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. The berries have to be faster than
your friend. Danny and Justin starts now on Fox
Sports Eugene and Fox Sports Newport. Sitting
in for Danny today, it's Goose, Steve Mims. Welcome
in to the Danny and Justin show on Fox Sports
Eugene, Fox Sports Newport. Yes, Danny is back
on the road as the voice of OSA basketball. So
we got another three -day run to sit in, although
it's actually going to be two because I'm busy
tomorrow. But either way, Justin, you don't have
Danny for three days, but thanks for welcoming
me in today. Of course, you are always welcome.
You look very, very relaxed today, as I said
to you earlier. Had some career changes. I just
had some stuff going on lately. So I'm a little
bit more relaxed and dressed down. So I'm in
a good mood. Good place to go. That's good to
be. I am. More and more of that to come someday,
maybe. So, yeah. So today we have Travis Demers.
Travis is going to be joining us at the next
segment. We'll be talking about the Blazers coming
off a tough loss. We'll talk about them as they
make their run for likely the play -in game.
Might ask him a little bit about Bam Adebayo's
83 -point game. and get into that. And Oregon
State has a new high -tip basketball coach. The
Wayne Tinkle replacement was announced today,
and he has some Oregon ties. I didn't know this,
actually. His wife is the Oregon soccer coach.
Oh, well, there you go. Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
Justin Joyner is the new Oregon head coach, Oregon
State head coach, as he comes from... Michigan,
where he was an assistant and former WCC assistant.
And so he is going to be taking over Oregon State.
And his wife, Tracy, is the soccer coach at Oregon.
Of course, yeah. So as I joked on Twitter this
week, the Junction City real estate market is
about to be booming. Somewhere right in the middle.
So before we get into... the Oregon State basketball.
We have to first put a wrap on the Oregon basketball
season, which went down in flames yesterday,
in part during your and Danny's show. As you
guys were discussing, they fell behind 33 -12
in the first half against Maryland in the Big
Ten Conference first round, and that was in Chicago.
And Yeoman's effort to get back into it, they
actually... They quadrupled their points from
the first half in the second half. After scoring
12 in the first half, they scored 48 in the second
half, but that just led to a 70 -60 loss, and
the season comes to a crashing finish at 12 -20
and 5 -15 in the Big Ten. Yeah. It was not good.
How did that even happen, first of all? You score
12 points in the first quarter and then 48. They
couldn't hit a bucket. I mean, they had two,
I think. It was, I think, the second lowest I
saw. Yeah. Tyson Alger had some great coverage
there on site. He did. Our friend Tyson Alger
was the lone representative. Props to look out
for sending Tyson. As I told him, though, they
might call him in and say, wait a minute here.
Next time you're looking to travel, our budget
might not be ready for a one -night. game. I'm
thinking that Tyson probably had the idea in
mind. Hey, they should beat Maryland. Maybe they
beat Iowa and at least make a little run and
we can get kind of some coverage out of it. But
no, that did not happen. And our friend Tyson
was looked like the only person on press row
and the only one in the postgame. Well, he did.
Well, when I saw there was somebody, in fact,
it was Pat Forty, the famous sports writer who
put a photo of the halftime score 33 to 12 up
and said, is Dana Altman quiet quitting? haha
and somebody who another reporter went on had
a great point he said this is A team from Maryland
and a team from Oregon playing in Chicago in
a tournament that neither has any historical
relevance for. So that can maybe explain why
there's a couple hundred people in the stands.
But for Oregon, just to put a wrap on it, the
final, you know, Nate Biddle was playing hard
down to the end. Biddle in his final game for
the Ducks has 16 points, six rebounds. Kwame
Evans Jr. comes up with 14 points and nine rebounds.
And Oregon got 10 points from Takai Simpkins.
Like I say, the season ends at 12 -20, 5 -15
overall. And now we move on to the question of
what does this team look like next year? I think
we've settled the fact that if there are people
out there who don't want Dane Altman back, that
Dane Altman's not one of those people, and I
don't believe Rob Mullins is one of those people.
So I think Dane Altman comes back. The question
there for me becomes, does he... make changes
to his staff or additions to his staff? Does
he want to bring in a general manager or some
sort of a player personnel recruiting type director
to maybe boost up some of the recruiting, which
seems like it's fallen off in recent times? Some
of his staff have been with him for a long time.
Does he want to bring in some new blood? I'll
be interested to see a little bit of that. But
I think that's the question. If anybody has any
question on what the coaching staff is going
to look like next year, it doesn't and shouldn't
have anything to do with Dane Altman, who certainly
is. has earned himself a down year to come back
from. But next year is going to be a critical
one as they try to put together a roster because
some interest in this program certainly waned
this year. And one year you can live with, two
years in a row becomes pretty tough for the program.
Yeah, it's the type of year that no matter how
good of a coach you are and how good your process
has been, you have to reevaluate after a season
like this. You just have to. Coming into the
year, I don't think we saw this coming. We thought
the Brock Bat... Brock Bat is top three guys.
Exactly. And then there was some depth around
it. You didn't know how good Waylon was going
to be. He was kind of this wild card. And I think
that pretty much every scenario was the worst
case scenario. And by the middle of the season,
the roster just... You could look at it and go,
man, I don't know how many games we're going
to win. And they didn't win games for a long
time. So do I think that he probably, as in Dane
Altman, needs to bring in some new blood in the
staff? Probably. That seems like the most realistic
way to improve your team and improve your program
and your system and the way you're doing things
without obviously getting rid of Dane Altman.
And I think that Dane Altman deserves another
year. And I think that he should be able to determine
whenever he wants to leave. as a coach of University
of Oregon. And he's going to have to do something
with this roster, obviously. So Tyson reported
as being the lone – in fact, Tyson texted me
and said it was a great day because they have
open locker rooms at conference tournaments,
and so he got to go talk to whoever he wanted,
and he was the only one there, so he got all
the info. He did say that he asked Kwame Evans
Jr. about coming back next year, and Kwame said
it was too soon to decide. Not a surprise. Not
a surprise and probably means no, because typically
if you're coming back, you know it. I mean, most
of these guys, quite honestly, and not just not
a Kwame Evans thing. Most players come back in
college, their agent has already discussed with
the current school and with other schools what
the offers look like. So most of these guys know
by now what they would be offered to come back
and whatnot. And so typically they would commit
to coming back. And Kwame will also have professional
options. Would he get drafted? I don't know.
But he would certainly be able to play professionally
for a few years. And he might decide that. Again,
like a lot of five -stars, hey, three years of
college was enough. I'm ready to go try this
out in the pros. So whether it would be a transfer
or that, we could see. Tyson also did say that
he has Sean Stewart, and Sean Stewart said he
was coming back. Okay, there's at least one guy.
So there's one who's coming back. And as we've
talked about before, this roster is going to
be interesting next year. Shelstad's another
one. Does he come back? Obviously, we know Biddle's
gone. Takai Simpson's gone. So, you know, you've
got the freshman coming in, the five -star freshman,
Trevor Ariza's kid. You've got another freshman
who are a high school recruit that we had talked
about that could be coming. Right, the Illinois
target. The Illinois target as well. But, you
know, either way, they're going to have to add
some depth to this team. I mean, right now, you
know, with Dedrick Lindsey, Wei Lin, Jamari Phillips,
one of the problems that they had this year was
when injuries hit. They just didn't have the
resources to replace those guys. You know, when
Shelstead went out, there wasn't a point guard
who could step right in and be ready to go. When
Biddle was out, there wasn't another big who
could do what he did. So the big part of this
offseason for Dana Altman, I think, is going
to be to rebuild this roster right away. And
it's going to have to be done. threw some freshmen,
but he's got to hit the transfer portal and hit
on it this time because he had some misses last
time. I think he's got to hit, and that's an
NIL question too, what their budget is. I don't
know, but I think Dana's going to need some money
to go out into there as well. And again, does
he look to bring in a recruiting guy or another
assistant coach to do as well? So that said,
there's a lot of work to be done there. But again,
a lot of this stuff is already, the backroom
meetings have already started. I'm sure that
most transfers have already made it clear that
what they're going to be doing. It'll be interesting
to see how quickly Dana can rebuild this roster
because, like I say, it's got to look better
than this year. There's no reason to expect the
results to be any better. For some reason, I
feel like Jackson isn't going to be back. I don't
know what it is. I mean, he hasn't said anything.
Like, there's no indication to that based on
just conjecture for me. But I just don't have
a feeling he's going to be back, whether that
is going pro or – I kind of have a feeling he's
going to transfer. Like, that's just my lean.
Yeah, and there's a lot of – this is a very point
guard heavy draft, which means to you that a
lot of really good teams are – you know, Houston's
got the Kingston Flemings. Arizona's got Jayden
Bradley, who's a senior. There's a lot of – you
know, Kansas has Darren Peterson, although he's
not really playing point guard now. Melvin Cancel,
though, is their point guard. There are a lot
of really high -quality programs that are going
to – going to need a point guard. And some of
those are some of the bigger colleges in terms
of NIL budget. So if you're a Jackson -Shelstad,
there's probably going to be a pretty robust
market. I wouldn't blame him at all for shopping
himself around, especially if he looks and sees
and says, boy, this Oregon team might not have
a lot around me. Am I going to have to do it
all? Whereas I could go to an Arizona or a Kansas
and feel like the parts might be around me. So
I think there will be a robust transfer market
for him. I'm like you. I think he'll be in college
next year. I think it just comes down to what
can Oregon match. both opportunity and money
that he might be offered elsewhere. Yeah, and
I think that if he does transfer away, that could
lead to some uncomfortable conversations for
Oregon fans and maybe the Oregon program, because
this is a guy that's a... for lack of a better
term a local kid yeah you know he's an in -state
guy so you know it just does show how college
basketball has changed even over the matter of
jackson's career let alone the last five years
or so yeah i don't think the in -state part is
i mean again these days you you go where the
money is oh it doesn't matter anymore right there
you know um But the question then would be, who
are you going to get a point guard? Because you've
got to have somebody who can run this offense
because, again, we saw when it wasn't Jackson
-Salestead this year, it didn't run very smoothly,
and you don't want to have another season because
another 10 -20 season, that is when the people
will come in and say, hey, maybe there needs
to be a change that's made. Yeah, well, and we
thought it was going to be Waylon, and I would
be absolutely floored, shocked, jaw on the floor
if he's back. I can't see it. I just can't see
it. Dana Elton doesn't like him. He doesn't have
good body language when responding to Dane Altman.
I just think that it's not a good fit. Maybe
I'll be surprised and he'll be back. But I don't
think you can rely on him coming into next season.
Not as your starting point guard. No, because
this year. I think the only reason Drew Carter's
playing is because they thought Waylon was going
to be better than this, and then he just couldn't
play defense at times, and he was shooting too
many shots, and he'd turnovers. The talent's
clearly there with Waylon. I think Waylon's a
good player and will be a good player at some
point, whether it's in college or maybe it's
international. I don't know. But I think that
the problem is, like you said, you're going to
have to go to the transfer portal and get guys
that are win -now guys. It hasn't been like that
for Dana Altman over the recent couple of years.
She's been good at times, though. Yep, and he's
got to have the budget, too, because these guys
are now in the $2 million to $3 million to get
some of these guys. And I don't know what their
NIL budget is. I know that Kentucky this year
was reportedly $22 million, and Kansas was reportedly
$15 million, and Oregon, I've heard, was closer
to $7 million, $7 .5 million. But you also can't
tell him, hey, we're going to have you on a tight
budget, but you've got to go get a good team
because these days you've got to have the budget
to go get them. It does seem like you, if you're
the athletic program, at Oregon, you're going
to want to invest more in this team this year
after the way it went this year, especially if
you're going to keep Dane Altman. You can't say,
well, it's a transition year or something like
that. They're clearly going to be giving him
the resources to be able to compete at some level.
In the Big Ten, I'm not sure what that level
is, but I think that they have to commit to him
at some point. Well, I'll say this. As somebody
who covered Oregon basketball in the Pac -12
for seven or eight years, The march from the
bottom of the Big Ten to the top is going to
be much more difficult was in the Pac -12. Just
quite honestly, A, there are more teams. There's
18 teams. There's 17 teams to jump instead of
11 other teams to jump. But in the Pac -12, you
had not just where there were 12 teams, but you
had built in kind of USC usually wasn't very
good. Washington State wasn't very good. Oregon
State, you didn't have, you know, you could put
together kind of an average group. and you were
able to be kind of up there with Arizona, maybe
UCLA, you could be top four type thing. Top four
in the Big Ten is top ten in the country. I mean,
we're talking Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin,
Purdue, Michigan State. There were times in the
Pac -12 where the number four team was completely
unranked. Yeah. So the idea of moving up that,
hey, Dana's done this before, and he's going
to be able to get us right back up in contention.
He did that before in the Pac -12, which, again,
had Arizona pretty much every year, UCLA most
years, and then you'd get a random Colorado year
or USC or this and that. But if you were Oregon
and you were consistent, you were in that three
to four and contending for titles. It's a long
road to go from five and 15 in the Big Ten to
15 and five. the Big Ten. The other part of this
is Oregon has no home court advantage right now.
You were there at the end of the year. It's pretty
stale. It's a pretty stale arena except when
Oregon's really winning. So you're playing at
sold -out arenas in Michigan State, sold -out
arenas at Michigan, sold -out arenas at Illinois.
These are tough venues to play in, and you've
got to go there. And when these teams come here,
it's not a tough venue for them to play in. Not
only do they have more talent than you, your
crowd, one -third of the crowd is cheering for
the other team because these fan bases are so
glad to have them come out here. And the other
two -thirds are sitting down and watching because
they're not very interested in your team. And
you're getting 5 ,000 to 6 ,000 people instead
of the 15 ,000. these other places are getting.
So it's a huge disadvantage for Oregon to have
to go on the road and play in these great classic
basketball atmospheres. And then when these teams
come here, they don't have to as well. And then
the last thing is the Big Ten tournament. Oregon
had it really nice in Las Vegas. That was a nice,
easy trip to get down there. Their fans, other
than maybe Arizona and Utah, you'd have Oregon
fans filling that place down there. It's Las
Vegas in March. Who doesn't want to go to Las
Vegas in March? You'd have Oregon fans before
they even knew what their seed was in the tournament
who were planning to go just because you knew
Oregon was going to be in it because every team's
in it, and you figured you were going to get
a couple days in Vegas. So your tournament, it
was not a home crowd, but it was certainly not
a neutral site, and you were going to have your
fans down there. Yesterday, they played in front
of... from all implications and comments and
pictures I've seen and playing from about 500
people yesterday. And I guarantee you, there
weren't too many of them that were Oregon fans,
unless maybe there were some parents that live
in the Midwest because nobody, I didn't have
any friend this year who was like, dude, we're
going to Chicago for the big 10 tournament. This
is going to be great this year. The way that
my friends used to say, Hey, we're going to Vegas
for the big 10 for the PAC 12 tournament. So
all these, my point is all these things, look,
they went to the big 10 for football and that's
great. And the big 10 is a basketball conference,
but Oregon basketball. was in a pretty good spot
in the Pac -12 as being maybe the third best
job, third best program overall, and some years
even higher than that. I think they're middle
of the Pac, eighth, ninth best program in the
Big Ten. Their fan base is probably on the lower
half of that. Their travel is taking them to
places that it makes it more difficult. Just
the whole idea of getting a team that can compete
at the top of the Big 12 is going to be a way
bigger challenge than it ever was in the Pac
-12. This is why we bring you in, Goose. This
is why we bring you in, to read between the lines
and to lay it all out like this. I mean, I can't
help but think that you're right. It does seem
like it's a long road, and it has been rough
going to Matthew Knight Arena and literally having
opposing teams' fan bases' chants. Boiler up,
boiler up. It's very apparent. You can't hide
behind this. I think that it's something that
the Oregon program... I've just been baffled
by how they're so ahead of the game in football
and with marketing the team. And, of course,
this is money and all this. Never been good marketing
at basketball. I don't get it. I just don't understand
it. How can you be so good at marketing one program
and then the other program? It's just like it's
almost nonexistent. I don't understand. Part
of it is the coach doesn't do it. Dana's not
going to be the one marketing and pumping his
fist and doing hype videos, and Dan Lanning does
some of those things. But Dana's thing has always
been, hey, I'm not the hype guy. I'm just going
to put the great product on the court, and that'll
bring the fans out, which it did during glory
days. But if you're not winning and you're not
marketing it very well, that's when you hit the
problem. It's kind of the old Chip Kelly thing
when he didn't want to have to shake hands with
the boosters. Go 46 -7. You don't have to shake
hands with the boosters. We'll leave you on your
own. You go 4 -8 one of those years, you would
have had to probably come out and suck up a little
bit to those people, but he got out before he
had one of those years. But if you're Dane Altman
and you say, hey, I'm not the guy to get out
there and shake hands with everybody and pump
this thing up, that's fine as long as you're
winning year after year. But when it goes down,
then that suddenly becomes a more difficult thing
because, like I say, there's just no energy in
that arena, and they haven't done anything this
year to... you know, give fans a reason to stand
up each year. Well, one of the problems is that
I think it's hard to get there. And that's for
somebody that like, I live, I live in like walking
distance, 20 ish minutes walking distance. And
I would rather do that 25 minutes. Maybe I would
rather do that than go park over there. So that
is one thing. I think the other thing is that
this goes back to what your point is earlier
about potentially bringing in some coaches. If
Dana Altman is not going to be the one that can
bring that sort of energy to the team, that's
where you need to have at least somebody else
around you that I don't know. can be an assistant
coach that like can really do that but at least
bring in somebody that can kind of see that vision
because clearly dan altman i don't know if he
doesn't care but it hasn't been a priority for
him yeah and dane altman has never allowed his
assistant coaches to speak with the media they
have to at tournament things but he's never been
one who would let somebody do that so that was
if you're saying hey but i don't know what the
assistant coaches are and they're not out here
doing either that's goes back onto dana and that's
his choice but he's always been one that didn't
want his assistant coaches made available to
the media well even if you're not going to have
it be like a media thing i just think that you
need somebody around that's going to be like
hey i was at let's just call it illinois this
is how they ran things there this is the guys
that they went after and this is what you have
to do in modern college day basketball i think
it'd probably be good if you're going to get
some new blood to probably get somebody from
the big 10 yeah that's in one of those top teams
and programs we talked about because you need
to have a little bit more of a blueprint i think
than what they have right now That's what Oregon
State just did. That's a great tease. But we'll
get to that in the last segment. When we come
back in the next segment, it's going to be Travis
Demers, your voice of the Portland Trailblazers.
We'll catch up on the Zers as they make a run
for the play -in and maybe the playoffs. Playoffs!
And we will have that when we come back with
Travis Demers. This is Steve Bemis filling in
for Danny. You're listening to The Danny and
Justin Show on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox Sports
Newport. Welcome back into the Danny and Justin
show. This is Steve Mims filling in for Danny.
Danny is up in McMinnville as the OSA voice.
And he's doing, I think it's Crater versus somebody
right now. And then Thurston will be playing
at 3 o 'clock. But Danny is on the air right
now calling the 5A tournament. Speaking of high
school announcers, our next guest is a former
great. Hillsborough, Portland area high school
announcer who turned that experience into a job
on the NBA beat. He is Travis Demers joining
us now. Travis, thanks for coming on, man. How
are you? Good. How are you guys doing? We're
doing good. You ever do any of those OSA state
tournaments out in McMinnville or around when
I think Danny's doing like three, four games
a day. You ever have a tournament or an experience
like that where you had to do a bunch of games
in one day? Oh, yeah. For years I did the 6A
tournament. A lot of it was at the Child's Center,
and it was usually me and one other guy, Ryan
Goff, who still does it, and we would split all
the games between the boys' and girls' tournaments
between Wednesday and Saturday. So, I mean, I
would do like 11, 12, 13 games in a couple of
days. And then they've had it down in Eugene
and Corvallis and at Moda Center before. So I've
done a lot of those. But at the Child Center
is where I really ended up doing, you know, double
-digit games over a couple -day span. Okay. All
right. Well, now you have, like I say, parlayed
that into the Blazer beat. Blazers coming off
a tough one last night, Charlotte 103 -101 in
the midst of a kind of a shorter homestand, but
they get Indiana to start it. I want to start
with that Indiana win. That was one of the better
games we've seen from Scoot Henderson, and I
know we've talked a lot about him in the times
that we've been on here since he's been coming
back. What do you see in not just that game,
but what kind of growth are you seeing now that
Scoot's maybe getting his legs under him after
the late start to the season? Yeah, you know,
for Scoot, it's been tough. Because the first
couple of games, he looked pretty good. And then
that road trip, let's just call it what it is.
It was ugly. He did not look good on the road
trip. The shooting was terrible. I think he went
through a stretch where he was 5 of 34 from 3.
Turned the ball over a bit. It was rough. And
then he comes out against Indiana. Game high
28 points. No turnovers in that game. And he
took over and dominated at times. and that's
a lot closer to the Scoot that I think he is
going to be than what we saw on that five -game
road trip. And then the follow -up last night,
you know, 17 points. He did turn it over a few
times, but he was five of eight from three, made
some key plays. And it's just a matter of stringing
together the better performances. And, you know,
I think I've been – I don't want to use the word
apologist because I don't think that's fair,
but I think I've been championing the cause for
Scoot maybe more than anybody else over the last
couple of years. I think some of the perception
of him is a bit unfair. And eventually he's going
to show that. You just hope that it's sooner
rather than later. Yeah. This is Travis Demers.
You will hear him on Friday night when Utah comes
to Portland here on Fox Sports. Eugene, you know,
we know that they are in the play -in. They have
an eight -game lead on Memphis with 16 to go.
I like their chances of getting to the play -in.
Yeah. But still a lot to play for there because
they probably can't get to seven. The Clippers
and Golden State both one game ahead of them
in the win column. And that's interesting because
if you can just get to nine, at least your first
game's a home game. And so, you know, you'd win
one, you could get one at home. If you can get
to eight, then you're on the road, but you only
have to win one of two. So a lot to play for
them. And both that eight and nine, if they could
get there, gives them a little bit of an advantage
over what they'd have at 10. Yeah, you know,
that's a really good point about that because
right now sitting at 10, You know, 8, 9, and
10, it's going to be the Clippers, Blazers, and
Warriors in some combination. Nobody's catching
Phoenix. Nobody's dropping down to where Memphis
is, right? So 8, 9, and 10 is going to be the
Clippers, Warriors, and Blazers, but how are
they going to shake out? The Blazers have the
tiebreaker over the Warriors, so they only have
to win one more game than Golden State does the
rest of the season, and the Blazers do still
have the easiest schedule left in the NBA. The
Clippers, I think, is going to be real challenging
to pass them. They're playing really good basketball
right now. They're playing Minnesota at home
tonight. Minnesota is coming off of a bad loss
the other night. They do still play the Clippers
two more times this year, but I think there is
a very good chance if they do their job that
they are hosting that first game against Golden
State, and then if they win, we'll go on the
road to either Phoenix or the Clippers. Who knows?
Minnesota or Denver could potentially drop down
to seven, or even the Lakers. You look at the
West right now, and two and a half games separate
three and seven. Two games separate four and
seven. So there's a lot that could happen there
with teams trying to stay out of the play and
in the top six. So obviously they'll be eight,
nine, or ten. I think there's a great chance
they jump up to nine, and there is a possibility
they get up to eight. So Hornets last night,
that was a tough one, 103 to 101. Say that. Yeah,
and so one of those games you hate to lose were.
Portland's up 34 -20 after the first quarter,
and they just slightly lose every single other
quarter. It feels like they had the lead the
entire game, and then they give it up at the
very end. But, man, Charlotte, it's one of those
teams, I think, that you just sort of find with
not playing at this point in the season because
they've just turned it on so much. And over the
last, I can't even say how many games it is,
but maybe it's like 20, 30 games, something like
that. They've been one of the best teams. January
1st, basically. January 1st, yeah. So they've
been one of the best teams in the NBA since then.
I guess my question would be, Do you think there's
any lessons that a team like the Blazers could
learn from the way that the Hornets have developed
their team? And they have a guy in now, Conn
Knipple, which is hilarious because it seemed
like maybe Melo Ball was going to be their kind
of main guy. And then Conn comes in there and
he's just like this amazing addition to this
team. Are there lessons other teams can learn
from the way the Hornets have built their roster
and the way they've developed their team? Or
is this just one of those rare situations? I
hope it's not a lesson that anybody else takes.
Because this franchise, since they came into
the NBA, has been a total disaster. Like, it's
been bad basketball. And you look at the records
of the Hornets and the Bobcats since they came
back to the NBA after the original Hornets left
for New Orleans, and it's been a total dumpster
fire in every possible way down there. And the
buzz, and I know this is kind of a, you know,
not to use the pun here, but the buzz around
the Hornets right now in Charlotte, it's the
strongest that it's been since the original franchise
left. because they have been that bad. And they
haven't won a playoff series in the 20 -plus
years since that franchise has been there. And
over the last couple of seasons, you look at
it, and, yeah, Brandon Miller is a really good
young player. LaMelo Ball is a good young player.
Concanipple has really turned out to be a terrific
player. I think he should be the rookie of the
year. They've found some gems at other positions
and things like that. But, really, for them,
it's been hell. You look at the last couple of
years, and LaMelo Ball has missed a lot of games
due to injury. Brandon Miller last year missed
a chunk of games due to injury. And this year
they've been really healthy. And then you add
Connick Nipple to that group that is already
a good young mix of players, and they're starting
to put it together. After the win over the Blazers
last night, they've won 11 out of their last
12 on the road, and that includes a 30 -point
blowout in Boston over the Celtics. What they're
doing is not a fluke. They're just putting it
all together. They haven't really been able to
climb too much up the standings because they
started so poorly. But I think a lot of it is
health and finding the right pieces to come together.
They're a well -coached team. But I would never
say to anybody, hey, look at what the Hornets
have done. Follow that plan because that's a
sure way to really turn off your fan base. Yeah.
Travis, I want to switch over for a minute to
Donovan Kling, and not only is he averaging 11
-8 and 11 -5, but also it's interesting, you
know, we love to look back on drafts, and sometimes
in the past Blazer history, it's been like, hey,
they should have taken this person instead of
this person. Donovan Klingin's become now, like,
you look back at that draft two years ago, if
you did a redraft of it now, he'd probably be
the number one pick. He's been as good as anybody
who was in that draft. Obviously, they get him
down at 5 '6", but this is great to get a cornerstone
like that and to be able to, like I say, look
and say, hey, of everybody who came out of that
draft, if we had to do over again at one, we
would take Donovan Klingin. Yeah, Klingin has
been terrific. And to your point, there was a
lot of talk going into the draft that Klingin
was going to be the number one pick. I don't
know how serious it was, but there was some talk
that the Blazers would try and trade up to number
one to go get him. And, you know, seeing the
way that that unfolded and, you know, we saw
Shea go as number one. You know, maybe they're
rethinking that now, but again, he's only in
year two. Sar went number two. He's been really
good. Reed Shepard has become a great three -point
shooter for Houston. Stephon Castle is a really
good young player, one rookie of the year. And
then you have Ron Holland at number five to Detroit.
He's been up and down a little bit. And then
here comes six and Chad doing, and I were doing
the draft show that night and we're, we're waiting
for the sixth pick to come in, which was the
Hornets. And they draft to Jean Salon, the, the
kid from France. And we just got up and started
cheering because that was going to be available
at number seven. And that's the guy we wanted
the Blazers to take. And I think if you do a
redraft, yeah, you're looking at it that. You
know, Sar, Castle, Klingin, those are probably
the guys that are in the conversation for number
one. And I know after last year there was a lot
of, well, look at what Zach Eady did in his rookie
year. The Blazers should have drafted him. No,
they shouldn't have. I think they did exactly
what they should have done. Some of the other
guys around there, you know, Chicago has been
really good. But, you know, you can absolutely
make the case that Donovan Klingin has been the
best player out of that class. Both this, I mentioned
this for you, Travis, and in terms of players,
like I say, there's 16 games to go. Every one
of them matters. They're going to, because no
matter what, they're going to be in that play.
And then we're going to have, so we're probably
looking at 17, 18 and maybe more games left for
you after years where this was the time of year
when players were resting and it wasn't. Is it
just a little more exciting for you calling these
games? And at the same time, do you see out of
some of these players, maybe some of the guys
who've been around? I mean, Jeremy Grant hasn't
finished a season because he hasn't really needed
to. You see guys like that. Is there a feeling
like, hey, this is pretty sweet having something
to play for? Let's kind of make a run at this,
see how far we can take it. Yeah, for me personally,
it's nice because, you know, looking at our team,
there's something to play for every single night.
And the games matter. And the players who are
healthy and supposed to be out there are out
there. And they're playing to win. And, yeah,
of course, draft position does matter for a team
that, if they make the playoffs, aren't going
to have their first -round pick and a team that
needs to have more talent. So, of course, that
matters. But having things to play for, it's
great. I mean, you have, you know, Drew Holiday,
who has won a couple of championships, and Jeremy
Grant, who has, you know, made deep playoff runs,
a coach who has won a championship. You know,
other players, you know, Robert Williams III
has played in an NBA Finals. You have a number
of guys who have been through that and know how
to win. So to have that along with the young
players like Scoot and Donovan Kling and even
Denny Obvia, Tumani Kamara, these guys have never
played in games that matter in the month of March
and April. And now they're getting an opportunity
to do that. And even if they don't get to where
they want to be at the end of the season, at
least going through this at 22, 23, 24, 25 years
old, like those are experiences that matter.
It's not the 80s. and you don't have to lose
a playoff series to go win a playoff series the
next year. It's not the Pistons against the Celtics
who learned from it and then the Bulls who lost
to the Pistons, etc. It's not that, but you do
have to get that experience, and I think all
of that is really important. A few years ago,
we saw Damian Lillard make a run at Kobe's 81
points. He got 71, and I think it was an interesting
game because... They didn't necessarily force
it to him the entire time. There was a part of
that game where Dame was a little bit deferential,
but he got his big scoring outburst. We've seen
Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid get in the 70s over
the last few years. And Donovan Mitchell. Donovan
Mitchell, yep, against the Bulls. Don't even
get me started about that game. But last night
we saw 83 points from... bam out of bio who i
had friends telling me that if you would guess
how many if you could basically take a guess
at who scored 83 points they said that bam out
of bio might have been like the 50th player they
might have guessed which i think is probably
fair i have a take that i think that now that
this seal has been broken and i'd love to hear
your thoughts on just this game in general but
do you think we might start to see more players
start to push for the 81 or possibly 100 because
quite honestly if bam shoots Another six threes
hits another six threes. He hits 100, which is
amazing to say. But first, your just general
thoughts on that game and the way that it went
down and the fouls and all that stuff. And just
do you think we're going to start to see other
players push for this now that I think the seal
maybe has been broken by Bam? You know, I haven't
seen any of I've seen some highlights. I've gone
through the play by play at the end of the game.
I've heard what some other people have said about
it. So. My opinion on it is not completely based
on a firsthand experience. But the fact that
he was still in the game when they're up 25,
30 points in the fourth quarter, yeah, I'm not
totally cool with that. You saw it. I didn't.
So if they were fouling to extend the game to
give him more possessions, that's... That's embarrassing
to the state of the NBA. He should be ashamed
of himself. Eric Spolster should be ashamed of
himself. The Miami Heat should be ashamed of
themselves. That's terrible. You shouldn't be
doing that. Now, again, I'm not saying that that
is the case because I didn't see it with my own
eyes. But if it is, I have a big problem with
that. And, yeah, of course, you could say, well,
let the other team stop him. You don't do that
for a lot of reasons. But, you know, he scored
83, and that's great. destroyed the record of
free throws taken. He took 43 free throws by
himself. Miami took 59 free throws last night.
That's not a game I would have wanted to call
because it would have taken forever, first of
all. And I looked, and it said it was a two -and
-a -half -hour game. I don't know about that.
Somebody must have fast -forwarded the tape in
live action or something because that probably
should have taken three hours, that many free
throws. Absolutely. Are players going to try
and do that and try and beat that record or try
and go for 100? Maybe, but I can't really see
too many scenarios where players are going to
be in a position to do that and they will be
allowed to go for that. Because what we saw last
night, again, in theory, what is the fact is
that they're up by 30 and Bam Adebayo is still
in the game doing whatever he wants. You don't
see that a lot. Because it's disrespectful to
the game. Maybe that's an old -school way of
looking at it. You know, the running out the
clock and getting a dunk and things like that
at the end of a game that bothers people, I don't
really have an issue with that. If you're going
to play, play. Stop the other team. But I do
have an issue with this, again, if that's what
happens. So I really don't see a scenario where
now that that has been broken that other players
are going to try and go for it. Because if you
look at what other players and coaches have said
around the league last night, whether it be,
You know, J .J. Redick or Ime Udoka after their
games. Somebody asked, you know, Colin Gillespie
in Denver after the game last night what he thought,
and his response was, I don't care. You know,
I don't think – I think the way that he got those
points around the league is not respected. Maybe
somebody goes for that and says, okay, that's
a disrespectful way of breaking, you know, Kobe's
record for the second most points in league history.
I'm going to put a little more respect on that
record. I can see that happening, but I don't
think they would chase it because, you know,
like, oh, like in the sword and the stone. Well,
once it's been pulled, anybody can pull it. No,
I don't see it being that way. And back in the
days of Charles Oakley, Rick Mahorn, and Anthony
Mason, I would say to say Bam might not be able
to shoot those last two free throws because they
would have probably made sure that those fouls
were a little harder to make sure if he's going
to try to run up the score on him. Yeah, if he
was going to do that, he would have had cotton
shoved up his nose. There it is. All right. We're
going to pull that clip right there. That's the
best part of the whole one right there. All right.
We have Travis Demers, Friday night against Utah.
You can hear him here on Forks Sports. Eugene,
if you get bored, go over to McMinnville, listen
to Danny, and critique his call on the 5A tournament.
But thanks so much for coming on, as always,
Travis. Look forward to listening to you on Friday.
Thanks a lot, bud. Always, guys. Thank you. All
right. Travis Demers, voice of the Portland Trailblazers.
All right. When we come back, we are going to
chat about the new Oregon State head men's basketball
coach, Justin Joyner. And we will get into that
hire, give you some of his background as we wrap
up the Wednesday edition of the Danny and Justin
show on Fox Sports Eugene and Fox Sports Newport.
All right, welcome back into the Danny and Justin
show. This is Steve Bims building it for Danny.
Danny is at McMindle at the 5A tournament. He
is on the air right now calling Crook County
has a 64 -36 lead over Crater in the first round
of the 5A tournament. The important part of that
is... The next game is Thurston versus Summit.
You guys had a great interview yesterday with
Boomer. Yes. Boomer, my boy Blaine Libitor, Boomer.
And so he is coaching Thurston. Go Colts. I'm
not even going to pretend to be unbiased. I love
Blaine Libitor, Doug Paquette, Eric Wharton,
three good friends of mine. So they play the
next game, and if they can win that. They would
advance to face Crook County in the semifinals.
Unfortunately, if they lose, then they've got
a league rematch against Crater. So go Colts
in the 3 o 'clock game and go North Eugene tonight.
I think North Eugene is the 8 -15 game. So I'd
love to have a North Eugene -Thurston championship
game for the Midwestern League. All right. Oregon
State has announced its new head coach, and it
is Justin Joyner. Justin Joyner has been on the
Michigan staff for the last two years. I would
say those teams have turned out to be pretty
good. Yeah, they're good. What I like about him,
he's 38 years old. What I like is he spent seven
seasons as an assistant under Randy Bennett at
St. Mary's. So, A, that tells – and he's from
UCSB, which I know intern Blaze enjoys. So what
that tells me is West Coast – Recruiting tries,
West Coast recruiting ties, and I know that Oregon's
not, you know, they're coming out of the WCC,
going to the Pac -12, but his top rival at St.
Mary's was Gonzaga, who's now in there. So if
Oregon State can get itself to a point to where
they can be... You know, Gonzaga's going to need
a new rival. They're not taking St. Mary's. It
doesn't go in there. So that's Gonzaga's new
rival. If that can become Oregon State, if they
can emerge as sort of that second -best team
in the conference, there's a guy who scouted
Mark Few and played it before. But initial thoughts
on the hire of Justin Joyner. I'm going to give
it a thumbs -up because of the West Coast ties
and the fact he spent the last two years at maybe
the best program in the country. Haven't heard
him talk, so I would love to hear him just in
an interview or something like that. But I do
think that it's the same sort of formula as the
Jamarcus Shepard, is it not? You're getting a...
First time coach. A first time coach from a really
good program that's having current success right
then. And they have ties to the area relatively
at the very least. So sounds good. I think the
timing of it is, again, really interesting the
way this has all gone down. And we're talking
about, I think, literally yesterday with Danny
about, hey, Scott Barnes clearly has somebody
in mind or he must have somebody in mind if you're
going to go ahead and get rid of Wayne Tinkle
when he did. Because I thought the timing of
that was so weird to do it. But doing it before
the season was over instead of just waiting for
the season to be done and putting yourself in
a position where if you're Scott Barnes, if the
team continues to win, it makes you look worse.
And so they win a couple games and then obviously
didn't make it to the final. But I think it sounds
good. I mean, you're coming from a place where
obviously Michigan's had a lot of success. over
the last however many years. Even obviously over
the last few years, they've been a top team in
the country. So I think that it does sound good.
I'd love to hear him kind of talk and know what
his philosophies are about things. But in terms
of where you're getting him from and the ties,
I think that it does make sense as a fit. And
he is going to stay at Michigan through the tournament
run, I did see. So he's going to stay with Michigan
for... But I'm guessing it'll certainly be. I
think they get through the first weekend for
sure. They got final four capabilities, but we'll
see. But it'll probably be a couple weeks until
he comes. The interesting point then, his wife,
Tracy Joyner, is the Oregon women's soccer coach.
This is going to be the stuff that feature stories
are made of. You're going to see every national.
Every national publication is going to be coming
and doing the women's soccer coach from Oregon
somehow married to the men's basketball coach
from Oregon State. How does it work? Who do they
root for? In the Civil War soccer, is he rooting
for his Oregon State team? Is he rooting for
his wife's team? The same thing. You're going
to see a lot of human interest stories there.
But I think it's great, and it's fascinating.
I remember seeing when they hired Tracy Joyner
that it said her husband's the assistant at Michigan,
and I just remember thinking. That'd be tough
to live that far apart, and you're both in businesses
to where you're working a lot and working your
own house, and you get to really see each other.
So for him, it's pretty cool that the job that
opens up is one that's this close, and he can
come out here. Might be a boost for Oregon State.
Maybe this is a guy who traditionally might have
waited for a bigger job than Oregon State, but
Oregon State gives him a chance to be close to
his wife again, which is pretty important, you
would think, in the grand scheme of things. So
it gives him a chance, and it might also, you
know, I think if you're... Scott Barnes or whoever
the AD is going to be in the next few years.
But if you're the Oregon State AD, you're now
really rooting for Oregon women's soccer to do
well because you don't want her to lose her job
because you want to keep your guy here. And it's
kind of tied. It's interesting some of the ties.
There's going to be some back and forths. But
I think it's a great – I think it's a really
cool story that he gets to now come back out
here and be with his wife and that you're going
to have an Oregon State. We've had some transfers
between schools. We saw the Atticus Sappington,
the transfers from Oregon. State to Oregon. Of
course, legendary before your time, but Rich
Brooks, the old Oregon football coach, had played
at Oregon State and Nick Aglioti had coached
at Oregon State. So there have been kind of some
crossing of the lines type things. Mike Parker.
Mike Parker. Mike Parker absolutely was the old
Oregon and went through. And I'm sure that there
are people in this world. I'm sure there's a
U of O employee who is married to an Oregon State
employee. I'm not saying that, but I don't think
we've ever had two high profile people like this
married with one at the other. So I think it's
going to be a great story for media. and radio
throughout, and I think it's cool. Completely
agree. I also can't help but think, we talked
about this with Danny, is that I think that the
number that Wayne Tinkle said going into the
Pac -12 that they needed in terms of INIL funds
was like $4 million, and they were going to get
two. So we talk about having a rival with Gonzaga,
who is a really good team every year and does
make your conference better, especially with,
obviously, what the Beavers are in now, the WCC.
I just don't know if they will be able to be
competitive based on those things and the money
that you're getting because so much of what it
is nowadays isn't just, hey, this guy's a really
good developer and I'm going to be able to go
to this place and get drafted or whatever. It's
like, hey, what dollar amount am I getting? And
so I think that it sounds like a good hire in
theory, but I do have concerns about where this
program is and what their standing will be in
the new Pac -12 or remade Pac -12, whatever you
want to call it, because of the money. To put
it in perspective, Yaxel Lindenborg, the best
player from Michigan, reportedly received $3
.5 million this year to skip the draft because
he was considered to be a potential late first
rounder. He was at UAB last year, skipped the
draft, transferred to Michigan reportedly for
$3 .5 million. That would be $1 .5 million more
than Oregon State's entire roster if the Wayne
Tinkle number throws out there. So you're right.
It's the same thing I thought with Jamarcus Shepard.
He's coming from Alabama where they have a decent
amount, and he knows what it takes. I'd be curious.
I assume these days if you're Jamarcus Shepard,
if you're Justin Joyner, I assume that money
is not your salary. It used to be your salary
was the money you were concerned about. Now you're
worried about the roster money. I assume that
you, in the course of those negotiations, are
able to say, hey, I'm not taking this job if
you're funding me at $2 million. Hey, if $4 million
is the average for this conference and you're
giving us $2 million, you're not giving us a
chance. So I assume you can bargain in that to
where Scott Barnes is going to have to say, hey,
look, we'll bump you up to $4 million. I assume
Jamarcus Shepard is going to have more money
available than Trent Bray just because he had
some bargaining power as well. So it would be
interesting to see. And again, like I talked
about. These transfers are already, I mean, players
who are transferring have already told their
teams or their agents have already put them out
there. So if you're Justin Joyner coming in,
you probably know from people who've been reaching
out to Michigan, you know kind of who's out there,
and you've got to know what your budget is. I
mean, if somebody comes up and is worth a million,
you can't go asking Scott Barnes, like, do I
have enough to pay for this? I would assume with
the hire, Barnes has to tell him right away,
here's what we can get you for next year, and
then he can start budgeting that. But it will
be interesting to see because, you know, anytime
a coach leaves, I assume most of those guys are
going to leave. Lake, who's been their best player
and whose dad played at Oregon State, might be
the most likely to stay. He's from Oregon. His
dad played there. Maybe that's call one for Justin
Joyner. Hey, let's keep the all -league guy here.
Boost him up to whatever it's going to take there.
But it'll be interesting to see how he can build
a roster. I mean, we've seen some coaches can
do it pretty quickly. For a first -year head
coach who's also still going to be working his
job for the next couple weeks, this is going
to be a pretty key time to be burning the candle
at both ends. But I'll be interested to see what
kind of a roster he can put together in year
one. And like you say, what kind of a budget
Scott Barnes... is getting him to do it. Because
again, if you give him $2 million, he's not going
to put much together, whether he's Dusty May
or Justin Joyner. Dusty May, because Michigan's
got about $10 million to spend. And I do think,
like we were talking about with Dana Altman,
and this is a year for Dana Altman, hey, if you're
keeping Dana Altman, you've got to really just
try to, you have to win, right? And I think that
maybe it's a little bit different in the situation
where you want to have the budget, obviously,
but I think at the very least, you want to see
yourself set up over the next few years where,
hey, This is a little bit transitioning now.
You're going to a new conference. You have a
new head coach. I just want to see them compete,
and it look like they're on the right track,
where this season it just felt like, you know,
they just had like a ceiling. And they did really
well at the end of the year. They kind of surpassed,
I guess, my expectations of where they did in
a tournament. But sometimes that comes down to
a team that's playing for their head coach, and
there's just sort of these real -life emotional
circumstances that I think were there for this
team, and they're playing for Coach Tinkle. I
do think it's going to be interesting to see
how they transition into this new era, both in
the Pac -12 and with this new head coach. And
I don't necessarily know if that will directly
lead to wins right away. But I don't know if
you have to as much as I would say like Ducks.
I think you have a little bit more of a runway
here. And the Pac -12 is going to be good in
men's basketball. You know, Gonzaga is good.
You know, San Diego State's been good most years.
Utah State traditionally is pretty good. So,
you know, if you're not keeping up with them
in terms of NIL and your roster. Don't think
that, hey, we're one of the old Pac -12s. We
were the Power Five coming down. We're just going
to instantly be one of the top ones because we
were one of those. Some of the other ones are
going to be there as well. So there's no guarantee
that, hey, we were Pac -12 before, and when this
thing rebuilds, we're the ones who are coming
back and going to be up there. And particularly
football, the conference isn't going to be as
good. Baseball, we've discussed, particularly
for Oregon State, it's not going to be as good
of a conference. But men's basketball, it's going
to be a good conference. They need it, quite
honestly, because I don't know how good of a
football conference it's going to be. I think
it's going to be a worse football conference
than it will be a basketball conference. So I
agree. It'll be interesting. Yeah, and we'll
see on that one there. So it was official for
those who are just tuning in. Justin. Justin?
Joyner. Joyner, thank you. Justin Joyner is the
new head coach of Oregon State men's basketball
and will be arriving in Corvallis once Michigan's
done with its NCAA tournament run, wherever that
may be. Big Ten tournament, though, is this week,
and that's for Michigan. I think Michigan's got
a double bye, so they don't play for a couple
days. But Oregon season's over, as we discussed.
It is. It'll be interesting to see what happens
now. Absolutely. All right. Appreciate everybody
for tuning in. Justin, tomorrow it's going to
be Just Justin. It'll be the Just Justin Show.
So tune in there. I will be back Friday, and
we will have big bets going there. I'm on a terrible
slump. I'm coming up with the games. You are,
yeah. But this is going to be a brutal week because
the Saturday games aren't going to be determined
until Friday because it's all conference tournaments.
So we're not going to know Saturday games until
Friday. So I was talking about this with Danny
yesterday. I'm going to have to do some NBA or
something. We'll see. We'll figure it out. We
will figure it out, as always. All right. Tomorrow
is Justin. I'm back on Friday. This is Steve
Mims filling in for Danny. You're listening to
The Danny and Justin Show on Fox Sports Eugene
and Fox Sports Newport.