Speaker 1: Let's welcome in our guy from the Salt Lake Tribune
Speaker 1: to a little jazz and we'll do a little RSL.
Speaker 1: Here's falling down the cheek, Andy Larson on a Thursday. Andy,
Speaker 1: Happy Thursday, buddy, how are we doing?
Speaker 2: I'm good, man, How I'm good? I'm good.
Speaker 1: So we all know what time it is for the jazz.
Speaker 1: We all know the deal, okay, But when cool things happen,
Speaker 1: let's go ahead and lean into cool things when they happen.
Speaker 1: And let's lean into what happened last night with Walker Kessler.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's not just the numbers, it's not
Speaker 1: just the history. I mean, historically speaking, that is a
Speaker 1: very special stat line. It's also Andy that he did
Speaker 1: it against Almo Sabanas, right, like sabonus excuse me, like
Speaker 1: Sabonas has eaten the jazz up and he's a really,
Speaker 1: really good player. And so the jazz lost, which you
Speaker 1: and I have talked about. Let's go on board. But
Speaker 1: when cool things happen, let's talk about the cool thing.
Speaker 1: And what happened with Walker last night was a cool thing.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, And look, I mean I think what's really
Speaker 3: great about Walker as an offensive play, right, now is
Speaker 3: that he's taking advantage of what defense gives him. And
Speaker 3: you know, we've seen there have been a couple of matchups,
Speaker 3: and I think most of teams against the Jazz is
Speaker 3: ye are kind of protecting the paint most of all,
Speaker 3: because most of the Jazz shooters aren't you know, aren't
Speaker 3: efficient ones. But Walker. You know that the Kings protected
Speaker 3: the perimeter and allowed Walker to get dunks and lay
Speaker 3: ups inside. And so yeah, to go to you know,
Speaker 3: it's perfect, one hundred percent, go ten for ten, do
Speaker 3: something that only two guys in an NBA history have done,
Speaker 3: Nikola Jokic and Will Chamberlain before is pretty cool. And look,
Speaker 3: he's you know, he's not Wilt, He's not Jokic, but
Speaker 3: he is a really you know, useful and good player
Speaker 3: that I think is a real building block for this
Speaker 3: Jazz team and maybe one of the only building blocks
Speaker 3: for this Jazz team is like again, they look to
Speaker 3: put together at their next good contending team, you know,
Speaker 3: like I think to have someone who brings the level
Speaker 3: of rim protection that he does and you know, is
Speaker 3: a responsible offensive player at that center spot. You know,
Speaker 3: certainly not wildly talented, but his ads you know, is
Speaker 3: more of an is adding more than he takes away,
Speaker 3: I think is a great thing. So, you know, props
Speaker 3: to Walker for kind of figuring out how to get
Speaker 3: better after that, you know, rough second season and do
Speaker 3: what he's done this year because it's been really good.
Speaker 1: Let's stay in the space and your answer to this
Speaker 1: question might include a portion of how you just answered
Speaker 1: my original question. But if we remove the in a
Speaker 1: vacuum against the Kings and pan back to all year
Speaker 1: long with Walker Kessler, forty five games played, forty five starts,
Speaker 1: and you know, you know the numbers, it's about twelve points,
Speaker 1: it's about twelve boards, it's over two blocks. What growth
Speaker 1: have you seen, specifically, not just against the Kings last night,
Speaker 1: but all year long from Walker. Is it more of
Speaker 1: a approach off the court? Is it adding strength? Is
Speaker 1: it just growing as an NBA player? What do you
Speaker 1: attribute this growth to year three for Walker Kessler?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think mentally, honestly was big for him. I mean,
Speaker 3: there were a lot of people who were really kind
Speaker 3: of down on him mentally even within the organization last year, right,
Speaker 3: Like we just found that whenever something would go wrong
Speaker 3: for Walker, that would compound itself into not only kind
Speaker 3: of the next play, but the next quarter, the next half,
Speaker 3: the next game, and kind of things spiraled a little bit, right,
Speaker 3: And I think the rough team in the USA performance
Speaker 3: led to a bad season, and I give him a
Speaker 3: lot of credit kind of for kind of working on
Speaker 3: that game mentally. And you know where if he has
Speaker 3: the bad first half against the Lakers like he did
Speaker 3: three weeks ago, then he comes back with a really
Speaker 3: good second half and that's been really really different than
Speaker 3: what he did last year. I think the strength is
Speaker 3: kind of the biggest physical and on court thing that
Speaker 3: you can actually see where he just is getting. You know, again,
Speaker 3: where last year loose balls were kind of fifty to fifty, well,
Speaker 3: you know he kind of tip them and honestly lose
Speaker 3: them in a lot of cases, He's ending up using
Speaker 3: his size and strength to really protect that ball and
Speaker 3: to get more of those rebounds. He is the leading
Speaker 3: offensive rebounder in the NBA from an offensive rebounding percentage
Speaker 3: point of view, right like for him to be number
Speaker 3: one in the league in that category on a bad team, uh,
Speaker 3: And you know in a way that where he's tasked
Speaker 3: with a lot from an offensive rebounding responsibility point of view,
Speaker 3: like I think is really really impressive. So, yeah, tremendous
Speaker 3: season from him. I think you can make a legitimate
Speaker 3: case he's been the best jazz player this year. I'm
Speaker 3: not sure that I would totally go that direction, but
Speaker 3: there certainly is that case. And he you know, again,
Speaker 3: I think he's a he's a building block, and you
Speaker 3: have to be impressed with kind of how he rebounded
Speaker 3: from that from that really pretty eppy year or two.
Speaker 1: So I've had a couple of guests on including McMahon
Speaker 1: who's going to join us later, and then I think
Speaker 1: it was Zach Zach Harper this week that have basically
Speaker 1: echoed my sentiment with Once upon a time, it felt
Speaker 1: like there was a lot to like about kJ Martin.
Speaker 1: And look, man, I don't I'm not trying to stretch
Speaker 1: here to make a topic that's not a topic, but
Speaker 1: based off of some of the underwhelming performances slash injuries
Speaker 1: with some of the younger jazz players, it feels like
Speaker 1: kJ Martin is a player that is worth taking a
Speaker 1: long look at to not just keep around at the
Speaker 1: end of the season, but maybe hold on to through
Speaker 1: the next you know, at the end of next year
Speaker 1: because he is under contract, and at times I feel like,
Speaker 1: as I've watched him as he's grown throughout the course
Speaker 1: of his career, there are some things that feel like
Speaker 1: they're real. So he got the start last night, put
Speaker 1: thirty four minutes in at sixteen points five boards for assist,
Speaker 1: knocked out a couple of threes.
Speaker 2: What do you think about this young player?
Speaker 1: And maybe is he somebody that we should talk about,
Speaker 1: that they're talking about as part of the future.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's twenty four, right, so like he
Speaker 3: is in a different kind of age class than the
Speaker 3: rookies and sophomores. And I think you see that in
Speaker 3: kind of the maturity of his game a little bit, right,
Speaker 3: Like he is he chased zach Lavine around screens or
Speaker 3: Demart de rozen around screens yesterday in a way that
Speaker 3: none of the rookies and sophomores are capable of. But
Speaker 3: they're also twenty and twenty one years old compared to
Speaker 3: twenty four, right, and so I'm kind of curious to see,
Speaker 3: like kind of how their body changes. kJ is probably
Speaker 3: the most athletic player jazz player right now. I mean
Speaker 3: it's probably between him and maybe John Collins. But John
Speaker 3: has lost a lot of athleticism, and then I, you know,
Speaker 3: I think that frankly, just like he does play harder
Speaker 3: than I think the rookies and sophomores do right now.
Speaker 3: So I think there's some growth for them in that spot,
Speaker 3: you know, eight million dollars a year, I would be
Speaker 3: I'm interested. You know, you can kind of go either
Speaker 3: way on his contact, right, Like, I think that's not
Speaker 3: a ton I don't think that's like a crazy contact
Speaker 3: for him. The shooting continues to be the actual worry
Speaker 3: of like, hey, can he be a legitimate role player?
Speaker 3: Is he just like connector Right? But if you have
Speaker 3: something else to do with that eight million dollars, if
Speaker 3: you can use it to trade, you know, trade for
Speaker 3: a bad contract and get a first round pick and return,
Speaker 3: I probably go that direction personally. But like, I don't
Speaker 3: think kJ is nothing either, right, Like, I think that
Speaker 3: he can be a role player on a decent team. So,
Speaker 3: you know, I think it's it's a good thing that
Speaker 3: the Jazz have kind of acquired this this really flexible
Speaker 3: contract and can kind of see how he develops over
Speaker 3: the last twenty four games. But yeah, you know, I
Speaker 3: think I do kind of put kJ in kind of
Speaker 3: the just the guy category because he has been moved
Speaker 3: around so much, because the numbers haven't been great, and
Speaker 3: because you know, again it's just hard to play around
Speaker 3: a guy who's struggles with shooting the ball when you
Speaker 3: do get the good players. But again, like I don't
Speaker 3: think like he's overpaid, and I do think like there's
Speaker 3: he can be kind of a connector if you do
Speaker 3: get other goods around it.
Speaker 1: So let's do the latest on your thoughts. We haven't
Speaker 1: done this in a while, but let's just kind of
Speaker 1: talk about, you know, where we find ourselves with the
Speaker 1: young players, the growth, and you know your current assessment
Speaker 1: on what you think they can be as we move forward,
Speaker 1: and whether or not you think they're around when the
Speaker 1: Jazz are serious about winning again, excuse me. And the
Speaker 1: latest player that I'll ask you about is Kyle Philipowski
Speaker 1: who prior to last night, and look, Walker came back
Speaker 1: last night, so he had fourteen minutes, but prior to
Speaker 1: last night was getting some starts, was getting some minutes,
Speaker 1: and he was putting up some real nice numbers. And
Speaker 1: I think his game against the Blazers may have been
Speaker 1: one of if not his best game as a pro.
Speaker 1: So what's your current assessment of where we find ourselves
Speaker 1: with Kyle Philipowski.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's useful. I mean, like his ability to be
Speaker 3: seven foot and play center and can kind of hang
Speaker 3: on the glass. He struggled last night on interior defense
Speaker 3: against Bonus and Yona silent Tunis, which makes sense because
Speaker 3: those guys are just a lot stronger and thicker than
Speaker 3: he is. But he can be on the perimeter and
Speaker 3: do a lot of you know, like we said when
Speaker 3: he was drafted, a lot of Kelly Olyntics stuff, right,
Speaker 3: like where he can hit threes from outside, where he
Speaker 3: can create offense, where he can you can kind of
Speaker 3: use him as an offensive hub up at the top
Speaker 3: of the key and then have a lot of off
Speaker 3: ball stuff going some split action, which Will Hardy loves.
Speaker 3: Like if if there's a trademark of a Will Hardy offense,
Speaker 3: it's kind of the off ball split action stuff. Uh,
Speaker 3: And Kyle can deliver those passes on time and no
Speaker 3: on target and make great reads and I think that's
Speaker 3: a really really useful thing in today's NBA. I mean,
Speaker 3: you see, like what Al Horford does for the Boston
Speaker 3: Celtics offense, Like it is an incredibly useful thing to
Speaker 3: have a big man who can kind of create on
Speaker 3: off ball stuff. I mean, Draymond with the Warriors does
Speaker 3: a lot of that same stuff too, right, Like, you know,
Speaker 3: I think there's kind of the the alar To kind
Speaker 3: of upside with him, and then I think there's also
Speaker 3: a lot of games where he disappears and isn't useful
Speaker 3: and you know, is overmatched a little bit, and so
Speaker 3: like I think there's like some Frank Kaminsky downside where
Speaker 3: like in the end, he's probably you know, right now
Speaker 3: too thin to hang on the defensive end. So we'll
Speaker 3: see what happens with him. But I gotta say, like
Speaker 3: a player that you can like really kind of plug
Speaker 3: in a as a someone you know, has an identifiable
Speaker 3: role on the offensive end, is is really something that
Speaker 3: a lot of the other young jazz players don't have.
Speaker 3: And it kind of leaves me to believe that he's
Speaker 3: going to have a I feel pretty optimistic about him
Speaker 3: having a good NBA career.
Speaker 1: We'll kind of just go down the list here, you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like Keyante wants the sting of going to
Speaker 1: the bench kind of war off and then the pressure
Speaker 1: of having to be an initiator when I don't think
Speaker 1: that's who he is. I think we've seen more good
Speaker 1: than bad defensively. It's just going to be a process,
Speaker 1: and you and I have discussed it. But the numbers
Speaker 1: as of late have been better and the splits of
Speaker 1: bad been a little bit better. Are we seeing Kante
Speaker 1: improve in his new role a little bit?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean I think he's taking advantage of lower
Speaker 3: quality defense that's coming off the bench. I mean you
Speaker 3: look at like kind of what's changing not a ton
Speaker 3: like this. Minis are exactly the same, The points are
Speaker 3: exactly the same, but he's a little bit more efficient
Speaker 3: because he's getting to the line more often. And that
Speaker 3: makes sense, right, Like if you're playing bigger, smarter defenders,
Speaker 3: they aren't going to, you know, go for your foul
Speaker 3: drawing stuff compared to the bench guys, right, And I
Speaker 3: think we've seen that with Kiante. And you know, he's
Speaker 3: he's put up some good performances, he's also put up
Speaker 3: some really bad performances. You know, I still have some
Speaker 3: questions on essentially, like if he's not a point guard,
Speaker 3: then it becomes tough because he is relatively small for
Speaker 3: a two guard. He's not a defender, and he's not
Speaker 3: all that efficient, so like, yeah, you know, like kind
Speaker 3: of he does have to be a sixth man a
Speaker 3: little bit, right, like in kind of the Jordan Clarkson
Speaker 3: mold from his Like, Jordan is a better defender than
Speaker 3: Kante right now, and so you hope that Kante can
Speaker 3: develop at least to become a Jordan Clarkson defender, which
Speaker 3: is not a good one, but a passable one. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, I think he shows against a lot of
Speaker 3: kind of the same Jordan Clarkson like can catch on
Speaker 3: fire on stuff, and obviously at certain point, points are
Speaker 3: the name of the game, and that's that's great. He's
Speaker 3: got to tune the efficiency to be up four or
Speaker 3: five percent across the board and then all of a
Speaker 3: sudden he becomes a really viable player as is. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know it it's just is going to need improvement
Speaker 3: because it does get you know, it's so up and
Speaker 3: down some night tonight.
Speaker 1: Can he become a Jordan Clarkson level defender as a sentence,
Speaker 1: I never thought i'd hear anybody say Andy.
Speaker 3: Jordan's a little underrated defensively, Like I think he is
Speaker 3: a three out of ten defender, where people think he's
Speaker 3: a one out of ten defender. Maybe even I would
Speaker 3: even put Jordan Clarkson a four out of ten defender. Well, yeah,
Speaker 3: I know, high praise, but yeah, I mean Kanty is
Speaker 3: a one out of ten defender. Yeah, yeah, right, I
Speaker 3: think it's moving to the bench. Maybe he's been a
Speaker 3: two out of ten. It does need to jump a
Speaker 3: couple levels.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: I haven't asked you about Bryce Sensiba in a while,
Speaker 1: and he went he had a rough stretch there. I
Speaker 1: think I saw on the broadcast at one point he
Speaker 1: was like two of his last twenty five from three
Speaker 1: or something. And I don't know, like I've always thought
Speaker 1: maybe when it's fully baked, he could have like this
Speaker 1: little Dennis Scott role in the league. And there are
Speaker 1: some nights where he's knocking down shots and he looks good.
Speaker 1: Another night's where he just looks completely lost. And you're
Speaker 1: expecting that from a player, certainly who is young at
Speaker 1: twenty one years old. But what's the latest Andy Larson
Speaker 1: take on the progress or lack thereof Bryce Sensiba.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's got a thinner and stronger body
Speaker 3: than he used to, which means he doesn't look as
Speaker 3: high as he did in his rookie season, which is
Speaker 3: a good thing. He's still not making impact on the
Speaker 3: defensive end. He's a better passer and rebounder probably than
Speaker 3: he gets credit for. And and then again, like it
Speaker 3: does for so many NBA players, especially role players, especially
Speaker 3: you know, twos and threes, it's about whether or not
Speaker 3: he can shoot. And if he shoots, if he makes
Speaker 3: thirty eight percent of his threes, he's a useful player,
Speaker 3: and if he makes thirty two percent of his threes,
Speaker 3: he's not. And I mean that's where we are in
Speaker 3: the NBA. When fifty percent of the shots are threes
Speaker 3: and so much of your job is providing spacing for
Speaker 3: the stars, it's hard for me to imagine like him,
Speaker 3: uh finding a role if he's not able to kind
Speaker 3: of consistently keep those shooting percentages high. That being said,
Speaker 3: like I kind of believe in his shot more than
Speaker 3: any of the other young players like it. He showed
Speaker 3: an ability to shoot in college. He shows an ability
Speaker 3: to shoot and practice and warm up at a really
Speaker 3: high level. I kind of believe in him as a
Speaker 3: thirty eight percent shooter, and so then like, okay, then
Speaker 3: all of a sudden makes sense as a eighth ninth
Speaker 3: pence guy off the bench who can can kind of
Speaker 3: hang around, but you know it actually has to be
Speaker 3: that kick away in the NBA games, and him avoiding
Speaker 3: those shooting pumps as long as possible is huge for
Speaker 3: his career.
Speaker 2: I go back and forth with Isaiah Callier.
Speaker 1: I do think there's a lot to like, and more
Speaker 1: than anything else, I just didn't expect him to grab
Speaker 1: the starting job and get minutes.
Speaker 2: So it's been I'll call it a pleasant surprise.
Speaker 1: It's the same stuff though, that you and I have
Speaker 1: talked about for for all the assist numbers there are,
Speaker 1: and he was clean last night, no turnovers last night.
Speaker 1: But if we expand back, there are three or four
Speaker 1: possessions every game. I'm like, what exactly did you see
Speaker 1: there when you decided to make that pass?
Speaker 2: And then it's the shooting stuff. It's nothing new.
Speaker 1: I mean, you cannot be a lead guard or a
Speaker 1: guard period, a wing period, or maybe even a player
Speaker 1: period in the modern day and age NBA if you're
Speaker 1: gonna be a twenty five percent three point shooter. But
Speaker 1: your latest take on the progress of Isaiah and how
Speaker 1: he's responded to getting the nod as the starting lead guard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I'll give him this that he has
Speaker 3: made this season much more watchable than it was when
Speaker 3: he wasn't playing right. Sure, Yes, to have a jazz
Speaker 3: player who is not looking for his own shop but
Speaker 3: looking up to set up other others, who is looking
Speaker 3: to push the pace, who is looking to and is
Speaker 3: capable of making kind of highlight reel passes and setting
Speaker 3: up it's just so much better to watch than it
Speaker 3: was earlier in the season. So you know, infinite props
Speaker 3: and will always remember as a collier for at least that. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then you know it becomes okay if teams actually
Speaker 3: do start to scout the jazz, are they going to
Speaker 3: hang ten feet off of Isaiah? And I think at
Speaker 3: this point they would, And then you know, so next year,
Speaker 3: can he become a thirty to thirty two three point
Speaker 3: hooterrather than just a twenty five percent one? You mentioned
Speaker 3: the turnovers, Like, the turnovers have to improve. I honestly
Speaker 3: think like over the last month, month and a half,
Speaker 3: the turnovers have been largely fine. So that's been really
Speaker 3: impressive to see as a again as a Sturning point guard.
Speaker 3: You know, I believe in him to be a setup
Speaker 3: man in the NBA, as you know as that it's
Speaker 3: just like, yeah, you know, if you want to play
Speaker 3: in the playoffs, then you have to be able to shoot,
Speaker 3: and uh, well, we'll see how that goes. But I
Speaker 3: think there's a lot of other stuff to like. I
Speaker 3: think you have to like kind of his demeanor about
Speaker 3: how he's attacked this rookie year, despite being the number
Speaker 3: one overall recruit, to be as kind of selfless as
Speaker 3: he has been is really impressive. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: good stuff there, and so I'm kind of inclined to
Speaker 3: give him the benefit of doubt, the doubt on the shooting,
Speaker 3: or at least give him the chance to see what
Speaker 3: he can do, because the other stuff in his game
Speaker 3: has been really good.
Speaker 1: I will ask you about Taylor, but only what you're
Speaker 1: hearing Taylor Hendrix about the recovery and how he's attackeded.
Speaker 1: It's impossible to analyze his game because he hasn't played
Speaker 1: in forever and he's heard. But what are you hearing
Speaker 1: about the progress off the floor the Taylor Hendrix is
Speaker 1: making in his recovery.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Talk to Justin Zanak actually about him today at jazz practice.
Speaker 3: Sounds like he is really attacking the weight room and
Speaker 3: growing his body in a significant way. So I believe
Speaker 3: before the season or maybe lasting and I think he
Speaker 3: was at tuner seventeen pounds and then I heard today
Speaker 3: that he was at two forty five or thereabouts. So
Speaker 3: you know, that's a significant game. And you know, I
Speaker 3: think maybe some of that's because he hasn't playing, but
Speaker 3: from what I hear, it's because he's changed his body
Speaker 3: and become much more muscular. I mean, I think we
Speaker 3: saw that even in the first three games he had
Speaker 3: gained I think he said seventeen pounds and so now
Speaker 3: we're up to twenty seven twenty eight or so. Like
Speaker 3: that's that's a that's a big jump. And I think
Speaker 3: that kind of weight game, that strength is is really
Speaker 3: good for him. But yeah, you know, then the rest
Speaker 3: of the game is a question mark, right, Like so
Speaker 3: I think I feel pretty good about him being a
Speaker 3: good NBA to you know, like from what I saw
Speaker 3: early in the season, Like, I feel good about him
Speaker 3: being a for using that one to ten scale of
Speaker 3: seven or eight out of ten, NBA defender, and maybe
Speaker 3: he can get even better than that. The offense has
Speaker 3: to come along, right, Like, he's either got to be
Speaker 3: able to shoot the ball really well at that point
Speaker 3: or do a little bit more off the dribble to
Speaker 3: take advantage of closeouts and things like that. So we'll
Speaker 3: see how that happens. You know, he hasn't been able
Speaker 3: to practice any of that. He just barely got out
Speaker 3: of a walking boot. But yeah, well we'll see. You know,
Speaker 3: he's probably not going to play in summer League. It's
Speaker 3: going to be a waiting process. And then obviously I
Speaker 3: think there's going to be kind of a recovery, you know,
Speaker 3: knocking out the RUSS process at the beginning of next year,
Speaker 3: of year three. It does remind me a little bit
Speaker 3: of the Dantex and situation a decade ago.
Speaker 1: So just out of respect, I will ask you about
Speaker 1: jus Ay and Sviee. They do not have any guaranteed
Speaker 1: money there so technically their contracts do go through next
Speaker 1: year and even beyond that, but no guaranteed money. Do
Speaker 1: you think either of those two are for more than
Speaker 1: another year or even if.
Speaker 3: That, I mean, I don't see any reason why you
Speaker 3: would necessarily keep them. I mean Johnny, I think you
Speaker 3: would probably, I don't know. Johnny's younger, and you may
Speaker 3: keep oversee as a just again, maybe you can convince
Speaker 3: some team of his upside vs. An okay role player.
Speaker 3: But like it's getting dmpcds on this team when they
Speaker 3: have four regular starters out, Like I my personal preference
Speaker 3: would be probably to rotate through other end of the
Speaker 3: bench NBA guys and see if you can get someone
Speaker 3: who pops more than those two guys have.
Speaker 1: All Right, final one, I'll ask you about Cody. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: he's twenty, so I don't know that it's fairer just
Speaker 1: to completely dismiss but man, Andy like just waiting for
Speaker 1: something for these fans to latch onto, to indicate that
Speaker 1: a pick that you made in the top ten might
Speaker 1: pay dividends at some point. Like I said, I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to be overly critical. I'm not trying to say
Speaker 1: he's never going to evolve in any thing because he's
Speaker 1: a kid. But at this point, is there anything that
Speaker 1: has excited you about the play of Cody Williams this year?
Speaker 3: He had two good games after the All Star break
Speaker 3: where and again good in an extremely low expectation zone,
Speaker 3: but where he attacked the basket a little bit more
Speaker 3: and then was good defensively where he stayed in front
Speaker 3: defensively and forced his player, his matchup to pass the ball.
Speaker 3: And you know, he's so far away from a body
Speaker 3: point of view, he's so far away from a skill
Speaker 3: level point of view, right Like he is shooting twelve
Speaker 3: percent from ten feet to the three point line this year.
Speaker 3: Twelve percent. To make twelve percent of your shots as
Speaker 3: an NBA player in any zone is insane, right Like,
Speaker 3: it's it's been really bad. I think he the lack
Speaker 3: of kind of star flashes, I think is really concerning,
Speaker 3: right Like, he just has not shown even kind of
Speaker 3: the high end of things. And so to me right now,
Speaker 3: like my kind of hope is okay, if you developed
Speaker 3: from a body point of view, then it all of
Speaker 3: a sudden kind of makes sense where you can descend
Speaker 3: and maybe you developed the shot as well, and you
Speaker 3: can be a kind of a three and D guy,
Speaker 3: kind of a connector guy. I think he is a
Speaker 3: smart player. I think he makes the right read most
Speaker 3: of the time. I think he's in the right place
Speaker 3: on defense. Well at the time he just doesn't do
Speaker 3: anything with it. And I think a lot of that
Speaker 3: might be the body, but I think that a lot
Speaker 3: of that might be who he is as a player
Speaker 3: a little bit. And so yeah, I'm certainly definitely worried
Speaker 3: about Cody. You know, you don't want to write him
Speaker 3: off after you're one. He is still young again, he's
Speaker 3: so skinny. But you know, if you had the tenth
Speaker 3: pick back at this point, you probably would like to
Speaker 3: make a different selection.
Speaker 1: All right, before we get to RSL, and we do
Speaker 1: need to get your thoughts on the lads.
Speaker 2: It has not been great.
Speaker 1: I have your Twitter pulled up and there is a
Speaker 1: report from Mike Florio Pro Football Talk, the Jordan Schultz
Speaker 1: of Fox Sports verbally acosta Ian Rapaport of the NFL
Speaker 1: media at Indianapolis, ironically and off out of Starbucks, and
Speaker 1: Jordan's dad owned Starbucks, at least he used to. And
Speaker 1: you say, you quote, you say, I've been witnessed to
Speaker 1: a few reporter on reporter yelling matches during my career,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you what, every single one of them
Speaker 1: has been extremely funny. Because of that tweet, I've been
Speaker 1: like scratching my brain a little bit to try to
Speaker 1: figure out what you're talking about and if any of
Speaker 1: that has happened locally. Do you have any good stories
Speaker 1: that you can share on air about any of this stuff?
Speaker 3: Some of them have happened locally, I am going to
Speaker 3: you can guess certainly the members involved in some of
Speaker 3: the local ones. I will send you even video of
Speaker 3: one of them.
Speaker 2: Oh hell yah, And.
Speaker 3: I will decline comment further for a public audi What.
Speaker 1: Did did any of these happen like out in public
Speaker 1: or was this like in the media media room type thing?
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think. I don't think I've seen any screaming, yeah,
Speaker 3: yelling or well, no, that one happened on a street, yeah,
Speaker 3: walking from the Delta Center back to the Tribune office.
Speaker 3: That that's the greatest detail I'll give again, and I'm
Speaker 3: happy to send you a video of of more.
Speaker 2: Do any of them involve Gordon? No?
Speaker 3: Actually I don't.
Speaker 1: I can't.
Speaker 3: I you know, Gordon got a disagreement with our guy
Speaker 3: Eric Walden once, but I wouldn't even call it a
Speaker 3: verbal altercation of yelling or you know, it was a
Speaker 3: Back in the day, Eric Walden used to be Gordon's
Speaker 3: editor at the Trips and they got into a disagreement
Speaker 3: over a column. But even that wasn't a yelling match.
Speaker 3: That was you know, of of reporter disagreements that I'm
Speaker 3: tweeting about, that's certainly one of them. That was. That
Speaker 3: was the point, pretty tame.
Speaker 2: Do any of them involve me?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: Okay, good, I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't think have you? Have you yelled at another
Speaker 3: reporter before?
Speaker 1: That's none your business, Andy, Do any of them involve you?
Speaker 3: I'll say this, I don't think I've ever yelled at
Speaker 3: another reporter before, but I have gotten into a disagreement
Speaker 3: at one point. So I slammed my beverage down in
Speaker 3: the jazz press room and it kind of it was
Speaker 3: it was, it was, it's kind of spilled over the top,
Speaker 3: you know, and then got all over Tony and so
Speaker 3: I feel bad about that.
Speaker 1: Is there one member of the local media you would
Speaker 1: like to verbally accost Ooh, that's a good question.
Speaker 2: You know the answers, Yes, I know the answers. Yes,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: Right now, Sunshining, I'm such, I'm in a great place mentally, Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm great right now.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, let's ruin your great place mentally and talk
Speaker 1: about our local soccer club look man like.
Speaker 2: It's it's a very fair point to make that.
Speaker 1: And I've seen some people make this point, like they
Speaker 1: raised season ticket prices this year, and they sold off
Speaker 1: half their team, and they got rid of half their team,
Speaker 1: and they got rid of most of their great attacking players.
Speaker 1: And Elias or Leis Manuel whatever however you pronounce his name,
Speaker 1: maybe he was going to be the guy to step
Speaker 1: in and make a little bit of a difference trade
Speaker 1: compared him to like a young Anderson Julio.
Speaker 2: That's not going to move the needle.
Speaker 1: So it's very fair at this point to look over
Speaker 1: and say, what are you doing? We got one goal
Speaker 1: through three games and they lose to Aradiano and CONCACAFF
Speaker 1: champions round one after making the tournament for the first
Speaker 1: time elect a decade. And look, it is a really
Speaker 1: fun tournament if you could advance. I remember that team
Speaker 1: in twenty ten nearly winning.
Speaker 2: The whole thing.
Speaker 1: So I'll just ask you for your take the Andy
Speaker 1: Larson take three games in two CONCACAFF one mls on
Speaker 1: where we stand with RSL and what you think needs
Speaker 1: to happen next.
Speaker 3: I don't get how you acquire a life Panol and
Speaker 3: don't ask him if he wants to play for urself? Yeah,
Speaker 3: like Gustin, that's bad then, right, Like if you're not
Speaker 3: asking that guy, you know a if before you make
Speaker 3: that trade, that if he's willing to play for ourself,
Speaker 3: Like what do you know? Again, that's just a step
Speaker 3: you have to check off the list, right, Like you
Speaker 3: got to talk to his agent man, and maybe they did.
Speaker 3: I don't know what exactly happened there, but from what
Speaker 3: has been said publicly and frankly privately, like it sounds
Speaker 3: like he, you know, wanted to play in New York,
Speaker 3: but didn't want to play in celt Lake, which I
Speaker 3: understand as a young Brazilian human being. But like you
Speaker 3: got to find that out first before you trade assets
Speaker 3: for him. Come on now and then look, the bigger
Speaker 3: issue is you sold Gomez for eleven million dollars, You
Speaker 3: sold Cadel for a Haas for four million dollars. You
Speaker 3: sold Chicho for one point five and gam which is
Speaker 3: worth more than that in cash in kind of the
Speaker 3: MLS trade world. Uh, and you've bought a three million
Speaker 3: dollar player and a one point five million dollar player
Speaker 3: in return right, and and you have just so far
Speaker 3: pocketed that twelve million dollars. At the same time the
Speaker 3: rest of MLS is spending eight figures, you know, over
Speaker 3: ten million dollars on the likes of Wilfrid Zaha and
Speaker 3: Latte laugh and Marco Royce and obviously Lionel Messi, and like,
Speaker 3: it's just you can't compete in this league if you're
Speaker 3: not going to spend money. And I was really supportive
Speaker 3: of the Gomez and Chico and Baja sales because I
Speaker 3: figured you would use that money to improve the club.
Speaker 3: And in the end they haven't. So far they have
Speaker 3: pocketed it. And even their outgoing kind of pr on
Speaker 3: this has been, Hey, we would like to sign a
Speaker 3: striker if it is cheap. What they told Tom Bogert yesterday,
Speaker 3: Hey we want Duncan McGuire, Brian White or Olio fam
Speaker 3: Like those guys are like four million dollar strikers. Pony
Speaker 3: up and pay for a ten million dollar striker already, right, Like,
Speaker 3: in the end, if you want to compete in current MLF,
Speaker 3: you can't be cheap. If you want to be at
Speaker 3: the bottom of here of MLS, if you want to
Speaker 3: just sneek into the playoffs every year. Cool. If you
Speaker 3: want to lose in the first round of Conker Cash
Speaker 3: Champions Cup every year, then by all means, spend nothing
Speaker 3: on your team. But in the meantime, you're letting a
Speaker 3: lot of fans down, and then to then go around
Speaker 3: and ask those fans to pay for higher season ticket
Speaker 3: prices than eighteen dollars years like, it just is pretty
Speaker 3: bad management. It's not cool, and I think it's fair
Speaker 3: for them to get an a ton of criticism. So look,
Speaker 3: the RSL season ticket member found town Hall is tonight.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to be there. I know a lot
Speaker 3: of angry season ticket fans are, and I hope that
Speaker 3: ownership is going to be there as well. And I
Speaker 3: hope they hear those complaints from fans because, frank quite frankly, like,
Speaker 3: what they've done to the club over the last nine
Speaker 3: months isn't right, isn't fair, isn't good. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I you know, typically I'll try to provide context and
Speaker 1: push back, but I'm not sure that I can in
Speaker 1: this scenario.
Speaker 2: You know, you kind of just alluded to the fan base.
Speaker 1: I wonder before I say you loose, I will ask
Speaker 1: you this, because you have a pulse on these fans
Speaker 1: in a way that I don't is the goodwill of
Speaker 1: you know, the early returns of this ownership group willing
Speaker 1: to invest and spend money and all that is. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like it's starting to wear off? And now
Speaker 1: there's more questions about this club than there was, you know,
Speaker 1: prior to.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I don't know that it's more questions about
Speaker 3: them than prior to right, like Deloyte sucks. I do
Speaker 3: think that the you know, the fans are cognizant of
Speaker 3: what's going on. And you know, I don't want to
Speaker 3: use the word fickle, but I want to use the
Speaker 3: word like attentive. And while the team had investment and
Speaker 3: while the team was playing well, yes, the fans are
Speaker 3: going to be on board. And when the team is
Speaker 3: being thought of as a third priority in an ownership group,
Speaker 3: or while the team is not being invested in, and
Speaker 3: while the team is at the very bottom of MLS standings,
Speaker 3: and when they lose to a Costa Rican team, then yeah,
Speaker 3: the fans are going to be a set about it.
Speaker 3: Like you know, I think sometimes sports managers see this
Speaker 3: fans as like these completely unfair people who don't understand
Speaker 3: the realities of the business. But like, I disagree with that.
Speaker 3: I think Salt Lake fans and Utah fans in general
Speaker 3: are actually pretty smart about what they're seeing on with
Speaker 3: their sports teams and on RFL field especially, and uh,
Speaker 3: it just has not been anywhere close stup to stuff
Speaker 3: so far. So you know, I certainly hope that changes.
Speaker 3: And again I'm I'm someone who has supported their moves
Speaker 3: in the past with the understanding that the investment would
Speaker 3: continue to be there, given that it hasn't been that
Speaker 3: that has been you know, been my my understanding and
Speaker 3: my support of them is dependent on them continuing to
Speaker 3: make good decisions.
Speaker 1: Will you be there Saturday? Will you be on your feet,
Speaker 1: and will you shout it out on Saturday?
Speaker 3: I absolutely will, right like, And and yeah, I'm in like,
Speaker 3: I'm not going to do a uh, you know, boycott
Speaker 3: or anything like that. This club means a lot to
Speaker 3: me and I get a lot of enjoyment out of
Speaker 3: these games still. And you know, look, if it's if
Speaker 3: that's all RSL wants from me is my money, I'm
Speaker 3: going to continue to give them my money if they
Speaker 3: want my support. And you know, I think I think
Speaker 3: for a lot of fans in this way then uh,
Speaker 3: and you know, and they're in my positivity, then it's
Speaker 3: going to have to be better in terms of results,
Speaker 3: in terms of what we see in the transfer market.
Speaker 1: That's how to argue with that. Man, it's been a
Speaker 1: rough start, right Andy, Thanks for the time, brother. I
Speaker 1: have a good weekend all right, And man, thanks Andy Larson,
Speaker 1: salt Lake Reviewing