Travis Hansen: Egor Demin will fit well with the Brooklyn Nets & is set up to succeed in the NBA

Travis Hansen: Egor Demin will fit well with the Brooklyn Nets & is set up to succeed in the NBA

djpk we’re joined now by travis hansen former byu basketball star and atlanta hawks drafty mentor dor demen travis good morning good morning from new york city
the big apple baby you know travis you’re a lot of things you know you’re a former star basketball player you’re a businessman you know what else you are you are a great source you came on the air and said demon to get drafted somewhere between seven and 12 and bingo at number eight there he goes you are an awesome source good work sometimes you get lucky you hang out with dj and pk enough listen to your show and you start to you know formulate some pretty good truths of life
so what was the feel as far as having an idea when uh as the draft had begun was it a total surprise or did you have a decent idea well you watched and and you know we’re in constant communication with some of the teams and and so you just see and you know the personnel and the general managers and you kind of have a feel for who they’re going to choose but as soon as a few dominoes fell um we knew we knew we were right there with you know uh coniple and and you know and jor really liked both of them so once khan went four we we we knew we had a real chance to go to brooklyn and um and it’s really interesting you’re sitting there at the table and kevin young was saying how he has such a different perspective being on this side of how uh stressful it could be for you and your family you’re sitting there and you know everyone starts to get picked and and you you aren’t yet and so he i think he grew some empathy last night for for the families and what they deal with and the drafties but at some point we got a text from brooklyn that said he’s ours and we all got chills or went straight russian mode because he had he had no expression on his face and uh and i did man like like other people were like we knew he was going to get chose because we saw travis’s face smiling and uh i couldn’t and keep it in i was so excited for him that that was brooklyn is you know one of the top three places we wanted to go for all of us who’ve never been involved in draft we’re always curious what’s going on behind the scenes at some point you get a text give us a ballpark how i mean do they know who’s getting picked at six and seven they know that early or is it just like four minutes before it’s announced how much of a heads up do you get oh you’re you’re talking 60 to 60 seconds okay like like maybe a minute or two um yeah not not much time at all and you say that you wanted him to go there for what reasons we like brooklyn we like the owner uh joe’s amazing we like shawn marks he’s a new zealand guy played international ball he’s a he’s a great human uh we had the same agent um throughout our careers uh drew nicholas is a former teammate he runs the director of scouting over there and he’s come out numerous times to byu and i’ve got to spend time with him uh aigor worked out for brooklyn three times and so we knew that they they loved his type of skill set that it was it was very rare to find and and um and there’s a amazing russian community here there’s you know a ton of russian markets and russian grocery stores and and uh and we knew that he he would fit in well
then he doesn’t have to get on a plane to go to the new team you just walk we’re going to the practice facility this morning you know we get some shots up so yeah it’s he he was extremely excited and and they were sending us videos from back home moscow russia they you know i had like 2,000 people uh in a bar at 4:00 a.m in the morning all all going all going crazy so the kid has a ton of support and and and i think brooklyn um there was a reason there’s a top three choice for us is just fit style of play ownership gms and just an alignment all the way up to the top that that we knew he would he would get taken care of kevin young’s one of his um former co-workers is the director of development skill development so we’re talking about that last night and so jagger is actually going to go get a workout in this morning
depending on who’s running the utah jazz there is either a lot or very little transparency around the draft and when they have been pretty open about it it seems rare that guys have come in for a second workout carlos boozer famously did come in for a second workout it was a big deal at the time you just said aigor worked out three times what were the nets looking at and debating about him what do they want to see because that seems like a lot of workouts yeah um they they start to narrow in you versus somebody else and so then they start to really dial in on you know your strength versus their weakness or vice versa and um and so they were looking at you know how he his foot speed in oneonone play or how he played threeon three or two on two or his defenses so so they’ll bring you in and and do a variety of different tests on each workout and and basically dial in more they love the interviews they spent a lot more time to uh with him uh funny enough sam prey was actually the only one out of all the gms that had him over to his house so aokc was very active last night trying to trying to pursue jaor um and uh yeah i know i i thought the jazz were going to pick jeremiah sears because they talked a lot about him and and had uh had jeremiah in for multiple workouts and i think ace bailey slid and and they were able to pick him up i’ll tell you what ace bailey and his family weren’t very happy they’re in the table next to us it was funny to watch
yeah and there had been talk about that about where he wanted to go and not go and all that but none of that matters anymore uh as far as that goes i mean i’m sure you’ve been around guys and here’s the most recent example that he didn’t necessarily want to go here but big deal now you got to go to work right i mean what else you going to do
yeah i i think there’s some truth to that pk but there’s also truth too you know i’m not going to hire someone that doesn’t want to be in one of my companies i mean why would i ever do that uh i want people that want to be here and going to be engaged in the community and and are going to you know love you and and and be grateful for the opportunity and i mean look how pumped we are about brooklyn we did the complete opposite soon as he was picked whoever that would have been
we had and we had places we didn’t want to go confidentially and so as soon as he got picked we’re we’re all in and and it’s go mode so
right that’s my point there’s a debate both ways
but that’s my point though this is this happens every year there’s guys who want to go to xyz and guys who don’t want to go to xyz but you have no control over it and and ace bailey’s big thing the talk the stuff he’s been saying the last couple days is in the interviews you know control what you can control all right you can’t control this what you can control is go work your butt off
100% yep yep and get better and be grateful for the opportunity because it is uh it does go by so fast and um and it it it’s been an incredible experience i mean since landing here having lunch with you know adam silver commissioner and andre iguodala and seeing the resources of the players association i mean andre ugodala was talking about how in the history of the nba 80 years whatever whatever it is uh there’s only been a total of 5,000 players to ever play and how what a small community it really is and and what a brotherhood it is and and so i’m happy that jaggar is part of it and and that and he can get to work here in brooklyn
travis hansen joining us uh from new york you going to be this involved with aj devansa next year or is this like this oneoff draft experience for you oh what are you talking about i’m going to come join bj and pk i mean dj djpkth no that doesn’t sound good dang it something something that’s who you who you are
yeah yeah um no grateful to be part of the process uh i think jagger and his family are rare you know we you know we just connected it really early on and and um sometimes you just click with people we call them plus people like us and uh and so sometimes these opportunities come along and you get to mentor i mean it’s been fun like the last two weeks other other kids have reached out players you know dawson baker and and richie saunders and and ka and trevor nell and so for trevor nell so as players reach out you try to do your best to and help him and and and diego has been you know one of those opportunities that just keeps giving because you know he needs the help and and uh and hopefully we’re able to provide him with with some uh with some good mentorship and guidance uh throughout this process so as a team we went to dinner last night and and uh i don’t know what time we got home but but i think jagger has a incredible team around him and if you guys were able to meet him you’d be pretty impressed by the people he has
and i’m wondering going forward then because you have been in goal but you’ve been right down the street also and obviously he could come over and you could have face contact pretty much anytime you wanted now he’s going to be on the other side of the country again a foreign kid has to make another massive adjustment in his life not just ball playing is probably the easiest part of it but all the other stuff that this kid has had to go through at several years it’s just amazing you know as his age that he has had these massive cultural adjustments and going from i grew up my first 14 years just across the water there in new jersey and it was a little bit of an adjustment for me to come to utah and i was much older it was a massive adjustment when i moved to arizona when i was 14 years old and i’m wondering how can you help him being in utah with him being in new york um well the good thing about playing for bou which is really really rare is you know lots of players leave their university and and they’re kind of done and there’s some you know summer league summer camps sports camps and some connections and if they’re able ever in that city uh they go back but bou is not like that cougar nation is all over the world and global and so we’ve already had local people reach out um that that will that will love him and uh he’ll be part of a family and that’s that’s unique that’s something that comes from playing at bou that that not many other schools have um the other piece is you know we’re not always face to face you know even when he was at real madrid or back in moscow russia we were on whatsapp whatsapp and and zooms and and trying to guide him and we’ll come out here to brooklyn a lot so the good thing about jagor is he’s going to find a place right next to the private facility and he he needs to keep doing his schooling you know he keeps trying to say you know have other plans and he he needs education is important and surround himself with wealth management and some attorneys that we’re working on but in reality compared to what he’s done previously real madrid he was in six hours of school every day real madrid is a club that you know that pushes you educationally just as much as they do in basketball and so you have limited time on the court at real madrid bu is the same do the nca rules you have limited time you can actually play the game you love and you got other responsibilities and in in the nba you don’t you know there’s some appearances and some other things that you’re obligated to do but it’s not much time and so you can really and you you see this with kids that come out of college and go to the nba they really improve dramatically if if you’re around really good players and have good development it’s amazing how fast they improve and so it’ll be fun to watch over the next year or two um as as he can really focus on his game and and and and be around great players one thing he needs to do is uh get to know the teammates and get used to playing with those guys they had five first round draft picks do you have any idea what kind of summer they’re going to have and what the roster is going to look like and they going forward with a lot of youth what do you think yeah i mean they’re in they’re in development build mode right so and they they’ve accumulated a ton of draft picks and so you know they’re they’re actively working on a few trades they’re they’re working on putting their summer league uh schedule together i mean yego will be here you know a less than a week and all a sudden he starts playing games um and then and then you know he’ll play games through july with the summer league and then he’ll and then he’ll finally get back be able to come back to utah and hang out but um but yeah brooklyn’s in that young development mode it’s it’s exactly where we want him to be they’re going to be patient with him and they’re going to push him and and he’s going to have an opportunity to shine so you know i don’t know if there could be they could have been a better fit we definitely liked okc but brooklyn’s brooklyn’s perfect for him i think this is important for byu and kevin young too because when the season started you have mock drafts right off the bat and you saw jagger’s name was very high there and i think it would have been a bad look if he dropped say from 8 to 18 or whatever and it turns out that he doesn’t and so the message is that kevin young has been preaching come here i will develop you for the league and right off the bat he takes somebody who was expected to be a lottery pick and then you know had his struggles a little bit and dropped but in the end he’s right back to where he said or he was supposed to go basically where kevin young has been talking about this is what we can do so my point and the question is how big of deal it is for byu kevin young right off the bat take a special talent and put him in a position to be right where he’s supposed to be draftwise yeah i think it’s important and i think that piece is critical and i think we we’ll see you know a lot more of that story unfold as as jerger jerger enters the nba so a couple examples he’s at a team nba team he’s working out and it’s atlanta he does a film session and and his terminology and his understanding of the nba game and they you know they quinn snder gave him a play said “how would you change this?” and he equated it to what he was doing at bou with the same terminology and at the end coin called us and he’s like well i’m going to implement that that was crazy like i mean i’m i’m an x and o guy but but jerger really knows the game and and he was able to you know make an adjustment so hey that’s what ky does he brings this nba uh perspective terminology and knowhow and injects it in these kids really early on and you don’t have to wait till your rookie year in the nba to learn that and so that’s been impressive it’s also impressive that every every workout jagger went to um they all said “hey tell ky high hey i love ky.” um that’s cool that’s different and so yeah i think this is the beginning of a pretty cool era at boou when you have you know mentors or coaches or trainers that have been there and done that uh it it definitely helps you accelerate your learning and put you in different positions and opportunities you you wouldn’t have and so hopefully that you know this is the first of many to come but but uh you know a jagger aj richie rob ry ka you know getting all these guys in the league and whoever else we can uh place um that that those will be fun challenges and opportunities for these kids well travis we appreciate some time this morning with all your uh duties and responsibilities in the big apple go uh go light new york up you guys are the best appreciate you guys thank you
thank you travis travis hansen former byu basketball star and atlanta hawks drafty okc trying to trade up none of those teams i guess want to give up that pick and there was brooklyn at number eight so aigor has a home
i guess don’t underestimate a big russian community in uh new york that ought to help
actually that ought to help
new york has a big whatever community
big whatever because there’s so many people
the highest concentration of russ russian expats in the western hemisphere is in brooklyn new york no you can’t go anywhere without a vodka uh store i mean come on you know what i’m saying comrades
place called brighton beach apparently
oh brighton beach and that’s with a y
they call what
look it up br
oh yeah you’re right
yeah yeah but he’s been making adjustments this whole time this is an amazing story and to see him do what he did uh to go that high what what a dream come true for byu and for kevin young and for travis and for the player himself and all the stuff the thing that a little bit of an eyebrow raiser is he’s sitting next to the ace bailey family and
they weren’t thrilled
no yeah and travis is a a ryan smith’s guy
yeah but you know he’s he saw it and he’s sitting right next to him we we got we got eyewitnesses on the ground for you people i mean our show i mean i i don’t i think our show the best is yet to come dj pk it’s 975 the zone stephen ellis prospects analyst for the daily faceoff at 8 o’clock austin’s comments last night we’ll play them for you coming up at 8:30 dj and pk it’s 975 the zone

Former BYU star Travis Hansen joined DJ & PK from New York City to talk about former BYU Cougars guard Egor Demin being selected by the Brooklyn Nets and his reaction to the Utah Jazz and the NBA Draft outcomes.