ROOT Sports announcer Greg Heister shares which former Gonzaga players he wished would've stayed with the program
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Back to being a little more serious.
00:09 You say, ask me that question about like
00:11 what I think about a team.
00:13 When do you really start focusing in on
00:16 getting down to practice so you can put your own eyes
00:19 on things as opposed to hearing things secondhand
00:22 to form your opinions for the season?
00:24 'Cause I know I talked to the staff throughout the season,
00:27 the off season, just to, you know, hey, what's going on
00:30 here, here, just so I have my overview thoughts.
00:33 But then it's important to get your own eyes on a team
00:36 in preparation for the broadcast season.
00:38 - Well, usually the month of August,
00:40 I'll be with Coach Pugh a few times angling somewhere.
00:43 - Who's a better fisherman real quick?
00:45 - Oh, come on.
00:46 - Fair question. - Come on.
00:48 - I need it from, well, I don't wanna say the horse's mouth,
00:51 but I need it from your mouth.
00:53 - Damn, such ridiculous questions.
00:56 But so he's not around for me to pick his brain
01:00 on what he sees and what he thinks,
01:02 'cause he's a little busy right now, which is cool.
01:07 So I'll get in there mid-October.
01:10 You know, we'll be there for the craziness and the kennel.
01:14 I'm not sure I'll see the team prior to that,
01:17 but that's not really, we don't get any indication
01:21 out of anything then.
01:23 It's sad that we won't see Caden Perry.
01:26 I feel bad for him, 'cause he was an NBA talent.
01:28 He's an NBA-- - Physically,
01:29 he was on the level of Brandon Clark athletically.
01:32 - Yeah, yeah.
01:33 But we'll wait and see.
01:35 But soon after that, I'll start to hit a few practices
01:38 and see, and I'll be looking for the chemistry
01:41 and how guys are, you know, a lot of guys will go
01:44 and watch how they move on the court.
01:46 I'll be watching to see how they're acting off the court.
01:49 That's-- - The interactions
01:50 between each other, if they're listening to a coach.
01:52 - Yes, because throughout these years,
01:54 I've been able to tell a lot by that.
01:57 You know, a lot.
01:58 - What Zag player do you think made the most
02:00 out of maybe limited athleticism?
02:03 - Oh my gosh.
02:05 Well, Mike Hart, for sure.
02:09 Limited athleticism.
02:13 I mean, Wilcher was, I mean,
02:17 that guy's still making a lot of bank playing basketball.
02:22 - I think he's going back to China, if I'm not mistaken.
02:24 - You know.
02:25 Again, I think we get confused when we describe athleticism.
02:29 - It includes hand-eye coordination.
02:31 - It does, and it includes a lot.
02:33 We think about speed and the ability to elevate,
02:37 which Kyle had neither.
02:39 But man, he's a tier one basketball player,
02:42 professional basketball player.
02:44 So there's been a few of those.
02:46 You know, but I don't know.
02:52 - So then let me ask you, this is a harder question.
02:57 Maybe if you don't want to answer it, I get it.
03:00 That's fine.
03:01 Is there one player--
03:04 - This is Dan's attempt to get me in trouble.
03:06 This is totally, okay, so let's see.
03:08 Let's see what kind of mood heisters are today.
03:11 Yeah.
03:12 - Is there one player that you always felt
03:14 was scratching the surface, but never broke through?
03:17 And they may have transferred the program
03:19 and reached it somewhere else.
03:20 - Yeah, well, do you have one?
03:23 - The guy that I wish would have stayed here
03:26 would have been Ryan Spangler.
03:29 I thought he fit.
03:30 - Yeah, but Domas came after him.
03:33 Domas may not have come.
03:35 - You're right, Domas may not have come
03:36 had those minutes not been on him.
03:37 - But you're right, Spangler had the toughest hands
03:40 that I had ever seen in a rebounder.
03:42 I don't know, Dan, because I think you're foolish
03:48 to ever leave this program.
03:50 - Oh, yeah.
03:51 - And Hunter left, and I love Hunter.
03:53 Hunter's a great guy, great kid.
03:56 - Again, it goes back to the third year,
03:58 some guys that take this.
03:59 He was poised, I thought, to make a big jump.
04:02 - He was poised to start.
04:03 - Yeah.
04:04 - Right, in a top 10 team, in a program
04:08 that has gotten so many players in the NBA
04:11 that maybe weren't projected as NBA players.
04:14 And I was really sad to see Hunter leave.
04:18 I hope he's in a great place.
04:19 I don't know much about Wake.
04:21 I just know where they've been in conference standings,
04:24 right, but I don't know much more than that
04:25 other than where they've been.
04:28 So I hope it all works out for Hunter,
04:30 'cause I thought he was a great, great kid.
04:32 But I always think it's foolish
04:35 when anybody leaves this program.
04:37 And it's simply because you're gonna score
04:40 90-some points a game, right?
04:43 88 to 92 every game that they play.
04:46 If you're an offensive-minded player,
04:48 that means you're gonna raise eyebrows
04:51 with your ability to score the ball.
04:53 You're not gonna be asked to play
04:55 knockdown defense at the other end.
04:58 You're gonna get, well, you're gonna be asked,
05:00 but I mean, you know, it's--
05:02 - Might not always be held.
05:04 Coach Few does a tremendous job
05:06 of understanding players' strengths, weaknesses.
05:08 And if your weakness is blurred by some of your strengths,
05:13 he doesn't focus on the weaknesses as much as the strengths.
05:16 - Well, let me just say it this way.
05:18 You can't go into a game with a defensive mindset
05:21 that you're gonna hold a team to 50
05:22 and then expect to score 90, right?
05:25 You just, there's a balance in all of that.
05:30 So I think an offensive-minded player
05:34 ever leaving the program is kinda goofy.
05:37 What was your question?
05:39 - If there was a player, yeah,
05:40 see, you really didn't answer, you tried not to.
05:42 If there was a player that--
05:44 - Oh.
05:46 - That didn't reach, oh my gosh.
05:50 - You kinda answered it in a roundabout way.
05:54 - Yeah, you know, I, no, I don't wanna answer that.
05:58 - Gotcha.
05:59 - Because he's a friend of mine.
06:00 So who could that be, Richard Fox?
06:02 (laughing)
06:03 - No, no, no, we got the most out of Richard.
06:06 No, he reached his absolute potential.
06:09 There's no doubt, like, there's no doubt.
06:11 That game against Arizona in the NCAA tournament
06:14 was the absolute pinnacle of his basketball career.
06:16 - I watched a few clips of that a month or so ago.
06:18 - Yeah.
06:19 - And I know we've thrown Richard
06:20 under the bus a couple times,
06:21 but if he were in my seat, he would do the exact same.
06:24 - No, he would try, he would try.
06:26 - We get it, but. - In fairness.
06:28 - No, it's one of those things I 100% agree.
06:31 Like, the maximization of opportunities
06:34 for players in this program is unheard of.
06:37 - Yeah.
06:38 - When you look at them compared to other places.
06:39 - And when you think of Brandon Clark,
06:41 when you think of Jonathan Williams,
06:42 when you think of these guys that transferred in
06:46 that came in with this rawness, right?
06:49 And by the time they left Gonzaga,
06:50 they were skilled, professional basketball players.
06:54 You know, Jonathan, J3, got a sniff in the NBA,
06:57 obviously BC's tearing the league up.
06:59 So, you know, when you see that happening
07:03 and you make the decision to leave it,
07:05 I don't know. - It's a head scratcher.
07:07 - It is. - Yeah.
07:07 - It's a real head scratcher to me.
07:10 (upbeat music)
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