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Speaker 2: Happy Valentine's Day to you. Happy Valentine's Day to you.
Speaker 1: Andy Larson. How are you, buddy?
Speaker 3: I'm good man. How are you?
Speaker 2: How many hearts are you breaking tonight? What you What
Speaker 2: are your plans? And I know that you've got to
Speaker 2: I know you have a bevy of options. What have
Speaker 2: you landed on?
Speaker 3: Dozens of heartbroken? I gotta keep it a surprise. I can't.
Speaker 3: I can't just say on the radio what we're going
Speaker 3: to be doing. Okay, I'm just saying that. So I've
Speaker 3: got no plans.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, you know, like the Andy Larson list of
Speaker 2: holiday celebrations is a little bit a little bit off
Speaker 2: kilter at times. I know you're a big Cinco de
Speaker 2: Mayo fan, so I thought maybe you're just hitting the
Speaker 2: town tonight.
Speaker 1: I have no idea.
Speaker 3: I mean, hitting the town is an option. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: would say TBD is is my approach to Valentine's Day night.
Speaker 2: Okay, fair enough, Andy, let's do the cliche media corny
Speaker 2: Valentine's Day thing. What do you love about the first
Speaker 2: half of the season from the Utah Jazz?
Speaker 3: They are successfully thanking? Yeah, you know, like that they
Speaker 3: only have thirteen wins is I think probably a good
Speaker 3: thing for the franchise overall. I mean, this is something
Speaker 3: that you and I have talked about for the last
Speaker 3: couple of years, right Like, is that it's been difficult
Speaker 3: to build a team when you have the ninth and
Speaker 3: tenth pick in the draft, and if you have a
Speaker 3: top five pick or a top three pick, all of
Speaker 3: a sudden, you get a lot better player, and all
Speaker 3: of a sudden you can start to build a core
Speaker 3: around what you're doing. And uh, that's now where the
Speaker 3: Jazz are, Right Like, they're the third in the Tank
Speaker 3: de Fon list, if you will, and ultimately have a
Speaker 3: better than fifty percent chance at a very good DRAFTIC
Speaker 3: next year.
Speaker 2: So it's uh, it is challenging to cover the team
Speaker 2: day to day when you know what the deal is
Speaker 2: and you know what they're trying to accomplish, and ultimately
Speaker 2: they will not be serious about winning for a number
Speaker 2: of years. But I do feel like there are some
Speaker 2: things that have started to maybe manifest a little bit
Speaker 2: that might be real.
Speaker 1: So let's dig into a few of them.
Speaker 2: And let's start with a player that you know, I
Speaker 2: think a lot of people have been talking about as
Speaker 2: of late, not just here locally but nationally because Asaiah
Speaker 2: call your Leeds rookies.
Speaker 1: In assists, He's.
Speaker 2: Set the Jazz rookie record for double digit assist game.
Speaker 2: I think he has seven to ten plus assist game No.
Speaker 2: Eight because he had another one. I believe now some
Speaker 2: of his decisions sometimes like, oh, yes, he was in
Speaker 2: high school two years ago. He turns the ball over
Speaker 2: a ton And as we've discussed, if you're going to
Speaker 2: be a twenty two percent three point shooter, you're not
Speaker 2: a garden pro basketball.
Speaker 1: But tell me from your.
Speaker 2: Vantage point, what you've seen from him that may indicate
Speaker 2: that he is moving in the right direction.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think a couple of things. One, you know,
Speaker 3: you mentioned the passing, and I think you have seen
Speaker 3: more high at this fewer turnover games last night, definitely,
Speaker 3: notwithstanding when he had seven turnovers, but in general has
Speaker 3: been playmaking at a higher and better rate recently. I
Speaker 3: think some of that's because he's gotten up and transition
Speaker 3: more and he's so fast on the ball, and Will
Speaker 3: Hardy says he's even he thinks he's doing faster now
Speaker 3: at this point in the year than earlier in the year,
Speaker 3: just because he's slimmed down a little bit over the
Speaker 3: course of the NBA season and that's really helped. And then, honestly,
Speaker 3: the biggest thing is that the shooting is wild. The
Speaker 3: percentages are still not great from a season point of view,
Speaker 3: it has been better in recent games. I mean, he
Speaker 3: went three of six last night. The shot looks more consistent.
Speaker 3: You know, I thought earlier in the year it was
Speaker 3: the role of the dice what kind of shot form
Speaker 3: you would get from Isaiah And you know, now it
Speaker 3: looks like he's wrecked it out a little bit and
Speaker 3: it looks nearly the same every time. That's that's a
Speaker 3: good sign. So yeah, like I think, like you said,
Speaker 3: the shots have to be there in order for him
Speaker 3: to be a league guard in the NBA, but you're
Speaker 3: seeing more and more signs with him having the ball
Speaker 3: in his hands. And I think the thing I like
Speaker 3: most about him is that he is a true point
Speaker 3: guard and there are just so few of those guys
Speaker 3: right now. You know, he's not trying to take too
Speaker 3: many shots, he's not necessarily trying to do too much
Speaker 3: in every play he defends, he but he's mostly trying
Speaker 3: to set up his teammates. And I think that bodes
Speaker 3: well for the Jazz's front court. You know, Lowry Markinhon
Speaker 3: and Walker Kessler, like those guys are guys who need
Speaker 3: assists in order to score efficiently, and Isaiah looks like
Speaker 3: a player who may be able to provide them, you know,
Speaker 3: for for the years to come.
Speaker 2: Let's just go down the list since we're at the
Speaker 2: All Star break and do just a little like look
Speaker 2: back before we get to potentially some exciting things down
Speaker 2: the stretch.
Speaker 1: And with with Isaiah's.
Speaker 2: Implementation into the starting lineup, that book Kiante George on
Speaker 2: the bench coming off the bench. I mean, look, I
Speaker 2: don't care who you are, what level you're playing. I
Speaker 2: don't care if you John Havlichak or Jordan Clarkson. When
Speaker 2: the coach comes to you and says, hey, you're coming
Speaker 2: off the bench, you take it as a demotion.
Speaker 1: You just do, and you were. I think you.
Speaker 2: Articulated kind of Kyante's body language in a way that
Speaker 2: indicated maybe initially he was pretty bummed out, which I
Speaker 2: totally get. He wasn't great last night, but he was
Speaker 2: really good against the Lakers. And I will reiterate what
Speaker 2: I've been saying about Kiante honestly since last year. Just
Speaker 2: my analysis of who he is as a pro basketball
Speaker 2: player for a team that is trying to win is
Speaker 2: a combo scoring guard off the bench, just like Colin
Speaker 2: Sexon is, in my opinion, just like Jordan Clarkson is
Speaker 2: in my opinion. And so I like that Will has
Speaker 2: decided to try to do this because they have to
Speaker 2: figure out who he is when they're good again and
Speaker 2: if he is going to be part of the equation.
Speaker 2: So give me the Andy Larson take the good and
Speaker 2: the bad with the sample side as we have with
Speaker 2: Kyante coming off the bench as opposed to starting as
Speaker 2: a lead guard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think his approach has been a little bit better, right,
Speaker 3: Like I think in the starting lineup he was way
Speaker 3: too he coasted way too much on the defensive end, right,
Speaker 3: And that's frankly, the one thing I want to and
Speaker 3: need to see change from him is because, like you know,
Speaker 3: I think he can stand to eliminate a couple of
Speaker 3: really bad shots the game. But he does get to
Speaker 3: the free throw line well, he does playmate well, and
Speaker 3: he has been passing the ball pretty well too. Like
Speaker 3: I don't think he's like a totally selfish player, he
Speaker 3: does need to like tune up the offensive efficiency. The
Speaker 3: problem is the defensive end, right, And like, you don't
Speaker 3: have to be an excellent defensive player to be a
Speaker 3: guard in the NBA and a starting lineup, but you
Speaker 3: have to at least try right, and you have to
Speaker 3: try to stay in front. You have to try to
Speaker 3: be part of a team concept. You have to try
Speaker 3: to rebound, you have to try to box out, you
Speaker 3: have to try to you know, shift down when when
Speaker 3: opponents are driving and on one of your teammates and
Speaker 3: all that kind of stuff, and frankly, he was just
Speaker 3: skipping all those responsibilities. I think he's been a little
Speaker 3: bit better in in that way in the defensive side
Speaker 3: of the ball coming off the bench, and maybe just
Speaker 3: because that was kind of a wake up call for him.
Speaker 3: He still doesn't know what to do at you know,
Speaker 3: at all times. And you know, still if he's playing
Speaker 3: as a two, all of a sudden, six four is
Speaker 3: now kind of normal size rather than good size for
Speaker 3: a point guard, right, so still needs to kind of
Speaker 3: figure out how to use his body and how to
Speaker 3: be there on rotations and that kind of thing. But
Speaker 3: you know, we thought he's never been coached defense before
Speaker 3: in his life. He told us right like, he said,
Speaker 3: Will Hardy was the first coach that's ever gotten on
Speaker 3: him on the defensive end before. And while that's crazy
Speaker 3: that a player can make it to the NBA as
Speaker 3: a and never has been been coached defense before, I
Speaker 3: kind of believe it in an AAU world where you know,
Speaker 3: he's been a five star prospect his whole life. So look,
Speaker 3: development is definitely needed there. But I've been encouraged by
Speaker 3: at least him kicking a step forward on the defensive
Speaker 3: end because he will need that in order to stick
Speaker 3: in the league.
Speaker 1: It's the low hanging fruit.
Speaker 2: But while we're talking about exciting developments and looking for
Speaker 2: positive things for a fan base that's probably frustrated about
Speaker 2: lack of results, we just have to continue, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: to acknowledge what Walker's done this year and just kind
Speaker 2: of tipped the cap to clearly an off season of dedicated,
Speaker 2: intentional work as opposed to spending it with the team
Speaker 2: USA situation a couple of off seasons ago that may
Speaker 2: have not been the right thing for him at that
Speaker 2: point in his development.
Speaker 1: He's up to twelve boards a game, he's four.
Speaker 2: And a half offensive rebounds a game, two and a
Speaker 2: half block shots, and you could tell every time he
Speaker 2: doesn't play, you can tell what a big hole it leaves.
Speaker 2: I've you know, I was not crazy about the initial
Speaker 2: reaction from certain members of the media in our market about, oh,
Speaker 2: how Walker's already better than Rudy and he does things
Speaker 2: better than Rude, Like, you can save me with it.
Speaker 2: He's got a marathon to go go as a Hall
Speaker 2: of Famer. But the difference, the stark difference defensively when
Speaker 2: Walker sits, does remind me a little bit of the
Speaker 2: non go bear minutes back in the day when those
Speaker 2: teams were going. Just at the All Star break, how
Speaker 2: would you articulate, you know, your thoughts on the growth
Speaker 2: from Walker Kessler so far this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I am a Walker Kessler you know. Look,
Speaker 3: I voted him Merphy of the Year, right like famously controversially,
Speaker 3: I do like Walker Kessler. I have to acknowledge, like
Speaker 3: he's not close to Rudy Gobert. I think he does
Speaker 3: a couple of things better, but like just does not
Speaker 3: have the impact that Rudy Gobert does. And even now,
Speaker 3: you know, Rudy not being in his prime anymore, still
Speaker 3: is a better player than Walker Kessler. That being said,
Speaker 3: Walker Kessler is a really good player now and might
Speaker 3: be having the best season of any Jazz man. I mean, like,
Speaker 3: I think he's he's either first or second in the
Speaker 3: league an offensive rebounding percentage. He's either I think he's
Speaker 3: second in the league in block percentage behind Victor Wenbanyama.
Speaker 3: Like he is an elite rim protector and an elite
Speaker 3: rebounder right now. And obviously that's a tremendous face. I mean,
Speaker 3: just giving the Jazz those extra possessions, giving the Jazz
Speaker 3: a chance to get out on the break, giving the
Speaker 3: Jazz the chance to bend the shop profile of their
Speaker 3: opponents is really good. There's still a lot of work
Speaker 3: left to be done, to be clear, you know, like
Speaker 3: can he do more on the offensive end? Can he
Speaker 3: become a better defender else on the court besides just
Speaker 3: at the rim? For sure? And I think, you know,
Speaker 3: we've been talking to Will Hardy about those things over
Speaker 3: the last couple of last week or so, But you know,
Speaker 3: you have to be impressed with the way he bounced
Speaker 3: back in a sophomore season. Heck, even when I thought
Speaker 3: he had a bad game or really just bad first
Speaker 3: half against the Lakers on Monday, he came back and
Speaker 3: had an excellent performance on Wednesday against against the same
Speaker 3: team at the Delta Center. So kind of some of
Speaker 3: the like mental resilient stuff that I think was a
Speaker 3: real question mark in year two, He's answered those stouts
Speaker 3: in year three, And that's maybe what I'm impressed with most. So,
Speaker 3: like he looks like a legitimate holding block. And you
Speaker 3: understand why the Jazz turned down trade offers for him
Speaker 3: this at the deadline, because I think he again is
Speaker 3: a piece of the future.
Speaker 2: A few months ago, you caused some sleepless nights in
Speaker 2: my life when you told me that out of the
Speaker 2: first and the second year of players, you were most
Speaker 2: bullish on the future of Kyle Philipowski. And I do
Speaker 2: want to revisit that to see if you're still there,
Speaker 2: and you might be and you might be right. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's just you know, at the time, I'm thinking this
Speaker 2: was before and we'll get to Cody.
Speaker 1: In a moment. But you got a top ten guy.
Speaker 2: You've got a you know, a second year player in
Speaker 2: Kyante that already had some usage, and we didn't at
Speaker 2: the time, Isaiah had not been really inserted into the rotation,
Speaker 2: let it on the starting lineup. But last night, Andy,
Speaker 2: I thought that was potentially if it wasn't his best
Speaker 2: game of his rookie season, it was one of them,
Speaker 2: you know, twenty and ten.
Speaker 1: He started at center. You know, Zubots is a big dude, man.
Speaker 2: He Vika Zubats caused a lot of problems for a
Speaker 2: lot of people, and I thought Kyle held up for
Speaker 2: the most part with the physicality in place of Locker,
Speaker 2: who did not play so in a vacuum your thoughts
Speaker 2: on last night, and then as we panned back, your
Speaker 2: thoughts on Kyle's rookie year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's funny. I think he played so
Speaker 3: well at the beginning of the year for the first
Speaker 3: couple of weeks, and then was largely invisible for a
Speaker 3: couple of months there. Right. Last night was a really
Speaker 3: good sign. It was his career high twenty points, ten rebounds.
Speaker 3: Like you said, the Clippers didn't guard him at all
Speaker 3: when I went back and watched all those clips, and
Speaker 3: so it's like, you know, you have to take it
Speaker 3: with a grain of salt. Is if he does start
Speaker 3: doing that consistently, they're gonna he's going to be guarded, right,
Speaker 3: But I do think he It was really encouraging, like
Speaker 3: you said, what he did against Zubach on the defensive end,
Speaker 3: and he's starting to figure out over the last couple
Speaker 3: of weeks more of kind of what he can go
Speaker 3: to at the NBA level. He's got a nice little
Speaker 3: floater from ten feet that he can use. He's competing
Speaker 3: more on the glass, and it's getting a little bit
Speaker 3: better on kind of getting to his spots of the
Speaker 3: defensive end. I don't think he's there yet and he's
Speaker 3: still you know, skinnier than he will be two or
Speaker 3: three years down the road, where when I think he
Speaker 3: can be more of an interior force. But like he's
Speaker 3: starting to figure that kind of stuff out at a
Speaker 3: at a higher level, which is good. Like you, you know,
Speaker 3: I think i'd now take Isaiah over him in kind
Speaker 3: of the if we're power ranking these six rookies and sophomore.
Speaker 3: But I do still think really pretty highly of Kyle
Speaker 3: because of all the things that he can do on
Speaker 3: the basketball court and that he doesn't make too many
Speaker 3: mistakes either on either end.
Speaker 2: All Right, I want to ask you about marketing because
Speaker 2: you wrote a piece on his numbers and I've been
Speaker 2: you know, talking about and you got to be careful
Speaker 2: here because there are a lot of reasons. You know,
Speaker 2: we forget when Larry was first here a couple of
Speaker 2: years back, but started the season with a point guard
Speaker 2: named Mike Conley, and he actually had some grown ups
Speaker 2: playing alongside of him the year he made the All starts,
Speaker 2: and no part of me is worried about Lowry long term.
Speaker 2: But the numbers are the numbers, and you're a data guy,
Speaker 2: and his splits almost across the board are down. It
Speaker 2: was a nice reminder watching that Laker game that yes,
Speaker 2: Lowry is awesome. And for Jazz fans like I wait, okay,
Speaker 2: what do we have here?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: What is on this roster that's real and tangible and
Speaker 2: I can grasp onto Well, Larry's not a contract long
Speaker 2: term and it's a lot of money, but they paid
Speaker 2: him a lot of money because he is a really
Speaker 2: good player. And I think the Laker game certainly reminded
Speaker 2: me a lot of people of just how good Lowry is.
Speaker 2: But like I said, numbers down across the board, you
Speaker 2: wrote about it, let's unpack it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look at I would totally understand being
Speaker 3: worried about that, especially having not watched the games, you know,
Speaker 3: and I think there are a lot of Jazz and
Speaker 3: we are watching games right now. Look at Lowry's basketball
Speaker 3: reference page and get worried a little bit given that
Speaker 3: you just gave him two hundred and thirty million dollars, right,
Speaker 3: And I got to say, as someone who does watch
Speaker 3: every game and is around Lowry in the locker room
Speaker 3: and has asked him about this, it's like, just I'm
Speaker 3: not worried at all because of how the Jazz's offense
Speaker 3: and how he has changed his game to set some
Speaker 3: other stuff up. So, first of all, he's just experimenting more.
Speaker 3: This year, he leads the league in catch and shoot
Speaker 3: field goal pers Like he's coming off of screens and
Speaker 3: trying to hit like kind of play Thompson, moving threes
Speaker 3: or threes from like twenty eight feet out rather than
Speaker 3: the twenty three foot three point line, right, So he's
Speaker 3: taking harder shots than ever before and really nearly anyone
Speaker 3: in the league, which explains kind of the percentage downturn.
Speaker 3: And then I think he's also getting fewer opportunities at
Speaker 3: they're in because the Jazz are playing Walker Kessler at center.
Speaker 3: You know, so much of the last two years you
Speaker 3: had Walker in some of these lineups, but then they
Speaker 3: would stagger Lowry and Walker, so that you know, Lowry
Speaker 3: was playing when John Collins was center, Kelly Linok was center,
Speaker 3: and that allowed them to have nobody at the rim
Speaker 3: to kind of clog things up, and Lowry could get
Speaker 3: kind of easy dunks and looks at the rim those
Speaker 3: have been you know, have gone down a little bit,
Speaker 3: so he's getting fewer easy chances there. You know, I
Speaker 3: think as the team developed a little bit. As Walker
Speaker 3: develops more of his perimeter ability, that should improve a
Speaker 3: little bit. But it does feel like a switch that
Speaker 3: they can kind of flip, and you know, they can say, hey,
Speaker 3: Lowry's you know, maybe this experiment this year, in this
Speaker 3: tanking year didn't work out. You know, you're not Klay Thompson.
Speaker 3: You are Lowry Marketing, and we want you to kind
Speaker 3: of play like you have in the last two years.
Speaker 3: And they can go back and do that. I you know,
Speaker 3: I think kind of the experiment is worthy to see, Hey,
Speaker 3: how much can we expend Lowry's game. I'm not sure
Speaker 3: that the results have been there so that you're confident, Hey,
Speaker 3: this experiment has worked out. But this is the year
Speaker 3: to try new things with Lowry, to see how good
Speaker 3: he can become, to see if he can be a
Speaker 3: top ten player in the league. And while I think
Speaker 3: the answer is pay probably not, it's you know, this
Speaker 3: is the year to mess around with stuff like that.
Speaker 2: All right, one more individual player question before we move on,
Speaker 2: and I guess the way I'll pose this is what's
Speaker 2: fair to say about Cody?
Speaker 1: What's fair to say about Cody Williams, who's.
Speaker 2: Had a litany of health issues, been in and out,
Speaker 2: spent some time with the Stars.
Speaker 1: Who's only twenty years old.
Speaker 2: But he's a top ten pick, and I just think
Speaker 2: it's fair to say that if you're going to draft
Speaker 2: somebody in the top ten, you just want it to
Speaker 2: look a little bit better then it has so far
Speaker 2: for Cody, I'm not writing him off, nor am I
Speaker 2: anointing him. But last individual player question, your thoughts on
Speaker 2: the first portion of the rookie season for Cody Williams.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, statistically, he's been the worst player in
Speaker 3: the NBA this year, and it just struggles to make
Speaker 3: an influence on games, either offensively or defensively. You know,
Speaker 3: I think some of that is his body. Obviously he's
Speaker 3: extremely scared. I think some of that is his brain.
Speaker 3: He does seem pretty like he's I don't want to
Speaker 3: use the word complacent, but he's yeah, pretty reserved and
Speaker 3: wants to kind of stay out of the way and
Speaker 3: and will kind of, you know, give the ball to
Speaker 3: his teammates and not take some shots. He's also complacent
Speaker 3: kind of on again, not using the word complacent, but
Speaker 3: reserved on the glass. For example, his rebounding numbers are low.
Speaker 3: His his block and steel members are low. He's just
Speaker 3: not doing anything out there when he's on the floor,
Speaker 3: which you know leads to performances last night when he
Speaker 3: had two point zero rebound, zero zero steels, four thousand
Speaker 3: and three turnovers like that's that's as as rough as
Speaker 3: it gets. I will say, I went back and looked
Speaker 3: yesterday at the history of rookies who have had rookie
Speaker 3: seasons like this, and it is not promising. There are
Speaker 3: some role players who did figure it out, though, you know,
Speaker 3: I think maybe your best hope is Auto Porter Junior
Speaker 3: had a really rough rookie season before kind of figuring
Speaker 3: it out. You can say, hey, maybe you can see
Speaker 3: some kind of you know, group comparisons, there some similarities
Speaker 3: there that maybe, hey, he figures it out and you know,
Speaker 3: becomes a useful role player in the league. But it's
Speaker 3: a really long path for him, and he's got to
Speaker 3: improve in a bunch of different areas in order to
Speaker 3: really make.
Speaker 1: It all right.
Speaker 2: Last Jazz question, we'll do a little little RSL since
Speaker 2: they're back there.
Speaker 1: They're back coming up this week.
Speaker 2: The latest projections as far I mean, look, and you
Speaker 2: never know, because the lottery is the lottery and there's
Speaker 2: some flat nods. So if the Jazz finish in the
Speaker 2: bottom three I believe maybe it's the bottom four now
Speaker 2: that I'm looking at it, they'll have a chance to
Speaker 2: grab that number one pick, among the best chances in
Speaker 2: all of pro basketball. But if they don't get one,
Speaker 2: who is Cooper flag And you know, I've heard some
Speaker 2: of the people and it's just irritated. It's like the
Speaker 2: same people during the Weimbin Yama Draft. They're like, well,
Speaker 2: I kind of like Scot and you're like, shut.
Speaker 1: Up, man, like, don't do that, don't be that guy.
Speaker 2: This feels like as the year goes along, it's Cooper
Speaker 2: and then there's a big gap. But if it's not
Speaker 2: number one, and it's number two or number three, Dylan
Speaker 2: Harper and Ace Bailey, the two Wreckers kids, Now Rutgers
Speaker 2: is not going to make the tournament. And it's rough
Speaker 2: that a college basketball team with two of the top
Speaker 2: three draft picks will not be an NCAA tournament team.
Speaker 1: But if it isn't one, and we're.
Speaker 2: All hoping it is, because Cooper feels like a generational talent,
Speaker 2: give me your just a quick thought on you know,
Speaker 2: whether or not Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey is somebody
Speaker 2: the Jazz fans can start watching with some excitement.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think honestly, both of them are.
Speaker 3: And I do think like there is a clear teer
Speaker 3: gap between all three of those guys, right Like, So
Speaker 3: it's not a hey, three guys you can you know,
Speaker 3: you can draft interchangeably depending on your need. I think
Speaker 3: it's pretty clear Cooper Flag is better than Dylan Harper
Speaker 3: is better than Ace Bailey as as prospects. Right Like,
Speaker 3: you just have nearly no questions about Cooper Flag. You
Speaker 3: have a couple of like kind of upsidy questions on
Speaker 3: Dylan Harper, and then you have Ace Bailey, questions about
Speaker 3: how he fits into a team scheme and how he
Speaker 3: actually you know, like he's a trific shot maker, but
Speaker 3: does he help you, does he make his teammates better?
Speaker 3: Does he help you in games in other ways? That
Speaker 3: being said, I think all three of them are very
Speaker 3: very good prospects, are all star kind of level prospects,
Speaker 3: and are worthy kind of building blocks to add to
Speaker 3: this team. And so, you know, I think this team
Speaker 3: you can imaginate Dylan Harper, Isaiah call your backward and
Speaker 3: that's pretty promising Cooper Flag just because he is so
Speaker 3: good at nearly every aspect of basketball, especially as a
Speaker 3: kid who just turned eighteen in December. What he's doing
Speaker 3: really may be the college player of the year, and
Speaker 3: that's that's just awesome for someone who's as young as
Speaker 3: he is. Would be best case scenario. And then, like
Speaker 3: you know, if a Bailey, it's given how many shots
Speaker 3: he makes, how tough of shots he makes, given his size,
Speaker 3: there's a lot to work with there, and and you know,
Speaker 3: the Jazz could use a shot maker and someone who
Speaker 3: could kind of take the defensive pressure off of guys
Speaker 3: like Lowry and Walker. So yeah, I think all three
Speaker 3: of those guys again, Jazz fans should be excited about
Speaker 3: should they end up with a top three pick. You know,
Speaker 3: there's a what is it, a forty two percent chance
Speaker 3: of getting one of those guys if they end up
Speaker 3: in that bottom three, and that's that's what you're hoping for,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of again worst case scenarios you have
Speaker 3: this season and then you lose in the lottery and
Speaker 3: you're you're picking six or seventh, and then you clearly
Speaker 3: are you know, it doesn't look like it's going to
Speaker 3: be a star player, but just kind of another piece,
Speaker 3: and you're you're really just rebuilding moving forward.
Speaker 2: All right, Andy, before I set you loose two part
Speaker 2: question about the lads, then I'll let you go. First
Speaker 2: of all, I need the Andy Larson take on the
Speaker 2: new Kits. Okay, I know Andy has strong feelings whenever
Speaker 2: they have new kids, So I need your take on
Speaker 2: the kids, and then level, on a scale of one
Speaker 2: to ten, your level of optimism for an exciting RSL
Speaker 2: season sounds.
Speaker 1: Like what.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Okay, so Kits. I like them a lot, honestly.
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
Speaker 3: When I heard that they were doing checkerboard, I was
Speaker 3: kind of expecting smaller squares, I guess, and was a
Speaker 3: little bit concerned.
Speaker 4: But I think they looked pretty good. I think they
Speaker 4: look good with the blue shorts. I think they look
Speaker 4: I think I liked that they did something bold. Think
Speaker 4: I like that, you know, I think they look good
Speaker 4: on the players. I'm excited to buy one.
Speaker 3: I thought the Grid City kind of promotional video that
Speaker 3: RSL did around it was well done. Yeah, I honestly
Speaker 3: am pretty impressed with the kids the last couple of
Speaker 3: years and thinking I'm really kind of impressed with RSL's
Speaker 3: marketing team and frankly also Adidas to work with them
Speaker 3: to make hits that I think like fit what the
Speaker 3: club is and also are pretty cool looking in a
Speaker 3: way that you know, the Jazz have sometimes failed to
Speaker 3: do over the course of the last year. And and
Speaker 3: then the team I am concerned, you know, like I
Speaker 3: guess I'm cautiously optimistic about the use and the winger,
Speaker 3: you know, like Starminick Marzuka, I think is a is
Speaker 3: a good player. You've got Diego Luna on the left.
Speaker 3: I'm worried about Diogo in the middle, and just frankly
Speaker 3: has not looked that good in pre season, did not
Speaker 3: look that good at the end of the regular season.
Speaker 3: Maybe frankly a designated player bust. And that's the concern.
Speaker 3: And then you have you're you're relying on some backups
Speaker 3: that at to start at forward and clearly you're not
Speaker 3: good enough there. So Ursel needs to make an addition there,
Speaker 3: you know. I talked to RSL GM kerch Schmid for
Speaker 3: an article that came out on Monday about that. He
Speaker 3: says they hope to add someone in this transfer window,
Speaker 3: but says that it may have to wait until summer,
Speaker 3: I might ramp up the uh the intensity of that
Speaker 3: search a little bit to get a better striker in
Speaker 3: sooner and kind of use some of the Gomez money,
Speaker 3: the Chicho money, the Fidel Barajas money. Even defense is
Speaker 3: still worry for me. I do think Urso has a
Speaker 3: terrific midfield like that is clearly the strong point of
Speaker 3: the team. And then I'm excited to see change at
Speaker 3: the keeper position. To have a veteran thirty three year
Speaker 3: old Brazilian uh syria O guy in goal is really promising.
Speaker 3: So I guess scale of one to ten, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: call it a seven and then RSL can make it
Speaker 3: a nine or a ten, depending on what signings they
Speaker 3: have between now and the closure of the window.
Speaker 2: All Right, Andy, will go easy on the ladies tonight.
Speaker 2: I know how you roll at times. So it's Valentine's Day,
Speaker 2: so just lead with love. Okay, That's all I'll say
Speaker 2: before I set you loose on a Friday.
Speaker 3: Right, I need to give you the same advice as well. Well.
Speaker 1: Okay, well played.
Speaker 2: Andy Larson covers the Utah Jazz for the Salt Lake Tribune.
Speaker 2: I always appreciate Andy's time. Make sure you're following him
Speaker 2: on social at Andy B. Larson is where you find
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