Dana Altman on Jackson Shelstad: "He's in great shape."

On Monday Oregon men’s basketball coach Dana Altman previewed this upcoming season with media. While Oregon returns a trio of key players, there is a not of new blood on this team. Including a few international additions.

Altman talked about their additions and the expectations for bringing them along.

There also was a bid update on the Jackson Shelstad injury as he looks to be unavailable when Oregon begins its season this Friday night vs Utah in Eugene.

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On Jackson Shelstad’s Progress:

“You know, it probably won’t be. I can’t say that for sure. Jackson says he’s going to play, but, you know, the trainers and doctors will have to release him. But he’s staying in shape. You know, I don’t think it’ll affect Jackson that much. He’s in great shape. He knows our stuff. You know, he’s paying attention. All the things that we’re putting in new. So I don’t think it’ll affect him much, but it’ll slow down our progress as a team. He’s our only experienced guard. Drew’s (Carter) doing some good things.

Carter is in, but Takai (Simpkins) doesn’t have experience. Wei doesn’t have experience. I was really hoping that Jackson could, you know, really bring the team along here early. So I think it’s going to slow our progress as a team down. But as far as Jackson’s concerned, I don’t think it’ll slow him down at all.”

On the International Players:

“Well, their experience is what really, and the NCAA opened the door for some guys that traditionally haven’t been able to come over and play. But Wei (Lin) has three years. Big E (Ege Demir) has two. Efe (Vatan) has three. You know, so those guys, have some opportunities to develop in our system. The two that will get the most time here early are Wei and Ezekiel, is what he likes to be called. And so they’ll get the most time.

Efe’s behind them and right now is dealing with a little bit of a foot problem. And Sasha’s been out with an ankle, so he’s fallen behind. But those other two will play a lot for us.”

On FIBA vs NCAA:

“Oh, it’s different. You know, the FIBA rules are a little different. Big E took one off the rim the other day, which is offensive goaltending, but over there it’s not. So there is a little adjustment. But Wei played with Joe Young and Damian Dotson over there, so we knew they both said he could really play, so that helped. And he can. He’s going to be a good player for us, solid.

You know, right now he’s (Wei) just a little too aggressive offensively, taking some bad shots. We’ve got to, you know, find that fine line. I don’t want to take away his aggressiveness, but, you know, he’s got to do a better job of deciding when he’s got to look and when he doesn’t. And Ezekiel is just big, you know, and played against men, you know.

Well, you know, I thought we had a good summer. And, you know, I thought the guys really did a good job the weeks in the summer. We didn’t add, some of them until September when we came back. You know, Big E, Wei, and those guys all got here when we came back after Labor Day. So it took a while for them, and it’s going to take a while for them. They’re going to be a working product. We’ve got a lot, like you said, a lot of new guys.

The guys with a lot of experience, KJ (Kwame Evans), Jackson, and Nate (Bittle), have got to do a great job here early. Then Jamari (Phillips) was on the team. Sasha and Dez was hurt, but they didn’t get to play much, you know, because of injury, because Jamari was just a freshman.”

Areas of Improvement for Nate, Jackson and KJ:

“I thought all three worked really hard during the summer. They’ve had a good fall. I need them to be more vocal. All three of them are kind of quiet guys. They’re not so quiet off the floor, but on the floor, they’re quiet. And I need them to be a little bit more vocal since they know what we’re doing. Help the new guys out just a little bit more. But all three of them have worked hard, and I think that’s the first step in leadership. Guys got to respect your work ethic. They got to know that you’re going to work really hard, and they all have that established. Now, I just think they need to be a little bit more vocal.

The word we is a great leadership word. You know, we need to work harder. We need to rebound. We need to defend. We need to move the ball. And all three of those guys have the respect of their teammates, the trust of their teammates, you know, to give us some leadership and be a little bit more vocal.”

On Kwame Evan’s Growth:

“I think he’s more aggressive and you know we need him to be a better rebounder. Defensively he gets a lot of deflections because of his length. Needs to quit reaching and drawing some fouls but he’s got good length and he’s getting some deflections. Rebounding needs to continue. I want to be able to play him at different positions so we can play a big lineup, so we can go small if we need to. His versatility allows us to do that.

So he’s worked on his body. He’s worked on his conditioning. He was really in good shape. He got sick and was out of practice for a few days and has been dragging a little bit. But we need to get him healthy and get him back to what he was doing.”