KJ Live - Dan Dickau

be the first. The Zag's got your bruins again once more. Um, But you know what, I'm sure you're gonna bring up Duke. I'm sure you're gonna bring up Alabama recently. The biggest thing, though, is college basketball is here and it's off to a great start, right, Yes, it is. It's an exciting season. I love to see the fans back into the building, the return of the home court, Advan it just back. College basketball definitely is back down. I wanted to talk

though about your Zags. We're gonna just start off with them. What makes this version of Gonzaga the one that's gonna hang a national championship banner. Well, they've got a crazy amount of depth. Like last year's team had depth, um, but they had experience where literally you just had to plug in Jalen Sugs and get him kind of up to speed with kiss Burg to YAYI Timmy a season ago. This year's team, you got Timmy obviously he's a he's a monster down low. Uh, and then them Mart's done

a great job as a point guard. Watson has been there. Um, but you've got other guys that are either freshman or now sophomores with not experience coming into this year and they just have to find their way, find their roles. Um. You know, chat home Grins, it's either him or ban Chero gonna be the number one pick. There's a lot of expectations placed on him. He's still finding his way in college basketball. But it's crazy to think he's averaging like teen points a game and he shooting seventy from

the field and he's finding his way. That's unheard of. Um. So I think this year's team has a lot more growth than any Gonzagger team that I can remember in recent memory. Because coach Few doesn't usually like he likes experience on his teams, and we've never had to deal with a lot of early entries or we've I think we've only had one one and done. UM, so guys

have kind of gotten to know the program. The holpings are done where this year you have to learn on the fly and if you don't, sorry, you're not gonna play as much as you would like. Yeah, staying with good Zaga, Man, I've always been fascinated by just how good that program has been over the course of the last twenty something years. For as long as I can remember.

What were some of the ingredients to the recipe of success for Mark feu Well, I think coach fe has got an unbelievable eye for talent um and it had to start that way in Spokane because Gonzaga wasn't a household name, so he had to find guys when he was an assistant coach under both Dan Fitzgerald and Dan Monson that um he felt maybe we're under the radar of Pac twelve schools with backpack ten back then, um, or if they were maybe good enough to play at

that league, that he felt that why not recruit these guys, Let's go after him and those would have been guys like Matt Santangelo. Uh, probably a guy like Casey Calvary who, honestly, a lot of guys schools missed on Ritchie from they missed on because he went and played in the NBA for four years or so. UM. So he's had an unbelievable eye for talent and then he's done a really good job of developing that talent once they get on campus.

But there's certain non negotiables that coach Few always has with his players in regards to the position that they play, but also what role they're gonna play on their teams. Like for for example, a non negotiable for a point guard for him is care about winning. And some guys and get the job done in winning. Some guys do it through scoring like I did it through scoring more than other guys do it through facilitating or or being

a defensive you know, lockdown guy that wasn't me. He would help kind of carve out your niche and your role and then hold you to that standard. Um. And if you earned his trust, your leash is as long as they get. But you have to earn that trust, and it's hard to earn that trust. There's been a number of guys that have myself, Adam Morrison, you know,

some Sabonus, a number of other guys have UM. But there are certain non negotiables at each position that have to be met, and once you do that, the sky's the limit for the growth in your game as well as the impact that you can have on the team. It sounds like you're describing like buy in, like you know what what he's trying to get from each and every guy on that roster him to buy into his role,

embrace his role, and flourish his role correct. I was at a practice earlier this year UM, before games even started, and you know that's the time of the year where guys are trying to prove themselves in practice to earn a possible starting role or earn rotational minutes, and Julian Strawther was doing things that weren't part of his correct skill set to impact the game. He was coming out, he passed up a corner three, came off a pick and roll, tried to a pocket pass, and he stopped practice.

He was like, hold on a second, we have guys that can come off pick and rolls and make that pass. You need run the floor, get easy buckets, space the floor. If you like it, shoot it. That's what we need from you. I don't think i've seen Julian Strawther try to throw a pinpoint pocket pass in traffic since since that stoppage in practice that I happen to see that day.

That's amazing because a lot of time a coach won't stop practice and we'll kind of like let those type of plays build up, and sometimes you develop bad habits, but the good ones, you know, they nipped that in the butt. Uh. You started off at the University of Washington and then ended up transferring to Gonzaga. Tell me a little bit about that decision. At the time, it was a little bit controversial transferring from you dub to

the Zags. What what went into that decision? Well, I mean you would know better than I would because you grew up in in the heart of l A with with your dad and then the guys that you grew

up playing a U high school with. You knew the Pac ten was the league, and you knew of U c l A As being them Arizona and it was probably Stanford at the time, the top three in the in the in the conference, which me growing up on the West Coast, I wanted to challenge in myself and play against the best players in college basketball, and on the West Coast that was the Pac ten. And if you wanted to have a chance to in the NBA, which I had big aspirations, I felt I had to

go to a Pac ten school. So I was recruited by a number of Pac tens. I was recruited by a lot of w c c's, including uh one of one of the guys that was an assistant coach I think for you or he was at u c l A right before you got there, Lorenzo Romar, and he was so I looked at pepper Downe. I looked at Portland because it was home. I had no interest in Gonzaga because you know, this is the crazy thing when

you're sixteen, seventeen years old. Sometimes you make a decision, I don't want to go to that school because it snows lo and behold, you're in the gym half the day, you're in class part of the other day. It's like a new weather attends at ten minute walk in the snow to get to the gym or back to your apartment whatever, you know, and so I felt like I had to go to a Pac ten school in Washington, being a hometown school, they seemed to be on the rise. It felt like a good spot for me. And it was,

I mean my freshman year. Um, we made it the Sweet sixteen. We actually your team came to Seattle and it was I think second last week of the regular season. If I'm not mistaken, you guys were locked. You guys were already in and we had to beat U c l A to go from off the bubble too into the bubble. We did, and then we get into the n c A Tournament make the Week six team. But again, I mean the big part is like I wanted to play the highest level college basketball at the time that

was Pac ten. Absolutely, what did you How do you think Gonzaga prepared you to play in the NBA, not only to play in the NBA, but to be a first round draft pick. Yeah, I think a couple of things.

Was you know, when I transferred from Washington, and you kind of touched on it in the previous question, it was a little controversial in the regards that when you transferred at that time in college basketball, it wasn't like nowur it's an immediate way where you go play, you have to sit out of here, So it has to be well thought out, Like am I willing to sit

out a year? And many times if you did transfer, like there was a check mark on your name, like he's a terrible teammate, he's injury prone, he's not as good as people thought, he's a bust, whatever it might be. So I kind of took that as fuel my red shirt ear to not take a day off and just improve, improve and work and get myself ready. Um but again kind of back going back to coach fuse non negotiables,

my red shirt ear. One of the biggest things that he kept saying to me is, look, you gotta get tougher. And he wasn't saying it in the in the in the terms that, um, I wasn't physically willing to, you know, set a screen or I wasn't willing to do different things.

But toughness going from worrying about yourself maybe, which a lot of times you see at the Pac ten level because guys sometimes might think they're on the cusp of making the NBA they're selfish, But it was a toughness level as far as do the right things for us to be good, and in turn, you're already doing the things that gonna help you be good individually. You blend those two together, you're gonna be pretty damn good. We're

gonna be pretty damn good. But he was always on me and I reach your ear about learning to compete, compete, compete, get better prepared for next year. And you're a first team All American as a senior. Was there a game or a moment during that season where you said yourself, man, I can you know I can I can go first round or you know I can play in the league or did you have that confidence well before then? Well, I think I think a lot of that started in

high school. To be honest with you, Um, you know, I mentioned Baron Davis in your group of U c l A the Nike All American Camp before my senior year. Um uh it was I had played regional AU tournaments up till then, but I got a chance to go to that All American camp but play against the best players in the country. Um and and Barren to me

was by far the best point guard. But then you start looking around and you start like, okay, I'm I'm is good or better than this player at this I fit in differently at this program than this guy would. He's being recruited by that guy that school. Okay, so I I'm comparable. So you take some of those lessons, you learn them, and you start setting those goals and knowing that things are realistic if you keep working at him.

And so that was a big piece of it, and another reason I went to you Dubbed because pros came out of the pack tent now the pact quet. That's the way you looked at it back then. Um, but when I got to Gonzaga, I still had these goals and dreams and aspirations, but you also knew there's check marks. I'm hurt. I was at Dubbed for two years. Um, A lot of people might have thought I lost my

starting job. That really wasn't the case because I had injuries. Um, you know, is he gonna be good enough to keep Gonzaga at the level of it is? And coach Fuse, you know he had those non negotiables, but he also I don't care what you do as a point guard, score it not score. My job is for you to figure out how to get us to win. Games, and so that was my whole focus. And I knew. I knew he was gonna give me the freedom to score it the way that I thought I was capable of

that I didn't have it at you, dubbed. But I also knew the most important thing was to win, and so I had to figure out and balance scoring facilitating for other guys with the victory being the end goal at the end of the day. At the end of my junior year, I did have a couple NBA agents or or evaluators want me to go into the draft, and I really haven't shared that with a lot of people because it took me about two minutes to say, no, I'm not doing that because we got smacked by Michigan

State in the sweet sixth team my junior year. But did you at least think about it? Did you at least think about it? Dan, Did you at least look at yourself and say, hey, man, maybe I'm ready. Did you least evaluate it or give it a give it? I didn't. I didn't. I excuse me all. I literally gave it about two minutes finished, a phone call, hung up, and my focus was on the next season. But we got smacked by Michigan State, Zach and Off, Jason Richardson, aloish Is and a gang, just a team of dudes

that just beat the heck out of us. And so I had such a bad taste in my mouth from losing that game that I was like, I just wanted to focus on the next season, and so focused workouts. I was able to represent USA basketball in the World university games. And at that point, you know, the tryouts and a lot of the practices are in front of n v A, NBA front offices, and you start, you know, playing really well, and you start thinking, okay, some of

these goals and dreams they're within reach. Um. You get back to campus after that summer and the season starts off unbelievably well, and all of a sudden, my parents are getting phone calls from from agents across the country and coach Fuse, you know, saying hey this agents talking to me or whatever. And my whole thing was just get me through the season. I figured at that point

I was gonna have a chance. But I thought I did a really good that senior year of just putting everything that wasn't pressing at that moment in time, out of out of in front of me, and that's unfortunately this day and age for college kids, that's impossible social media because of the new n I L deals. Man, I can't imagine going through what these kids are doing now.

And they carry a bigger load than we did. They gotta They have a lot more, in my opinion, pressure because of these n I L deals and social media, and now you've got all the eyeballs on you and at any moment you can go viral in the whole country could be talking about you. So there's a lot of pressure associated with being a college athlete today. What do you think, since we're quickly talking about the n I L what are your thoughts on the n I L s and that whole situation. I like it. I

think it's long overdue. Um. I think there's been plenty of schools that have skirted the guidelines and the rules for long enough, um, and they've gotten creative or creative enough to not get caught. Um. You know, but I think this is long overdue. I think it's gonna take a couple of years to sort itself out and really how best it's gonna work. Um. You know. Unfortunately, too many guys think, hey, these an ill ideals opened up. I'm gonna make Hunter grand this year. Well that's not

the case. I mean, I don't think. I don't I think I don't think you could go along or along the rosters of college basketball and find more than a handful of guys that are gonna make six figures. Um, you know, it isn't just open the floodgates for everybody.

You still have to produce, which I think is going to kind of play itself out over these next couple of years where the people in the businesses that want to support with an endorsement deal and the players are gonna they're gonna finally start figuring out is like, oh, it's not as good a deal if the kid doesn't play as well as as they should, just like it is in pros and if you don't play well, your marketing deals dry up. You know, within that first year

as approach just what is what it is? But I think, you know, I think what it has done is it's allowed college student athletes to get a little piece of what they deserve. But I think it's also opened up their eyes to think outside the boxing bigger than just what is my next game? Now that's good for some and it's bad for some, and it's to be determined for some. You know, for me, when I was in college, I'm sure I would have had a couple opportunities, but

they would have been tiny ones. Um. But I don't know if I wouldn't necessarily taken advantage of them because I was so focused in on playing um Because at the end of the day, these athletes, what they have to understand is if you don't perform and if your team doesn't win, those things are gone in a heartbeat. Yeah, yeah, it is performance space. Do you think you that the media we'll start to cover college athletes differently now that they're getting paid. If you will, I think it's gonna

happen a little bit. I think it has to happen, to be honest with you, because once you get paid, you're honestly taking an amateur status off um your resume. UM. I know you've done some college basketball broadcasting, That's what I do a lot of. I've also did a few studio shows for NBA games of different things. And I've always looked at it is when you're in the pros, you're getting paid, and you're getting paid usually a very large sum of money. You criticize them all you want,

because that's their profession. At the college game, I try not to criticize as much as opposed to point out some things that maybe they could work on, So I do it objectively. Um, but I think if you start seeing more players make a bunch of money, I think you start blurring those lines. And I think you have every right to start criticizing them. I don't know if I haven't figured out which path I'll take or direction. Um, but I think you're really starting to blur those lines.

Is how you report or how you comment on those players? Yeah, it's it's a you know, this whole thing is an infancy, so you know it's got to definitely play itself and work some of the kinks out of the situation. First round draft pick by the Hawks in two thousand and two, that's around the time m J was back with the Wizards. Right, Oh, yeah, do you have did you now? Did you go up against m J and it What was the league like

during that era of basketball? Yeah? I know my rookieyear was MJ's last year, and uh, you know, it's the only time I've ever stepped on a basketball floor and literally done like a triple take, Like that's Michael Jordan's. Like I grew up, come fly with me, all the posters, the shirts, begging for the shoes. When finally I was done growing in my feet, I wasn't getting shoes as often, you know, the cards all that. Um, So I remember

clearly the first time I checked into the game. You know, I've always respected opponents, but I've never been in awe. Well that was different with Michael Jordan's. I mean, uh, that was pretty cool. But you know, I think the biggest thing with that is once the game flow and the action started happening, that as a player, as a competitor just kind of goes out the window. You're like, am I in health side? If I am, I gotta rotate transition, I gotta stop him. Um, you know those

are fun memories for sure. Yeah, you don't want to get embarrassed out there. I know that's like definitely it helps side position. Um, you played and I forgot what year, two thousand five, but you average thirteen game in thirty one minutes. I'm curious to know about what the situation was. How did you get that opportunity out there? And How did it feel to flourish in the NBA. Yeah, you know, I I battled some injuries and then some not being

in the right spots the first part of my career. Um, whether it was Atlanta, whether it was being traded back to my hotel and Town Blazers, um or then quickly getting traded to Golden State, Golden State on the Dallas and you know Dallas, I had to essentially earn my under the roster because I was the odd man out going into camp with the amount of roster uh spots and contracts there were. So I was there and then they traded me to to New Orleans, which is what

you're talking about my opportunity. And I knew that in all these other areas where I wasn't maybe having the opportunity that I wanted, or when the opportunity came, I wasn't making the most of it. Um that the next time a big chance came, I was gonna be ready. And so I always prided myself on work ethics staying ready. I get traded to New Orleans. Uh, your guy Baron Davis is hurt with his back injury. He's gonna be out a little bit of time I get there, the

general manager said, hey, we're our rosters and flux. We don't know what we're gonna do. You might be here for three or four games. You might be waived tomorrow. We don't know. So I'm like, I show up. What the heck? I just want a chance. So literally, first game I get to New Orleans, I get a chance to play. I think I played four minutes, had four points,

and then gradually my opportunities started building upon themselves. At the third game, I had double digit points quickly thereafter, I got moved into the starting lineup, and as you mentioned, you know, thirteen points a game or so for about a fifty game stretch. And I looked at it as something where the opportunity came, I was ready and I was not going to let it pass me by. I was gonna do everything I could to make the most

of it. Unfortunately, um, we weren't very good. We had tons of injuries Baron Davis as well as some of our other main guys, and then they started trading some guys throughout the course of the year when it looked like we were kind of, you know, heading towards the bottom of the lottery. But I didn't mind. I didn't care because I had it. Finally had a chance to play. UM played meaningful minutes to extend my career, which obviously every player that's young wants to do. Absolutely heck of

a season. And some of the teammates that you played with down there some pretty solid dudes. One of them, j R. Smith, is actually in the news. Uh. He had a four point oh in his first semester. I saw college. You got in the old j R. Smith stories from back in then. You know, j R was a rookie that year, and I just remember the confidence that j R had as a young eighteen year old rookie was off the charts. And you saw it throughout

the whole course of his career. I mean he pulled up from thirty five ft on a on a fast break with no conscience. UM. And you knew that once he got more acclimated in the NBA game and his skills continued to develop even though he was he was good for an eighteen year old rookie that he was gonna have a good career. UM. But he always he always played hard, He played with an edge, He played UM, you know in a way that you knew he was

gonna have a long career. The funniest JR. Smith story that I have is, so we had a couple of really good Uh we had some great vets. Um, George Lynch and p J. Brown were a couple of vets that we had on that team, and they kind of set the tone for, you know, shoot arounds being early. Um, you know, if we have a breakfast meeting, show up early, be prepared to you know, pay attention to film, do all that kind of stuff. And uh so we're at a breakfast meeting one day and j R. Smith walks in.

He's still on time, but he's kind of skirting that line of being late. And he's wearing SpongeBob square pants, uh, pajama bottoms and slippers. And I'm sitting there eating breakfast with p J. Brown, and p J. Brown just puts his head over his over his face and he just starts shaking his head and he goes he says something along the lines of, young fellow, you got a lot to learn, SpongeBob, come on. But it's awesome to see

he went back to college. It sounds like he's doing great, and uh, you know, he's on the golf team now, so that's one of my passions of mine. Hopefully at some point, you know, he and I can get on the course and play around the golf. That'd be dope. Man.

You got your live stream it too, Dan. What's something about the NBA that people, normal people like outside of the NBA have the wrong percept about, you know, I think, uh, at times, NBA players get a wrap for not playing hard, and I have always argued that as hard as I possibly can. And the reason is is those guys are the best in the world, and it looks like they're not playing hard because they make it look easy. I mean,

they just make things look so unbelieving easy. You can see a guy go from free throw line to the rim and transition in two dribbles. I mean that is as heard of athletic feet as you're gonna find, you know. And then you throw in the the ability where you know, if a guy's splitting a pick and roll, you're talking about agility, strength, balance, hand dexterity, and then you know the spatial awareness of where help side is. I mean, you're doing so so many things so quickly athletically, um

that that it is unbelievably difficult. But guys make it look so easy. And then you look at the top guys. You're talking about your Kobe's um, Tracy mcgrady's when I was playing, now the job morants and stuff, Damian Lillards. It's like they're on a whole another level than most pros. There. There's there's levels to being a pro, and some guys just take it to the extreme to Uh, do you think coaches in today's NBA dan have an easier job or harder job than coaches in the league when you

were playing. Wow, that's a that's a excuse me, that's a difficult one. It's hard to say. I don't watch as much NBA as I used to, uh, simply because I, you know, have to prepare for college games. But I think if you look at the way the game was played then versus now, um, it's two totally different styles of coaching and preparation. The game was slower back then. You were talking about throw the ball on the block. See if a double team comes, split action, get to

the week's side. If a double comes, play out of it, swing, swing, attack, close out. You know, if no double comes, you're gonna back do that bumping, grind game till the guy gets to a spot. You're gonna see that like eight times a game now if you're lucky, and that's what guys like,

Yo kitchen, that's about it. Now, it's let's space the floor, let's let's pick and roll, let's dribble, hand off, let's give guys angles to to go, and then you're still swing swing, attacking closeouts, but it's in a different way. So I think that the difference now maybe isn't the way it's coached or the coaches are. I think it's the way the game is looked at. Now you're looking at the value of a three pointer as opposed to

the value of a post. Stuff. I remember when I was a rookie um Lon Krueger got fired early in my rookie career rookie season and I was coming back from a knee surgery. The new head coach, Terry Stotts takes over. His view of a backup point guard was pick up um, don't turn it over, um, and only shoot open shots. Well, right there, those are three strikes

against me. Because I stuck defensively to pick up. I would turn it over occasionally because I was willing to make a pocket pass, thread the needle or a tough pass. And then if if I'm only allowed to take open shots, that's hard because I was ingrained as a scorer in college. Um, I remember times I was told not to shoot a three pointer because it was a bad shot at the time. Now like, hey, let's get thirty five threes up and and and we're still not happy because we wanted forty.

So it's just a difference in how the game is viewed. I think coaches still put the same amount of time and effort into coaching what they believe in at the time. Though, Yeah, for sure. When you think about the evolution of the game from then until now, obviously a lot more emphasis on the three point shots, spacing uh, less about centers down low and banging, more about being fleet a foot

kind slender, you know, long three and D type guys. Um, When you think about the evolution of the game, how do you rank or how do you evaluate your game as far as being able to play today? How would I evaluate my game? Yes, your game. So we'll take Dan dick Gal's game back in two thousand and put him in today. You know, I think I would fit very well simply because I could shoot it, I can handle it, and I could pass it. Defensively, that was

always gonna be a question for me regardless. I'm gonna give you a tremendous effort um, but the game, the floor was shrunk at that point in time, so it was a little bit easier um to guard guys. Plus you could physically hand check a little bit. Now, I wasn't a brute physically where I was gonna push you. But at least when you when you have the ability to armbar or kind of hand check, you can keep

an eye on a guy. You can keep track of a guy, so at least you know you might be looking in one direction to see some action, but your hands on the guy so you could feel him go. So it gives you a head start. Well, now, if you put a hand on a gag guy, that's a foul um And so I think space and quickness. It

really helps offensive players these days. Um, I don't like to be one of those guys that say I would have been better now versus then, because it's still at the end of the day, the best talented players are going to make that league, and the most talented players are gonna play minutes, um, and so I do think the style would fit me better, but it's hard to say if I would have been better. Where do you pinpoint that moment where or that year that the NBA

style of basketball changed. Do you have a recollection of when it went to this, you know, pace in space or specifically speaking about Steph Cerry, Yeah, do you think that he think, singularly was responsible for that change in the way that we play basketball and all level? I think I think the start of it was Mike d'antoni's eight seconds or less, but then Steph took it to the next level. But Steph, I don't think, you know, Mark Jackson deserves some credit for being willing to let

him shoot deep threes in transition. Um, you know, Steve Kerr took it to the next level and basically built an offensive philosophy around his ability to pull up in transition, come off pick and rolls, as well as his ability to move without the basketball, which I don't think gets enough credit the shape and condition he's in to be able to do that. But I think if you look at you know, D'Antoni sons with Steve Nash started it, and then Steph Curries and those groups took it off.

But an interesting story I have is the last NBA training camp that I was a part of was Phoenix Suns, and this would have been with Nash and Mariic's dattermar Grant hilp Um and unfortunately got cut basically the last day of training camp because Robert Sarver didn't want to hold any more contracts. Um to this day, it's a frustration because I knew I was good enough to be on that team. I had a good enough training camp.

But the one of the last games, if not the last preseason game I played that year, was against the Warriors Steff Curries rookie year, and I had to guard him on a few minutes because a few minutes towards the end of the game, and and and I just remember I had watched him just light up my Gonzaga Bulldogs in the n c A tournament. And probably it's a good defender, and Stephen Gray, I remember, like he's good. But okay, come on, I know it's in it's college

versus the pros. And I wasn't thinking I was gonna stop him by anyway, But I just gardened him. Just like at the end of that a few minutes stretch where I had to guard him, I was like, he's different. I couldn't put my finger on it. You know. It's just the way he moved with the ball, the way he moved handling the ball, the pureness and the rhythm

that he shot it with. And you've been around enough shooters to know there's good shooters and then the here shooters, and and a lot of times the pureness is because of how rhythmic their shot and how effortless it looks. He had all those intangibles. It just took a couple of years of getting through some injuries for him, uh, and kind of growing into his game at that next level before he took off. But I mean he's as fun as anybody there ever has been to watch the play.

Do you consider him a PG dad? Uh? Yeah, I do. Um, Well, you know you probably followed Rashad Phillips a little bit too. I mean, he's got a great breakdown of of you know, some different characteristics and how we slots players. Um. I don't go as in depth as he does, but I I like to call them ball handler decision makers, you know, I don't think there's a lot of true point guards anymore. Chris Paul's point guard. I mean, bottom line, he's a

point guard. I think John Morant's kind of a ball handler decision maker, saying with Damian Lillard, um, you know guys that can make point guard as, but they're also such a good score you don't want to take the emphasis of them searching for their own shot out of their comfort level. So that's the way I kind of try to look at it. Ball handler decision makers. Wings are like slasher attackers. And then Biggs. I mean, I'm always I've always been guard oriented and how I look

at the game. So it post up bigs or pop out step out bigs. I guess, yeah, yeah, I'm the same way. I guess I was. I had Bob Meyer's Gold States GM on a few weeks ago. We're had the conversation of what position to Steph Kerry playing. Bob's like, he's not a point guard, He's just a basketball player, you know, he's he's a basketball player, and that's how they like to define things up in Golden State. My man, I wanted to know once you decided right to shut

it down, call it a day. How did you transition back into the real world. Yeah, that's a that's a hard one for any former athlete. I mean, you grow up. That's all you're focused in on, that's all you're doing. And unless you're truly at the at the peak, you don't get to say I'm done. It's like the contracts kind of you know, they dry up there, they're not

there anymore. I got waived by UH Phoenix, like I had mentioned, and then I stuck around the house and worked out, stayed in shape, and I said, if there's no phone calls from an NBA team or a great European opportunity, I was gonna go to the D League. So I went to the D League for a short stretch that year before I got hurt. I think I played eight or ten games, played really well. No call have happened, which it is what it is. You know, how the drill goes. Sometimes it works, betimes it doesn't.

I got hurt, and in the D League, once you get hurt chopping block, you're done. You're out of there. Um And it was an injury plan or fasciitist that it took me eight nine months to get rid of and by that time we were kind of blended into like the next season, there's no opportunities. Uh. Then the lock what happens? And then the Blazers they had me

on the coaching staff for a year of player development. Um. And then I wasn't kept when they had the new regime come in with Terry Stott's and Neil old Shay um. But at that point it was an opportunity where my family moved to Spokane and I got into business and I really started going into the broadcasting world, which for a former player is as good as it gets. I mean, yeah, you gotta do your homework, you gotta prepare, but you're

around the game. But you're not around the game where you're watching eight hours of film like a coach and having to like put together scouttering reports. You just gotta know the game. As a broadcaster, you got you gotta know storylines and be able to tell them a little bit more. Yeah. No, it's a dream to call college basketball, high school basketball, sit courtside. Uh you know what I mean?

There was like it's off the hook for a real hooper. Um. I guess man, I wanted to touch on what you're doing now where we can watch you, where we can listen to your podcasts and you know, everything that's Dan Dick. Where can we find it? Yeah, no, I appreciate that. So I've been working with a sports media technology company in Spokane for about six years. UM. We've got a number of partnerships with associations across the country. UM, but

I'm more focused on their media side where UM. I've been doing a podcast for about a year and a half called The ISO. You were a guest on it a couple of months back, UM, where I try to get players, coaches, former players, UM, just to share their experiences. It's very similar to what you're doing now with myself. So that's been fun. But then college basketball analysts work or work pack twelve networks, CBS Sports, Westwood one Radio, UM,

so that keeps me close to the game. And then most recently, I just opened to Shoot three sixty facility and Spokane. I'm sure you're aware of those down in the l A. Area. UM. It's the new wave of of technology based basketball training. So I was lucky enough to have an opportunity. We've been open for three weeks and it's going really well. I love it because you know,

once a hooper, always a hooper. You want to find a way to get into a gym, This is kind of an extra incentive and extra way to get into the gym and be around what I love. Yeah, they have one down here in the Torrance area. I've actually been to one. I was always wondering about, do you guys have the full court also? And then like a

bunch of other smaller courts like set up. Yeah, so the Torrents one that you're talking about has an NBA regulation full court and I think ten skills stations, shooting stations. Ours in Spokane we've got five shooting stations, five skills stations, and then we do have a full court, but it's not NBA length. It's uh, I think it's seventy six ft by fifties, so, you know, all the way up to high school aged kids. It's perfect. Um. You know, we do a number. You sign up as a member,

you get unlimited access to the technology. But then we were gonna run a number of you know, skill workouts and and clinics throughout the you know, upcoming years here in Spokane and really try to put Spokane on a map basketball wise. It's never gonna be l A. It's never gonna be Portland or Seattle. Um, but you know, we do get some good players occasionally out of here. One of two of them that you might know, John Stockton and Adam Morrison. Yeah, I heard of those guys.

They were pretty good. They're pretty good. Hey, Dan, well, thank you so much for joining us on kJ Live today. Man. We're gonna be checking you out and all of your endeavors that everybody that's in the Spokane area hit up shoot three sixty. When you get the chance, ladies and gentlemen, Dan dick out