July 10, 2026 • 8 mins
Francis Williams joins the show to talk about the NBA summer league, the update on a Sonics return, and more.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
France's long time working with with the Portland Trailblazers as
well as a local high school basketball icon here for
the last forty years here in the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
How you doing, Fran, I'm doing well, man, How you
doing good?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's good to get the band together.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
It's good, Fan and Williams back talking hoops just like it,
just like it was for a long long time.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Good to hear your voice and talk about the talk
about what this all is down there. You just sent
me a picture of the Thomas and Mack Center and
UNLV people going in for the NBA Summer League. Just
kind of set the scene and what is the NBA
Summer League and how many arenas.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Does it does it envelop down there? Because there's quite
a few places to play.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Right well, for those who haven't been here, this is
I think this is the twenty second year, if I'm
not mistaken. But you have the Thomas and Mack Center
and then you have the Cox Pavilion and they are
connected to each other here on the campus at UNLV.
So there are games going on in both venues all
day for the next in days, starting at about noon
(01:02):
each day, and so it's really like the convention for basketball.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I mean, it's a very relaxed setting.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Everybody is here, everyone kind of puts their guards down,
so you don't know who you might run into, who
you might have a chance to have a conversation with.
I was walking on the quarter there yesterday and I
had a long conversation, for example, with friend for Scilla,
and it was great to talk to him.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I love his work. We share the same first name,
so we've been buddies for a while.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
But you just never know who you might run into.
But you come here, some people are coming here looking
for work, and then there are kids here running around
looking for autographs. So it's just who's who of basketball,
but in a very relaxed setting. But most importantly, what's
going on on the court are You have the guys
that were recently drafted. You get a chance to see
them up close. And then you have a bunch of
guys that are trying to get jobs, and there's only
(01:52):
four hundred and fifty of them, and about four hundred
of them are already spoken for. So it's a highly
competitive situation. But you can come here and really enjoy
yourself and get to see some of these guys really
as up close as you'll ever see them, because most
of the people here, quite honestly, will probably never go
to an actual NBA game because they can't afford it, right.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And that's a great point there that you're raised and
Francis Williams joining us, and we'll talk about some of
those players in just a moment. How about big picture though,
I mean, obviously all eyes are going to be turning
towards Vegas from here in Seattle when Adam Silver addresses
the media early next week, and I would imagine with
Vegas being a team that is projected to be given
(02:32):
expansion with Seattle, I mean, that's got to be a
lot of the buzz and hubbub around there.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
What are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, there's a lot of talk.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Of course, a couple of days ago, when the Colangelo
group came out with what they have in mind, that
kind of raised the stakes a little bit here in Vegas.
But from what I'm hearing, what the Commissioner is probably
going to say on Tuesday, not necessarily with those of
us in Seattle want to hear, but I think they're
(03:01):
going he's going to say that they now have enough
information to put it to a vote, okay, and that
will be in September when they get together again. So
I don't think we're going to get that announcement that
it's that Vegas and Seattle are are confirmed and it's
a done deal in terms of they're going to get teams.
But I do think he will say that they have
(03:22):
enough enough information to put it to a vote, and
that will come if I'm not mistaken, in September.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And how optimistic are you of that vote.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Everybody that I've talked to around here around the league
is on the same page. This is way overdue. Let's
get this done. Things are in place, let's make it happen.
So it sounds pretty positive that when the excuse me,
when the actual vote is taken, that it will be
in our favor.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Awesome. Francis Williams joining us from down the NBA Summer League.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
We saw the NBA debut of Hanna Steinbach the Husky.
Fifteen points, eleven rebounds in twenty two minutes. Boy, the
numbers look good. You watched the game? Was he as
impressive as the numbers indicate?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yes? He was.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
And I thought that his previous professional professional experience before
he got to us at you dub, it really showed.
I mean, he came off the bench, he was very
comfortable in his role, and it just looked really good.
He just looked comfortable out there. And you know, as
I had mentioned to you off the air, if you
saw the U Douve Michigan game for example at you
(04:30):
dub this past season, there's four first round picks.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
On the floor.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Yeah, I mean Michigan's got three of them. You know,
They've got Johnson, They've got Mara, and they've got yak
Sol Lindenborg and the Huskies were over match.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
They played tough. It was a ten point game.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
But Steinbacher's the fourth first round or on that, on
that on the floor that day, and you take those
three and how overmatched they were. But what he still
did in that game. He had eleven points, fourteen rebounds.
He had the rebounding numbers that he had last night.
The way he rebounds the basketball, it translates to the league.
So he has a role in the league, and that
(05:07):
is that of a rebounder, and the rest of his
game I think will continue to grow and catch up
with his rebounding.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
But he has a specific role.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
The other parts of his game will start to grow,
and I think you'll see him in the league probably
for a long time.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And then the top of the NBA draft this year,
you've got aj Debotsa, you've got Darren Peterson, and those
two hooked up yesterday and you were able to see
that as well. I saw that Peterson almost had a
very unique triple double in the game.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah, well they played him at the one quite a
bit and that's not his position. But yeah, he had
nine fouls, eight turnovers to go along with twenty four points.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Okay, how do you get nine fouls? How many fouls
until you fell out of this game?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
You get ten in summer league. But you can see
his offensive proficiency. He's very skilled. He has a very
high IQ. He understands the pick and roll, and when
he's put in his natural position, which will be the two,
he shoots the ball. Well, he's athletic enough, he has
a very high IQ. He has a calmness to his
(06:13):
game that I really like. So, yeah, he's got to
not turn the ball over and of course you're not
going to get that many fouls when we get into
the regular season, but you can see why he was
so highly thought of. I mean, his offensive game is
very refined for such a young player. De Bonsa, on
the other hand, he plays so hard. He too is skilled,
but he's got great size, great length, great athleticism, and
(06:36):
he can put it on the floor.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
He could do a lot. So you can see the Wizards.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Have really compiled a nice group of young players to
go along with a D and Trey Young. Now, whether
they'll still be there or not, we don't know, but
they've compiled a nice group of young players, and De
bons is gonna flip right in with him. And he
played very well the other night, not just with the
twenty seven point joffs. He had seven rebounds, did some
things defensively, really showed.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Why he was the number one overall pick.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Give us an update on where our local guys are
that played high school ball here that are now in
the league.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You got a bunch of them playing in the summer league.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, well you had the other night. You had c J.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
LB that played at Cleveland UH and Terrell Brown that
played at Rayner Beach.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
UH.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
They were matched up against each other. Unfortunately neither one
of them played, but it was just good to see
him out there and just knowing that they're they're getting
the opportunity. Terrell's with Charlotte and and CJ's with with Orlando,
and Uh, people will remember Keon Brooks. Keon Brooks, uh
former Husky. He's on the the roster with with Memphis
(07:42):
trying to get an I'm sorry, with Indiana, trying to
get an opportunity there. Cameron Tyson from Seattle, you he's
on the roster at Golden State. A bunch of Gonzaga
guys here, too many to mension. There's a bunch of
a bunch of them here, but there's a there's a
little local flavor here in the in the summer league,
not like we've had in previous years, but there's a
(08:03):
few guys here trying to see if they could make their.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Mark love it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, we'd love to have you on again on Monday,
if you'll come back on with us and tell us
what you saw over the weekend.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
All right, Oh, definitely let's do with us.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And we still got to we guys still got to
talk about JJ Crawford and the high school kids that
are that are down there. So I got we got
a bunch more left to do, so we'll chat with
you on Monday when when Alyssa is hosting with me.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
All right, okay, let's do it.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Thanks Fran, appreciate it, man.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Okay, thank you.
France's long time working with with the Portland Trailblazers as
well as a local high school basketball icon here for
the last forty years here in the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
How you doing, Fran, I'm doing well, man, How you
doing good?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
It's good to get the band together.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
It's good, Fan and Williams back talking hoops just like it,
just like it was for a long long time.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Good to hear your voice and talk about the talk
about what this all is down there. You just sent
me a picture of the Thomas and Mack Center and
UNLV people going in for the NBA Summer League. Just
kind of set the scene and what is the NBA
Summer League and how many arenas.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Does it does it envelop down there? Because there's quite
a few places to play.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Right well, for those who haven't been here, this is
I think this is the twenty second year, if I'm
not mistaken. But you have the Thomas and Mack Center
and then you have the Cox Pavilion and they are
connected to each other here on the campus at UNLV.
So there are games going on in both venues all
day for the next in days, starting at about noon
(01:02):
each day, and so it's really like the convention for basketball.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I mean, it's a very relaxed setting.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Everybody is here, everyone kind of puts their guards down,
so you don't know who you might run into, who
you might have a chance to have a conversation with.
I was walking on the quarter there yesterday and I
had a long conversation, for example, with friend for Scilla,
and it was great to talk to him.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I love his work. We share the same first name,
so we've been buddies for a while.
Speaker 4 (01:30):
But you just never know who you might run into.
But you come here, some people are coming here looking
for work, and then there are kids here running around
looking for autographs. So it's just who's who of basketball,
but in a very relaxed setting. But most importantly, what's
going on on the court are You have the guys
that were recently drafted. You get a chance to see
them up close. And then you have a bunch of
guys that are trying to get jobs, and there's only
(01:52):
four hundred and fifty of them, and about four hundred
of them are already spoken for. So it's a highly
competitive situation. But you can come here and really enjoy
yourself and get to see some of these guys really
as up close as you'll ever see them, because most
of the people here, quite honestly, will probably never go
to an actual NBA game because they can't afford it, right.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And that's a great point there that you're raised and
Francis Williams joining us, and we'll talk about some of
those players in just a moment. How about big picture though,
I mean, obviously all eyes are going to be turning
towards Vegas from here in Seattle when Adam Silver addresses
the media early next week, and I would imagine with
Vegas being a team that is projected to be given
(02:32):
expansion with Seattle, I mean, that's got to be a
lot of the buzz and hubbub around there.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
What are you hearing?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Yeah, there's a lot of talk.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Of course, a couple of days ago, when the Colangelo
group came out with what they have in mind, that
kind of raised the stakes a little bit here in Vegas.
But from what I'm hearing, what the Commissioner is probably
going to say on Tuesday, not necessarily with those of
us in Seattle want to hear, but I think they're
(03:01):
going he's going to say that they now have enough
information to put it to a vote, okay, and that
will be in September when they get together again. So
I don't think we're going to get that announcement that
it's that Vegas and Seattle are are confirmed and it's
a done deal in terms of they're going to get teams.
But I do think he will say that they have
(03:22):
enough enough information to put it to a vote, and
that will come if I'm not mistaken, in September.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And how optimistic are you of that vote.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Everybody that I've talked to around here around the league
is on the same page. This is way overdue. Let's
get this done. Things are in place, let's make it happen.
So it sounds pretty positive that when the excuse me,
when the actual vote is taken, that it will be
in our favor.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Awesome. Francis Williams joining us from down the NBA Summer League.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
We saw the NBA debut of Hanna Steinbach the Husky.
Fifteen points, eleven rebounds in twenty two minutes. Boy, the
numbers look good. You watched the game? Was he as
impressive as the numbers indicate?
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yes? He was.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
And I thought that his previous professional professional experience before
he got to us at you dub, it really showed.
I mean, he came off the bench, he was very
comfortable in his role, and it just looked really good.
He just looked comfortable out there. And you know, as
I had mentioned to you off the air, if you
saw the U Douve Michigan game for example at you
(04:30):
dub this past season, there's four first round picks.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
On the floor.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Yeah, I mean Michigan's got three of them. You know,
They've got Johnson, They've got Mara, and they've got yak
Sol Lindenborg and the Huskies were over match.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
They played tough. It was a ten point game.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
But Steinbacher's the fourth first round or on that, on
that on the floor that day, and you take those
three and how overmatched they were. But what he still
did in that game. He had eleven points, fourteen rebounds.
He had the rebounding numbers that he had last night.
The way he rebounds the basketball, it translates to the league.
So he has a role in the league, and that
(05:07):
is that of a rebounder, and the rest of his
game I think will continue to grow and catch up
with his rebounding.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
But he has a specific role.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
The other parts of his game will start to grow,
and I think you'll see him in the league probably
for a long time.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
And then the top of the NBA draft this year,
you've got aj Debotsa, you've got Darren Peterson, and those
two hooked up yesterday and you were able to see
that as well. I saw that Peterson almost had a
very unique triple double in the game.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah, well they played him at the one quite a
bit and that's not his position. But yeah, he had
nine fouls, eight turnovers to go along with twenty four points.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
Okay, how do you get nine fouls? How many fouls
until you fell out of this game?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
You get ten in summer league. But you can see
his offensive proficiency. He's very skilled. He has a very
high IQ. He understands the pick and roll, and when
he's put in his natural position, which will be the two,
he shoots the ball. Well, he's athletic enough, he has
a very high IQ. He has a calmness to his
(06:13):
game that I really like. So, yeah, he's got to
not turn the ball over and of course you're not
going to get that many fouls when we get into
the regular season, but you can see why he was
so highly thought of. I mean, his offensive game is
very refined for such a young player. De Bonsa, on
the other hand, he plays so hard. He too is skilled,
but he's got great size, great length, great athleticism, and
(06:36):
he can put it on the floor.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
He could do a lot. So you can see the Wizards.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Have really compiled a nice group of young players to
go along with a D and Trey Young. Now, whether
they'll still be there or not, we don't know, but
they've compiled a nice group of young players, and De
bons is gonna flip right in with him. And he
played very well the other night, not just with the
twenty seven point joffs. He had seven rebounds, did some
things defensively, really showed.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Why he was the number one overall pick.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Give us an update on where our local guys are
that played high school ball here that are now in
the league.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
You got a bunch of them playing in the summer league.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, well you had the other night. You had c J.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
LB that played at Cleveland UH and Terrell Brown that
played at Rayner Beach.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
UH.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
They were matched up against each other. Unfortunately neither one
of them played, but it was just good to see
him out there and just knowing that they're they're getting
the opportunity. Terrell's with Charlotte and and CJ's with with Orlando,
and Uh, people will remember Keon Brooks. Keon Brooks, uh
former Husky. He's on the the roster with with Memphis
(07:42):
trying to get an I'm sorry, with Indiana, trying to
get an opportunity there. Cameron Tyson from Seattle, you he's
on the roster at Golden State. A bunch of Gonzaga
guys here, too many to mension. There's a bunch of
a bunch of them here, but there's a there's a
little local flavor here in the in the summer league,
not like we've had in previous years, but there's a
(08:03):
few guys here trying to see if they could make their.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Mark love it.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Well, we'd love to have you on again on Monday,
if you'll come back on with us and tell us
what you saw over the weekend.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
All right, Oh, definitely let's do with us.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
And we still got to we guys still got to
talk about JJ Crawford and the high school kids that
are that are down there. So I got we got
a bunch more left to do, so we'll chat with
you on Monday when when Alyssa is hosting with me.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
All right, okay, let's do it.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
Thanks Fran, appreciate it, man.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Okay, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com