Introductory Press Conference: Rookies Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, and Koby Brea | Phoenix Suns

Introductory Press Conference: Rookies Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, and Koby Brea | Phoenix Suns

Hey, hey, hey. and we welcome you to an Arizona’s family sports special. We’re at the YMCA in North Scottdale on the border of Paradise Valley. Mark McCloon, Nick King here talking Suns basketball and quite a few new faces about to be introduced as Phoenix Suns. Yeah, we’re about to meet the Suns. Three rookie draft picks. Kaman Malawatch for Shear Fleming and Kobe Brea. And there is a lot of youthful energy in here which I think is super appropriate because this is a team that the last couple of years has been veteranlen the Phoenix Suns and now this new era is about an infusion of youth. And so we got all these kids campers over here. Yeah. Let’s step out of the way and show this. So there’s Malawatch Brea and Rashir right there. Fleming making their way in through a a high five line with kids. Brian Gregory, the Suns GM, is about to introduce them. Uh have a number of new players here. And yeah, it’s it’s a new day for the Phoenix Suns. Definitely turning the page. And to kind of follow up on that, three of the players sitting in the front row are Colin Gillespie, Oso Gadaro, and Ryan Dunn. This is all about the future for the Suns. All right. Well, they’re making their way to the podium and Brian Gregory sitting down next to Malawatch, Fleming, and Brea. And here come the kids. Hey, hey, wave kids. You’re live on Arizona’s family. And you can you can uh say hello to all the Suns fans, junior sons out here. There’s going to be a clinic afterwards uh with the players and this is about connecting with the community. This is really what it’s all about right here. Yeah, this is super fun. Great idea to do it this way. Uh, you know, typically it’s held either at the arena or the practice facility, but this was a a really fun idea and uh the kids are fired up. Thank you. We have an extra point viewer right there. He must stay up late in the summer uh at 10:35 on Arizona’s Family, the Valley’s only night at local sports show. So, uh the kids are making their way to sit down and we’re going to listen in. Here’s Brian Gregory, the Suns GM coming out today. uh and obviously thank the Scottsdale YMCA, one of our uh great community partners, um for hosting us. And then I want to make sure I thank our junior sons for all the energy that you brought. Thank you so much. And you guys are exactly why we’re here today, to celebrate uh three new members of our organization. and we want to make sure that you guys are the first ones to welcome them to the great valley and the fact that their involvement with the community is so important to our organization and all the great things that you guys do. So, I’m excited to introduce right now I’ll start it off with the Phoenix Suns 2025 draft class. First, come on. Malu watch. Not yet. Rasher Fleming and Kobe Brea. All of these three young men have had exceptional college careers. uh but they’ve all taken different journeys and different paths to get to this point tonight and uh they are just wonderful, wonderful young men and we’re excited to have them part of our organization and our team moving forward. Um, one thing that they have in common though, when we talk about building our identity and what the Phoenix Suns is all about and what can make everybody in this gymnasium proud and everybody in the valley proud, these guys have it. They are unbelievably hard workers. That’s why they’re sitting up here today because they work hard. They’re not afraid to to grind out their their uh the work on a daily basis. They have an unbelievable competitiveness that’s relentless in what they’re trying to get done. They’re goal setters. They set those goals and they do everything they can to achieve them. They’re great teammates. They look out for each other. They’ve been with us for a week and you can already see that. And they have some great mentors sitting in the first row over here that are making sure that they know exactly what being a Phoenix Sun is all about. And they do it on every single day. They got great work habits, high character, and one thing that they know that’s important is they are ready to go out there in the community and make an impact in the community as well. So, when we talk about what we’re all about, these three guys up here, these three young men represent it every single day. One thing that we got to make sure that with the media today, this day is about these three rookies. So, I know people will have different questions and so forth, but let’s focus on our three rookies today because they deserve it with the work that they’ve put in and what they’re going to do for our organization. Let’s just make sure we’re focusing on them today. Real quick, I’m going to just go over a couple things on each of these players. So our our fantastic junior sons get to know him a little better. Kaman is from the uh Duke, played at Duke, played one year at Duke. Um just a high level, high energy player, tremendous on both ends of the court offensively and defensively. But the thing that we that really drew us to him and wanted us to use our 10th pick was with him was the energy and the enthusiasm that he plays this game with. Every single day is a is a good day for Kaman. He brings it every single day. And when we talk about our identity, we talk about things that that are important to us and the habits that you have. And Kaman brings it. He’s exactly what we were looking for in that pick. Rasher Fleming comes from St. Joe’s. Um, comes from a his mother was in the military, so we know he’s tough. We know he fights every day and is willing to do the things necessary to get things done. Tremendous offensive player with great size. When you think of the NBA nowadays, you think of players that are long and athletic, can shoot the ball, and can affect the game defensively. And that’s exactly what Rasher is going to do. Kobe Brea, point blank, has been the best three-point shooter in college basketball for the last three years. In addition to that, high basketball IQ, um, tremendous work ethic, and that’s the same for all three of these guys. But with with Kobe, you know, every single day he’s going to be in the gym. He’s going to be working on his game. The best thing with all three of these players is as good as they are right now, they’re only going to keep getting better. They’re only going to keep getting better. These guys will represent this great community in a first class way every single day. Every single day. And we are so proud to have them part of our organization. We’re so proud of helping them grow into the men that they want to be and the players that they want to be. And we couldn’t be more excited about them today. I’ll open it up right now and and introduce each player and then they’ll say a few words. So Kaman, you’re up first. Um my name uh is Kaman Mad Malo. Uh I went to Duke um from South Sudan. I’m so I’m so excited to be here. I’m so happy to be here um to be part of this great great culture and um this new thing we’re going to start. Uh it’s just a beginning for me and thanks to everybody that that has helped me to be to be in this position today and I’m I’m so excited to do this journey with everybody right here in this community. Rashir. My name is Rasher Fleming. I’m from St. Joe’s University. Um, I’m just super excited and super grateful to be here with this organization. Uh, I really I just can’t get I just can’t wait to get to work. Kobe Brea. Uh, I’m Kobe Brea and I went to the University of Dayton at Kentucky. And I’m just super blessed and honored to, you know, be a Phoenix Sun and to go through this year and embrace what it is to really be a Phoenix Sun. Not only, you know, as a player, but also just be out in the community with you guys and spending time with you guys. So, like like I said again, just honored and and blessed. Thank you. All right. All right. We’ll open it up to some questions. Gerald. Hey everybody, Gerald Borgay, PHNX Sports. Brian, good to see you. Nice to meet you. Come on, Rashir and Kobe. Uh, this is a question for each of the rookies if you wouldn’t mind answering individually. Um, now that you’ve gone through the whole draft process, you’ve heard people talk about the strengths and weaknesses of your game. Now you know where you’re going to be starting your NBA career. What are you most excited to show people from your game? Should I go first? Um, for myself, I just say just to be able to show that I can do it at this level. I’m somebody that’s extremely confident in myself. And I feel like every level that I’ve gone to, whether it was high school, college, and now in the NBA, I just want to be able to show that, you know, I can do it here, too. So, that’s the biggest thing for me. I think for me, it’s pretty similar. Um, my game in college is pretty much like a 3 and D guy, but I think coming to this or organization, um, with the staff and the guys that we have, uh, all great guys, they’re all going to be pushing me to do more and better at just a higher level. So, I just can’t wait to do that. I mean, uh, to me, it’s just it’s just staying on uh, staying in the gym and working hard every day, work on my overall game, and just keep on getting better and just keep on doing whatever I’ve been doing for the past years. Hey guys, Kell Olson, Arizona Sports. Welcome to Valley. Nice to meet all three of you. I wanted to ask all three of you about moving to the NBA with your individual games specifically. There’s more pace, there’s more space for all three of you to answer what parts of moving to the NBA style do you think will benefit your game in the ways where like college can kind of be a little bit restrictive on some of the things you can do? Um, for me, I think that, like you said, the spacing is just way different. Um, it’s way way Yeah. way different than college. So, I think it just opens up a lot more um a lot more things to happen on the court for for me and other guys. So, I think that’s one of the main things for me. Yeah, I think um just playing at Kentucky last year really prepared me for the pace that’s played in the NBA now. um just seeing how much faster it is and how much it continue to grow and such a especially now the three-point line is so important in the NBA. So just being able to keep the floor space and you know just understanding the the guys that I have on this team that you know can really you know benefit me and I can benefit them as well. Just giving them an outlet is something that they can trust to you know hit shots. So I think the spacing will be really good for me. Uh to me, I mean, um it’s expected. I mean, it’s going to be a faster game, but we’re going to have more space, as they say, that’s going to open up more drives and it’s going to create more opportunities for my team. And it’s just sometimes just about get finding a role quick in your rookie year and uh being able to be impactful whether you don’t have the ball in your hands or if you have the ball over here, gentlemen. Dwayne Rank and Arizona Republic. Congratulations to all three of you. Welcome to Phoenix. Congrats to you, Brian, with with this draft class. First, I want to ask Kobe, did you did you find a barber? Say that again. Did you find a barber? Oh, a barber. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did. I did. I got to I ain’t been able to go yet, but I will soon. Okay. Uh, first, just for the players, uh, when you look at just the summer league coming up and object you guys are in a little mini camp right now, what are you hoping to learn here in the next two or three days that’ll help you prepare for for summer league? Yeah, I think um just the the mindset every single day just wanting to get better every single day. You know, it’s a it’s a long process and I think the best way to go about it is just take it day by day. So today I’m just focused on you know our practices today and tomorrow I’ll do the same and then once summer league is here I think we’ll be in a really good spot as a team and just um you know continuing to grow the team chemistry because that’s going to be really important not only for now but throughout the season. So just um being able to show the guys that I’m somebody that they can trust and that I’m somebody that’s going to have, you know, I’m going to be all in with them. Same thing for you for you for for both of you. The same question for both of you. Can you ask it one more time for me? Well, what are you hoping to get out of this mini camp that’s going to help you? You feel like in summer league? Um for me, just showing up as like a everyday guy. I feel like that’s that’s the main thing. Um just being consistent as a person and showing up for my guys on and off the court. Come on. I mean, to me, it’s it’s just learning how to be a pro. I mean, it’s it’s going to be a long season. We’re going to have a lot of games. Um, just learning how to take care of your body, navigate through everything, and um just staying available throughout the whole season cuz it’s going to be a lot on our bodies. It’s going to be different from college. So, it’s just like learning how to be a pro and be disciplined. And Brian, just real quick, obviously, you’re not done with this roster. I got a lot of things to do uh from here and have done and and from after this. What are your expectations for these three once it gets closer to that training camp and moving into the season once you figure out what you guys are doing roster-wise? Yeah, I mean obviously we’re we’re excited about these three guys joining our our team. Um, and with one practice in right now that to be honest with you, I’m even more excited watching their competitiveness. You know, we we talked multiple months ago about some things that were going to be really important to us. You know, finding guys that were um highly competitive, finding guys that were gritty and we’re going to be tough and we’re going to be physical and not afraid to hit somebody on the glass and different things like that. Well, you got three guys up here that do it and you got three guys down there that do it. So, if you look over the last 12 months from when we were here last year, you know, that there’s been a a conscious team effort of understanding what we needed to get done. And these three up here are big pieces of that. They got to grow. They got to develop. You know, the best thing about these three is as good as they are, they understand they’re not good enough yet. they got to keep getting better and those are those daily habits that we talk about and um you know they have it and they’re surrounded by guys that have it so I think we’re in a good position moving forward. Hi guys, I’m Doug Hower. I write for the Athletic. Welcome to the Valley. Uh Rashir, you touched on this but growing up everybody has every basketball player has dreams of playing in the NBA. When did you first realize during your basketball journey that reaching this level was actually possible? Um, yeah, for me it’s always been my dream since I was about five or six years old. But I think really really realizing that I can make it here. I think around like sophomore, junior year. Um, I just saw that I could take I just saw myself taking that next that next jump um and just improving that next year. And I think I did that and um I’m just excited that I was able to do that and get to this level. All right. Right here, Elliott. Goodbye. Sports 360. Come on. You mentioned your journey to get to this point. As you reflect on that journey, what are some moments that stand out to you as you sit here right now? I mean I mean it’s a lot of moments um that I every time I reflect back um just thinking about the people that helped me to be in this position I’m in today and the collective effort they made and the effort I made to to push myself through some hard times to be able to to make it at this stage. Dana Scott, Arizona Republic. Uh questions for Rashir and Kobe. You both are from the tri-state area, New Jersey, New York. Did you ever face each other uh growing up in the you know amateur circuit or you know how did those places in New Jersey and New York influence your games to where you are now? Um we we never played each other like before like our early years but we did play each other in the A10. Um, I think just being from the area like Tri area, it just builds a lot of toughness for like like when you’re just growing up, you’re playing against all competitive people. Usually playing against older guys that just wanted you just want to make everybody better. So, it’s just it’s a big thing for us. Yeah. Um, same thing he said, we played against each other in the A10 a lot and then last summer we both attended the Damen Lily camp and so that was the first time I really like got to talk to him and get to meet him and so it’s just crazy how everything works, you know, just being his teammate now. So, it’s unbelievable and I’m excited for it, not only for him, but everybody else. Hi guys, Nick King back here from AZ Family. Off the court, away from basketball, are there any passions, interests, hobbies that you guys have that you feel like uh paints the picture of who you are as a person? Uh, I’m a big family guy. I just like being around my family and my teammates. It’s been fun, you know, these last couple days just spending time with them and going golfing and spending time in the pool and just doing a whole bunch of little kids stuff. So, just um being able to have like that kind of relationship with these guys has been really special. Yeah, I would say the same thing. Uh I like playing video games. We like going bowling, uh golf, like you said, all the all the little fun stuff that’s enjoyable. I mean, the past year at Duke, I really spend a lot of time with my teammates, but I know now it’s going to change because we have older teammates, too, who have family. So, I’m going to have to find new stuff to do in Phoenix, but I love I love playing mini golf with the team. So, yeah, they had a mean mini golf game the other day. Dylan Kane, Kronhite News. Congratulations to the three of you guys once again. Uh, just quick little fun question for you guys. What was the story or inspiration behind the new jersey numbers you guys are going to wear with the team? Uh, I’ll stop. I mean, I got uh I got number 10 cuz I was the 10th pick. So So yeah, I just got number 10 and it was available so I decided to take it. If I’m being honest, it was no inspiration behind 20. I just think it looks I think it looks good with my last name. But um well I’m 20 years old. All this stuff is all the big things are happening for me right now. I’m 20 years old. So I think that that goes good with that. Um I picked number 14 cuz uh I used to wear number four. My little brother’s birthday is January 4th. So now being number 14 is the month and the day of his birthday. And then also I was I was picked number 41 in the draft. So you reverse that. It’s 14. So I just went with 14. Hey Brian Martin Mccloin, Arizona’s family. wondered if you could share a story about scouting these guys and what was the anxiety level like waiting for each of the the the picks to be announced and knowing that you were going to be able to draft these guys? Yeah, obviously the the um the draft process and day one and day two there’s a lot of things going on um you know to to get with to get the 10th pick um and then the movement that occurred before and obviously Kaman was number one on our on our list hoping he’d be available there and he was so there was a lot of excitement in the in the draft room when when that occurred obvious you I mean, it was we were hoping and hoping and when I saw number eight go and then I saw number nine and there was an explosion in the in the draft room. Uh, and then, you know, we knew uh with Rashir and with with Kobe entering into day number two uh to figure out some way. They were both high on our priority list. obviously made some moves in order to get in the position to get both of them. Um, you know, because of some of that things that happened, none of these three came to our building for a workout. So that last 10 days prior to the draft when the trade occurred and and our draft status changed, we had to do a lot of extra research, a lot of intel work, a lot of extra watch and film because we didn’t get a chance to spend time with them like some other guys that we’ve had that the two guys here that we drafted last year. We were able to do that. So, it was kind of unique, but when we have a the infrastructure that we have in our scouting department, uh, and with all the different things that we’re able to to come up with, we felt really good about it because not only we knew them as players, but then we got to do the the calls and the research with who they were as people, and then it was a no-brainer for our group. Hey everybody, Ben Blicklin, Burn City Sports. Congratulations. Welcome to Phoenix. Uh my question is for Kobe. Kobe, uh your exceptional three-point shooting skills, how can you see that it only grows in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns? I’m sorry. Can you repeat the last part? How can you see your exceptional three-point shooting only growing in the in the NBA with the Suns? Yeah, I think um just the the players that that we have on this team, you know, they’re obviously they’re going to draw a lot of attention and so just being somebody that, you know, it can be the beneficiary out of that. And then also just on like I’m somebody that’s still evolving as a player, you know, I’m gonna continue to get better. There’s still a lot that I have to work on and get better at. So I’m gonna continue to do that. And then I have the great opportunity to learn from many, many great players here. So I’m just excited to pick everybody’s brains really. We have two more. Hey, come on. This one’s for you. You’ve talked a lot about your journey here and how you had delusional dreams to make it to the NBA. Now that you’re here and you’ve signed the contract, what’s the next delusional dream? I mean, I’m I don’t try to to think ahead too much. Um, I just try to embrace everything that’s that I have ahead of me right now and just try to to be present and enjoy everything that comes with this is is just my rookie year. Just having a good rookie year, thinking about the summer league and and staying healthy and being available for sure. Just one last thing. Um, just curious in terms of your ability to be able to shoot the three, get to the rim, have a versatile offensive skill set, when did that evolve into what you have right now? When did you start developing the overall skill set? What at what age? Um, believe it or not, when I was younger, like five, six, I used to be the point guard. So I you I really got like a lot of skill, but like as I got taller, it kind of like high school coaches, middle school coaches put me in that different position, the center position, and then I just I was able to learn different things from that, too. So the three-point shine, I feel like I’ve always been confident in um the big the big skill work has been like that’s been a thing since middle school. So I’ve just been developing it throughout these whole years and I’m going continue to with the Suns. That’s it. So we’re going to do photo ops here. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And there you have it. The Suns rookie class has been introduced and off we go into the summer and summer league. But first, it’s about to get loud in here. The Junior Suns are taking the court next to myself and Nick King and they’re going to play some basketball with the newest members of the Suns and Ryan Dun and Oso Gdaro here as well. Uh what other sons do we see here behind us? Gillespie was here with him too. Yeah. So there’s uh there’s some hoopers. I tell you what, Norman, could you zoom in on that? Or maybe we take the podium camera. There’s some tall guys standing in front of us right now. But you see the numbers. Malawatch is going to wear number 10. Uh Fleming is going to wear number 20. And did Brea say 14? 40. Yeah, 14. Okay. Which is the opposite of being picked 41st. Malawatch was picked 10th. And Rashir Fleming just thought number 20 looked good on the jersey with his last name on the back. What do what do we always say? Look good, play good. Look good, feel good, play good. Exactly. Same thing in broadcasting. So yeah, and the the the message here from Ryan Gregory is just about the people and and just the kind of grit they’re going to bring to the organization. and you throw a Dylan Brooks in there and you three you throw in three guys who who bring it and and that’s what they were looking for. It it is a whole new attitude in here and they’re really hoping this can connect with Suns fans where you walk in the arena and say, “Man, those guys those guys played hard tonight.” Yeah, I think that’s part of that must be part of why they want to do this introduction out in the community is a reconnect with the community. I think a lot of the fan base was turned off by the style of play last year as was the Suns brass. why they made a lot of changes with the head coach and with the players. Brian Gregory referenced the transformation from 12 months ago to now when there was almost no youth on the roster. Then you draft Ryan Dunn, Osoadaro, Colin Gillespie ends up playing a role. I tell you what, OSO’s going over there. I don’t know if Norman, you can get a shot of this one, but here you go. Okay. You want to see the the the look on on the faces of kids meeting a professional athlete. This is I got to do this a couple times as a kid and it’s like an out-of- body experience, but there’s Oso Igodaro who’s local, went to Desert Vista High School in Marquette and of course he’s coming home and there’s Ryan Dunn and he’s going to work on jump shots, I would imagine. And shooting is is is something we didn’t think this time last year Ryan Dunn could shoot how he did and looking forward to seeing him take the next step here in year two. And now uh we have some legit shooters that they drafted as well. And I’m interested to see when these three rookies come over here on the court, if they’re coming over on the court, because the word that uh I would use to describe that entire press conference was serious. Those guys are serious business. Like there was not a ton of smiling, joking around. Like they are focused on getting to work and couple days of practice, first summer league game on Friday in Las Vegas and they’re ready to get after it. They don’t seem like rookies. They just kind of have the disposition of guys who have been around. Of course, Brea was at Dayton and then went to Kentucky and set the world on fire uh with his shooting. Fleming the military background. So, that just that sort of cuts a toughness groove and and then Malawatch making the trip over here Sudan and going going to uh many different countries there and going to Duke and playing alongside Cooper Flag. I think there’s just there’s a lot of intrigue here. excited to tell the stories and yeah, excited to see the fan base kind of just have some look at this with new eyes. I’ll tell you what, not to throw shade at a former Suns center who was drafted in the lottery, but I think there’s a different level of maturity that you’re getting in Kan Malawatch um than the uh the previous center here for the Suns. He is really impressive for being so young, just one year out of college. And I’m sure a lot of it is the journey that he’s had to get here. And uh I know it means a lot. Comes in. I tell you what, Norman, if you pan to your left, uh this this looks like the big entrance here. And I mean, if you walk in with the Sun’s gorilla, oh my gosh, this I mean, this is kind of the moment that you dream of when you make the NBA. Playing on big stages, but also getting in front of kids. These guys were kids not too long ago and now they’re the the the player that everybody’s looking up to here. In some sense, they should still be kids. Like when I was in college, which come on Malawat should be entering his sophomore year of college, I was nowhere near an adult. I don’t know about you. No, not at all. I did I did really uh enjoy how he answered the question. I thought it was very thoughtful about his irrational expectations and believing in himself. Oh, how about it? but not really wanting to put anything else out there because he knows we’re all going to ask him about it once he has an answer like that where he said I just I present he wants to be present focused in the moment which is a really hard thing for people to grasp I still struggle with that yeah it’s um exactly especially when you’re on a live stream uh broadcasting a kids camp and a uh a news conference but I do think yeah new day for the Suns excited to see summer league excited to see what the what the roster looks like um there’s a lot Lot of length out here on this court, I’ll tell you that. Yeah, a lot of length. And I mean, you think about how that that spaces out, how how you can protect the rim on defense. Brian Gregory’s talked about the two bigs and and how this opens up a Devin Booker and a Jaylen Green and who plays point guard. Oh man, that we’re going to have that discussion a couple times this summer, right? Colin Gillespie is waiting over

An Introductory Press Conference with Suns rookies Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming, and Koby Brea.