. 2:21how do you get to where you want to be
70. 2:24for a team that
71. 2:25can't really rely on having your best
72. 2:27player around and
73. 2:29and making that much money?
74. 2:30>> Yeah. Well, obviously, we have Joel. You
75. 2:33know, I've had a lot of good
76. 2:33conversations with him so far. Excited
77. 2:36to meet with him this week, but um
78. 2:38you know, with him and the roster we
79. 2:39have, you know, we got we that's who we
80. 2:41have. You know, we got to get those guys
81. 2:42on the floor. We got to create an
82. 2:44identity and get them
83. 2:46just get them to play basketball. Um I
84. 2:48think the group that we have, you know,
85. 2:50Joel obviously, so um
86. 2:52we just want to get them going and uh
87. 2:54you know, we're excited to see what we
88. 2:56can build.
89. 2:59>> Bob Cooney on Patterson. Mike, when you
90. 3:01look at this organization, I'm not
91. 3:03talking about overall, but right now and
92. 3:05the basketball part of it, how would you
93. 3:06describe it?
94. 3:09>> I mean, it's a great I mean, it's the
95. 3:1076ers. I mean, obviously, you know, it's
96. 3:13a great organization, blue-collar
97. 3:14people, you know, the people are
98. 3:15passionate and um you know, we got we
99. 3:18got two really, really good young studs
100. 3:20with uh with Tyrese and B.J. and then we
101. 3:22have um you know, Joel and Paul. So,
102. 3:24those are the four we start with and
103. 3:26obviously, when they play, we're pretty
104. 3:27good. You know, you could see how how
105. 3:29they were against Boston in the
106. 3:30playoffs. And we just got to we just got
107. 3:32to dive into those four
108. 3:34and um get them on the floor together,
109. 3:36you know, obviously, cuz we got to stay
110. 3:37healthy and then and then try to add
111. 3:39some depth and get better in other
112. 3:40areas.
113. 3:42>> Mike Mike over here. I'm Gina Mizell
114. 3:44from the Philadelphia Inquirer. Um sort
115. 3:46of to go off of that question, just how
116. 3:47would you describe what your sort of
117. 3:49overall roster your philosophy is and
118. 3:51how you balance the immediate term of
119. 3:53what you have right now versus sort of
120. 3:54the long-term vision for the for the
121. 3:56future.
122. 3:57>> Yeah. No, I want I want guys that that
123. 3:59want to be in Philly first and foremost.
124. 4:01Um you know, obviously guys that can fit
125. 4:03around our players that we have
126. 4:04currently under contract. And you know,
127. 4:07I want I want fountains not drains. You
128. 4:09know, I want guys with high character,
129. 4:11guys with high work ethics, and guys
130. 4:12that want to be in Philadelphia.
131. 4:15>> Uh Mike Tony Jones from The Athletic. Do
132. 4:17you see
133. 4:19this roster is capable of competing
134. 4:21right away or do you see this more as a
135. 4:23long-term
136. 4:25uh kind of endeavor to get you guys
137. 4:26where you want to be in terms of
138. 4:28championship level?
139. 4:30>> You know, they got swept in the second
140. 4:31round. So, it's not a championship
141. 4:33caliber team right now, but we're going
142. 4:35to work on that. Um obviously getting
143. 4:37those four getting the big four together
144. 4:39on the floor.
145. 4:40But you know, we're going to do
146. 4:41everything we can to bring to bring
147. 4:43players in here that that fit and that
148. 4:45obviously can help. And um you know,
149. 4:47we're not going to We got a great staff
150. 4:49here and we're going to do everything we
151. 4:50can to get the best players in here to
152. 4:51help us get to the mountain top.
153. 4:54>> Okay.
154. 4:55>> Mike.
155. 4:55>> Uh right here. Uh Kyle Carlin Sixers
156. 4:57Wire. I'm I'm curious. When you look at
157. 4:59the timelines kind of kind of of the
158. 5:01roster, you look at Tyrese and VJ kind
159. 5:03of how young they are. Then you've also
160. 5:04got Joel and Paul obviously much older
161. 5:06and obviously still productive. I'm
162. 5:08curious how do you kind of balance the
163. 5:09timeline of Tyrese and VJ versus Joel
164. 5:12and Paul?
165. 5:12>> Yeah. I don't look at it as a timeline.
166. 5:14I just look at like we have those four
167. 5:17and we got to maximize those four. You
168. 5:19know, obviously VJ and and and Tyrese
169. 5:21are younger, but um but Paul and and
170. 5:24Joel can still play at a high level. I
171. 5:25mean, we're 24 and four team when when
172. 5:27Joel played and you know, obviously in
173. 5:29the playoffs coming back from Boston
174. 5:31like
175. 5:32you know, we just we got to we got to
176. 5:33rely on those four and obviously keep
177. 5:34them on the floor and then just build
178. 5:36build around them.
179. 5:38>> Adam.
180. 5:39>> Mike over here. I Adam Aaronson from
181. 5:41PhillyVoice. Could you just talk a
182. 5:42little bit more about what it was about
183. 5:44this situation that attracted you to
184. 5:47this job to run this team specifically?
185. 5:49>> Yeah, well, you know, obviously I love
186. 5:51Cleveland. It was It would have been
187. 5:53really really would have taken a lot to
188. 5:55get me out of Cleveland, but you know,
189. 5:56having a conversation with Bob, Josh,
190. 5:59you got a championship level coach in
191. 6:00Nick. You got a lot of really good
192. 6:02players on the roster.
193. 6:03And Josh is Josh is passionate. He wants
194. 6:06to win at the highest level and that's
195. 6:07what I want to do. He hates to lose, I
196. 6:09hate to lose. And you know, the more
197. 6:11conversations we had, I was really
198. 6:13excited about this and you know, very
199. 6:14fortunate that that I'm here and I'm
200. 6:16just ready to work with these guys cuz
201. 6:19you know, Bob's won four championships.
202. 6:20Nick's won a championship. I've won a
203. 6:22championship in Cleveland. So, you know,
204. 6:23we we want to get that we want to do the
205. 6:25same thing here in Philadelphia.
206. 6:28>> Hey Mike, over here. Kyle Neubeck from
207. 6:30PHLY. The league just shifted the
208. 6:33lottery rules in the upcoming years,
209. 6:35which will probably shift the value of
210. 6:37first round picks.
211. 6:38>> Yeah.
212. 6:38>> How do you go about determining, like do
213. 6:41you want to be a first mover in terms of
214. 6:43sending picks out and trades or holding
215. 6:46on to things?
216. 6:46>> Yeah, you know, obviously with the
217. 6:47lottery reform, there's a lot of change,
218. 6:49you know, and
219. 6:51um we're going to adapt, you know, we're
220. 6:52going to obviously
221. 6:53figure out what we need to do, but you
222. 6:55know, I know my philosophy is we're
223. 6:57going to look at everything, you know,
224. 6:58we got a great staff here that's going
225. 7:00to get creative. We're going to be
226. 7:01aggressive and you know, we're going to
227. 7:03we're going to turn over every stone and
228. 7:05try to get the best players in here and
229. 7:06make make some moves that are going to
230. 7:08that help us win.
231. 7:11>> Hi Mike, Dave Uram from WIP and KYW
232. 7:14radio. Welcome to town, congratulations
233. 7:16to your family. Last press conference we
234. 7:18heard from Bob about what he said his
235. 7:20involvement is going to be in this
236. 7:22partnership. Um what is your
237. 7:25understanding
238. 7:27of Bob's role and
239. 7:29does Bob have the power to overrule you
240. 7:32on decisions when there's disagreements?
241. 7:36>> Well, first of all, when I was
242. 7:36interviewing, I mean, having Bob Myers
243. 7:38in my corner, I I four-time champion,
244. 7:40one of the best executives of all time.
245. 7:42Like, I mean, who wouldn't want him on
246. 7:44your side? You know, obviously, I'm the
247. 7:46day-to-day president of basketball
248. 7:47operations. You know, me and my group,
249. 7:49who is a great group, we're going to
250. 7:50work together, but, you know, it's just
251. 7:52like every front office, you know? Like,
252. 7:54you got him, he's an extension of
253. 7:55ownership with Josh essentially, and any
254. 7:58recommendations, any ideas and stuff,
255. 8:00you know, I that we're going to go
256. 8:01through them. We're going to be in
257. 8:02alignment throughout the whole
258. 8:03organization, you know, Nick Nurse
259. 8:05included. Coach is going to be involved.
260. 8:07We're going to we're going to be aligned
261. 8:08throughout the whole building, and
262. 8:09having Bob is is what I call a cheat
263. 8:11code. You know, you have someone that I
264. 8:13can call anytime I want, and having him
265. 8:15is is pretty special to have on my side.
266. 8:19>> Uh, Mike Polakiewicz, Liberty Ballers.
267. 8:20Um,
268. 8:22just with your experience as as a player
269. 8:24playing at high-level college, playing
270. 8:25overseas, and in the developmental
271. 8:26league as well, just how much do you
272. 8:28think that has maybe helped you
273. 8:30understand the dynamics like from an
274. 8:31executive perspective with the players,
275. 8:33being able to interact with them, and
276. 8:34kind of, you know, when you're building
277. 8:36a team out, just being able to to
278. 8:38communicate uh, properly with them?
279. 8:40>> Yeah, I think it's helped me a lot
280. 8:42throughout my career, just cuz, you
281. 8:43know, I've been in a locker room, I've
282. 8:44been at war, so I've I've played with
283. 8:46some of the guys that are still playing
284. 8:47in this league a little bit, you know,
285. 8:49in college, so
286. 8:50I think my understanding of maybe what
287. 8:52they're going through day-to-day, you
288. 8:53know, like, you know, they're going
289. 8:55through training camp, or they're
290. 8:56exhausted, or the travel, or they're,
291. 8:58you know, their confidence is low. Like,
292. 8:59I can kind of relate to them a little
293. 9:00bit and say, "Hey, you know, I didn't
294. 9:02play at the highest level, but I played
295. 9:04at a pretty good level where
296. 9:05you know, they can come to me and ask me
297. 9:07questions, and I can relate to them a
298. 9:09little bit more than maybe someone that
299. 9:10didn't play.
300. 9:14>> Hey Mike, uh, David Murphy with the
301. 9:15Philadelphia Inquirer. Um, I I
302. 9:17understand what you said about uh, not
303. 9:19being a timeline,
304. 9:20um, but just age-wise and contract-wise,
305. 9:23you have, you know, two guys who who one
306. 9:25of whom is probably still not yet at his
307. 9:27peak yet. Um, and then you have a guy in
308. 9:30Paul George who will only be here maybe
309. 9:32for two year two more years given his
310. 9:33age and his contract, etc.
311. 9:36How do you balance? Um, obviously,
312. 9:38there's players that can help you win
313. 9:39this season that might not help you in 3
314. 9:41years from now and then vice versa.
315. 9:44As you're building the team,
316. 9:46what's your philosophy with regards to
317. 9:48the team that will be here after Paul
318. 9:50and Joel and the team that will be here
319. 9:52now that can compete the next one or two
320. 9:55or three years?
321. 9:55>> Yeah.
322. 9:56I just you know again, I just got here.
323. 9:59You know, I've had conversation with
324. 10:00coach and you know, the staff that
325. 10:02obviously we have here and you know, Bob
326. 10:04and Josh but
327. 10:06I just want to get the best out of them.
328. 10:07You know, obviously I haven't had a lot
329. 10:09of conversations with Joel and Paul yet
330. 10:10and you know, Tyrese and VJ. You know,
331. 10:12we've connected. You know, obviously
332. 10:13everyone's all over the world right now.
333. 10:15My world's spinning right now. So I just
334. 10:17want to get to them and kind of have see
335. 10:19what they're feeling too. You know, get
336. 10:21coaches input get their input and see if
337. 10:24we can get this thing together. But
338. 10:25again, I just don't look at it two
339. 10:27timelines. Like there are four guys.
340. 10:29They're under contract, you know, and we
341. 10:30got to do the best to get them to the to
342. 10:33their best self cuz I think every night
343. 10:35at 7:00, we got to get them to their
344. 10:37best to help us win.
345. 10:43>> Noel Levick, NBC Sports Philadelphia.
346. 10:45With Cleveland, just how would you
347. 10:47describe the the day-to-day of your work
348. 10:50there with Kobe and how does that inform
349. 10:53your approach to this situation with the
350. 10:55Sixers?
351. 10:56>> Yeah, you know, I was there 15 years.
352. 10:58You know, worked my way up intern to GM
353. 11:01and I give Kobe Altman a lot of credit
354. 11:03and the Gilbert family. You know, they
355. 11:05they let me do my thing. You know, I had
356. 11:07a ton of responsibilities.
357. 11:09You know, I think I think nowadays when
358. 11:11people like
359. 11:12can be a G League GM, I think that's a
360. 11:14huge stepping stone in their career and
361. 11:16I was able to do that and it helped me
362. 11:18when I became assistant GM all the way
363. 11:20to GM but
364. 11:21I did all the day-to-day. You know, I
365. 11:22was talking to players, did all you
366. 11:24know, the agents, you know,
367. 11:26collaborating with the head coach. I
368. 11:27mean me and Kenny had a great
369. 11:28relationship. We talked every day and
370. 11:30obviously dealing with ownership. So
371. 11:33I haven't been the number one guy, but
372. 11:35I've been I've been right there with
373. 11:36Kobe, and Kobe put a lot on my plate,
374. 11:38and I was very fortunate to be able to
375. 11:40to work as much as I did, and he gave me
376. 11:41a ton of responsibility.
377. 11:44>> Hi Mike. Mike Sielski from the
378. 11:46Philadelphia Inquirer. Uh people around
379. 11:48here are pretty familiar with James
380. 11:50Harden. I'm just curious if you could
381. 11:52expand on whatever your role was in
382. 11:55you know, the Cavs making the
383. 11:56determination that he was the kind of
384. 11:57guy who might help you win a
385. 11:58championship.
386. 11:59>> Yeah. No, I mean, you know, obviously I
387. 12:01was in those conversations. I was
388. 12:02involved, but
389. 12:04you know, James is, you know, with
390. 12:06another team now, so, you know, 10 days
391. 12:08ago I could have asked you every could
392. 12:10answered every question you had on
393. 12:11James, but um
394. 12:13you know, he was great for us, and you
395. 12:15know,
396. 12:17that's it.
397. 12:24>> Mike, you mentioned that the work starts
398. 12:26today. Just kind of what do you view as
399. 12:28your immediate priorities as you get
400. 12:30this going, especially with obviously
401. 12:31the draft and free agency just a couple
402. 12:33weeks away?
403. 12:34>> Well, obviously I'm very, very excited
404. 12:36to have Jameer as my number two. Um you
405. 12:38know, that was that was a kind of a I
406. 12:40don't know, sticking point, you know,
407. 12:41talking to Josh and Bob. He was someone
408. 12:42I really, really wanted throughout the
409. 12:44process. Um you know, Jameer's very,
410. 12:46very well respected around the league.
411. 12:48I'm 0 and 2 against him. When I was at
412. 12:50Saint Bonaventure, he was at Saint
413. 12:51Joe's, but I think I got the win now cuz
414. 12:53I got him on my side, so I'm excited to
415. 12:56have him. Obviously Prosper, and and we
416. 12:58have a really, really great group as
417. 12:59well. You know, Ned, Ariana, Van Horn,
418. 13:02so we have a really, really good group
419. 13:03already in place, and, you know,
420. 13:05obviously I know Nick. I know couple of
421. 13:07the coaching staff, so I'm just I'm just
422. 13:09ready to get going. You know, I'm ready
423. 13:10to kind of get get today over with, and
424. 13:12then get ready to go for the draft cuz
425. 13:14we're 2 weeks away.
426. 13:16>> Mike, over here again. Adam Aaronson
427. 13:18from Philly Voice. Obviously the sort of
428. 13:20new salary cap environment in the league
429. 13:22has changed the way a lot of people
430. 13:23build teams. As you inherit a roster
431. 13:26with three max contracts, I guess what
432. 13:28do you view as sort of the main
433. 13:29challenges of particularly when it comes
434. 13:31to depth
435. 13:33accumulating what you need to you know
436. 13:35win at the highest levels?
437. 13:36>> Yeah, I think with where we're at now,
438. 13:38we got a
439. 13:39we you know 22's got we have pick 22 in
440. 13:41the draft. We got to hit on that. We got
441. 13:43to get a good player there um and just
442. 13:45building depth, you know, I mean we got
443. 13:47to we got to we got to get guys in here
444. 13:48in free agency that we like. We got to
445. 13:50get minimum guys. You know, obviously
446. 13:52and then the big part is just internal
447. 13:54development, you know, we Tyrese, VJ and
448. 13:56some of our other young guys like they
449. 13:58got to get better too. I think it's
450. 13:59internal growth 22 and then free agency
451. 14:02and trying to add as much depth as we
452. 14:04can to this roster.
453. 14:08>> Um Mike again Kyle Neubeck Sixers Wire.
454. 14:11Just I was curious about what your draft
455. 14:13philosophy is. Like obviously this is a
456. 14:14group that has kind of hit on their
457. 14:15draft picks the last couple of years. I
458. 14:17guess how are you kind of maybe
459. 14:18enhancing things in terms of the draft
460. 14:20and things like that?
461. 14:21>> Yeah.
462. 14:21Yeah, no, I mean, you know, the group
463. 14:23right here. I mean, they've drafted
464. 14:25really really well obviously and I'm
465. 14:26excited to to learn from them and you
466. 14:28know, obviously put my vision in and put
467. 14:30my imprint on on on the draft, but
468. 14:33you know, I think at 22 it's you know,
469. 14:35you want to get a combination of best
470. 14:36player available and fit with our
471. 14:38roster. So, you know, we're going to
472. 14:40dive into that the next two weeks and
473. 14:41and try to get the best person and a
474. 14:43player for the for the for the Sixers.
475. 14:47>> Mike Zach Gelb of Metro Philadelphia.
476. 14:49Can you not specifically players but
477. 14:51maybe expand a little bit more on what
478. 14:53perhaps your specialty was in Cleveland
479. 14:56and in this role do you see yourself
480. 14:57perhaps to be the type of a in the mold
481. 15:00of a Daryl Morey uh Koby Altman or do
482. 15:01you see yourself working a bit more
483. 15:03collaboratively with the front office?
484. 15:05>> Yeah, great question. Um you know, I
485. 15:08think I ran the draft in Cleveland, so I
486. 15:10was really big on the the player
487. 15:11personnel and the valuation. Um but I'm
488. 15:14a connector, you know, I think I build
489. 15:16relationships with everyone in the
490. 15:17building all the way from our star
491. 15:18player to to the janitor, you know, I
492. 15:20think I have an open door policy. People
493. 15:22can come to me, ask questions, but
494. 15:25you know, we're going to have alignment
495. 15:26throughout the whole building. You know,
496. 15:28like me and Nick are going to
497. 15:28collaborate every day. You know, Jamir,
498. 15:30Prosper, our whole staff, all the
499. 15:32coaches, players, like it's going to be
500. 15:34a great environment to be in in Philly.
501. 15:37Um I'm big on having fountains not
502. 15:39drains in the building. I want people
503. 15:41sucking out the life of the building
504. 15:42like I want people to to get in their
505. 15:44car in the morning, drive to the
506. 15:46facility and be like, you know, I get to
507. 15:47see my family. You know, like we got to
508. 15:49have a fun environment and we are going
509. 15:51to have a fun environment cuz everyone
510. 15:53in this building, we see we see each
511. 15:55other more than we do our own families,
512. 15:56so we got to lean on each other, you
513. 15:58know, you know, we're going to have
514. 16:00tough conversations. We're going to
515. 16:02disagree to agree, but we're going to
516. 16:04we're going to all be aligned. We're all
517. 16:05going to be collaborative and we're
518. 16:06going to have a lot of fun working
519. 16:07together.
520. 16:09>> Matt Murphy, sixers.com. Your son's
521. 16:12Maxey uniform is a big hit. What does
522. 16:14this day mean to you and your family?
523. 16:16>> Uh it's it's so exciting. Um you know,
524. 16:19they've
525. 16:20and my wife Amy obviously is
526. 16:23you know, this job is so hard. You know,
527. 16:24I'm every day it's something different.
528. 16:26I'm always on the road. I'm always doing
529. 16:28this and that and
530. 16:30she's the rock of our family. You know,
531. 16:31I got four beautiful kids and
532. 16:34you know, we're we're from Cleveland, so
533. 16:35this is a big adjustment coming to
534. 16:37Philly, but I mean, the whole city of
535. 16:39Philly, everyone and everyone I've I've
536. 16:41gotten to know so far has opened me with
537. 16:42open arms and
538. 16:44it's it's the best decision I've ever
539. 16:45made cuz I'm very very excited to be
540. 16:47here and uh you know, I got some of my
541. 16:49former West Virginia you guys here, so
542. 16:51you know, I got some I got some family
543. 16:52outside of my my my immediate family
544. 16:54here to to to lean on, but uh
545. 16:57I'm just really really excited and um
546. 16:59just ready to get going.
547. 17:02>> Mike
548. 17:03Uh David Murphy again with the
549. 17:04Philadelphia Inquirer. Um there's a
550. 17:06notion um that it can be tough to win
551. 17:08with
552. 17:09um two {quote} undersized uh guards in
553. 17:12your backcourt. Um
554. 17:14you you did a decent job of it in in
555. 17:16Cleveland. Um
556. 17:18a couple of different iterations, I
557. 17:20guess. Um do you do you agree with that
558. 17:21notion? Do you think your time in
559. 17:23Cleveland is evidence that uh it can be
560. 17:25done or that that it it can't be done?
561. 17:28>> I think it can I think it can be done. I
562. 17:30mean, obviously, I don't know Tyrese and
563. 17:32V.J. that well, but, you know, they're
564. 17:33still high-level players and they're
565. 17:34only going to get better. So, I think
566. 17:36it's just up to me and our staff and
567. 17:39working with coach and finding out how
568. 17:41we can put people around them to make
569. 17:43them successful. You know, obviously,
570. 17:44when you have smaller guys, you need
571. 17:45probably more size at the wing and
572. 17:47obviously at other positions, but
573. 17:49you know, those two are really talented
574. 17:51and I bet there's a lot of other teams
575. 17:52that would like to have those two and
576. 17:54I'm just glad they're with us.
577. 17:56>> Yeah.
578. 17:56>> Uh hi, Dan Gelston, AP again. Um was
579. 17:59there any kind of sticking point at all
580. 18:00about coming in and having to inherit a
581. 18:02coach? Would you have liked to say in in
582. 18:04who you had running your team?
583. 18:06>> Well, you know, I
584. 18:08I play I played for Nick, you know? Uh
585. 18:10this was back in 2011, the the G League
586. 18:14select team, back when we were playing
587. 18:15in Las Vegas for Summer League. Um
588. 18:17Nick actually, you know, made me look
589. 18:19good. He got me a nice deal in Spain the
590. 18:21next year and uh ran a lot of ATOs for
591. 18:23me. So, you know, we were 1 and 9, I
592. 18:26think, against him that year when he was
593. 18:27with the Iowa Energy. So, we couldn't
594. 18:28beat him, but uh no, I'm just super
595. 18:30excited to work with Nick. I mean, I
596. 18:32have all the respect for him.
597. 18:33Championship-level coach. Um
598. 18:35what was it? 21-win improvement last
599. 18:37year. I mean, he's he's had to go
600. 18:38through a lot these last couple years
601. 18:39with injuries and
602. 18:41you know, lineups in and out. Um I think
603. 18:44they had 30 different starting lineups
604. 18:45this year cuz I know the Cavs, we had
605. 18:4741. So, and that's that's hard to do
606. 18:49because us in Cleveland, we made the
607. 18:51playoffs. So, like, that many guys out,
608. 18:54usually you're not winning a lot of
609. 18:55games. So, I'm just really excited to
610. 18:57work with Nick and, you know, him to
611. 18:59know me a little bit more, but me to to
612. 19:00work with him and, you know, we're going
613. 19:02to be aligned and, you know, he's a
614. 19:03championship-level coach. So, we're
615. 19:04excited to have him and uh I'm just
616. 19:06excited to work with him. So, just ready
617. 19:08to hit the ground running.
618. 19:10>> Awesome.
619. 19:10>> Mike Austin Krell on SI. Welcome to
620. 19:13Philly and congratulations. I guess you
621. 19:15mentioned in the beginning that you you
622. 19:16were very ecstatic to come here and work
623. 19:19with Bob and the culture you wanted to
624. 19:20build.
625. 19:21From what you've gleaned in your
626. 19:23conversations since then, what do you
627. 19:25what do you feel is the reason that you
628. 19:27were selected for this position?
629. 19:29>> [sighs]
630. 19:29>> Man, I don't like talking about myself,
631. 19:32um but you know, I just feel like I can
632. 19:34lead, you know, I can lead a group of
633. 19:36people.
634. 19:37There's going to be alignment throughout
635. 19:38the building. Um you know, I'm I'm going
636. 19:40to be very collaborative with the head
637. 19:41coach. I mean, me and Nick are going to
638. 19:42be, you know,
639. 19:44hit attached to the hip. You know, we're
640. 19:45going to every decision we make, you
641. 19:47know, Nick's going to be involved, you
642. 19:48know, obviously up to ownership. And,
643. 19:51you know, obviously the the group that
644. 19:53we have and that we retain, you know, is
645. 19:55really really exciting and we got really
646. 19:57good players, you know, like we got some
647. 19:59young players and we got some vets that
648. 20:00can really play. So, I'm just excited to
649. 20:02to get this thing started and kind of,
650. 20:04you know, get to know everyone and get
651. 20:05everyone in the building and just get
652. 20:07going.
653. 20:09>> Hey Mike, Kyle Neubeck, PHLY again. You
654. 20:11mentioned a lot, culture, work ethic,
655. 20:14the blue collar mentality, like the
656. 20:16importance of that here. Before you got
657. 20:18get guys in the building and you can
658. 20:20measure that kind of day-to-day, how do
659. 20:22you measure that in terms of evaluating
660. 20:25prospects, free agents, whatever it
661. 20:26might be?
662. 20:27>> Yeah, I mean, you know, part of it's
663. 20:29like getting in here, obviously, but you
664. 20:31know, we you got to do the work, you
665. 20:32know, obviously
666. 20:34draft coming up, for example, you know,
667. 20:35you're talking to a plenty of coaches,
668. 20:37people that have been around these guys
669. 20:39and you want to bring in good people
670. 20:41here. You know, if if they don't want to
671. 20:42be here or you don't feel they can fit
672. 20:44with our culture, then then we don't
673. 20:45want them. You know, like we want people
674. 20:47that want to be in Philadelphia and we
675. 20:49want guys that, you know, I want I want
676. 20:51competitiveness, I want toughness, I
677. 20:53want guys that that hate to lose. You
678. 20:55know, like those are the kind of people
679. 20:56I'm going to try and target and want to
680. 20:57bring out of this roster.
681. 21:00>> All right.
682. 21:00Thank you, Mike. At this time, we'll
683. 21:02invite the family up for
684. 21:04a few additional photos.
685. 21:05>> Awesome.
686. 21:05Thank you guys so much. Appreciate