Speaker 1: North Sall Lake KXR k HD three ESPN seven hundred
Speaker 1: ninety two to one f M. Download the ESPN seven
Speaker 1: hundred app for free today. He's the pride of Norwich,
Speaker 1: Connecticut and an adopted son of Salt Lake City. After
Speaker 1: forty years with the Utah Jazz, there's no one better
Speaker 1: to talk some hoops. Richard Smitty Smith is back on
Speaker 1: the Drive on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 2: So I texted Border today and I said, look, the
Speaker 2: Lakers are in town, which means I only want stars
Speaker 2: on the show. I want superstars, I want celebrities. I
Speaker 2: want heavy hitters. When the Lakers are here, we have
Speaker 2: to bring in the heaviest of hitters, the biggest stars
Speaker 2: that we have in our rollodeck. So, of course, for
Speaker 2: the next hour, the superstar himself, Richard Smith is live
Speaker 2: in studio.
Speaker 3: Hello Smitty.
Speaker 4: So then so then Porter texted you back said, no,
Speaker 4: we're all out. I got nothing else. So oh, come on, man,
Speaker 4: We're at the bottom of the barrel. This is all
Speaker 4: I got. You take it or you leave it, or
Speaker 4: off the air or whatever.
Speaker 3: This is a this is the top of the barrel.
Speaker 3: Smith Spence, like.
Speaker 4: You always do, you come through and go, hey, I'll
Speaker 4: take the last the last piece of candy in the barrel.
Speaker 4: I don't care whoever it.
Speaker 3: Is not at all, not at all. How you doing.
Speaker 4: We're doing great, We're doing great. You watch the Super Bowl?
Speaker 4: I did watch the Super Bowl, you know. You know,
Speaker 4: we have a family thing we've been doing for years.
Speaker 4: My nephew has a great home where he has one
Speaker 4: of those big new theater rooms and all that, and
Speaker 4: you know, big heavy hitter type stuff, and and he
Speaker 4: put together a like a bingo card that everybody could play,
Speaker 4: and they were all different, you know, so that every
Speaker 4: square was like, uh, you know, missed field goal to
Speaker 4: the right, you know, or fumble recovered by the offense
Speaker 4: or whatever it was. And so everybody was engaged in
Speaker 4: that all all all, all game long, and it came
Speaker 4: down right to the right to the end, and I
Speaker 4: had I had my whole card completed except for one
Speaker 4: one square, and that was the missfield goal, which there
Speaker 4: wasn't any missfield goal, right. But we were arguing the
Speaker 4: fact that earlier in the game, if you remember, one
Speaker 4: of the long sideline passes resulted in a passing apference,
Speaker 4: and I said, well, the passing apference was because the
Speaker 4: guy grabbed his face mask. That's a face mask. And
Speaker 4: I have a square on my card that says penalty
Speaker 4: face mask. I said, that's a penalty. No, no, it wasn't.
Speaker 4: They didn't call a face mask. They said it was
Speaker 4: passing apference. I said it was passing apference because he
Speaker 4: grabbed his face That was no. No, that doesn't. You know.
Speaker 4: So this is the kind of family arguments you get,
Speaker 4: you know, when the big candy bar is on the
Speaker 4: line for the winner.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, I feel like you have a legitimate
Speaker 3: beef there.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: Dave mcmitman's on TV's in Salt Lake front of the show,
Speaker 2: get a consistent guests of the show. I'm sure he's
Speaker 2: not thrilled to be in saw Lake when it's ten
Speaker 2: degrees outside. You know, it's funny because I talk a
Speaker 2: lot about I'm fascinated by like ratings and the business
Speaker 2: of sports and how certain leagues and certain products have
Speaker 2: captured the market share that they have.
Speaker 3: It's always been interesting to me.
Speaker 2: And the NFL just set another record for viewership with
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl. Fox reported a peak in the second
Speaker 2: quarter when it was still close ish of one hundred
Speaker 2: and thirty seven point seven million viewers on Linard television.
Speaker 2: Streaming numbers were close to fifteen mil. The Spanish broadcast
Speaker 2: got close to two. So some quick math, I mean,
Speaker 2: that's north of one hundred and fifty million people watching
Speaker 2: one sporting event, which is pretty stunning so many when
Speaker 2: you think about it. I'm just curious as too, as
Speaker 2: somebody who made a career in pro sports, why you
Speaker 2: think pro football has been able to capture this market share.
Speaker 2: And you know, there are a few different reasons. And
Speaker 2: you know, anecdotally, I was home with my family for
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl and I was watching with all my
Speaker 2: nieces and nephews, and we had our little square game
Speaker 2: going on and all the you know, nieces and nephews
Speaker 2: were allowed to pick a square. And towards the end
Speaker 2: of the game, because at this point the kids were
Speaker 2: upstairs playing, it was a blowout.
Speaker 3: They didn't give a rip.
Speaker 2: But my nine year old nephew, Teddy comes up to
Speaker 2: me and he says, Uncle Spencer, will you come and
Speaker 2: get me if Kansas City scores a touchdown but misses
Speaker 2: the extra point Because if that happens, I'm gonna win.
Speaker 3: The Gummy Bears.
Speaker 2: Oh it just kind of hits you like, this is
Speaker 2: a nine year old essentially gambling on a game of course, right,
Speaker 2: and part of part of the NFL's market share and
Speaker 2: the ability to capture it. I think they I think
Speaker 2: they were able to kind of create a space for
Speaker 2: gambling on their sport far before it was legal and
Speaker 2: be far before anyone else kind of leaned into it.
Speaker 4: Well, and you know, you know, Spence and my extended
Speaker 4: family does this as well. They you know, everybody from
Speaker 4: the from the eight year old all the way up.
Speaker 4: They're all involved in the fantasy football every fall, you know,
Speaker 4: and everybody they have a draft and they do all
Speaker 4: this stuff and they check scores and they have a
Speaker 4: you know, a thing online and then get on and
Speaker 4: see who who got the most points this week or whatever.
Speaker 4: But that isn't done with any other sport, right, Nobody
Speaker 4: does it with you know, any other time of the
Speaker 4: year for anything else. Right, And so I don't know,
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's because it's the once a
Speaker 4: week thing. I don't know if it's because it's the
Speaker 4: the time of year, you know, in the fall. And
Speaker 4: I mean I'm not I'm not quite sure exactly what
Speaker 4: the what the great great holders. I do know that
Speaker 4: I've always thought, you know, especially you know, the way
Speaker 4: technology is now in the last fifteen twenty years, and
Speaker 4: the way they show slow motion and they and they
Speaker 4: do all this stuff is is you know that it's
Speaker 4: gotten more to me of somewhat of the gladiator type
Speaker 4: thing the Roman times, where everybody's in the in the
Speaker 4: arena and they're rooting for the guy to get get
Speaker 4: smashed on the on the on the block or whatever
Speaker 4: it is, or tackled you know, and and thrown up
Speaker 4: in the air and whatever during the during the course
Speaker 4: of a game. So I don't know if that's it
Speaker 4: or what what the you know, how they ended up
Speaker 4: marketing it this way, but part of it I think.
Speaker 4: I don't know how far down the line it gets.
Speaker 4: But they have done a good job over the years
Speaker 4: with the salary cap stuff and the way they put
Speaker 4: their schedules together, you know, the you know, during the
Speaker 4: course of the season, the guys who played well last
Speaker 4: year play each other next year, you know, you know,
Speaker 4: outside of your division and stuff, and then they purposely
Speaker 4: do that so that you know, in week sixteen, seventeen eighteen,
Speaker 4: most of the teams are eight and eight, or they're
Speaker 4: nine and seven or whatever, and so a lot of
Speaker 4: teams have a chance to get in the last week
Speaker 4: or two. And I don't know if maybe that's part
Speaker 4: of the stick that everybody's feels like they, you know,
Speaker 4: their dog is still in the race most of the
Speaker 4: most of the year. I'm not quite sure how that
Speaker 4: plays out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's interesting to compare because we're an NBA market.
Speaker 2: We've been an NBA market, you know, for a long
Speaker 2: long time now, and I often remind people of this.
Speaker 2: The highest rated basketball game and the history of the
Speaker 2: sport was played here in Salt Lake in nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 2: It was Michael Jordan's last game, and that was the
Speaker 2: last time during that era mid to late nineties was
Speaker 2: the last time that pro basketball was even in pro
Speaker 2: football stratosphere. It wasn't on the level, but there was
Speaker 2: some data that indicated the ratings had improved in the
Speaker 2: NBA under you know, it was Magic and then it
Speaker 2: was Larry and then it was the you know, the
Speaker 2: Laker Celtics thing. Then Michael took over and David Stern
Speaker 2: was a master's craft to manipulate the media to create
Speaker 2: this behemoth that was kind of making some inroads.
Speaker 3: As far as the progress with pro football.
Speaker 2: Again, it was never in that area, but it was
Speaker 2: making progress and now the gap could not be wider.
Speaker 2: The NBA still by most metrics, is number three behind
Speaker 2: the NFL and college football, then it's pro basketball. Any
Speaker 2: thoughts as to why the NBA has not been able
Speaker 2: to keep up on the domestic viewership, Now, I will
Speaker 2: add this, the NFL is now talking about trying to
Speaker 2: capture international audiences. The NBA doesn't really sweat the domestic
Speaker 2: stuff because their revenue streams internationally are far greater than
Speaker 2: pro footballs as far as the global sports, Soccer's won
Speaker 2: basketball's too, and so they are able to mitigate maybe
Speaker 2: some revenue or ratings or eyes or attention domestically because
Speaker 2: of what they bring in internationally. But as far as
Speaker 2: the attention span of the American sports fan, why do
Speaker 2: you think basketball has not been able to keep up?
Speaker 4: Well, I don't know. I think that the game itself
Speaker 4: part of it. To me from my perspective is having
Speaker 4: seen rules changes over the years, is that we I
Speaker 4: think maybe the NBA has gone too much, you know,
Speaker 4: toward trying to make it offensive heavy, you know, by
Speaker 4: by putting in all these defensive rules restrictions, and you
Speaker 4: can't you can't put a hand on somebody, you can't
Speaker 4: level somebody off. You know, you have an arm bar,
Speaker 4: but you can't you know, turn them one way to
Speaker 4: the other. And so it's all, you know, relegated to
Speaker 4: trying to legislate the game so that we have these
Speaker 4: one forty you know, one thirty five games, you know
Speaker 4: where where the good games back in our day, Spence
Speaker 4: used to be the you know, you know the Knicks pacers, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, grind them house. Yeah, you know, you know,
Speaker 4: eighty nine, eighty five and whatever, and you know. But
Speaker 4: but but I just think that that some of it
Speaker 4: is it looks it looks to me a little bit,
Speaker 4: a little bit like there's too much offense. We we
Speaker 4: don't do enough to help the defensive guys. Everybody wants
Speaker 4: to score and dunk and and no and nobody plays defense,
Speaker 4: you know, per se, you know, because you can see
Speaker 4: how the how the scoring is and and some of
Speaker 4: it's because the way the game is legislated and the
Speaker 4: way that the rules are. And maybe the fans look
Speaker 4: at that and go, I don't know, feels a little
Speaker 4: bit like wrestling or something like where they're just it's
Speaker 4: a little bit artificial because they're not really playing a
Speaker 4: whole game. They're only playing on one side of the court.
Speaker 4: That makes any sense.
Speaker 2: Also, I noticed this last night because it's funny you
Speaker 2: referenced Nick's Pacers. They played each other last night, and
Speaker 2: I was watching and flipping back and forth. I was
Speaker 2: watching the utes and Byu both tipped at five, and
Speaker 2: then checking out Nick's Pacers later on. There's not a
Speaker 2: lot of urgency in pro basketball until the final five minutes.
Speaker 2: And when you're watching an NFL game, almost every single
Speaker 2: play feels like life or death.
Speaker 3: There's just like, and I don't this is anecdotal.
Speaker 2: I don't really know how to like where to grasp
Speaker 2: this issue to say, Okay, it's this or that or whatever.
Speaker 2: But you know, a lot of possessions Halliburton dribbles the
Speaker 2: ball down the floor, puts it through his legs three times,
Speaker 2: takes a step back three and you're kind of like,
Speaker 2: what are we doing? Yeah, yeah, there's not a lot
Speaker 2: of urgency possession by possession.
Speaker 4: No, well, you know what in the NFL two spence,
Speaker 4: a lot of the players not everybody know, the big
Speaker 4: names are are secure and and and they're they're situated
Speaker 4: you know, financially and and spots on the team. But
Speaker 4: a lot of the players on NFL teams, you know,
Speaker 4: don't have the so called guaranteed contracts or the big
Speaker 4: money deals and and a lot of them are weak
Speaker 4: to week. I mean, if you don't perform and you
Speaker 4: don't play your position, you know, you could be you know,
Speaker 4: the ones obviously that that are publicized, the most of
Speaker 4: the kickers who miss a crucial kick or two extra
Speaker 4: points in the game, and you see on on Monday
Speaker 4: they cut the guy and on Wednesday they're having tryouts
Speaker 4: for a new guy who's going to be the kicker
Speaker 4: on Sunday, you know, And and there's a lot of
Speaker 4: the other you know, other players, offensive, defensive linemen, linebackers
Speaker 4: who some guys have guaranteed contracts, but a lot of
Speaker 4: them are you know, might be you know, could get
Speaker 4: cut or they or they they you know, they get hurt,
Speaker 4: you know, they go on the injury list and you
Speaker 4: don't see him again. And and I don't know if
Speaker 4: has anything to do with that, you know, relative to
Speaker 4: like the NBA where virtually every guy on the roster
Speaker 4: has a guaranteed contract, and especially after you know the
Speaker 4: early January date this year, I think it was January
Speaker 4: sixth or January eighth or something, which is a guaranteed date.
Speaker 4: So if you had a non guaranteed contract and you're
Speaker 4: on the roster after that date, then your your contract's
Speaker 4: guarantee for the rest of the year, even if you
Speaker 4: don't play.
Speaker 3: A minute, you know.
Speaker 4: So I don't know. I've always thought there's some problem
Speaker 4: with that in the NBA, where there's too much quote
Speaker 4: free money and nobody really has to go out and
Speaker 4: earn it per se. Once they get it and you
Speaker 4: know it, and there's something to the sense of urgency
Speaker 4: that if I don't perform tonight and I don't I
Speaker 4: don't play hard, and I don't dive on the floor,
Speaker 4: and I don't step in and try and take a
Speaker 4: charge or whatever it is, that I may not be
Speaker 4: on the team on Friday. You know, that's a that's
Speaker 4: not a feeling, you know, because you know, you know,
Speaker 4: even if they let you go, oh they don't like
Speaker 4: you for whatever reason, you're not playing well whatever, Well,
Speaker 4: I made it past the guarantee date, So I'm getting
Speaker 4: my mind in your mind, all that kind of thing.
Speaker 4: So I don't know if there's something to that that
Speaker 4: all those a link together and people are going, yeah, well,
Speaker 4: these guys are getting paid a lot of money and
Speaker 4: they don't really look like they're playing hard. I don't
Speaker 4: know why I should invest my time in that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, some good points, all right. I was excited
Speaker 2: to have you in because I wanted to talk to
Speaker 2: about this dynamic. And I this is going to be
Speaker 2: a very loose parallel because I don't think there's anything
Speaker 2: where we can be entirely analogous.
Speaker 3: But follow me for a second. So Lakers are in town.
Speaker 2: And I obviously it has been a crazy news cycle
Speaker 2: surrounding the decisions made by roster constructions in pro basketball
Speaker 2: to do some things that feel a little bit unprecedented
Speaker 2: to me and feel a little bit noteworthy, if I
Speaker 2: could use a jazz phrase. Patrick Dumont is the part
Speaker 2: of the new ownership group in Dallas, and it's been
Speaker 2: a rough week for our guy. He walked into a
Speaker 2: Mavericks home game to a tremendously loud chorus of booze,
Speaker 2: and he turned to a security guard and he said,
Speaker 2: are they booing me?
Speaker 3: And he said, yes they are.
Speaker 2: Nico Harrison has been kind of revealed as like the
Speaker 2: rogue decision maker here that is behind the Luka Doncits
Speaker 2: decision because he simply didn't believe, as you outlined last
Speaker 2: week in his off court habits. And do you want
Speaker 2: to invest three hundred and fifty five million dollars in
Speaker 2: a player who you don't think takes care of himself.
Speaker 3: We've been all over the things, over all the things.
Speaker 2: This is a decision that could cost Nico's job, and
Speaker 2: it feels like it is already costing Dallas a tremendous
Speaker 2: amount of goodwill in that community.
Speaker 3: Can you recall, whether.
Speaker 2: It was Scottie or whether it was Kevin or Dennis,
Speaker 2: a personnel decision that you guys had to make as
Speaker 2: a front office where you went, Okay, here we go.
Speaker 2: We just made a call on Darren or whatever, and
Speaker 2: now it's on. Now it's it's it's gonna be on
Speaker 2: us as to whether or not this works out. Is
Speaker 2: there anything that even comes to mind as far as
Speaker 2: the same type of heat they're kind of facing in Dallas, Well,
Speaker 2: first of.
Speaker 4: All, you know, the the the profile of the players
Speaker 4: involved in this, this Dallas Laker trade was you know,
Speaker 4: was at the top of the heap. So that's that.
Speaker 4: That's the first thing. The secondly, you know, these these
Speaker 4: aren't unusual, and we've talked about that before Spence too,
Speaker 4: and across across all sporting lines. Whether it's a Babe
Speaker 4: Ruth or whether it's a Wayne Gretzky, or whether it's
Speaker 4: a Wilt Chamberlain, you know, whoever it is. You know,
Speaker 4: these guys have all been traded, These things have happened before.
Speaker 4: The thing that that that I don't I you know,
Speaker 4: if I was the guy overseeing and I was just
Speaker 4: you know, you know, waving a magic wand whatever that means.
Speaker 4: You know, in this scenario, I would I would advise
Speaker 4: Nico Harrison and Patrick Dumont to instead of running away
Speaker 4: from what's going on. In other words, Nico doesn't show
Speaker 4: up in his usual seat for the game, He doesn't
Speaker 4: show up for the first game after the trade. You know,
Speaker 4: wasn't there at all. You know that to me, if
Speaker 4: I'm a fan, I look at that and go, okay
Speaker 4: that that even makes me a little more you know,
Speaker 4: upset about this or there's something else you know that.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I would rather see them turn around and
Speaker 4: do just the opposite, just hit it head on, you know.
Speaker 4: And and I was just saying to to James Peterson
Speaker 4: before we came on the air, Hey, if I was them,
Speaker 4: i'd say, hey, you know what we should do. We
Speaker 4: should have we should have a town hall meeting tomorrow
Speaker 4: at noon. Anybody who's upset at this, come on down,
Speaker 4: let's go, you know. And you know you you guys
Speaker 4: pay the bills, you guys are investing in this, like us.
Speaker 4: We'll answer the questions. Now. If I get a question
Speaker 4: and I don't feel like, you know, revealing you know,
Speaker 4: corporate you know, secrets or or things that I think,
Speaker 4: you know should stay in the house, then I'll say so.
Speaker 4: But I'm going to give you the opportunity to vent
Speaker 4: to me and for us to talk it through, and
Speaker 4: to give you, you know, as much as I can the
Speaker 4: rationale of why, you know, we don't just do this.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, if I'm if I'm playing Nico
Speaker 4: Harrison for a minute, I don't just wake up in
Speaker 4: the middle of the night and say, hey, I think
Speaker 4: it's a good idea if we get rid of one
Speaker 4: of the best players in the league, and I'm not
Speaker 4: gonna tell anybody why we're just gonna do it Like
Speaker 4: that doesn't really wash with a lot of people. So
Speaker 4: you know, you have to explain to people. You know,
Speaker 4: you don't explain all of your business, obviously, but you
Speaker 4: tell people as much as you can about this process.
Speaker 4: And you have to ask people to think for a minute,
Speaker 4: to step back and say, do you think we would
Speaker 4: trade a top five player who's not even in his
Speaker 4: prime yet age wise, who's performing the way he has
Speaker 4: performed so far for us for for just just to
Speaker 4: do it and just to get a different look on
Speaker 4: our team. I mean, I hope you think that we
Speaker 4: have more than that in our substance in making these
Speaker 4: decisions to to to be able to exercise something that
Speaker 4: we know is going to be difficult, you know, to
Speaker 4: deal with. You know, we didn't think this was just
Speaker 4: going to go in a twenty four hour news cycle
Speaker 4: and then everybody's onto the next thing. And so, you know,
Speaker 4: give us some credit or at least have some substance
Speaker 4: to thinking that that there's a rationale, there's some reasoning
Speaker 4: behind why we would make such a move, you know,
Speaker 4: in the benefit of our organization, of you, our fans.
Speaker 4: That's that's where our responsibility is. And I would just
Speaker 4: hit it head on, you know, in that regard, because
Speaker 4: that's usually if you look in the pass in any
Speaker 4: scenario of this nature spence where there's an uproar, But
Speaker 4: any decision is it a sports decision, is it a
Speaker 4: governmental decision? Is it something you know that affects our
Speaker 4: culture or our life. People who are in those positions
Speaker 4: that when times when they've just faced the music head
Speaker 4: on and took it on and said, hey, let's go,
Speaker 4: let's go, what do you got, Let's talk it out
Speaker 4: and and and do that. Most of the time people
Speaker 4: go yeah, but what if what if this thing? And
Speaker 4: you go, well, you know, because of A B and
Speaker 4: C whatever and and and then you find out people realize, okay,
Speaker 4: I don't know, you know, and and but they but
Speaker 4: they start backing down because they understand that you're in
Speaker 4: a difficult position and you wouldn't make a decision like
Speaker 4: this unless you actually felt somewhere that this made sense, uh,
Speaker 4: for the for the overall business that were running. You know,
Speaker 4: whether you understand what those things are or you don't.
Speaker 4: I can communicate some of them to you. Some of
Speaker 4: them I might not be able to, but at least
Speaker 4: rationally look at it, you know, for what it is,
Speaker 4: instead of trying to find you know, some underbelly or
Speaker 4: some you know some you know, there's got to be
Speaker 4: some secret thing that's going on that nobody's telling us,
Speaker 4: you know whatever. And you know, it's just I think people.
Speaker 4: You have to give people credit, you know, for trying
Speaker 4: to help you to overall understand what this overall situation is.
Speaker 2: If that makes sense sense, yeah, it does. I just
Speaker 2: don't personally see the rationale.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: Bob Myers made a really compelling point because about an
Speaker 2: hour after the trade was announced, he was on the
Speaker 2: dais for the NBA on ESPN coverage and he said, look,
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that Anthony Davis is Luca, but what
Speaker 2: I am saying is peak Anthony Davis and peak Luka
Speaker 2: doncis if you can get like a seven game healthy
Speaker 2: peak Anthony Davis, he is still one of the elite
Speaker 2: talents in all of the lead. Well, he affects the game, yes, yes,
Speaker 2: and so now the problem is he's hurt now and
Speaker 2: he might be shelved for four or five weeks and
Speaker 2: so as we react to what's in the moment. If
Speaker 2: you're Nico Harrison, the worst case scenario happened where he's hurt,
Speaker 2: and so even you know if he's able to come
Speaker 2: back and at some point maybe make a difference in
Speaker 2: the postseason. Where we are in the news cycle right
Speaker 2: now is these guys are getting killed. The only thing
Speaker 2: I could think of is when Kevin decided to trade Darren,
Speaker 2: as far as trying to be analogous here in the
Speaker 2: market now, the circumstances were much different, and that's what
Speaker 2: I think confuses a lot of people, because Darren and
Speaker 2: Jerry had their thing, and so Kevin had Jerry's back
Speaker 2: and said, we don't want this male content.
Speaker 3: We're gonna hit the reset button.
Speaker 2: There are no indications like it's been interesting seeing the
Speaker 2: look on Jason Kidd's face whenever he's been front facing
Speaker 2: he didn't do me the other night. I would be
Speaker 2: very curious to hear what Jason Kidd had to say
Speaker 2: in a very honest moment about as a coach losing
Speaker 2: a guy like that. But this is different because it
Speaker 2: doesn't appear that Luca had issues with a coach or
Speaker 2: his teammates. From what we know, this was a executive
Speaker 2: making a decision almost on his own. But Kevin never
Speaker 2: struck me as a monolith, right. You guys were very
Speaker 2: upfront office. They would communicate together and come up with ideas.
Speaker 2: Did you guys feel the heat when you just added
Speaker 2: to do the Darren thing?
Speaker 4: No, you know, I it was a different set of
Speaker 4: circumstance because I think the I think the general Jazz
Speaker 4: fan uh back at that time, if you remember, had
Speaker 4: the had the the blow up between Darren, Darren Williams
Speaker 4: and and Jerry Sloan and the prompted you know, Jerry
Speaker 4: to to to step down and resign. And then uh,
Speaker 4: shortly after that, Kevin made the move, you know, to
Speaker 4: trade Darren because he thought that was in He also
Speaker 4: thought it was in the again similar to the d
Speaker 4: Aaron Fox situation Sacramento a few weeks ago, where Fox
Speaker 4: came out and said, you know it didn't say directly,
Speaker 4: but but there were all indications internally that he's gonna
Speaker 4: he's not gonna come back here when he's a free agent. Right,
Speaker 4: whether it's Aaron Fox, that was the so called scut
Speaker 4: But with Donovan Mitchell, I'm not sure if that was
Speaker 4: if that was totally uh accurate or or or a truism.
Speaker 4: But that's that that that's what the general perception was,
Speaker 4: uh with Darren. With Darren Williams, it was the same
Speaker 4: similar type thing. We don't know if Darren Williams is
Speaker 4: gonna come back when he's a free agent in a
Speaker 4: year and a half, and so let's you know, we
Speaker 4: we we put that together with the discord or whatever's
Speaker 4: going on, you know with uh with coach Sloan and
Speaker 4: that kind of stuff, and you go, okay, you know,
Speaker 4: maybe it makes sense to to do something now, you know,
Speaker 4: while your value is high and in terms of that
Speaker 4: that player. But but again, Spence, uh, Kevin, Kevin O'Connor,
Speaker 4: you know, did I wouldn't say exactly the same because
Speaker 4: I obviously I wasn't wasn't in the room, you know,
Speaker 4: with Nico Harrison and and and and all that stuff.
Speaker 4: But but but Kevin, you know, in a similar fashion,
Speaker 4: did you know, handled it and kind of the same
Speaker 4: framework that Nico Harrison did with Darren Williams. He didn't
Speaker 4: tell any of us what was going on in his
Speaker 4: in our so called in their circle whatever that was.
Speaker 4: You know, I didn't know what was happening. You know,
Speaker 4: Kevin did it with his good friend Billy King, who
Speaker 4: was the general manager in New Jersey Nets at the time.
Speaker 4: They had worked together in Philadelphia ten years earlier, become
Speaker 4: very good friends, very good colleagues. They felt they could
Speaker 4: trust each other in terms of doing some kind of
Speaker 4: a deal that didn't get out in the media, Allah
Speaker 4: the Jimmy Butler Miami Heat type thing. And and they
Speaker 4: they they put a package together and discussed it. And
Speaker 4: then Kevin went to you know, the Miller family and said, hey,
Speaker 4: I think you know, for reasons A, B and C,
Speaker 4: this is this is a good time to make a
Speaker 4: move like this, even though it's our best player and
Speaker 4: it's going to hurt us in the short term, but
Speaker 4: I think it'll help us somewhere down the line in
Speaker 4: the long term. Okay, the Miller's bought bought into that. Okay.
Speaker 4: And I'm sitting in my office on the day that
Speaker 4: they know it was leaked, and I see a scroll
Speaker 4: on the TV in my office that says, you know,
Speaker 4: breaking news, Darren Williams traded. You know, I'm going, what
Speaker 4: is that, you know whatever? And then and then Kevin
Speaker 4: literally like, walked through my office. I said, Hey, when
Speaker 4: is this thing on the on the on the TV.
Speaker 4: And he looks and he goes, oh, is that out already?
Speaker 4: And I looked at him, I said, is that a
Speaker 4: real thing? He goes, yeah, you know, typical Kevin fashion.
Speaker 4: He shrugged and then kept walking. You know, So now
Speaker 4: I got to go chase him down the hallway into
Speaker 4: his office. What's going on whatever? And you know, but
Speaker 4: he did a similar thing where he played it close
Speaker 4: to the vest because he didn't want to be in
Speaker 4: the public, didn't want to have to deal with media
Speaker 4: and and all that kind of stuff in a similar
Speaker 4: fashion what happened with Dallas and Lakers last week. And
Speaker 4: sometimes front office people in those decision making roles will
Speaker 4: will handle things in a particular away because they feel
Speaker 4: that's the best way to handle it with the least
Speaker 4: amount of noise going on around it, and it doesn't
Speaker 4: really affect, you know, the decision making process that they're
Speaker 4: going through.
Speaker 2: Lebron James Luka, Doncic rolling to town and I the
Speaker 2: LA Lakers taking on the Utah Jazz. We got Richard
Speaker 2: Smith live in studio for one more big segment. All right, smitty,
Speaker 2: thirty games left for the Jazz. I think a lot
Speaker 2: of people that don't maybe file the league closely feel
Speaker 2: like the All Star break is the halfway point. It's
Speaker 2: very much not past halfway point, about two and a
Speaker 2: half three weeks ago, So thirty games left for the
Speaker 2: Jazz and the Lakers come into town tonight, and you know,
Speaker 2: it's It's interesting a lot of the national guests that
Speaker 2: we have on to talk Pro Basketball, some of them
Speaker 2: will text me before the interview, like, dude, I got
Speaker 2: nothing on the Jazz, so just like you don't ask
Speaker 2: me about it. And with this entire boom of the
Speaker 2: media attention surrounding Luca and Lebron, I've listened into a
Speaker 2: lot of podcasts, watch a lot of coverage, and they
Speaker 2: all say the same thing, like, well, we can't learn
Speaker 2: anything about them yet because they're only playing the Jazz,
Speaker 2: not a serious team about winning this year. With thirty
Speaker 2: games left, what would you say to Jazz fans about
Speaker 2: some takeaways you've had that are positive that they can
Speaker 2: just kind of latch onto. If there's anything there to
Speaker 2: indicate that this thing is moving in the right direction.
Speaker 4: Well, that's it's a difficult question. Spence because there hasn't
Speaker 4: been a lot. I mean, to be honest. You know,
Speaker 4: they're in the third year of this tear down, rebuild, reboot,
Speaker 4: whatever however you label it. Their overall team defense hasn't
Speaker 4: gotten any better, hasn't gotten appreciably better. Whether that's by schematics,
Speaker 4: whether that's coaching, whether that's the players who aren't aren't
Speaker 4: executing what the coaches want, whatever it is, it hasn't
Speaker 4: gotten anybody. There's still a bottom five defensive team. Lowry
Speaker 4: markin you know, had a very good first year with
Speaker 4: the Jazz, obviously played to an all star level. He's
Speaker 4: gone down a little bit. You know. Some of that
Speaker 4: I think is just because he's he doesn't have a
Speaker 4: good team around him, and so there's you know, the
Speaker 4: other teams are leaning on him a little bit. But
Speaker 4: how about this little little tidbit, which is which is
Speaker 4: interesting more than anything that that's really helpful to the cause.
Speaker 4: But John Collins through you know, two thirds of the season,
Speaker 4: after they play these two games, it will really be
Speaker 4: two thirds of the way through the season. John Collins
Speaker 4: is playing close to a one eighty clip. He's shooting
Speaker 4: over fifty from the floor, he's shooting forty four from
Speaker 4: three and eighty seven from the line, so he's almost
Speaker 4: close to you know, you know, touching up on that
Speaker 4: that fifty forty ninety line that we talked about Lowry
Speaker 4: markin and last year, you know, touching. John Collins is
Speaker 4: playing a fishing now. He hasn't played a lot of games.
Speaker 4: He's been out a bunch of games. He's been out
Speaker 4: like fourteen to fifteen games. He's only started half the
Speaker 4: games that the Jazz have played. But the other guy
Speaker 4: who's been playing very efficiently and is out currently with
Speaker 4: an ankle injury is Colin Sexton, who's played very well,
Speaker 4: and again he's played much more efficiently than Lowry market Is.
Speaker 4: If you look at their numbers, you know, Sexton to
Speaker 4: market In, you know, field goal percentage forty eight to
Speaker 4: forty two, three point percentage forty one to thirty five,
Speaker 4: field goal free throw percentage eighty nine to eighty six.
Speaker 4: I mean, Colin Sexton has played very efficiently, very well.
Speaker 4: So he's he's played better this year. So he's a
Speaker 4: guy that I'm excited to see if they hold on
Speaker 4: to him in the offseason, because I think he can
Speaker 4: really continue to play well and play efficiently. He's really
Speaker 4: grown into his game and his body and the way
Speaker 4: he plays aggressively on the court. Walker Kessler has shown
Speaker 4: to me that that he's a he's a rim protector,
Speaker 4: he's a natural rebounder. He's a guy who can who
Speaker 4: can uh can get you a double digital rebounds. He's
Speaker 4: gonna average a double double. I think he's never gonna
Speaker 4: be a great score, but he's gonna be able to
Speaker 4: get mop up points and easy rim runs and stuff
Speaker 4: like that. And you know, I think he'll always be
Speaker 4: like a you know, a twelve and twelve type guy.
Speaker 4: And then if he can average a couple of block shots,
Speaker 4: I think he's someone who's who's a keeper for them
Speaker 4: with marking in with maybe sext and how they see that.
Speaker 4: John Collins again, never been a big John Collins fan,
Speaker 4: but he's played, he's played better this year. He's got
Speaker 4: a year left on his contract, which is a big
Speaker 4: number of twenty six for really for what he does.
Speaker 4: But John Collins is also the same age as Lowry Markin.
Speaker 4: He's not an old guy. You know, he came in young.
Speaker 4: So so these are guys that that you think they
Speaker 4: I don't know if the lall be with them, you know,
Speaker 4: next year, but I think they're guys who can be
Speaker 4: guys that that that are somewhat of a foundation. Now
Speaker 4: you still have to have a couple of these young
Speaker 4: guys show up. The one guy who's who's played better, Uh,
Speaker 4: still don't know if I really like his game that much,
Speaker 4: but he has improved somewhat in this these first fifty
Speaker 4: games is Isaiah Collier. You know, he's he's a natural passer.
Speaker 4: Sometimes he gets too deep into the defense, into the
Speaker 4: paint and then and predetermines where he's gonna throw the pass,
Speaker 4: and and and he's turned over prone that way. But
Speaker 4: he's he's really looks like he's got a good feel
Speaker 4: early in off in the offense to to where the
Speaker 4: ball is supposed to be. And the other thing I
Speaker 4: like about him is that he'll get it and he'll
Speaker 4: push it aggressively from free throw line to free throw line.
Speaker 4: So instead of walking it up like Kant George does
Speaker 4: and and saunter into an offense, Collier will really push
Speaker 4: it and he'll he'll he'll he'll uh make a quick
Speaker 4: speed pass to somebody up ahead to try and get
Speaker 4: something early, and that's what I just like that mindset that,
Speaker 4: you know, trying to push it, push it, to be
Speaker 4: aggressive that way. He's a young guy. He's two years
Speaker 4: removed from high school, so he's got a ways to go.
Speaker 4: But I like some of his natural tendencies when he
Speaker 4: has the ball in his hand to get it to teammates.
Speaker 4: That that Now, his issue, obviously is he can't shoot,
Speaker 4: and so does that get appreciably better or at least
Speaker 4: better enough that that he can stay in the lineup
Speaker 4: and stay on the floor late in games and make
Speaker 4: some things happen. But I like his game a little bit.
Speaker 4: It's growing on me a little bit. But a lot
Speaker 4: of the other guys, you know, the jury sort, and
Speaker 4: I'm not sure how many of them, if any of them,
Speaker 4: will be be here long term.
Speaker 2: So let's, uh, let's take into call here a little
Speaker 2: bit more, because I agree with you there are a
Speaker 2: lot of things to like seven plus or seven games
Speaker 2: with ten plus assists. No Jazz rookie's ever done that.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I'm sure John could have pulled that off if he
Speaker 2: played a little bit more as a rookie. He was
Speaker 2: behind Rocky Green. But you reference the splits the shooting splits.
Speaker 2: He's twenty one percent from three. So it's not like, yeah,
Speaker 2: he can't really shoot it. No, he can't shoot it
Speaker 2: at all. But there are some things about him that
Speaker 2: are in eight that he has that I wasn't sure
Speaker 2: that would translate to pro basketball because we didn't see
Speaker 2: a ton of him in college and only saw one year.
Speaker 2: And your point, it's important to reiterate two years out
Speaker 2: of high school is he's a puppy. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: so young, but there are some things that he has
Speaker 2: that you can't necessarily teach. And then there are some
Speaker 2: things that he has to work on, namely shooting. If
Speaker 2: he puts in the work. Okay, tap into your knowledge
Speaker 2: forty plus years you know with the Jazz, do you
Speaker 2: have a success story that we can point to.
Speaker 3: He was a young player that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I can remember Carl as a rookie shooting
Speaker 2: free throws and you're like, dude, just hit the rim,
Speaker 2: so maybe we can get the rebound. He turned into
Speaker 2: a seventy five percent free throw shooter. Yeah, you can
Speaker 2: learn to shoot it, right, Like you think Isaiah can
Speaker 2: learn to be a thirty five percent three point shooter.
Speaker 4: Well, yeah, time will tell I don't know what kind
Speaker 4: of a worker he is. I don't know if he's
Speaker 4: a guy who's determined to do that. You know. Again,
Speaker 4: you know, we'll we'll see that bear itself out as
Speaker 4: we go forward. The one thing about him, he's got
Speaker 4: elite speed. When he gets the ball out of bounds,
Speaker 4: he can really push it, and he can really push
Speaker 4: it quickly. And he also has a great, a great
Speaker 4: first step when he gets the ball in a half
Speaker 4: court offense, and he sees that he has a slight
Speaker 4: advantage on his guy, he can really he can put
Speaker 4: it on the floor and he can get two steps
Speaker 4: really quickly right to the dotted line. And then he
Speaker 4: he's got that powerful body. He's got like a Marcus
Speaker 4: Smart type body, and so he can he can get it.
Speaker 4: He can get it with speed. He sees the floor. Uh,
Speaker 4: he's gotta he's gotta smooth out those rough edges. Will
Speaker 4: he ever be a serviceable shooter? Okay, Well, we'll see that.
Speaker 4: That was also a concern with Marcus Smart when he
Speaker 4: came into the league. And obviously he made himself into
Speaker 4: a bona fide uh A player in this league, and
Speaker 4: and and obviously was a Defensive Player of the Year
Speaker 4: a couple of years ago. You know, this kid has
Speaker 4: the chance to be something like that with his innate
Speaker 4: speed feel for the game. Now, can he can he
Speaker 4: smooth out the other the other parts of his game
Speaker 4: to make him himself more valuable in someone who gets
Speaker 4: more extended time as he goes along. But but he's
Speaker 4: a guy who I would I would if I was
Speaker 4: a fan, I'd be keeping an eye on to see
Speaker 4: how he improves because he has the body and he
Speaker 4: has some of the innate of athleticism that you need
Speaker 4: in this league as a lead guard to have some success.
Speaker 4: Can he can he grow into that three years from
Speaker 4: now when he's twenty three years old? Is he appreciably
Speaker 4: better and is he one of the guys you're counting on.
Speaker 4: That's one of the things that you want to take
Speaker 4: into account.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough, man, you know.
Speaker 2: It really is tough to make this team interesting when
Speaker 2: they're not trying to win, and even the people to
Speaker 2: cover them day to day are just kind of doing
Speaker 2: everything they possibly can to try to come up with
Speaker 2: topics that are interesting. I do think there's some things
Speaker 2: to like about Isaiah. I do think Walker has shown
Speaker 2: a very real step forward. It was tough to see
Speaker 2: Taylor Hendrix go down. It would have been nice to
Speaker 2: analyze his growth. The rookie year of Cody Williams. Okay,
Speaker 2: now Cody's had some injury issues. I'm pulling up. There's
Speaker 2: numbers right now. So Cody right now has played in
Speaker 2: twenty seven games.
Speaker 3: He started twelve.
Speaker 2: You know, when you pick a guy in the top ten,
Speaker 2: I just think you hope it looks a little bit
Speaker 2: better than it has. I know he's had some moments
Speaker 2: in the G League, but you know, as we're trying
Speaker 2: to analyze who these young players are, whether or not
Speaker 2: they can be part of winning basketball, we've got to
Speaker 2: talk about these rookies. I mean, do you think behind
Speaker 2: closed doors they're a little bit concerned even though he
Speaker 2: is still just a kid.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I don't know's that's that's hard to say,
Speaker 4: just because of you know, without being there every day
Speaker 4: and being in practice, being in film sessions, talking to
Speaker 4: those guys one on one to get a real feel
Speaker 4: for who they are, what their mindset is, what their
Speaker 4: what their desires are to be a top level professional,
Speaker 4: It's hard to say for me this year for Cody
Speaker 4: Williams has been a washout. He's he's been a bust
Speaker 4: for me as far as showing any kind of potential.
Speaker 4: You know, he's long, he's thin, okay whatever you know,
Speaker 4: So what does that mean? You know? And uh uh
Speaker 4: you know my old colleague and and and obviously one
Speaker 4: of the one of you guys on on the radio
Speaker 4: station here weekly or coach Cheesa, you know, would always
Speaker 4: would always come back with, you know, if you brought
Speaker 4: up a guy that that he didn't he didn't like,
Speaker 4: or question about what he could what he could do
Speaker 4: to help you, he'd always come back with just this
Speaker 4: three word question, which was always very salient, you know,
Speaker 4: as succinct as it could be. You'd bring up a
Speaker 4: guy and you'd say Cody Williams, Gordy, Cody, Cody Williams.
Speaker 4: He'd go to do what do what? Yeah? To do what?
Speaker 4: You know? And and that's what I would say about him.
Speaker 4: You know, somebody brings him up, I go to do what?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 3: What does he do?
Speaker 4: You know, he doesn't guard anybody, He doesn't use that
Speaker 4: length athleticism, he doesn't hasn't shown any toughness, He doesn't
Speaker 4: have any kind of offensive game that he could go to,
Speaker 4: whether it's a dribbled drive game and use his athleticism
Speaker 4: to get up and over guys and do that or
Speaker 4: around guys with quickness, or can't shoot it over the
Speaker 4: top of guy. You know, I don't know what he does.
Speaker 4: So so this has been an interesting year for him.
Speaker 4: I think he I would I would label it as
Speaker 4: a disappointment myself. I don't know what they see in
Speaker 4: him going forward. If if it's just he has to
Speaker 4: get his mindset, he has to get some toughness, he
Speaker 4: has to get some strength his body, He has to
Speaker 4: get a skill level up. Although you know, for me,
Speaker 4: for him on that if you're grading him out on
Speaker 4: a on a report card, you know, all those things
Speaker 4: are things that he has to get better at or
Speaker 4: he's not gonna, you know, graduate to the next class.
Speaker 4: You know, that's that's just the way it is. And
Speaker 4: so you know, they have quite a few of those
Speaker 4: guys for me, but he's one that sticks out that
Speaker 4: you go, yeah, he just to me, it looks psych
Speaker 4: he's you know, not sure what he's doing out there
Speaker 4: and doesn't doesn't play with a lot of confidence and
Speaker 4: doesn't play with anyway. You know, like Collier, he makes
Speaker 4: a mistake, okay, throws up in the fourth throw whatever,
Speaker 4: But he plays with a certain amount of confidence and toughness,
Speaker 4: at least offensively aggressiveness, I should say. But Cody Williams
Speaker 4: for me is uh is a is a big, big
Speaker 4: question mark, all right.
Speaker 2: I just look, there's just nothing to talk about with
Speaker 2: the rest of the roster. They're not serious about winning.
Speaker 2: We all know what time it is, we all know
Speaker 2: what they're trying to do. It makes it really challenging
Speaker 2: day to day to try to even make it somewhat fascinating.
Speaker 2: Jazz fans continue to show up. Jazz fans rule, and
Speaker 2: I think the building will be packed tonight. But when
Speaker 2: it comes to what JJ Reddick has now at his disposal,
Speaker 2: I was listening to JJ's media after the Jazz game
Speaker 2: and then he did some media I want to say
Speaker 2: it was yesterday maybe after practice. Made a point that
Speaker 2: with their roster now, the third best defender on the
Speaker 2: opposing team asterguard Offs Reeves. Now Austin is not Luca Lebron,
Speaker 2: but he's a good player. You can run stuff through
Speaker 2: Austin Reeves. He's a capable ball handler, he passes it
Speaker 2: pretty well, and when he gets going, he can really score.
Speaker 2: But obviously the headline is Lebron and it's Luca. How
Speaker 2: do you think this is going to work? And what
Speaker 2: do you think JJ is going to try to implement
Speaker 2: to make sure because they now have the opportunity to
Speaker 2: play forty eight minutes of pro basketball with either Luka,
Speaker 2: Doncic or Lebron James. I still think Oklahoma City is
Speaker 2: head and shoulders above everybody. I will not bury the
Speaker 2: Denver Nuggets, even though a lot of people have. Jamal
Speaker 2: Murray's been better as of late, but they have the
Speaker 2: best player on the planet, Nicola Jokic. But when it
Speaker 2: comes to what JJ Reddick has at his disposal, Jazz
Speaker 2: fans going to the game, what do you what do
Speaker 2: you think this Laker attack is going to look like
Speaker 2: right away? And what's best case as far as what
Speaker 2: it looks like when it's fully baked?
Speaker 4: Well, I think that you know it's you know, they
Speaker 4: have two and a half guys. If you're talking about
Speaker 4: being a serious contender, whether it's donc James and Austin Reads. Why,
Speaker 4: I like, you know, Austin Reeves is a beneficiarya of
Speaker 4: having played with two great players so far in his
Speaker 4: career in Davis and James. Now he's playing with James
Speaker 4: and Doncic and so he gets to do some things
Speaker 4: and maybe he's you know, if he's with the jazz team,
Speaker 4: I don't think he's as effective because he'd be asked
Speaker 4: to do too many things that he's not used to
Speaker 4: doing at a high volume level. But but I like
Speaker 4: the way he plays. I liked him at Oklahoma. You know,
Speaker 4: he played well, you know in college, was an all
Speaker 4: around kind of guy. But he's a guy who who
Speaker 4: plays off of the strengths of his teammates. And he's
Speaker 4: been playing with a couple of great teammates, you know
Speaker 4: so far in l A and and that's been switched out.
Speaker 4: But we'll see what, you know, how it is going forward.
Speaker 4: But they still have a big problem with their roster.
Speaker 4: You know, Mark Williams. The trade didn't go through, and now, uh,
Speaker 4: the other kid just got hurt, you know, the other
Speaker 4: big guy that they have the name of Caseman at
Speaker 4: the moment with the Lakers, and so now you know
Speaker 4: they're they're really down. You know, they're short big guy,
Speaker 4: whether it's Jared Vanderbilt is going to try and plug
Speaker 4: in there. It's gonna be tough. Their roster is not
Speaker 4: very good beyond those guys, and so they they have
Speaker 4: to rely when they get to the playoffs. They have
Speaker 4: to hope that Doncicic and James are healthy, that Reeves
Speaker 4: is healthy, which you know he's been for the most part.
Speaker 4: But Doncic and James are gonna be playing, you know,
Speaker 4: forty two, forty three, forty four minutes in playoff games.
Speaker 4: And we've seen both guys be able to lift their
Speaker 4: teams up with the way that they play. And so
Speaker 4: I wouldn't put anything past a team that has a
Speaker 4: healthy Lebron James on it because he's He's always proven
Speaker 4: that he's that good, you know, when the when the
Speaker 4: real lights come on. So can they get past Okay, see,
Speaker 4: can they get past Memphis, which is a very good
Speaker 4: team when they're healthy. Can they get past a healthy
Speaker 4: Denver team? You know these guys, these are tough, uh
Speaker 4: teams that that are going to give them a lot
Speaker 4: of problems. You know, it's Golden State going to be better,
Speaker 4: uh towards the end of the season, when when Jimmy
Speaker 4: Butler gets in in a flow. And if those guys
Speaker 4: are healthy, you know, with Green and Curry, you know,
Speaker 4: can they make some kind of noise in in the
Speaker 4: in the playoffs? It's you know, as we always say, Spence,
Speaker 4: the old worn out adage, right, the best players best
Speaker 4: ability is his availability. And so that's what it comes
Speaker 4: down to when you get to the to the playoffs,
Speaker 4: is who's who's on the floor, who's healthy and and
Speaker 4: can they can they carry a team over a seven
Speaker 4: game stretch, you know, in that kind of an atmosphere.
Speaker 2: He referenced the Mark Williams trade being rescinded, which meant
Speaker 2: the Lakers had to tell Dalton Connect they actually liked
Speaker 2: them a lot all along. And same thing on the
Speaker 2: other side. That has to be a unique challenge when
Speaker 2: a trade is done. You were telling a story off
Speaker 2: air about the Ronnie Cyclic deal back in the day, yep,
Speaker 2: that really, you know, would have given you guys a
Speaker 2: very talented center. My understanding of the story is Ronnie
Speaker 2: did not want to live in Salt Lake City. What's
Speaker 2: it like when the trade is actually consummated and then
Speaker 2: for whatever reason it falls apart, then you have to
Speaker 2: remind the guy who trade to wait, No, we actually do.
Speaker 4: Like you well, you know back then, you know Spence
Speaker 4: to refresh memories of our fans. I mean, maybe some
Speaker 4: haven't even heard this story. But in ninety eight February
Speaker 4: of ninety eight, near the trade deadline, the Jazz decide
Speaker 4: to try and get a an offensive threat in the
Speaker 4: center position to go along with Karl Malan, John Stockton,
Speaker 4: Jeff Horniseck making another push toward a second NBA Finals.
Speaker 4: So they got a deal done with Orlando where they
Speaker 4: were willing to trade Chris Morris, Greg Foster and a
Speaker 4: first round pick to the Orlando Magic for Ronnie Cycally.
Speaker 4: Cyclely was an offensive center, was a good player and
Speaker 4: would have fit in well with what the Jazz are
Speaker 4: doing at that time. And the Jazz in Orlando actually
Speaker 4: made the trade. Chris Morris and Greg Foster went to Orlando,
Speaker 4: they did their physical, they actually attended an Orlando practice
Speaker 4: wild and then they were pulled off the court after practice,
Speaker 4: and Ronnie Cyclely was balking about coming, balking about coming,
Speaker 4: something about you know, whether he wanted to play here
Speaker 4: or he wanted his contract extended, if he was coming
Speaker 4: something something, And so finally the trade was just called
Speaker 4: off and the parties and Bob said, you know what,
Speaker 4: there's too much heavy lifting going on here. We're just
Speaker 4: going back to what we had. And so Greg Foster
Speaker 4: and Chris Morris come back to the Jazz. They have
Speaker 4: a meeting with Jerry Sloan. You guys got a problem.
Speaker 4: You know, this is the NBA, this is the business.
Speaker 4: Both guys are like, now, you know, we get it. Whatever,
Speaker 4: and we ended up. The Jazz ended up that year
Speaker 4: going on and and UH making another run to the
Speaker 4: to the their second NBA Finals in ninety eight, with
Speaker 4: both those guys playing minutes and rotation and and UH
Speaker 4: and Greg Foster doing his famous throat slash and and
Speaker 4: at near the end of Game four in LA to
Speaker 4: to help the Jazz go get over the hump and
Speaker 4: and then get to the NBA Finals again. And you know,
Speaker 4: that's just part of the business. You know, you hope
Speaker 4: you got guys who who understand that I got a
Speaker 4: young guy like Dalton Connect. You know, he's a rookie. Okay,
Speaker 4: you know he's a little bit of an older rookie.
Speaker 4: But you know, you know, guys, Jerry Sloan will always say,
Speaker 4: you know, are your feelings hurt, you know. Okay, well
Speaker 4: you know you got about ten minutes to get over
Speaker 4: that and and then we got we got work to do.
Speaker 4: And and that's just the business, you know, And it's
Speaker 4: an unfortunate part. Uh. And it's a difficult part because
Speaker 4: sometimes you know, people's families are involved and and uh,
Speaker 4: those kinds of things, and and uh, you have to
Speaker 4: deal with that. And that's all part. That's why the
Speaker 4: trade deadline, being in the middle of the season like
Speaker 4: that is really is really uneasy for everybody because nobody
Speaker 4: wants to have to go through that and be in
Speaker 4: situations like that.
Speaker 2: What's one thing before I say you lose that you
Speaker 2: find interesting about tonight Because it's, like we've talked about,
Speaker 2: it's tough to cover a team that's not trying to
Speaker 2: win and you're reaching for storylines and maybe Isaiah Colliers
Speaker 2: this or that. Before I set you loose, one interesting
Speaker 2: tidbit for tonight's.
Speaker 4: Game, Well, I just got one that's way out in
Speaker 4: left field, Spencer, but he doesn't doesn't make any difference
Speaker 4: about anything. Yeah, talking to coach laying about this the
Speaker 4: other day, first time, I can never remember, and I'm
Speaker 4: pretty sure this would be right that the Jazz are
Speaker 4: playing the teams from LA four games in a row.
Speaker 4: Think about it. They played the Clippers in LA, played
Speaker 4: the Lakers in LA, play the Lakers in Salt Lake,
Speaker 4: play the Clippers tomorrow night. They never used to. Whenever
Speaker 4: you'd go to LA, you never used to play both
Speaker 4: teams on the same trip.
Speaker 3: All They always split it up for whatever reason.
Speaker 4: So you always go there, play the Lakers, go back,
Speaker 4: go to Phoenix, go to Sacramento, go somewhere else. Three
Speaker 4: weeks later, go back to LA to play the Clippers. Whatever.
Speaker 4: Now they've got this thing where, you know, an unusual
Speaker 4: quirk in the schedule where they're playing the LA teams
Speaker 4: four times in a row, which is unusual. That's about
Speaker 4: the best thing I can come up with for any
Speaker 4: interesting storyline about the game tonight, Spence, because otherwise, really,
Speaker 4: let's be honest, it's just game fifty one out of
Speaker 4: eighty two in early February that nobody really cares much about,
Speaker 4: other than maybe Luca Doncic and Lebron James both play.
Speaker 4: Maybe they both.
Speaker 3: They're both playing.
Speaker 2: According to what we've been telling about more Laker fans
Speaker 2: or Jazz fans of the building tonight.
Speaker 4: Well, that's always been a question forever. Anytime in the
Speaker 4: LA has come, there's always a large contingency of Laker
Speaker 4: fans in the Delta Center building. And which is uh?
Speaker 4: Which is always uh uh? We always would have a
Speaker 4: big bone to pick with you know a lot of
Speaker 4: the season ticket holders who would sell their tickets to
Speaker 4: some people they knew were Laker fans and try and
Speaker 4: make a bunch of money off them and stuff, and
Speaker 4: and the Laker fans always show up. They always show
Speaker 4: up in Lake.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, it' Smittiwell, great to see you. As always,
Speaker 2: we'll continue to make NBA basketball interesting even though the Jazz.
Speaker 3: Are tough to cover.
Speaker 4: Hey, hey, that's what we're here for.
Speaker 3: Indeed, enjoy the game. We'll see you, say man.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The great Richard Smith forty years with the Jazz front office.