Breaking down all the exes at OH. It's Steve Lavera and Jagin Salmas.
This is I on the Bark on Fox Sports fourteenth. Hey, welcome back
to my I on the Ball here on Fox Sworts fourteen fifty. I'm Steve,
he is Matt, and you are Ryan. Ryan with breaking news.
With breaking news, Let's get into it. We'll start with University of Arizona
a little bit of football news in today they announced three starting times for the
upcoming season. Arizona will open the season hosting New Mexico on August thirty,
first at seven thirty pm on ESPN. The following week are going to host
NAU on September seventh at seven pm and for the first time, they'll be
on the Big twelve Now network, so that'll be cool to see. And
then the other start time was against Houston on November fifteenth. That's going to
be on FS one, so there's a Friday night game and against Houston that's
a late start, right eight fifteen pm local times in August seventh to August.
What Houston game is November fifteenth, Okay, but they did announce,
so we now have the first three games of this the Brent Brennan era for
Arizona, and you get a primetime kickoff, or not a primetime kickoff,
but a Pac twelve after dark ESPN kickoff Big twelve after Dark now against New
Mexico. So you get the nine to thirty Central time, ten thirty Eastern
time, seven thirty Arizona time kickoff slot on ESPN against New Mexico NAU on
the Big twelve network, which is an ESPN Plus broadcast, And the following
week you get primetime Fox on a Friday night at Kansas State. That's a
non conference game between two Big twelve opponents, and it's a good showcase way
to start this era, and it's the first start look that we'll get to
see what the Big twelve is gonna be like exactly Kansas State that seven thirty
start here against New Mexico August thirty. First, I think you said it's
gonna be hot. Still, it's gonna starts to be one hundred and five,
one hundred and sixty on the floor, if not odder at seven thirty,
because it's August. Still August, it's going to hang in the air
a little bit up there. Good luck to you, right, you know,
it's funny we talk about well, go ahead, I'm sorry, we'll
we'll talk about baseball here in a bit o. Sticking with University of Arizona,
we're switching over to volleyball. They added a transfer, Amanda do It
from South Florida. She played at South Florida for three seasons, played in
seventy matches total for excuse me, five hundred and forty five kills, one
hundred and twenty two total blocks. Yeah. That. I don't know if
you knew much about the program, met but it used to be pretty good.
And I said David Rubio, David Rubia one of our favorite guys here
on the show. You know, Dan got to the final four once maybe
lead eight. The other time. It wasn't great, but consistently kind of
good. And then it kind of fell off the table for a while.
And in a tough conference, still in a hugely tough conference. Yes,
but it's hard to be Arizona in volleyball because you have that conference, right,
the Stanford's, the USC's, you know, the Sillies. But they
but you know what, they've been on the rise a little bit. I
saw some progress towards the end of last season. As we've mentioned yesterday,
I got here in October and did see some progress Towards the end of last
season. The record wasn't where they wanted it to be, but Rita started
to turn things around head coach Rita Stubbs, and I think the additions they've
made in this offseason, I think they've really used that transfer portal gotten the
right types of players in and this transfer would be another addition to that.
There's that positive TV guy, you know, always positives yesterday. The NBA
Playoffs continue tonight, Game five between the Mavericks and the Timberwolves. Mavericks looking
to try to close the series out again after they barely lost Game four.
It's been been a close series, even though Mavericks. Ryan, let me
explain something to you. Sports is all like democracy. You win by one,
you win, you win by ten. Get what you win close as
close close, And Dallas has been so good executing, executing at the end
of games. But when you have an offensive performance like Karl Anthony Towns did
for Minnesota in Game four, that is a difference maker for this Minnesota.
Let me float this one by you guys. Okay, so let's say Dallas
loses tonight. It could be trouble. There's a lot of pressure going back
home to Dallas for Game six if that's the case, and then if you
don't win that game, you go back to Minnesota. In Minneapolis, I
mean, that's that's a no team in NBA history has ever blown a three
to zero lead, No team in basketball or hockey in the same season.
So what I'm trying to say is tonight's game is not a must win,
but it's a must win. It's as close as you can get to a
must win. Yep, yep. I think one of the key players for
Dallas if he is eligible tonight, is Derek Livewick. Yeah, rookie from
Duke. He's been stellar, and you know he has been out with the
neck injury, in and out of the line up a little bit. But
if he plays. He didn't play in Game four, so that was a
big difference. But if he plays, that could make a huge difference for
Dallas. I mean, Daniel, Daniel Gafford is he's He's been a good
addition to that team, but I don't know, Lively just brings it different.
Yeah, very impressive by the Dallas front office to put the right pieces
around Luca and Kyrie to both shore up their defense and highlight those guys' skills.
So we'll see what happens tonight. Okay, NFL a little bit of
NFL news. The Bears are going to be on HBO's Hard Knocks this year.
That's good for I guess good for the fans, Chicago fans. They'll
be able to get a behind the scenes look at the number one overall pick,
Ko Williams, and maybe we'll see, we'll see what the Bears can
do this season, if they can actually Yeah, it's back to the playoffs.
It's been a rough road, but you know, I find this Bears
team really intriguing. And I covered another team in the NFC North, the
Green Bay Packers, for a little over three years, and you know,
there's there's plenty of jokes in Wisconsin when it comes to the Bears expense.
However, you know, they added a lot of pieces in free agency this
offseason. Really like what they did the white receiver position. You know,
obviously their first round draft pick, their second first round draft pick. They
got Room Donsay from Washington, who was a stellar receiver. You know,
we watched him play in person this year. Steve and he is just a
very difference maker at the catch point. So you also have DJ More in
that room, you have other offensive skill pieces. They got a lot of
guys on defense who are you know, are young, but I have played
a lot of good snaps in this league. I think they could be scary.
But it just depends on how fast Caleb develops. And it'll be really
interesting to get that inside look of what he's like during training camp. Yeah,
I mean, yeah, you mentioned a doosday. He's heck of a
heck of a receiver. I remember watching the semi finals. I'm a Longhorns
fan. I was like terrified to see what he was going to do against
Texas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, it's twenty the Green Bay
Pack yours fandom. Uh well, and it's not funny because it's it's easy
to dump with the Chicago Bears because they haven't done much in your lifetime,
right, I mean maybe one year two years of good play, Yeah,
I mean they made the playoffs maybe a couple of times. But Green Bay
has been so consistent and dominant forever and it's the oldest rivalry in the NFL,
So you know you're gonna get especially with the border rivalry, you're gonna
get some chirping there, back and forth. But the Packers have just owned
it for the last thirty years. How was? How was? This is
just do you have enough? You have enough stuff to write? How was
covering Rogers? Covering Rogers was interesting just because, especially after he started going
on McAfee every week the Pat McAfee show, he was he made available to
you guys at all. Yes, okay, so every single Wednesday he would
be available and then he would be the first one of the podium after games.
Okay, so we would we talked to the code. The NFL media
schedule is a little bit more immersive because you know, they have time for
us. Yes, it's their job, right, So the head coach talks
pretty much every day of the week. You know, we have locker room
access for three days a week and on game day and then Monday is just
the head coach. But Aaron Rodgers would always talk on Wednesdays. And it
was interesting because he would go on the Pat McAfee show on Tuesdays and kind
of get any elephants in the room out of the way or discuss whatever he
wanted to discuss. And so a lot of our questions on Wednesdays were follow
ups to whatever he said on McAfee on Tuesdays. And then sometimes it was
him taking the air of oh, you're blowing this out of proportion. Sure,
and he says things in such a convincing way to where you believe,
oh, yeah, maybe I was blowing it out of proportion. Right.
Well, he always came off to me and I know these players because I've
covered a couple of them. The smartest guy in the room, yep.
And if you didn't believe that, he would make sure you would believe that
yep. And agenda agenda driven maybe in some sense in certain topics yep,
but still very bright, very bright, and you had to respect that because
he was very bright, or is very bright, and engaging as well.
I mean to give him credit, he's very engaging, not too big for
any questions. We have conversations with us, he having been with him for
three years, and which is good enough to answer this question? I think
is he a little bit misrepresentative or miss miss Nott representative? Was he not
the guy that we think he is? Does that make sense? I think
in some ways yes, and in some ways no. I think there has
been a narrative out there, and it's a narrative that we paid attention to
a lot as local media in Wisconsin of he was maybe not the best teammate.
There's every talk to everybody in that locker room, talk to players around
this league. They all rave about Aaron Rodgers. So a lot of the
I think a lot of the criticism and a lot of the you know,
fair criticism at times are because of things he says and because of how people
in our position perceive the things he says. So he digs these holes for
himself a lot. That's not to demonish him of that or absolve him of
that, but he also I mean, he's a great a one locker room
guy, is a true leader and is someone that does you know, he
has high standards, but he puts his arm around people and you know he's
a gamer and people respect both his play his demeanor on the field. Well,
I've seen a few eye rolls on the field a few times. Yeah,
that's what kind of you think, Like, these guys are your teammates,
man, Yeah, I'd be a little pissed if you were doing that
with me. But you know, I mean we saw Travis Kelcei, who's
one of the most likable guys in the league, shove Andy Reid in the
Super Bowl. So you know, people get saying things in the heat of
battle and up to intensity, right exactly. So okay, ye, very
unique, very unique to cover him, So very fun experience with that.
Ryan, he got anything else? Yep. A little bit of MLB news
from a game last night from the New York Mets. They defa Or Lopez
after a post ejection he walked off the field and he tossed over a frustration.
Those Mets absolutely terrible. Oh terrible. I was trying to use this
S word, which they do. They are terrible. And I guess it
wasn't Lopez somebody else in the locker room. Did you hear the clip?
We just suck? I mean, so it was him. That was The
big controversy about him is that so he is not English, is not his
first and so this was lost, Yeah, this was lost with a translator,
and so the quote was transcribed as I'm on the worst blanking team in
Major League based Sure, sure, but what the what native Spanish speakers have
said about it was he could have said or could have just it could have
just been mistranslated or just misrepresented. I'm the worst teammate in Major League Baseball.
So that is two completely different statements that could be lost in translation.
Well, having having been hispanic all my life. Uh, And I listened
to the clip because they played it three times, because they went back to
him three times, did you mean this? And then then they they went
back again did you mean this? And he was said, yes, I'm
thinking the first thing that you said that we suck. We're a bunch of
mediocre dudes, right, And I mean he's not wrong. That's a rough
year and he was just telling you that. He says, yes, I'm
that's who we are. And just what moments after that he was he was
let go or at least to put just so yeah, that's I mean,
I think at a certain level of service time because he's had about a decade
in the league. Being DFA, it means you don't just go down to
Triple A. I think you you're in the Well, the funny thing about
it is we're in this business and not that we live for these moments,
because we don't, but these moments are given to you, right and you
and you and you go back and say, just for just for clarity,
did I just hear that? And I don't want to be wrong if it's
gonna go in the paper or whatever. And he says, yes, you've
got a great story, right, and guess what, this is a great
story about a bad team. Right, and he circled back. I think
today or i'd heard that, he circled back and said, this is what
I meant. You know what did he mean that the the bad teammate thing
or something to that extent. So, I mean, anybody can say this
is what I meant the day after when you're not eat of the moment.
But you know, I think I think it's a unique story, especially with
you know, if he had said, whatever they do, they can cut
me whatever. All right, we'll catch right, right, I mean he
didn't deny saying that, probably right, Yeah, okay, all I got
Okay, cool, cool, it's a four thirteen. Let's do this.
Since you're done and we're done too, let's take the break, come back
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio WAP This is I on the Ball with Steve
Roberta and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back,
to win the ball. Here Fox Sports fourteen fifty, I'm Steve roberta heez,
matt Rydelson. Now on the phone, we have Dwayne Rankin of the
Arizona Republic, who covers the Sun's Dwayne, how are you? I'm good?
You going fine? Thank you. I guess one of the things that
you've learned over the years that Sun's back well never really stops. Does This
doesn't stop for any team in the league. But storylines are difference for everybody.
But the league is twenty four to seven. But the fun thing to
have the more interesting headlines, for sure. They certainly do, and I
guess one of the big headlines that's taking shape this week is that they are
one of two teams linked to Bronnie James right now, Lebron's Sun coming out
in this year's NBA Draft, and obviously Phoenix holding the twenty second overall pick.
What are you seeing from these rumors? Is there legitimate smoke here or
is it maybe Matt Ishbi and James Jones throwing out a smoke screen to try
and get the Lakers to trade up to that pick. What are you hearing
from this and these rumors? I mean, you started off with the key
words to it. But at the end of the day, if he's going
to narrow down his field of who he feels as if he wants to work
out for I think one of the things that's getting lost in that is people's
teem to forget the James Jones and Lebron James are really tight. So that's
something that I don't think has been bought out as much, but that could
be playing a role what's going on as well. I don't know that for
a fact. I just know that that's something to consider when you're looking at
this as well. The whole idea of the sons are going to trade to
pick anyway is what you know, That's what the thought has been with them,
how they've used picks in the past. So it's like you can dive
into it a bunch of different ways. But at the end of the day,
if Lebron James Sun comes in for a workout and he does well,
does that mean that he's going to end in Phoenix? I don't know.
But the other thing to consider is that that his son could easily go through
some workouts or a workout. They have more than one team at it,
so when you're looking at that whole idea of I guess they're supposed to be
three three spots that he's supposed to be potentially going to. I try not
to lead too much into into that. And I know it's exciting for fans
and the thought of if the bride son is drafted and that because you're legged
up and signing Lebron, the fact the idea of Lebron taking a vet minimum,
I'm gonna just leave it at that list. Let's assume for a second
that that he does land with Phoenix, just for assumptions, how would he
fit in. I can't even assume that, So that that I can't even
I can't even entertain because I just think that a lot of things got to
happen for that to happen. Uh. Now, if you want to put
on my imaginary cap, how that could work, I mean I could do
it. But I mean, at the end of the day, now you're
adding you're adding the Hall of Fame player, how did effect you know?
Again, you got to figure to the rotation. He's obviously starting. It
means that somebody is not starting in that group. But I mean, it's
just it's just too I just can't. I can't go there. It's just
there's too much there to even formulate in my mind on what I Again,
I could go through it as well as a team, but then again,
you're adding another piece is going to be ball dominant. But now, you
know, what are the other guys gonna do. They're gonna sit there and
watch. Now They're gonna watch the barn with the ball. It's just you
know, I mean, if I'm Mike Blunoser, you know EASi, I
mean, the idea of that would be it would be great for jeworship.
You'd be grateful to look at Wow, But is that going to make you
a Is that gonna make you a championship team? Because you're adding one of
the greatest players every y You would think, yeah, but I can't even
I can't do that. Good luck with the rest of them. They want
to, but I just can't smart. So I mean, these hypotheticals,
I mean, they all look a little sunny, but the current outlook is
a bit stormy with what they are under the second apron of the salary cap
right now, because you know, this team is a little bit stuck.
Bradley Build's no trade clause. I mean, Kevin Durant making a whole lot
of money. Obviously you're not moving bookers the corner stone in your franchise.
But they have to get better pieces around that team, around that core this
year because I mean you saw guys like Cat batest Up and Utah Watanabe not
work last year. How do they figure out a way to construct this roster
around those three? And I think the big question is do they need a
point guard? Well, here's here's here's two things. You know, if
they're not going to move the big three, which is what you know it
is, is basically said that that's not gonna happen. So all right,
if they're not gonna do that, then you gotta look at people that they
could move contracts that are movable. Uh. Some people don't want to hear
this, but Greson Allen's contract is movable. He would be someone that would
be like, oh okay, if they're going to make a move that brings
somebody in, they can help them in other ways. But if you just
listen to again, I keep going back to Ispure when he says they have
enough talent to win the championship, you can't run it back, which is
what he said as well, but he literally said they have enough talent to
win the championship. So you're looking at that and going, Okay, they
were swept, so they're thinking that the head coach was the problem, but
just why they fired Bogol and while they hired buonosers so they believe BuNos can
come in and fix this. Now. I believe that if they do something
major, you gotta look at it out of season. Starts out trade deadline,
be a situation where they can make a move. But I believe they
should do something before the season. You know, you've got movable contracts,
Nazi little contract is movable. You know, you have situations where outside of
the Big three, you would think everyone else is expendable. So you add
a you know, I've been thinking of four. I think they need a
dynamic four so Durant can play the three. A point guard would help.
But you're gonna bench a guy that's making fifty million dollars a year in Rarey
Bill, you're gonna do that? That That just that that's just like wow,
okay for a guy that may not even be someone you're paying more than
four or five million. Yeah, got decisions. That need to be made.
The point guard would help the situation, but you're gonna have probably a
three guard. Look if you have if you're not gonna bench bill, that
would be a bill the point guard, Booker, Durant and Nurkice. That's
the same situation they would have if they had last year, except you would
have a guy that would be able to facilitate. But you're not gonna get
I think the thought is they get this point guard, he's gonna be I
was going to be able to come in and run off sense that guy.
And as that guy's out there, he's playing for another team, another team
not trying to give him up. So you got to be thinking that.
You got to be thinking of somebody that you potentially see could be that person
still available. What he was, what he was okay, yeah, what
he was for Miami. The cross the cross side of that is it.
The window was small. You know, Durant's going to be thirty six September.
But yeah, let me ask you, you've covered the team for how
long? Now this was my sixth six years, and I've talked to a
couple of people up there one on the show here a little after the season
had ended. It was not an enjoyable year for them? Was it enjoyable?
Enjoyable is not the right word. How was it for you after six
years? You mean covering this year's Yes, I don't look at it like
some dude, like some look at it like, oh, it was a
bad season if you if you're covering the team, At least from my perspective,
I come from a maybe I'm old school, I don't know, but
I don't come from the place where the willians and losses determine how good or
bad it was to cover the team. I mean, the team struggled,
but the first season I covered them, they won nineteen games, and so
it wasn't like it wasn't like it was a bad season to cover. It
was very interesting. I look at covering teams and ton of interest, and
the interest was high, and that son's team when it won just nineteen games,
and the interest was high, and this year's team when they won forty
nine games, and the interest was high when they went to the finals.
But I don't view it as oh, they're winning, so it's great,
or they're losing so that's not That's not how I look at covering the team.
You have to look at the stories, have to look at the players,
you look at the coaches. That whole olgol Ow it unfolded. That
was you're covering that. That's that's interesting stuff. Yeah, right, as
I said me, like you're not yelling on that. They're like why they
gonna fire this guy? Right that the one season IT'SHBA comes in the changes
he's made. Oh no, all that was all that that that's been just
as interesting as it was when they went to the finals. But from a
story it's a different it's just a different interest. But from a storyline standpoint,
I mean, this is this Mike Budenholz remove was kind of kind of
made for the headlines, right, I mean the Arizona native returns home after
to coach the team that he beat in an NBA finals. I mean I
covered Mike Budenholzer up in Wisconsin, and I think a lot of people were
frustrated when he was let go after that series they lost to Miami when Giannis
had hurt its back and you know they were just kind of scrambling the whole
time. He lost his brother during that series in the tragic accident. I
mean, there were a lot of factors to that. I know a lot
of people in Wisconsin weren't happy to let him go. He took a year
off, and now it feels like even though Frank Vogel probably got the raw
end of the deal here, I mean, maybe this is the ray of
sunshine and me is Steve's been talking about all show, But it feels like
in immediate upgrade. What do you think do? I think he's a really
good coach. I think he's offense Dolphins should be better regardless of what they
do player wise, the Dolphins should be better because he's a better offensive coach
than vocal, So the offense Dolphins should be better. I think that he
has an understanding of he's refreshed and he's and he's recharged, and he has
a new view on life. You know. I think he's he's coming back
into the profession with with a with an outlook. That's that's that's someone like,
hey, look, I never thought I would be in this position coaching
the Phoenix. Un Now I am. We're gonna go and they're gonna go
and make the most of it. And so I think all of those factors
who with something to look at as far as him as a coach. But
at the end of the day, you still got to perform, and if
they don't get it done, he gonna draw some heat for it. And
so that's that's the the status has been set by the owner and the fact
that you've moved two coaches like he has tells you that he thinks, Hey,
it's on coaches that make this happen. And so it's the pressure is
on the coach to make it happen. And like unlike other programs where guys
have gotten three four years to to to to make it happen. And I'll
leave you with this, I know we got to get ready to get off
here. I think one of the things that's interesting about the summer you talk
about the six season I covered the team, they were in development mode before
Chris Paul joined the team, and then once he joined the team and they
took off, then it went from development the championship. That's how quickly it
changed. Means for this franchise. Had they stayed in that development mode,
maybe two more years after many we might be looking at a different situation.
That might be a different head coach, we might be looking at a different
situation. But when Chris Paul joined the team, the expectations rose when they
went to the finals. The expectations went from development to win a championship.
And that's where they have been and that's where they're gonna stay until either the
bottom falls out or they win one. Well, last question, quick quick
question, Uh, does coach finalized his assistant coaches? I was just curious
if Miles Simon is gone for good or is he sticking around. Well,
from what I was told, they let go of everybody, but Fiddale was
someone that they tried to offer a front office job and then he didn't that
that didn't work, So now he's back at an assistant I still am still
hearing that they haven't brought anyone else back. And from the thumb vault staff
coach Simon obviously is a very good coach. I think he'll land on his
feet somewhere else because in the fraternity, you still got jobs that are out
there. You know, the Lakers will have aw about even eight assistants,
probably more, uh be looking at Another opening is out there as well,
so in Cleveland, so he keep going. He probably he probably gonna land
somewhere for the job. But from mind being told no, no, he's
not in the he's not in the running to join rejoin the son, but
neither are the other guys as well from what I've been doing. Okay,
well, Dwayne, thanks a bunch for coming on the show. Thanks.
I appreciate it. No problem, no problem, Well, thank you.
Yeah. You know what, his perspective on covering the team is perfect.
And I said, because it's not happy Gilmour like you and that pessimistic guy
like me. You know, so, right, Betwet. Yeah, especially
because you know I've been through those coaching teams and things like that. I've
covered a whole lot of coaching changes between Lincoln and here, and you know,
there's a certain interest in that because it's okay, what made the decision
in this process and what are the results to this process? And I just
think that that's so interesting for it it allows you to craft a story about
it and just get the real kind of inside look of the change. And
I think his approaches is perfect with the perspective in terms of I'm here for
the story and not for the raw rah. I'm just here to do the
story and go home and do it again. To morow, he said he's
old school. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that very much. So it's
my first time ever talking to him for a few of these last years.
Okay, let's take the break, come back, and then maybe take some
more calls. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been
successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look back at the Ludelsen era.
In my new book, Lessons from Loot, it was a labor of
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powerhouse. What one email me at Steve Rivera ninety five at gmail dot com.
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on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez Sound Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app Just Surgery I on the Ball.
Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen
fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's Matt Renalds. Got our guy Ryan,
who hasn't missed up today. That's good. We'll bring you back next week,
right, your next week again? Two weeks? Yeah, okay,
cool? Uh, anything you want to talk about real quickly, it's good
with He's very straightforward, straight Forwardwight draining. It was kind of like,
yeah, okay, it tosses us great topics. I mean with the headlines,
the breaking news headlines, you were crushing it because you gave us so
many jumping off points that we could just sit there and roll with talking about
you Ryan not doing I was talking about doing just the background and stuff.
I think that the new coach is going to do very well there one because
he's a good coach. And I think that the former coach will probably lost
the locker room early early, and once you do that, you've probably never
been married and divorced. You don't wt to Jay say don't listen to me,
but once once that once the issues start to happen, it's tough to
put them back together. The big thing, though, is you never want
to be the guy to replace the guy right, And I think a lot
of people were frustrated, whether in that locker room or in the organization,
that Monty Williams right got let go the year before. And I thought he
was a good coach. He was a very good coach. And the results,
obviously in Detroit this year did not speak to that and did not speak
to his ability to coach. I mean, an NBA record losing streak this
year with the Pistons. But I think he was a good developer of talent.
But you know, the thing was that he had his definite riffs with
guys like DeAndre Ayton, you know, who had a up and down time.
And I don't think anybody wouldn't have the riffs when right and all it
was was can you play? Yeah, just play play? They stay off
the video games, l N exactly. I mean kind of if you're the
coach, kind of like Tommy Lloyd with Boswell, right, right, just
play enough for this other stuff and then we catch it on camera and guess
what he was doing. He was coaching, right, isn't that what he's
wait to do, coaching and coaching hard. I mean, Da was a
double double machine and a guy that could get you, you know, like
twenty twenty five and fifteen in big games and in big spot's just you needed
the consistency there. And I hope he finds it in Portland because I know
people loved him for his one year here and he I think he deserves to
do well and he's this talented, talented athlete. Well, if he just
stays away from snowstorms, yep, you know what I'm talking about. He
didn't get to the game because the storm storm. Okay, No, So
what we were talking about before that, all sorts of good topics with Dwayne,
Yeah, dude, Dwayne right right right. So I think the new
coach is going to do fabulously well because he's he's respected, he knows the
game. The question is Kenny handled the three and Ken the afford a bench
because the bench wasn't there, right, And I think Dwayne made a very
good point about them moving contracts, having movable contracts to get under the second
apron of that salary cap. Because the big thing is I don't understand NBA
contract, contractual salary cap restrictions the same way that I do NFL, because
NFL's pretty straight up. You're not going over the salary cap. You just
are. The salary cap is what it is. Your contracts have to fit
underneath that. All your cap pits have to fit underneath that. Matt Eshpia
is in the not just the luxury tax, but the second apron of the
luxury tax, which gives so many interesting restrictions throughout the roster of guys that
they can trade, guys they can sign. They have different designations for different
players, like this is a bird rights player, this is a mid level
exception player, this is a super max contract player. All sorts of jargon
that you could get lost in the weeds with. But the big thing is
right now, the big thing to take away from that is the Suns don't
have a ton of flexibility unless they get some of these bigger contracts out of
there. And I think the three to take a look at are use of
nurkicsre Little, and Grayson Allen. So Ryan, he was talking Greek to
me, could you translate lost in the weeds or what the hell are you
talking about? With third options and restrictions way too way too much nbah argon.
I mean, I don't even understand it, very base level. I
just know the terms. Just give me a roster, Give me a roster,
aking coach, give me a roster, give me give me ten guys,
give me thirteen guys. And I think, you know, I think
Mike Budenholzer has shown that everywhere in his career. I mean, he made
an Eastern Conference Finals with Atlanta, and Atlanta team that wasn't very good and
obviously they got you know, smoked by a Lebron James team, but you
know, the wanted the NBA title in Milwaukee and won four straight games against
the Suns in the NBA Finals. He he has connections to Tucson. I'm
sure you're aware. He came to Loot's camps a number of times, helped
Loot camp. Back then, he was just the dude from Holbrook, Arizona,
yep. And you know, learning from things back way back in the
day. And now he's this guy right now, he's an NBA champion head
coach. It's coming with a big task on his shoulders too. And Dwayne
made a very good point that if things don't work it's not really going to
be late at the feet at the starts. It's going to be late at
the feet of the coach because that's the precedent that Matt Isshbia has set.
Sure. Sure, and you have three guys that you think would be able
to hold fort with their talents right now, whether the issues are between them?
Who knows? And maybe it is and nobody's written it or what did
I say before thee the show started? There's more to the story. There's
always more to the story. There's more of the story, and that could
be an issue, and it's our job to find it. It's our job
to talk about it. True, that's what I love about it. Then
excuse me. The thing about is when no one talks about it, no
one talks about it, right, right, But there was more of the
story. I mean, even recapping this year here in Tucson, there was
more of the story when Jedfish did not get his contract extension and that was
a really interesting time when it came to the budget deficit and everybody kind of
casting blame around that contract extension. Oh, we gotta wait for the border
regions getting in February. Everything like that. But the bottom line was fish
left right. And the roster still looks pretty darn good for next year.
And I would say Arizona has a much higher projection than Washington in twenty twenty
four. Yeah, no, in terms of winning and to successful winning their
conference. I mean, Washington's not winning the Big ten. I think I
don't know if I'm breaking any news here, but Washington's not winning this Big
ten. No. And I think those in the majority, when already should
thank Jed for moving it forward exactly and he did it greatly, and they'll
they'll live off this for a while, or they should. If they don't,
then you're in trouble. But it's different between living off of it and
catalyzing it. And I think that's what this staff needs to do. And
I think he brought in a lot of good assistant coaches. I think,
do you know, Babers is a good fit after being a head coach for
so long. Now The offensive coordinator here, Alonso Carter, the running backs
coach is you know, recruiting his butt off and doing extremely well. You
know, they got the admissions thing figured out with their likely starting running back
to Corey Krosky, Merrit transferring in for New Mexico. They got a deep
running back room, and the biggest thing is in college football and in pro
football, what have you? You got? The quarterback is the leader in
that locker room and step into his first full offseason as the starting quarterback.
I think he's worn that tag extremely well. You can't you can't afford injuries.
They can't afford that, obviously. And if they do well early,
you know, win the first two and play Kansas City, well, maybe
win that one. This town will be a football town again, at least
for a moment. Can you imagine that weekend of September twenty first, if
they go out to Kansas State, which is a tough place to win.
You know, I'm a guy who grew up on the old Big twelve,
so that was blown up in the twenty tens, but Kansas State is a
notoriously tough place to win. They've got a star quarterback that he was a
four or five star freshman last year in Avery Johnson, and he's gonna be
a really good matchup for Arizona. That's a non conference game, so it
doesn't hurt you in the conference standings, But can you imagine if Arizona goes
in on national TV on Fox in a primetime game and goes into Kansas State
and wins that against a likely ranked team. I mean, you're talking about
that bye week on September twenty first. That's a lot of optimism for two
weeks heading into the conference opener at a Utah team who will be predicted to
win this conference this next year. Yeah. Right, No, it should
be fun. Should be fun early part of the year, and and it'll
establish some kind of momentum. I hate I'm not even to use that word.
It's not established some hope. Okay. I gotta push back on you
on this though. They when they won the seven straight games to finish at
the end of the year. I know you're not a big momentum guy.
Yeah, but once they won that once they pulled that first upset and that
second upset, I'm talking about football. When once they won that second game,
it just felt like the ball was rolling downhill. Well, there's a
certain point and if you're trying to pin me in a corner, which you
just did, when it gets to a certain point, I like to call
it runs momentum. Momentum defining the dictionary is more uh static it's it's the
kinetic, connectic energy momentum. I get it because there's really no other word
to use except for runs. They went on a run. You could see
that the confidence was building. It was and it was behind the quarterback.
And we talked about this. Did you pay attention to the Stanford game?
Oh yeah, okay, so uh Fafida comes in late in the game,
gets hurt down exactly exactly. Did you sense, and we've talked about this
home up that when Delora came in, that the team had a sense of
Okay, here we go. It feels a little different energy. Yeah.
I think it was that, and I think it was especially late in that
game, them finding a little rhythm, them finding what they were able to
do well, him spreading the ball out extremely well. Now they came back
and beat a team that they were better than. That. Arizona was better
than Stanford and they should have never been down in the first place. Exactly.
But the following week you see them go toe to toe with a Washington
team that played for the national championship. Yeah, and they were They made
mistake. Arizona made a lot of mistakes in that game. In late September
against Washington, but they went toe to toe with them, and even going
down fourteen and seventeen in that game, they came back, they made it
a one score game, and they completely outplayed USC on the road the next
week and lost an overtime. Well my point, my point with this is
that's kind of when it started, and that's to your point momentum, to
my where the run started, because it was a different feeling behind a different
quarterback, and it felt like different play calling too, probably less crazy,
less sub more to his his talent, somebody that somebody like Jetfish who's cut
his teeth in the NFL and he's been around a lot of high level NFL
play callers. You if you get Jetfish, or if you get a play
caller of that caliber and that background in their rhythm, in their bag,
as the kids like to say, if you get him in that mode,
Oh yeah, well you know, I'm not gen Z. I identify with
the millennials. But the if you get a play caller like that in a
rhythm, then it starts to become Oh, this run works, this passworks,
this screen passwords. We're taking a deep shot here and it may be
complete, it may not, but it loosened the defense up exactly the way
we wanted to, and then everything sort of becomes that domino effect where the
play color is in the mode and an eight play drive feels like a blink
of an eye because every single play worked, or seven of the eight plays
worked. So to go back to the momentum issue with you, I'm more
of a every game is a season type of thing where Okay, you win
Saturday, the game is over, that season's over. We got to move
on to the next game, and they're all piled up each week or each
game football, because you have so many individual chess pieces in those games,
just like roulette, where you go on the streaks obviously and you pick the
right numbers or whatever. But every ball roll is different than the previous ball
roll, right, So, yes, you go on a momentum or you
win. To me, it's a run. So the word momentum is I
have a difficult time with it. Yeah, And I think but a lot
of that offense, a lot of what changed with the offense during that Stanford
game, during maybe the second half of that Washington game, the USC game
they should have won, and the win streak to end the season, I
think a lot of that boiled down to things working behind the quarterback, and
I was encouraged that they brought back so many good pieces on the offensive line.
Obviously losing a first round draft talent in Jordan Morgan who's now with the
Green Bay Packers. I think that's gonna hurt a little bit of the running
back they lost to Washington, right right, But they had to rebuild the
running back room as it was, even you know, losing Michael Wiley,
losing DJ Williams, you know, Jonah Coleman with the transfer to Washington,
one of their running back recruits also transferred to Washington. But they rebuilt the
running back room. You still have Racheon Speedy Luke there, and I think
that you have an offensive line that is adept at pass protection, and they're
going to use a lot of screen passes, a lot of those types of
plays. The tight ends a lot to set up the run game and not
maybe take the run game to something somewhere where it's carrying as much of a
load as maybe Jonah Coleman and Michael Wiley did last year. Yeah, we'll
see, there's a lot of potential. I hope for their sake that they
do really well because Tucson deserves a consistent winner. They haven't had that in
a while, even in the nineties when Dick tell me was doing it.
It was it was when when when lose, lose Strangely, lou when you
know it wasn't it wasn't consistent enough, the momentum wasn't there. If you
will, it's also sustainable, you know very much, Yeah, very much
so, because they have a lot of the principles back they do. They
do, but things have changed now that's a Big twelve. But but but
I don't know if you feel this way. It's a perfect spot for Arizona
overall because it's easier to play in the Big It'll be easier to play in
the Big Twelve than it has been in the Pac twelve. Given you're not
gonna beat Oregon consistently, you're not gonna be usc consistently, and some of
other teams where you have a chance against the group, not with Texas and
Oklahoma, especially especially because you had a conference like the Pac twelve was last
year with the best quarterback play in the entire nation. And so when you
are going through every single week and you've got okay We've got Michael Pennix one
week, all right, then we got Kaylei Williams the next week, all
right, We've got cam Ward the next week it was the highest valued player
in the transfer portal. And then the following week back here, you know,
you had dj U Jungalo for Oregon State. I mean just quarterback after
quarterback and then going on the road and beating Shador Sanders in Colorado. I
mean, that was a conference that was a bear last year, and you're
not seeing that in the Big Twelve this next year. I mean, Jalen
Daniels, great player, Cam Rising comes back for Utah. You know,
You've got a couple guys like the West Virginia quarterback, the Texas Tech quarterback
who are also pretty good. But I think Noah's right up there at the
top of the conference. And if Dwayna Keena can get this defense figured out
dialed in, I think they've got a real chance to make noise in this
league. Yeah, no, no question. And by noise you're talking top
two, top three for sure, absolutely contending for a playoff every year in
this new forma maybe win it all, which would be incredible. Fantastic is
the word. I tried wanted to use we'll see. I mean, it's
what is it? Lead me? It's right now, we're talking ball.
We've been talked to in October when there's a chance or if they don't because
historically, historically, I don't know if you know this, these these high
hopes that they have the year before comes falling with a big thud, unexplainably,
but it happens. I know I'm the Debbie downer of this group,
but it happened with the Khalils teams, you know, and that was I
think frustrating, all this hope and then it turned out to be nothing.
But I think Brent Brennan has taken the right approach and he's uh, he's
put his arms around this team and now we'll see if he can put together
a game plan to go win this big time. And I think he's the
perfect coach at this moment because Jed was a little out there in terms of
public or whatever, and Brennan is too. But his his temperament is perfect
where he's not He's not a famboyant guy. Hey look at me, you
look at me. He's just a minus business keep his head forward and a
normal dude. Yeah, and if you watch this cluss from San Jose State,
he's an intense dude. So it's not just it's not just the nice
guy that you see in the He's an intense guy. And I think his
love for football, his love already for these players, and him inspiring that
love of football and that commitment every day that can go a long way.
Whether your ex'es and o's are superior like a Jedfish team would, or whether
it's just or whether it's just as it is. I think it'll be a
fun year to watch. Thank you Matt for joining me for the last couple
of days, and enjoy your weekend and maybe we'll talk next week. You've
got great Thank you, Brian, thank you.