Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: We're live today at beer Bar right downtown Salt Lake City, Utah,
Speaker 2: at one sixty one East two hundred South. We are
Speaker 2: giving away VIP passes for our ESPN seven hundred Ultimate
Speaker 2: Tailgate experience prior to the Utah TCU game on Saturday.
Speaker 2: Porter will be doing the Utah pregame show live from
Speaker 2: the tailgate starting at four thirty.
Speaker 1: All rolled by as well. It's a lot of fun, man.
Speaker 2: We have free food from Wingers, we have spirits from
Speaker 2: Clearwater to Stilling, and we're giving away two passes per
Speaker 2: person while supplies last. Just for stopping in and saying Hi.
Speaker 2: Here at beer Bar one sixty one East two hundred South,
Speaker 2: right downtown Salt Lake. You can see every RSL match here.
Speaker 2: It's the only sports bar in Salt Lake with no
Speaker 2: blackouts because they do have Apple TV. Our next guest
Speaker 2: likes beer and soccer, yet he's not here at beer Bar,
Speaker 2: which hurts my feelings since Andy Larsen from the Tribune,
Speaker 2: where are you, dude?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's there. I would have liked to come out,
Speaker 3: but I had a meeting, three o'clock meeting and a
Speaker 3: six o'clock meeting, and I can't I had to do
Speaker 3: this one from hom So sorry about that.
Speaker 1: Were your meetings of juniors or what's the deal?
Speaker 3: Hey, that's only on Mondays and Friday?
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough, fair enough?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 2: Andy, safe to say that the preseason has been somewhat
Speaker 2: encouraging for the Utah Jazz for a team that's not
Speaker 2: getting a lot of buzz both locally and nationally.
Speaker 1: Yeah, last night was a fun game.
Speaker 2: What has stood out most to you throughout the preseason
Speaker 2: which will wrap up coming up on Friday.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think there's a few things. I
Speaker 3: think one, the defense does look better right now, and
Speaker 3: it's start to know how much that is preseason teams
Speaker 3: thinking it easy on the Jazz. You know who's out
Speaker 3: there on the floor. Frankly, they're playing a lot less
Speaker 3: John Collins and a lot more Walker Kessler. But that
Speaker 3: being said, they're sixteenth in the league defensively through the preseason,
Speaker 3: which is a lot better than twenty ninth or thirtieth
Speaker 3: that they were last season. So, I you know, I
Speaker 3: think they've taken a up there on transition D and
Speaker 3: really kind of staying and finishing throughout a play. And
Speaker 3: then you know, I think there have been some kind
Speaker 3: of promising steps forward taken from the young guys. I mean,
Speaker 3: I think Kanty George has looked really good. I think
Speaker 3: Taylor Hendrick looks significantly bigger and maybe ready to contribute
Speaker 3: kind of at a role player level, not as a
Speaker 3: star or anything, but at a higher level than he
Speaker 3: did last year. And you know, Cody Williams looks like
Speaker 3: a pretty good kind of fit in right now kind
Speaker 3: of player and we'll see obviously how he develops, but
Speaker 3: I don't think he's taking anything off the table right now,
Speaker 3: which is pretty rare as a rookie. So you know,
Speaker 3: I think there's some some good stuff going on here
Speaker 3: that maybe says, hey, this isn't a fifteen to twenty
Speaker 3: win team, this is a thirty win team. And you know,
Speaker 3: again we'll see what that means if preseason is real.
Speaker 3: But the I would say they've played better than expected
Speaker 3: so far.
Speaker 2: So what have you You referenced Walker playing a little bit
Speaker 2: more than John and I hope that continues, but from
Speaker 2: both the starting line up and benchmit a distribution. Any
Speaker 2: surprises about Will's preferred rotation so far? And what are
Speaker 2: your main takeaways from the players that we're actually gonna
Speaker 2: see Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think the takeaway is that there is
Speaker 3: like a real youth movement here, but they're not going
Speaker 3: necessarily all the way in right like, so you know
Speaker 3: that they it does seem like they're going to play
Speaker 3: they call your over, Petty Mills. It does look like
Speaker 3: that like me and Michale you Kin grew you Banks
Speaker 3: aren't going to play right away. I do think that
Speaker 3: it's notable that you know, like Bright sent the bas
Speaker 3: and the rotation, even though he hasn't looked brilliant, you know,
Speaker 3: I think there is a lot of youth there, but
Speaker 3: there's still you know, there's still kind of the four
Speaker 3: veterans on the roster who do kind of demand playing time.
Speaker 3: Obviously Lowry's one of them in part of the future core,
Speaker 3: but Colin Sexton, John Collins, and Jordan Clarkson are guys
Speaker 3: that probably don't match up with that timeline and probably
Speaker 3: they would like to move on from at some point.
Speaker 3: And so I think that's the question we'll see during
Speaker 3: the regular season is like can they trade them or
Speaker 3: you know, are there any buyers that at kind of
Speaker 3: some relatively large salaries for those guys, or do they
Speaker 3: instead kind of play the load management, make up injuries
Speaker 3: game to make room for the likes of Kyle Philipowski,
Speaker 3: who is a d M p CD in a preseason
Speaker 3: game last night. You know, I think that that's going
Speaker 3: to be kind of interesting to see how that that
Speaker 3: really plays out, because I think there are kind of
Speaker 3: eleven guys at least who probably kind of demands time
Speaker 3: on this roster and probably nine or ten rotation spots
Speaker 3: to put them in.
Speaker 2: Walker last night four blocks, nine boards. This is a
Speaker 2: big year for Walker Kestler. Oftentimes, you know, year three,
Speaker 2: it's when teams more often than not, are deciding on options.
Speaker 2: You know, for that didn't get his picked up for
Speaker 2: the Kings after year three. Most of the time rookies
Speaker 2: do have that option picked up. It's pretty rare, and
Speaker 2: I'm not saying Walker's not going to but year three
Speaker 2: more often than not for most players outside of unicorns
Speaker 2: like Lebron and Wembin Yama, you got to figure out
Speaker 2: whether or not this is gonna be a rotational piece
Speaker 2: for you moving forward, and whether or not you have
Speaker 2: just a benchwarmer in the league, or is this a
Speaker 2: guy you can start and rely upon to anchor your defense.
Speaker 2: I've not really changed my calculus on him. I mean,
Speaker 2: the numbers dipped a little bit last year, but it
Speaker 2: wasn't like a precipitous dip. It was just minor here
Speaker 2: or there, But it was clear that he didn't take
Speaker 2: a step up from year one to year two. Have
Speaker 2: you seen enough in the preseason to give you confidence
Speaker 2: that we will see a positive step from Walker year
Speaker 2: two to year three.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think a little bit of one. And I
Speaker 3: guess I'm not saying huge stripes or anything like that.
Speaker 3: And I still think, honestly, the biggest thing that would
Speaker 3: help Walker would be playing with like a top level
Speaker 3: point guard. You know, I think, honestly, he just looked
Speaker 3: a lot better in that rookie season, in large part
Speaker 3: because he was playing with Mike Conley, who could deliver
Speaker 3: lob passes, you know, compared to County or Who's not
Speaker 3: secret that, right. But that being said, I do think
Speaker 3: he's playing with a little bit more physicality. Will Hardy
Speaker 3: said that he thought the Decreaseason game against Dallas was
Speaker 3: the best rebounding game of his Jazz career and picked
Speaker 3: up fifteen rebounds, including five offensive in that game. You know,
Speaker 3: I thought he was. I agree with will I thought
Speaker 3: he was very good in that game. And I do think,
Speaker 3: you know, he made a big defensive impact last night,
Speaker 3: and what was ninety five percent of a regular season
Speaker 3: game with the Kings playing four starters over thirty six minutes,
Speaker 3: So yeah, you know, I think ultimately like that is,
Speaker 3: the question with Walker is not whether or not he's
Speaker 3: an NBA player, He definitely is. It's whether or not
Speaker 3: he is a starter or a bench guy, right, and
Speaker 3: and really how much do you want to pay him
Speaker 3: on that extension in those extension talks starting next season?
Speaker 3: And I think most likely is that he's kind of
Speaker 3: a tweener in that way, and that you know, he's
Speaker 3: someone who you can start defensively, but maybe he doesn't
Speaker 3: have the offensive skill set that you feel really great
Speaker 3: about doing that, and maybe a player worth in a
Speaker 3: tend of fifteen million dollar range. But yeah, he gets
Speaker 3: to determine that based on how this season goes for him.
Speaker 3: And you know, I think, again, I'm seeing kind of
Speaker 3: small steps there with improved physicality on the glass, a
Speaker 3: little bit better screening, a little bit better hands, but
Speaker 3: it's not anything I think fundamentally changes who he is as.
Speaker 2: A player, how has Taylor fit in next to him?
Speaker 2: And obviously Lowry and what do you what do you
Speaker 2: anticipate from Taylor all year long?
Speaker 1: I mean, the.
Speaker 2: Measurables have always stood out, and the experience he gained
Speaker 2: last year. Oftentimes, even as a young player with not
Speaker 2: a lot of experience guarding the other team's best wing,
Speaker 2: can he grow into a legitimate defensive stopper that will
Speaker 2: can use on dynamic offensive wings from other teams?
Speaker 1: And you think we'll see that this year?
Speaker 3: I you know, I think he can, but I don't
Speaker 3: think he's there now from a game processing point of view.
Speaker 3: I think, first of all, teams aren't going to be
Speaker 3: guarding him right Like, there's just not enough confidence in
Speaker 3: his overall offensive game. Uh. Frankly, the the the handle
Speaker 3: I think is his weakest point right now as a player,
Speaker 3: Like he just can't be you know, trusted to dribble
Speaker 3: to create on his own, even just against closeouts. So uh,
Speaker 3: you know, that's an obvious improven point. I think he
Speaker 3: can knock down threes relatively well, and I think he
Speaker 3: can stay in front defensively against pretty good players. But
Speaker 3: I don't think you think he's an elite stopper by
Speaker 3: any means at this point in his career. And you know,
Speaker 3: that still makes sense. He's still young, he's still just
Speaker 3: in his second year, and Jazz knew that this would
Speaker 3: be a project. But I do think that, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: if you're expecting him to be a stopper this year,
Speaker 3: that's that's going to be optimistic. You're you're you're looking
Speaker 3: for flashes of development and kind of continual development and
Speaker 3: his ability to read the game and make those kind
Speaker 3: of plays. I do think he looks significantly bigger and
Speaker 3: older this year, right Like I do think like just
Speaker 3: his body grew up a little bit, and I think
Speaker 3: we're seeing some of the benefits of that in preseason.
Speaker 3: But he's still kind of struggling to impact the game
Speaker 3: on a possession by possession basis. It's more about flashes
Speaker 3: right now rather than about putting together a full you know,
Speaker 3: twenty four or thirty minutes whatever he's going to end
Speaker 3: up getting in regular season actions.
Speaker 2: So is there a chance, Andy, You know, ultimately I
Speaker 2: don't believe this team has a shot to make the playoffs,
Speaker 2: But is there a chance As a result of some
Speaker 2: of the teams in the league that have aged out
Speaker 2: a little bit, and also the dynamic of simply players
Speaker 2: not showing up in Salt Lake City, as Tom Haberstrow
Speaker 2: did the research for US a year ago that as
Speaker 2: a result of Will playing, and if he decides to
Speaker 2: do this, if there's no tricky like Lowry has his
Speaker 2: sprained ankle, he's out for two weeks, and Will plays
Speaker 2: his best lineups every night, and they stay healthy and
Speaker 2: they don't lean into load management, that they might be
Speaker 2: able to steal a bunch of regular season games that
Speaker 2: nobody sees coming and maybe even approach like a thirty
Speaker 2: five to forty wins such like I said, this is
Speaker 2: not a team that I believe will make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And if they somehow.
Speaker 2: Squeak in, if they face any of the other teams
Speaker 2: in the West that are in front of them fully healthy,
Speaker 2: They're not going to win four times and seven tries,
Speaker 2: but they could potentially win more regular season games than
Speaker 2: most believe because a lot of the teams that are
Speaker 2: going to be playing will be sitting players for load
Speaker 2: management or they're just not showing up in Salt Lake.
Speaker 2: Can they overshoot regular season expectations? If Will decides to
Speaker 2: play his guys big minutes every night, and they simply
Speaker 2: show up to work and work hard.
Speaker 3: I think maybe you know, like I don't want to say,
Speaker 3: even like forty wins to me is optimistic, and I
Speaker 3: don't think forty wins gets to a playoffs bottom. That's
Speaker 3: your Western Conference, right I think there are thirteen teams
Speaker 3: that on paper are pretty clearly better than the Jazz,
Speaker 3: right and you know, maybe one or two of those
Speaker 3: cadjers and you move up to the kind of eleven
Speaker 3: or twelve spot they've been in in the last couple
Speaker 3: of years. But I also don't think that this roster
Speaker 3: is a tire player, right, Like, I think you're right
Speaker 3: that these there are good veterans. I think, you know,
Speaker 3: Larry Market is a really good player. I think it's
Speaker 3: relatively deep. I think they do play hard. I think
Speaker 3: there's decent odds that the defense is not worse than
Speaker 3: the league like it was last year. And I think
Speaker 3: you know, they're going to win some significant games because
Speaker 3: of the home you know, home court advantage, because of
Speaker 3: the altitude, because of teams resting guys coming into Utah,
Speaker 3: because they take a lot of threes and three point variants,
Speaker 3: is a thing, and I think, yeah, there's just going
Speaker 3: to be some games where like the youth wins out
Speaker 3: and beat the tire team on the second hand of
Speaker 3: a back to back or whatever. Right like, it's it's
Speaker 3: not a Washington Wizards or Detroit Piston situation. I don't
Speaker 3: think where they're going to win fifteen to twenty games.
Speaker 3: I think they they're a little bit better than that.
Speaker 3: And so you know, really where you get into kind
Speaker 3: of a problem from a tanking point of view, I
Speaker 3: guess it's the Eastern Conference right where you do have
Speaker 3: the Pistons, and when there's a Hornets and Raptors and
Speaker 3: Bowls and a couple other crappy teams, I'm forgetting here
Speaker 3: and those are going to be kind of your competitions
Speaker 3: for the lottery odds. But yeah, like I think a
Speaker 3: thirty win season. You know that is there Vegas over
Speaker 3: under right now, and that feels about right for where
Speaker 3: the talent level is on this roster.
Speaker 2: All right, let's talk about the dynamic that most people
Speaker 2: really want to discuss, and that is the media meals
Speaker 2: this year at the Delta Center. So it looks like
Speaker 2: you and I are going to be smashing some j dogs.
Speaker 2: Is that the case here?
Speaker 3: I've been trying out new things. I mean it's only
Speaker 3: been three games, right, So like Maxwell's is no longer
Speaker 3: in the arena, there's a new piece of places called mods.
Speaker 3: I tried that honestly, was b minus trade if you know,
Speaker 3: if we're honest. Tried out the nachos at Coasta Beta
Speaker 3: last night. Those weren't bad. But yeah, this is a
Speaker 3: season of experimentation and learning about the confessions that the
Speaker 3: Delta Center for sure for us.
Speaker 2: So what we're referring to and I learned this as well,
Speaker 2: I guess I was at the hockey game and I
Speaker 2: enjoyed myself a jay dog.
Speaker 1: I like a good jay dog from time to time.
Speaker 2: Now, now the hockey team the locker room is taking
Speaker 2: up space, and so there's no more media dining room
Speaker 2: and we're eating eating with vouchers on the concourse.
Speaker 1: Is that the deal moving forward?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, So, I mean I don't know if we're
Speaker 3: we'll get into whatever, We'll just say everything. Yeah. So
Speaker 3: where the media dining room was last year is now
Speaker 3: where the hockey the Utah Hockey Clubs locker room is
Speaker 3: this year. And they say there's no other space downstairs
Speaker 3: for media dining, and so yeah, we get twenty dollars
Speaker 3: vouchers as media members for every game. So that's that's
Speaker 3: what we get. And you know, honestly, it's not bad
Speaker 3: in some ways, Like at least this way you kind
Speaker 3: of get to choose what you eat if you want,
Speaker 3: and there are plenty. There were some times last year
Speaker 3: where heck, I you know, I wasn't in in favor
Speaker 3: of the media dining buffet, and so we'd go upstairs
Speaker 3: and get a slice of fizea or whatever. But now
Speaker 3: that's kind of our deal. And then I personally just
Speaker 3: eat it in our media seets. But you know, up
Speaker 3: to you where you want to eat it.
Speaker 1: I guess Andy, this is what the listeners want. The
Speaker 1: listeners want.
Speaker 2: To talk about, how the media will be fed. I
Speaker 2: promise you this is compelling content.
Speaker 3: Look, and I mean I don't think it is, but
Speaker 3: I've heard good things about the by YouTube cono spread,
Speaker 3: the league, the NBA. Some teams like Detroit has little
Speaker 3: Caesars Arena you wouldn't believe has the best stake and
Speaker 3: spread and just the most amazing choices you could ever imagine,
Speaker 3: you know, like it's better than a Vegas buffet in Detroit.
Speaker 3: And then you have a lot of teams now that, yeah,
Speaker 3: are doing the concession bouchers things, some even liminum for
Speaker 3: just one place you can buy like chicken tenders from
Speaker 3: the league. Is changing sence in a way that really
Speaker 3: matters to our listeners.
Speaker 2: Is this all because you tweeted about Stewart Adams?
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: No, this is your fault, dude, This is all your fault.
Speaker 3: The hallway is because I tweeted about Stuart Adams. The
Speaker 3: dining situation, I do think is like largely just because
Speaker 3: the hockey team needed the place to have locker room,
Speaker 3: which is pretty reasonable. Now, look, they're still the club.
Speaker 3: They're still like the Delta Sky three sixty club for
Speaker 3: the rich folks in the first five rows. That's still
Speaker 3: on level one. They're still a family room on level one.
Speaker 3: There's still Ryan's Sweet the Underground on level one. But yeah,
Speaker 3: there's no more immediate dining on level one.
Speaker 2: Fair enough, all right, last jazz thing. ESPN's doing their
Speaker 2: player rank. Lowry comes in at thirty. Lowry comes in
Speaker 2: at thirty three. They did I think fifty to ten today,
Speaker 2: that's down five spots from twenty eight. So what ESPN
Speaker 2: rank is telling us is the best player on the
Speaker 2: Jazz by far, quite frankly, is the thirty third best
Speaker 2: player in the league. What does that say to you
Speaker 2: if anything?
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Ringer released their list today too, and I
Speaker 3: think Glwery was thirty first, and then Colinsecon I believe
Speaker 3: was ninety seventh. I may have those numbers one or
Speaker 3: two offs, but yeah, it gives you the vibe like,
Speaker 3: look for this Jazz seems not the most talented top
Speaker 3: level with in terms of top level talent, right, Like,
Speaker 3: that is clearly the thing that the Jazz needs to
Speaker 3: add in order to be an actually good team again
Speaker 3: is a top twenty player in the league. And that's
Speaker 3: that's why we're talking about thinking, that's why we're talking
Speaker 3: about big game hunting and all of that. Right. I
Speaker 3: do think Lowry it basically had the same season he did,
Speaker 3: you know one year ago. The difference was he played
Speaker 3: fewer games, and you know, the the win loss totals
Speaker 3: didn't look as good and so that impacted some of
Speaker 3: the advanced stats. But like in the end, I you know,
Speaker 3: I think Lowery's a good player. I would probably put
Speaker 3: him like in that twenty fifth to thirty zone rather
Speaker 3: than in the thirty to thirty five zone. But really
Speaker 3: where we're you know, putting hairs at that point, And yeah,
Speaker 3: it's all about how are you going to find that
Speaker 3: next top twenty guy? Probably even you know, really if
Speaker 3: you want to be a true contender, a top ten
Speaker 3: guy to add to the Jazz's roster. And you know
Speaker 3: that's yeah again draft right, that's a game hunting. That's
Speaker 3: all the stuff we've been talking about all off season
Speaker 3: where we don't really have an answer on how the
Speaker 3: Jazz are going to find that guy next?
Speaker 2: All right, Andy, before I say you lose, the lads
Speaker 2: are back after a little bit of a break. Pablo
Speaker 2: joined us last segments Vancouver. It's interesting because RSL plays
Speaker 2: Vancouver and simultaneously, Seattle plays Portland, and RSL and Seattle
Speaker 2: are still in the mix for three and Portland and
Speaker 2: Vancouver are trying to avoid that wildcard spot. So it's
Speaker 2: going to be a crazy night on Saturday seven o'clock.
Speaker 2: What would you like to see on Saturday night to
Speaker 2: indicate this team is in a good place heading into
Speaker 2: the postseason.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think a few things. One I want to see.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm asking for a lot here, but
Speaker 3: a win in the clean sheet and a good attack.
Speaker 3: But like those are kind of what I'm looking for
Speaker 3: right Like the defense has been a significant question all
Speaker 3: year long. Can they figure out a defensive rotation that's
Speaker 3: not allowing a gazillion shot? Uh? You know, who's your
Speaker 3: starting goaltender? All that kind of stuff, I think is
Speaker 3: a really interesting question. The offense has you know, dropped
Speaker 3: the level clearly. Can Chicho get going? You know, what
Speaker 3: do they do? You know, in terms of who's starting
Speaker 3: at the wings, is that Mark Duke is at Locklin Brook?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 3: You know, I think they're there are questions will be
Speaker 3: asked there. Do you definitely start, you know, can diego
Speaker 3: Luna plane ninety minutes? Diogo the guy in the middle,
Speaker 3: or do you go with Anderson Julio at some point
Speaker 3: up top and slide Chicho back? Like they're real kind
Speaker 3: of rotational questions to answer. But like, to me, kind
Speaker 3: of the most important thing is this chance I think
Speaker 3: they if they do end up in third, I believe
Speaker 3: they could still steel still steal the CONCACAFT Champions Cup placements,
Speaker 3: and that would be I think a big deal. You know,
Speaker 3: I think it's been a long time since ourselves played
Speaker 3: in that tournament, and I think, you know, a season
Speaker 3: that was so good in these stretches. I think it
Speaker 3: could really benefit oursel to have that international competition again.
Speaker 3: So that's kind of what I'm hoping for as a fan,
Speaker 3: is to see them play at that top level, at
Speaker 3: a continental level again the next year, rather than you know,
Speaker 3: kind of miss out on it on that tournament like
Speaker 3: they have in the last what half decade or so.
Speaker 2: All Right, buddy, we appreciate the time. Have a good week,
Speaker 2: gets you out against soon.
Speaker 3: Okay, sounds good, Thanks Ben, all Right the.
Speaker 2: Great Andy Larson from the saw Lake Tribune. Get them
Speaker 2: on Twitter at Andy B. Larson is where you find them.