Interview with Donald Watts for Husky Digest by Jim Basnight Part 2:

Donald speaks about the highlights of his years at UW and his ability to hit the big shot in a number of big games down the stretch. He also touches on his experiences in the pros, and what he's doing now with Fox Sports and Hoopaholics Academy with another former UW Basketball player, Michael Johnson. He looks back at this last UW team and gives his take on what to expect this year for the Dawgs as well as what he thinks of a couple of the high school kids in Seattle.

Jim: You went to the NCAA's the last two years, your JR year losing to UConn in the Sweet-16 on that last second shot by Rip Hamilton and against Wally Szerbiak in your SR year, also losing on a last play of the game, though in the firs round.

Don: The first two years were the NIT against Michigan State and Tyrone Lu and Nebraska. The same time I was going through some changes physically and that was a tough time for me. I feel like I went there to have the power to change that focus and that attitude and then in my JR and SR year we started to change things. My expectations were high of myself coming in and I was also dealing with illness that I hadn't yet understood at that particular time. I found out that I had chronic fatigue syndrome, which means the more I play, the worse I get. My body wasn't recuperating between workouts. It's almost like having the flu or something.

Jim: Do you know what causes it?

Don: No. My JR and SR year I was able to get a diet that kind of helped me with that, as far as my capacity to play longer minutes. Then I was able to do some of the things that I felt that I wanted to accomplish.

Jim: It seems to me that that team could have used one more high level player at PG. If Jason Terry or someone of that caliber had been at UW, it could have been huge.

Don: I loved it. I just wish I would have had full capacity in order to deal with it and make even more happen than what happened. Most people feel that we overachieved, but I didn't feel that way. I feel we underachieved.

Jim: You should have beat UConn. That was a fluke play and that was a good team, with Todd and Femerling. When you have two big guys like that, it's a good weapon. What do you think about UW now that they have a couple more big guys now?

Don: They will be a completely different team this year.

Jim: What were some of the highlights of your career at UW?

Don: The NCAA Tournament obviously. It was awesome. Playing in front of millions of people on TV and 25,000 people in the MCI Center at Greensboro and its like, that's it. This is what you live for, those type of opportunities. Not just to get those opportunities, but to get those opportunities to perform.

Jim: I remember that you used to make a lot of big shots, game winning shots, long jumpers, like the 3-pointer that should have won the UConn game for UW. What type of mentality do you have to have hit those shots?

Don: I feel that I shot better at the end of games, than I did at the beginning of the game. I was a better shooter if the score was 89-90, than if the score was 0-0. The reason was at that time was that the pressure situations really relaxed me. I had really assessed it, dreamt about it, I had been there over and over again. I had thrived on it and I knew that not everybody is made for it. Not everybody wants to take that shot. Not everybody's OK with missing the shot and having everybody say, "I was open" or "you should have done this or you should have done that", but I was fine with it. Honestly, the most fun games were those that were coming down the stretch. I loved to have the ball, I loved it. On the road, at home, wherever.

Jim: Right after the days at UW, you ventured into the professional ranks a bit. Could you tell us about those experiences?

Don: I had aspirations to play professionally. I played overseas a little bit, I played in Argentina, in the CBA, the IBL, but my body couldn't maintain that professional schedule.

Jim: Was it more of a health issue than anything else then?

Don: Without a doubt. Nobody has ever said that "he doesn't have the skills that it takes to play". They say, "He's a primadonna", "he picks and chooses when he wants to play" and those are all issues of my illness.

Nobody could say, "He can't dribble" or "He can't shoot".

Jim: It seems like you are really doing well in the world of basketball despite that, with your Basketball Academy, Hoopaholics and through your work doing color with Fox Sports. How is all of that coming along?

Don: It's coming well. I really enjoy working with kids and I really enjoy the opportunity that Fox has given me to stay around the game and talk about the game. When I'm not at the game commentating, I just do what I've done for years, staying at home talking to my buddies about the same stuff. Now it's just kind of learning the fundamentals that can help me take that part of it to the next level. It's just like playing and I enjoy it, I really enjoy it.

Jim: In the training at Hoopaholics, it seems like you have a wealth of knowledge to share, not only from your personal experiences on the court at such a high level, but from the knowledge that your dad and the other pro athletes around your house shared with as well. What is it like training these kids?

Don: My biggest challenge is to get these to understand where I'm coming from as far their growth is concerned and the competitiveness, really getting after it. To seek out people just a little bit better than you to compete against. To find challenges that might be a little bit above you and conquering them. That's the true joy of any sport, anything that you want to do. It's not the award that somebody gets or the recognition of being first team or second team, it's just to get them to find a challenge and then conquer it. If you do that every day, every week and every month and that's how you live, the awards and everything else will be there. Whether they recognize it now, or recognize it later, they will recognize it. Look at all the great minds, the great physical specimens in sports. That's what they did. Mohammed Ali, Michael Jordan, when he couldn't find any challenge, he left the game and then came back, because it wasn't about the MVP or the money, it was about if he had a challenge in front of me that can drive me and push me forth. That's what a true athlete does. It's almost like a warrior society, that's what you live by. Not by the trophies that are hanging up. That's for your family and friends to look at in awe. For you it's the blood and the sweat, the bumping and the fighting that you do in the gym with your friends, your enemies, whoever, everyday. That's what makes you a player. How you react when it's 89-90, coming down the stretch. That's what I'm trying to get these kids to understand. It's like what Nate Robinson has. He has everybody in the world saying your too this or your too that, but he can't hear them. He just says, "OK, if I am then prove it to me. Show me the guy that I'm too small to play against and we'll see".

Jim: What do you think about what happened at UW last year and what do you think about the way their team is going, now that you are doing these games as a commentator.

Don: It was a terrific season. I was disappointed in the way it ended, much like I was disappointed in the way our season, when we went to the Sweet-16, and the way our season ended every year. I felt the team they lost to in the NCAA tournament (Louisville) they were a better team than. I felt like we played into Louisville's hands by being in their shorts the whole time. Trying to pressure, because they would penetrate and we would have to help too far. If we didn't help there was a lay-up and if we did help there was a 3. We went from playing all the way up in their shorts to zone, which allowed them to stand around and nothing in between. No containment. The way they had played all year, when you're in the Sweet-16 and you're playing against a little better program, you've got to adjust a little bit. It's like they tried to turn it up by getting in them, but they extended themselves too far defensively, is what I felt. Make them beat you. You're making them drivers. You're making them penetrators and one thing that Louisville had was a lot of people that could put the ball on the ground and shooters, people that could spread out, much like our guys. The way that the refs were calling those fouls, that's even more reason to back up a little bit.

Jim: What do you think about next year?

Don: They've got a lot of new talent coming in. I think that it'll be a growing year for them. The leaders on the team, as far as energy were Will Conroy and Nate Robinson. One of the major components was the amount of energy that they played with and two thirds of that is gone. Bobby Jones would be the other one who remains that will play with that type of tenacity. But you have an awful lot of new guys coming in. Brandon Roy is the glue that holds it all together. When you had Will Conroy, Nate Robinson, Bobby Jones, Tre Simmons, who had an excellent year, playing one way and Brandon Roy, who really plays at his own speed, playing the other way, the guy that plays the other way is really almost the most important. If you had 4 guys like Roy who play real cool and you came off the bench with a guy like Will Conroy to spark things, then that guy would have been the most important in a lot of situations. The way the team was last year, I felt that getting them over the hump in a lot of situations was Brandon Roy. They really missed him being healthy, coming down the stretch in a lot of games. He was able to do that, even hurt, and he never got back to 100% during the season. They'll have a good year. I wouldn't anticipate that they will be #1 in the Pac-10 this year, but they definitely will be in the 2-4 spots. The guys that'll carry them next year will be Bobby Jones and Brandon Roy. I look for Brandon to be superb.

Jim: Do you know Paul Fortier?

Don: Yeah I do. He played at UW back in the day. He's a really nice guy. I don't know much about him from a professional coaching standpoint. It's always good to have guys that have been through the program around and it's a great guy. He played a lot ball back in the day.

Jim: Are you going to be doing stuff with Fox this year?

Don: Yeah, quite a bit.

Jim: What does Hoopaholics have coming up the future?

Don: We think that with all of the steroids in sports and the hype that the NBA is having for these young high school players, we're trying to do our part to get the kids that we train to focus back on the value end of sports. We're really trying to instill leadership and values in people. That's our primary focus, to help develop people and to get involved in the development process in a manner that goes beyond the sports arena. We are focusing on helping them become more complete as people.

Jim: What did you think of the NBA changing the rules as far as the high school players?

Don: I'm not sure that I understand it all the way, but I definitely think that there needs to be a minimum age, but I'm not sure that 19 is enough, or to be one year out of school. I'm not sure that's the proper way to do it. What you are going to have is a lot of kids going to college, just to go for one year and it'll be tough for college coaches to deal with those kids in their programs who know that they are "Out of here". Like their 12 month sentence is done. It'll be tough to coach a kid like Lebron James, though he has a good head on his shoulder, but a kid of that caliber that doesn't have a good head on his shoulders, who knows he's on campus for 12 months.

Jim: Have you seen any of these high school kids in Seattle play that you thought were impressive?

Don: Hawes. With that size and skills that he possesses, a lot of guys when they are that tall just don't have a nice set of moves and a nice touch that he has. The way he is able to run, he's going to be real good. Deangelo Jones is able to do an awful lot for what his age is.