Dan Dickau on Mark Few's coaching legacy and Corey Kispert's future with the Washington Wizards
Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau on why Mark Few is one of the faces of college basketball, Chet Holmgren's first NBA games and how Corey Kispert could be a trade target at the NBA trade deadline.
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00:00 Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Gonzaga Nation podcast. Thank you for
00:03 tuning in. I'm Christian Pedersen, joined as always by the sun around which the Gonzaga
00:08 Nation universe revolves, Dan DeCow, the creator of all content we've got. Dan, thank you very
00:13 much for joining us. Let's get it going. We've got a couple of great topics too. A little bit on the
00:19 Gonzaga side, a little bit on the Gonzaga alumni side. Let's start with the first thing that we
00:25 had an article published about Coach Few being ranked a quote, tier one coach by the athletic.
00:31 And I am curious, just your general reaction to the nod to Coach Few and what you think it means
00:39 for the season right now. I mean, I think it's great. I think it's well, I mean, this isn't a
00:46 coach of the year award, but this is an article where someone took a lot of time to kind of break
00:53 down the strengths and possible weaknesses of a lot of really good coaches across the country
01:00 that are running different, really good programs. And the fact that Coach Few is included in that
01:06 tier one list, I completely agree with it. I think the tier one level has shifted a couple of years,
01:14 a little bit in recent years, simply because Coach K is retired. Roy Williams is retired.
01:21 Jay Wright has retired. You know, those three were kind of like godfathers of college basketball
01:26 over the last 20, 25 years, especially Coach K and Krzyzewski. When I look at what a tier one coach
01:35 is, I look at the fact that they have, they're running a high powered program that typically
01:44 seems to meet expectations or exceed expectations year in and year out and have a chance to compete
01:52 for league titles, advance deep in the NCAA tournament and hopefully play for national
01:58 titles. You know, in my mind, Coach Few definitely hits that bill. Tom Izzo hits that bill. Calipari
02:05 hits that bill, although, you know, there's been some chinks in the armor in Kentucky world the
02:10 last few years. Bill Self hits that world. You know, I think an underrated coach that I think
02:19 is a coach at that level is Mick Cronin of UCLA. He hits that, he fits that bill in my eyes. I think
02:26 Scott Drew at Baylor fits that bill. Rick Pitino, obviously, you know, the demise of his career at
02:36 Louisville kind of put some doubt, but when he came back and when he did it at Iona, really kind
02:41 of re-shined, re-polished his pedigree. And it's going to be really fascinating to see what he does
02:47 this season at St. John's now that he's at a, you know, a premier program. But, you know,
02:52 I think Coach Few absolutely fits into tier one. You talk about some of those big signature names,
02:59 faces of the game, if you will, retiring over the last couple of years, and then you rattle off
03:04 Coach Few amongst, you know, a list of, you probably came up with about a dozen or so coaches
03:10 in that last roundup. I'm curious, are you kind of saying that Coach Few is now one of the faces
03:17 of college basketball, like the undisputed, like identifiable people of college basketball?
03:23 Oh, 100%, without a doubt. You know, I mean, again, there's been a, there's always a changing
03:30 of the guard in sports with your players, as well as with your coaches, and the style
03:36 that the coaches implement to the game. And Coach Few is at the forefront of that,
03:44 you know, being creative on the offensive end, being one of the first schools to go to continuity
03:50 ball screen offenses, while you still kind of implement a lot of the staples that were a part
03:57 of your success early on. And by that, I mean, your high-low offense, and your transition getting
04:02 out and run. But I mean, he's been as creative as any coach, especially over the last 10, 12 years of,
04:08 of, you know, implementing that European style to the college game, and having success with it.
04:15 You know, the changing of the guard, those three coaches I mentioned, I didn't even mention Jim
04:22 Boeheim. I mean, I don't know if I would call him a tier one coach, even when Syracuse won a national
04:27 title or two, because I know you're a Syracuse guy, because they had some bad years mixed in
04:34 with some great years. Part of being a tier one coach is that your team is consistently at an
04:40 extremely high level competing for titles. Yeah, Boeheim at best was a tier one antagonist
04:45 to everybody else in the college world with his implementation of the zone and steadfast
04:49 reliance upon his own children. You mentioned Coach K. I just, I say this in jest, but
04:55 do you think that if Coach Phiu is filling the role of Coach K, there comes a season where Coach
05:01 Phiu appears with mysteriously jet black hair? Yeah, I don't think that one's going to happen.
05:07 But, you know, to kind of keep on the topic of tier one, I mean, when you look at
05:14 his role with USA Basketball this past year at the World Cup, and then what his role will be
05:21 next year with USA Basketball being one of the floor coaches, assistant coaches at the Olympics,
05:28 that shows you just how much respect the world of basketball and the powers that be at the highest
05:35 level believe in Coach Phiu and his talents. I mean, you know, for many years, you know,
05:42 after '88, 1988, and the U.S. lost in the Olympics to Russia, USSR, and they allowed the pros to come
05:54 in and Chuck Daley ran the team, they had college coaches mixed in with the pro coaches because of
06:04 the rules differences in international basketball and the NBA. And a lot of times, college coaches
06:10 are a great bridge between that FIBA game and the NBA game. So when you look at the coaching
06:17 staffs that USA Basketball has traditionally put together for these, you know, the larger
06:24 international events, your World Cups, and your Olympics, you're going to have NBA coaches
06:31 interspersed with college coaches. Obviously, we know Coach K was the head coach as a college coach
06:37 with the USA Basketball senior men's team for a couple different goals. But I think by the fact
06:44 that Coach Phiu is so dialed in now to USA Basketball, that shows you the level of respect
06:50 and that he's an absolute tier one coach, and he should be in everyone's eyes.
06:55 - Dan, a couple of weeks ago on the show, you talked about Chet Holmgren being your
07:00 maybe sneaky pick for NBA Rookie of the Year, and he is already setting team records. He had
07:07 seven blocks in a game for the Thunder a couple of days ago, or recently, depending upon, or a
07:13 long time ago, depending upon how long you are stumbling across this in our podcast feed. But
07:19 Chet Holmgren already setting team rookie records feels like the right steps along the path that
07:26 your prediction is still going to come true, your reaction to what Chet's been up to.
07:29 - I mean, he looks the same as he did at Gonzaga, maybe even a little bit more fluid and mobile
07:35 with his movement. So it shows you that, you know, that I don't think that foot injury is going to be
07:42 a long-term kind of negative to his career. I think on all honesty, it might be a benefit. It
07:49 gave him time to, you know, learn the NBA game with no pressure on him, just get healthy. And
07:55 now by the fact that he's coming into the NBA in a year where Victor Wimbenyama as the number one
08:02 pick being talked about as a legacy type player is going to have all the attention in the world
08:08 and the pressure on him to perform, it allows Chet to kind of slide in with under the radar,
08:14 so to speak, opportunities and just be himself. And that Oklahoma City team is
08:21 really structured in a way that I think it gives him a lot of ability to be versatile and
08:28 score on many different areas of the floor. And defensively, he just cleans up so many things.
08:36 I think it's been a tremendous start for his rookie season. And again, Victor Wimbenyama,
08:42 he's a tremendous player, but he is playing with so much attention on him. It's got to be difficult
08:48 where for Chet, he can just go out and play because he's also at this moment in time,
08:54 he's not the face of an organization. If you look at OKC, Shai Gilgis Alexander is that guy. And
09:00 then you've also got a couple of other really good young, talented players that he can grow along
09:05 with. And so I think it's primed and it's set up perfectly for Chet Holmgren to have a great year.
09:11 - So to just put this blocks thing though, in perspective, Dan,
09:15 does the date of February 3rd, 2003 mean anything to you?
09:18 - That was the night that you had your career NBA-
09:25 - Oh yeah, I had two blocks against the Golden State Warriors. And oddly enough,
09:30 they were both against Earl Boykins, who was five foot five. So I think I might've had five
09:36 career blocks and two of them came in that game. If you got the stats in front of you, what was it?
09:41 - Let me scroll down to career, where's career?
09:45 - It's gotta be single digits. I was a contestant.
09:51 - I see four career. But yeah, so two in one game for Dick out like-
09:58 - But they shorted me. I swear I had five career blocks. Happened so infrequently, I remember.
10:04 - I'm probably just looking at individual stats for seasons. I will not bore people's time as I
10:10 filibuster to try and find the right basketball reference page. But yeah,
10:15 two for a set, that's an insane night. And I absolutely love seeing that he looks,
10:21 I think modern medicine is starting to get athletes back quicker, stronger, better. And so,
10:26 yeah, like you said, I don't think this injury is gonna linger and last.
10:28 - When you talk about modern medicine injuries, I mean, Aaron Rodgers is back
10:34 lightly throwing the football. What, that's seven weeks after tearing his Achilles? That's amazing.
10:41 I mean, I did that. I was back playing full court five on five in roughly seven, six and a half,
10:48 seven months, which was very quick. But I mean, I wasn't moving the way he was seven,
10:53 eight weeks after surgery.
10:54 - Well, I think we saw it maybe, this is weird using football injury recoveries instead of
11:02 basketball, like analogies on this, but football does seem to lead on some of these people wanting
11:08 to go out and try new procedures and try new things to get back quicker and more aggressively.
11:12 And I think you saw it also with ACLs kind of happened where Adrian Peterson, five or six years
11:17 ago, everyone was like, "Oh my gosh, he came back so quick." But then it was like also, yeah, hey,
11:20 some of the techniques have upgraded and changed since the initial concept of all these surgeries.
11:25 And so if Aaron Rodgers figures out how to come back quicker, maybe it's freak athlete,
11:29 but also it's maybe it's just sign of like, we're getting better at treating some of this stuff.
11:33 And I think that that bodes really well, because you see a lot of big guys suffering with feet
11:37 injuries and knee injuries and back injuries, and the NBA is brutal on some of those bodies.
11:42 So if we can keep them healthier longer, that's awesome. That's a better product for everybody
11:46 to enjoy.
11:47 - Yeah, let's get rid of load management though. That's for sure. That's an issue.
11:52 That's a whole nother topic that we could go on with for a good 20 minutes. That load management
11:57 in the NBA, in my eyes, is just garbage. Get rid of it.
12:00 - Yeah. I mean, I'm with you, man. I think that it seems doable, a lot of this. Staying in the
12:08 pros, people wanna talk about Corey Kispert a little bit more than we have previously. He is
12:13 having a silently a hot start with the Washington Wizards this year. Your thoughts?
12:18 - Well, it's third year in the league. And typically that's when the game slows down
12:23 for a lot of people and you get comfortable. I've always said, unless you're a complete outlier,
12:30 it takes three years at any level, high school, college, or the NBA and the pros to really kind
12:36 of understand the game, 'cause they're all different. Realize what your current skill set
12:41 is and where it fits, where you need to improve, what you need to continue to refine as your true
12:46 strengths, and then focus on those to really kind of make those stand out and give yourself the
12:54 ability to have a long career. Corey's standout ability is obviously the ability to shoot the
12:59 ball. But I think what he's starting to show at the NBA level, and he did it in the college game
13:06 his last two years at Gonzaga, his unbelievable timing of cuts on the weak side. Defense turns
13:14 his head, he makes a great back cut, or he makes a cut in front of the defense, say if his defender
13:20 goes down to double. He's really starting to get a good feel for cutting and giving himself
13:25 opportunities. The other area that I think he's improved, and he's showed this his senior year
13:31 at Gonzaga, is just playing out of a pick and roll. You don't have to be a quote, "point guard
13:37 maestro" with a pick and roll to be good in the pick and roll. You just have to come off, read it,
13:43 and understand what your options are. Quick throw to the weak side, maybe it's a pocket pass,
13:49 maybe it's a hook pass, it's a jump stop, swivel, hit the roll guy, or if the ability to turn the
13:56 corner presents itself, make the correct read. And Corey's shown the ability that you're not
14:02 going to run pick and roll after pick and roll after pick and roll for him, but when he gets
14:07 presented with pick and rolls, he's showing that he can quickly make the right decision to make
14:11 the right read, and that simplifies the game a ton for him. And I think, again, it goes back to
14:18 your third year in the league, you're understanding it, the game slows down a little bit, and so it's
14:24 been great to see his start with the Wizards. Now, I will say this, the Wizards aren't very good,
14:29 so he's going to have a ton of options. So what happens? Does he become a trade target for a
14:36 better team middle of the year, where some team says, "Hey, we need another outside shooter"?
14:43 Does he fit the profile of that? He's got good size, he understands the game, he can shoot it.
14:49 He could become very valuable around that trade deadline for a contending team.
14:56 - That feels like as good of a spot as you can be in, is be the one that they want to pick
15:01 up from the team that nobody cares about at that point in the season. And jump from a last to first
15:07 type of situation, there's always one guy in every sport that makes that jump. That sounds awesome.
15:11 To close out the loop, yes, Dan, five career blocks. I was reading the wrong column as I
15:15 was scrolling down, so my man. - Appreciate you clarifying.
15:18 - Yo, dude, I've got your back on that, man. Two blocks is already two more than I've ever
15:23 had the NBA, let alone five blocks. And I do not want to shortchange you a single one of those.
15:27 If you guys want to find more of this, follow us and subscribe to Gonzaga Nation,
15:32 wherever you get your podcasts, follow @FanNationZags. Dan, anything that we missed,
15:36 or can we say goodbye to everybody? - Well, here's the thing. Games start
15:40 this week, so it's hard to believe. We're recording this before Halloween. It'll probably
15:48 release maybe today or on Halloween day, but I mean, Friday, November 3rd, you got your first
15:55 Gonzaga game. It's not a counter. It's an exhibition game against Lewis and Clark State,
15:59 but that means Gonzaga basketball is here. And I'm sure if you're listening to this,
16:05 you know that we're going to bring you all the content, all the insight,
16:08 whether it's online with our journalists, Henry Krueger and Cole Forsman, or don't forget the
16:14 show, Talking Zags with Adam Morrison and I. We're actually going to sit down later today with
16:19 former Gonzaga player Rob Sacre and break down his career, what he's doing now, which I think
16:27 some people will be interested in, and hear what his thoughts might be about this year's team.
16:30 - Please tell Rob I say what's up. - Will do.
16:33 - The video content that they're creating is absolutely fantastic. You guys need to go check
16:37 everything out. So like I said, find us on the socials @FanNationZags, and that'll direct you to
16:42 everywhere that you need to go until next time. We'll talk to you guys soon.