Speaker 1: I have a side, I have a chess cold. I
Speaker 1: am congested, I can barely breathe, and you play pit
Speaker 1: Bull for Zach Harper and some random track that Dave
Speaker 1: picks talking about taking a selfie before the beat actually
Speaker 1: comes in.
Speaker 2: Dave, let's turn his Michael.
Speaker 3: They even even told us that we were gonna we
Speaker 3: were gonna like this one. We're gonna love this.
Speaker 2: I don't like it.
Speaker 3: What is this day? It's not pit Bull. Let me
Speaker 3: take a selbie. It's paul Ette. I remember this hit.
Speaker 2: I don't remember this.
Speaker 3: Now that you're out in the pool, you're gonna have
Speaker 3: to put more.
Speaker 2: Commies out there.
Speaker 1: Okay, calm down, all right, let's let's leave our off
Speaker 1: air conversations off here.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna say anymore. I'm just gonna say now
Speaker 3: that you may be available, let's put some self take
Speaker 3: it easy.
Speaker 2: Will you good?
Speaker 3: Is?
Speaker 2: What are you doing now? I know I can't talk
Speaker 2: to you.
Speaker 3: You need to post that golf swing.
Speaker 2: You were just making fun of my golf swing.
Speaker 3: To make fun of it, I said. I said, I'd
Speaker 3: like to see a little more hip turn. I need
Speaker 3: to get the lower body involved more. Okay, I need
Speaker 3: to trust it as you know what, we're ending the segment.
Speaker 3: We're catching a break.
Speaker 1: My personal dating life will not be a topic on
Speaker 1: this radio show.
Speaker 2: I don't know why you're bringing it on air. How
Speaker 2: long can you have? You and Kather beIN?
Speaker 3: Mary? Oh gosh, forty something. Man, she's hung in that
Speaker 3: entire time every year. She's like, what the heck?
Speaker 1: Jam, Well, congratulations on finding somebody that's put it up
Speaker 1: with all your crap.
Speaker 2: Dave Fox, how are you, sir?
Speaker 3: I'm well, how are you doing?
Speaker 2: I'm fine? But enough of this, Okay, no more misbehaving.
Speaker 2: Porter's enjoying it.
Speaker 3: You're like that, You're like another son to me. I
Speaker 3: always got to look out for you. That's kind of you, okay,
Speaker 3: and I just you know, I always you know me.
Speaker 3: There's there's not much you can do that I don't
Speaker 3: have your back. No, I appreciate it, and this is
Speaker 3: one of those cases.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, dating in your mid forties and sali
Speaker 1: is a weird thing. But let's move on. All right,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna hit you with some of You're right five
Speaker 1: years ago today, I know. I wrapped up this radio show.
Speaker 1: Then I said to my producer, who was Brady Uh, no,
Speaker 1: was it JP.
Speaker 3: I think it was. I think it was Chunga.
Speaker 1: Yeah Brady at the time, Yeah, JP had left for
Speaker 1: the jazz. I said to Brady, I said, Okay, gotta
Speaker 1: run because I got to get to TV with And
Speaker 1: as I'm walking down uh this would be Broadway here
Speaker 1: towards the Wells Fargo building, I get an alert on
Speaker 1: my phone. Rudy Gobert tests positive for COVID. Jazz okase canceled,
Speaker 1: and then a couple of hours later the WOAJE bomb
Speaker 1: drops that the NBA season has been canceled.
Speaker 2: What do you remember about that day?
Speaker 3: It's wild that it was five years ago today, by
Speaker 3: the way, I well, the one thing I remember more
Speaker 3: than anything is you coming over, because I don't think
Speaker 3: you were actually scheduled that night. In fact, I know
Speaker 3: you weren't because I called you and said, Hey, we
Speaker 3: got a problem. We don't have all of our jazz material.
Speaker 3: Can you come over here and we're going to do
Speaker 3: this live. I think I'm pretty sure I'm right on that.
Speaker 3: I don't know if we were doing talking jazz at
Speaker 3: that time. Maybe maybe we were.
Speaker 2: We weren't doing talking jazz, but I was doing it.
Speaker 2: I was scheduled.
Speaker 3: Don't do it something I was scheduled doing it.
Speaker 1: Then we got on the phone, that's it, and I said,
Speaker 1: do you still want me to roll by? There's no game,
Speaker 1: and you said, well, yeah, we got We've got to
Speaker 1: fill the time. So I remember we went on air
Speaker 1: and we were just like flying blind. Didn't know what
Speaker 1: to say to me. I was just like, everybody, just
Speaker 1: stay calm, you know, like we'll get through this. Without
Speaker 1: knowing anything as far as what was about to happen.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is the ultimate. If you knew then
Speaker 3: what you know now, you probably could have had a
Speaker 3: little more fun with it. But man, it got weird,
Speaker 3: and it got serious, it got ugly, got everything. And
Speaker 3: remember this was also the same week of the tournaments,
Speaker 3: which stands the reason because they're going on now in
Speaker 3: Las Vegas. And I want to say, at that time
Speaker 3: was it was it a Thursday? It was a Thursday.
Speaker 3: I don't remember what day of the week it was,
Speaker 3: but anyway, because Adam was in Vegas and they were,
Speaker 3: they actually started playing one of the tournament games in
Speaker 3: the morning. It wasn't involving in any of our teams.
Speaker 3: And then they finally canceled that, But really it's the
Speaker 3: Jazz game that kind of it sort of ended the world,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: At that time, go Bear became patient number zero.
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember, without any of us really knowing
Speaker 1: what it was and any of us knowing about what
Speaker 1: the effects would be, people online were like, is Rudy
Speaker 1: gonna die?
Speaker 2: Like does this thing kill you right away? We just
Speaker 2: didn't know.
Speaker 1: And then Donovan tests positive and then suddenly he hates Gobert.
Speaker 1: Now what we know now is Donovan could have had
Speaker 1: it and gave it to Rudy just as easily as
Speaker 1: Rudy could have given it to Donovan. But you remember
Speaker 1: the day before the Jazz were here, Yeah, and they
Speaker 1: came back from Toronto and they had shoot around, and
Speaker 1: after shoot around.
Speaker 2: They had media.
Speaker 1: And during the media, after Gobert was done, he stands
Speaker 1: up and he starts playing with the microphones and the recorders.
Speaker 3: Okay, let me stop you right now, because that shot
Speaker 3: you're referring to, that was our shot. We took that shot.
Speaker 3: And I remember posting that not thinking, really, not knowing
Speaker 3: the magnitude of what it was.
Speaker 2: I was just trying to break the tension.
Speaker 3: My post was a here's Rudy having a little fun
Speaker 3: with this. To this day, Spence and you know me,
Speaker 3: I'm not a huge social media guy, but it's hilarious
Speaker 3: to chart that one. The biggest single post I've ever had.
Speaker 3: It is probably six seven million views last time I checked.
Speaker 3: It get to reposted every year. Gobart playing with they're
Speaker 3: playing with the interesting it's and of course it's been
Speaker 3: stolen many, many times, but most people do credit us
Speaker 3: with it. But I'll never forget that night. And my
Speaker 3: first thought that night was laughing as well. We were
Speaker 3: all just like, oh, is he being funny? Two days
Speaker 3: later the world shuts now crazy. It was wild, so crazy.
Speaker 1: Baxter Holmes and Tim McMahon in Front of the show
Speaker 1: wrote an oral history of that night that's up on
Speaker 1: dot com today, And you know the part that they
Speaker 1: described Dennis Lindsay walking in and addressing the coaching staff
Speaker 1: and he said he's got it.
Speaker 2: He's got it, meaning he's.
Speaker 1: Got COVID because they went through referring to test and
Speaker 1: so that was kind of like the moment where everybody went, Okay,
Speaker 1: what does this mean. Then they had to report it
Speaker 1: to the league, and then everybody's embargoed including traveling media
Speaker 1: like Andy Larson and Sarah Todd and Tony Jones. They
Speaker 1: were kind of bunker down with the players and the
Speaker 1: coaches waiting to figure out how are we going to
Speaker 1: get out of here? Because they essentially told Rudy you
Speaker 1: got to go in that room and you got.
Speaker 3: To stay there. Yeah, didn't it take them some time
Speaker 3: to get out? They get that night or that morning.
Speaker 1: Well, if my memory serves, and let's get Andy on
Speaker 1: and Sarah on to talk about the memories, because if
Speaker 1: my memory serves, everybody who.
Speaker 2: Didn't have COVID was able to get home.
Speaker 1: But I think Gobert had to stay behind like isolated
Speaker 1: for DAB.
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 3: I remember in the early days, the isolation time was much longer.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, before everybody knew what was going on. Like I
Speaker 1: just I cannot believe that was five years ago. It's
Speaker 1: kind of blowing my mind. I had completely forgotten. But
Speaker 1: it does make sense. Let me ask you this because
Speaker 1: I have often said Dave, I've said this to Quinn,
Speaker 1: I've said this to Dennis. I've said this on air.
Speaker 1: COVID changed them fundamentally. In fact, you can make an
Speaker 1: argument that COVID ruined them fundamentally because they had playoff.
Speaker 2: Runs they beat Okay.
Speaker 1: See here, they had a young player that was learning
Speaker 1: how to be the lead offensive option for a good
Speaker 1: team in Donovan. They had a playoff experience in the bubble.
Speaker 1: But the Rudy Donovan relationship never recovered from that. I
Speaker 1: don't think it was ever great, but it was fine
Speaker 1: before that. That's when it kind of crumbled. And then
Speaker 1: you get the Adrian Wojnarowski report that everyone's mad at
Speaker 1: Rudy because wojin Donovan are caaa guys, which I thought
Speaker 1: was so low brow. Then Donovan goes on Fat Joe's
Speaker 1: Instagram Live a real thing.
Speaker 3: By the way, I'd never heard that. I heard you
Speaker 3: mention that in your last segment.
Speaker 2: We're all waiting, like we got to hear from Donovan.
Speaker 2: When's Donavin gonna talk?
Speaker 1: And I get this alert like hey, in twenty minutes,
Speaker 1: Donovan's going on Fat Joe's Instagram Live to address the
Speaker 1: Gobert stuff.
Speaker 2: I'm like, none of this is real. This is so wild.
Speaker 1: So if COVID doesn't happen, how do you think that
Speaker 1: Jazz team, Because look, if COVID doesn't happen, Dave, Maybe
Speaker 1: Donovan and Rudy are fine. Maybe Donovan decides because the
Speaker 1: other thing that happened during that summer, it was this
Speaker 1: summer of George Floyd, right, it was the summer of COVID,
Speaker 1: summer of George Floyd. And as a result of all
Speaker 1: of that, Donovan just kind of leaned into culturally some
Speaker 1: things that weren't part of kind of his DNA. And
Speaker 1: it's fine, Like, if you're a young African American male
Speaker 1: and you're learning about the history of your people and
Speaker 1: you decide you want to express yourself, express yourself. I
Speaker 1: have no issue with that, but I think it changed
Speaker 1: the way he viewed living here. The Rudy stuff was untenable,
Speaker 1: and ultimately they decided to break it all down. If
Speaker 1: COVID doesn't happen, and Rudy and Donovan and Bogdanovitch and
Speaker 1: Conley and O'Neil and everybody else stays together and Quinn
Speaker 1: stays the coach, what do you think.
Speaker 2: That looks like?
Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you. Let me take it one step further.
Speaker 3: I would love to see. And I don't know if
Speaker 3: they had all stayed together, if Quinn would have left
Speaker 3: but if he had, I've always been very curious to
Speaker 3: see what Will Hardy could have done with that group,
Speaker 3: because he's had to manage just you know, I don't
Speaker 3: want to call it a train wreck, but a rebuild,
Speaker 3: and it's very, very difficult. What could he have done,
Speaker 3: excuse me, with a roster full of really good players
Speaker 3: that would have been interesting. Now, circling back to what
Speaker 3: you said, I mean, there's no way to really tell.
Speaker 3: Even if there wasn't COVID, there was still a lot
Speaker 3: of other emotional things that year. By the way, how
Speaker 3: about what was it like two weeks after COVID we
Speaker 3: had that Biger earthquake. We had several It was like
Speaker 3: we had a multiple ears coming to it, and no,
Speaker 3: I felt like this was it, like get right with
Speaker 3: your maker because it's time. Yeah, I'll never forget because
Speaker 3: I mean I remember, I don't know where you would
Speaker 3: have been, but I think you were in town. I
Speaker 3: remember being awaken. It's probably around five am, five thirty am.
Speaker 3: I was living downtown something like that. So anyway, all
Speaker 3: those things, I don't know if COVID itself brought it
Speaker 3: to an end, but it certainly kicked it off because
Speaker 3: of the whole illness thing. But I think there was
Speaker 3: some sort of animosity you could since even before that,
Speaker 3: and it continued long after. So I don't know if
Speaker 3: anything would have saved it. And you know, Quinn kind
Speaker 3: of admitted that no matter what, he had run his course,
Speaker 3: and I don't know if he was being diplomatic by not.
Speaker 3: You know, he's not going to sit there and say, well,
Speaker 3: I'm tired of these two. So who knows whether or
Speaker 3: not he would have left. But still I think it
Speaker 3: would have been very intriguing to see will Hardy coach
Speaker 3: these guys.
Speaker 1: I think as long as that group was willing to
Speaker 1: stay together and keep working, Quinn stays. Now the one
Speaker 1: caveat now. I want to be careful here because I
Speaker 1: don't want to, nor will I, nor could I speak
Speaker 1: for Quinn, But I do know when it came to Quinn,
Speaker 1: Snyder and Dennis lindsay they just didn't want to work
Speaker 1: for this ownership group. They did not want they you know,
Speaker 1: you know, Dennis has one meeting with Ryan and the
Speaker 1: new group and he's like, yeah, you know what, I'm good,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll do I'll step aside here, Let's elevate Zaniker.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that was Dennis Dennis's decision, but they
Speaker 1: elevate Zanak to GM, they hired Danny Ainge and then
Speaker 1: Quinn sits down with him, and my guess is the
Speaker 1: majority of his decision was steeped in the fact that
Speaker 1: they were about to trade most of the players.
Speaker 2: But I don't think he wanted to work for this
Speaker 2: group either.
Speaker 3: Well I don't know, and maybe again you and I
Speaker 3: don't have any We weren't in these meetings. Maybe somewhere
Speaker 3: in those meetings it was made clear that we're going
Speaker 3: to make a change at player and that's probably going
Speaker 3: to mean coach too. So you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 3: I think they wanted Quinn to stay.
Speaker 1: Well, if they were telling the truth, because Dan Danny
Speaker 1: himself said I think during the press conference kind of
Speaker 1: the dog and pony show they had when Quinn was leaving,
Speaker 1: In my opinion, that was them trying to save face.
Speaker 1: But Danny talked about all the contract negotiations that he
Speaker 1: had with Quinn, and ultimately Quinn decided he wanted to
Speaker 1: move on, and you know, the Millers were there and
Speaker 1: Quinn was very emotional and said thank you to the
Speaker 1: Miller's I'm not sure that he just I just don't
Speaker 1: think he wanted.
Speaker 2: To be part of this new thing.
Speaker 3: Well and either way, if if they're getting rid of
Speaker 3: all the players, then you know he didn't want to
Speaker 3: be part of a rebuild, right. I mean, he came
Speaker 3: into a good situation. Some coaches are built that way.
Speaker 3: For Hardy, it's perfect because he's just starting out. But
Speaker 3: I don't think Quinn, what was he nine years? He
Speaker 3: doesn't need had no interest in Could you imagine that
Speaker 3: asking a guy like even Jerry Sloan back in the day.
Speaker 3: I don't know that I would call Darren Williams and
Speaker 3: boozer or rebuild because it really wasn't. But it's kind
Speaker 3: of funny because it's sort of the same situation in
Speaker 3: terms of, you know, you get player personalities, drives a
Speaker 3: coach out. Same thing happened again. I don't know what
Speaker 3: do you do with it. I really doesn't happen with
Speaker 3: this group.
Speaker 1: I'll say this about Will I hope we get a
Speaker 1: chance to see him coach good players. Kid, I hope
Speaker 1: we get a chance to see him coach good players
Speaker 1: here because my my fear, and we'll get to some
Speaker 1: of this in a minute is Look, this is the
Speaker 1: end of his third year, and he has the options
Speaker 1: picked up for both year four and year five, So
Speaker 1: he's going to be here for two years. Barring some
Speaker 1: lady luck going the Jazz way, there's a chance Will's
Speaker 1: going to coach here for five years without a roster
Speaker 1: of good players. And if that's the case, I'm sure
Speaker 1: the Jazz would really want him to keep riding with them.
Speaker 1: But he is well respected enough around the NBA that
Speaker 1: if there's an owner that has a good roster and
Speaker 1: doesn't think he has the coach, he's gonna call Will
Speaker 1: and say, dude.
Speaker 3: What are you doing out there? How long is this
Speaker 3: going to take?
Speaker 1: Like, come here, I have good players. I'll pay you
Speaker 1: twelve million dollars a year or whatever it is. And
Speaker 1: you know what, if your will, you owe it to
Speaker 1: yourself to do that. Coaches are defined by their win
Speaker 1: loss record. If after five years, Will is continuing to
Speaker 1: win fifteen to twenty twenty five games and his winning
Speaker 1: percentage is like thirty five percent over a five year stint,
Speaker 1: he's gonna want to change.
Speaker 3: You know though, And I can't believe I'm even saying this,
Speaker 3: because I've been on board with you in this entire
Speaker 3: rebuild process. But I think if the Chips do fall
Speaker 3: where the Jazz hope they do this year, I think
Speaker 3: they can actually start turning the corner a little bit
Speaker 3: next year. And the reason I'm saying that is because
Speaker 3: they sit an inordinate amount of players that they probably
Speaker 3: don't need to night in and night out on and
Speaker 3: on it goes. And yet they're still almost winning a
Speaker 3: lot of these games. So imagine if they don't have
Speaker 3: to play that game, and everyone's on the court, and
Speaker 3: everyone stays moderately healthy, maybe next year is a little
Speaker 3: bit of a turn about. I don't think you have
Speaker 3: to suddenly go from lottery team to NBA championship team.
Speaker 3: You certainly have to get to the playoffs. And let's
Speaker 3: just say, for arguments, let's sake, let's say they got
Speaker 3: a number one pick and they drafted Cooper Flag. I
Speaker 3: think if everyone else is back and everyone else stays healthy,
Speaker 3: I think that team could probably compete for a play
Speaker 3: in spot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but who gives a rip about the place doesn't.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying that's your ultimate goal, but that's part
Speaker 3: of the process.
Speaker 2: I I I understand your point.
Speaker 1: But if you have a chance, so to your point,
Speaker 1: if you get number one overall and you're able to
Speaker 1: grab Cooper flag, then we've got something.
Speaker 2: For sure to move on, then you've got something.
Speaker 1: But the other approach would be looking around the landscape
Speaker 1: of the Western Conference right now and saying yourself, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City is good and they're young, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: be good for a long time, and they're gonna be
Speaker 1: young for a long time. The Lakers just got Luka Doncic.
Speaker 1: Memphis is a good young team. Uh Jokic, I think
Speaker 1: isn't even thirty yet. Do you look around the landscape
Speaker 1: of the conference and say, not yet, We're not going
Speaker 1: all in yet. And then next year and let's play
Speaker 1: the fun game. Let's play the fun game here, Lottery
Speaker 1: Night rolls around, ping pong balls, Lady Luck. They go
Speaker 1: the way of the Jazz for the first time. Number one,
Speaker 1: pick Cooper flag and he decides to stay in school.
Speaker 1: And you and you put Cooper flag next to Walker
Speaker 1: and Lowry and then you say, okay, here we go,
Speaker 1: here we go.
Speaker 2: We got something.
Speaker 1: Does that put you as one of the top six
Speaker 1: or seven teams in the West.
Speaker 2: It doesn't, but.
Speaker 3: It might in a couple of years. You're still developing
Speaker 3: those young people.
Speaker 1: But would you rather play this game again and say, look,
Speaker 1: wait till you see this kid play down at BYU.
Speaker 3: Wait till you see agent Yah. But then you're going
Speaker 3: all in on that one kid, and that's it's you.
Speaker 3: And I know how hard this has been just to
Speaker 3: even do this. But if if we want to get
Speaker 3: wild here and we say in two years, your starting
Speaker 3: lineup is Walker Kessler, Lowry Market and Cooper Flag aj
Speaker 3: Debanza and hell you like, then we have something fun
Speaker 3: to talk about. And then in a couple of years
Speaker 3: after that, and I know jazz fans are going, wait
Speaker 3: a second, you're asking me to wait another four or
Speaker 3: five years. Yes, I am, that's the route they're taking.
Speaker 1: But you have to have excellent luck in order to
Speaker 1: get that to go down back to back number one
Speaker 1: overall picks.
Speaker 2: That's a tough ask.
Speaker 1: So if you get one and it's Cooper flag are
Speaker 1: your assertion is no more sitting players, Let's.
Speaker 3: See how good we can be. That's kind of what
Speaker 3: I think. It depends because now you're in well what
Speaker 3: year are we in? Or we would be in year four, right,
Speaker 3: because y're three. They had to keep trading guys to
Speaker 3: make that what it would be year four. Now, let's
Speaker 3: talk about three teams that have really kind of developed.
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City did that take two years just to get
Speaker 3: to the playoffs?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're talked about last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, Houston three or four years. Well, this is
Speaker 3: the first year's Houston has been good since they traded.
Speaker 3: But how many has have been taken? It's taken three years,
Speaker 3: Detroit probably four years. Yeah, this is Caid's third year
Speaker 3: because he got hurt last year. So the outset would
Speaker 3: be on the same trajectory as Detroit, which is in
Speaker 3: their fourth year. That would be the Jazz next year.
Speaker 3: Can you imagine having to go a fifth year. I
Speaker 3: just think that's going to be a tough ask of
Speaker 3: the fans and even the ownership. I just I just
Speaker 3: feel like anything short off as long as you get
Speaker 3: that number one pick and it is Flag, that you
Speaker 3: have to kind of start thinking about moving forward. I
Speaker 3: honestly think Spence, it's gonna be really tough to finish
Speaker 3: in the bottom three next year. If you add Cooper
Speaker 3: Flag to this roster, you are gonna have to shut
Speaker 3: guys down. First of all, you dont have to have
Speaker 3: a terrible start, because what is their biggest mistake? In
Speaker 3: the two previous years, they had fast starts and then
Speaker 3: they got so far behind they could never make up
Speaker 3: for it. So you got to have a really really
Speaker 3: slow start or fast start if you want to consider
Speaker 3: a fast start, meetings, staying in the hunt for the lottery.
Speaker 3: And then if you don't get that, now what do
Speaker 3: you do. You can't just shut guys down. You can't
Speaker 3: start trading guys. I mean, these are the guys that
Speaker 3: you're hoping to build for your future. I just think
Speaker 3: it's gonna be really tough. Now if they don't get
Speaker 3: the number one pick, maybe you slide through another year
Speaker 3: of this.
Speaker 1: Look, if they it's gonna have to come one of
Speaker 1: two ways here. Because all of the teams that we
Speaker 1: can use as an example of teams that have been
Speaker 1: in the Jazz spot not too long ago. Okay, see,
Speaker 1: you know we could talk about Houston, certainly talk about Orlando.
Speaker 2: You reference to try right, Yep.
Speaker 1: The one thing those four teams have, Okay, Detroit has Kaid,
Speaker 1: Orlando has Paolo, Okac has Shay.
Speaker 3: Which they traded for by the way, that wasn't a draft, right, right?
Speaker 1: And so wait wait wait wait wait do you mean
Speaker 1: well Gil just hole Xanner was part of a deal
Speaker 1: with Oh Shaye, I thought you meant pollow Yeah.
Speaker 2: So no, no, no, So SGA was part of the
Speaker 2: Paul George Jess.
Speaker 1: What all those teams have that the Jazz don't is
Speaker 1: simply a transcendent centerpiece to talent, right, and Lowry's very good,
Speaker 1: but Cooper could be that, right, so then you finally
Speaker 1: have Okay, we love Lowry, we love Walker, but Cooper
Speaker 1: is the guy.
Speaker 2: Cooper is our guy.
Speaker 1: Okay, he's good enough that we think he can be
Speaker 1: a franchise changing pillar, and then you start building around him.
Speaker 2: So you have two options.
Speaker 1: You can play the continued kind of slow build game
Speaker 1: by not sitting anybody. Next year, we got our centerpiece,
Speaker 1: it's Cooper. Let's see exactly who we are. No more
Speaker 1: sitting players, and then maybe you win forty forty two
Speaker 1: games your point, maybe you qualify as the ten seed.
Speaker 2: Well that's one way to do it.
Speaker 1: The other way to do it is to completely preach
Speaker 1: patients and say we're doing this again to see if
Speaker 1: we can get another franchise.
Speaker 2: Piece.
Speaker 3: Okay, let me tell you why I like the former,
Speaker 3: because at least you get to where I'm not saying
Speaker 3: the fans aren't engaged. It's amazing to me how many
Speaker 3: people go to jazz games. It's just remarkable. But go,
Speaker 3: let's go way back, way back to when your dad
Speaker 3: was here stalked to them alone. Well, I don't know
Speaker 3: if he was still here when they got them, but
Speaker 3: how many years did it take stock on a loan
Speaker 3: to get to the NBA Finals? A dozen? Yeah, they're
Speaker 3: in their mid thirties exactly so, but they were competitive
Speaker 3: every year. I still remember what year was it they
Speaker 3: took the Lakers to seven games that he'd say, yeah, right,
Speaker 3: And that was ten year, nine years before they went
Speaker 3: to the finals. So every single year they were competitive,
Speaker 3: they stayed engaged, they made trades. Finally, the Horn Sec deal,
Speaker 3: I think is what we all agree is what put
Speaker 3: them over the top. So it but at least they
Speaker 3: didn't have to go through all that we stink rebuilding process.
Speaker 3: And maybe the same thing I'm not saying, Cooper flags
Speaker 3: a guide you to the NBA the final next year.
Speaker 3: If you draft him. It may take five years, six
Speaker 3: seven years, but it doesn't matter because every player on
Speaker 3: this team is all in that age group except Lowery's
Speaker 3: getting a little.
Speaker 1: Old well, And the other option is to do what
Speaker 1: has always happened here, and that is you don't necessarily
Speaker 1: need the number one overall pick to find a guy
Speaker 1: you like. Now, the problem is, so far they've not
Speaker 1: been able to find that guy, and they haven't had
Speaker 1: top five picks. They've had late lottery picks that have
Speaker 1: turned in to Cody Williams, who hasn't shown anything this
Speaker 1: year at all, to Taylor Hendricks, who's been hurt. The
Speaker 1: best picks they've made Keyante was what fifteen sixteen, Isaiah
Speaker 1: was twenty nine, Philipowski I think was thirty two round.
Speaker 1: So they've found some good value in mid and late
Speaker 1: first round, early second round picks, but they have not
Speaker 1: found a franchise piece.
Speaker 2: That's what they're missing.
Speaker 3: But that worked again. I don't mean to keep going
Speaker 3: back and dating myself, but that worked with Stock on
Speaker 3: them alone. They're both drafted in the teams for Heavens,
Speaker 3: but they haven't found one of those yet. No, right, well, no,
Speaker 3: you're right, they haven't found You're never going to find
Speaker 3: a Stock and Malone. But they've found players that are
Speaker 3: close to I mean, call your show. It could be
Speaker 3: a long term quality NBA P You don't know yet.
Speaker 1: Two of the best players of all time. They haven't
Speaker 1: found anything close exactly.
Speaker 3: But maybe some of these guys can develop into quality maybe,
Speaker 3: and that's what they're trying to help.
Speaker 1: You're right, I just haven't seen proof yet outside of
Speaker 1: Walker and Lowry to even know who's gonna be on
Speaker 1: the team in five years.
Speaker 3: Look, I'd love to have demands. I'm with you. I
Speaker 3: can't see another fully tough ass I've finish scene at
Speaker 3: the bottom of the league. I think it's not only
Speaker 3: a tough ask. I think it's almost impossible it has taken.
Speaker 3: It's just the real MVP of this team. If if
Speaker 3: we're talking about MVP to get to the lottery, is
Speaker 3: the management, the front office that has managed us. Who's
Speaker 3: gonna sit every night and how are we gonna make
Speaker 3: this work? Yeah, let's play more guys against the Celtics
Speaker 3: because we know we're probably not gonna win anyway, and
Speaker 3: we'll play a lot fewer guys against Toronto or Washington
Speaker 3: because we need everything we can. You know, those were
Speaker 3: by the way, those are huge losses, both of them.
Speaker 1: It took Jez took It took Philly six years before
Speaker 1: they got Embid and then Ben Simmons. Now Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: did not turn out to be who he thought he was.
Speaker 1: But go back and look at the first two or
Speaker 1: three years of Ben Simmons, he was awesome. So Sam
Speaker 1: Hanky trust the process six years before Embiid and Simmons
Speaker 1: gave Philly hope.
Speaker 2: This is year.
Speaker 3: Three, Yeah, but daved Philly was at least making some
Speaker 3: uh barely making some playoffs. They weren't making the runs.
Speaker 2: No, they weren't. They had to build the process. Trust
Speaker 2: the process.
Speaker 3: We're going.
Speaker 2: I'm saying.
Speaker 1: When Sam Hankey took over, he said, we're going all
Speaker 1: in on being bad, and he came up with a Moniker.
Speaker 2: Trust the process. They didn't make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: They were horrible, and then they were They drafted like
Speaker 1: Okafer and it didn't work. They had all these draft misses.
Speaker 1: Then they get Embiid, who by the way, was the
Speaker 1: fourth pick.
Speaker 2: He wasn't the first pick.
Speaker 1: And then they get Simmons and then it's like all right,
Speaker 1: this process finally breds up.
Speaker 3: But it took six years of futility. This is year
Speaker 3: three for the Jazz. Still that's a lot to ask,
Speaker 3: but we'll see. It's a lot to ask for fans.
Speaker 1: It's a lot to look when footballs and the Jazz
Speaker 1: are bad. Doing this job is not that easy. So
Speaker 1: I want them to be good as soon as possible.
Speaker 3: You know what else is a lot to ask and
Speaker 3: almost impossible back to back number one picks. So yeah,
Speaker 3: the Cavs had two and what like three or four
Speaker 3: years look back to back. The fact that the fact
Speaker 3: of the matter is Wheneverboddy in the ad, whenever anybody
Speaker 3: asked me, what's the Jazz plan, I said, well, they
Speaker 3: need to get lucky.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like part of their plan is knock on. Well
Speaker 2: let's get lucky.
Speaker 1: But before I let you get out of here, we
Speaker 1: haven't even talked about the fact that Utah men's basketball
Speaker 1: has a new head coach. I'm so excited since you
Speaker 1: and I last spoke, the seventeenth head coach in history.
Speaker 1: I think this was a dynamite higher. I give Mark
Speaker 1: a lot of credit for going after him. Alex Jensen,
Speaker 1: what's your reaction.
Speaker 3: I absolutely love it. I'm excited to see what he
Speaker 3: does in terms of filling out his staff, assistant coaches,
Speaker 3: you could bring in. Smart guy deserves this, maybe even
Speaker 3: overdoing some respects. But I was actually calling you games
Speaker 3: on Channel two back in the nineties when he was
Speaker 3: playing so much fun, just in a smart guy, engaging guy.
Speaker 3: His dad was Judge, for heaven's sakes. I mean, he's
Speaker 3: just it's just this is an exciting time. And now
Speaker 3: I'm not saying it's gonna turn overnight. He's got to
Speaker 3: go out, he's got to get players. But I mean
Speaker 3: he has what you know, when you talk about being
Speaker 3: able to what a young man want to hear, I
Speaker 3: want to be in the NBA. And just like in Provo,
Speaker 3: you've got a coach now that can look at young
Speaker 3: man in the eye and say I can get you
Speaker 3: to the NBA. That's where I've been. I've coached these guys.
Speaker 3: I know how to do it, and I just think
Speaker 3: that's going to be great for this program. And you
Speaker 3: know what, it's the first time they've hired a head
Speaker 3: coach who played for Utah. In fact, I want to say,
Speaker 3: it's like the early fifties. It is right in your prime, yeah, right, exactly.
Speaker 3: The last time I had basketball season tickets. But how
Speaker 3: cool is that too, just to bring home one of
Speaker 3: your own. I think it's just very, very exciting. I
Speaker 3: couldn't be happier.
Speaker 1: All Right, Dave Television Gold tonight. Even though I'm fighting
Speaker 1: the bug, what do we got? We're going to have
Speaker 1: you in a separate room for me. We're going back
Speaker 1: to the COVID days.
Speaker 3: I'll be Rudy. Today's the five year anniversary of COVID.
Speaker 3: We may talk a little bit about that. There is
Speaker 3: something interesting. What if the Jazz are in the lottery
Speaker 3: but they don't land number one. Spence is going to
Speaker 3: tell you two or three other guys that could be
Speaker 3: impact players for this team if they can't get their
Speaker 3: hands on Cooper Flag. We'll do all that talking Jazz
Speaker 3: coming away tonight on KMYU Television.