the Sixers were in town.
Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith appreciated the chance to display his speed on the field Friday at rookie minicamp.
At least for a while Jacquizz Rodgers Jersey , it let him leave behind an unwanted distraction. A man was arrested Thursday for breaking into Smith’s car at the University of Georgia and taking several items, including a Bears-issued iPad containing a playbook.
”Everything happens for a reason,” Smith said. ”I learned from it, I’m just grateful of the police in Athens and also in Summerville for doing what they did.”
Smith, drafted No. 8 overall, reported several items taken from his car over the weekend including the iPad and jerseys from the Rose Bowl and national championship game.
According to Athens-Clarke County police, Georgia student Landyn Shane Durham was charged Thursday with felony suspicion of entering an automobile in relation to the incident. Although the iPad wasn’t recovered, the Bears were able to wipe out the information on it.
Asked if the team issued him a new iPad, Smith added, ”I should be having one pretty soon.”
Smith would have rather been in the spotlight for his play and not for leaving his iPad/playbook in a car.
”Oh well things change, you just live and you learn and you just have to grow,” he said. ”I feel like it’s all just part of growing up.”
It created an unexpected situation for new Bears coach Matt Nagy to address at rookie camp.
”It’s a wakeup call to all the guys that you always want to take care of your stuff as much as you can,” Nagy said. ”Some stuff is out of your control. I thought he did a great job of handling the situation and thanking people for helping him, and it’s unfortunately a part of life but he handled it the right way. He’s a great kid and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”
On the field Andre Branch Jersey , Smith’s introduction to pro football has been what he anticipated.
”It’s ball,” Smith said. ”There’s no school and everything like that. It’s just pretty much ball. I actually love it. You just focus on ball. You’re just here with your teammates. And you can just be the best possible you can be.
”You don’t have many distractions, unless you have some.”
The Bears used Smith in practice at left inside linebacker, a spot where Jerrell Freeman played before being released in the offseason. Smith will be competing for a starting spot with third-year linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski.
The defensive emphasis is on speed, and it’s an area the Bears bolstered in the draft with Smith and also his new roommate, fourth-round linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe of Western Kentucky.
The Butkus Award winner last year, Smith didn’t come in talking about being a starter or Pro Bowl player. He said he’ll play special teams if asked.
”Just because you’re the No. 8 pick in the draft doesn’t mean you just walk into this thing,” Nagy said. ”You’ve got to earn it. We’ve made that clear to everybody on this team.
”Competition is great. He’s going to be a great teammate, he’s going to ask questions and he’s going to realize that it does need to be earned.”
Smith initially enjoyed what he saw of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme.
”He blitzes backers, he puts them in the best possible situation to make plays,” Smith said. ”Just those two things, they alone are pretty good.”
Nagy also left an impression on rookies.
”The energy is the big thing you notice,” Iyiegbuniwe said. ”He hates pessimistic people, loves to be optimistic Michael Strahan Jersey , good vibes, and all the players will tell you that’s what they get from him.”
Iyiegbuniwe was one of six draft picks to sign just before the camp, leaving only Smith unsigned among draft picks.
NOTES: The Bears looked at second-round pick James Daniels of Iowa at both guard and center. Second-round wide receiver Anthony Miller of Memphis participated on a limited basis while coming back from a foot injury. … There are 70 players in the camp, including undrafted free agents, tryout participants and veteran invitees like former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray. … As a former participant in such a camp, Nagy gave some advice to his young players. ”So the biggest thing is to have no regrets,” Nagy said. ”For all of these guys when they’re out here, I don’t care if you were drafted, I don’t care if you were a free agent. When you’re out here these next three days leave it all out there on the field.”
—
Michael Rubin poses for pictures and shares bro hugs from his courtside seat before Philadelphia 76ers playoff games with a hodgepodge of celebrities that could be straight out of a ”Dancing With The Stars” casting call.
Hey, there’s Kevin Hart ! Look, it’s Questlove! Wait, is that really Dr. Oz ?
But there’s one VIP that the 45-year old billionaire co-owner of the Sixers really wants to introduce.
”Hey, have you met Meek?” Rubin asks.
Meek Mill is all smiles as he says life is all good in the days since he was released from prison while the Philly-born rapper appeals decade-old gun and drug convictions.
Mill had a string of high-profile names – including Hart , rapper Jay-Z and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft – support him during a five-month campaign to be freed on bail from prison for probation violations. But Mill’s biggest advocate Zay Jones Jersey , one of his closest friends and the e-commerce entrepreneur who arranged for a helicopter to take Mill from prison to a Sixers’ playoff game is Rubin, majority owner and CEO of Kynetic, the holding company for sportswear giant Fanatics.
His biggest behind-the-scenes role of late was his drive to free Mill from potentially years behind bars.
”He’s been showing up for me and standing up for me like a real friend would do,” Mill told The Associated Press. ”It’s meant a lot for our friendship and brought us closer together. I just think he’s a good-hearted person being that he’s somebody worth billions of dollars and still uses his resources to stand up for people who don’t have the money to be able to fight the errors of the criminal justice system.”
Forbes lists Rubin’s net worth at $3 billion . TMZ counts his value in page views – yes, that’s Rubin in the photo partying at a birthday bash for 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid .
But Rubin says he’ll find personal worth in the months ahead teaming with Mill to tackle thorny criminal justice issues. It could help that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is a frequent front-row companion of Rubin and Mill’s during Philly’s run through the postseason. The trio recently appeared together to ask state lawmakers for criminal justice changes .
”This was one of my closest friends and I watched something terrible happen to him,” Rubin said at his Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, office. ”It started with, how do we fix the situation with him? I said, `My God, this is horrific.’ What it actually showed me was, there are much bigger problems with the criminal justice system which I had no understanding of. We’re not going to let what happened to Meek Mill happen to everyday Meek Mills.”
Rubin wasn’t expecting a personal awakening when he met Mill at the 2015 NBA All-Star Game in New York.
Rubin, raised in an upper middle-class Philly suburb, was simply a businessman who had been making deals since he was a kid. He owned a ski shop as a teen Laken Tomlinson Jersey , dropped out of Villanova after just six weeks and sold his first sports equipment business to eBay in 2011 for $2.4 billion. He runs Fanatics, fashion site Rue La La and shipping site Shop Runner through Kynetic. And in 2011, he joined an ownership group led by Joshua Harris and David Blitzer that would buy the 76ers and later the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
Harris and Blitzer – who have since formed Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment as they expand their sports portfolio – had served as the primary faces of the sports teams since their purchases. But over the last two years as his wealth seemed to match his ambition, Rubin has been at the forefront of the Sixers’ rise from the 10-win early Process days into one of the best young teams in the NBA. The seats that flank Rubin – Mill and fellow rapper Lil Uzi Vert had the distinction at Game 4 against the Celtics on Monday – have become must-see for fans to catch celeb sightings.
”It’s surreal to have this many people support me at one time,” Mill said. ”The feeling is unexplainable.”
The man who pushed Mill’s cause – and helped keep the ”Dreams and Nightmares” performer’s spirits high in prison with visits from a few 76ers – is also getting his time in the spotlight.
”He freed Meek! He freed Meek!” one man yelled, trying to get Rubin’s attention.
It’s not just rappers and actors – or even Game 4 guest, CNBC news anchor Joe Kernen – that flock to Rubin. Rubin and Embiid have become tight and it was the owner who arranged Embiid’s birthday party in Miami and snagged a suite for the organization to attend a World Series game in Houston at the same time the Sixers were in town.
”I’m not involved in the basketball decisions,” Rubin said. ”I think it’s obvious from the outside in that I’ve got great relations with them. I’m a very player-oriented owner. I think I’m highly relatable to these guys. I’m in the business. There are things I can have a big influence in with them.”
Rubin, divorced with a 12-year-old daughter, has an off-the-cuff Mark Cuban vibe and wears the same blue button-down, jeans and black sneaks to Game 4 that he did hours earlier inside an office filled with photos of other celebs and his appearance on ”Undercover Boss .” He even hit up baseball’s All-Star Game last year with Kraft and Embiid .
”By the way, Joel and Robert love each other. Meek and Robert love each other,” Rubin said. ”I love to be able to foster those relationships. People always say to me how lucky Meek is to have m Authentic Womens Logan Cooke Jersey
At least for a while Jacquizz Rodgers Jersey , it let him leave behind an unwanted distraction. A man was arrested Thursday for breaking into Smith’s car at the University of Georgia and taking several items, including a Bears-issued iPad containing a playbook.
”Everything happens for a reason,” Smith said. ”I learned from it, I’m just grateful of the police in Athens and also in Summerville for doing what they did.”
Smith, drafted No. 8 overall, reported several items taken from his car over the weekend including the iPad and jerseys from the Rose Bowl and national championship game.
According to Athens-Clarke County police, Georgia student Landyn Shane Durham was charged Thursday with felony suspicion of entering an automobile in relation to the incident. Although the iPad wasn’t recovered, the Bears were able to wipe out the information on it.
Asked if the team issued him a new iPad, Smith added, ”I should be having one pretty soon.”
Smith would have rather been in the spotlight for his play and not for leaving his iPad/playbook in a car.
”Oh well things change, you just live and you learn and you just have to grow,” he said. ”I feel like it’s all just part of growing up.”
It created an unexpected situation for new Bears coach Matt Nagy to address at rookie camp.
”It’s a wakeup call to all the guys that you always want to take care of your stuff as much as you can,” Nagy said. ”Some stuff is out of your control. I thought he did a great job of handling the situation and thanking people for helping him, and it’s unfortunately a part of life but he handled it the right way. He’s a great kid and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”
On the field Andre Branch Jersey , Smith’s introduction to pro football has been what he anticipated.
”It’s ball,” Smith said. ”There’s no school and everything like that. It’s just pretty much ball. I actually love it. You just focus on ball. You’re just here with your teammates. And you can just be the best possible you can be.
”You don’t have many distractions, unless you have some.”
The Bears used Smith in practice at left inside linebacker, a spot where Jerrell Freeman played before being released in the offseason. Smith will be competing for a starting spot with third-year linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski.
The defensive emphasis is on speed, and it’s an area the Bears bolstered in the draft with Smith and also his new roommate, fourth-round linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe of Western Kentucky.
The Butkus Award winner last year, Smith didn’t come in talking about being a starter or Pro Bowl player. He said he’ll play special teams if asked.
”Just because you’re the No. 8 pick in the draft doesn’t mean you just walk into this thing,” Nagy said. ”You’ve got to earn it. We’ve made that clear to everybody on this team.
”Competition is great. He’s going to be a great teammate, he’s going to ask questions and he’s going to realize that it does need to be earned.”
Smith initially enjoyed what he saw of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s scheme.
”He blitzes backers, he puts them in the best possible situation to make plays,” Smith said. ”Just those two things, they alone are pretty good.”
Nagy also left an impression on rookies.
”The energy is the big thing you notice,” Iyiegbuniwe said. ”He hates pessimistic people, loves to be optimistic Michael Strahan Jersey , good vibes, and all the players will tell you that’s what they get from him.”
Iyiegbuniwe was one of six draft picks to sign just before the camp, leaving only Smith unsigned among draft picks.
NOTES: The Bears looked at second-round pick James Daniels of Iowa at both guard and center. Second-round wide receiver Anthony Miller of Memphis participated on a limited basis while coming back from a foot injury. … There are 70 players in the camp, including undrafted free agents, tryout participants and veteran invitees like former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray. … As a former participant in such a camp, Nagy gave some advice to his young players. ”So the biggest thing is to have no regrets,” Nagy said. ”For all of these guys when they’re out here, I don’t care if you were drafted, I don’t care if you were a free agent. When you’re out here these next three days leave it all out there on the field.”
—
Michael Rubin poses for pictures and shares bro hugs from his courtside seat before Philadelphia 76ers playoff games with a hodgepodge of celebrities that could be straight out of a ”Dancing With The Stars” casting call.
Hey, there’s Kevin Hart ! Look, it’s Questlove! Wait, is that really Dr. Oz ?
But there’s one VIP that the 45-year old billionaire co-owner of the Sixers really wants to introduce.
”Hey, have you met Meek?” Rubin asks.
Meek Mill is all smiles as he says life is all good in the days since he was released from prison while the Philly-born rapper appeals decade-old gun and drug convictions.
Mill had a string of high-profile names – including Hart , rapper Jay-Z and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft – support him during a five-month campaign to be freed on bail from prison for probation violations. But Mill’s biggest advocate Zay Jones Jersey , one of his closest friends and the e-commerce entrepreneur who arranged for a helicopter to take Mill from prison to a Sixers’ playoff game is Rubin, majority owner and CEO of Kynetic, the holding company for sportswear giant Fanatics.
His biggest behind-the-scenes role of late was his drive to free Mill from potentially years behind bars.
”He’s been showing up for me and standing up for me like a real friend would do,” Mill told The Associated Press. ”It’s meant a lot for our friendship and brought us closer together. I just think he’s a good-hearted person being that he’s somebody worth billions of dollars and still uses his resources to stand up for people who don’t have the money to be able to fight the errors of the criminal justice system.”
Forbes lists Rubin’s net worth at $3 billion . TMZ counts his value in page views – yes, that’s Rubin in the photo partying at a birthday bash for 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid .
But Rubin says he’ll find personal worth in the months ahead teaming with Mill to tackle thorny criminal justice issues. It could help that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is a frequent front-row companion of Rubin and Mill’s during Philly’s run through the postseason. The trio recently appeared together to ask state lawmakers for criminal justice changes .
”This was one of my closest friends and I watched something terrible happen to him,” Rubin said at his Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, office. ”It started with, how do we fix the situation with him? I said, `My God, this is horrific.’ What it actually showed me was, there are much bigger problems with the criminal justice system which I had no understanding of. We’re not going to let what happened to Meek Mill happen to everyday Meek Mills.”
Rubin wasn’t expecting a personal awakening when he met Mill at the 2015 NBA All-Star Game in New York.
Rubin, raised in an upper middle-class Philly suburb, was simply a businessman who had been making deals since he was a kid. He owned a ski shop as a teen Laken Tomlinson Jersey , dropped out of Villanova after just six weeks and sold his first sports equipment business to eBay in 2011 for $2.4 billion. He runs Fanatics, fashion site Rue La La and shipping site Shop Runner through Kynetic. And in 2011, he joined an ownership group led by Joshua Harris and David Blitzer that would buy the 76ers and later the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
Harris and Blitzer – who have since formed Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment as they expand their sports portfolio – had served as the primary faces of the sports teams since their purchases. But over the last two years as his wealth seemed to match his ambition, Rubin has been at the forefront of the Sixers’ rise from the 10-win early Process days into one of the best young teams in the NBA. The seats that flank Rubin – Mill and fellow rapper Lil Uzi Vert had the distinction at Game 4 against the Celtics on Monday – have become must-see for fans to catch celeb sightings.
”It’s surreal to have this many people support me at one time,” Mill said. ”The feeling is unexplainable.”
The man who pushed Mill’s cause – and helped keep the ”Dreams and Nightmares” performer’s spirits high in prison with visits from a few 76ers – is also getting his time in the spotlight.
”He freed Meek! He freed Meek!” one man yelled, trying to get Rubin’s attention.
It’s not just rappers and actors – or even Game 4 guest, CNBC news anchor Joe Kernen – that flock to Rubin. Rubin and Embiid have become tight and it was the owner who arranged Embiid’s birthday party in Miami and snagged a suite for the organization to attend a World Series game in Houston at the same time the Sixers were in town.
”I’m not involved in the basketball decisions,” Rubin said. ”I think it’s obvious from the outside in that I’ve got great relations with them. I’m a very player-oriented owner. I think I’m highly relatable to these guys. I’m in the business. There are things I can have a big influence in with them.”
Rubin, divorced with a 12-year-old daughter, has an off-the-cuff Mark Cuban vibe and wears the same blue button-down, jeans and black sneaks to Game 4 that he did hours earlier inside an office filled with photos of other celebs and his appearance on ”Undercover Boss .” He even hit up baseball’s All-Star Game last year with Kraft and Embiid .
”By the way, Joel and Robert love each other. Meek and Robert love each other,” Rubin said. ”I love to be able to foster those relationships. People always say to me how lucky Meek is to have m Authentic Womens Logan Cooke Jersey