Speaker 1: Smitty Liven Studio.
Speaker 2: Tim McMahon's gonna roll by today NBA Daily Assist style,
Speaker 2: back to college football, Kevin Reynolds, Sam Bruckhaus will stop
Speaker 2: buying to do some NFL. Then we'll get you ready
Speaker 2: for a big RSL match tonight. As the playoffs are here,
Speaker 2: fall soccer is here, so.
Speaker 1: We're gonna bring in Brian Dunsa coming up a little bit.
Speaker 2: But my guy, Richard Smith on a Tuesday, even though
Speaker 2: it's a Tuesday, I had a lovely weekend in Park
Speaker 2: City at a wedding. It was a good time. Saw
Speaker 2: some old friends. I hadn't seen it quite some time.
Speaker 2: What what kept you busy this weekend?
Speaker 1: Smitty?
Speaker 3: See Spence, We we had divergent weekends going on. I
Speaker 3: actually went to u LA to see an old friend
Speaker 3: of ours, an old NBA colleague of ours down in La,
Speaker 3: and I got to uh, I got to take a
Speaker 3: moment out of the visit with him to go to
Speaker 3: Game two Saturday night, and right here live on the
Speaker 3: radio that people can't see, I'm presenting Spence with his
Speaker 3: own special world ball.
Speaker 1: What oh wow video? Are you serious?
Speaker 3: Because because that's the kind of guy I am, you
Speaker 3: are a good guy. See that I appreciate this. How
Speaker 3: about that? We found that? And I said, you got
Speaker 3: to be kidding me. I said, I know exactly who
Speaker 3: would appreciate something like this with an Otanian judge pictures
Speaker 3: on the.
Speaker 2: Ball, I had a decent curve back in the day.
Speaker 1: That's a little curve.
Speaker 3: See that that that goes with the line Spence. You know,
Speaker 3: the older I get, the better I was.
Speaker 1: Oh for sure. Yeah, I'm learning that now in my forties.
Speaker 2: And I should probably watch him tape to remind me
Speaker 2: of exactly who I was.
Speaker 3: Hey, hey, to your left, I put a little holder there.
Speaker 3: Oh sweet, the little thing you put the you put
Speaker 3: the ball on, and uh, thank you bow to it
Speaker 3: every time you walk by.
Speaker 1: So here's the real question.
Speaker 2: Twenty year anniversary of the greatest comeback in sports history
Speaker 2: that I know, can my Yanks get a little Bosox
Speaker 2: manage I can try to come back from the trio?
Speaker 3: Well, anybody who remembers that, you know back in four
Speaker 3: between the Red Sox and Yankees and the a l
Speaker 3: Cs the year before it was Aaron Boone who had
Speaker 3: the walk off home running. I know this is a
Speaker 3: family show and and uh, and that and that was
Speaker 3: off Tim Wakefield, the great Red Sox pitcher, rest in peace.
Speaker 4: And and uh.
Speaker 3: And then the next year they're playing again in the
Speaker 3: ALCS and the Red Sox were down the ninth inning,
Speaker 3: down a run, and uh, the greatest reliever in history
Speaker 3: is on the mount of the Yankees. It's all over.
Speaker 3: This is this is a four game sweep. You gotta
Speaker 3: be kidding me. And and then Kevin Molar, who has
Speaker 3: made a living since then, off his rant before the game,
Speaker 3: walking around anybody who would listen, and they got him
Speaker 3: on camera right saying.
Speaker 4: Saying, don't let us don't let us go tight.
Speaker 3: Let's go let us win tonight because then we got
Speaker 3: p D tomorrow, and then we got Shill in game six,
Speaker 3: and then anything can happen in game seven, so they
Speaker 3: better not let us win tonight. And then he's the
Speaker 3: one who drew the walk in the bottom of the
Speaker 3: ninth and Dave Roberts came in and ran for him
Speaker 3: and stole second and blah blah blah.
Speaker 4: So yeah, Yankees could.
Speaker 3: Do something, you know, And they're at home right just
Speaker 3: like the Red Sox were, so they have a chance
Speaker 3: to do something, and you know, maybe try and claw
Speaker 3: their way back in. But tell you what, the Dodgers
Speaker 3: seemed to be just in one of those grooves that
Speaker 3: you can get in in any kind of a playoff series,
Speaker 3: in any sport, where all of a sudden you can't
Speaker 3: plan it, and you can't you can't map it out,
Speaker 3: but all of a sudden, things just start falling your way,
Speaker 3: one thing after another, and it starts snowballing, you know,
Speaker 3: to wit the Freddie Freeman, I don't know, is he
Speaker 3: gonna play? Is he not gonna play? He's got a
Speaker 3: bum ankle, I don't know. Oh, home run, home run,
Speaker 3: home run. Like you know, that's the kind of stuff
Speaker 3: that you can't plan for and you can't make it up,
Speaker 3: and that you that you're just in the middle of
Speaker 3: right now for the Yankees and the Dodgers.
Speaker 2: So it's funny because as I'm watching the playoffs, I
Speaker 2: felt like the Yankees had a far superior roster as
Speaker 2: they were making their way through, and now I feel
Speaker 2: the same way about the Dodgers juxtaposed to the Yankee lineup,
Speaker 2: Like there's no oxygen, there's no break for the Yankee
Speaker 2: pitchers because even some of their you know, the batters,
Speaker 2: at the end of the lineup. One just won the
Speaker 2: MVP of the Conference champions.
Speaker 1: Like when they won the Pennant.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, so I thought the Yankees had a better
Speaker 2: starting pitching, but clearly the Dodgers top to bottom have
Speaker 2: a much better lineup and all the momentums on their side.
Speaker 3: I do think the Yankees have better pitching. They are
Speaker 3: lined up better too, but again, look, it's one swing
Speaker 3: in Game one right there. The Yankees are a pitch
Speaker 3: away from winning Game one, and the series will still
Speaker 3: have a different tone if Freeman doesn't connect on that.
Speaker 3: And and but that that's what happens in a series, right,
Speaker 3: one play, one one swing, one missed ground ball, you know,
Speaker 3: one error here. I mean, how about the two plays
Speaker 3: at the plate?
Speaker 2: Yeah, last night, like chi Oscar, that throw was right on,
Speaker 2: but like how close with both of those?
Speaker 3: I mean they were, it was it was an inch
Speaker 3: or two, Like you can't tell in a replay the
Speaker 3: guy was safer out. I mean, it's it's both of
Speaker 3: those and and but that's what makes baseball, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: so exciting, especially this time of year.
Speaker 1: You know, yeah, Otani's banged up, and they like don't
Speaker 1: need them it's ridiculous. Yeah, that's right, all right, smitty.
Speaker 2: Uh fun night last night with so many things going on,
Speaker 2: So flipping back and forth between Monday Night Football World Series,
Speaker 2: Utah Hockey Club, and then I get a text saying,
Speaker 2: did you see what just happened to Taylor? So I
Speaker 2: switch over in time for the replay, which I did
Speaker 2: not need to see. I don't like, like the Kevin
Speaker 2: ware Kid Louisville injury back in March madness.
Speaker 4: You know what I thought of? I thought of Joe Thysen.
Speaker 2: Joe Thaisman, Paul George, Gordon Hayward, right like whenever these
Speaker 2: things happened, I don't enjoy watching it. So Taylor Hendrix,
Speaker 2: who according to people that I talked to over there,
Speaker 2: worked his tail off all summer, you know, got his
Speaker 2: body in better shape. He looked bigger, he looked stronger,
Speaker 2: was off to a pretty solid start to the season,
Speaker 2: some good defensive minutes on John Morant opening night. He
Speaker 2: played Luca pretty well last night in a couple of
Speaker 2: occasions as well, as you referenced. I don't know that
Speaker 2: Taylor is ever going to be a guy that's going
Speaker 2: to drop forty on you. I'm not sure he's ever
Speaker 2: gonna be like a twenty point a night guy. I
Speaker 2: don't think he has to because of his measurables, his
Speaker 2: ability to guard, rebound, and also finish at the rim.
Speaker 2: But what does this mean now? As far as the
Speaker 2: what's next for Taylor? As Will mentioned last night, the
Speaker 2: development obviously is on hold.
Speaker 1: It sucks, it really does.
Speaker 2: But your thoughts on young Taylor Hendricks probably being out
Speaker 2: for the year.
Speaker 3: Now, Yeah, it's devastating injury, and the the freakish part
Speaker 3: about it spendses all these injuries that you see that happened,
Speaker 3: whether it's football, whether it's on an NBA court, someone
Speaker 3: and you know, sliding into a base in baseball and
Speaker 3: jamming their leg whatever it is. This thing happened right
Speaker 3: in plain view of everybody, with nobody around him. He
Speaker 3: was just running down the court and went to stop
Speaker 3: and his leg just completely gave out on him. Just
Speaker 3: a freak accident. He'll rehab, He'll get back. Uh. The
Speaker 3: Jazz I think will be super ultra conservative in his rehab.
Speaker 3: It's not like they need him back for any kind
Speaker 3: of a playoff push in the spring. It's not like
Speaker 3: they're depending on him, uh to to come and save
Speaker 3: the day in terms of their season or what they
Speaker 3: their plans are currently with this, with this roster. So
Speaker 3: they're gonna let him do the rehab he needs to.
Speaker 3: They're gonna rely on the doctors who are involved. They're
Speaker 3: gonna set the path. They're gonna set the schedule of
Speaker 3: what he has to do, surgery wise, rehab wise, getting
Speaker 3: back to playing condition, ultimately all that stuff. They're not
Speaker 3: gonna rush it. They want to make sure he's okay.
Speaker 3: He's only twenty years olds Bence, so they they realize
Speaker 3: he's got his full career ahead of him, so they're
Speaker 3: gonna do everything they can to make sure that he's
Speaker 3: okay physically, that he's okay emotionally, which is a big
Speaker 3: part that a lot of people don't take into account
Speaker 3: with these things. He's a young guy who's never been
Speaker 3: hurt before. Now he has a devastating injury early on
Speaker 3: in his professional career that in your mind you can't
Speaker 3: help but start thinking, oh am, I am I ever
Speaker 3: gonna be as good as I thought I could be,
Speaker 3: or as I even was at the moment that this happened.
Speaker 3: Is this gonna set me back somehow? Is this gonna be.
Speaker 3: Am I only gonna be eighty percent of what I
Speaker 3: was before this happened. Am I gonna get back to
Speaker 3: being better two years from now? All those things play
Speaker 3: in your mind as a young man, And so that
Speaker 3: that'll be one of the things that their staff with
Speaker 3: Ron Kimmins, who's their their psychological player rep within the group,
Speaker 3: he's gonna try and help him on the mental side
Speaker 3: to make sure that he's okay during the rehab process.
Speaker 3: And look, Speth's just because he can't play doesn't mean
Speaker 3: he won't be working on his body. He'll be working
Speaker 3: on his upper body. He'll be working on that kind
Speaker 3: of conditioning. That'll give him time to add a little
Speaker 3: bit more weight, to add some more strength, and to
Speaker 3: do some of those kinds of things to along with
Speaker 3: his rehab of his leg. To make sure that he's
Speaker 3: he's okay, whether that's twelve months from now or fifteen
Speaker 3: months from now, whatever it is, and try and get
Speaker 3: him back on the floor when it makes sense for
Speaker 3: him and when it makes sense for the organization.
Speaker 2: And excuse me, I don't want to be over dramatic here,
Speaker 2: so I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but
Speaker 2: this is not a sprained ankle, This is not a
Speaker 2: jammed wrist.
Speaker 1: This is a serious injury.
Speaker 2: Yes, and Taylor's a really, really good athlete, so he
Speaker 2: relies on his verticality and his speed side decide if
Speaker 2: he's ever going to be an elite defender. He's got
Speaker 2: to move laterally. So look the fact that and you know,
Speaker 2: the staff down there obviously a great reputation for caring
Speaker 2: for their players, and the fact that he's twenty is
Speaker 2: a good sign for long term recovery. But this is
Speaker 2: an injury like Marquise Chris had it and that essentially
Speaker 2: kind of knocked him out of the league. Like we
Speaker 2: have seen, this injury essentially change the scope of careers
Speaker 2: for players.
Speaker 1: So give me your thoughts on Jazz fans.
Speaker 2: The hope that we do see Taylor back at peak
Speaker 2: potential at some point.
Speaker 3: Oh well, he's gonna everybody's Every individual is different. They
Speaker 3: all heal differently.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: They all approach it supposedly the same way. Some guys,
Speaker 3: you know, cheat a little bit left and right depending
Speaker 3: on what they're supposed to do along in the process.
Speaker 3: Some guys are more patient than others.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: Some guys adhere to the strict rules of what they're
Speaker 3: they're supposed to be doing along the way. A lot
Speaker 3: of it is gonna be on how he approaches it.
Speaker 3: And and again Spence, not just the physical part, but
Speaker 3: the mental part of of how he how he thinks
Speaker 3: about the process, how he goes about it, the people
Speaker 3: around him, how they're coaching him to handle it on
Speaker 3: both the physical and the and the mental side of it.
Speaker 3: And and then then you just have to wait and
Speaker 3: see how he comes out. You know, some guys get healthy,
Speaker 3: uh the doctors say you're ready to go, Oh, you're
Speaker 3: you're all mended, You're good, You're good, and the guy
Speaker 3: just has a mental block about doing something because they're
Speaker 3: afraid it's gonna happen again. And and that's that's that's
Speaker 3: a big thing, especially at the pro level. And so
Speaker 3: that's gonna be part of it for him is a
Speaker 3: maturing process as he is a young man, not only
Speaker 3: dealing with the injury and the rehab part of it,
Speaker 3: but as he comes back, how can he get his
Speaker 3: frame of mind back to where it needs to be
Speaker 3: to be able to at some point compete at the
Speaker 3: highest level in this sport. That that's gonna be the
Speaker 3: thing that's gonna be for him, and and that's gonna
Speaker 3: be something that's gonna take patience.
Speaker 1: One more thing on this and then we'll move on.
Speaker 2: You know, we were very spoiled by two of the
Speaker 2: greatest iron men in NBA history when the Jazz were
Speaker 2: at their apex with John carl And I'm wondering if
Speaker 2: you could provide some insight because I was in I
Speaker 2: intentionally went back to watch Will last night and then
Speaker 2: interviews of the players Keyantay and Walker.
Speaker 1: It sounded I couldn't see it.
Speaker 2: I was only listening. It sounded like they were crying.
Speaker 2: And if you go back and watch Will, he was
Speaker 2: holding back emotion. So as far as the uh, you know,
Speaker 2: the the effect that it has on his teammates, as
Speaker 2: Kiante said, his brothers who he works shoulder by shoulder,
Speaker 2: and and the effect that it could have kind of
Speaker 2: on the rest of the group. What's the best way
Speaker 2: to kind of try to traverse that space.
Speaker 3: Well, again, that that's going to be a group effort
Speaker 3: and and uh, their their mental preparation, UH is going
Speaker 3: to be key. How they communicate with each other, how
Speaker 3: the staff works through that with them.
Speaker 4: It's not just Taylor.
Speaker 3: Of course, you know that that's a whole separate thing
Speaker 3: that that that they'll be dealing with with him and
Speaker 3: and giving him the priority of their of their efforts
Speaker 3: and their their knowledge. But at the same time, you've
Speaker 3: got a whole group of guys who witnessed it, and
Speaker 3: they're now thinking, in the back of their minds, oh
Speaker 3: am I the next guy, Am I gonna is something
Speaker 3: weird gonna happen uh to me? And so the fragility
Speaker 3: of the group, the mindset of of how they approach
Speaker 3: their their task is UH is always interesting because you
Speaker 3: really need everybody focused together, but you need people around you,
Speaker 3: whether it's coaches, whether it's the support staff, to be
Speaker 3: able to help in terms of coaching them through the
Speaker 3: mental part of being able to deal with it. Not
Speaker 3: just that Taylor's not here, he's not with us where
Speaker 3: we we can't count on him to help us. Now,
Speaker 3: we've got to be able to move forward with our group,
Speaker 3: but we also have to do so in a way
Speaker 3: that that where we can perform the way that we
Speaker 3: uh that we want to, and sometimes the mental part
Speaker 3: holds you back. And so that's gonna be it's gonna
Speaker 3: be interesting to see how they respond as a group. Look,
Speaker 3: when you're in the middle of the game, guys are playing,
Speaker 3: Guys aren't thinking about that stuff, but all the stuff
Speaker 3: outside of the game. When you're on the road or
Speaker 3: in a hotel room by yourself and you're sitting in
Speaker 3: the locker room before practice or after a game or whatever,
Speaker 3: those are the times when your mind can kind of
Speaker 3: wander through those things, and you have to have the
Speaker 3: people around you as a group to support you, to
Speaker 3: make sure that you're all working on the same level
Speaker 3: and all working in the same direction, to try and
Speaker 3: get everybody together on the same page.
Speaker 2: So rotationally, what this does is really open up about
Speaker 2: thirty minutes a night. So Taylor played twenty nine against
Speaker 2: the Grizzlies. Against the Warriors, he played twenty five, and
Speaker 2: then last night twenty one, but then he left the game,
Speaker 2: So about twenty seven twenty eight minutes a night, probably
Speaker 2: it opens up. So if we go off of what
Speaker 2: they've been saying, it's development youth. You know, we want
Speaker 2: to learn what we have with the young players. And
Speaker 2: would you look at what Will has at his disposal.
Speaker 2: He could bring in John Collins and that would be
Speaker 2: a pretty big front court with Walker, John and Lowry.
Speaker 2: He could bring in Bryce bry Senseiba, we could see
Speaker 2: a little bit more of Cody Cody Williams, and maybe
Speaker 2: even a little bit more of Kyle Philipowski. So with
Speaker 2: about you know, twenty seven twenty eight minutes, now open up.
Speaker 1: What do you think rotationally we see.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you just named all the options are going
Speaker 3: to have and I think it's probably going to be
Speaker 3: a rotating door depending on the matchups from night to night,
Speaker 3: the teams are playing, who the who the opponent is,
Speaker 3: you know, they could go smallish with Sensible as a three.
Speaker 3: They could go bigger with Philipowski, you know, and move
Speaker 3: him and marking in around, depending on again, on who
Speaker 3: they're playing on any given night, like for example, tonight
Speaker 3: they're playing the Sacramento Kings, who have a set rotation,
Speaker 3: a set lineup.
Speaker 4: They have a starting five who are here early in
Speaker 4: the season.
Speaker 3: It's only been the handful of games, but there they're
Speaker 3: guys are playing thirty four thirty six minutes a night,
Speaker 3: so they're they got a regular group that's playing and
Speaker 3: a group that's set to try and win this year,
Speaker 3: to try and get something accomplished for them, So they're
Speaker 3: a group that's that's gonna come in, you know, with
Speaker 3: their own agenda. So every night the Jazz are gonna
Speaker 3: be facing a different team that has a different approach
Speaker 3: based on where they're at in their team development situation,
Speaker 3: whether they're competing for playoffs, whether they're competing for a championship,
Speaker 3: whether they're just trying to get in the playoffs, whether
Speaker 3: a developmental team like the Jazz are, say like Portland
Speaker 3: is or something like that. So it's gonna it's gonna
Speaker 3: be a rotating door. I think it's gonna be something
Speaker 3: where they're gonna be giving different guys different looks with
Speaker 3: different groups on the floor and to see who works
Speaker 3: well with each other. I don't think it changes a
Speaker 3: lot spence in terms of the approach they're going to
Speaker 3: take as the season goes along. In terms of rotation,
Speaker 3: I think they're just going to be trying to find
Speaker 3: out who we got, who plays well with who what
Speaker 3: makes sense on any given night, And it may be
Speaker 3: different guys. It may be sensible could play one night
Speaker 3: as a starter and play thirty two minutes because he
Speaker 3: because he gets on a little bit of a role
Speaker 3: and then two nights later he doesn't even get in
Speaker 3: the game because the matchup isn't right and they're trying to,
Speaker 3: you know, take a look at somebody else, and so, uh,
Speaker 3: that's what you're gonna see. That that's I don't think
Speaker 3: a lot of that changes for what the Jazz is
Speaker 3: overall approach going.
Speaker 4: Into this season was gonna be.
Speaker 2: So let's let's talk about some of the individual players
Speaker 2: we've seen so.
Speaker 1: Far and your thoughts.
Speaker 2: And I want to start with Keante, but I want
Speaker 2: to start with a question at at what point because
Speaker 2: I I oftentimes say, like comes to summer league, don't
Speaker 2: worry about mak or miss. When it comes to rookies,
Speaker 2: not many of them are going to shoot a very
Speaker 2: high percentage. But at what point do we worry about
Speaker 2: maker miss with Kyante? Because here are his college stats
Speaker 2: at Baylor, he played thirty three games, he shot thirty
Speaker 2: seven percent from the floor and thirty three percent from three. Okay,
Speaker 2: So then we move over to his rookie year with
Speaker 2: the Jazz, he shot thirty nine percent from the floor
Speaker 2: in thirty three percent from three. And now we look
Speaker 2: at what we've seen as far as this start goes
Speaker 2: and Kyante right now is twenty seven percent from the floor,
Speaker 2: twenty three percent from three. So college rookie start to
Speaker 2: second year, the maker miss numbers.
Speaker 1: We can't ignore them.
Speaker 2: Like at this point he has shown that he is
Speaker 2: a lead guard that can't shoot the basketball. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know how else to say it, Like, at
Speaker 2: what point does that become a concern.
Speaker 3: Well, it's a concern the whole time. I mean, well,
Speaker 3: let's look at it this way. He in another another
Speaker 3: ten days or so, he turns twenty one years old. Okay,
Speaker 3: So he's a young guy. Played one year of college,
Speaker 3: played one year professional last year. Now he's starting his
Speaker 3: second year. You know, the thing with him with the Jazz,
Speaker 3: from my perspective, is that they're still trying to figure
Speaker 3: out whether he's a point guard or whether he's a
Speaker 3: scoring two guard. And I think, you know, based on
Speaker 3: what he's done so far for me, I think he's
Speaker 3: gonna be He's gonna be best served long term in
Speaker 3: his career being utilized as a as a Jordan Clarkson
Speaker 3: type or a Lou Williams type who's a smallish scoring
Speaker 3: guard who's a volume shooter. He's I don't know if
Speaker 3: he's ever gonna be a great shooter, but he can be.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, he he I think his shot selection
Speaker 3: needs to improve, and that's that's not anything different than
Speaker 3: any young guy who's trying to feel his way. I
Speaker 3: think the thing with him for me is that at
Speaker 3: the moment, he's trying to figure out how to be
Speaker 3: a point guard and he's trying to also figure out
Speaker 3: how to score at the NBA level. And one thing
Speaker 3: is hard enough to do on its own, but trying
Speaker 3: to do both those things at the same time and
Speaker 3: to be relied upon and to have the spotlight on
Speaker 3: you in that regard.
Speaker 4: Is puts another layer to it.
Speaker 3: So I think the Jazz at some point they have
Speaker 3: to figure out is he going to be a point guard?
Speaker 3: Do we think he's good enough to do that? And
Speaker 3: if he is, then we need to work with him
Speaker 3: on being better with the ball and not trying to
Speaker 3: score as much. Or are we just gonna let him
Speaker 3: loose to do the Jordan Clarkson type thing. I think
Speaker 3: that's what's gonna happen, you know, as his as his
Speaker 3: season this year unfold.
Speaker 2: We'll catch a quick break. One more big segment with
Speaker 2: Smitty coming up on the other side. I want to
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Speaker 2: Smitty coming up next right here on ESPN seven hundred.
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Speaker 2: We have the triumphant return of one Tim McMahon to
Speaker 2: the program today. Bean McMahon will drop your NBA Daily
Speaker 2: Assist coming up at about We'll call that like thirty
Speaker 2: minutes right now. Then we have Kevin Reynolds from the
Speaker 2: Trip covers BYU Undefeated Sam. I'm going to go ahead
Speaker 2: and go with Bruckhouse. I believe that's what it is.
Speaker 2: He's been on the show before, so I need to
Speaker 2: learn his name before he hops on. Do a little NFL.
Speaker 2: Then we're gonna bring Donnie for some soccer. AZRSL welcomes
Speaker 2: in Minnesota. Have you ever been do an MLS playoff match.
Speaker 3: Yes I have, aren't they And I've been to several
Speaker 3: you know, I become a real fan the last several years.
Speaker 3: We have good friends, the Farleys, who have season tickets
Speaker 3: and they let us come with them and we, uh,
Speaker 3: I don't know about like tonight, where it's gonna be
Speaker 3: freezing out and it's gonna be a little.
Speaker 4: Dicey, you know.
Speaker 3: I Usually when I go there, it's ninety degrees out
Speaker 3: in the sun and we're sweating and whatever.
Speaker 4: And that's what's funny about soccer, right.
Speaker 3: It starts in the cold in March, and then in
Speaker 3: the middle of the season if the sun is out
Speaker 3: and it's hot and it's ninety five and whatever, whatever,
Speaker 3: and then at the end of the season it's back
Speaker 3: to being cold again.
Speaker 1: When you're watching, the season is way too long. It's
Speaker 1: garrely long.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but we'll be cheering for oursel the mast Downny's
Speaker 2: gonna hop on get us ready for that mass great
Speaker 2: all right, Smitty. So look, it's three games in, but
Speaker 2: it is sports radio. So it's not like I'm worried
Speaker 2: about Lowry. Nobody should be worried about Lowry had a
Speaker 2: great game one against Memphis and then the last two games,
Speaker 2: he's combined eight of thirty two and it's clear he's
Speaker 2: on the first page of the scouting reports.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: So Golden State ran a couple of guys at him Dallas.
Speaker 2: You know, he was their main point of emphasis defensively.
Speaker 2: So what do you like most.
Speaker 1: About Lowry Start?
Speaker 2: And what do you make of the past couple of
Speaker 2: games when he is going to be the number one
Speaker 2: dude the teams are watching out for how he's kind
Speaker 2: of adapting to that role.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's what he's going to get every night.
Speaker 3: So that's he's going to have to get used to that.
Speaker 3: Then you know, the other the other guys who were
Speaker 3: in the so called developmental stages and are just going
Speaker 3: to have to be able to start pulling some weight
Speaker 3: to help him, to free him up a little bit more.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's still he's still shooting. You know, it's
Speaker 3: early in the season. It's only one week spend. We
Speaker 3: spend twenty six weeks in the NBA season. They've played
Speaker 3: one so they played you know, three games out of
Speaker 3: out of eighty two. But but you know, he's still
Speaker 3: shooting the ball, okay, you know from distance when he's
Speaker 3: open you know, early season here he's shooting forty seven
Speaker 3: from three eighty five from the line. He's I still
Speaker 3: think he's a potential one eighty guy for a season,
Speaker 3: but he's gonna have to get more help, you know.
Speaker 3: I do like the early season play of Colin Sexton.
Speaker 3: I think he's playing with his usual passion, his usual aggressiveness,
Speaker 3: but it looks like he's playing a little bit tighter,
Speaker 3: a little bit smarter, and and again that that that
Speaker 3: speaks to his maturity in the league now and uh
Speaker 3: and and I think they're gonna have to rely on
Speaker 3: him as well. And then whether you're throwing the guys
Speaker 3: like Clarkson and Collins or if they're even gonna be here,
Speaker 3: you know, during the season as a season unfolds, if
Speaker 3: the Jazz are gonna do something with them, which I
Speaker 3: don't know anything about that, but it doesn't seem like
Speaker 3: those guys fit in with what they're trying to get
Speaker 3: done long term with this group. So some of those
Speaker 3: young guys are going to have to play, and they're
Speaker 3: going to have to start pulling a little bit of
Speaker 3: weight to just take some of that burden off.
Speaker 4: Of marketing it.
Speaker 2: So and I always say this. You know, we can
Speaker 2: only go off their word. We can only go off
Speaker 2: what they're saying. And as you and I both know,
Speaker 2: there's what the front office says to the media and
Speaker 2: the public, and then there's what actually goes on. Okay,
Speaker 2: but whenever Danny and Justin speak, it's development, development, development, youth.
Speaker 2: We got to see what sort of hand we've been dealt.
Speaker 2: If the developmental program is working, Walker will be a
Speaker 2: case study this year because it's his third year in
Speaker 2: the program. Right I think it's been an a plus
Speaker 2: start for him. Right now, through three games, Walker's at
Speaker 2: ten points, eleven boards, three blocks. His shooting percentages are
Speaker 2: back to where you want. He's sixty eight percent from
Speaker 2: the floor, only fifty seven percent from the line. We
Speaker 2: need Walker to shoot better from the free throw line,
Speaker 2: but that's getting nitpicky because I think he's been among
Speaker 2: their best players through the first game.
Speaker 3: Give me your thought, Yeah, well, he looks a little
Speaker 3: bit better to me. You know, I like his rebounding.
Speaker 3: I like the fact that he looks like he's moving
Speaker 3: with a little more purpose when he's uh, especially on
Speaker 3: the on the offensive end. Look, you know these are
Speaker 3: early numbers, but if you if you told me now
Speaker 3: in October, Uh, he's averaging you know, in this this
Speaker 3: first handful of games, ten points, eleven rebounds, and and
Speaker 3: almost three blocks a game. If you told me, if
Speaker 3: you said, would you take that in April and say, oh,
Speaker 3: that's what he did all year? I would say give
Speaker 3: me that because those those are those are helpful numbers
Speaker 3: for a group that's trying to get better and trying
Speaker 3: to improve. Those numbers from a center position, with the
Speaker 3: way that they're constructed currently, would be very would be
Speaker 3: a contributing factor to them getting better. So if he
Speaker 3: can keep up that kind of pace, I think that
Speaker 3: would be good. You know, I don't think he should
Speaker 3: be doing anything that's off the charts, but anything that
Speaker 3: he can do where he averages a double double and
Speaker 3: I don't know if he can do that, if that
Speaker 3: if he can keep that up, but anything around those
Speaker 3: numbers he's ten to eleven. Now, if he ends up
Speaker 3: averaging eleven, eleven and eight or something like that with
Speaker 3: a two blocks, a block and a half, whatever, that
Speaker 3: kind of thing, that would mean to me that he's
Speaker 3: made that incremental step in this third year to being
Speaker 3: a contributor to a winning effort.
Speaker 2: So tonight he's got Sabonis. Right, So the Kings are
Speaker 2: in town, and you know Sacramento one and two, first three.
Speaker 2: They bring in DeMar DeRozan in the offseason. But Walker's
Speaker 2: got Sabonis, who right now is twenty three points eleven boards,
Speaker 2: about just under a block six assists because he can
Speaker 2: pass it. Yeah, So what is Walker up against tonight?
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's he's gonna get worked tonight by Sibonis and
Speaker 3: then and then and and because because uh, Demontes can
Speaker 3: go outside and that's the thing. He can go outside,
Speaker 3: and if he gets Kessler in space at all, now
Speaker 3: he can go to work. He's got a great pivot move,
Speaker 3: he's got great footwork, and and he'll be able to
Speaker 3: set up. He can make elbow jumpers. He can even
Speaker 3: step back off of that. If you give him space,
Speaker 3: he can make that. If you get up on him.
Speaker 3: He's got the footwork and the ability to go one
Speaker 3: two bounces and get right to the rim on a big,
Speaker 3: big guy like Kessler. So he's gonna he's gonna have
Speaker 3: his hands full because Sibonis is a different type of
Speaker 3: big man that that doesn't really fit into the mold
Speaker 3: of what Kessler is usually used to guarding.
Speaker 2: Since he is in town tonight. And I don't think
Speaker 2: I've ever asked you once about your experience with Trey Lyles. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he's still in the league. He's still playing significant minutes
Speaker 2: for a good team. And you know, I I understood
Speaker 2: why you guys liked him. I thought it was easy
Speaker 2: to see a guy with that size and still with
Speaker 2: the skill that he has put it on the floor
Speaker 2: shoot a little bit.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: But what was what was the experience like from your
Speaker 2: vantage point when Trey was here? And obviously when he left,
Speaker 2: he had some things to say about Quinn that didn't
Speaker 2: seem to land very well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3: He was he was always a quiet guy, had great
Speaker 3: parents who were always here, a lot that you know,
Speaker 3: involved in his career. Maybe maybe a little too much
Speaker 3: on the pro level, you know, but that's okay. You know,
Speaker 3: they they cared about him and about how he was doing.
Speaker 3: So I I get that, uh, And I had to
Speaker 3: deal with some of that in my role at the time,
Speaker 3: you know, with the organization. But he's a good guy.
Speaker 3: He's a quiet guy. He was always uh, you know,
Speaker 3: came to work. I always thought that he had another gear.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, he never really got to in any kind
Speaker 3: of consistent level, you know. But uh uh then again,
Speaker 3: you know he was uh he was on that Kentucky team,
Speaker 3: you know, with with Devin Booker and the Jazz. We
Speaker 3: we we took Trey Lyles and Phoenix. The next pick
Speaker 3: took Devin Booker. So you can sit there and go,
Speaker 3: you know, you guys, you know, how dumb were you? Guys?
Speaker 3: You know, you guys took Booker. My whole different story. Okay,
Speaker 3: all right, yeah, so you win some and you lose some,
Speaker 3: all right, But you know, Trey Lyles has been a
Speaker 3: a serviceable journeyman player, Okay. Devin Booker has been a
Speaker 3: multi time All Star, a main guy, and an Olympic
Speaker 3: gold medalist. Okay, so he's the guy. So you know,
Speaker 3: that's one of the things when you're scouting that's difficult
Speaker 3: on some of these so called a big blue blood programs,
Speaker 3: whether it's a Duke or a Kentucky or a Kansas
Speaker 3: where they may have multiple NBA level guys on the
Speaker 3: team and you see him play one year before they
Speaker 3: enter the NBA Draft, but maybe you don't see everything
Speaker 3: that they can do or maybe their shortcomings because they
Speaker 3: have to work within a confined space because they're with
Speaker 3: all these other guys. They're not the one star on
Speaker 3: the college team. You know, like Dalton connect last year
Speaker 3: in Tennessee. You know who's getting all the shots and
Speaker 3: getting all the attention and everything. You know, they're there
Speaker 3: with a bunch of other guys, and sometimes guys get
Speaker 3: lost in the shuffle. That happened to Wesley Matthews way
Speaker 3: back when in Marquette. You know, he was playing with
Speaker 3: two other teammates who were all three of them were
Speaker 3: NBA guys, and he didn't show as much as you know,
Speaker 3: maybe he could have. And in his collegiate career the
Speaker 3: senior year, and the other two guys got drafted and
Speaker 3: West didn't get drafted. And West comes into the Jazz
Speaker 3: Summer League and to a series of events, ends up
Speaker 3: his second year signing a free agent, you know, a
Speaker 3: contract with the way the rules were at that time,
Speaker 3: making more money in his second year than Blake Griffin,
Speaker 3: who was in the same draft class, who was the
Speaker 3: number one pick.
Speaker 4: I mean, just by a.
Speaker 3: Set of circumstances that's that we would have to go
Speaker 3: into on another show. But it's really it's one of
Speaker 3: those things where you really have to scrutinize who you're
Speaker 3: looking at in college because you're never quite sure if
Speaker 3: all you're seeing is all that is there?
Speaker 2: How much while we're in this space, and I want
Speaker 2: to acknowledge how unfair this is as far as what
Speaker 2: I'm going to bring up, because to your point, everybody
Speaker 2: has hits, everybody has misses. So whenever anybody throws Trey
Speaker 2: Burke at me, I said, well, okay, Donovan late lottery,
Speaker 2: go bear late first, like in order to be fair.
Speaker 2: But how much of the this is do you still
Speaker 2: think about it? Do you still think about Kawhi? Do
Speaker 2: you still think about Devin Booker? Do you still think
Speaker 2: about uh Jokic Gianness? I mean, and everybody missed on
Speaker 2: those dudes, let's be clear. But as a guy that
Speaker 2: evaluated talent, do those misses still kind of haunt you
Speaker 2: a little bit?
Speaker 3: Well, it just I don't know if it haunts as
Speaker 3: much as you just you're always try and be retrospective
Speaker 3: about you know, what you were looking at, uh and
Speaker 3: you and you've got to make sure that you don't
Speaker 3: get caught into a mode of revisionist history. In other words,
Speaker 3: you have to remember that what you thought and what
Speaker 3: you had at that time in terms of information and
Speaker 3: intelligence was what you based a decision on, and you
Speaker 3: can't change that five years later and say, oh, well,
Speaker 3: well we should have done this, So we should have
Speaker 3: done that.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody can do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, of course.
Speaker 3: And that's that's the Monday morning quarterbacking and that's you know,
Speaker 3: that's that's a lot of that spens in my opinion
Speaker 3: from where for more, the seat I used to sit
Speaker 3: in for for a long time is you know, guys
Speaker 3: people who never did it before, and they always have
Speaker 3: the answers. Tomorrow, I'll give you the answer tomorrow. Okay,
Speaker 3: after the game tonight, I'll tell you who the best
Speaker 3: play you know, And so you have to do you
Speaker 3: have to work with what you have at that time.
Speaker 3: And yeah, you you know, hey, I was I was
Speaker 3: really high. I remember at the time on Robert Swift
Speaker 3: who was coming out, who was coming out of high
Speaker 3: school and you know, out of Bakersfield and looked like
Speaker 3: a big guy who knew how to set a screen,
Speaker 3: knew how to roll, you know, had good hands. You know,
Speaker 3: it could be you know, it could be a really
Speaker 3: solid big man in the league, and I think he
Speaker 3: had the skill or ability to potentially do that, but
Speaker 3: he had other things off the court, uh, that got
Speaker 3: in his way and derailed him from any kind of
Speaker 3: a lengthy career, you know. And uh, you know, then
Speaker 3: there are other guys, you know, whether it's a Paul
Speaker 3: Millsap at forty six or whether it was a Mo
Speaker 3: Williams at forty six, and guys that you like, and
Speaker 3: they're still there in the draft, and you go, well, well,
Speaker 3: I like this guy.
Speaker 4: I don't know why he's not gone already.
Speaker 3: He's a you know, and and so you you know,
Speaker 3: if you get a chance at him now Carl, yeah, Johnny, Carl, Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, John was taking sixteen, Carl was taking thirteen.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: But there's also all the guys that you liked that
Speaker 3: went somewhere else for whatever the circumstances were, and you
Speaker 3: were convinced, oh, Spence, check it's that guy. He you know,
Speaker 3: I really like him, and we were two spots away
Speaker 3: from getting them. And now now the other team has him,
Speaker 3: and five years from now, you know, he's a four
Speaker 3: time All Star and going, boy, those guys are really smart.
Speaker 3: You know, and you don't. You're sitting there going, well,
Speaker 3: you know, hey, I was pretty smart too, I just
Speaker 3: didn't get him. You know, that kind of thing. So
Speaker 3: you have those kind of thoughts that you can get
Speaker 3: carried away with at times, and and you know, but
Speaker 3: when you're in the in the heat of it, when
Speaker 3: you're in that that space, you really have to be
Speaker 3: cognizant that you've you've checked all the boxes and that
Speaker 3: you're comfortable with whatever it is you're doing at that moment,
Speaker 3: because those are the things that live with you. Hey, look,
Speaker 3: a lot of people liked Donovan Mitchell right, and the
Speaker 3: Jazz were just we were never going to get him
Speaker 3: at twenty four, which is where the Jazz were picking
Speaker 3: that year, And Dennis Lindsay made a great move with
Speaker 3: Tim Connolly and Denver to move up from twenty four
Speaker 3: to thirteen, which, by the way, was where when we
Speaker 3: traded Trey Lyles. So Denver liked Trey Lyles coming off
Speaker 3: his rookie year, So the Jazz traded Trey Lyles and
Speaker 3: twenty four to get up to thirteen. Denver liked the
Speaker 3: move because they thought they were getting two, you know,
Speaker 3: decent players and Trey Lyles and the kid I can't
Speaker 3: remember his name, not from Syracuse that they drafted who
Speaker 3: really didn't pan out, but they liked them at the time,
Speaker 3: and we the Jazz were able to get Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 3: Now Dennis doesn't make that move, or or Denver doesn't
Speaker 3: want to make a move, and Dennis can't get something
Speaker 3: done with the other teams, and Mitchell goes seventeen to
Speaker 3: Portland or you know whoever it would have been, and
Speaker 3: then Donovan Mitchell never shows up in Utah and doesn't
Speaker 3: have the start of the career that he had. And
Speaker 3: there's millions of those stories, and sometimes it's always fun
Speaker 3: to go back and see what might have happened if
Speaker 3: just one different thing had taken place, whether it's during
Speaker 3: a draft process or during a workout process. You know,
Speaker 3: Carlos Boozer came in had a I had a terrible
Speaker 3: workout with us, and we asked him afterwards, hey, you know,
Speaker 3: how come you and he tells us, well, we didn't.
Speaker 3: I haven't eaten in about thirty hours, and we go,
Speaker 3: what do you mean you haven't eaten? He goes, well,
Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't eat yesterday morning before he got
Speaker 3: on the plane because I thought there'd be food on
Speaker 3: the plane, and then there was they didn't have it,
Speaker 3: And so then I got here and I didn't have
Speaker 3: any money. I don't have a credit card, so I
Speaker 3: didn't eat last night because at Duke they told us
Speaker 3: we couldn't order room service or anything when we're staying
Speaker 3: at the hotels. So I haven't eaten since yesterday morning.
Speaker 3: And Kevin O'Connor like blew his dad, like what are
Speaker 3: you talking about? You know you got to eat and whatever.
Speaker 3: I remember Kevin famously in that meeting saying saying, look
Speaker 3: a Booze, wherever you go from now on, if you're
Speaker 3: hungry and you don't not sure what to do, use
Speaker 3: my credit card and just buy some food wherever you
Speaker 3: I don't care, I'll pay for the food. Don't don't
Speaker 3: do that, Yeah, you know, And that's how That's how
Speaker 3: Booze was.
Speaker 4: That's the kind of guy he was.
Speaker 3: And then and then we had him back for a
Speaker 3: second workout where just before the draft we obviously did
Speaker 3: much better, and but we didn't get a chance at
Speaker 3: him because Cleveland took him early in the second round.
Speaker 3: And then we got him two years later. Blah, blah
Speaker 3: blah and and all that stuff. But all of those
Speaker 3: are fun stories, backstories about things that that did happen
Speaker 3: or things that didn't happen that could have happened if
Speaker 3: just one other thing had had gone differently. It's, uh,
Speaker 3: that's what makes this business so fascinating.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And the margin of error so thin.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, it's uh by winning is it comes and.
Speaker 3: That stuff is crazy and and you know, I we
Speaker 3: always would would uh would use a comparison to like,
Speaker 3: you know, a professional golfer and all these guys, you
Speaker 3: got the top guys you always hear about now, whether
Speaker 3: it's Shoffley or Scheffler or you know, Marcu or whatever.
Speaker 3: But the guys who were like twenty five to two hundred, Yeah,
Speaker 3: they're like base the same guy and one guy made
Speaker 3: a putt right and a qualifying thing, and the other
Speaker 3: guy shanked one shot off the tee or something and
Speaker 3: then that was it, you know. And it's that that
Speaker 3: that line of making it not making it successful not
Speaker 3: successful is such as such a thin line, and there's
Speaker 3: so so little margin for error.
Speaker 2: I saw that there's a video going around of a
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was the corn Ferry back
Speaker 2: in the day. But whatever the tour was that you
Speaker 2: had to play on to get to the PGA Tour.
Speaker 2: And there was a golfer who I think was in
Speaker 2: his mid thirties, and he had a chance to grab
Speaker 2: his card. All he had to do was two putt
Speaker 2: from like four feet out, and he three putted because
Speaker 2: he just missed like a tap in and he never
Speaker 2: had a chance to qualify again. I mean yeah, and
Speaker 2: people never go with that.
Speaker 3: People never never hear about those stories, right right, And
Speaker 3: they they wondered why I thought you were a good golfer.
Speaker 3: I thought I heard a lot about you. Well yeah,
Speaker 3: I was. Yeah, well, you know, and it's hard to
Speaker 3: explain to people. You know, how how thin that that
Speaker 3: that that that line really is?
Speaker 2: All right, smitty before I say you loose, We got
Speaker 2: about thirty seconds here, so it's probably not long enough
Speaker 2: to explain the whole thing.
Speaker 1: They're awful defensively.
Speaker 2: They're twenty fifth in efficiency, they're twenty seventh in scoring defense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I know it's only three games, but they were the
Speaker 2: worst defensive team in pro basketball last year, so they've improved.
Speaker 2: I get They're not last this year. They're third to
Speaker 2: last or fifth to last inefficiency, how do we how
Speaker 2: do we see a little bit.
Speaker 3: It's not well, they've got to they've got to be better, Spence,
Speaker 3: And it's no that that's just work, that's just effort,
Speaker 3: that's determination and and again, through this developmental process and
Speaker 3: the stuff that the Jazz are going through now, they're
Speaker 3: going to find out who the guys are that want
Speaker 3: to play, who want to get after it. And when
Speaker 3: they identify guys that don't, after a certain amount of time,
Speaker 3: they're just going to put them on the train and
Speaker 3: ship them out of town. They're going to go on
Speaker 3: to the next guy because they've got to get better,
Speaker 3: and especially the offensively is one area you can do
Speaker 3: that with effort and determination and grit, and that's what
Speaker 3: they're trying to find.
Speaker 2: Great to see my friend, enjoy the game tonight and
Speaker 2: we'll see you soon.
Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, Spence, And I haven't said this and maybe ever,
Speaker 3: but go Yankees, just for you.
Speaker 4: Just for you.
Speaker 2: You're rolling on that, Okay, for to God for you.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have them cliped that and I'm gonna use
Speaker 2: it as my ring tone. Let us get one game
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