Speaker 1: He's the pride of Norwich, Connecticut and an adopted son
Speaker 1: of Salt Lake City. After forty years with the Utah Jazz,
Speaker 1: there's no one better to talk some hoops. Richard Smitty
Speaker 1: Smith is back on the drive on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 2: All right, Scott Mitchell's gonna roll by coming up in
Speaker 2: about an hour from right now, and then Bill Riley
Speaker 2: will join us following Scott's hit.
Speaker 3: Bill's gonna join us at four thirty.
Speaker 2: So back to some college football, some good stuff with
Speaker 2: Joe Fordenba today talking a little pro football, little college football.
Speaker 3: But it's been too long.
Speaker 2: We have our guy back in studio, forty years with
Speaker 2: the Jazz front office and now just living the dream.
Speaker 2: Richard Smith, Smitty, Happy Tuesday, buddy. How we doing it
Speaker 2: is a dream too?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: I know?
Speaker 5: Look look look where I've gotten the station in life
Speaker 5: that I've gotten to right now? Where on the opening
Speaker 5: act for the big hitters like Scott Mitchell and Bill Riley?
Speaker 4: How about that? Yeah? I mean we would have thunk it.
Speaker 2: This is the you caught the final branch, Miittie, where
Speaker 2: your final brand. We're we're propping you up. We appreciate
Speaker 2: your time. Man, how you been What's what's what's what's
Speaker 2: been going on with you?
Speaker 5: Hey, we've been on this, uh this worldwide tour that
Speaker 5: that my wife and I have been on all year
Speaker 5: and and in and out of town every month. We
Speaker 5: have something going on. And we were back east and
Speaker 5: got my my final two baseball parks in and uh
Speaker 5: so I've got all thirty ballparks under my belt. We
Speaker 5: did that and went to the US Open, and then
Speaker 5: went down a couple of weeks ago down to Phoenix
Speaker 5: to see Green Day and concert.
Speaker 4: And a couple of baseball games.
Speaker 5: And now next week because of our good friend Wesley
Speaker 5: Ruff and thanks again to West, he he got me
Speaker 5: in uh with Gina down at the h the PGA
Speaker 5: tournament at Black Desert. So we're going to volunteer and
Speaker 5: work down there next week and and have some fun
Speaker 5: seeing the course for the first time. I know, I
Speaker 5: know guys like you've been down there mastering the course.
Speaker 3: What's for VIP playing?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I got it, I got it, man, And that's
Speaker 5: why I'm I'll be down there working and probably emptying
Speaker 5: the garbage cans or doing something.
Speaker 3: But like I said, living the dream.
Speaker 2: It sounds like all right before we do a little jazz.
Speaker 2: I wanted to, you know, we said goodbye to the
Speaker 2: Bees here in the Capital City last week and I
Speaker 2: wasn't able to get down there last week, and I
Speaker 2: have been to a couple of games this year. Wanted
Speaker 2: to make sure I got to a couple before they moved.
Speaker 2: And you were there, and our guy Frank was there.
Speaker 3: I wonder what that was like.
Speaker 2: Frank has been such a fixture at that ballpark and
Speaker 2: you have two and after thirty years, they're heading down
Speaker 2: south to Daybreak. And you know, I'm a fan of
Speaker 2: the Miller's obviously, with what Gail Larry before Gail and
Speaker 2: then both of them, then Gail as the lone steward
Speaker 2: after Larry's passing, and I believe in their plan. You know,
Speaker 2: I've had Steve starkson studio, and if the endgame here
Speaker 2: is major League Baseball, which we all hope it is,
Speaker 2: I understand it. I live in Salt Lake, so it's
Speaker 2: a little bit of a bummer for me, and excited
Speaker 2: for our friends and daybreaks to experience it. But what
Speaker 2: was it like to be there for the final time
Speaker 2: with Frank?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was. It was interesting. It was very Uh,
Speaker 5: it was very emotional just from the standpoint that went
Speaker 5: while you're there, and at the at the end of
Speaker 5: the game, they let everybody come down and like run
Speaker 5: the bases or kind of just experience being on the
Speaker 5: field for a moment, you know. And and they usually
Speaker 5: do that with young kids after weekend games, or run
Speaker 5: the bases, but they they just let everybody come down
Speaker 5: and there were older folks down there with their with
Speaker 5: their canes and just walking, you know, from from home
Speaker 5: to first or whatever, just to be on the field
Speaker 5: one last time. And it was, uh, it was quite
Speaker 5: emotion think about it. Spencer Andy Larson did a great
Speaker 5: piece on this prior to it, uh with the sole
Speaker 5: A Tribune that that you know, baseball has been played
Speaker 5: on the corner of uh West Temple and Thirteenth South
Speaker 5: for almost one hundred years, you know, and now it's uh,
Speaker 5: uh it's going away. I you know, I'm in the
Speaker 5: same boat with you. I get it. You know, Hey,
Speaker 5: look we're doing this with the Bees and and and
Speaker 5: uh the week later, the Oakland A's at the major
Speaker 5: league level are doing it, you know in Oakland and
Speaker 5: they're leaving and you know, and that's just you know
Speaker 5: that that's happened over the course of time and in
Speaker 5: pro sports.
Speaker 4: And teams leave and and and so forth.
Speaker 5: But you know they're not leaving the market, obviously leaving
Speaker 5: for a different venue. But one of the misnomers, uh,
Speaker 5: I want to throw out there just to correct for
Speaker 5: people who who think that was the closing of the
Speaker 5: ballpark and and that and that baseball is done there. Actually,
Speaker 5: next spring, Utah Baseball will still be playing one more
Speaker 5: year at Smith's Ballpark as their ballpark being built up
Speaker 5: at the university campus uh is being finished. So there'll
Speaker 5: actually be some baseball played their next spring as a
Speaker 5: as a last hurrah, if you will, for for people
Speaker 5: who want to get down there and and see it
Speaker 5: one more time.
Speaker 4: But but it was emotional.
Speaker 5: They had a great Phil Collins song playing over the
Speaker 5: speakers at the end of the game, you know about
Speaker 5: going home and stuff and.
Speaker 4: And uh, uh you know it was uh it was.
Speaker 5: It got a little tearful as you were walking out
Speaker 5: and going this, I guess this is it.
Speaker 4: This is this is the end of it.
Speaker 2: Certainly Frank can speak for himself, as we all know,
Speaker 2: and I'll ask him this next time. I have the opportunity.
Speaker 2: But I wonder if you could shed some light on
Speaker 2: what it was like for him. Uh, seventheenen stretch. You know,
Speaker 2: that's his deal man. So what do you think it
Speaker 2: was like for Frank?
Speaker 5: No, And I'll tell you what. He was in great form.
Speaker 5: He not only did the seventh inning stretch and take
Speaker 5: me out to the ball game, but he had added
Speaker 5: just a little, a little ten second note at the
Speaker 5: end of it about we're gonna miss your old ballpark
Speaker 5: and we love you and and God bless everybody you
Speaker 5: know that's been coming here all these years, or something
Speaker 5: something to that effect. And was it was very heartfelt
Speaker 5: and I know, as Frank, only Frank can do. He
Speaker 5: spoke from the heart and right off the top and
Speaker 5: and uh it was a nice conclusion to it.
Speaker 2: Help help me remember Abbottsfield Brooklyn Dodgers, Yes, right, I
Speaker 2: mean maybe one of, if not the most famous baseball
Speaker 2: teams to get.
Speaker 3: Out of town.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Frank, Frank was a fan, right, and so he
Speaker 2: watched the Brooklyn Dodgers become the Los Angeles.
Speaker 5: He saw them move from Brooklyn after the fifty seventh season.
Speaker 5: And most people forget or or you know, if you're
Speaker 5: not a real baseball fan, maybe not aware that both
Speaker 5: New York City and It's hey day in the forties
Speaker 5: and fifties when all the teams were competitive, the Brooklyn Dodgers,
Speaker 5: the New York Yankees of course in the Bronx, and
Speaker 5: then the New York Giants. They were over in the
Speaker 5: Polo Grounds, which from a physical standpoint, you could walk
Speaker 5: from one to the other. They were only like three
Speaker 5: miles apart, but three big time Major League teams. And
Speaker 5: after the fifty seventh season, the Dodgers leave Brooklyn to
Speaker 5: go to La and the Giants leave the Polo Grounds
Speaker 5: and go to San Francisco. And it was actually a
Speaker 5: time when both the owners got together, the Dodgers and
Speaker 5: the Giants, and said, hey, we're gonna move. Yeah, you're
Speaker 5: gonna move, because we're not gonna move unless you're moving. Yeah,
Speaker 5: we'll do this together. We'll do it at the same time,
Speaker 5: so we'll be natural rivals on the West Coast, which
Speaker 5: you know, just transferred the rivalry from the East Coast
Speaker 5: to the West coast. But they actually there was a
Speaker 5: moment in time spence during all that where the two
Speaker 5: owners were trying to negotiate now where do you want
Speaker 5: to go? Yeah, well we were thinking about well, I
Speaker 5: don't know, we kind of liked that too, but what
Speaker 5: do you think about? And they actually just kind of
Speaker 5: sat in a room one night and just hashed it
Speaker 5: out and said, well, well we'll go to San Francisco. Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 5: that'll be okay. Are you sure because we're gonna go
Speaker 5: to ll Yeah okay. And so it was easy as that.
Speaker 5: But both of them made the move with the idea
Speaker 5: that we have to we have to make get more
Speaker 5: revenue from where we are now. And not only was
Speaker 5: it tendance, but it was also in concessions. It was
Speaker 5: also parking because if you knew anything about Brooklyn and
Speaker 5: the Polo Grounds, there was no parking around those venues
Speaker 5: and so it was all you know, you know, hit
Speaker 5: and miss and for the fans and all that. So
Speaker 5: they both moved west. It both built ballparks where they
Speaker 5: owned the parking around the structure around the facility. So
Speaker 5: and to this day it's still the same. Obviously, in
Speaker 5: La Chavez Ravine, you go to a Dodger game, you
Speaker 5: have to park in the Dodgers parking lot because there's
Speaker 5: nowhere else to go.
Speaker 4: Now there's some.
Speaker 5: People who park down the street like two miles away
Speaker 5: and they make the half hour walk or whatever. But realistically,
Speaker 5: they built it, and they surrounded the ballpark with a
Speaker 5: three hundred and sixty degree parking lot, so you go
Speaker 5: to a Dodger game, you have to pay them to park.
Speaker 5: And of course they owned the concession, so they got
Speaker 5: all this and that's how they built up there their
Speaker 5: farm system in the sixties and seventies and became very
Speaker 5: competitive and obviously still are today. And the Giants did
Speaker 5: the same thing when they originally moved, you know, west
Speaker 5: and got Candlestick Park.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the Cleveland Browns, the Baltimore raven stuff.
Speaker 5: Like.
Speaker 2: Communities lose their teams all the time. One more thing
Speaker 2: on this though, because I found myself a little, i
Speaker 2: don't know, a little I guess sympathetic to the folks
Speaker 2: in Oakland because now they've lost the Warriors, they've lost
Speaker 2: the Raiders, and they've lost the A's. Now, as you
Speaker 2: just outlined the motivation behind all these moves, it's one thing.
Speaker 3: It's one thing.
Speaker 2: Only The golden rule is the man with the gold
Speaker 2: makes the rules, and folks trying to you know, generate
Speaker 2: more revenue and create more revenue streams, parking and such
Speaker 2: in the Bay Area, I guess has provided that for
Speaker 2: the Warriors in a way that Oakland, I guess couldn't
Speaker 2: couldn't hang on to the Raiders. And now they've lost
Speaker 2: their baseball team. What do you make of when a
Speaker 2: community like that. I mean, it's one thing for Salt
Speaker 2: Lake to lose our minor league baseball team. To daybreak,
Speaker 2: you want to go see the Bees, you just have
Speaker 2: to drive another twenty three minutes, you know, right, right right.
Speaker 2: It's a whole other thing when a community over the
Speaker 2: past I don't know, six seven, eight years, has lost
Speaker 2: a basketball team that won four titles when they were there,
Speaker 2: a football team that won two titles while they were there,
Speaker 2: and a baseball team who at one point was thought
Speaker 2: to be the Darleida Major League Baseball. They never got
Speaker 2: over the well they won back in the day. But
Speaker 2: like the Billy Bean moneyball stuff. You know, some great
Speaker 2: Oakland A's memories certainly old enough to remember the Bash brothers,
Speaker 2: can sag or McGuire so three like community changing assets gone?
Speaker 4: Yep?
Speaker 3: What do you make of that?
Speaker 5: And for people who aren't aren't aren't really familiar with it.
Speaker 5: In the Oakland area, those two venues are literally right
Speaker 5: next door to each other, as it should be, right
Speaker 5: off the freeway the A eighty, and they share a
Speaker 5: huge parking lot area. And to have that whole that
Speaker 5: whole complex now is literally just sitting there. I don't
Speaker 5: know what the plans are by oak or Alameda County
Speaker 5: that runs those facilities, but it's uh, it's really a shame.
Speaker 5: It's really now literally a ghost town. You drive by
Speaker 5: them and there's nothing going on.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: Everything is shifted, whether it was with the Warriors, you know,
Speaker 5: over to the San Francisco side, you know, and they're
Speaker 5: right down the street from where the Giants are, uh now,
Speaker 5: and so everything's kind of centered in San Francisco. And
Speaker 5: and of course the Raiders moved to Vegas and now
Speaker 5: they're supposedly the A's are going to eventually be in
Speaker 5: Vegas at some point.
Speaker 4: But it's but but it's tough. Look, the.
Speaker 5: Raiders had the fan base they just wanted. They just
Speaker 5: wanted a new setup and new revenue streams that Oakland
Speaker 5: couldn't provide. The A's dwindling attendance and in the last
Speaker 5: ten fifteen years, wanted to get a new ballpark like
Speaker 5: the Giants had, couldn't get it, and the taxpayers there
Speaker 5: kept kept voting it down, and so and and and rightfully,
Speaker 5: so why should they pay money for somebody else's business,
Speaker 5: you know, Larry Miller always took that stance. You know,
Speaker 5: why why would I ask the taxpayers for money when
Speaker 5: it's my business?
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: So the A's are now gonna, you know, go to
Speaker 5: Sacramento for a few years and hopefully get eventually to Vegas.
Speaker 5: But that's gonna be another interesting thing, the whole Vegas
Speaker 5: A's thing if you look into it, because they're tearing
Speaker 5: down the Tropic Cane when I was there a few
Speaker 5: months ago. It is coming down. It's it's a big
Speaker 5: construction site. And yet you know, there are several engineers
Speaker 5: who have written independent people have written reports about that
Speaker 5: footprint and Vegas on that corner across from MGM Grand
Speaker 5: and saying you cannot put a major league ballpark on
Speaker 5: that footprint and make it work in terms of logistics
Speaker 5: and what you really need engineering wise, not to say
Speaker 5: what it would impact obviously with traffic and parking and
Speaker 5: all the things, but that part of Vegas and the
Speaker 5: south end of the Strip is is like that anyway.
Speaker 4: It's it's a big mess in the zoo.
Speaker 5: And you know, but everybody goes anyway, right, everybody's going
Speaker 5: to the Raiders games. People flock in to see the
Speaker 5: w NBA, the Aces play T Mobile is always packed
Speaker 5: whenever they have college games at T Mobile. They've figured
Speaker 5: it out at UNLV at Thomas and Max, so they'll
Speaker 5: figure something out. But it's it's going to be interesting,
Speaker 5: it's not. It's not this slam dunk deal. I think
Speaker 5: that a lot of people are assuming the a's are
Speaker 5: automatically going to that site. That's that's going to be
Speaker 5: an interesting thing to watch.
Speaker 3: Last thing in this space, then we'll move on.
Speaker 2: And Commissioner Silver gave his annual you know, State of
Speaker 2: the Union whatever you call it, prior to the start
Speaker 2: of training camps in the NBA, and he said, you know,
Speaker 2: there's no imminent plans to expand, but eventually they will.
Speaker 2: And the talents there, certainly in pro basketball when you
Speaker 2: look at a lot of the players that are out
Speaker 2: of the league that seem to be still somewhat young
Speaker 2: and really good, I would imagine, you know, there is
Speaker 2: an argument at a time. You know, at one time
Speaker 2: that expansion would dilute the talent. I don't know that
Speaker 2: I'm there with it anymore when it does happen, because
Speaker 2: I'm also old enough to remember commissioners, you know, Pete Roselle,
Speaker 2: David Stern, Bargie Imani like older commissioners that are no
Speaker 2: longer there talking about how they would never touch Vegas
Speaker 2: because of the gambling, the nightlife or whatever it is.
Speaker 2: And now everything has changed because all these sports are
Speaker 2: in bed with the gambling companies, and so now it
Speaker 2: feels like Vegas, Super Bowl, Final four, whatever it is.
Speaker 2: When the NBA expands, do you think it is Vegas?
Speaker 2: Do you think it's Seattle? What do you think that
Speaker 2: looks like?
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what I would think, Spence. The logical places
Speaker 5: are Seattle and Las Vegas. As the current economy dictates.
Speaker 5: You know, Saint Louis may try and get in the mixed.
Speaker 5: Louisville may try and get in the mix. Vancouver or Montreal.
Speaker 3: I'd be behind Vancouver. I was from that. We lost
Speaker 3: that sit.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know I'll all be in the mix.
Speaker 5: All have have groups that will that will make a
Speaker 5: pitch anyway, But it just seems like the big dogs
Speaker 5: in the fight at the moment would be those in
Speaker 5: Seattle and the people who want to get it in Vegas,
Speaker 5: because that just seems to be where everybody is flowing.
Speaker 5: And the NBA has a relationship with Las Vegas for
Speaker 5: the last twenty years with the Summer League, and they
Speaker 5: have they and and until last year, we're also holding
Speaker 5: their G League showcase there in December every year, and
Speaker 5: the league would have meetings there and every team would
Speaker 5: be there. So those seem like the logical places that
Speaker 5: they would go to next.
Speaker 2: So before we maybe we'll just do some jazz on
Speaker 2: our next segment, because I did want to kick the
Speaker 2: tires with you on some news that came down today.
Speaker 3: Gonzaga is going to join the PAC twelve.
Speaker 2: And you know, Mark Fuse, a guy who I know
Speaker 2: that you know, and he's probably had opportunities to take
Speaker 2: jobs and other places over the course of his career
Speaker 2: because he's been so good up there. But from a
Speaker 2: college basketball standpoint as far as how much it moves
Speaker 2: the needle, I just wanted to get your take on
Speaker 2: what Mark is built up there. Because Gonzaga is joining
Speaker 2: a conference because of the basketball program, right, which is
Speaker 2: a rarity in today's day and age of college athletics.
Speaker 2: The only other school I can think of that would
Speaker 2: be able to do something like this is Yukon, right,
Speaker 2: because the football program is, you know, not what the
Speaker 2: basketball program is. But what do you make of what
Speaker 2: mark is built up at Gonzaga where they can actually
Speaker 2: get a conference invite because of their basketball prowess only?
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, it's a tremendous feather in their cap that
Speaker 5: they've had that kind of a program for over twenty
Speaker 5: years now, twenty five years and counting. They don't have
Speaker 5: football at Gonzaga, so they rely heavily on men's basketball
Speaker 5: for whether it's revenue streams or whether it's increased enrollment
Speaker 5: or applications for admission and that kind of thing.
Speaker 4: What Mark few will do?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: That would be interesting because I.
Speaker 5: Don't know, you know, if and this is just me,
Speaker 5: I don't know anything about it at all. But you know,
Speaker 5: when you're making a move like that, are you still
Speaker 5: going to be the big dog, you know, or or
Speaker 5: as you would say, the big fish in the little
Speaker 5: pond as they've been for so long in the West
Speaker 5: Coast Conference, right, Saint Mary's is as as far them
Speaker 5: somewhat by U somewhat when they were in it, but
Speaker 5: they were always the top dog. And now if you're not,
Speaker 5: if you're not going to do that, and now with
Speaker 5: N I N I L stuff and and the and
Speaker 5: the transfer portal, how are you What is it going
Speaker 5: to be your attraction to those players to keep them,
Speaker 5: and what is going to be your base from a
Speaker 5: uh financial standpoint to be able to stay where you
Speaker 5: are in those circles that you know, uh, they've been.
Speaker 5: They've been more than a few coaches spent just in
Speaker 5: the last couple of years that I've known who have said, Hey,
Speaker 5: I can't deal it, deal with it. It's a whole
Speaker 5: different deal. I'm out of here, you know, and have
Speaker 5: just retired and left the game. You know, whether it
Speaker 5: was Randy Ray up at Weaver Stay or whether it
Speaker 5: was uh Jay at then at Villanova. You know, Mike
Speaker 5: Krychevski of course, is a little bit older, so you know,
Speaker 5: probably a ripe time for him to retire anyway. But
Speaker 5: a lot of prominent guys in the last couple of
Speaker 5: years have said, you know, I don't think I can
Speaker 5: deal with this stuff, and so, uh, Gonzaga moving into
Speaker 5: that kind of conference will be interesting to see, uh
Speaker 5: just how Mark Few deals with that on a personal
Speaker 5: and professional level.
Speaker 4: Going forward.
Speaker 2: All Right, some some sad news the surface this week.
Speaker 2: And I had a chance on a few occasions to
Speaker 2: meet to Kenby Matambaugh. He was at Patrick Ewean's retirement
Speaker 2: of the Garden. And you know, jazz fans remember great
Speaker 2: battles with Mark and and Carl you know, back when
Speaker 2: the Kembe was in Denver, Uh, when he was in Atlanta,
Speaker 2: the Knicks and the Hawks had a little thing going
Speaker 2: back and forth. And you know, we could talk about
Speaker 2: his game, certainly a second all time in blocks, one
Speaker 2: of the best rebounding blockshot bigs of that era. But
Speaker 2: it seems like most of the conversation this weeksman, he
Speaker 2: has been about who he was when he wasn't playing
Speaker 2: as an ambassador. And you are uniquely qualified to talk
Speaker 2: about this. You've done some stuff basketball without borders down
Speaker 2: in Africa's home country, republic of Congo.
Speaker 3: What would you.
Speaker 2: Tell our listeners about your knowledge of de Kembe as
Speaker 2: he passed away this week at the age of fifty eight.
Speaker 5: Yeah, what sad news to get you know, that he
Speaker 5: died of brain cancer, and one an awful thing to
Speaker 5: have to deal with, and at such a young age.
Speaker 5: He was a very impactful player on the court. He
Speaker 5: was very meaningful to the teams that he played for
Speaker 5: in terms of his personality, in terms of his his
Speaker 5: total approach to the profession. You know, he was really
Speaker 5: a great locker room guy, uh that that rally people
Speaker 5: around him, but even more so off the court, both
Speaker 5: for his his home country, both for the continent of Africa,
Speaker 5: both as an ambassador for the NBA. He was the
Speaker 5: first official NBA Ambassador, International ambassador, and was employed by
Speaker 5: the NBA for for many many years to go around
Speaker 5: the world and and and preach the game of basketball
Speaker 5: and to represent the NBA at the highest levels. And
Speaker 5: he was a guy who could get it done, and
Speaker 5: he had that personality. He also had a certain level
Speaker 5: of humbleness about him, you know, where he was able
Speaker 5: to meet you know, dignitaries and and politicians in different
Speaker 5: countries and at the highest level and be able to
Speaker 5: get in the door and and talk with them about
Speaker 5: you know, spreading the game and building basketball courts and
Speaker 5: getting infrastructures in place for countries and to get involved
Speaker 5: in this sport. And he was just a great global ambassador.
Speaker 5: And what a genuine person he was who was grateful
Speaker 5: for the opportunities he got in this country to do
Speaker 5: what he loved to do, and then was all about
Speaker 5: giving back to that after his career. And what a
Speaker 5: what a loss for the game basketball, what a loss
Speaker 5: for humanity in general to have someone like him pass
Speaker 5: away at such an early age.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well said all right.
Speaker 2: Coming up next to Jazz open up training camp. It
Speaker 2: is that week in pro basketball, so we'll do a
Speaker 2: little jazz coming up on the other side. Also, Donovan
Speaker 2: Mitchell loves Cleveland because he can dress for the cold
Speaker 2: and he's excited about the future. Where have we heard
Speaker 2: that before? We'll get somebody's take on that. I want
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Speaker 2: Jazz coming up with Smitty live in studio, keep it
Speaker 2: right here on ESPN seven hundred. We've got Scott Mitchell
Speaker 2: stopping by today at four o'clock to talk from Utah football.
Speaker 2: Then the voice of the Utes, Bill Riley, will be
Speaker 2: our guest after that. So some college football coming your way.
Speaker 2: We'll get back at that. Coming up in a bit.
Speaker 2: Smitty is live in studio, the great Richard Smith forty
Speaker 2: years with the Jazz Front Office. Speaking of college football
Speaker 2: so many. We might have two really good teams in
Speaker 2: our state. We got Little Utes, little Cougars. Both both
Speaker 2: look like they're pretty good this year. Hey, let's get
Speaker 2: Smitty's mic on. All right, let's try again. I just
Speaker 2: so you know, I cannot control your mic or my
Speaker 2: mic in the studio, so that okay, well, okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're good. Now a couple of it's always better when
Speaker 2: they're both right.
Speaker 5: Hey, Hey, there's probably some of the factors involved in
Speaker 5: going Hey, we've heard enough of that guy already.
Speaker 4: Somebody cut his mic off or something.
Speaker 2: No, it's a much more nuanced, you know, the explanation
Speaker 2: one that will leave off air for today. But you're
Speaker 2: you're a man of the community. We got both b
Speaker 2: y U and Utah footballer concerned.
Speaker 5: Oh hey, I've been to the games the last few
Speaker 5: games at home, and went to the game the other
Speaker 5: night and and uh, you know, just you know, I
Speaker 5: thought Arizona just outplayed them. You know, they they What
Speaker 5: they really did to me for me was that Arizona
Speaker 5: every time they had a critical third down play, they
Speaker 5: made the play. And you have to give them credit
Speaker 5: for that. They they went out and got it. I
Speaker 5: thought I didn't think it was something you know, so
Speaker 5: called that the that the you gave away a lost
Speaker 5: as much as Arizona came and took it. From him,
Speaker 5: and so you have to give him credit. They they
Speaker 5: they just played better. Uh and and b y U
Speaker 5: is off to a tremendous start and uh the quarterback
Speaker 5: is really it seems like he's settling in And and
Speaker 5: they've had a couple of close calls, but they but
Speaker 5: they've been good enough to to make them again make
Speaker 5: the plays when they had to make him. In football,
Speaker 5: a lot of times it comes down to one or
Speaker 5: two critical plays or or a key turnover, you know,
Speaker 5: in the second half of the game.
Speaker 4: And and uh uh.
Speaker 5: But they're both fun to watch, and it's fun to
Speaker 5: to see how this season evolves, you know, with the
Speaker 5: whole cam rising uh Isaac Wilson thing and and uh
Speaker 5: and and what's gonna happen as we get into uh
Speaker 5: through the month of October and where they're both sitting
Speaker 5: uh in in uh and set up for the big
Speaker 5: showdown in early November up at Rice Ecles between the
Speaker 5: Cougars and the Utes.
Speaker 2: I wanted to kick the tires with you on this
Speaker 2: topic because you know Donovan Mitchell in a way that
Speaker 2: the rest of us just don't. I mean, you were
Speaker 2: with the team when you drafted him. You were there
Speaker 2: at the start. You watched his evolution and I was
Speaker 2: over there. But on the radio side, you don't have
Speaker 2: the same access obviously as you do on the player
Speaker 2: of personnel side. And whenever Donovan speaks, folks around here
Speaker 2: seemed to glom on to what he talks about.
Speaker 3: It was the same thing with Hayward.
Speaker 2: When Gordon bounced, everybody around here was like waiting for
Speaker 2: him to say something, but ultimately he never said until
Speaker 2: he retired, and I get the deal.
Speaker 3: You know that, so do you.
Speaker 2: What Donovan said yesterday during Cleveland Media Day caught a
Speaker 2: lot of attention around here because he said, I love
Speaker 2: it here. I feel a connection to the city. I
Speaker 2: don't mind cold weather. I know how to dress for winter.
Speaker 2: And honestly, if you close your eyes, it was back
Speaker 2: during his rookie year what he said those things about Utah, right, And.
Speaker 3: So that's the game. You're supposed to say those things.
Speaker 2: Now we could get into like you know, New York
Speaker 2: didn't want him and now they don't need him. Brooklyn's
Speaker 2: rebuilding the Knicks at Jalen Like, there's no way the
Speaker 2: Knicks we're going to make a play for Donovan, Mitchell
Speaker 2: and Brooklyn doesn't want to be good, So the fact
Speaker 2: of the matter is he can say whatever he wants.
Speaker 2: He signed with Cleveland right right after it became pretty
Speaker 2: apparent that that was just the deal he could make
Speaker 2: more money stay and put That's my opinion, And I
Speaker 2: like you, I'm not up in arms about these things
Speaker 2: because you you're taught to say certain things to appease
Speaker 2: a fan base. But it was somewhat comical that if
Speaker 2: you closed your eyes, it did sound like what Donovan
Speaker 2: said about salt Lake.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, and I I'm one of those who
Speaker 5: probably feels more that coming from him that both times
Speaker 5: he spoke in that regard that he probably meant it.
Speaker 5: You know, he liked being here in Salt Lake when
Speaker 5: he first got here, and he really ingratiated himself within
Speaker 5: the community and and made a lot of stuff off
Speaker 5: the court. It took initiative to get involved in the
Speaker 5: community and did that, and I think he really, he
Speaker 5: really liked it. I think that's part of his personality.
Speaker 5: And I think now the in Cleveland and he signed
Speaker 5: a new deal with them, Spence, Uh, I believe he
Speaker 5: probably feels genuinely that way. I think he likes where
Speaker 5: he is, you know, but certainly after right after signing
Speaker 5: an extension for one hundred and fifty million dollars, you're
Speaker 5: not gonna say, I don't really like the weather. I
Speaker 5: don't know about this traffic I gotta deal with every day.
Speaker 2: But you know, I'll figure it out whatever.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, so you know, I don't, I don't.
Speaker 5: I don't begrudge of any of that. I think he's
Speaker 5: you know, he's also got a lot of weight on
Speaker 5: his shoulders with that team. Now moving forward, they've got
Speaker 5: a new coach and Kenny Atkinson, and and you know,
Speaker 5: they hired Johnny Bryant to be on their staff. So
Speaker 5: they hired him away from the from the New York
Speaker 5: Knicks staff. And Johnny Bryant was with Donovan's workout development
Speaker 5: guy from day one on the Jazz coaching staff, and
Speaker 5: so they have a unique relationship. And so they're reunited
Speaker 5: and Eveland and and and now he's you know, he's
Speaker 5: the big dog with a lot of young guys there,
Speaker 5: and they've got a good team and I'm sure he's
Speaker 5: excited for them to be able to start making some progress,
Speaker 5: especially as their uh as their their younger players start
Speaker 5: to get more and more experience under their belts, all.
Speaker 2: Right to Maddy before we move over to the jazz
Speaker 2: and that's where we'll spend the rest of our time
Speaker 2: after this topic. You don't get a ton of big
Speaker 2: NBA trades in September at October, but you get some.
Speaker 2: And by the way, Donovan was traded in September. So
Speaker 2: sometimes it happens more often than not this time of year.
Speaker 2: Teams know what sort of hand they've been Dell. They're
Speaker 2: preparing for camp with their roster. But the Knicks and
Speaker 2: the Wolves make a deal last Friday. It was a
Speaker 2: Friday news dump where Julius Randall and Dante DiVincenzo are
Speaker 2: now Minnesota bounds and Karl Anthony Towns is going going
Speaker 2: back to play for Tom Thibodeau, who had him in Minnesota.
Speaker 2: I believe for a little bit. I think I'll just
Speaker 2: I want your thoughts. Essentially, I think the talent win
Speaker 2: is in New York's court. I have curiosities about how
Speaker 2: Tom's gonna handle that rotation, because it will be I
Speaker 2: believe Kat and don ob Hart, Bridges and Bronson, and
Speaker 2: that's a team with some great wing defenders, but not
Speaker 2: a lot of size and a center that doesn't board
Speaker 2: great for his size. I mean, Cat can do a lot,
Speaker 2: But what do you make of this? Both both sides?
Speaker 2: Randall Devincenzo Minnesota bound Cat heads to New York.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's uh New York is shoring up
Speaker 5: the center position. Of course, they lost Isaiah Hartenstein uh
Speaker 5: in the in the offseason as a free agent Oklahoma City.
Speaker 4: You know they they're the Robinson kid. Who's who's who's.
Speaker 5: Got some talent and can affect winning some nights at
Speaker 5: the NBA level. Uh, he's hard to He's been hard
Speaker 5: for them to count on because of his injury. His
Speaker 5: he seems to always be in and out, in and out,
Speaker 5: and so you can't count on his availability. So if
Speaker 5: you're gonna be somebody a team that feels like you
Speaker 5: having a legitimate chance to make some kind of extended
Speaker 5: run in the spring, then you need somebody that you
Speaker 5: can count on more and more consistently during the course
Speaker 5: of the season. And I think that was an impetus
Speaker 5: for the Dicks to make the move to get an
Speaker 5: All Star caliber player in Karl Anthony Towns at a
Speaker 5: position where they needed some stability and needed a main guy,
Speaker 5: and and they got one from Minnesota. It always seemed
Speaker 5: like Rudy Gobert and and Towns were kind of bumping
Speaker 5: into each other. I mean, they're both natural centers. They
Speaker 5: tried to play Towns at the four. They had, you know,
Speaker 5: some success with it, right and but it always felt
Speaker 5: like it was a square pagan a round hole as
Speaker 5: far as they all line lineup, was concerned. And now
Speaker 5: that frees up, they're spacing a little bit more. They
Speaker 5: get Randall in there, and and Randall is a great
Speaker 5: mid post score who can bring them some offense. You know,
Speaker 5: you know, you lose a lot of offense in that regard,
Speaker 5: but you have a little bit better lineup, I think
Speaker 5: in terms of how your your your starting five is
Speaker 5: structured for Minnesota. And then you add Devincenzo, who's one
Speaker 5: of the top five three point shooters last year in
Speaker 5: the league and can certainly help you space the floor
Speaker 5: with the other shooters they have, especially with Edwards now
Speaker 5: emerging as the main guy in the league. So I
Speaker 5: think it's one of those trade spens that for me,
Speaker 5: when I saw it, I kind of looked at it
Speaker 5: for a few minutes, kind of thought about it. Looked
Speaker 5: at a few stats, a few things, and thought, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: it makes sense for both teams. You know, I don't
Speaker 5: think any either team was trying to get the upper hand.
Speaker 5: I think both teams are doing something that they felt
Speaker 5: made sense for their group and how they're currently set up.
Speaker 5: And they both made the moves with an eye toward
Speaker 5: feeling like we can be half a step better with
Speaker 5: what we're trying to do if we can make this
Speaker 5: kind of move. And I think that's where they both
Speaker 5: feel at this time.
Speaker 3: So let's move over to the jazz now.
Speaker 2: I want to start here Howard Beck from The Ringer,
Speaker 2: formerly of The New York Times, formally.
Speaker 3: Of Well Everywhere Sports Illustrated.
Speaker 4: Howard not keep a job? Is that what you're telling me?
Speaker 3: Howard might be my favorite NBA writer.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised he's never stayed in one place, but he's
Speaker 2: landed on his feet, as he does every time one
Speaker 2: company lets him go.
Speaker 4: No, he's very good at what he does, and.
Speaker 2: Every year he writes what he calls the Clarity Index. Okay,
Speaker 2: so what that is is not necessarily a composite ranking
Speaker 2: of NBA teams. It's Howard's opinion on what they are
Speaker 2: trying to do currently, and with some NBA teams, it's
Speaker 2: really easy to understand what they are trying to do.
Speaker 2: The Knicks obviously are all in now. They're trying to win,
Speaker 2: and we could go down the list of teams that
Speaker 2: are serious about winning, teams that are not, and teams
Speaker 2: that are obvious about not being serious about winning. Here's
Speaker 2: what he says about the Jazz quote. And now for
Speaker 2: the Jazz, they might be the most confusing of all.
Speaker 2: A team that Jettiston It's two All stars two years ago,
Speaker 2: isn't good enough to make the playoffs, isn't bad enough
Speaker 2: to have a high draft pick. They could have dealt
Speaker 2: lowry market in a dozen times by now, but they
Speaker 2: instead gave him an extension that makes him trade ineligible
Speaker 2: until till next summer. They're neither trying to win, nor
Speaker 2: are they trying to lose the epitome of a franchise
Speaker 2: with an identity crisis.
Speaker 3: What's the Richard Smith take on that?
Speaker 5: Well, I think that what they've you know, the first
Speaker 5: two years of this so called retooling or rebuilding or
Speaker 5: tear down or whatever however you want to label it.
Speaker 5: I can see where people fans, writers, media people would
Speaker 5: be confused because they saw that they were having some
Speaker 5: modicum of success early in each of the seasons and
Speaker 5: then went ahead at the trade deadliner traded the you
Speaker 5: know guys who are helping them to do that. But
Speaker 5: I think those are things that that that they saw
Speaker 5: as ways of trying to shore up uh their their
Speaker 5: draft stockpile and trying to get trying to figure out
Speaker 5: where they actually were as a team. Now I think
Speaker 5: that they have they have a commitment to playing their
Speaker 5: young guys. So whether you like that or not, whether
Speaker 5: that's gonna mean more losses or the same number of wins,
Speaker 5: I don't know, but I think it's gonna I think
Speaker 5: it's gonna be hard for them to have any level
Speaker 5: of success at least this coming season in any consistent
Speaker 5: fashion because they it seems like from what I understand,
Speaker 5: they're gonna play a lot of their young guys a
Speaker 5: lot of minutes, and they're gonna roll with what's going on,
Speaker 5: and if that yields fewer wins and they get closer
Speaker 5: to the lottery land and all that, I think that's
Speaker 5: that's probably okay with them. I do think the marketing thing,
Speaker 5: you know adds a little wrench in there, But I
Speaker 5: do think that if you're trying to build a team,
Speaker 5: when you find a guy and you can get a
Speaker 5: guy and then you can hold on to him, uh
Speaker 5: and someone at his level, he's an all star level player,
Speaker 5: he's right in his prime. He wants to be here
Speaker 5: and for them to lock him up. For me, that
Speaker 5: made a lot of sense because you know, whether that
Speaker 5: translates to wins and losses or we're not going to
Speaker 5: be bad enough now or whatever.
Speaker 4: You got.
Speaker 5: When you get a good player like that and you
Speaker 5: can you can get him to commit to you, then
Speaker 5: you have to do that. That's the first building block.
Speaker 5: Now you got all these other young guys that you're
Speaker 5: trying to sift through. You know, it's like the guy
Speaker 5: and it's like the old uh uh guy mining for
Speaker 5: gold spence in the river. He gets the big the
Speaker 5: big sifter out and he gets all the dirt in
Speaker 5: it and he starts shuffling it around and he's hoping
Speaker 5: he has a gold nugget or two uh in that
Speaker 5: when all the dirt, dirt and the and the silk
Speaker 5: goes away. And that's that's what the jazz are doing.
Speaker 5: Now they're trying to figure out, Okay, we got all
Speaker 5: these young guys. We're gonna see who can play, who
Speaker 5: can't play. We're gonna see who we like, who we
Speaker 5: don't like. We're gonna see who the coach thinks can
Speaker 5: can get something done down the road. And that's where
Speaker 5: we're at right now. And in the meantime, marketing will
Speaker 5: be our star player and whether he affects winning uh
Speaker 5: to any level that that that adversely affects their lottery
Speaker 5: UH situation, that's something that they'll deal with, you know,
Speaker 5: as they go along. But you have to keep good
Speaker 5: players when you have them, although that you know, again
Speaker 5: that goes against what the current group decided to do
Speaker 5: a couple of years ago when they had a lot
Speaker 5: of good players and got rid of all of them,
Speaker 5: But that's what they decided to do. So now this
Speaker 5: is the new iteration of just what they're going through
Speaker 5: to try and build the team that they think at
Speaker 5: some point can be sustainable down the road.
Speaker 2: So give me your best guess on how this is
Speaker 2: going to go, because I often look at the Vegas
Speaker 2: over unders where the guys in Vegas are pretty accurate
Speaker 2: as far as you know, predicting how the season is
Speaker 2: going to go, and history will tell you that they
Speaker 2: know what they're doing. So they have the consensus over
Speaker 2: runner for the Jazz is twenty nine point five. So
Speaker 2: Vegas is telling us the Jazz are gonna win about
Speaker 2: thirty games. Okay, so you know, initially, at first glance,
Speaker 2: that is problematic if you want, if you want to
Speaker 2: believe that the Jazz need to do everything they can
Speaker 2: to have draft capital to take your aley. Cooper Flagg,
Speaker 2: who it appears as of now will be the number
Speaker 2: one pick, and you always point out and then we'll see,
Speaker 2: right like everybody seems to believe he's one of these
Speaker 2: generational pieces. No one ever knows Wembanyama Lebron. There are
Speaker 2: exceptions where it feels like, all right, just take the dude,
Speaker 2: because he's gonna be that guy. We'll see if Cooper
Speaker 2: Flagg is. People that do this for a living believe
Speaker 2: that he is in a way that I don't do
Speaker 2: it for a living. So the teams they have below
Speaker 2: the Jazz are the Hornets, the Bulls, the Raptors, the Pistons,
Speaker 2: the Nets, the Blazers, and the Wizard. So that's seven
Speaker 2: teams that Vegas is telling us is worse than the
Speaker 2: Jazz putting the Jazz at eight Now lottery odds have
Speaker 2: been flattened, as we've talked about, So even if you
Speaker 2: go all in on losing, you're not gonna get one
Speaker 2: asked Detroit and Xanik at their media availability on Friday
Speaker 2: of last week, basically alluded to the fact that we
Speaker 2: have a lot of young players that we like, but
Speaker 2: the only way for us to know who they are
Speaker 2: is for them to get playing time. So does that
Speaker 2: indicate we're going to see starting lineup, a rotation all
Speaker 2: of these young players. What does this mean for Clarkson
Speaker 2: and Sexton and marketing in John Collins? I mean, Lowry's
Speaker 2: going to start and play, as my guess, but how
Speaker 2: is this gonna look trying to get the young players
Speaker 2: some minutes and experience while you still have some proud,
Speaker 2: highly paid vets on your roster.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I wouldn't be surprised if one or more
Speaker 5: of those guys were on the move, you know, between
Speaker 5: now in February. I mean, if you're gonna go all
Speaker 5: in with the young guys and you're gonna try and
Speaker 5: sift through and see, you know, his Collier a real
Speaker 5: NBA level point guard. Is Keyante George more of a
Speaker 5: scoring two off the bench than he is a lead
Speaker 5: point guard? Or can he play point guard? Are we
Speaker 5: gonna let him have a lot of those minutes like
Speaker 5: they were the second half of last year and to
Speaker 5: see what kind of development he he brings to the table.
Speaker 5: Ken Hendrix, you know whose body looks much better now
Speaker 5: than it did six months ago. He's put on some
Speaker 5: off season muscle and and he's starting to mature into
Speaker 5: his body. Will he be able to uh uh give
Speaker 5: you some impactful minutes going into the season. The Filipowski
Speaker 5: kid they got in the early second round, you know,
Speaker 5: might be a steal in terms of having a guy
Speaker 5: who could at least come in and be a rotation
Speaker 5: guy and actually give you some minutes and get and
Speaker 5: be like an all around type player. It'll be interesting
Speaker 5: to see his development. So I I do think that
Speaker 5: the jazz uh powers that be looking at it and saying, Okay,
Speaker 5: we got all these guys, now, the young guys, Now,
Speaker 5: we got to figure out who can play, who we want,
Speaker 5: who we who we want to move on from. So
Speaker 5: they're going to be doing all of that. I I
Speaker 5: mean the older guys, whether it's Clarkson, whether it's Collins,
Speaker 5: Sexton is is. I like Sexton, He's young enough, you know,
Speaker 5: he still should be considered one of the young guys
Speaker 5: to me, but particularly clark AND's, uh, Clark's and Collins.
Speaker 5: I would be surprised if they were still on the
Speaker 5: roster come the end of February, just because I think
Speaker 5: they're guys who you know. Clarkson you can move. I
Speaker 5: think a little bit easier because his number isn't as
Speaker 5: big now. It went from twenty four to fourteen, So
Speaker 5: now he becomes a guy that teams that are in
Speaker 5: the hunt, you know, after the first of the year
Speaker 5: they need a scorer off the bench, you know, becomes
Speaker 5: attractive to teams like that. Collins would be a little
Speaker 5: bit tougher because of his big number. So that may
Speaker 5: be someone at some point where they if they can't
Speaker 5: move them, they have to some kind of a buyout
Speaker 5: agreement or something. But it just seems to me that
Speaker 5: they're going to go in with the young guys. And
Speaker 5: if you're going to go in, then you gotta play
Speaker 5: them and play them and play them and just see
Speaker 5: how it falls and who's showing up as the season
Speaker 5: goes on.
Speaker 3: All right, it's Manny.
Speaker 2: Before I said you loose, I want to ask you
Speaker 2: a question, and we alluded to this a little bit
Speaker 2: last year. And you take us into the the mindset
Speaker 2: of roster construction and what this process looks like.
Speaker 3: And you know, I remember Dennis Lindz.
Speaker 2: He always had his five year plan on his whiteboard,
Speaker 2: and you know, looking ahead to the future, and what
Speaker 2: does it look like when our best players are in
Speaker 2: their prime juxtaposed to what the other teams in our
Speaker 2: conference look like. There's no perfect way to do this,
Speaker 2: and there's no one way to do this. I understand
Speaker 2: that there are a bunch of different approaches. I think
Speaker 2: there are some that are tried and true and others
Speaker 2: that are a little bit more unproven. I'll just ask you,
Speaker 2: generally speaking, does the glut of young, really good teams
Speaker 2: that are far ahead of the Jazz change the timeline?
Speaker 2: Change the calculation? When you look at okayc not going
Speaker 2: anywhere for a while and being awesome, I could keep going,
Speaker 2: as you know, Dallas, Luca, I mean, even the Nuggets
Speaker 2: with Jokicic he's in his prime and he's gonna be
Speaker 2: good for four or five years, because for a while
Speaker 2: for me, it was like, well, Steph's gonna age, Lebron's
Speaker 2: gonna age, Duran's can age, and then Donovan rooting these guys,
Speaker 2: they'll be ready when they're done. Now the franchise decided
Speaker 2: to pivot and make a change. What's your opinion on that.
Speaker 2: Does the glut of young, really good teams far ahead
Speaker 2: of the Jazz and the process change the way the
Speaker 2: Jazz look at this timeline.
Speaker 5: For me, it doesn't, Spencer and and this is why,
Speaker 5: because when you are a young, good team, what's right
Speaker 5: around the corner that you're always dealing with from a
Speaker 5: management and ownership perspective is how are we going to
Speaker 5: keep these guys? Meaning who gets paid and who doesn't
Speaker 5: get paid? When you look at it and the and
Speaker 5: the landscape of the NBA Oklahoma City, which is in
Speaker 5: a great position right now with not only good young
Speaker 5: players and a very competitive team, but also a lot
Speaker 5: of draft picks in their back pocket still so they
Speaker 5: still have a lot of room for maneuverability. But you
Speaker 5: go back a decade ago, they had the same setup
Speaker 5: with guys who were even a little bit better Okay.
Speaker 5: They drafted in successive drafts Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 5: Those three guys should still if it was a perfect
Speaker 5: NBA world from an ownership perspective, they should still be
Speaker 5: playing together in Oklahoma City and have be sitting on two, three,
Speaker 5: four championships. But it didn't work out that way. They
Speaker 5: were a good young team, they went to a finals,
Speaker 5: and then what happens. Everybody comes to Everybody comes knocking
Speaker 5: at the door, and they want theirs, and no matter
Speaker 5: how you talk to them, and how you try and
Speaker 5: divvy it up, and how you try and massage egos
Speaker 5: and whatever it is, it rarely works the way you
Speaker 5: want it to. So guys start going out the door,
Speaker 5: one after the other. And now, of course Oklahoma City
Speaker 5: has rebuilt themselves, but none of those guys are with them.
Speaker 5: So the guys the teams that you're relating to now
Speaker 5: that are in front of the jazz, you know, you
Speaker 5: don't know how they're gonna be able to stay together.
Speaker 5: You don't know how it's gonna work. You have to
Speaker 5: worry about how you're building your group and how you're
Speaker 5: progressing and to what extent you want to keep that
Speaker 5: going financially and also with the personnel you have, and
Speaker 5: then what happens elsewhere you have no control over, whether
Speaker 5: it's you know that okay, see example or the one
Speaker 5: there was more recent in Brooklyn where they stacked up
Speaker 5: all the guys and those three guys played sixteen games together.
Speaker 5: I mean, are you kidding me? I mean, when you
Speaker 5: step back and look at the history of it, you go,
Speaker 5: are you you remember when they all came together. Everybody
Speaker 5: was like, oh, those guys, they're gonna be a headache
Speaker 5: for five, six, seven years.
Speaker 4: You know, they're gonna be running the show. And it
Speaker 4: never happened.
Speaker 5: So so the answer to your question, the Jazz should
Speaker 5: just stay on the timeline they're on. They should do
Speaker 5: it the way they think is gonna make sense for
Speaker 5: them going down the road, and you stick to that,
Speaker 5: and you don't worry about the other people on the outside,
Speaker 5: the other teams, and you just you just go with
Speaker 5: what you believe makes the most sense to what's gonna
Speaker 5: get you to where you're trying to go in the
Speaker 5: long run. It's tough, it's a long deal, and it
Speaker 5: doesn't guarantee you're gonna get there right but you have
Speaker 5: to have the conviction that that makes sense to you
Speaker 5: and your group, and and you go with that. And
Speaker 5: I think Larry Markinen the signing of him is the
Speaker 5: first step in that in that direction.
Speaker 3: All right, Smitty, great to have you back. Great to
Speaker 3: see you. I have a good week and we'll chat soon, Okay,
Speaker 3: good man.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Richard Smith forty years with the Jazz Front Office,