Speaker 1: What is up, fellas that goes, I am dan fa
Valley coming at you with the final twenty twenty four
twenty five NBA season look Ahead. We did it. We're
on to the Utah Jazz, which means I get to
talk to the homie, Tony Jones from the Athletic. He
covers the Jazz, the Nuggets and the Sixers. We get
into all things jazz. Follow him on the Twitter machine
at t Jones on the NBA spelled exactly as it sounds.
You can find a link to his Twitter handle as
well as where you can support his work on the Athletic.
In the podcast YouTube description, well, you should also do
bounce around. Check out all the content we put out
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We predicted wins for every single team that was the
over Under pod. We did our Awards pod went live,
and we have all thirty look Aheads live. We did
it thirty teams, thirty teams. Shout out to Grant and
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Can you beat us even that? I mean I was
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beat Grant though? That's the real question. That's about it
for me. So let's get to talking a bunch of
Utah jazz stuff with the One, the Only, mister Tony Jones. Tony,
welcome back. Thank you so much for coming back year four,
for you doing the Utah Jazz look ahead with me.
It's e've been back quite a bit. How are you doing.
Speaker 2: I don't even feel like it is year four. I
feel like we're in like year ten because our chemistry
is just like I know exactly where you like the
ball in your shooting in your shooting pocket.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's your first mistake is thinking that I could shoot.
So I won't be catching anything in a shooting pocket.
I'll be I'll be deferring right back to somebody else.
I thought you might say it feels like ten years
because you're always in my mention starting shit just randomly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know you gotta do that, man. You know,
Twitter gotta be fun, even though it's like decidedly made
not fun anymore.
Speaker 1: Yes, I would concurse. I'm going to continue to ask
you about random trade rumors that don't exist when you're
tweeting about nothing related to them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: The Jazz though, fascinating team. And this is the second
year in a row. Because I look back at the
outline I put together for you last year, where I said,
what can we take away from the previous year given
what happened and how much turnover there was? And so
my question to you to kind of open things up
is just seeing the past two years, what if is
there like any overarching takeaways that you can still apply
to like what you're expecting from this team, whether how
it's run or the principles that are happening on the court.
Has there been so much change that you can only
apply very little from each season. I just find that
very fascinating because of how different this team has looked
on an annual basis so far.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the I think the overarching thing is
that you know, they're still really early in the rebuilt,
and I think if you, if you gave truth serum
the Danny Ainge in the front office, they probably like
to be a little bit further in the rebuilt right now.
I think that they thought that they could do it
a little bit on the fly, and they realized probably
somewhere around a year ago that they probably weren't going
to be able to do that. So, you know, I
think their focus has shifted to the building through the draft. Now.
The good news is, I think they've drafted really well. Like,
you know, they got Kyante George and Taylor Hendrix out
of last year's draft. They obviously traded for Walker Kessler.
I mean, these are all legit NBA players, you know.
I think that Cody Williams is you know, might be
one of the best players in this draft class. You know.
So I think that they drafted really well. But you know,
the obvious elephant in the room right now is that
they haven't gotten the star and they haven't gotten you know,
the guy that you know that's pretty obviously the one,
And you know, I think maybe Cody Williams develops into that.
Speaker 1: Oh I love I love hearing that.
Speaker 2: I think may listen. I'm I'm so bullish on him
because I don't think there's anything that he can't do
on a basketball court. But I worry about him. I
worry about you know, him mentally, not mentally as in
terms of mentally mentally in terms of I don't know
that he knows how good he is. And you know,
so I think if I think the Jazz want to
be in the top five of the twenty twenty five
NBA drafts so they can get one of Cooper Flag
or Ace Bailey or Nolan Trei or Dylan Harper or VJ.
Edgecombe And you know, so to me, that sets up
a fascinating season because I definitely don't think this roster
is worse five bottom five in the NBA BAT, and
I think that the Jazz will want to be The
Jazz front office would love to be bottom five in
the NBA BAT. And I think that that's gonna set
up to me a really fascinating season to see kind of,
you know, where it goes, what wins out, and you know,
I know that, you know, justin Zannik do you talk
Jazz general managers has said, listen, this is going to
be a real youth movement this year and the problem is,
well not the problem, but you know, when I watched
this team in the preseason, you know, the youth on
this team is good. So you know, it will be
interesting to see exactly, you know, where this season goes.
But you know, I think that a successful season would
be if you know, on the night of June whatever,
twenty twenty five, the Jazz are picking want of making
one of the first five selections in that draft.
Speaker 1: So is there a chance that Will Hardy is on
the hot seat because he's winning too many games?
Speaker 2: No, God, No, he's The Jazz are very happy with him.
They they they they love the job that he's doing.
I think he's one of the best young coaches in
the league. I think he's a terrific, terrific young coach.
And he's one of the reasons why, you know, the
Jazz haven't been able to tank so far, because you know,
the coach is too good. So you know, he's he's
somebody that you know, I can see leading the team
to a championship at some point. And you know, they
just you know, they they just picked up his, uh,
his option for next year, and I expect I expect
extension talks to get started next summer or towards the
end of the next off season.
Speaker 1: Is there anything, my serious question, Is there just anything?
And if you had to single out one, two things
whatever you want to single out about the job he's
done over these past couple of years that stylistically philosophically
that he's getting so much out of teams that I mean,
no one had the Jazz being over five hundred past
the midway point in each of the past two seasons,
and that's what they did. So there's something that stands
out in particular about the job he has done during
this time.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, there's a couple of things, like
his players really love him, and you know, they play hard.
He gets his teams to play hard, and he gets
you know, the most out of its teams. Now, I
think there's a question of what happens when he gets
a roster that's that you know, is expected to win,
and what happens if he gets a roster full of veterans.
But you know, he's he's dealt with the veterans just
as well as he's dealt with the young guys. Like
if you ask Jordan Clarkson about Will Hardy, Jordan Clarkson,
you know, absolutely loves him. Larry Markinen absolutely loves him,
you know, So you know, the veterans relate to Will
as as much as the young guys do, probably considering
they're almost the same age. And you know, he's you know,
he gets you know, the best out of guys. You know,
like I think, I think Colin Sexton has come so
far under Will Hardy and oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that man belongs on a good team. Colin Sexton
is It's official. I think he was underrated when he
left Cleveland, but he's like Capslock underrated now, but.
Speaker 2: He's he's so much of a better player and a
more in control player now he was when he was
in Cleveland. And and that's because you know, he's listened
to Will and and he's allowed to Colin. To Colin's credit,
he's allowed to coach him, and he's allowed to coach
him hard and you know the two don't always agree,
but I mean it's been a really really good partnership.
And you know, Will's made some real strides, allowed Colin
to make real strides in his game, and Colin's work
ethic has really taken over. So you know, I think
that if you look at you know, Sexton, and you
look at how how much marketing has progressed under Will,
how much you know, Will's one of the reasons. And
marketing was like I'm signing on August seventh, so you
cannot trade me this entire season. You know, Will hard
is one of the reasons why, you know, Marking and
wanted to stay with the Jazz so badly. So, you know,
he's done a number of things culture wise, He's done
a number of things in the locker room, a number
of things you know on the floor, you know X's
and O's wise. That's really you know, kind of made
the Jazz too good.
Speaker 1: I've been asking everyone this, but from what you kind
of said at the top, it makes you think that
the answer could be sort of a default. Is the
biggest storyline you're tracking for this team? Like how does
it get to the bottom five spot that it wants
when you look at the coach that they have and
then even some of just the talent that I would
say is outsized relative to those like having Marketing and
Clarkston and Sexton and even someone like Kessler and potentially
if Taylor Hendrix gets even better from last year, or
is there something else that's like kind of the biggest
storyline you'll be looking at.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's a great question, and I mean the
obvious answer is yes, right, Like I think that that's fascinating,
you know, because and that's tell you why I watched
the Jazz on Tuesday night against the Sacramento Kings, and
both of those teams play a regular NBA game. They played,
you know, their regular rotation all forty eight minutes. Both
of the they both played hard. You know, they weren't.
It wasn't like Denver last night on Thursday night. I'm
sure you watched the game, but you know, we love
Nicola Yokis, but he was doing cardio out there. He
was just on a treadmill out there. And it wasn't that.
Between the Jazz and the Kings on Tuesday, that was
a real NBA game. And you know that forty eight
minutes that I was watching the Jazz, the only thought
I had was, oh my god, this team can win
thirty eight games. That was literally the only you know,
I mean, I tweeted it. I'm sure you saw the tweet,
but I like, I tweeted it, and I was just like, Yeah,
this team can win thirty five to thirty eight games
as is, and you know that's probably twelve to fifteen
games too many, right, So you know, I think one
of the things that you know you could count on
is that this version of the Western Conference that we're
about to walk into this year is really deep and
really good. So somebody has to lose games, and you know,
paper dictates that it's probably the Jazz and the Portland Trailblazers.
But man, you know, when you have marketing and you
have Sexton and you have Kiante George, I think Kanty
George looks a lot better, and you have Taylor Hendrix
at the four and Walker Kesseler at the five, Like
there's a lot of size and there's a lot of length,
and you know, there's you know, dynamic ball handling in
in Colin Sexton and there's just there's just a lot
to work with there. And the Jahs are gonna lose games,
you know, because they're not on paper as good on paper,
it's about probably around at least ten to eleven other
teams in the Western Conference. But you know the fact
that they play hard from that to night, the fact
that they're not going to be a pushover, it leads
me to believe, you know, how does this team get
to twenty five wins? You know, it's like, so, you know,
if I'm dubbing the Utah Jazz this season, how do
you hustle in reverse? Right? Like? How do you how
do you take a team that's probably too talented for
twenty five wins and get it to twenty five wins,
and I think that that's probably a fascinating thing to watch.
Speaker 1: It seems like if they end up being i'm not
even better than expected, but on pace for too many
wins or like I think the biggest mistake some teams make,
or maybe it's not a mistake, but they're they're hesitant
to do something substantial earlier in the season, whether it's
beginning kind of the minutes, management for veterans or making trades.
Does this do you think this front office is committed
to the point that, Okay, I like the Jazz come
out like absolutely on fire again or something that they'll
start making some decisions we would normally see in December, January,
February before then.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that'll be interesting to see because you know, this
front office typically doesn't make decisions, drastic roster decisions until February.
You know, there are some exceptions. In twenty nineteen, there
was the Jordan Clarkson trade for Dante Exam and that
changed the Jazz quite a bit. Also in twenty nineteen,
they cut Jeff Green pretty much in the middle of
a road trip, so you know that was that was
an exception. But you know, on a norm, mostly on
the norm, you know, they take the first few months
and then they assess and then they kind of go
from there. You know, in you know, the last two
the last two seasons, you know, they kind of pulled
the plug around the All Star break and you know
that was it. March was you know, just kind of, hey,
we're just going to lose as much as possible, and
you know so, But I mean the thing that stands
out to me is that, you know, even deep into
their roster, I mean, there are a lot of guys
that this team wants to develop, and I think that
that's atypical from where we were last year, in the
in the year before. Right. So let's say you're sitting
your regulars, right and you know, even at the end
of the roster, you know, you want to develop Kyle Philipowski,
or you want to develop or you want to see,
you know, how Bright Sensible, you know, handles thirty five minutes,
or you want to see how Cody Williams handled thirty
five minutes. I think one of the things that will
help the jazz hustle and reverse is you know, you
play Cody Williams a lot of minutes even with the
regular rotation. You know, you play Isaiah Collier a lot
of minutes. And I think Isaiah Callier right now if
the season started today, and it won't start today, but
it will start in ninety six hours that or one
hundred and twenty hours that you know, he would be
the primary backup point guard. So you know it will
be It's gonna be really interesting to see, you know,
how the Jazz mesh their veterans versus how they bring
along and develop their young guys. You know, how many
minutes is Jordan Clarkson play from night to night? How
many minutes does John Collins play from from night to
night even though he's probably not gonna start to at
least to begin the season. You know, So how does
all of that stuff work?
Speaker 1: What the hell happened with Walker Kessler last year and
even to the point that he's being bandied about in
trade rumors? Was it he was injured? Wasn't fitting with
John Collins? We saw some of his efficiency on the
interior go down. Is there something else at play? Is
he like running a social security scam? Among the sixty
five and over community that we don't know about, because
it felt like this guy went from revelation to expendable
to this team very quickly quickly.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think he was expendable, because I think
if he was expendable, the Jazz we already traded him.
Speaker 1: That's a fair point.
Speaker 2: I know for a fact that they've turned down multiple
trade offers for him, multiple good trade offers for multiple teams, because,
like you just mentioned, if Walker Kessler goes from here
to here, you know, there there teams that need There
were teams that needed summer centers this summer, some obvious
teams that we're gonna check in on Walker, and there
were some obvious teams that did. And there were some
obvious teams that put offers on the table and the
Jazz said no to all of them, and you know
they were they were good offers too. So this is
a really big season for Walker. But to go back
to what happened last year, I think that there was
a sense among the Jazz that Walker didn't have the
greatest all season ever, so that really that that contributed
to it. And then he got hurt on Opening night,
and that contributed to it, and he came back, and
by the time he came back, John Walker had kind
of locked down the center spot, so that contributed to it.
And then by the time that happened, you know, Walker
kind of got into his own head and got really frustrated,
so that contributed to it. There was just like a
just kind of a snowball effect of issues that you know,
just kind of really contributed to it, to to what
happened with Walker. And you know, and I think that
there's there was some culpability on both sides. I thought
there was some culpability with the Jazz, and I thought
that there was some culpability with Walker Kestler himself. So
the good thing is that Walker's camp and the Jazz,
you know, they had a kind of come to Jesus meeting,
uh in the off season, and you know, Walker had
a really good off season and you know, he got bigger,
he got stronger. You know, he blocked four or five
shots against the Kings. You know. So the things that
I want to see from Walker, you know, just covering
him right right, I want to see him screen better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you connected on those things a little more often, Huh.
Speaker 2: He's you know, people talk about Rudy Gobert and they say, oh, well,
what what makes Rudy different than some of these other people?
What makes Rudy different from Walker Kessler? What makes really
different from you know, Derek Live. I'm just throwing names
out there. I'm just you know, and the difference is,
Rudy Gobert is by far the best screener in the world,
in the world, by far, nobody's even close. And you know,
so I digress. But anyway, screening is really important, and
Walker has to do do a better job at it.
He's got to rebound the basketball, he's got to finish,
and I think that he's one of the best rim
protectors on earth. He's got to keep doing that. And
you know, and I think that I think that, you know,
he's one of the reasons why, you know, then to
then I think the Jazz are too good to win
twenty five games, because if you put him in the
middle and you have him protecting the basket, it's going
to be really, really difficult to score at the basket.
And you know, and I think that that Walker, you know,
I think he needs to have a big season because
you know, next year he's going to be eligible for
an extension, and I think in you know, so what
happens this season is going to go a long way
for me to determining determining, you know, whether he's with
the Utah Jazz in years five, six and seven of
his career or if he's on another team in years five,
six and seven in his career.
Speaker 1: Kiante George. I was smirking to myself while I was
doing the outline for this because I really try to
not let preseason cloud my judgment of pre existing samples.
And one of my questions was like, how concerning was
his efficiency, especially after the Jazz kind of tore down.
But I was thinking to myself, like, he's just had
some moments during the preseason where he looks so much
more in command of the offense, still kind of comfortable
getting to his spots, feels like he has some different
takeoff points and angles, And so I was thinking of
myself like, oh, I just can't bring myself to worry,
But like, is that an actual concern, Like you know,
preseason is preseason is. Preseason is the is the qualifier,
But what are you kind of looking to see from
him heading into year two?
Speaker 2: I want to see the efficiency improve. Obviously, I want
to see the game slow down for him, but most
of all, I want to see him run a team.
And this is a big year for him. I think
the Jazz want to I think the Jazz know this
is what they know about Kante George. They know that
he's a starting level guard in the NBA. But here's
what they want to know. They want to know if
he's a dude or if he's just a starting level
guard the NBA. And there's a difference, right Like, they
want to know if he's Kyanty George or they want
to know if he's potentially the next Devin Booker. And
I think they want to know that. And I think
they want to know if he's a point guard, if
he's a two guard, and I think that that's those
are those are two things that they want to know. Now.
I think that Kyante has gotten I think he's had
a really good preseason. I think that he's looked really good.
I think that he's, you know, getting to his spots,
he's getting to the basket, he's shooting the ball better.
I want to see him averaging somewhere around six assist
a game, somewhere in between six and seven assists a
game and you know, not somewhere between three and four
assist per game. So you know, I think that those
are you important things, important benchmarks from the hit. I think,
I think, you know, the Jazz want to see you know,
they don't want him to be a fifty fifty fifty
forty ninety guy, but you know, they want they want
to see him somewhere around forty five percent from the field,
somewhere around ninety from the three point from the free
throw line, and somewhere around thirty five thirty seven from
from from three. Yeah, so you know it's it's it's
an important season for him as well. But I think
that you know, the Jazz know that there's a floor there,
like they know that they have a starter, they at
least have a starter in him, but they want to
know whether they have a starter or they have a star.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do think he's I don't know if I
believe he will be like a war general type guy
long term, but I was very impressed just as a
rookie with the flashes he showed there because I didn't
even think he had basically a chance of being that
type of player last year and so he turned to
me there even though like the efficiency wasn't always there. There's,
of course the mistakes. I'm wondering if this team is
set up. I mean, you know, Walker Kessler is screening
better for one, Like, that's a pick and roll combination
I feel like should be better than it was last year,
and that can maybe open up pockets rim to get
to the rim. So I'm very kind of interested to
see what his trajectory looks like this season, specifically if
Walker Kesler is one healthier to a bigger part of
what they're doing, and three just better overall.
Speaker 2: How do you feel about the George comparison with Jamal Murray?
Speaker 1: Uh, I just don't understand why he would shoot for
the floor.
Speaker 2: So that.
Speaker 1: I'm just not Anyone who listened to this podcast just
knows that I've not been like the biggest Jamal Murray guy.
I guess I don't mind that comp But do you
think he has like the off ball ability like who is?
Because I can't.
Speaker 2: Murray works because he has Nicola Jokis to do the
playmaking for him, right, So there's obviously not a Nicola
Jokic on the Utah Jazz, So you know, I mean
it's like, like you know, like I said, I mean,
you know, the Jazz want to know if there's a
ceiling for him, like can he be an all star
in this league? Can he be a guy? You know?
Because you need you probably need three guys to win
an NBA championship. So the Jazz have one guy that's
Lowry Marketing. So if you're an NBA championship level team,
Larry Marketing has got to be your number two, right,
So can Keyante George be your number three? Or can
he be you know, a cod number two with with
Loarry Marketing and then you know you get your number
one out of out of one of the next two drafts.
Speaker 1: Or did you draft have been number ten this year?
Speaker 2: Or did you draft him at number ten? Listen, I
am so high on I am so high on Cody Williams.
Speaker 1: Can you get into it? Can you explain I he
was number one on my big board very quickly leading
into the draft. I would have probably if I redid it,
put Reed Sheppard number one, but he wouldn't have fallen
lower than two. So what is it about him that
intrigues you so much?
Speaker 2: I would put it to you like this, if the
Jazz had the number one pick, they might not have
drafted Cody Williams, but Cody Williams would have been very
very deep into that conversation. Like they still might have
drafted re should say, but Cody Williams would have been
like right there in that conversation. So the fact that
the Jazz got him at ten like they were doing backflips.
But man, he just there's just not a skill that
he doesn't have. Like he can shoot the ball, he
can dribble the ball, he can pass the ball. He's
athletic enough. The athletic pop is there that he's dunking
on you in traffic.
Speaker 1: He can look too, because he's like kind of Spindley,
and I think people associate that with being frail and
weak and he's not.
Speaker 2: I mean, I saw him take a DHO against the Kings,
snaking into the pick and roll and find an open shooter.
Now the open shooter did not make this shot, so
I was very upset.
Speaker 1: But put him.
Speaker 2: Found the open shooter on a diagonal pass, and I
was just like Jesus, like that sequence, Like you know,
you start in the corner, you you flash, you take
the g DHO, you take the DHO right for for
you basketball fans, DHO is a dribble handoff. You take
the DHO, you go right into the pick and roll,
and then you find like that when you find a
shooter diagonally in the corner. That's high level stuff for
a guy who has yet to play an NBA game.
He was pressured out high by the Kings on one possession,
blows by, the possession goes to the basket, and uh
it gets a goaltend. I even kind of in the
locker room after the game, I kind of chied at him.
I was like, you got to turn that over and
he was like, oh, the goalten. I was like yeah.
I was like, Cody, you gotta dunk that. And he
was like, no, man, I was fouled, but I'm a rookie.
I'm not going to get that call. I was like, oh,
I was, you were fouled. He was like, Tony's like,
go back and look at the the replay. I was
clearly hit on the arm. And Larry Marketer is like that, yeah,
like he was, he was hit on the arm, but
he you know, he's a rookie. He's not going to
get But it's just the kind of awareness that he has,
and you know, he can play both ends. He switches bull.
I think he's an NBA shooting guard. Like, I don't
even think he's a three. I think he can be
an oversize two, huh. And which would be great for
the Jazz if they got Ace Ace Bailey or Cooper
Flag right, so, because he could just slide in at
the two. But you know the thing, like you can
always point to stuff that people have to get better at,
but as a rookie, but it's usually basketball stuff. And
obviously you can you're obviously going to get better by osmosis.
But there's not a skill that's not there, you know.
So my dog wants to make an appearance hot Nola.
Speaker 1: We love dogs around these parts.
Speaker 2: Get down.
Speaker 1: Hey, she's high on Cody Williams too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's high on Cody Williams. So you know, there's
not a skill level that has to appear that he
has to do that he has to accrue. He just
has to keep developing all of the skills that he had.
My thing with him is he's got to get bigger,
he's got to get stronger, and his body has to
physically mature and mentally upstairs. He has to realize how
good he has a chance to be, because to me,
I think that that's going to be the biggest his
biggest obstacle him waking up one day and being like,
oh my god, I can be a twenty five to
five five guy in this league because I'm just that good.
And you know, I think that his brother has it.
I think his brother knows it, but I think that
he's got to know it too.
Speaker 1: That is that kind of is like adjacent to my
concern for him, where it's directly related to where I'm
wondering if he can do all these things that I
like about him in higher volume, and the other thing
I'm not saying that would tie into do you have
the confidence to do it? Like to be in that
constant mode of I am the like I am the guy.
And the other thing I'm not quite sure that I
see he moves so seamlessly, like everywhere on the ball,
off the ball, that I guess I could see it
would be do you think that he has the perimeter
like I do? Feel like to be a guy like
one of the top two guys on a really good
team the NBA. Now you need to be some type
of a perimeter self creator from one of those two levels,
like or both levels on the outside. Do you think
he has that into his game because I kind of
see someone who he wants to rather if he's going
to create for himself, put the ball on the floor,
try and get to the basket, or spray out to
someone or dump it off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that that part has to come along
as well, you know, just like the shot making from
playing the spots. Right, So let's make a comparison there.
So I think that Cody Williams right now is a
better all around basketball player than Nace Bailey. But what
does Ace Bailey do right now that Cody Williams doesn't do.
Ace Bailey plays two spots and when he gets to
that spot, he's a shot maker. Oh right now, Now,
if you're projecting Ayce Bailly and Cody Williams, you can project,
you can easy, you can more easier project Ace Bailly
to be a number one guy than you can Cody Williams,
who's probably a better all around player, who defends better,
who's a better passer, who's a better playmaker for others,
and just in general, just a better all around basketball
player and The other thing with Ace Bailly is Ace
Bailly right now, he's a killer, but he's like, I'm
gonna go out and I'm gonna drop twenty five on
you and there's nothing you can do about it. And
Cody's like, yeah, man, I'm gonna take this ten to
seven and six and I'm gonna take you know, and
I'm gonna be a plus. I'm gonna be a plus
fifteen while I'm doing it, which is great. But you know,
you got to have a guy to have to have
to build battle of being the number one guy is
to have number one mentality, and you know, I think
that that's where Cody needs. Where Cody needs developed. But
you know, I tweeted, I was like, one day Cody
Williams is going to wake up and realize how good
he is and he's going to start making all star teams.
And I really do believe that he's he has all
star upside.
Speaker 1: I think you are the the only other person I've
come across that is as high on Cody Williams as
as I am. This is I was not anticipate. I
guess I did not know you were this high. That
makes me feel less like an insane person that I
was so high.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're here.
Speaker 1: The Jazz do have one of my other favorite like
prospects in the league that I'm smitten with in Taylor Hendrix,
who I just remain I don't I don't even care
that the offense wasn't necessarily there last year. I think
he's going to be really good. What were your initial
impressions of just the time that he spent with the
you know, the actual Jazz last year, and what are
you kind of monitoring for him in year two?
Speaker 2: Follow me on this. I think that Taylor Hendricks is
wrong for the twenty twenty for twenty twenty five Utah Jazz.
Speaker 1: So you think he's wrong.
Speaker 2: I think he's wrong for the twenty twenty four to
twenty twenty five Utah Jazz. But I think that he
could be insanely valuable for the twenty twenty seven twenty
twenty eight Utah Jazz. Okay, so let me explain Taylor
Hendricks right now. Is a guy who is a really
valuable role player, valuable three in D guy can switch
effortlessly through positions, can make a three, can make a
couple of threes, can make three or four threes. Can
probably be a small ball center in a playoff setting,
but the Jazz don't have that infrastructure around him right
like to have to be to maximize that skill set,
you got to have a team of guys who we're
moving the ball, balls popping. Obviously, Tailor in the corner
and he has threes, he's coming down, and we're playing
for something right like we're fifty three and twenty nine
and we're playing for something like right now, Like Taylor
Hendricks would be awesome for the Denver Nuggets, just absolutely
awesome because he could play three or four positions. He
can play them defensively, he can even protect the rim,
he can play out on the perimeter, and he can
make shots. He's wrong for a team that has a
roster of guys who are trying to play for their
next contract, which is what the Jazz are right now.
So you know the ball's gonna move because you not
gonna the ball's not gonna You're not gonna play for
Will Hardy if the ball's not gonna move, but the
ball ain't popping because you know these guys are playing
for the next contract. You got a whole bunch of
people playing on their first contracts, and you got a
whole bunch of veterans who are seeing their contracts come up.
So you know who's contract wise, who's who's who's comfortable
on the Jets right now? Outside of Larry Marketing.
Speaker 1: I mean, Sex is gonna be feeling his next deal
is coming up. So I gues if you're fat, like
if that's your terms. But I mean, like it feels
like him and Jordan Clarkson should be like fairly comfortable
with their status in the league. I would think, whereas
all these other guys, even if they're still a couple
of years away, they're just not as established. So they're
playing for that too, right, So.
Speaker 2: In two or three years, when the Jats are playing
for something, you know, Taylor Hendricks becomes potentially, you know,
one of the most more valuable role players in the league.
Speaker 1: I think, I I guess I see that logic. I
would be curious, do you see any more like I
think Actually I think it was the Kings game that
you're just talking about. He catches the ball on like
the mid post and he just like quick processing, is
able to spin and get to the hoop. Yeah, do
you see more of that type of offense in him,
like more on ball stuff that he even if it's
only one or two dribble stuff rather than kind of.
Speaker 2: Like I think I do, But you know, I think,
you know, he's more. He's going to be a guy
who's going to make threes as you know, a sixteen
big and you know he's going to attack the dribble.
You know, he's going to attack closeouts off the dribble
one two one two dribbles either pull up a shoot,
go all the way to the basket, or find the
next pass. You know, I don't see him being a
self creat you know. And I don't see you know,
the offense going going off an NBA offense going through him.
But you know, when you if you put him on
the right team, and you put him in the right
uh and you put him in in you know, in
the right circumstance. You know, the way he defends his versatility,
I personally think he can guard at least four to
five positions.
Speaker 1: And yeah, he's that's a rookie. The way he was
moved around and then like held his own against literally everybody.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, and he's going to play fifteen
years at least just because he has that skill set
combined with the skill set of him. Man, we'll shoot
the basketball. But you know that skill set is just
not going to as readily show up on the twenty
twenty four, twenty five Utah Jazz, kay, because there are
so many people who have who are trying to establish themselves,
you know, so you know the ball's not going to
always find him, and you know there are going to
be a lot of games where you look up in
the third quarter and you know he's got two to
four points on two to four shots. On this team,
now where this is what he can control. I would
love to see him rebound a lot better. And I
would love to see him, you know, averaging eight to
ten rebounds a game because I think he's going to
have the runway to do it. And you know, obviously
you know him defensively. Just keep doing what you're doing defensively.
But I want to see him rebound the basketball a
lot better than he has at this point.
Speaker 1: It does seem like, just based off what I've seen
on preseason, like that he might have the green light
that kind of get in there on the offensive glass,
like coming in and zooming in from the corners in
like the forty five degree angles. So Larry marketing, this
is either great podcasting or terrible podcasting that we haven't
really talked about him forty minutes into a Utah, Well,
I have two questions, and one of them, if I
was to give you truth serum the renegotiate and an
extent which you were all over, kudos to you, how
much of that was about, okay, the Jazz view lowry
marketing as a mainstay. How much of that was about
preserving an asset? How much of that was also kind
of like didn't factor in it all that Well, we're
gonna suck on purpose, and we want to make sure
that he doesn't get wandering eyes himself. Like, of just
those three things, like, what's kind of the biggest like
factors that go into making that decision this past summer?
Speaker 2: Well, I think that there was the eronous part of
the whole thing was there was this thinking that the
Jazz had to trade them and that was just kind
of dumb. They didn't have to trade them in in
you know, and I think, you know, there were teams
that were just going only so far because they felt
like the Jazz had to trade them, Like you.
Speaker 1: Know, can I nominate one.
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm I'm gonna just say this. I'm not
letting Brandon Pajemski get in between the way, get in
the way of me and Lowry market I'm just not
thank you.
Speaker 1: Oh. My whole conspiracy theory, by the way, is that
the Warriors, well, of course they liked Lowry marketing. That
whole pursuit felt purely performative because all the report came
out like they don't want to give up pods or
Kaminga or any of their picks, and it's like, well,
then what are we doing here? It felt very much
like we just want to show Steph that we kind
of faked a pursuit of a player whould help us win.
Speaker 2: Now, the truth of the matter is there was there
was not a trade close on. There was not a
there were those sides were not close to a trade there.
You know, there was a scenario that the Jazz would
have accepted a trade, you know, but it would have
involved everything Golden State had, and obviously Golden State's not
going to give everything. But you know the bottom line
and the bottom line that raised when you there was
a lot of minutia, and there was a lot of
like you said, there was a lot of performing a
lot of performative stuff. The bottom line of the trade
is Golden State only had two unprotected first round picks
to give, and the bottom line is the Jazz weren't
given lottery marketing enough for two unprotected first round picks.
You know, you can take pods, and you could take
all of the pick swaps and all the second rounders
that you can. The bottom line is too unprotected first
round picks. That's all that the Warriors had to give.
So you know, that trade just really didn't come close
and certainly didn't come as as close to to getting
done to what you know, people believed or what Twitter believed.
So you know, and the other part of it doesn't mean,
like said, Lowry wanted to be there. And you know,
I think if if a team had come in with
the mother Lode, and the team had come in and
with four unprotected first round picks, three unprotected swaps and
a good player, you know, like I think that the
Jazz would have seriously considered it. But you know, they
love Lowry, and you know, they didn't have to trade
him and they're not giving them away. They weren't giving
them away, and more importantly, they think, you know, there's
one hundred belief within the organization that Lowry is still
going to be this version of Lowry whenever the Jazz
get really good again. You know. So you know, people
were like, well, he doesn't fit the timeline. You know,
he's twenty seven years old, YadA, YadA. Yeah, he's twenty
seven years old, and his strength is shooting a three
is a game at forty and.
Speaker 1: Playing off others like different if he was James Harden
at his age, Like I kind of get it, like
thealier said, but like that's he just he scales to
every iteration of what the shoot talking could be exactly.
Speaker 2: And you know, I mean the Jazz was just not
they were just never giving that away. You know, that
was either going to be you meet what we want
or we're not trading him. And they didn't end up
not trading.
Speaker 1: Do you think I actually asked you this question last year?
I think, but like this is someone we just mentioned
plays off others. Do they try and give him any
more creation responsibilities this year or do they not want
to disrupt what he's doing best because but there is
a vacuum on this I mean, you have Clarkson, you
have sex, and you Cante George, but there is kind
of a vacuum of proven creators, and so in theory
there would be the runway to kind of experiment with
maybe him doing some more things on the ball.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean definitely. You know, it didn't go very well,
but you know, they they did the dirt novisky thing
in the Kings game where you're throwing the ball in
the middle of the of the key area and you
know he can go left the right, and you know,
now he got stripped almost every time for some reason.
But you know, that's just an example of you know,
trying to get him to develop, you know, his his
chops on the ball in terms of self creation. You know,
so he's gonna get He's definitely gonna get a lot
of the chances in that area this year. I think
Chanti George is gonna get a lot of chances in
that areas this year as well, you know, and and
we'll see what happens with it.
Speaker 1: Are we able to talk to run through very quickly
some of the other young guys on this team and
just your general impressions of them, what their roles might
be they're fits with this team.
Speaker 2: Who do you want to know about?
Speaker 1: Let's start with I think he's become There's always like
from every team, it always feels like there's that one
player that Twitter needs to obsess over and prove that
they know ball. Isaiah Collier feels like he's going to
be one of those guys this year. What have been
your initial impressions of him?
Speaker 2: He gets to the rim very well. It's hard to
stay in front of him. What is he going to
do when people start going under his pick and rolls?
Because it's the preseason right now, so nobody cares. But
what's gonna happen when we get to the regular season
and he gets scouted and when he's running pick and roll,
his man is like pretty much in the lane, So
the shooting has to come a long way. But he
has really impressed this preseason, like I said, like I
said earlier, Uh, the season starts tomorrow. He's probably the
backup point guard, so he's in the rotation, and I
think that he's earned his way into rotation. I think
he's defended well. I think that he's run the team
extremely well. Like I think if you took Keyante George's
scoring chops in self creation chops, and you injected him
with the way that Isaiah Kayer has run the team
this preseason, County Kyante George would be an All Star
and you know, so he's he's figured out how to
get guys the ball in ball in the right spots.
I think his pairing with Jordan Clarkson is a really
has been a really good one. And I've been surprised
at that, but now I know why, because he's not
really competing with Jordan for shots. He's just trying to
run a team. And you know, so Jordan can just
go and do his thing. You know, so already you know,
if if you know the backup point guard, things sticks
and he's able to run a team for fifteen twenty
minutes at you know, a decent and high level, I
mean that's already worth pick number twenty nine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I had. I never would have expected him to
be so good as just a like quarterback type guy
of the offense as a passer. I just in my
mind he was just a score and that's just what
I kind of type casted him as coming in. Bryce Sentabah,
where are we at with him?
Speaker 2: I'm still really lukewarm or mixed on him. I think
he's a terrific shooter. I think he can make shots.
I wonder if he's ever going to get his body
to the point where he's quick enough off the dribble,
uh to to really get the spots. He's crafty, he's
really skilled. This is a big year for him. I
think that he's gotta, you know, kind of perform well.
I think he's going to be in the rotation. I
think that he's going to get a chance to get
some minutes. And but you know, this this year is
is going to be a really big year for him
because you know, if the Jazz get the right guy
in the draft and you know, Cody Williams moves back
to shooting guard, you know, we'll see what happens. But
you know, he can really shoot basketball like he's you know,
he's he's got a beautiful shot and he's not fraid in.
You know, I think he's an NBA player. So I
think that I think that that's proven. It's just what
level still has to be proven.
Speaker 1: Do you think that he'll be able to kind of
diversify the reads he's making when he is putting the
ball on the floor, Like, is this someone who gets
too much tunnel vision? Is he going to get better
at you know, deferring at all?
Speaker 2: I think he makes great reads. I just don't know
he's quick enough to make those reads matter, Okay, And
you know that's that's that's the thing, like you know
you can be you know so like I can make reads,
but I ain't quick enough to at the NBA level
to get to any spots to make those reads matter.
You know, so is Bryce sens the ball? Can he
get the A from A to b off the dribble
in order to make really good reads? Can he get
the A to b off the dribble to to get
into his shot, to get into what he does from
a postal perspective or what he does from a mid
range perspective. We know he could shoot from above the arc,
Like that's not that's what's going to make him an
NBA player ultimately, But you know, it's just about what
he can do with his body to make the other
parts of his game matter.
Speaker 1: How are you feeling about Johnny Juzang, who is always
he's bigger. I always forget that he's sixty seven? Is
basically what I'm getting at he's like all first team.
I forget how tall this guy actually is.
Speaker 2: Wow. I thought he was six y five myself.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe he's being generously listed. I think Basketball Reference
was the one I saw. He's six seven on.
Speaker 2: Johnny Giuse has inexplicably not missed a shot this preseason,
so he's been terrific. He's also proving that he's probably
an NBA player. You know, he's a one skilled guy
right like he is, He's, you know, always going to
be a shooter. That's what's going to keep him in
the league. So you know, he's got to keep working
on being a weapon shooter. So keep working on coming
off penn downs, keep working off coming off of dh os,
and you know, but he's he's a hack of a shooter,
and you know he's, uh, he's he's got a big
heart relative to that jump shot. So you know, I
think that at some point in his career he's going
to make a big shot in a really really big
playoff game and people are going to realize that, Uh,
he should have been a He would have been a
first round pick had he come out after a sophomore year.
Speaker 1: Kyle Philipowski what are you what are your initial impressions
of him.
Speaker 2: I thought he had a really good summer league. I
thought he was I thought, I think he's really skilled.
I think he's at this point a lot better at
the center spot than he is at the power forward
spot because he gets quicker and he gets quicker guys
at the power forward spot. At the center spot. Uh,
he's quicker than a lot of guys. You know, I
don't know that he's going to be in a rotation
so far on opening night, but you know, he's he's
he's got a lot to work with offensively. I'm not
sure how he defends at the NBA level or who
he defends at the NBA level, but I think that
I think we're going to see I think he's going
to be somebody that can really benefit from going to
the Salt Lake City Stars in the G League and
just getting a lot of on ball reps, in developing
a lot of on ball stuff. But you know, he's
he's a guy that you know, I think the Jazz
are really excited about.
Speaker 1: Is there any because you kind of talked about a
few times how this is their prioritizing development here. Are
there any you see any plans being in place for
how they're gonna I assume Colin Sexton will start like
when you look at him, when you look at Clarkson,
even John Collins. Is this a situation where you could
see their minutes being capped or is there gonna be
special like rest nights caked in for them?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 1: What are there just the plans with those vets? Who
those are guys that probably maybe Sexton could I suppose,
but those are guys that don't really align with where
Utah is headed.
Speaker 2: We'll see, We'll see if the Jazz are willing to
pull out all the stops to get to where they
want to go. Because I think that if they are
going to get to where they want to go, I
mean I think that all of that stuff has to
be on the table, like sitting guys on certain nights,
you know, being up ninety seven ninety five with four
minutes to go and in inexplicably throwing Kyle Philipowski in
the lineup. You know, things like that, you know, just
little you know, subtle things that create a tank, a
quote unquote tank, you know. And because I think the
Jazz are still really walking and typrope right like mhm.
They want to have a shot at, you know, the
very top of the draft, but they want to be
able to develop all of these guys and they want
to be able to keep lowry marketing happy. So you know,
it's going to take some work and it's going to
take you know, some some conversations to be had. So
we'll see see what happens with those conversations.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to enter the Cookie Cutter Lightning Round
portion of the podcast?
Speaker 2: Yes? I ready.
Speaker 1: When you look at their some of their primary weaknesses
from last season, rim pressure, transition, defense, turnovers, three point accuracy, whatever,
are there any areas that stand out as ones in
which you think they can significantly improve with the personnel
that they have in place right now?
Speaker 2: Hmm? General defense? General, general defense?
Speaker 1: Is this a nowhere to go but up situation?
Speaker 2: The perimeter of the defense was kind of bad last.
Speaker 1: Year, and they were. They finished thirtieth in points a
lot of per possession, right they were?
Speaker 2: They were. They were not a great defensive team last year.
Speaker 1: I guess, like with the jump, if you went with
like the front court of like Taylor Hendrix and Walker
Kessler and you have Cody Williams on the floor. Any
mean you can play Larry marketing with that too, Like
just having that sheer size might make them better on
the defensive end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that to I think their rim protection is
gonna be great because Walker is going to be on
the floor like he's a rim protector onto himself. And
I think that, you know, Taylor being a starter. I
think that's going to really help them as well in
terms of this switch ability. We'll see what happens with Cody,
but once Cody's on the floor, I think that that's
you know, once he's ready to go, I think that's
gonna help as well. I need to see Keanty, George
and Colin Sexton defend better man because last year.
Speaker 1: You're gonna keep waiting on the Colin sex in front.
Speaker 2: I think, my friend, nah man, I need, I need.
It's funny because Colin will pick you up full court
and you know the you know, he'll have the eyes
going to the intensity and then you know, lap the floor. Yeah,
and then once we get to the half court, it's
just not good that man is still scoring. So uh,
you know, we'll see how Keyante and Colin developed defensively.
Speaker 1: They I mean, if they have Walker Kestler on the court,
and now you have both Cody Williams and Taylor Hendrix.
Could you see them playing at all any more aggressive defense?
Like this has not been a team that is like
tried to force turnovers on the defensive end in forever.
It feels like is that something like sometimes you see
young teams play a little bit more chaotic and try
and generate opportunities through that, or do you think that
they're that won't necessarily be a focus.
Speaker 2: Maybe with ky you're on the floor a little bit,
but Kekyante is not a guy that's going to like
force you in the turnovers. And neither of Skylin, neither
is Lowry. So you know you want to bend, but
don't break right like you want to. You know you're
gonna give up some stuff, but you know, you just
don't want teams to go for you know, one fifty
on you.
Speaker 1: Is there anything about this team, whether it's a player, storyline, weakness, strength, concern,
whatever that's flying under the radar that you think deserves
more attention?
Speaker 2: Mm? You know, I you know, I think we talked
about like pretty much everything. I don't know if there's
something that that's flying under the radar. But you know,
I think that, you know, I think the tailing Hendrick
is probably a little bit I'm underappreciated. Hell yeah, I
love it, he does. But you know, I think everything
else is, you know, I think everything else is kind
of we've kind of hit on.
Speaker 1: So what does this if they had their top ten
most used players look like, I assume I have some
locks penciled in here, So I have Keyante, Sexton, Hendrix, Marketing, Kessler, Clarkson,
Cody Williams, and John Collins, which is eight players penciled
in as those guys are always going to play. Is
that accurate?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's pretty accurate. And then you'll probably have Bright
Sensible on there, and then you'll probably have so women.
So your starters will be Keyante, Colin, Taylor Lowry and
Walker Kyer will come off the bench, Clarkson will come
off the bench. I think Sensible, get Williams and Sensible
and John Collins. So probably ten on some nights, probably
nine almost nights.
Speaker 1: Okay, So like guys like a Johnny Jan's on the
outside looking in.
Speaker 2: Type on the outside looking in.
Speaker 1: Why Drew you Banks on this team?
Speaker 2: Because the Jazz really like veterans and you know they
like adults in the locker room. So that's why you
see Drew on his team. That's why you see That's
why you see Patty Mills on his team. And you
know the thing about Drew is, you know Walker Kessler
and John Collins are most likely not making it through
eighty two games, so you're going to need another center.
So you know, Drew Drew you Banks was is is
the new version of Omey?
Speaker 1: You're at seven Now you can interpret this however you want.
Where I normally ask. I know it's matchup dependent, but
what will be their go to crunch time unit? This
is one of the teams though, where you could look
at it and say, are they trying to win that
game or are they trying to lose that game?
Speaker 2: I think if they're trying to win that game, they
go to.
Speaker 1: The go to would be is it just the starters?
Speaker 2: We're probably Well that's the thing with Will Man like Will,
Will's not married to people. So you know, let's just
say that Jazz are trying to win win this game.
Lillary marketing is always going to be on the floor
one hundred percent of the time. Keyante George is probably
going to be on the floor eighty five to ninety
percent of the time, and then after that it's pretty
much who's playing the best. So, you know, Cody Williams
was playing really well onto he closed the game, and
you know, and everybody was like, well, you know, will
why did Cody Williams close the game? Are you trying
to tell us something? No, I'm not trying to tell
you anything. That lineup was going good, so you know,
we wanted Cody out there, and that's pretty much how
you coaches. So you'll see, you know, Jordan closed one night,
You'll see Colin close. You'll see you know, who's ever
playing better out of Walker or John Collins close. If
Taylor's playing really well, he'll close. But generally you'll see
Loarry Marketing close every single night, and you'll see Cante
George close probably almost every single night.
Speaker 1: What's a weird, funky lineup you think will Hardy should
roll out to try this year.
Speaker 2: Should roll out? Yeah, I don't know there's anything weird
and funky.
Speaker 1: I mean they have to. I'm assuming this. I don't
know if it'll be a staple, but they have to
go a ultra jumbo route with Kessler marketing, Taylor Hendrix,
Cody Williams. Then I don't know who you want to
throw in? Is that fifth? But sensibly you could throw
in a bunch of different guys. But I'm just like,
try to make it as big as possible. I want
to see that be because I know Hendrix and Cody
Bums aren't traditionally huge, but like when you have Williams
is kind of your day facto too. In that situation,
that's a pretty big ass lineup.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's the lineupyt what probably look at.
I would pretty definitively put Keyante in that lineup.
Speaker 1: Give me, I say, a Collier for just the chaos.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know you don't want chaos. You want
you want production.
Speaker 1: So no, I want to get weird. That's the whole
point of this exercise. I'm trying to get weird.
Speaker 2: But like you can get weird and still produce at
the same time. Though, Like I mean, if you put
in two rookies in the starting backcourt, you know, then
I don't know how productive not the starting back but
if you put two rookies in the backcourt, then you know,
we'll see, We'll have to see what happens, but maybe
you go a lot up. I like would be uh keyante,
Colin Sexton, Cody Williams, Larry Marketing, and Taylor Hendrix at
the five, Okay, that'd be fun. Just switch everything and
just by all means, just try to hide Colin no
matter what.
Speaker 1: As we record this, they're over under? Is it twenty
seven and a half games? Tony? Would you take the
over the under on that? As right now?
Speaker 2: I'm gonna take the under. I think the Jazz are
gonna do it. I think they're gonna find a way
to go twenty five and fifty seven this year.
Speaker 1: That's such a it's you're so right the way you're
framing it, but it's just such bizarre. I think they're
gonna find a way to win fewer than twenty seven games.
Speaker 2: I think they're gonna find a way, man, I think.
I think. I think we're going to play it straight
for the first three to five weeks of the season
and then.
Speaker 1: Aren't they at a point too? Though? Because I think
people i've seen them be critical of Ale Wise, Colin
Sexton and Jordan Clarkson and John Collins still on this roster.
Those are competent players. They're not ruining your reb Like
we've reached the point where they're like, even if they
don't start shedding talent, if they're winning too many games,
they might just like the coaching just might be too
good at that point, Like, what is the because aside
from I guess Lowry, which if that's the criticism, fine,
but like, who are you absolutely removing from this team
and ensuring that they're gonna get so much worse?
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I think to have to figure
it out because because if they get pick number eleven,
that pick goes to Oklahoma City, and right that you know,
this is the only you know, they have three first
round picks, but they only control one of them their own.
So they're gonna have to figure it out.
Speaker 1: Tony, is there anything anyone I have not asked about
that you think needs to be discussed before I let
yuska daddle.
Speaker 2: You haven't asked me about Speed.
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you about your sweet Bay either
the big Oh how's he doing.
Speaker 2: He's the greatest rebounder I've ever seen. And he's a
fascinating dude because he he went into the soliloquy about
how to rebound the ball and knowing where the trajectory
of the ball is, and I like, I was just enthralled.
I was like, there's really a science to this thing.
And he's the nicest guy ever. So I'm really rooting
for Oscar.
Speaker 1: Maybe we should throw that jumbo lineup we're talking about.
Let's put Fie at the one that used to be
kind of an experiment I think during his Detroit days.
If I'm not that would go really well, doesn't got it.
We're just trying to get funky Tony. Thank you so
much for your time. Are you able just to tell
our listeners and viewers where they can find you and
all the great work that you do.
Speaker 2: I am at the Athletic so please read what I
write and you can banter with me on Twitter at
t Jones on the NBA.
Speaker 1: And I encourage all of you to ask him about
trade rumors that do not exist.
Speaker 2: Yes, trade room, and then when I report that Lowry
Marketing wants to stay in Utah, then argue with me
as to why I'm wrong about that report.
Speaker 1: Well, hey, you can't know it, Like he can't be
traded now, so you don't have to. If someone's arguing
about Lowry marketing. You can just send them a screenshot.
Speaker 2: I was just bringing up a hot topic of discussion
from from this summer when I said, hey, you know
Lowrie doesn't want to be traded. Well, how do you
know are you talking to Lowry or how are you
speaking for him? Okay, well we'll see when he signs.
Speaker 1: I personally, I just assume Lowry runs all his life
decisions by you first, So I assume that you were
right by his side when he was deciding all of them.
Speaker 2: Not all of them, but I definitely knew that he
didn't want to go. I knew that he did not
want to be traded from Utah. That one I got right.
Speaker 1: Uh, Tony, thank you so much once again for all
your time. This is a blast to do every year.
Best of luck covering the season and having to handle
the Nuggets and the Sixers on on top of the jazz.
I will be following, hopefully our listeners and viewers will
be following, and as you know, boy now I'll be
sliding not only into your mentions but also your dms
down the line.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, thanks my god, thank you for having me