Speaker 1: Richard Smith is live in studio for an entire hour
Speaker 1: on a jam packed Monday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Smitie, Happy Monday, sir.
Speaker 3: How are you? I'm doing great. How are you doing?
Speaker 3: I'm good.
Speaker 1: There's so many things that I wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: you about. Let's start with a quick like JJ Spawn,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh moment, because you and I are both
Speaker 1: golf fans, and it's interesting watching the best players in
Speaker 1: the world just have no answers for the problems that
Speaker 1: a coat of course like Oakmont presents. You know, the best,
Speaker 1: the best players in the world. Some of them missed
Speaker 1: the cut, most all of them fell apart, and JJ
Speaker 1: Teeter two bogeying five of six and I wrote him off.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, he he's not ready for this moment.
Speaker 1: Sam Burns probably feels hard done because of the ruling.
Speaker 1: I mean, water was everywhere, Adam Scott falls apart, and
Speaker 1: after the weather break, JJ Spawn rolls back into the
Speaker 1: thing and wins it with a sixty footer on eighteen.
Speaker 1: I mean, a life changing moment. It's my favorite thing
Speaker 1: about watching sports like that. Dude's life just changed right there.
Speaker 1: How did you digest that moment?
Speaker 4: It's the whole thing spens about a live theater, you know,
Speaker 4: like you go to a Broadway show and you sit
Speaker 4: down and there's been reviews of the show, and you're
Speaker 4: going there because you're excited to see it, and you're
Speaker 4: gonna be there for three hours, and you know what
Speaker 4: you're gonna get in terms of entertainment, and you know
Speaker 4: how how the play ends, right, the guy gets the
Speaker 4: girl and everybody's happy at the end or whatever. You
Speaker 4: know it's coming. But in sports, and you know, in
Speaker 4: these kinds of moments, you have no idea what is
Speaker 4: coming next. And for those guys to be put in
Speaker 4: the position of the weather, the rain, the wind, you know,
Speaker 4: Spawn goes out five bogeies in the first six holes. Okay, well,
Speaker 4: you know it's just those are the conditions, and you
Speaker 4: got to hit the ball in the fairway. You can't
Speaker 4: get it out of the fairway, and if you do,
Speaker 4: then you know everybody's in the same boat. And he
Speaker 4: just held on and you know, grind and grind. And
Speaker 4: then in thirteen and fourteen, there's like five guys all
Speaker 4: tied for the lead and three other guys one shot back,
Speaker 4: and so all these guys on the leaderboard had a
Speaker 4: legitimate chance, with four or five holes to play, to
Speaker 4: come out and grab it. Who's gonna grab it?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 4: The one Masters I was fortunate enough to go to
Speaker 4: Spens in twenty eleven. It was the same sat a
Speaker 4: beautiful day, night's weather on that particular day, but it
Speaker 4: was the same scenario on the leader board. Everybody had
Speaker 4: a legitimate chance to come up and grab it. And
Speaker 4: who does it? Of all people? Charles Schwartzel, who wins
Speaker 4: his one Masters in twenty eleven, comes down the back
Speaker 4: nine and goes birdie, Birdie, birdie on sixteen seventeen eighteen
Speaker 4: and just runs by everybody, like in a horse race
Speaker 4: analogy in the last you know, fifty yards, runs right
Speaker 4: by everybody and ends up winning by half a length,
Speaker 4: you know whatever. And so jj Spawn is a grinder,
Speaker 4: thirty four year old guy, you know, a journeyman guy
Speaker 4: who's had some success, but one of those guys who's
Speaker 4: really playing from year to year to just keep his
Speaker 4: tour card. And he's able to grind something out on
Speaker 4: a special Sunday afternoon for him, and then to do
Speaker 4: it with that that putt that he didn't need.
Speaker 3: The putt obviously he had to. He just had the
Speaker 3: two putt to win it.
Speaker 4: But for that thing to go in like it did,
Speaker 4: for him to win and clinch it right at that
Speaker 4: moment on the last stroke you take of a major,
Speaker 4: that's that's your defining moment. That's what you're gonna have
Speaker 4: to carry with you the rest of your life, which
Speaker 4: which is a great.
Speaker 1: Feeling, legendary. I mean, it was really and I don't know,
Speaker 1: I didn't know much about JJ. I'd seen his name
Speaker 1: near the top of the leader boards, he has one
Speaker 1: on the tour before, and he's been right in the mix.
Speaker 1: Do you think we've seen the birth of a star
Speaker 1: on tour? I mean, he's got to be getting consideration
Speaker 1: for the Ryder Cup now, doesn't he.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean he's he's uh, you know, he's in to me,
Speaker 4: Spence is in a mix with there's a whole bunch
Speaker 4: of guys that are like him. Okay, not to diminish
Speaker 4: what he did, and not the diminish him as a
Speaker 4: play He's a he's a regular, a tour player, but
Speaker 4: he he has been a grinded out kind of guy
Speaker 4: and he has been, you know, from year to year,
Speaker 4: really has been playing to get in a mix every
Speaker 4: now and then, but mostly to have enough success to
Speaker 4: be in the one twenty five so he can keep
Speaker 4: his tour card and keep going the next year. Right,
Speaker 4: And so now he's thirty four years old. He gets
Speaker 4: on top of this mountain at the moment, and he
Speaker 4: should be feeling really good.
Speaker 3: About it, you know.
Speaker 4: But there are a lot of those guys, whether it's
Speaker 4: Gary Woodland who did it several years ago, you know
Speaker 4: in LA You know guys who come up and they
Speaker 4: win there one Charles Schwartz I just mentioned in twenty eleven.
Speaker 4: You know Mike Weir, who's a long time pro, who's
Speaker 4: one of our favorites from from the local area. You know,
Speaker 4: who won the Masters, you know when his one major.
Speaker 4: You know, these guys who are who are great, excellent
Speaker 4: golfers on the PGA Tour, but there's always something that
Speaker 4: separates them from the real top guys.
Speaker 3: And it's such a fine line.
Speaker 4: And you played seventy two holes and like we saw
Speaker 4: this this past weekend, and you played in the in
Speaker 4: the all kinds of weather conditions, and the thing that
Speaker 4: separates you from the next guy is a sixty five
Speaker 4: foot pot is it, or or as one missed fairway
Speaker 4: where you had to hack it out just another thirty
Speaker 4: yards to get back and play, and that costs you
Speaker 4: an extra stroke and now you lose the tournament.
Speaker 3: By one or two or whatever.
Speaker 4: You know, It's just it's just that's how thin that
Speaker 4: line is over a four day period with the top
Speaker 4: golfers in the world. That's that's what makes it so daunting.
Speaker 4: But that's also what makes it so exhilarating as a
Speaker 4: fan to watch that live theater.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought I thought it was awesome. I was captivated.
Speaker 1: All right, Smitty, let's start here and then we'll kind
Speaker 1: of move it into a direction and involve our local
Speaker 1: basketball team, the Utah Jazz. H.
Speaker 2: So there's a method of the madness stick with us.
Speaker 1: So kind of us shocking trade, kind of a trade
Speaker 1: that nobody saw coming. It was announced yesterday and made
Speaker 1: official that the Memphis Grizzlies traded Desmond Bane to the
Speaker 1: Orlando Magic for Contavious called Well Pope call Anthony for
Speaker 1: unprotected first round picks and one first round pick swap. Okay,
Speaker 1: So let's start with what that says to you of
Speaker 1: the mentality of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 2: Why does Memphis do this deal? Well, I think probably what.
Speaker 4: They're looking at is is that they're trying to a
Speaker 4: get off some money, okay, trying to manage their their
Speaker 4: books a little bit. B They look at what they've
Speaker 4: got going and they see, Okay, we're in the middle
Speaker 4: of the mix, but we don't really have anything that's
Speaker 4: going to jet propulse us, you know above and you know,
Speaker 4: to get in the top three or four teams that
Speaker 4: you know, if everybody's healthy in the league, which you
Speaker 4: never can count on. And so we're making a calculated
Speaker 4: guestimate that that it's gonna be better for us as
Speaker 4: long as we can get Morant and Jackson on the floor.
Speaker 4: And we have two guys, okay, all right, we're giving
Speaker 4: up our third guy. All right, maybe we can find
Speaker 4: another third guy somehow, Like they found Bain, who was
Speaker 4: an early second round pick. And we're talking all all
Speaker 4: spring Spence about the draft and missing out on the
Speaker 4: top pick and having the fifth pick, and you know,
Speaker 4: what are we doing when I can get a guy
Speaker 4: and whatever? You know, Desmond Baine, it was an early
Speaker 4: second round pick, you know, by Memphis and were always
Speaker 4: talking about you can find guys, but that's what your
Speaker 4: job is. When you're in that position. You have to
Speaker 4: go identify them, you have to evaluate them, and then
Speaker 4: you have to figure out a way to procure them.
Speaker 4: And uh, you know, Memphis is looking at it, I
Speaker 4: think probably in saying, well, you know, if we we
Speaker 4: can keep on Morant and Jackson for the next several years,
Speaker 4: then we have to just find another third guy and
Speaker 4: maybe we can get in another trade, or maybe maybe Cacp.
Speaker 4: I don't think he's that guy, but I think he's
Speaker 4: a good rotation guy now in his career. But maybe
Speaker 4: we find another young guy that we like to get
Speaker 4: in the mix, or maybe we get lucky in the draft,
Speaker 4: or maybe there's a guy we see in the draft
Speaker 4: that nobody else is seeing and we got him in
Speaker 4: our back pocket. So we're gonna go ahead and make
Speaker 4: this move because we think we can get.
Speaker 3: That guy, you know.
Speaker 4: And again, who that would be, I don't know, but
Speaker 4: you know, that's that's one possible scenarios. They've identified a
Speaker 4: guy they like that they're they're hearing around the league
Speaker 4: nobody else is even talking about. And you know, so
Speaker 4: if they can get another Bane like they did at
Speaker 4: thirty one, thirty two, whatever it was several years ago, and.
Speaker 3: Uh, and do something like that.
Speaker 4: Then you know, then they're they're feeling like they're they're
Speaker 4: getting their books down, but they're also giving themselves some
Speaker 4: more flexibility going forward to build that roster out and
Speaker 4: try and be competitive as long as Morant and Jackson
Speaker 4: are there to help them.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad you brought that up. One more thing,
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna bring the jazz angle into this.
Speaker 1: I've heard and read several people's surmise Memphis is open
Speaker 1: for business, this is a yard sale.
Speaker 2: I don't read it that way.
Speaker 1: Jaws under contract through twenty eight, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: actually kind of a reasonable deal for who he is
Speaker 1: when his mind is right.
Speaker 2: And I don't know what sort of market there would
Speaker 2: be for him.
Speaker 1: I would say, prior to all the gun chaos and
Speaker 1: off court bs, there was probably a robust market for
Speaker 1: a talent like that at his age. I don't know
Speaker 1: what sort of calls they would receive if it was
Speaker 1: out there that he's available. Jaron Jackson Junior is up
Speaker 1: for a contract extension. He's going to get paid. I
Speaker 1: believe he's up for the Supermax because he won Defensive
Speaker 1: Player of the Year. Right, So look, if they put
Speaker 1: Jared Jackson Junior on the table, I think they get
Speaker 1: a lot of phone calls. I don't know that they
Speaker 1: get a ton for JA right now, But I don't
Speaker 1: know that. I read this as Memphis is now open
Speaker 1: for business and everyone's available.
Speaker 2: What's your take on that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well it could be you know, maybe there maybe
Speaker 4: they're going to take a page out of the Utai
Speaker 4: Jazz book and just trade all their guys and start over.
Speaker 4: Because they're looking at the g and landscape from thirty
Speaker 4: thousand feet and saying, well, let's see, okay, see the
Speaker 4: youngest team in the league, and they're they're about to
Speaker 4: maybe win a championship, and San Antonio is about to
Speaker 4: get a guy another guy, and they're all all of
Speaker 4: a sudden going to make a big leap, and they're
Speaker 4: young guys. And then and then we've got the Denver
Speaker 4: is still sitting there in the in the weeds. And
Speaker 4: then we get you know, Golden States, or they just
Speaker 4: got Butler with you know, we got Dallas just and
Speaker 4: they're looking and going, well, where are we going? We
Speaker 4: can't get anywhere we're gonna get so yeah. So so
Speaker 4: maybe they're looking at what the Jazz did a few
Speaker 4: years ago and saying, hey, maybe while our guys are
Speaker 4: you know, good and highly thought of, and we can
Speaker 4: get something for him.
Speaker 3: You know, maybe we do that thing because I don't
Speaker 3: know where we're going.
Speaker 4: You know, we with our group that we got, now,
Speaker 4: we like them, we think they're competitive, but these other
Speaker 4: guys are a step or two or three ahead of us.
Speaker 4: So we can grind and play hard and have everybody
Speaker 4: healthy and all that and end up you know in
Speaker 4: six seven eight, and so where are we going?
Speaker 3: You know. So there's that scenario because.
Speaker 4: You have to always marry that idea spends the basketball stuff,
Speaker 4: roster building with your financial and the business part of it.
Speaker 4: And sometimes you have to look at and say, spending
Speaker 4: this amount of money on this group for the expected
Speaker 4: end result just doesn't make any sense. And so you know,
Speaker 4: we're better off re calibrating a step or two and trying,
Speaker 4: you know, maybe to reinvent ourselves on the fly. I
Speaker 4: could see somebody saying, yeah, that's behind the closed doors,
Speaker 4: that's what they're trying to do.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know, and I would also throw.
Speaker 4: In the wrinkle that that I would guess that if
Speaker 4: that's a scenario, that there's some weight on the idea
Speaker 4: that you know, they've they've grown tired of the jahn morant,
Speaker 4: you know, soap opera, and no matter how talented he is,
Speaker 4: you know that it's just not worth you know, all
Speaker 4: the heavy lifting it takes on the rest of the organization,
Speaker 4: you know, to try and keep the ship going forward.
Speaker 4: And so maybe it's just time to cut bait and
Speaker 4: figure out what our plan B is.
Speaker 2: So one more follow up.
Speaker 1: Then we're going to bring the jazz into this, because
Speaker 1: there's an interesting jazz portion concerning job.
Speaker 2: And I can remember when.
Speaker 1: And this isn't a fair parallel, a perfect parallel, but
Speaker 1: you'll understand where I'm going. When so news comes out
Speaker 1: and this was before social media, it was before twenty
Speaker 1: four to seven, inundation of information that Lachreal Spreewell had
Speaker 1: choked his coach, right, and it's like.
Speaker 2: Okay, what exactly what does that look?
Speaker 1: Because he was such a great talent, came out of Alabama,
Speaker 1: nobody really knew what sort of NBA player he would be.
Speaker 1: Golden State kind of rises up to be this real exciting,
Speaker 1: great defensive wing. They could get up and down finish
Speaker 1: on there. But he's never a great shooter. But he
Speaker 1: was a really good player. And then the thing comes
Speaker 1: out about Carlssimo and it's like, Okay, what's the deal.
Speaker 1: The Knicks at the time had an aging roster and
Speaker 1: they were trying to make sure Ewing's final years in
Speaker 1: New York were supported with a good team. And I
Speaker 1: can remember when the opportunity came down for the next
Speaker 1: to trade for Latrell spree Well, and part of the
Speaker 1: package was going to be John Starks, who was like
Speaker 1: the heart of that team in the nineties, and there
Speaker 1: was a real debate, internal debate, and my dad flew
Speaker 1: Spree out and he sat down with Jeff Ernie Grunfeld
Speaker 1: was the one that was kind of like somewhat against this,
Speaker 1: and you get it right now. Jeff was all for
Speaker 1: it because coaches want to win, and he knew he
Speaker 1: could coach, and he knew he was awesome. So with
Speaker 1: a talent like job, I suppose there's a market for it.
Speaker 1: But let's say you're running a team and Memphis calls
Speaker 1: and they say, what about jaw you? What do you say,
Speaker 1: how does that process go down? And if Jaw would
Speaker 1: be available, do you think the market would be robust
Speaker 1: enough to get what you should for a talent like that.
Speaker 4: Well, so as as in any you know shoppers market spence,
Speaker 4: it only takes one one guy. So it only takes
Speaker 4: one general manager or one coach who has a lot
Speaker 4: of sway with the organization, you know, to say hey,
Speaker 4: I want I want that guy, or I can work
Speaker 4: with that guy, or you know the the you know,
Speaker 4: other people are afraid of him or or don't know
Speaker 4: how to handle him.
Speaker 3: I know how to do it, you know, whatever, whatever
Speaker 3: it's going to be.
Speaker 4: Or you have a GM who feels like he's too
Speaker 4: talented and he you know, you have to get him
Speaker 4: if you can, and then it's up to the coach.
Speaker 3: To to figure out how to work with him.
Speaker 4: And you know, and you have those conversations before you
Speaker 4: do anything like that, because you want to make sure
Speaker 4: that that everybody's on board. You know, we we had
Speaker 4: a scenario I won't mention names, but we we had
Speaker 4: a scenario years and years ago with the Jazz where
Speaker 4: we were looking at adding a player through free agency
Speaker 4: who we thought would be a good piece to what
Speaker 4: are our core was still going on with stocking them alone,
Speaker 4: and one of our guys went out and made a
Speaker 4: bunch of phone calls and talked to people who knew
Speaker 4: were on the league or whatever. Comes back to a
Speaker 4: meeting and says, yeah, yeah, I did a bunch of
Speaker 4: homework on that guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you think?
Speaker 4: Well, well, I was oh for seven and we're sitting
Speaker 4: around the table going, oh for seven, what does that mean? Well,
Speaker 4: I talked to seven guys and none of them can
Speaker 4: support the idea of us bringing that guy in for
Speaker 4: whatever the varying reasons. So everybody had a different view,
Speaker 4: a different touch, a different experience. And then he said, however,
Speaker 4: having said that, I still think we need to bring
Speaker 4: him in because I think.
Speaker 3: He can help us.
Speaker 4: And so there was a lot of debate about that
Speaker 4: and a lot of discussion about well, what are we
Speaker 4: doing and how is it going.
Speaker 3: To affect our overall group.
Speaker 4: And you know, at that time, we had you know,
Speaker 4: two heavyweight guys and stocked in them alone, who we felt,
Speaker 4: you know, could along with obviously with coach Sloan uh,
Speaker 4: you know, could could deal with whatever the deal the
Speaker 4: fallout was going to be or the or the the
Speaker 4: tough parts are going to be and so you know,
Speaker 4: eventually that decision was made to go forward, but it was,
Speaker 4: but there's a lot of discussion around you know, when
Speaker 4: you're adding someone like that into a mix that you
Speaker 4: have to really be uh, be confident that your group,
Speaker 4: whether it's the coach, whether it's a couple of assistant
Speaker 4: coaches on your staff who know the guy, or knew
Speaker 4: the guy in college, or I had prior experience with
Speaker 4: him on another team, you know, whatever it could be,
Speaker 4: that your group will be able to handle it in
Speaker 4: a way that's professional, that is going to get you
Speaker 4: the desired results that you're after, you know, in that
Speaker 4: kind of move And and with with those kinds of things, Spence,
Speaker 4: there's a there's always a lot of moving parts and
Speaker 4: there are a lot of things you have to consider
Speaker 4: before you really decide to pull the trigger on something
Speaker 4: that's going to really have a big effect, maybe one way,
Speaker 4: maybe the other way, on how your group performs.
Speaker 2: Well said, let's move over to the jazz.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's interesting to consider exactly what the
Speaker 1: Memphis deal says on a number of different levels. And
Speaker 1: I bring that up because I didn't know Desmond Bane
Speaker 1: was available, right, So I bring that up because there
Speaker 1: are always players that are available that are really good
Speaker 1: that the public just doesn't know about.
Speaker 3: But you knew Doncis was available. No, you knew that.
Speaker 1: Another good example, right, Like that's why this league is wild.
Speaker 1: You wake up and you're like, wait, they traded who?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: So maybe there's the reason I bring it up in
Speaker 1: that context is Brian Winhorst goes on TV and references
Speaker 1: that he's been told the Jazz are going to try
Speaker 1: to level it up, whatever that means, right, So like,
Speaker 1: I don't see that path, but I want to be fair.
Speaker 1: Maybe there are things out there that we have no
Speaker 1: idea about. So if that's the mentality of the Jazz, now,
Speaker 1: if they're like, Okay, we're gonna do the thing, we're
Speaker 1: gonna take this off season, we're gonna add some pieces,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna be right in the mix next year,
Speaker 1: what does that look like? I don't know that I
Speaker 1: see it, And we'll get to the other path in
Speaker 1: a moment. And the other path is I just talked
Speaker 1: about with Tom Aberstrow engaging with the San Antonio Spurs
Speaker 1: or a team that's ahead of them, if they've identified
Speaker 1: the player they like to go, move up in the
Speaker 1: draft to get a young player they can grow with
Speaker 1: their other young players. That seems more sensible to me.
Speaker 1: But when Horses plugged in, he's an NBA reporter that
Speaker 1: people seem to trust. So if the Jazz are serious
Speaker 1: about adding to the group this year to take legitimate
Speaker 1: steps up next year, what do you think that looks like?
Speaker 4: Well, I mean again, Spence, there are a lot of
Speaker 4: different options and a lot of different ways they can go.
Speaker 4: And you know, as the old saying goes, it takes
Speaker 4: two to tango. So you can have an idea and
Speaker 4: you can say, this is what we want to do,
Speaker 4: and we can lay out a plan, and we want
Speaker 4: to add this kind of a guy, and we want
Speaker 4: to add that kind of a player, and we can
Speaker 4: shore up a couple of things on the wings with
Speaker 4: a couple of long defensive guys, because we're one of
Speaker 4: the worst defensive teams in the league the last several years,
Speaker 4: and so we've got to start addressing that stuff. So,
Speaker 4: you know, if you're looking at building a foundation and
Speaker 4: trying to get better incrementally better, you know you have
Speaker 4: to do it you know the old adage brick by brick.
Speaker 4: So you know, if you need to lay a whole foundation,
Speaker 4: you know, you may do it just one piece at
Speaker 4: a time and just keep waiting and waiting and waiting,
Speaker 4: or you can try and add three or four or
Speaker 4: five at one time. But it's going to take you know,
Speaker 4: you have to pay something for that. You just don't
Speaker 4: get that stuff for free. And so you're gonna have
Speaker 4: to give up players or draft picks or you know
Speaker 4: what have you to be able to do something like that.
Speaker 4: But does it make sense in what your overall objective
Speaker 4: and your long range game plan is like? For example,
Speaker 4: I heard you mentioned in the earlier segment with Tom
Speaker 4: about you know, just a hypothetically guy like Porzincis or
Speaker 4: a guy like Drew Holliday. Okay, older guys. Porzinkus isn't
Speaker 4: isn't old, he's he's writ in his prime. But a
Speaker 4: guy like Drew Holliday who's near toward the end of it,
Speaker 4: or if you had a chance that Kevin Durant who
Speaker 4: you know, you know, somebody like that who's still a
Speaker 4: very good player. But you know, what is it gonna
Speaker 4: take to get them? And what real impact are they
Speaker 4: gonna have on what you're trying to do, you know,
Speaker 4: going forward and being sustainable for a while. That those
Speaker 4: are the things you have to factor in. You know,
Speaker 4: you can say all you want about you know, we're
Speaker 4: gonna we're gonna go fast and we're gonna get you know,
Speaker 4: stuff done or whatever, you know, but you know that
Speaker 4: is much harder to do, uh, to say, than this
Speaker 4: to to accomplish. And those are the things, you know, Look,
Speaker 4: Austin Inge is gonna really work hard at it. He's
Speaker 4: gonna he's gonna give it a maximum attention and effort
Speaker 4: to trying to do those things. But but he doesn't
Speaker 4: come in with a wand you know he's he doesn't
Speaker 4: have a special potion just because he came from the
Speaker 4: vaunted Boston Celtics. You know, that doesn't that doesn't fly.
Speaker 4: You know, you come, you come with your own set
Speaker 4: of abilities and your skill set and your sensibilities to
Speaker 4: try and do what makes sense. But you know he
Speaker 4: doesn't have any magic answers. You know, if if there
Speaker 4: was such a thing, Danny Ainge would have had them,
Speaker 4: because Danny Age had already been through those kinds of
Speaker 4: mills several times, right, So so he's gonna come in
Speaker 4: and Austin Ainge is gonna try and do what he
Speaker 4: thinks make sense, and he's gonna throw stuff against the
Speaker 4: wall and something's gonna stick and something's not, and he's
Speaker 4: gonna come across some things that that he might be
Speaker 4: able to act on, and there's gonna be something that
Speaker 4: comes out, like you know, you're referencing Defen Dane and
Speaker 4: and we mentioned, you know, a guy like Luka Doncic,
Speaker 4: but something of that nature is gonna come around the
Speaker 4: corner and he's gonna blindside you, you know, whether it's
Speaker 4: the day before the draft or whether it's in the
Speaker 4: middle of the summer whatever where you know, like the
Speaker 4: Jazz did with Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, you know, somebody's best player is on the
Speaker 4: market for whatever the reason, and the Jazz are gonna
Speaker 4: try and and get involved in that. Are they able
Speaker 4: to do something, does it work? Who knows, you know,
Speaker 4: But those are the kinds of things they're trying to
Speaker 4: give the fans hope that we're trying these things. We're
Speaker 4: gonna try a lot of different things. So hang with
Speaker 4: us because if we can get some stuff done. It's
Speaker 4: gonna be exciting, you know, But are they gonna get
Speaker 4: stuff done? Who knows? It's it's you know, the whole
Speaker 4: thing is a crapshoot when it comes to working with
Speaker 4: other teams and what they're after and what their their
Speaker 4: goal is is in the deal as well. You know,
Speaker 4: other teams are gonna want good players, right, so somebody's
Speaker 4: gonna want marketing, right, or somebody's gonna want a young
Speaker 4: Kessler because they can add to their group because they
Speaker 4: think they have a chance to kind of win. Right now,
Speaker 4: the Jazz are trying to add guys who can help
Speaker 4: them to build a foundation of winning and getting better
Speaker 4: going forward, without any expectation that we're going to be
Speaker 4: the Detroit Pistons, who I know you mentioned last time,
Speaker 4: the Detroit Pistons had several.
Speaker 3: Top five draft picks.
Speaker 4: Okay, they were a bad team, but they kept drafting
Speaker 4: and drafting and drafting, and they had a couple guys,
Speaker 4: have a couple very good players that they got high
Speaker 4: in the draft.
Speaker 3: But those guys have.
Speaker 4: Been in and out the last few years, have been hurt,
Speaker 4: and this year the guys are healthy and they're playing
Speaker 4: and they added the right veterans, by the way, with
Speaker 4: big influence from Dennis Lindsay who's now with Detroit and
Speaker 4: who knows what he's doing. And you saw the leap
Speaker 4: the Pistons took to get in the playoffs, and now
Speaker 4: they're expecting to be able to take that next leap
Speaker 4: going forward in the Jazz are hoping to duplicate something
Speaker 4: like that in their work.
Speaker 1: One more thing here, we'll catch a break, we'll do
Speaker 1: some NBA finals coming up and talk about some more
Speaker 1: potential I we'll do a little draft on the other
Speaker 1: side too. So player rankings are arbitrary, and it's eye
Speaker 1: of the beholder stuff. I get that, and every outlet
Speaker 1: does it. The ringer does it every year. Then they
Speaker 1: updated throughout the course of the season. Desmond Bane forty seven,
Speaker 1: which actually feels low to me. Lowry market in fifty three.
Speaker 1: So that's essentially indicates that maybe they're in the same
Speaker 1: could the sack, Maybe they're in the same area as
Speaker 1: far as and look at like, what do you need.
Speaker 1: It's not like they're different players. I understand that. But
Speaker 1: if we agree to say, okay, in the ecosystem of
Speaker 1: pro basketball, these two are around top fifty guys, which
Speaker 1: again might be a little bit low. And we see
Speaker 1: what Memphis just received as a result of trading Desmond Bane.
Speaker 1: Is it a similar type expected return if the Jazz
Speaker 1: do decided to deal lottery.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it would be. It's always Spence. All those things
Speaker 4: are different. They are all. Everything is predicated on what
Speaker 4: you need, what you are trying to accomplish, and how
Speaker 4: much you value being able to get to the goal
Speaker 4: that you're trying to get to. For example, you know,
Speaker 4: we talk about the donchen A d trade. You know,
Speaker 4: everybody says that Nico Harrison you know, got way too
Speaker 4: little and you know whatever and settled, you know, for
Speaker 4: thirty cents on the dollar or whatever, you know, in
Speaker 4: terms of value of what he got.
Speaker 3: But to him hard to believe we're still talking about this,
Speaker 3: But to him it.
Speaker 4: Was he valued getting Davis, an All NBA player and
Speaker 4: defensive player and a big who's a top level player
Speaker 4: when he's healthy, and moving out, someone who he think
Speaker 4: fit the culture of what they were trying to build
Speaker 4: in Dallas. So other teams who aren't working with Doncice
Speaker 4: every day for six years, you know, saw differently said,
Speaker 4: are you kidding me, what's going on? So everybody looks
Speaker 4: at it through a different lens. That's why you see
Speaker 4: guys who are you know, you know, and you know,
Speaker 4: not really related, but just just comes to mind, you
Speaker 4: know how You I of the beholder in the draft
Speaker 4: with Raphael Adoujou, the player from BYU right Toronto. For
Speaker 4: whatever their reason, Okay, they valued him high enough where
Speaker 4: they took him number eight in the draft. Okay, all
Speaker 4: of our research when we were in that draft showed
Speaker 4: us that if he didn't go eight to that one
Speaker 4: team that decided to make that pick, he would have
Speaker 4: gone in the mid to late forties. Okay, So that's
Speaker 4: how everybody else viewed it. Okay, guess what. Everybody else
Speaker 4: was pretty right, But one team saw it differently, and
Speaker 4: one team interpreted what they saw through a different lens.
Speaker 4: And that's what makes you know, the drafts so fascinating
Speaker 4: because you can get you can get a UJO at eight,
Speaker 4: and in another year you can get Jalen Williams at eight,
Speaker 4: or another year you can get Steph Curry, who I
Speaker 4: think was seven, right yo. But the point being that
Speaker 4: you know those things, you look at it and everybody's
Speaker 4: got a different take. And that's why you don't have
Speaker 4: one guy in your room just making decisions. That's why
Speaker 4: you have a whole group of guys who are doing
Speaker 4: it all year long. And so you're sitting there, you know,
Speaker 4: right now as we speak, ten days away from the draft,
Speaker 4: and those guys who are hammering it out and discussing
Speaker 4: and debating and throwing stuff at earth across the room
Speaker 4: at the other guy who said, you know, you want
Speaker 4: to take Spence checkets, What are you nuts?
Speaker 2: Guy doesn't guard, but don't leave him open.
Speaker 4: But that's that's that's what happened, and that's what's interesting
Speaker 4: to me, also, Spencer about the draft stuff. It's really
Speaker 4: fascinating to me that the Jazz ownership, Ryan Smith, right,
Speaker 4: he's a decision maker, decides to bring in a lead
Speaker 4: decision maker three weeks before the draft. So you have
Speaker 4: a group in the room that's been working all year,
Speaker 4: and they've been working with each other, and they've been
Speaker 4: cross referencing and cross tracking guys, and they've been going
Speaker 4: to see guys and they've been discussing in November and
Speaker 4: December and January about different guys and hey, Spence, you
Speaker 4: got to go see this guy. I just saw him
Speaker 4: last week. You know, we want to put him on
Speaker 4: our list. Okay, I'll go see it. Whatever you got
Speaker 4: all of that, you know, working together, you've got that flow,
Speaker 4: You've got that energy from the group, You've got the
Speaker 4: equity of the people in the room who have been
Speaker 4: there all year doing it. I've been listening to Spence
Speaker 4: checkets every week in our meeting about what he's been
Speaker 4: saying about this guy, or how he changed his mind
Speaker 4: two months later, and this and that, whatever it is.
Speaker 4: And then here it is in the you know, use
Speaker 4: a baseball reference in the ninth inning, and all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, a.
Speaker 3: New guy walks in the room.
Speaker 4: And we're not just adding a new guy in the
Speaker 4: room to the discussion, but it's a new guy who's
Speaker 4: the guy calling the shots.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: So now we have a new boss in the room
Speaker 4: three weeks before the draft. That has got to be very,
Speaker 4: very awkward for all the people involved. It's it really
Speaker 4: can can really tip the balance of the discussions of
Speaker 4: the the vibe of the room, of what people have
Speaker 4: been discussing all year. It's really interesting that they chose
Speaker 4: to do that at that moment. They could have easily
Speaker 4: done something to add Austin as to the group in
Speaker 4: some capacity, and then in August said, hey, you know,
Speaker 4: we've discussed things and blah blah blah, and and we're
Speaker 4: gonna make Austin Ames the boss going forward or whatever.
Speaker 4: But they do that now, And so that's that's fascinating
Speaker 4: to me because being in those rooms for a lot
Speaker 4: of years, doing something like that, you know, can be
Speaker 4: very unsettling to a group that has been working in
Speaker 4: a certain direction for for a lot of a lot
Speaker 4: of months and and putting a lot of time and
Speaker 4: effort into it, and then having someone else come in,
Speaker 4: uh proverbially at the last minute and maybe, you know,
Speaker 4: rock the.
Speaker 3: Boat or have it.
Speaker 4: Maybe maybe it's good, you know, maybe that's a good thing.
Speaker 4: I don't know, but but I certainly know that you
Speaker 4: know that the changes the vibe and the flow in
Speaker 4: the room. And that's going to be fascinating too when
Speaker 4: we get to see what kind of decisions the jazz Employee's.
Speaker 1: Still amazing that Ryan was able to hire Austin without
Speaker 1: ever mentioning a word to his dad.
Speaker 4: That's that happens all the Time's incredible. Yeah, people gett
Speaker 4: out of the loop all the time.
Speaker 2: And Austin or said anything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, for sure, you never talk about any
Speaker 1: of that when it comes to changing your life entirely.
Speaker 1: Smitty's taking a victory laughter and the break about his
Speaker 1: Red Sox beating my Yankees over the weekend. John Carlos
Speaker 1: Stanton will be activated tonight, Spinny about that?
Speaker 3: How about that? And you know what he's being activated.
Speaker 4: He's in New York and nobody knows about it because
Speaker 4: Otani's pitching to in LA.
Speaker 1: You know, we probably don't talk enough about Otani, right,
Speaker 1: like in the context of really being as unique as
Speaker 1: any player has ever been to his respective sport, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, he probably deserves more airtime like everywhere, every
Speaker 1: every time I see a highlight or see a stat
Speaker 1: and don't really understand how specifically unique he is.
Speaker 2: I'm like, we should talk about this this dude more
Speaker 2: than we do.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: You know what's interesting, though, Spencer, you have guys that
Speaker 4: are like international players, and they and they're reticent to
Speaker 4: speak the language. And some of them can speak, you know, somewhat,
Speaker 4: and you know, but they just they're uncomfortable in front
Speaker 4: of a media and and and and the public speaking
Speaker 4: because they don't want to make a mistake and they
Speaker 4: don't want to look look foolish, and so they err
Speaker 4: on the side of not saying anything and and talking
Speaker 4: their native language through an interpreter. And so sometimes that,
Speaker 4: you know, loses a little bit of the luster or
Speaker 4: or the attention you might get on on what you're doing,
Speaker 4: you know. But but Otani, this is this is like
Speaker 4: a generational guy, like just you know what he not
Speaker 4: only what he does, but how he handles his business
Speaker 4: every single day and goes about being a two way player.
Speaker 4: Now we're going to see how much of his arm
Speaker 4: is still there and and how he eases back into it.
Speaker 4: He's going to open tonight, maybe pitch just the first inning.
Speaker 4: If he gets through the first inning, and maybe they'll
Speaker 4: see how he feels. And he says, yeah, I can
Speaker 4: go on through another ten pitches. So we'll let him
Speaker 4: go out in the second inning and see how that goes.
Speaker 4: And and he's him into it. But he still wants
Speaker 4: to be in the rhythm of pitching and hitting and
Speaker 4: pitching and hitting and playing all the time.
Speaker 3: That's what he's used to doing.
Speaker 4: That's where he gets his rhythm for being able to
Speaker 4: focus all the time, and it's it's gonna be exciting
Speaker 4: to see to see how he performs tonight, first time
Speaker 4: in almost two years.
Speaker 3: On the mound.
Speaker 1: Total non sequitor, random question, but it was based off
Speaker 1: of what you said last segment about Raphael Rougeo. Yes,
Speaker 1: who I can remember like scouting during that time in
Speaker 1: Washington playing and being like, well, he's bad at basketball.
Speaker 1: I know he's big and strong, but he doesn't do anything.
Speaker 1: He can't shoot, he can't dribble, he doesn't move well,
Speaker 1: but he's just big. So stunned that he was drafted eight,
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask what was your because that had
Speaker 1: a really unique experience at the Mountain West Conference tournament
Speaker 1: when for debt was for debt when Jimmer was jimmering,
Speaker 1: and it was actually Danny Ainge who said, comes sit
Speaker 1: by me and let's watch this game.
Speaker 2: It was when Jimmer went for like I don't know
Speaker 2: every thing.
Speaker 1: It was forty two against Kawhi and San Diego State,
Speaker 1: and I said to Daniel said, what do you think
Speaker 1: as far as Jimmer is an NBA prospect?
Speaker 2: He said, he said, he has no shot test, have
Speaker 2: a chance.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, you're a BYU guy right, and he
Speaker 1: kind of walked me through his assertion as to why
Speaker 1: he didn't believe for that was an NBA player.
Speaker 2: He was a lottery pick and BYU fans love to be.
Speaker 1: Revisionist historians will say he wasn't used correctly by Keith
Speaker 1: Smart and then you know that hinder disagree he would
Speaker 1: have led the NBA in scoring if he landed. It's
Speaker 1: very Zach Wilson Jets. You just don't want to say
Speaker 1: out loud that he might not be very good. What
Speaker 1: was your calculation on Furdet as a pro?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, we well we thought our group, you know,
Speaker 4: really was mixed on him, mostly about whether he could
Speaker 4: be a fridge a rotational guy, or whether he just
Speaker 4: wasn't good enough to play at the NBA level. I
Speaker 4: personally always thought that he was the kind of guy,
Speaker 4: you know, who would thrive either in Europe because of
Speaker 4: the way they play. I really thought he'd be a
Speaker 4: good player in the euro League, which is which is
Speaker 4: a top level league, or a place where he ended
Speaker 4: up which was the best thing for him in the
Speaker 4: long run, playing in China where there is no defense
Speaker 4: and where he could shoot thirty five balls a game,
Speaker 4: which he did, and he did it, and he was
Speaker 4: the star. And he was playing in Shanghai and which
Speaker 4: is like playing in New York City. So he's getting
Speaker 4: all the endorsements, and he's getting all the love from
Speaker 4: the fans and all that kind of stuff. And he
Speaker 4: didn't have to worry about playing defense. He didn't have
Speaker 4: to worry about, you know, not being very athletic.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: And and that league is that way, and and it
Speaker 4: was a good good spot for him. Made a lot
Speaker 4: of money, got to play a lot for him.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: He was you know, bounced around several NBA teams just
Speaker 4: not athletic enough, not not quite good enough, you know,
Speaker 4: to stick with the team to be able to offer
Speaker 4: something like that like we we had we had j. C.
Speaker 4: Carroll in for a workout, uh when he was coming
Speaker 4: out of Utah State of Utah state's all time leading scorer.
Speaker 4: And I remember meeting with JC and saying to him, hey,
Speaker 4: you know, you, uh, you have to have one skill
Speaker 4: you can lay on and you have to be able
Speaker 4: to do that at such a high level to just
Speaker 4: get a foot in the door. And for him, it
Speaker 4: was going to be you know, being his catch and
Speaker 4: shoot jumper and and and it wasn't going to work
Speaker 4: out in the NBA because he's a six to two
Speaker 4: shooting guard. But he went to Europe and and got
Speaker 4: his foot in the door with Real Madrid and became
Speaker 4: a a UH main guy and a rotational guy and
Speaker 4: a key piece to several UH euro League and La
Speaker 4: Liga championed ACB Championship teams in Madrid. And UH became
Speaker 4: a mainstay in Real Madrid for over a decade and UH,
Speaker 4: you know it was it was a very good player
Speaker 4: in Europe. And Jimmer I always thought he could have
Speaker 4: been that he had one year Pantonikos and Athens and
Speaker 4: there there a can be a top level team. I
Speaker 4: just won the euro League but last year. But they
Speaker 4: they're a team that UH where he could have a chance.
Speaker 4: But they were they kind of have a goofy owner,
Speaker 4: you know, who gets involved in everything there and UH,
Speaker 4: and he didn't get any traction with them, and and
Speaker 4: I think smart for him he went back to UH
Speaker 4: to Shanghai and and UH where he could play his
Speaker 4: game and and and make some money and and UH
Speaker 4: and have a good successful career that way. So you know,
Speaker 4: I don't think Jimmer was taken ten by Sacramento, and
Speaker 4: he was the perfect example spence of how the CBA
Speaker 4: is set up to work, and that is on the
Speaker 4: one end, you can have like a Gordon Hayward, who
Speaker 4: if a team drafts you and they like you, and
Speaker 4: they develop you and they want you, the team controls
Speaker 4: your career for the first seven years, and then in
Speaker 4: the back half of your career you control where you
Speaker 4: want to go. And we saw that with Gordon Hayward
Speaker 4: when he had the free agency after the seventh year
Speaker 4: and chose to go to Boston. Jimmifer Debt was taken
Speaker 4: the first round. You get two years guaranteed money. You
Speaker 4: have a third year team option, and a fourth year
Speaker 4: team option. Sacramento took him. They had him for two years.
Speaker 4: They liked him as a player, they liked him as
Speaker 4: a guy, as a person, as a worker, all that stuff.
Speaker 4: They determined after two years he's just not an NBA guy.
Speaker 4: So instead of continuing to have him on the roster
Speaker 4: and to pay him money and we just don't believe
Speaker 4: he can do it, We're just gonna.
Speaker 3: Cut our losses.
Speaker 4: So in that example, they drafted him, they go for
Speaker 4: He played for two years, he gets the guaranteed money,
Speaker 4: and then they let him go and now he's a
Speaker 4: free agent and do whatever he wants. But then the
Speaker 4: team is out of the obligation and they can move
Speaker 4: on to make other decisions. That's how the CBA is
Speaker 4: set up to work. Oddly enough, two guys involved locally
Speaker 4: that we know very well, jimmerferd Dead on one end
Speaker 4: and Gordon Hayward on the other end, that there are
Speaker 4: prime examples of how the CBA is set up to
Speaker 4: work in the way that the teams choose to do.
Speaker 1: All right, let's do one more Jazz thought because I
Speaker 1: didn't get to this last segment. Then we'll end with
Speaker 1: your thoughts on tonight's game five. It's a massive game.
Speaker 1: It's about two hours and twenty minutes away. You can
Speaker 1: hear it on our station. It's okay, see Indiana Game
Speaker 1: five in the NBA Finals. So we discussed the win
Speaker 1: horse stuff, where he's been told the Jazz are going
Speaker 1: to try to take steps forward and add to the
Speaker 1: group and maybe win at a higher level next year.
Speaker 1: I'm not buying it because I just don't think it's
Speaker 1: the right approach, as I have said a million times
Speaker 1: and we'll say another million times eighth pick, top eight
Speaker 1: protected pick that goes to OKC. At this point in
Speaker 1: your journey, you have to hold on to it.
Speaker 2: That's my opinion.
Speaker 1: So the other avenue that Tom Haberstrow and I had
Speaker 1: spoke about out is if san Antonio is willing to
Speaker 1: move on from two and the Jazz have done their determination,
Speaker 1: that Dylan Harper, as you would say, is a guy,
Speaker 1: the guy somebody that you can say, Okay, maybe this
Speaker 1: is Arcade, Maybe this is our Bancaro, Maybe this is
Speaker 1: our Tyres, maybe this is our Maybe this is the
Speaker 1: guy that can actually be a guy that we can
Speaker 1: build around san Antonio. It's interesting, like they're not gonna.
Speaker 1: I don't think they would trade Devin Vessel. They're obviously
Speaker 1: not trading Wembin Yama. They're obviously not trading Stefan Castle.
Speaker 1: So the framework of a deal Smithy that could work
Speaker 1: would sound like this Kelton Johnson, who there's some things
Speaker 1: I like about Kelton Johnson, Like he's still young's twenty five,
Speaker 1: doesn't shoot it all that well, he's about twelve points
Speaker 1: five boards last year. And Harrison Barnes in exchange for
Speaker 1: lowry marketing number five, you move up to two, you
Speaker 1: bring in Johnson and Barnes just for salary matches, and
Speaker 1: you go up to two and you grab, you grab
Speaker 1: Dylan Harper. Something like that seems to make a lot
Speaker 1: more sense than like, if you add Porzingis and Holiday
Speaker 1: to this team now for nothing in return, you're still
Speaker 1: treading water. So that direction seems to make more sense
Speaker 1: to me, just generally speaking. Give me your thoughts.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well it makes sense, Bence. If you've determined that
Speaker 4: that you know in this scenario that Dylan Harper you
Speaker 4: think he's gonna be another the next John Morant or
Speaker 4: the next Damian Lillard or the next Gilgess Alexander whatever.
Speaker 4: If you think he can be that kind of a
Speaker 4: guy and drive a team that way, then you do.
Speaker 4: If you're in the jazz seat, you do whatever you
Speaker 4: have to do to get that guy, because it doesn't
Speaker 4: matter because the other the guys you're giving up, the
Speaker 4: assets you're giving up, what does it matter. That's why
Speaker 4: you have them. So when you have an opportunity to
Speaker 4: land on a guy that you believe can be one
Speaker 4: of your main guy's long term going forward, you do that. Now,
Speaker 4: I do remember and I don't know if it's been
Speaker 4: talked about reported on lately. You know, in that framework,
Speaker 4: way back early in the season, I remember there was
Speaker 4: some quote from his dad saying something about, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: my son, I don't want my son playing in Utah
Speaker 4: or something. Yeah, he sent out something on social media. Yea,
Speaker 4: it was something like that, but okay whatever. But but
Speaker 4: you but those those are real things. So if you
Speaker 4: you know, you know, that's how Eli Manning got from
Speaker 4: instead of being San Diego, got to New York Giants
Speaker 4: because he said he's not going to play in San Diego.
Speaker 4: And that's what John Elway did you know he wasn't
Speaker 4: gonna play for for Baltimore? Are you you know?
Speaker 3: That's how we ended up in Denver and all these
Speaker 3: kinds of things.
Speaker 4: So if a guy is saying right out of the shoot,
Speaker 4: you know, I you know, if that's true, I don't
Speaker 4: know if it is or not.
Speaker 3: And it wasn't him, it was his dad whatever.
Speaker 4: And I don't know this kid and haven't been in
Speaker 4: a room with him, so I don't know how he
Speaker 4: how he interviews, what his personality is, whatever. But if
Speaker 4: those things line up, and those things match up to
Speaker 4: what you're trying to do and his talent into something
Speaker 4: that you think is really has a chance to be
Speaker 4: a special thing, especially at the point guard position. That's
Speaker 4: a guy you want to get your hands on, because,
Speaker 4: as we just mentioned Spence A, you're resetting the salary clock. Okay,
Speaker 4: you get out of marketing his money in that scenario,
Speaker 4: you bring in Barns, you bring in somebody to get
Speaker 4: money for a year or so, and then that money
Speaker 4: goes away. But you'd have Harper for at least a
Speaker 4: minimum of seven years under control while you try and
Speaker 4: build stuff around him. If that's something that that you're
Speaker 4: convinced about is a real thing and that you would
Speaker 4: like to hang your hat on, then those are the
Speaker 4: kinds of things that you, as a jazz have been
Speaker 4: positioning yourself to do. And now if this is something
Speaker 4: that might be presented, it might be on the table.
Speaker 4: That's the kind of thing that you know, from my perspective,
Speaker 4: you you just grab, you do that that Jim Fossil thing.
Speaker 4: You just push all your chips in the middle of
Speaker 4: the table and you bet on that one hand and
Speaker 4: you do whatever you gotta do to make that move happen.
Speaker 4: And that that's the kind of stuff Spencer really also
Speaker 4: regenerates or reignites I should say, a fan base, right
Speaker 4: because they because they say.
Speaker 3: Oh, you you got a guy you really like.
Speaker 4: Oh and you're really you're really going after and you
Speaker 4: got him and you're bringing him. Okay, let's go. You know,
Speaker 4: and you know, and then and then you see it
Speaker 4: plays out how it plays out. But those are the
Speaker 4: kind of moves that you want to be in position
Speaker 4: to be able to do and and uh and if
Speaker 4: they're there, you want to really be able to to
Speaker 4: make your full commitment to pounce on it.
Speaker 1: Man if san Antonio added Lowry marketing and let's say
Speaker 1: VJ edgecom or Trey Johnson to this group, Hello, talk
Speaker 1: about ahead of schedule. Uh so we'll see, all right, Smadi,
Speaker 1: before I set you loose. I think my favorite thing
Speaker 1: about the NBA Finals is from my prism, all four
Speaker 1: games have been really different, right, and this is a
Speaker 1: battle of two very well respected, smart coaches and two
Speaker 1: groups that have been able to come together and in
Speaker 1: different ways been able to find success. I keep saying
Speaker 1: since January, the two best teams in the NBA are
Speaker 1: these two teams. OKAC is one and the Pacers are two.
Speaker 1: So we saw Mark Dagnall in Game four take Shay
Speaker 1: off the ball and actually give Shay more rest and
Speaker 1: Jalen was kind of initiating the offense. So if you
Speaker 1: didn't watch the game and you look at Shay's line,
Speaker 1: he said, wait, zero assists, what gives? That was part
Speaker 1: of the design. He was not initiating. It allowed him
Speaker 1: to stay fresh and in the fourth quarter he closed.
Speaker 1: He had twelve point I think fifteen in the fourth
Speaker 1: they outscored Indiana twelve one down the stretch to get
Speaker 1: the win in Game four. We go back to Okase
Speaker 1: tonight for Game five. Obviously very pivotal. It's two two.
Speaker 1: What do you think goes now?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it's a fun series to watch, and I
Speaker 4: don't count out anybody spends you know, you like okay see,
Speaker 4: I like okay see. The defense has been unbelievable all
Speaker 4: year and during the playoffs, and they can ratchet it up.
Speaker 4: But Indiana has had some special thing going on. And
Speaker 4: you can look at all the three series they had
Speaker 4: before this, and they had, as you well know, being
Speaker 4: the next Guy, special bounces of the ball and special
Speaker 4: things that happened, and the.
Speaker 2: Next contact to you about the coaching job.
Speaker 4: Yet by the way, just you know I I am
Speaker 4: on the bottom of the list, but they're getting very
Speaker 4: close to me. So so we will see the But
Speaker 4: but with that, you know, Indiana has had a lot
Speaker 4: of things go their way and and and a lot
Speaker 4: of them been because of them. You know what we
Speaker 4: would we always use the word, you know, you want
Speaker 4: to make an If you make an error doing something,
Speaker 4: you want to make an error of co mission rather
Speaker 4: than an error of o mission, meaning meaning if you're
Speaker 4: going to fail as something, you want to try and
Speaker 4: and and and get something done and try and go
Speaker 4: after it. Those guys have gone to where they are
Speaker 4: because they just keep getting after it. And even when
Speaker 4: they're down a bunch, as we've seen in several of
Speaker 4: their playoff games, they just keep grinding and going after it.
Speaker 4: They don't give up. They don't they don't wave a
Speaker 4: white flag. They keep getting after it. And they and
Speaker 4: they've shown what you can do when you play a
Speaker 4: full forty eight minutes. You know the old Yogi berral
Speaker 4: line that it ain't over till it's over. And so
Speaker 4: you know, I don't put anything by them. I'm excited
Speaker 4: for the game tonight. It's gonna be fun, you know,
Speaker 4: for those guys to to see both teams lay it
Speaker 4: all out there and again, Spence, you just hope it
Speaker 4: doesn't hinge on somebody having an early Jason Tatum type
Speaker 4: injury or somebody getting three early fouls and two ticki
Speaker 4: Tac foul calls and now they're out of the game
Speaker 4: for a big stretch. You just hope they can both
Speaker 4: go full bore and and go at it and then
Speaker 4: and then see like we did in the US Open yesterday,
Speaker 4: see what happens coming down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: Should be fun.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: I've been wildly impressed with both these teams for different reasons.
Speaker 1: So Game five tonight comes your way about two hours
Speaker 1: from right now, six thirty Mountain time.
Speaker 2: We'll say good night at six o'clock. Smitty, Great to
Speaker 2: see my friend.
Speaker 3: Great to see you. And we're gonna we're gonna be
Speaker 3: a big show next week.
Speaker 1: Right Yes, we are draft draft, how Smitty Gordy, and
Speaker 1: we will be on location for both round one and
Speaker 1: round two. Oh good, June the twenty fifth, June the
Speaker 1: twenty sixth, And when I have all the information, you
Speaker 1: will be the first to know.
Speaker 4: I promise you that will be the first. I'll be
Speaker 4: the first to though yeah, well I don't know yet.
Speaker 4: When I know, I promise you will know.
Speaker 3: There we go, Yeah, there we go.
Speaker 2: We'll see you next week, okay right, The Great Y
Speaker 2: Smith