Portions of this show are recorded. Strap in
and be prepared. Room for error is much slimmer
in basketball. You lose one player and it changes
your entire team. It's not like that in football.
It's just not. It's not. Interesting guests.
Kelly Graves. Mike Parker. Coach Mark Waskowski.
Noah Eagle. Melissa Lombardi. Kenyon Barnard.
Jonathan Stewart. Sharp opinions. Dana Altman
probably earned a pass for a down year after
almost 20 years. of what he's done for Oregon
basketball. And some smiles. Guys, I was stuck
in a car wash. Sounds like an R. Kelly song.
It's not an R. Kelly song. It's Danny Havel.
I can't remember, and I've been doing this for
longer than you've been alive, which is really
horrible that I have to say that, but it's the
truth. Justin Grossweiner. It's like the saying
in Alaska, that you don't have to be faster than
the bear, you just have to be faster than your
friend. Danny and Justin starts now on Fox Sports
Eugene and Fox Sports Newport. Hello, neighbors,
and welcome high atop the Delta Tri at the Crystal
Palace. Fox Sports Eugene, Fox Sports Newport,
the Bigfoot Beverages Studios. On a... tuesday
thanks for tuning in to the danny and justin
radio program the fastest 60 minutes in sports
follow us on twitter and blue sky danny and justin
also wherever you platform your podcast or music
you can find us there danny and justin if you
miss any of the program today you can go back
and relive it or any of our programs that you've
missed like yesterday when we had Eric Skopel,
the great Skopel Dalmas on. Today, it's the mayor
of Rip City, Travis Demers, who is going through
a road trip that ends in Memphis. And oh my goodness
gracious, the Blazers, they're struggling right
now. We got to talk about that. We got to see
if we can fix everything. We'll have Travis on
at about 20 after the hour. But we're going to
talk Oregon, Oregon State baseball, the Civil
War at PK Park. We're going to talk Oregon men's
basketball, Oregon State men's basketball in
wildly different parallel universes. And you'll
understand how I'm going to pull that all together
when we talk about them in this first segment.
But first, I'm Doc, right over there. You know
him, you love him. Justin Alexander Grossweiner,
otherwise known as Baby J. What up, boys? That
is my middle name. Very good on that. I'm excited
to go to a baseball game today. We're going to
teleport over after the game. You're not going
to have a beverage. After the show, I mean. After
the show. That's what I meant to say. 3 -0 -5
first pitch for the first of three. Both. No,
one neutral site and one at each home park. So
it should be spread out over. So there'll be
a gap between the next time these two teams play,
because next time they will play after today.
will be up at the Hop Stadium in Portland on
April the 14th, and then they have a single set
at Goss Stadium, I think, April 22nd, something
like that. So they'll still get – they played
four times last year. They only play three times
this year. And, you know, a lot of that's scheduling.
But the Ducks are 10 -1 in the season thus far,
and Oregon State's been – they've been shuffling,
but they've played a lot of good competition.
Yes. They're 6 -4. Neither coach, sorry, got
a little froggy in my throat here. Neither coach
has said who their starter's going to be. So
there's a little chess match going on. You tried
to ask, too. Oh, I asked Waz yesterday. He's
like, no, what can I tell you? I said, Waz, it's
me. I'm not going to tell anybody. He says, nope,
not going to say it. And when you get the game
notes and such, normally it has the starters
down. Like for a weekend set, you'll know who's
going to start. All the way through the weekend,
they've got the lineup set. Nope, both teams.
TBD on the starter. I love it. I think it's great.
I'm going to throw it down. I think it's going
to be Colin Clark against Dax Whitney. Colin
Clark for the Ducks, Dax Whitney for the Beavs.
I think they're going to go with the Aces. I
think it's interesting. I think that if you're...
No, but what do you think? I think that you could
do Dax. I mean, I think it'd be four days rest.
So it'd be a little bit sooner. And it depends
on how much you value this, I guess. If you really
value this matchup, I think I could make an argument
that it's more important for the Ducks. To beat
the Beavers. Really? I don't know. I mean, they're
in the Big Ten. I feel like the overall schedule
for Oregon State, so far at least, has certainly
been better. Can we hold this debate to the last
segment while we really dig into this? Because
I think this is interesting on who, at this point,
who it's more important for. Because I think
we disagree a bit. And I want us to both make
our cases for it, and then we'll let the fans
decide. So it'll be fun. And folks, I'm just
going to tell you right now. And I know, it's
an early afternoon and such, but man, the weather's
going to be okay. It's not going to be frigid.
Get out there, because I'm just going to say,
the Oregon State faithful travel pretty well.
And I know there are some open seats still available.
And if you haven't already gotten tickets, make
sure you're there. And I'm just going to say,
go to lunch and tell the boss, I'm coming down
with something. And then head out to the ballpark
for happy hour. which starts 45 minutes before
first pitch up until first pitch. Coming down
with duck fever. Or beaver fever. Or beaver fever,
whichever one. $5 beverages. I'll let you know
what the beverages are. $5 beverages up until
the first pitch. It's happy hour. Mark Waskowski
pushed for this. In fact, he told us at the Oregon
Club yesterday, he wants to push for free food
for any kid under 12 that shows up to the ballpark.
Really? Yeah, and I think that's a fantastic
idea. I do, too. Did you see that the Cardinals
are doing some sort of package for $29 or something?
All you can eat, hot dogs, sodas, and such like
that when you're going to the ballpark. So it's
trickling down. You have to. Man, it's spending
the money on the tickets and then all the food
and beverage and the prices are accelerated because
you've got vendors that have to pay for it. They're
bringing the stuff in. I'm not going to knock
on anybody. Some of it gets ridiculous. You can't
knock on somebody trying to make a dollar or
two to keep—don't gouge people, but keep people
employed. You worked in a restaurant. The margins
are incredibly thin. People don't realize the
margins are incredibly thin. Food and labor are
the biggest costs. It's so funny. I was talking
to Brian Beban, our co -host on Friday Night
Live and Game Day, and we were literally talking
about this, where he was talking about his other
job where he was saying how much did they make
per— Club? Per club and stuff like that. The
margins are razor thin. Yeah, it was crazy compared
to what I was wearing at a restaurant. It was
a couple thousand dollars a day. I mean, you're
looking at like a $2 ,500 day was good. And so
selling a few golf clubs is going to be more
than that. Yeah, but the margins as well. They're
really, really close. All right, so we're going
to talk Oregon State. So John Canzano. who you
used to hear here on Fox Sports, Eugene, Fox
Sports in Newport. I'll get it out. The BFT has
been on hiatus since December, and John's working
on bringing it back, but he still does his johnconsano
.com, The Bald Fates Truth. He does YouTube videos,
and he had a sit -down with Wayne Tinkle yesterday,
and we're going to have some excerpts from that.
And we're going to discuss the exit because Oregon
State's still playing basketball. They're number
four seed in the WCC. They're going to be playing
on Sunday for the elongated tournament that is
the WCC postseason. But there are some interesting
comments about the departure and what Wayne Tinkle
thinks Oregon State needs to do. So we're going
to hear at least a little bit from Wayne Tinkle,
and we'll discuss that in a second. But closer
to home, Oregon men's basketball finishes off
their last... road trip of the regular season
as they go to Champaign, Illinois. Six o 'clock
tonight, they'll be on Peacock, and they take
on the Illini, who leads the all -time series
five games to two, including a 109 -77 win in
Eugene last season in the first Big Ten Conference
game between the two teams. Oregon making their
first trip to the lovely Champaign, Illinois.
Not spelled like regular Champaign, but with
an I. Oregon fell just short. against Northwestern.
Wildcats hit a shot with just under two seconds
to play, hung on the rim. You know, if there
had just been a little bit of a breeze, like
what happens to Oregon kickers, would have been
better. But they win 63 -62. Oregon was led by
Nate Biddle, 19 points, 9 rebounds. Kwame Evans
Jr., his fourth double -double of the season,
15 points, 15 rebounds. Drew Carter. career -high
five assists, six ties, 16 lead changes. It was
just a gut punch for the Ducks. But they've got
to bounce back now and not let it beat them twice.
And listen, they've knocked off higher -ranked
teams up until that Northwestern game, so I'm
not going to count them out against Illinois,
but I would like to see how their energy is when
they come out against the Illini. This is a good
team. I mean, Illinois is a good team. They're
22 -7, 13 -5. They're fighting for seating under
Brad Underwood, who came from Kansas State as
an assistant. This is his first head coaching
job. He's in his ninth season at Illinois, and
he has a 187 -108 record. His career one Division
I record is 296 -135. So four more seasons at
a smaller D1 school. So it'll be interesting
to see. What do you think? Baby Jane. Well, it
just sucks because that Northwestern game was
the one you really wanted to win because it felt
like they could really win three out of four
to end the season. And obviously, you have to
beat Illinois now. And so Illinois, it's a really
good team. They just lost to Michigan, which
was kind of tough for them. But Illinois has
just got... They've got really good size. They've
got this really good freshman, Keaton Wagler,
who's going to be a top 10 pick in the NBA draft.
So it's a tough game. It's a tough ask. It's
going to be tough for Nate Biddle. I mean, it's
not going to be an easy game. But they have just
been a little bit surprising recently. With USC?
With Wisconsin? Exactly. And they beat Wisconsin
by 14. That was a wire to wire. Well, not wire
to wire. I mean, it took them a little bit to
get into that game, honestly. They won by 14.
But by the end of the game, it wasn't even close.
I don't know if Illinois is going to shoot, what
was it, 46 three -pointers like Wisconsin did
in that game. But, you know, if they can find
a way to win this one, it would be huge. I obviously
have concern because Illinois is a really, really
good team. But you want to see them win this
one. I honestly think this became a really important
game now. So it's pride is what I've talked about
since the last time Oregon went out and got gut
-punched. It was like, okay, how are you going
to finish now? How are you going to finish? Because
you're not going to the postseason unless there's
something miraculous that happens. If lightning
strikes, not once, twice, but five times. And
tell me the odds of that. That's not necessarily
going to happen. By the way, the Danny and Justin
radio program, thanks for tuning in. Fox Sports
Eugene, Fox Sports Newport. But you still have
two regular season games and then the tournament
to play. You're going to be in the tournament
in Chicago. So you're going to end up going back
there, although you've got to come back after
this game in Champaign and play Washington on.
Senior day. You can just leave some luggage behind.
Just keep the same rooms and just leave some
of your stuff behind. But it'll be Saturday night
at MKA. Honor the seniors, including, you know
what, boys and girls, if for no other reason,
get out there for Nate Biddle. Absolutely. And
give him a raucous crowd against Washington to
send him off in style because it'll be the last
time you see him on the MKA floor. playing for
the University of Oregon. I'm just going to,
I don't want to plead, but I'm just going to
say there's no reason. It's Saturday night, 8
p .m. There's no reason why you can't make a
night of it and celebrate this Oregon team. I'm
just going to say it's the right thing to do.
So I'm going to get off my soapbox. I mean, the
easiest time to be a fan is when things are going
really, really well. And the most important time
to be a fan is when things aren't going well.
So, I mean, Drew Carter's a senior. Takai Simpson's
a senior. Desert Glensley. Miles Stewart is a
redshirt senior, and some of these guys haven't
seen the floor that much. So why not? Why not?
Tell me why not. Tell me why. Plus, you're playing
the Huskies. Is that NSYNC or Backstreet Boys?
I think it is. We can't pull that up, I don't
think. No, it's fine. Backstreet Boys. I knew
it was one of them, one of the boy bands. All
right, speaking of boys. Unfortunately, it's
my childhood. Danny, Justin rolls on here. The
mayor of Rip City, Travis Demers, who's having
a tough time on the road. We're going to try
and soothe whatever ails him and maybe the Blazers
as they just got worked the other night. And
I believe they're heading to Memphis now. Is
that the next game? So we'll talk to Travis about
that here coming up in just a few moments. So
the deal up north. Head coaches of men's basketball
programs, the two biggest programs in the state
of Oregon, were coincidentally under fire this
season. But I thought Wayne Tinkle, honestly,
at Oregon State was kind of safe. I did too.
Fourth place in the WCC, which is the seed they
got. And he's the one that's let go. near the
end of the season, decides he's going to ride
it out for the last few games. They lose in bad
fashion to San Diego, but they still had the
fourth seed wrapped up no matter what happened
in that game. So we'll see what happens in the
WCC tournament. The only way I think they get
into the NCAA tournament, no, not think, the
only way they get into the NCAA tournament is
if they win the WCC, but they're in the quarterfinals.
So they basically have to win three games. Yeah.
Anybody can get hot. Of course. No, and they
still have their coach. And they still have Wayne
Tinkle. So, it'll be interesting to find out.
So, he was on John Canzano yesterday. And he
talked about why he decided to finish the basketball
season. As he was informed last week, he will
not be returning. And as we said, number four
seed in the WCC tournament. Tinkle, 175 -205,
12 seasons in Corvallis. He took a team to the
Elite Eight in 2021. He also, here's the, we
have the good, bad, the ugly on Mondays. Here's
the ugly. He had seasons of 5 -27 and 3 -28 in
that 12 -year run. So he had a couple of really,
really bad seasons, but the Beavers hung with
him. And he talked about this. We talked about
what Oregon State needs monetarily to win, because
that's been the whole thing, Danny, is that you're
entering the Pac -12. And it's all been about
how do you set yourself up to be in this conference
and be one of the most— The elites. Yeah, exactly,
and have the most resources. And he talked about
what they need monetarily. I was on record about
a year and a half ago saying the year we enter
the Pac -12, we need $4 million. And that's been
out there. You're certainly right in the ballpark.
And we were told two months ago, because, you
know, you can't wait until the portal opens to
figure out what you have to spend. And so I was
told that, you know, this is out there. We were
going to have $100 ,000 more next year, you know,
for our first year in the Pac -12. And it certainly
wasn't going to be, you know, a number that would
have been able to compete with those schools
that are joining the league. What's interesting
to me about that statement is that I was kind
of on the side of, I don't think this was mutual.
I think if Wayne Tinkle sat down with Scott Barnes,
the AD, and Scott Barnes said, you're going to
get $2 .1 million instead of the $4 million you
think you need. I think Wayne Tinkle said, well,
you're setting me up to fail. Well, he talked
about this in this interview that there was one
of the first times in a long time that he had
to think about what was best for him. So I'm
going to backtrack since I wasn't in the room.
You know, I always think a coach never wants
to walk away from something. We never say that
we're the voice of God here. No. We just say
to our opinions. Thank goodness. Thank goodness
for that on the Danny and Justin radio program.
But I do have to say real quick. Yeah. One of
the most interesting things I heard in that sentence
was first year in the Pac -12. How weird is that
to hear? First year in the new Pac -12. I know,
but it's like. It's true, but it's also just
like this weird sentence, you know. So go to
listen to the entire interview with John Canzano
and Wayne Tinkle. Go to the BFT and download
it, upload it however you want, and listen to
the whole thing. There's some really interesting
nuggets in there with Wayne Tinkle, and we wish
him the best. I mean, again. Good guy. Never
hurt. There was never a sniff of any wrongdoing
in that program on or off the court. If you want
to spice it, do whatever you want. But off the
court, there was no real issues with that program
at all. So we wish him the best. All right. Let's
take our break. When we come back, Travis Demers,
we'll find out if he got his Portillo's. Yes.
This is the big question. When he was in Chicago,
Memphis coming up, the Blazers got blown out
by Atlanta. By a bunch is what I was going to
say. It was just like the second time in the
last five games, Blazers got to run off the floor.
So let's find out what Travis Summers has to
ail our wounds when we return Danny and Justin.
Civil War baseball at PK first pitch 305. Justin
and I have some. I think differing views on this
first game of a three -game set that's going
to be spread out over like a month and a half.
Who is it more important to? We'll talk about
that in the last segment on the Danny and Justin
Radio Program. Thanks for tuning in. Fox Sports,
Eugene. Fox Sports, Newport. Here on a Tuesday,
let's head on over to the Oregon Man Clinics
Hotline at 541 -343 -5673 and welcome in our
good friend, Mayor Rip City. You hear him, you
know him, you love him. He also does a podcast,
Section 113, that you need to subscribe to. And
he joins us now from Atlanta, Georgia, as he's
sitting waiting to head to Memphis to get some
barbecue. So first question, you were in Chicago
last time we talked. And you know what I'm going
to ask you, right? Yeah, I do. You're going to
be disappointed. Oh, no. You did not get any
Portillo's? What is wrong with you? I did not.
I saw it everywhere. They even had some giveaways
and stuff at the arena. But I didn't have the
time to Uber over there, and they did not have
DoorDash available to where I was. You know,
I have like 20 relatives that live in the Chicagoland
area. I could have called up any one of them.
You might have had some Bushmills as well with
it, but you would have gotten your fertility.
Where was this information last week? Well, do
you go back to Chicago? I'm looking at the schedule.
Do you go back anymore to Chicago? No, we only
play the Eastern Conference teams once a year
on the road. Okay. Well, we'll have to check
in next year, I guess. You know what? Listen,
there is a great service that you can get any
of the great Chicago foods, including Portillo's.
You can make your own at home. Maybe we need
to do that for Travis. When's your birthday,
Mayor? October 25th. Okay, that's not going to
work either. We need to do it for Travis. We
need to, like, we get it, we make it, and then
do it for Travis. Okay. All right, we're going
to make that happen before the end of the season.
I'm in. Okay, there he goes. I'm in. All right,
now that we set that aside, what in the heck
happened in Atlanta? How much time you got? Listen,
I mean, the Blazers have been on this yo -yo,
but they have a couple of bad blowout wins. And
is it the legs? Is it that much of a difference
with Denny on the floor or not with this team?
I think it's a combination of a lot of things.
And I want to preface this by saying I'm not
making excuses because you still have to figure
it out. Regardless of what any of those things
are going on, you have to figure it out, right?
So, yeah, I do think a part of it absolutely
is Danny Avdia not being on the floor. I mean,
he carried them earlier in the season when they
had injuries. I mean, any team that, you know,
if... If you subscribe to the theory that before
the season, if they were fully healthy without
Dame, that they're a 500 team, give or take,
right? If you take any team that's a 500 team
and you take their all -star off their team,
they're not going to be as good. But then you
take their first and second leading scorer off
the team. And, you know, Robert Williams III
was injured last game, second night of a back
-to -back after a weird early game on Saturday.
I think all of those things had... you know,
things to do with it. And, you know, after Atlanta
got off that super hot start, you know, from
early in the second quarter to midway through
the fourth, the Blazers actually were, you know,
around plus nine in that stretch. But then, you
know, the wheels kind of came off, a couple of
things happened, and, you know, Atlanta ran away
with it in the last five, six minutes of the
game. And I don't want to make it sound like
that game was closer than it was because it wasn't.
I think you watch that game and you look at the
score, and I think the score felt indicative
of how that game was. But I think there are a
lot of things that were working against the Blazers
in both of those games. You're on the road playing
two teams that are around .500 that are playing
really, really good basketball the Blazers don't
match up against well with. with the things that
are going on, and those games did not work out
very well. Blazers are 29 -33 now. They sit 18
games behind the first place Thunder in the West.
They are, let's see, what are they, four and
a half games up on the Grizzlies, who they play
next for the last play -in spot, right? And that's
what we still keep looking at. Yeah, but the
Grizzlies aren't trying. Really? All right, so
let's talk about this. Are the Grizzlies in what
Adam Silver hates, which is tanking mode? Well,
so here's the thing with that. We've talked about
this before. With tank mode, I think that word
is overused in a lot of ways, right? Because
I think you have the situation where teams are
playing for beyond this year, and then you have
a situation where teams are... actively, you
know, sabotaging themselves in game. I don't
think that's what the Grizzlies are doing. If
you're going to sit, you know, role players and
things like that because you're trying to play
for the lottery, I really don't have a problem
with that, right? It's not like, you know, who
would the Grizzlies be sitting that people are
paying to watch that is not injured? John Morant's
hurt. Is there anybody else on that team that
anybody's paying to watch? Probably not. So I
don't really think there's a big issue with that.
The guys that are coming in and out of the lineup
are Ty Jerome and Contavious Caldwell -Pope.
Nothing against those guys, but if that's what
tanking is for your team, I don't really see
an issue with it. Where the issue is, you've
got a lead going into the fourth quarter and
you sit the guys that are playing well. Memphis
also plays tonight. They're at Minnesota tonight
and then head back home to play the Blazers tomorrow
night. That's a game that the Grizzlies are not
going to be favored in tonight. So let's say
they lose. They go in tomorrow. Blazers have
a five -game advantage. If they win that, they
have a six -game advantage and a tiebreaker.
So Memphis would have to win seven more games
than the Blazers. They're probably not going
to win seven more games the rest of the season.
Got it. I don't think there is any concern at
all about the Blazers falling out of the play
-in. You said something really interesting earlier
when you were talking about the Hornets and the
Hawks about how the Blazers didn't match up well
with them. What kind of teams do you think the
Blazers do match up well with? Not teams that
shoot a lot of threes. Fair. In fairness, the
Blazers actually were staying pretty close with
the Hornets until... the fourth quarter when
it wasn't just Brandon Miller hitting shots.
When other guys started to hit shots, because
the Blazers' offense was rough, but their defense
played well in the fourth quarter when they started
to wear down a little bit. That's when Charlotte
started to hit shots. I think when you look at
teams that kind of slow the pace down a little
bit, teams that aren't great rebounding teams,
teams that... that like to go at the rim, you
know, things like that. And it's not – I mean,
it's a combination of things, right? Because
when Donovan Clingan's on the floor, we've talked
about this, teams don't attack the rim, but it
opens up teams that are good from beyond the
arm. So I think teams that the Blazers can be
more physical with, that they can, you know,
force turnovers with, teams that are inconsistent.
You know, like they beat the Warriors a few times
this year, and they were able to do it by forcing
turnovers and hitting shots. And it's such a
cliche thing to say that Michael Holton says
all the time, but it's true. It's a make -or
-miss league. And you look at this last stretch
of games, the Blazers have not shot the ball
well. And they're not a good shooting team. But
when they play well, it's when they shoot the
ball well, they get offensive rebounds, they
force turnovers, and those are things they haven't
been able to do in the last several games. The
voice of Rip City. It's Travis Demers, the mayor
of Rip City. You can follow him on Twitter at
Travis Demers, and he joins us every single week
during the season here on the Danny and Justin
radio program. I want to talk more player personnel
instead of just matchups, but it kind of blends
into it. Veet Krejci coming in. He's averaging
almost 10 points a game, 21 minutes. How is he
folded in to what Tiago Splitter wants to do
with the Blazers and some of it obviously out
of necessity with the MASH unit that the Blazers
have been in the last month? I think he fits
in really well for a lot of reasons. And you
look at the shooting, it's not as good as it
was when he was with Atlanta. And it's also interesting
to note that when he played for the Hawks this
year, he was a significantly better three -point
shooter at home than he was in road games. What
does he do when they get to Atlanta? He hits
his first two threes, right? Is it the comfort
of being in that arena? Maybe. I don't know.
But also when players switch to a new team in
the middle of a season like that, a lot of times
even really good three -point shooters struggle
for a little bit. I'm not concerned about that.
But the type of person he is, he fits in really
well. The type of game that he has, he moves
around a lot. A ton of off -ball movement. He's
played really good defense. Decent rebounder.
Good shot blocker. Long. athletic. So all of
those things, he fits in as a really good role
player and probably back end of the rotation
type role player, but a guy who is in the rotation.
So I think that the things that he does fit in
really well with this team. And I don't think
that's a short -term thing. He's got a couple
more years left on his deal. And I think he's
exactly the type of guy and the type of contract
that is perfect for this team. Let's get our
scoot update in here. Not the best three -point
shooting over the last, I don't know, five or
six games, I'd say. He started off really well,
but just thinking about it, is he one of those
guys that, like, there's some players you just
don't want shooting threes because they're just
not going to be good three -point shooters. I
think I could make the argument that Scoot, I
want to see him shooting threes anyways because
he's a young player. You want to see him develop
that in -game, and it's a developmental important
shot for him going forward. Would you agree with
that, or do you think he just is taking too many
threes right now? No, I think he's streaky. Like
you said, he shot the ball well in his first
few games, and it's been historically bad in
his last few games. He went through a stretch
before he hit a three in the Atlanta game where
he was, what? 0 for 16. Yeah, something like
that. That's bad. He's not a 0 % three -point
shooter, but he is streaky. And you look at the
last 30 games he played in last year, he was
a really good three -point shooter in the upper
30s, I think 38, 39%, something like that. And
again, we're talking about a 22 -year -old kid
who has not played a lot of minutes, right? You
look at his career going into the NBA, he did
not have the same type of... workload and experience
that other guys his age did coming into the league
because, you know, he didn't play a senior high
school, went to the G League. The G League doesn't
play the same amount of games. He's not playing
AAU ball, you know, that kind of thing. So he
didn't have the reps coming into the NBA that
a lot of guys do. And this year he's missed 51
games and he was banged up a bit last year. So
when he started, there wasn't a whole lot of
rust. And while it was great to see him come
out hot. At the same time, he's still not in
a rhythm. And coming into a team midseason, you
can't just pick up where you left off when you
haven't played in over 300 days. So I think what
we're seeing now is the rust. And he's just not
in a rhythm at all. And that happens. So I'm
not worried about it. I don't think he's as bad
of a three -point shooter as we've seen in the
last week and a half. But I don't think he's
as good as a three -point shooter as we saw down
the stretch of last season. I think it's somewhere
in the middle. I think, you know, probably around
35%, which right now probably not good enough
anyway. And that's something he's going to continue
to work on. And his age with his experience level,
I think he's going to keep an improvement on
that. Voice of the Blazers, the mayor of Rip
City, it's Travis Summers live from Atlanta as
he joins us on the Danny and Justin radio program.
Let's talk a little bit more roster construction.
And Blazers signed rookie guard Chris Youngblood
to a two -way contract, the last, the third,
and final two -way spot. Javante Cook, Caleb
Love are the other two. But Love's only got five
games left on the active roster before he hits
the 50 -game limit. Blazers have already converted
a contract with City Sissoko. They did that back
in February. So, first of all, how does Youngblood
fit into this? I mean, obviously going to be
a bit player came from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
And the other piece of it is that do the Blazers
convert Caleb Love into a regular deal? So, a
couple of things on that. The first one being
is the way that I have to frame these when I
talk to you guys is that it's reported because
the team hasn't put anything out officially yet.
Okay, got it. Sure. You can talk about it all
you want. I will frame it as reported. So the
reported signing of Chris Youngblood also coincides
with the reported waiving of Javante Cook. So
what that would mean is that they do still have
an open two -way spot. I haven't talked to anybody.
It's just kind of reading through things a little
bit. I don't see Caleb Love signing a standard
deal, right? I think they can only do that by
March 6th. A couple of days. Yeah, so there's
only a couple of days left in it anyway. But,
you know, considering that, the only way they
do that is by waiving somebody. And I don't see
them waiving a single player on this team. You
know, the thought before Matisse Babel came back
from a lot of people that was maybe him, it's
not going to be. When he has played, he has played
really well. It's not going to be Robert Williams
III. I don't see them waiving anybody on this
roster. So I don't see. Caleb Love getting a
standard roster spot. There's only about 20 games
left in the season. And Youngblood needs a guard,
right? So that's one less spot for Caleb Love
to be in, in a place where the Blazers have a
pretty good rotation right now. So it's good
to have him there. He's playing down in the G
League right now. Playing pretty well, but Youngblood's
a guy who comes in as a rookie and spent a majority
of the season with the Thunder, played 30 -plus
games with them. Five minutes, two points. Got
experience with a championship team, learned
from great players and a good coaching staff
around him, learned what it is that the Thunder
do. And you look at his numbers and you see 31%,
32 % from three. You're like, well, man, why?
why would the Blazers go bring in a guy who can't
shoot? You can't just look at numbers. He was
a five -year college guy who finished up at Alabama
and was a key piece on their team last year and
shot almost 40 % from three. So just because
his first handful of NBA games he hasn't shot
well doesn't mean he's not a good shooter. Historically,
he has been a good shooter. He's an athletic
guy. I think he started at Kennesaw State, so
he wasn't the most highly recruited guy, but
he has a good work ethic. He has played against
the Blazers this year, but I honestly didn't
pay much attention to him because he was a two
-way guy playing for the Thunder. So if this
reported deal does end up being what happens
and he does end up playing for the Blazers, I'm
interested to learn about him and see what he
can do because they're not going to go bring
him in in a situation like this if they didn't
believe that he could help this team right now,
and especially coming from a place like Oklahoma
City. where he has learned the way that he has.
That's a good sign. Well, and Travis, just a
couple more for you here. And speaking of that,
let's see if all the reports pan out the way
it's being reported by Shams and others that
are smarter than us. They usually do in that
kind of report. Yeah, I know. I understand what
you're saying as well. So I'll put it this way.
Are you just yearning for the moment near the
tail end of the season and going into the postseason
that Blazers actually get healthy? No, not anymore
because I'm not so sure it's going to happen.
I mean, I'm not saying that to be a Debbie Downer.
You know, it's tough because I was earlier in
the season, and I'm thinking, okay, when they
get this guy back and this guy back, you know,
barring any other injuries, well, the other injuries
happened, right? And we were talking about things
in December about, okay, when Drew comes back
and we see Scoot and, well, now Denny's hurt
and Shaden's hurt, and I don't know if he's going
to come back again this year. I don't know that
they're going to be fully healthy. And that's
the hard part is you have to just deal with what
you got. And, you know, you can get a little
ahead of yourself. And I do it too. I mean, you
show up to the arena and you've got the players
available and that's what you got. And as frustrating
as it is to say, okay, this team is different
when this guy is available or that guy is available,
it's true, but they're not available. To hope
for that and say, okay, things will get better
when. They can't. You can't look at it that way.
They have to be better regardless. And that's
a hard thing as a fan or as somebody who's around
the team and loves the team. It's hard to not
think that way. But it's what you kind of have
to do. Yeah, that's what you got. And you get
to play with who you have. And so you mentioned
about 20 games left. And so, you know, it's not
about how you're playing right now. I think that
like you said earlier, I don't think there's
a ton of concern about the Blazers falling out
of the plane at this point. But at what point
during like how many games left do you want to
see them start hitting their stride? Because
it's all about playing well as the season comes
to a close in the regular season and playing
well into the actual. playing so like how much
time do they have to figure this out before you
want to see them really turn it on a week ago
um okay let's let's get the tardis out and do
a time machine thing yeah can't can we please
does anybody have a delorean i can borrow for
a number of reasons um Yeah, I mean, look, you've
got about 20 games left in the season. Actually,
I think it's exactly 20 games left right now.
And we've heard so much about the schedule and
how weak it is. Yeah, but you've played in the
Hornets a couple of times now, just one time,
and they've been playing really good basketball.
But you look at this stretch coming up here.
And with Memphis tonight and then Houston on
whatever day, two days after tomorrow is, I have
no idea. Friday, maybe? Friday the 6th, yes.
Yeah. Then you come home and you get a three
-game homestand with... Indiana, Charlotte, and
Utah, all winnable games. Then on the road, Philly,
Brooklyn, Indiana, a couple of winnable games
there. Then Minnesota and Denver, tough games.
You come home, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Dallas, Washington,
some winnable games there. The Clippers on the
road, the Pelicans at home, Denver, San Antonio
on the road, and you finish up with the Clippers
and Sacramento at home. There are winnable games
in there, but there are also some really tough
games in there. cleaning up some of the things
that they've been trying to clean up for 60 games
defensive rebounding turnovers um you know shooting
the ball a little bit better um at some point
it just is who you are right right but it doesn't
mean you can't improve on those things and like
you said hit your stride and play better they've
been very streaky this season very up and down
and it can turn in the matter of one game going
into the the play -in game if they're on the
road against the clippers You know, it's also
how the other team is playing, too. So you want
to see them play well every night. I just don't
know that it's like, okay, this is where we want
to be at this point. You just want to play well
every night because it can change from night
to night. Well, the excitement of covering a
team as it heads down the stretch and there's
always opportunities until there's zeros on the
clock. So, Travis, all we can say is travel safe,
get home in one piece, get a win in Memphis,
which you have no. influence on, but you're going
to be there. You're telling me that if I don't
follow my routine exactly because I'm superstitious,
that has no bearing on what happens with the
team? I don't know. I am not going to get in
your head, buddy. Don't take that from me, Danny.
And if you say something like, this guy hasn't
missed a free throw for 20 free throws, he's
definitely not going to miss the next one. I
only do that with the opponent. The other night
when Matisse Seibel went to the line, he was
8 for 8 on the year, and I did not mention that
after he made both of his free throws. That a
boy. Good for you. Love it, man. Hey, travel
safe, sincerely. Look forward to having you back
home, bud. Appreciate it, guys. Thank you. There
he goes, the great Travis DeMers, the voice of
the Blazers, the mayor of Rip City. It's always
fun talking to Travis. We're going to do that
Portillo's thing. When I get home tonight, when
he gets back home on this road trip, there might
be a window where I'm going to be coming up that
direction. But we've got to both be there for
it, I think. Weekend's good? Okay, we'll figure
it out. When we come back, a debate over which
team is this game at PK Park. That's going to
have the first pitch in about 25 minutes. Mean
more, about 20 minutes now. Back on the Danny
and Justin radio program. We'll solve that for
you next. If you missed any of the mayor of Rip
City, Travis Demers, talking Blazers from Atlanta
as they head to Memphis for a matchup tomorrow
night with the Grizzlies, you can go back to
the podcast, Danny and Justin. Wherever you subscribe
to that vehicle on whatever platform we're on,
like and subscribe, and you'll have it in your
inbox every time we upload a new show. By the
way, I'm gone. This will be the last show of
the week for me. I'll be headed to Pendleton
tomorrow to call the 2A State Basketball Championships
at the Pendleton Convention Center and High School
for the 2A ranks. Looking forward to that. A
lot of my old friends and I go up there every
year. It's my third year in a row, I think, doing
it, third or fourth year in a row. I've done
the 2A tournament, and then next week I'll be
at the 5A tournament at Linfield University in
McMinnville, which I think there will be a couple
of teams there on both the boys' and the girls'
side from our area in the Valley. Newport, the
Cubs, they are right now the number one seed
overall, and they still have a play -in game.
to get to Forest Grove in the 4A state tournament.
So good luck to the Cubs out there on the coast
in Newport. They've had a great season. So we'll
be following them as well. All that high school
basketball action. And speaking of high schools,
tomorrow right here on this radio program, I'm
not going to be here, but Goose is going to sit
in. You're going to be here, right? I will be
here. Okay. You want to tune in. That's the plan.
Very special guest. First time on the program,
Josh Wilcox. We've had Justin on a couple of
times when I... forgot who he was married to.
It's okay. He appreciated the sentiment. He did.
And he was very gracious. He was. He was good
about it. Bad information. But Josh Wilcock,
his brother, will be here. Josh. And we know
he's his brother. Yes, I do know that for sure.
He will be on the program. And he, the assistant
to Ty Roshert at Junction City. But he's going
to have a big announcement. We don't break news
a lot on this program, but we're going to break
some news tomorrow. So Goose is bringing the
heat while I'm gone, and you are going to have
Josh Wilcox on tomorrow, so you don't want to
miss that around 2 .20. Is he going to be on
the regular interview segment time? He will be
in the regular interview slot. It's around 2
.20 tomorrow afternoon, so don't miss it. Josh
Wilcox right here on the radio program. So stay
tuned for that. By the way, we've got Oregon
State, Oregon men's. This afternoon, 305 first
pitch at PK. Jess and I will be there right after
we're done with this silliness. We're teleporting
there. Yes, we have our own TARDIS. Oregon State,
Oregon Softball will play their first game of
the season against each other up in Corvallis
tomorrow. So version 8, go up to Kelly Field
at 6 p .m. So it'll be under the lights. You
can watch it on ESPN+. Beaver Softball got off
to a hot start in the Judy Garman Classic. 18
runs over East Texas A &M. And it'll be Oregon,
Oregon State, all over the place. So, last year
Oregon State was in the Jane Sanders Classic.
And I think they are. I don't know if they are
again this year. We already had the Oregon Classic.
No, we can look at the schedule a bit later.
All right. So, we got some business to take care
of here with Oregon, Oregon State baseball. So.
I think they're going to announce the starting
pitching here in a moment because it's a 3 -0
-5 first pitch. So you're going to see who's
warming up. We're not going to give it away.
You need to get down to PK Park. Or you can listen
to the radio broadcast if you want or watch it.
I don't know if it's televised. Big Ten Plus
maybe? Yeah, Big Ten Plus is going to have it.
So you can watch it on the TV, 3 p .m. But we'd
like to see you out at PK Park. We're going to
be there. We'll wave. Say hi. If you see us,
you recognize us because we have faces for radio.
So what's interesting, Oregon comes in 10 -1.
They are not ranked yet still, which is crazy
to me. Oregon State is number 18, according to
D1 Baseball. They're 6 -4. Now, you could argue
that Oregon State has played overall much stiffer
competition up to this point in the season. But
Oregon's 10 -1, and they ran through a pretty
good gauntlet down there in Vegas. And if it
wasn't for a few miscues in the bullpen, they
would have went 3 -0. They won the tournament.
They had eight players on the all -tournament
team. But it comes down to this, Justin. Who
do you think this game, this, because they play
three. This particular game. Who do you think
it's more important for? I think it's Oregon.
I really do. I think that Oregon, you know, I
get it. That tournament, the Live Like Lou, Las
Vegas. College baseball classic. It was more
competition than we had seen the first couple
weekends. That being said, Arizona, I think they're
like one and nine now. They're not good this
year. UC Irvine and Vanderbilt, good programs.
I don't want to take anything away from those
two games. And UC Irvine, like you said, you're
a couple pitches away from getting a win in that
one. I just think that my sense is for Oregon
that there's still a sense of just like you need
to prove it against the Beavers because the Beavers.
They've been the standard for a while. Exactly.
People just kind of believe in the Beavers. There's
this outside sentiment that the Beavers are a
good program, which is all true. And I think
for the Ducks, last year, think about it. I mean,
did they sweep that series with the Beavers last
year? They won all four, yes. Yeah, it was so
big for them. And obviously they didn't do what
they wanted to in the regional. But that was
such a massive prove -it series for the Ducks.
That was a pivotal series for the Ducks to get
the seeding they wanted to to host a regional.
Absolutely. So I think that, to me, The schedule,
it gets a little bit tougher for Oregon down
the stretch. They play USC. They play UCLA, Washington.
But just overall, I think that it's going to
be more important for Oregon to get these wins
over Oregon State. I think Oregon State, people
are going to believe in them. So I agree with
everything you just said. However, I will say
Oregon State, even though they're hanging on
in the rankings, they're 6 -4, playing a non
-conference schedule. They need to get themselves
back into... The picture. So I think this is
an important game. I want to say more important.
It might be just by a sliver for Oregon State
because they're struggling right now. They're
6 -4. They're only two games above .500. They
lose this game. They're now 6 -5. They'll drop
out of the top 25. And so I think for different
reasons, I say it's equal importance probably
for both teams, but for different reasons. Totally
different reasons. Oregon State, they need to
get a better signature win. Because they have
not been able to string. I don't think they've
won back -to -back games this year up to this
point. They won Michigan and Baylor. That was
like four days apart. Actually, they won three
in a row. Stanford, Michigan, and then Baylor.
So that even makes it worse as far as I'm concerned.
Four in a row, sorry. Okay. Are you going to
Bob Barker me and just keep going up? I'm sorry.
I keep on going up in the schedule. Oh, they
won that one too. I didn't have it in front of
me. I've got Oregon scheduled for me and out
of Oregon State. Okay, so that even makes it
worse. Okay? They won four in a row, and they're
6 -4. So that means they had to have a three
-game losing streak in there somewhere. They
had to have. So, I mean, that's the problem to
me, is Oregon State, they're looking for something
right now they need to grab. That's fair. No,
totally fair. And they need a hit. I think that's
the biggest thing is that they just, I mean,
they got seven runs against Alabama. They ended
up losing that game. Of course, the one game
that they're pitching hasn't been... Pretty stellar.
I guess Southern Miss as well. But they need
to hit. I think that's the biggest thing. The
pitching clearly is there. You love the arms.
It feels like the bats are just behind right
now. I want to see also a little bit more on
the base pads, I think. I think that, you know,
the kind of story coming into this team was just
the fact that they're going to be, you know,
stealing bases and, you know, being aggressive
like that. And I definitely think we haven't
seen as much of that yet as we should. All right.
So we'll see you out there. 305 first pitch.
Oh, a joke. I got fired from the bank today.
A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed
her. Dad jokes! What did one Dorito farmer say
to the other? Oh, man, this sounds like idiocracy.
Have you ever seen that movie? I have. What'd
they say? I don't know. Cool ranch. That wasn't
the best. All right, kids, I'm going to leave
you in the trusty hands of Dom Blaze, Baby J,
and Goose. I might call in from Pendleton. I
might not. I'll call in for Big Betts or at least
Memorexit on Big Betts. So I think we're about
done. Yes, we are. We're about done here. Yeah,
we are. I think so. All right, kids, take care.
Put a smile on your face. Someone else's. They
deserve it. So do you. For Baby J, I'm Danny.
I'll talk to you next week. Take care of yourselves.
Peace.