Speaker 1: He's the pride of Norwich, Connecticut and an adopted son
Speaker 1: of Salt Lake City. After forty years with the Utah Jazz,
Speaker 1: there's no one better to talk some hoops. Richard Smitty
Speaker 1: Smith is back on the Drive on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 2: Well, little breaking news about a commit for Utah football
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty six. Kelvin Obots the number nine overall
Speaker 2: recruit in the twenty twenty six class. This kid is
Speaker 2: legit offensive tackle. We'll see what that does to Utah's
Speaker 2: recruiting rankings. Of course that's not for two years. There's
Speaker 2: still football left to be played before we get to
Speaker 2: know these young men. It is day two of the
Speaker 2: NBA Free agency. Wimbledon's going on. It feels like a
Speaker 2: great data Richard Smitty Smith, Liven Studio. You've been catching
Speaker 2: any of the tennis I have?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 3: The Wimbledon started Sunday and today earlier today, Cocoa golf
Speaker 3: number two seed and the women's singles draw lost right
Speaker 3: after winning the Rolling Garrows in Paris and and so
Speaker 3: it's a big, big loss on the women's side right
Speaker 3: off the bat in the tournament. But that's a big
Speaker 3: different spence between playing on clay and playing on grass,
Speaker 3: it's a it's a major, major difference in the way
Speaker 3: you play the game. And they they make that transition
Speaker 3: all the time in the spring, you know, from from
Speaker 3: the middle of June, you know, through the through the
Speaker 3: middle of July and going on grass over in Europe,
Speaker 3: and it's just it's a tougher game. It's a different game.
Speaker 2: Cocoa Goff became the third woman in the Open era
Speaker 2: to lose in the first round at Wimbledon after winning
Speaker 2: the championship of the French Open, So or a pretty
Speaker 2: rare thing. Novak Djokovic just one of his ninety ninth
Speaker 2: Wimbledon match, which is third all time. So some fun
Speaker 2: tennis going on over at Wimbledon. Is that your Is
Speaker 2: Wimbledon your favorite major championship?
Speaker 3: Well, no, I mean I I enjoy I just enjoy
Speaker 3: the tennis and you know it all. Had never been
Speaker 3: to Wimbledon. My wife Linda has been there, and you know,
Speaker 3: my brother on my nephew have been there. And I've
Speaker 3: been to the Australian Open and the US Open a
Speaker 3: one hundred times over the because we go back every
Speaker 3: year for the US Open. But Indian Wells of course
Speaker 3: the last several years. But I haven't been to Wimbledon.
Speaker 3: That's on my list, and I can never go Spence
Speaker 3: because Wimbledon is always this time of year. So working
Speaker 3: for the Jazz, it was always the draft, going right
Speaker 3: into free agency, going right into summer league, so it
Speaker 3: was never a time we were able to go and
Speaker 3: travel and do that. So I'm looking forward to trying
Speaker 3: to do that in the next few years. But it's
Speaker 3: a fun, you know, traditional place. It's one of the
Speaker 3: one of the grand spots obviously in the sport of
Speaker 3: tennis for sure.
Speaker 2: All right, let's do the jazz stuff this segment. We'll
Speaker 2: save the next segment for some of the big picture
Speaker 2: NBA free agency storylines. Of course, it's day two of
Speaker 2: NBA Free agency, and Smitty, you've been coming on the
Speaker 2: show now for a while and it feels like names
Speaker 2: like Colin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson have come up in
Speaker 2: potential tree talks and conversations. Well, we learned what the
Speaker 2: market is for those two players, and the answer is
Speaker 2: not great. So let's start with the Sexton move. They
Speaker 2: had to attach a second round pick to the deal
Speaker 2: to get him to Charlotte in exchange for use of Nurkic,
Speaker 2: who is a VET that is a backup big at
Speaker 2: this point, what do you make of the deal?
Speaker 3: Dude?
Speaker 4: San Colin Sexton and a second to Charlotte.
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, I'm a Sexton fan, and so
Speaker 3: I'm the wrong guy to ask, probably, you know, in
Speaker 3: that regard because he's even though I get, you know,
Speaker 3: they just drafted the Clayton kid and he's probably gonna
Speaker 3: take a bulk of those minutes, and they're still trying
Speaker 3: to figure out what can't they George is and and
Speaker 3: you know what the Williams kid is, and and a
Speaker 3: Collier and all that. So I get that that that
Speaker 3: part of it. But for me, Sexton is one of
Speaker 3: the guys who has proven he can play in this league.
Speaker 3: He was He's gotten more efficient every year he's been
Speaker 3: in the league. This past year, I thought he was
Speaker 3: very efficient, played a very tight game during the course
Speaker 3: of the year on a team that wasn't winning, in
Speaker 3: a team that didn't really care about winning, and he
Speaker 3: was one of the few guys who would go out
Speaker 3: and compete every night, in my opinion, And so you know,
Speaker 3: I understand they're trying to get off his money. And
Speaker 3: I understand they're trying to get the young guys, you know,
Speaker 3: the playing time, and I get that part of it.
Speaker 3: But when you see him moving a guy who's actually
Speaker 3: proven that that he's has some value in the league
Speaker 3: in terms of how he plays and his production level,
Speaker 3: that's that's sometimes a head scratcher to me. But you know, okay,
Speaker 3: that's that's the way they're they're choosing to do their
Speaker 3: business right now.
Speaker 2: Were you surprised that they couldn't get more value for
Speaker 2: him or do you feel like they just wanted to,
Speaker 2: you know, find a new home for him and clear
Speaker 2: up time for the young guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure how to gauge that spence. You know,
Speaker 3: I think he's more valuable than that myself. But okay,
Speaker 3: they know, maybe they had their own time frame. They
Speaker 3: wanted to get out from under it before the free
Speaker 3: agency stuff started, so they could figure out where they
Speaker 3: were at money wise and whatnot. I'm not I'm not
Speaker 3: convinced that Nurkic is gonna be part of uh, you know,
Speaker 3: what they're gonna try and do next year. I don't
Speaker 3: know if that was Yeah, I'm not sure what the
Speaker 3: play was there, to be honest with you, unless unless
Speaker 3: they like Nurkic for some reason that that I don't see,
Speaker 3: and yeah and uh you know, or they think he's
Speaker 3: gonna have more value to some playoff type team come
Speaker 3: February during the trade deadline, where somebody's gonna want, uh
Speaker 3: you know, a big that they can put in a
Speaker 3: lineup during rotations in the in the playoffs. Maybe that's
Speaker 3: what the the the longer play is here. But of
Speaker 3: course he's on an expiring contract next year as well,
Speaker 3: so you know, a worst case scenario, they have him
Speaker 3: on the team for this coming season, they get off
Speaker 3: him next summer, They got that money to use next
Speaker 3: summer and free agency stuff, and they and they move on.
Speaker 3: So I think the whole thing with the Jazz is
Speaker 3: just a big, evolving moving puzzle that they're going to
Speaker 3: constantly keep moving guys in and out of during the
Speaker 3: summer and into the fall and even during next season.
Speaker 3: I think these next twelve months are all to me
Speaker 3: going to be part of a big experiment under the
Speaker 3: Austin Ange direction to see how they set themselves up
Speaker 3: for the summer of twenty six and then moving forward.
Speaker 3: That's what it feels like to me.
Speaker 2: So they essentially cut Jordan. They essentially cut Jordan Clarkson.
Speaker 2: Technically it was a buyout. If the numbers have in
Speaker 2: front of me are correct, that saved the Jazz about
Speaker 2: a million dollars in cash. So I have a couple
Speaker 2: of questions here. The reaction to the news that Jordan
Speaker 2: is no longer a jazz man has been really interesting
Speaker 2: to follow. People are genuinely sad that he's leaving. The
Speaker 2: trade that you guys made for him, in retrospect was
Speaker 2: an excellent deal. You moved Dante Ax him a couple
Speaker 2: second rounders to Cleveland for Jordan comes here, wins six
Speaker 2: Man of the Year, played really well for Quinn, last
Speaker 2: holdover from that group. So just wonder what your thoughts
Speaker 2: are that they've decided to move on from him in
Speaker 2: the way that they did. He's going to be a
Speaker 2: nick and maybe you can provide some color and context
Speaker 2: as far as what he meant to the jazz organization.
Speaker 3: Well, I think that I think it's not surprising to me.
Speaker 3: I think they've been trying to do that for a
Speaker 3: year now. I think they finally got to it. You know,
Speaker 3: they found away with Jordan. They couldn't do anything during
Speaker 3: the season last year. They couldn't find anybody to bite
Speaker 3: on this deal that had, you know, obviously last season
Speaker 3: in this coming season under contract, you know, added at
Speaker 3: an okay number in today's NBA terms, at fourteen million
Speaker 3: a year. You know, I'm not surprised at all that
Speaker 3: they you know, they decided to move on from him.
Speaker 3: You know, it was just a matter of getting him,
Speaker 3: figuring out a way to do what. They couldn't find
Speaker 3: a trade partner they liked apparently, so they worked to
Speaker 3: deal with him to get a buyout so he could
Speaker 3: get the freedom to move to a team where he
Speaker 3: feels he can add something to a contending team and
Speaker 3: give himself a little bit more spark and a little
Speaker 3: more life on the court. Fourteen that's trying to win
Speaker 3: and trying to be competitive night in the night out,
Speaker 3: and you know, and the Jazz get out from some money.
Speaker 3: And that's the whole play here. And look, that was
Speaker 3: the play really when they signed him to this deal
Speaker 3: that they did a couple of years ago, because they
Speaker 3: front loaded that deal at twenty four I think it
Speaker 3: was at twenty five the first year, and then fourteen
Speaker 3: and fourteen. So the whole deal was set up so
Speaker 3: that they could move him at some point during the
Speaker 3: last two years. It just took him a year to
Speaker 3: figure out how to do it. They didn't get a
Speaker 3: trade partner, so they did the buyout thing. Saved themselves
Speaker 3: a little money. Clarkson gets to decide where he's going
Speaker 3: to go instead of just being put in the trade,
Speaker 3: so it kind of works out for everybody. I'm always
Speaker 3: surprised players are willing to give up, you know, any money,
Speaker 3: you know, in some kind of a buyout situation. I've
Speaker 3: never understood why players would do that, but I guess
Speaker 3: that's what you do when you just get to some
Speaker 3: point in your life where oh, I have enough money,
Speaker 3: that's okay, I'll I'll just leave some on the table.
Speaker 3: You can take it, and I'm going to go out
Speaker 3: the side door. Okay, I guess.
Speaker 2: And it really just begs the question as far as
Speaker 2: what's next, and to underscore the points that you're essentially making.
Speaker 2: It just it feels like Austin as the primary decision maker,
Speaker 2: has just decided they're going to clear the deck and
Speaker 2: next year it's weird, Smitty and we should acknowledge that
Speaker 2: Austin is a recent higher So some of the messaging
Speaker 2: from the front office last year probably is not the
Speaker 2: messaging from the front office this year. But one of
Speaker 2: their cliched lines. And I heard Xanik say this, I
Speaker 2: heard Danny say this, I heard Will say this is
Speaker 2: they kept saying pups can't raise pups. Okay, so last
Speaker 2: year was kind of like Patty Mills, Drew u Banks
Speaker 2: will bring in some locker room vets to help these
Speaker 2: young players learn how to be pros.
Speaker 4: Feels like there's a paradigm shift.
Speaker 2: It feels like pups this year will very much be
Speaker 2: raising pups because it looks like what we're going to
Speaker 2: see is just all these young kids playing a lot
Speaker 2: of minutes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I imagine they will. And uh, you know,
Speaker 3: there's something that said to be said for veteran leadership.
Speaker 3: They're helping young guys learn how to do it. I guess.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, we just Joe Ingles is going to
Speaker 3: go back to Minnesota another three and we know Joe,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm not sure he has anything left in
Speaker 3: the gas tank, but but obviously Minnesota sees him as
Speaker 3: being a valuable member of their group. With this group
Speaker 3: of the Jazz, I don't know, you know, the Patty
Speaker 3: Mills threw U Banks and I don't. I don't. I
Speaker 3: never got that anyway, especially when they're they're you know,
Speaker 3: they're everybody knows that they're not trying to win games.
Speaker 3: So that makes it difficult if you're a veteran to
Speaker 3: try and get to get the point across the guys
Speaker 3: about you know, this is how we conduct ourselves. This
Speaker 3: is how we go about our business every day, working
Speaker 3: hard in practice and staying late, arriving early in the
Speaker 3: weight room, whatever it is. And and and guys are
Speaker 3: asking in the middle of the game like like, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, to do what what are we're doing? We're
Speaker 3: gonna lose by twenty anyway, what's what's the difference? So
Speaker 3: that that's a very tough, uh complex thing that I
Speaker 3: think is just very difficult for an organization to manage,
Speaker 3: you know, and keep everybody going the right direction. You're
Speaker 3: either you're either trying to put your best foot forward
Speaker 3: and you're trying to to to to do the best
Speaker 3: you can every night, or or you got a different
Speaker 3: agenda and guys learn learn things differently, and they they
Speaker 3: certainly uh get can get into good habits and they
Speaker 3: also can get into bad habits depending on what your
Speaker 3: organization is is asking you to do from one moment
Speaker 3: to the next. So you know, we'll see, I mean,
Speaker 3: the Jazz just they're they're in this great uh flux
Speaker 3: area right now, and they've got new new sheriff in town,
Speaker 3: as they say, and you know, we'll see again. But
Speaker 3: Austin ain't isn't trying to pull the Donald Trump thing.
Speaker 3: You know, he's not like what man on an island
Speaker 3: trying to run everything. You know, He's got valuable guys
Speaker 3: with him in the room, and not the least of which,
Speaker 3: of course, is his dad. And he's got a very
Speaker 3: involved owner and so that plays into it somehow. And uh,
Speaker 3: but they got a lot of guys in there voicing,
Speaker 3: you know, opinions about what they should do and how
Speaker 3: they should be handling their guys and all that. But
Speaker 3: it's no uh, it's no secret and it shouldn't be
Speaker 3: that that that they're gonna play their young guys a
Speaker 3: lot of minutes and have them in some kind of
Speaker 3: set rotation as the season starts in terms of minutes
Speaker 3: and responsibilities and and seeing you know what these guys
Speaker 3: can can figure out going forward.
Speaker 4: So it brings us to John Collins.
Speaker 2: That's the next name tone in on, and we'll get
Speaker 2: to some others because I honestly don't know how this
Speaker 2: is going to play out. Twenty six point five mil
Speaker 2: expiring this year. This is the first time they've had
Speaker 2: him with an expiring contract. I don't know how much
Speaker 2: of that plays into the ability to move on from him.
Speaker 2: You can make an argument, Smitty that last year was
Speaker 2: his best year as a pro, maybe second to the
Speaker 2: year he had in Atlanta before he got his big contract.
Speaker 2: But if you're a GM and you're running a team
Speaker 2: and Austin calls you and says, what about John Collins,
Speaker 2: what do you say?
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, you know John Collins has a
Speaker 3: big number for what John Collins does. Yep, right now
Speaker 3: in the NA Now, he played very well last year
Speaker 3: my opinion, on a team that wasn't trying to play well.
Speaker 3: So I give him credit for that. He's he's a
Speaker 3: big guy, he's a fluid guy who can play inside
Speaker 3: and outside. It depends on the team. It depends on
Speaker 3: who else they got on the floor with him playing.
Speaker 3: You know, I have to I have to admit I
Speaker 3: liked him better last year than I did the previous
Speaker 3: couple of years. I was never a big John Collins guy.
Speaker 3: I always thought, you know, he played in second gear
Speaker 3: and never really was busting it out on the floor.
Speaker 3: But but last year I thought he played well, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, for for most of the year on a
Speaker 3: team where it was difficult to play well and to
Speaker 3: put your best foot forward. And so you know, they're
Speaker 3: gonna have to try and find a team that that
Speaker 3: is willing to uh to take on his money. I
Speaker 3: don't know who wants to do that. The Jazz may
Speaker 3: have to try and do something, you know, where they're
Speaker 3: willing to take on keep you know, taking on some
Speaker 3: of the money and do some kind of a deal
Speaker 3: with that with somebody. It's gonna be difficult to move him,
Speaker 3: I think, merely because of the money that he makes.
Speaker 3: So they're gonna have to have something involving his money
Speaker 3: and how they handle that if they in fact want
Speaker 3: to move on from him.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask you about the other transactions, just because
Speaker 2: they were made. We might have ten seconds for each
Speaker 2: of them. They wave Johnny, they wave Johnny Jews.
Speaker 3: Come see now now that shows you're not being serious.
Speaker 3: What do you actuct like that?
Speaker 4: What do you know?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: I mean, well, I mean was there did you think
Speaker 2: there was a place for him at the end of
Speaker 2: the bench.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, I've never been at Johnny Jusi and
Speaker 3: guy you know, all these G League guys they've been
Speaker 3: playing the last year or so. You know. Again, you know,
Speaker 3: we can debate that all we want about, you know,
Speaker 3: why they have a G League team if they're using
Speaker 3: the Jazz as their G League team. But okay, that's
Speaker 3: that's what they're the route that they're choosing to go,
Speaker 3: and so far the fans are going along with it
Speaker 3: because the fans are paying full boat money to come
Speaker 3: see a G League team play on the floor. Okay,
Speaker 3: you know, you guys want to do that, go ahead.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know how long that will last,
Speaker 3: you know, but that's that's what they've been doing. And
Speaker 3: guys like Jews and you Banks and Micah Potter and whatever,
Speaker 3: they're just you know, they're they're like seat fillers at
Speaker 3: the Oscar Oscars to me, you know, I mean, they're
Speaker 3: just not You're not getting anywhere. You're spinning your tires.
Speaker 3: That's my opinion. Now that's probably why I'm sitting in
Speaker 3: the radio station instead of being over in their meetings,
Speaker 3: you know. So that's you know, that's the way they're
Speaker 3: they're they're going about their business.
Speaker 2: Oh you just gave me ninety seconds on Johnny jew Zang.
Speaker 2: I didn't think we'd be able to do that.
Speaker 3: Hey, you know, well, look he was very good. He
Speaker 3: had a very nice career at UCLA, you know, after
Speaker 3: transferring from Kentucky and and played himself well and got
Speaker 3: himself some NBA money. Okay, I don't know if he'll
Speaker 3: get an NBA job. He's really a EuroLeague A type
Speaker 3: player to me, and where you can have a nice career,
Speaker 3: you know, as we've seen a lot of our local guys,
Speaker 3: you know, Jacon Carroll being one of them, having a
Speaker 3: terrific career Real Madrid for a decade, and Johnny Juzang
Speaker 3: should be over there, you know, with one of those teams.
Speaker 3: That's my opinion. But you know, I'm not his agent,
Speaker 3: and and I'm certainly not in an NBA team that
Speaker 3: might try and and give him another chance.
Speaker 2: And equally compelling news they've guaranteed the deals FEMA Kai
Speaker 2: Luke this year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I don't know what to say about that either.
Speaker 3: That's another that's another placeholder. I'm not I'm not sure
Speaker 3: what that what that's about. He's probably a good guy,
Speaker 3: you know. I mean again, I watched him play when
Speaker 3: he was fifteen sixteen over in Europe. He hasn't gotten
Speaker 3: any better. He's just you know, he's just a guy
Speaker 3: out there every now and then he makes a couple
Speaker 3: of shots in the game. Okay, and uh and again.
Speaker 3: But he's a guy who could be having a much
Speaker 3: bigger career and a more substantial one if he chose
Speaker 3: to play over in Europe where he's from. And he
Speaker 3: may end up doing that at some point, but the
Speaker 3: Jazz have decided at least to guarantee his kind of Now,
Speaker 3: that may be something where they just want to keep
Speaker 3: his contract, you know, in their back pocket in case
Speaker 3: they have to use it as a filler in some
Speaker 3: kind of other move where they have to either take
Speaker 3: back money or give money or something like that. So
Speaker 3: they could also be a play like that down the
Speaker 3: road as well.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 2: So it brings us into this space where, you know,
Speaker 2: all we can do is read the riding on the
Speaker 2: wall here and try to read the tea leaves where
Speaker 2: Clarkson is gone, Sexton is gone every time I open
Speaker 2: up anything about what could be next. And the Jazzer
Speaker 2: mentioned everyone says they're talking to teams about John Collins.
Speaker 2: Do you think they're talking to teams about marketing? Do
Speaker 2: you think they're having conversations about Lowry? I don't know
Speaker 2: if they're having any active conversations. I haven't heard anything
Speaker 2: from any of my sources around the NBA about that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff going on. I think they would certainly
Speaker 2: entertain any conversation about any guy based on the current
Speaker 2: status of the team, and that is something that there's
Speaker 2: still there's still at the starting line and they're still waiting,
Speaker 2: you know, for the gun to go off to start
Speaker 2: the race, and they're still trying to formulate what their
Speaker 2: team looks like in that regard. So, you know, I
Speaker 2: don't think Marketing is untouchable. I don't think Kessel is untouchable.
Speaker 2: You know, any of their guys certainly would be in
Speaker 2: a conversation based on what other teams are looking at
Speaker 2: or what they would have to offer, and how the
Speaker 2: how the Jazz headed up now by the main decision
Speaker 2: maker being Austin age, how they view what they're trying
Speaker 2: to do in terms of the overall makeup of their group.
Speaker 4: Hello, so I have the I have the Jazz payroll
Speaker 4: in front of me.
Speaker 3: Okay, I got to ask.
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask a question before I ask what
Speaker 2: I want to ask to make sure that my understanding
Speaker 2: is correct?
Speaker 4: Is correct?
Speaker 2: Is it possible that they have a team option on
Speaker 2: Taylor Hendricks after this year?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Well yeah, Well, the way that the NBA contracts work,
Speaker 3: the rookie contracts are four year deals. The first two
Speaker 3: years are guaranteed, the third year is a team option,
Speaker 3: and the fourth year is a team option. So the
Speaker 3: team decid in the third and fourth year of a
Speaker 3: rookie deal whether they want to keep that rookie for
Speaker 3: another year or not. So that's how they work.
Speaker 4: Is it possible to have a team option on Cody
Speaker 4: next year?
Speaker 3: Yes? Yeah, again, because you're those contracts are for four years.
Speaker 3: The first two are guaranteed, the third is is not guaranteed,
Speaker 3: the fourth is not guaranteed, So the team has the
Speaker 3: option to pick up if they want to keep the
Speaker 3: player on. They can pick up that option early in
Speaker 3: the fall. H for the for the year ahead, so
Speaker 3: they can they can do that if they choose to
Speaker 3: do it. This is the Jimmer for Debt deal Spence,
Speaker 3: where for Debt had was taken by Sacramento in the
Speaker 3: first round in fact ten, just like Cody Williams was,
Speaker 3: and Sacramento decided after the second year they they didn't
Speaker 3: think Jimmer was good enough, they didn't want to pick
Speaker 3: up the team option, so they just let him go
Speaker 3: and the year the summer after his second year in
Speaker 3: the league, he became an unrestricted free agent.
Speaker 2: So in a wasteman because they also have team options
Speaker 2: on Keyante, Bryce Sensiba and Isaiah Collier.
Speaker 4: That's correct, So five team options on these young players.
Speaker 3: That's all just because they're all under rookie rookie scale
Speaker 3: contracts for the first four years they're in the NBA.
Speaker 2: So this is kind of a bigger year for these
Speaker 2: five young players. And maybe we fully understand because the
Speaker 2: Jazz can make a decision on tho as early as
Speaker 2: next season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well they could have, like for example, they picked
Speaker 3: up the option earlier on Kiante George. Okay, so you're
Speaker 3: allowed to do that, but just say, in a hypothetical situation,
Speaker 3: they Isaiah Collier just finished his first year, so he's
Speaker 3: got this next year coming up as guaranteed the Jazz
Speaker 3: can pick up the third year option. They have certain
Speaker 3: dates that they can they can do that and get
Speaker 3: that under their belt. Sometimes you do that just to
Speaker 3: let the player know, hey, we're with you, we're gonna
Speaker 3: work with you, or whatever. Sometimes if you know, in
Speaker 3: the Jimmer for Deck case, you know, just say, hypothetically,
Speaker 3: Collier comes in, he's out of shape, he's he's gained weight,
Speaker 3: he's whatever. They don't like the way he shows up
Speaker 3: in training camp in the fall, they decide to hold
Speaker 3: off on picking up his third year option. They go
Speaker 3: into the middle of the season, he's not getting better,
Speaker 3: he's getting giving him some kind of attitude. Whatever. They
Speaker 3: can decide, hey, I'm not sure we got a guy
Speaker 3: we want to hang around with or keep, and so
Speaker 3: they can just wait it out and then the end
Speaker 3: of next year they could say, hey, we're not gonna
Speaker 3: pick up the third year team option and we're just
Speaker 3: gonna let him go, and then they get out of
Speaker 3: the obligation all together. And now they let the kid
Speaker 3: move on and then the team can move on. So
Speaker 3: that's why it's set up where those third and fourth
Speaker 3: years on the rookie scale contracts, the team controls whether
Speaker 3: they still want you as quote part of their team
Speaker 3: or part of their development program, and they want to
Speaker 3: keep you around doing that. And then at the end
Speaker 3: of the fourth year you become a restricted free agent.
Speaker 3: Now the team may give you an offer, you may
Speaker 3: accept it and extend that rookie deal, and you can
Speaker 3: do that into the fifth, sixth, seventh year, or the
Speaker 3: team can say, like they did the Jazz did with
Speaker 3: Gordon Hayward, you know we're gonna offer you just this amount.
Speaker 3: Gordon Hayward thought you should get more. The Jazz said,
Speaker 3: go out and get an offer from somebody and bring
Speaker 3: it back if you can. Gordon Hayward went out, got
Speaker 3: an offer from the Charlotte Hornets for fifteen million a year,
Speaker 3: comes back, says, I got an offer from Charlotte for
Speaker 3: fifteen million. You offered me ten and the Jazz had
Speaker 3: seventy two hours to match it, and of course they
Speaker 3: didn't want to lose him. So in that regard, the
Speaker 3: Jazz say, we're gonna match that because you're a restricted
Speaker 3: free agent, and they get to keep him and they
Speaker 3: said in this negotiation, in this moment in time, Gordon,
Speaker 3: you won the debate because we tried to pay you
Speaker 3: ten and you went out and forced us to pay
Speaker 3: you fifteen by getting an offer from someone else. That's
Speaker 3: how it works. That's why we say in the current
Speaker 3: setup of the collective partying agreement, the first half of
Speaker 3: a player's career the minimum seven years, if the team
Speaker 3: wants you, they have control of you no matter what
Speaker 3: you want to do as a player. The second half
Speaker 3: of your career, if you have a say, fifteen year career,
Speaker 3: like Gordon Hayward did, he's the perfect example of how
Speaker 3: it works, where the team controls the player's career the
Speaker 3: first half of it, and then the player controls what
Speaker 3: he wants to do in the second half of the
Speaker 3: of the career.
Speaker 4: Do you think that made Gordon mad?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know if it made him mad,
Speaker 3: I would say this. Gordon and his dad are very
Speaker 3: smart guys. You know, Gordon is one of the smarter
Speaker 3: players that we've had through the Jazz over the years,
Speaker 3: just in terms of practicality, and you know, he was
Speaker 3: smart enough and and his agent, Mark Bartlestein, who's who's
Speaker 3: you know, a very well respected and very good guy
Speaker 3: and an honest guy. You know. He said, hey, we're
Speaker 3: gonna we're gonna go out and try and get an
Speaker 3: offer to get Gordon more money. That's his job, okay.
Speaker 3: And Gordon's sitting there going yeah, okay, yeah, I'd like
Speaker 3: to get more money if I can. And they went
Speaker 3: out and they got Charlotte. Now Charlotte had to make
Speaker 3: that commitment. So there was a period of seventy two
Speaker 3: hours where Charlotte. If the Jazz say yeah, that's too
Speaker 3: rich for our blood, we're out. Now, Charlotte's got him.
Speaker 3: So Charlotte had to come to the table with that
Speaker 3: offer and make sure we want the guy in case,
Speaker 3: you know, Utah turns it down. We got him at
Speaker 3: that number, and of course the Jazz ended up accepting
Speaker 3: that number and he stayed with the Jazz for another
Speaker 3: three years. But that's that's how the CBA works, and
Speaker 3: that's how that's how all these players. They're under contract
Speaker 3: to the team for those first four years with those
Speaker 3: third and fourth year team options. That's always that's the
Speaker 3: way it's been for for for many many years now.
Speaker 3: So the team controls and they're looking at you in practice,
Speaker 3: and they're looking to see, Yeah, Spence, check its he is.
Speaker 3: Do we want to keep him around for third year?
Speaker 3: Do we want them a fourth year? And and the
Speaker 3: team controls that and uh and then after that then
Speaker 3: then you get into the restrictive free agent stuff.
Speaker 2: All right, before we catch a break, we'll wrap up
Speaker 2: the Jazz portion of our hit with committee today with
Speaker 2: just to follow up based off of all of these players,
Speaker 2: Isaiah Callier, Rice s and Sabah Keantay, George Cody Williams,
Speaker 2: Taylor Hendricks are technically entering what could be the final
Speaker 2: year of their deal with the Jazz could be technically Yeah,
Speaker 2: do you think any of them are in danger of
Speaker 2: not being brought back?
Speaker 3: That's a good question. I think, uh, I think those
Speaker 3: are probably guys that uh. Again, what's gonna be interesting
Speaker 3: player on it, Spence, Now, is that you know, even
Speaker 3: though there's the obvious you know, age family connection on that,
Speaker 3: you know, was Danny Ainge who selected these guys parenthetically
Speaker 3: in the draft. He's the final decision maker during those drafts. Now,
Speaker 3: Austin Ainge is the one who's in charge. Maybe Austin
Speaker 3: Ainge says Hey, Dad, I love you, but the guy
Speaker 3: you chose last year he stinks, you know, and I
Speaker 3: don't like him. And so they have a disagreement about that.
Speaker 3: And so you know, there's always a scenario where they
Speaker 3: could they could you know, sit there in the room
Speaker 3: and go, I just don't think the guy's good enough,
Speaker 3: and I think we made a mistake. And sometimes when
Speaker 3: you like the Sacramento Kings and the Gym of for
Speaker 3: debt example, sometimes you have to just step up to
Speaker 3: the table and admit to yourself and to everybody around,
Speaker 3: we made a mistake, we made the wrong call, okay,
Speaker 3: and we cut our losses and we move on. Sometimes
Speaker 3: teams don't to do that because teams don't don't want
Speaker 3: to admit they made a mistake, right, and they don't
Speaker 3: want to admit that, oh, I had an error in
Speaker 3: judgment in that regard. And so a lot of times
Speaker 3: it's very rare that you see a team not pick
Speaker 3: up the third year option or the fourth year option
Speaker 3: on a player that they drafted, because the teams are
Speaker 3: trying to make sure that they squeeze all the water
Speaker 3: out of that stone, and they make guy a full
Speaker 3: run to show us whether he can contribute and continue
Speaker 3: playing in the NBA. And you know, sometimes sometimes teams
Speaker 3: will hold on to guys longer than they should, just
Speaker 3: because they're trying to make sure they give the player
Speaker 3: every opportunity to improve and to get better.
Speaker 2: All right, we'll catch a break coming up next, we'll
Speaker 2: move off the jazz and just talk more big picture
Speaker 2: stuff and of course, if anything comes down one we're
Speaker 2: on air.
Speaker 4: We'll bring it to you.
Speaker 2: Damian Lillard has been stretched and waved, and the Milwaukee
Speaker 2: Bucks have acquired Miles Turner. Some other interesting storylines, including
Speaker 2: Quinn Snyder being reunited with the player he had in Utah.
Speaker 2: We just didn't play Atlanta making some moves, Denver making
Speaker 2: some moves, Houston making some moves. We'll do some big
Speaker 2: picture NBA with Smitty coming up on the other side
Speaker 2: of a Tuesday edition of The Drive right here on
Speaker 2: ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 5: Miss something from the Shan O'Connell Show. No worries, Just
Speaker 5: visit ESPN seven hundred sports dot com or search The
Speaker 5: Shawn O'Connell Show wherever you get great podcasts. You are
Speaker 5: listening to a Drive with Spence Checkets.
Speaker 6: On Kall North Salt Lake, kxrk HD three ESPN seven
Speaker 6: hundred and ninety two to one FM. Download the ESPN
Speaker 6: seven hundred F for free. Today we got some.
Speaker 2: Breaking news, but don't get too excited. Duncan Robinson has
Speaker 2: agreed to a three year, forty eight million dollar deal
Speaker 2: with the Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 3: What do you think, Sviny, Yeah, well, I can see
Speaker 3: I can see Dennis Lindsay's fingers all over that. Duncan
Speaker 3: Robinson a good play with length, and he's a very
Speaker 3: good open shooter. And the Pistons have money. So another
Speaker 3: guy that they're adding to the young group that can
Speaker 3: provide some spacing for Cave Cunningham off the pick and
Speaker 3: midpick and roll to get in the lane. And Robinson
Speaker 3: can be one of those guys spotting up on the
Speaker 3: wing or down in the corner, you know, having that
Speaker 3: three ball threat. So you know, a good a good
Speaker 3: spot for them, a good way for them to spend
Speaker 3: some of the money that they have under the cap.
Speaker 2: All right, So let's move over to what Milwaukee decided
Speaker 2: to do today with Damian Lillard, who played his college
Speaker 2: ball for Randy Rage.
Speaker 4: Is up the way.
Speaker 2: It's what's called a stretch provision and they waived him.
Speaker 2: And so from what I'm reading, and he'll be on
Speaker 2: the books for the next five years at about twenty
Speaker 2: three million dollars. Optically, when you see that Damian Lillard
Speaker 2: has been waived by an NBA team, you're like, wait,
Speaker 2: what that is a wild.
Speaker 4: Wild decision.
Speaker 2: Now, of course he will miss all the next year
Speaker 2: recovering from an injury. This way, he does get all
Speaker 2: of his money over the course of a certain amount
Speaker 2: of time, and he can pick where he wants to
Speaker 2: go next, whether it's his final act or the next act.
Speaker 2: But take us through the mentality of a front office.
Speaker 2: They also utilize the flexibility that they were able to
Speaker 2: get with this deal to acquire Miles Turner from Indiana
Speaker 2: and the Bucks and the Pacers. Not a lot of
Speaker 2: love lost there, so kind of an interesting day for them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, what the Bucks do is they replace brook
Speaker 3: Lopez with Miles Turner. So a little bit younger guy,
Speaker 3: a little bit springier, a guy, a little bit livelier,
Speaker 3: a body in the middle, a guy you can shoot
Speaker 3: fairly decently from the outside, you know, about the same
Speaker 3: as brook Lopez, but he's a little more active and
Speaker 3: that allows them to plug in a guy basically is
Speaker 3: going to do the same stuff, you know, within reason
Speaker 3: that Brook Lopez did for Giannis to support Jannis, you know,
Speaker 3: in that core in in Milwaukee, for Damian Lillard. This
Speaker 3: is a provision that's provided in the collective bargain agreement
Speaker 3: where teams make a mistake or if it's a mistake
Speaker 3: or something like this where where they have a guy
Speaker 3: who's gonna be injured and he's getting paid a lot
Speaker 3: of money and they just want to get out of
Speaker 3: it somehow. Your teams can now have what they call
Speaker 3: the stretch provision where they can waive a guy and
Speaker 3: then they take his total salary ode and they can
Speaker 3: stretch it over any period of time from one to
Speaker 3: five years. So obviously teams are gonna usually stretch it
Speaker 3: out to five and that means they just chop it
Speaker 3: up in five equal segments, and that's what goes on
Speaker 3: their books in terms of salary cap purposes for luxury
Speaker 3: taxes and penalties and all that kind of stuff. So
Speaker 3: they're gonna be paying Damian Lillard around twenty two twenty
Speaker 3: three million or whatever it is a year for the
Speaker 3: next five years to sit at his beach house in
Speaker 3: Portland or do whatever he's gonna do. He's gonna rehab,
Speaker 3: he's gonna take this next year off. He's one of
Speaker 3: the hardest working guys in the NBA, and I know
Speaker 3: that personally. I've seen him. I've seen him do it
Speaker 3: for years, and we knew that coming into the draft
Speaker 3: when he got drafted. He's one of the guys you
Speaker 3: want with around your group because he is a true
Speaker 3: professional in every regard. So in that way, he's gonna
Speaker 3: work this next year. He's gonna work to get himself
Speaker 3: back as much as he can, and then he's going
Speaker 3: to try and find a team, whether it's the end
Speaker 3: of next year, depending on how quickly his rehab goes,
Speaker 3: if he can get into the playoffs with a team
Speaker 3: that can use his services in a playoff run type situation.
Speaker 3: If it's not, then it would be next summer when
Speaker 3: he'd be full. You would think he would be fully
Speaker 3: healthy and then be able to look around and try
Speaker 3: and find a team that he thinks he can help,
Speaker 3: that he thinks he can add to their championship hopes.
Speaker 3: So he would be looking around at that point in time.
Speaker 3: I think for a select handful of teams that give
Speaker 3: him the best chance of maybe making a long run,
Speaker 3: you know, potentially to the NBA Finals and trying to
Speaker 3: win a championship near the end of his career. So
Speaker 3: that's what I kind of would think would be kind
Speaker 3: of the game plan that he would try and mark
Speaker 3: out for himself.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move over to the West for some
Speaker 2: teams that I think have made some interesting strides in
Speaker 2: the right direction. As we've already discussed the Utah Jazz
Speaker 2: and kind of what they're trying to do throughout the
Speaker 2: course of this offseason, I think we need to start
Speaker 2: with Houston, who of course acquires Kevin Durantz. They extended Jabbari,
Speaker 2: they gave him a five year deal. Van Vliet is
Speaker 2: locked in, and then I'm not sure what's happening in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles, but Dorian Finney Smith is a good player,
Speaker 2: four years, fifty three mil Clint Capella. You know they
Speaker 2: already f Steven Adams on the roster. I mean the
Speaker 2: Vegas odds, and I know you love this second best
Speaker 2: team in the West as of now, and there's plenty
Speaker 2: of time between now in the fall, But what do
Speaker 2: you make of Houston kind of going all in to
Speaker 2: expedite their process.
Speaker 3: Well, the the you know, what they're smart and is
Speaker 3: that they've got a guy who they know can can
Speaker 3: produce and be a lead guy in in tough playoff situations.
Speaker 3: So that's Kevin Durant. So now they got these young guys,
Speaker 3: you know, and you know, look, Steven Adams is a VET,
Speaker 3: Clint Capella is a VET. Dorian Finney Smith has been around,
Speaker 3: he's a VET. So you've got these guys who have
Speaker 3: experienced playoffs experience to match up with the younger group
Speaker 3: of guys led by Shongoon who's twenty two years old,
Speaker 3: Jabari Smith twenty two years old, I'm and Thompson is
Speaker 3: twenty two. Then you put that, you mix them in
Speaker 3: with Cam Whitmore, and then of course they resigned Fred
Speaker 3: van Vliet as well, and so you've got a good
Speaker 3: mix of veterans and young guys and they're trying to
Speaker 3: get something done the next couple of years while they've
Speaker 3: got Kevin Durant in the fold and still playing at
Speaker 3: the highest of levels. So that's that's what they've figured out.
Speaker 3: And they figured out the money that they can get
Speaker 3: this done with. And so they they've gone all in
Speaker 3: on trying to figure to see if they can challenge
Speaker 3: the Okacs and the Denvers and the Golden States of
Speaker 3: the Western Conference the next couple of years.
Speaker 2: I wonder, real quick, going back to this Turner deal,
Speaker 2: if you're a Pacers fan, you were in Game seven
Speaker 2: of the finals ten days ago, like Halliburton's also going
Speaker 2: to miss time. What do you think is going on
Speaker 2: with the Indiana front office? Are they kind of viewing
Speaker 2: next year the way Boston is without Tatum. It just
Speaker 2: it caught me off guard because I'm looking at what
Speaker 2: the Pacer just did. I'm looking at the East Wide Open.
Speaker 2: No Halliburn changes their equation. Ten days ago, they were
Speaker 2: in Game seven of the NBA Finals and Miles Turner
Speaker 2: as a buck.
Speaker 3: And you can look at it a lot of different ways. Spence.
Speaker 3: One is to say, hey, yeah, we got to Game seven,
Speaker 3: we had forty eight minutes to possibly win the NBA Championship.
Speaker 3: Didn't go our way. But we also have to be
Speaker 3: objective and look at how we got to Game seven,
Speaker 3: and that was with a lot of good play during
Speaker 3: the playoffs, but also a lot of good fortune during
Speaker 3: the playoffs and different series where the ball literally bounced
Speaker 3: their way several times. They got them, you know, a
Speaker 3: win in a playoff series that propelled them to go
Speaker 3: on to the next round of the playoffs. So they
Speaker 3: may be looking at it and saying, yeah, we had
Speaker 3: a good run, we had a lot of things go
Speaker 3: our way. We had the tough injury in the last game.
Speaker 3: Yeah it didn't quite work out that way. But we
Speaker 3: can't fool ourselves into thinking we're really that good in
Speaker 3: that regard, and so we have to step back and
Speaker 3: make sure we're assessing our team fairly. And that also,
Speaker 3: unfortunately involves in not having a Tyrese Haliburton next season
Speaker 3: on our playing roster. And so that's that's one thing
Speaker 3: we have to look at and assess in a way
Speaker 3: that makes sense for us in the short term but
Speaker 3: also going forward in the long term what it means
Speaker 3: to us.
Speaker 2: Oftentimes, there's this debate that rages about, you know, who's
Speaker 2: the best local college player that has made his way
Speaker 2: towards the NBA and professional basketball. And I don't know
Speaker 2: who the best is, but I know who the richest is.
Speaker 2: As Jaka Pertle has signed the richest contract in the
Speaker 2: history of any player that has played his college ball here.
Speaker 2: One hundred and four million dollar extent for Yaka Perl.
Speaker 2: I wonder back when he was here, how you scouted him,
Speaker 2: what sort of player you thought he would be in
Speaker 2: your thoughts that he continues to play at a high level,
Speaker 2: and Toronto obviously very values him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's uh, you know, I thought he'd be a
Speaker 3: solid pro and I think that's what he is. I
Speaker 3: don't think he's an All star level player, but I
Speaker 3: think he's a good starting center in the NBA. He
Speaker 3: he works hard, he's a good teammate, he's he's a
Speaker 3: good locker room guy. You know, while this looks like
Speaker 3: a lot of money, basically twenty five twenty six million
Speaker 3: dollars a year for the next four years, you know,
Speaker 3: that's unfortunately, that's the going rate, you know for regular guys.
Speaker 3: Now if you look across the landscape of the NBA
Speaker 3: and with this new TV contract, in the new salary cap,
Speaker 3: that's that's in play now, that's just gonna keep creeping up.
Speaker 3: And so guys like Yaka Pertle it can be in
Speaker 3: the right place at the right time and they can
Speaker 3: cash in on a deal like that that doesn't doesn't
Speaker 3: You know, people tend to interpret someone getting money with
Speaker 3: them going to come out the next year and give
Speaker 3: us an increased value of production. That's usually not the case.
Speaker 3: What you're doing is you're just paying the guy because
Speaker 3: that's the going rate to keep him on your team
Speaker 3: for what your hope is is going to be some
Speaker 3: kind of uh, improved play by the group as a whole.
Speaker 3: Jaka Bertle is a very nice player. He's Toronto obviously
Speaker 3: likes him. Uh. They drafted him, they traded him, they
Speaker 3: got him back. Now they're now they're committing to him, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, with this new four year deal. And that's
Speaker 3: and again that's part of what they're what they're trying
Speaker 3: to establish as a core group. They're in Toronto obviously
Speaker 3: now without Messaia Siri leading them in that regard, and
Speaker 3: with Bobby Webster the longtime general manager at the moment
Speaker 3: making those those decisions.
Speaker 2: All right, let's do a quick I do want to
Speaker 2: talk about what the Atlanta Hawks have elected to do
Speaker 2: and our old buddy Quinn Snyder's coaching that team. And
Speaker 2: I told you this before San Antonio, Oklahoma City. You know,
Speaker 2: there are certain decision makers in the league where they
Speaker 2: do something and I'm just like, Okay, it makes sense
Speaker 2: because that's who they are and that's the reputation they've earned.
Speaker 2: Four years, forty one million dollars for Luke Cornette feels
Speaker 2: like a lot of money. Though, Yeah, for this san
Speaker 2: Antonio Spurs, but they get a legitimate backup to Wembanyama
Speaker 2: insurance if wemban Yama has more health issues and san
Speaker 2: Antonio adds Dylan Harper via the draft, and they obviously
Speaker 2: have the back to back Rookie of the Year winners
Speaker 2: with weman Yama and Stefan Castle. But what do you
Speaker 2: make of san Antonio paying Luke Cornette forty one million
Speaker 2: dollars over four years.
Speaker 3: I think that's a lot of money for what Luca
Speaker 3: Cornett does. He's an active player, He's long, he's can
Speaker 3: move somewhat not great, but he he plays hard when
Speaker 3: he's out there. He can he can hit an occasional shot,
Speaker 3: but he's more of a serviceable big man. Ten million
Speaker 3: dollars seems like it's a lot of money for someone
Speaker 3: like him. You can get guys like him, in my opinion, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, at a lesser number, but they they have
Speaker 3: some money to spend. They like him. It's not it's good.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna be a big number. Two years from now,
Speaker 3: when he's in the third year of the deal, he's
Speaker 3: still making ten million, so it may look even better
Speaker 3: than so. But he's he's a player that they they
Speaker 3: wanted to go out and add to their core group.
Speaker 3: It's again, it feels like a lot of money for
Speaker 3: someone like him and what he does to me. But
Speaker 3: in the grand scheme of things, it's not a lot
Speaker 3: of money to secure a guy that you think adds
Speaker 3: to your group. Culturally. He's a good guy in the
Speaker 3: locker room, he's a good guy you know, on the
Speaker 3: practice floor, and he's someone who's gonna add to how
Speaker 3: you want to try and do things in San Antonio.
Speaker 2: Another local story, but not involving the Utah Jazz. Anybody,
Speaker 2: anybody who knows anything, knows that the Bountiful Braves are
Speaker 2: known for developing good looking guys that can really shoot it.
Speaker 2: There you go, and so Sammy Merrill another contract four years,
Speaker 2: thirty eight million dollars for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaker 3: So they call that, I think in circles they call
Speaker 3: that the Bountiful Spence check. Its number, well said, so
Speaker 3: that's that's right around that area. But you know, happy
Speaker 3: for Sam. Look, he's bounced around on a number of teams.
Speaker 3: He was the last guy taking in his draft a year.
Speaker 3: He's had to go through the G league route a
Speaker 3: few times, he's been out of jobs a few times.
Speaker 3: He's been one of those guys who has one it in,
Speaker 3: one foot out. He's stuck with it again, another guy
Speaker 3: that to me might have been I can't say better
Speaker 3: served because obviously he just got this deal now with
Speaker 3: a very competitive NBA team that likes him and that
Speaker 3: uses him in their rotation. So he's gonna be making
Speaker 3: nine million a year the next four years. You know,
Speaker 3: he could have a bigger role on a on a
Speaker 3: EuroLeague team and be very competitive playing in Europe, but
Speaker 3: he'd probably only be making two or three million. And
Speaker 3: so you know, for him, he's stuck with it. He
Speaker 3: believed in himself, he worked at it. He's a great
Speaker 3: you know, he's an A plus guy as we all know,
Speaker 3: and you know he's a little bit of a one
Speaker 3: trick pony at the NBA level, but he's managed to
Speaker 3: figure out how to do that at a level that
Speaker 3: allows him to contribute to a very good team and
Speaker 3: to fit in with the group of guys that they
Speaker 3: have and spends all the time we talk about out
Speaker 3: the fact it's not just this isn't a one on
Speaker 3: one tournament in the NBA. You got to be part
Speaker 3: of a group of a team that's trying to be
Speaker 3: on the same page to try and affect winning and
Speaker 3: trying to move your team forward. And Cleveland obviously values
Speaker 3: him as one part of their equation UH for playing
Speaker 3: winning basketball in the role that he provides them, and
Speaker 3: so it's a it's a great, a great moment for Sam.
Speaker 3: It couldn't be happier for him and his family because
Speaker 3: he's really earned it and really put himself in this position.
Speaker 2: Denver, we should talk about Denver because I feel like, well,
Speaker 2: first of all, they had they have Jokich, so they're
Speaker 2: just going to be relevant because they have who I
Speaker 2: think is the best player in the world right now.
Speaker 2: But they have been criticized over the past couple of
Speaker 2: years for letting contributors walk instead of going into luxury
Speaker 2: tax or second Apron, whatever it is. And they made
Speaker 2: three pretty interesting moves. First, they trade Michael Porter Junior
Speaker 2: in an other protected first round pick in twenty thirty two.
Speaker 2: Now it's twenty twenty five, so nobody knows. In twenty
Speaker 2: thirty two, YOKOI should be thirty seven, so we'll see
Speaker 2: what Brooklyn's able to grab. Their They bring in Cam Johnson,
Speaker 2: who was a son for a minute, and I think
Speaker 2: there's a lot to like about Cam Johnson. And then
Speaker 2: they bring back Bruce Brown, who was a key member
Speaker 2: of their championship team a few years ago. And look,
Speaker 2: I'm not a huge Tim Hardaway junior guy, but if
Speaker 2: he's your ninth or tenth guy, I think you're doing
Speaker 2: all right.
Speaker 4: What do you make of the three moves Denvers made?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they they've done. They brought back a
Speaker 3: guy who they know and they can fit in seamlessly
Speaker 3: with how they play, and that's Bruce Brown. They made
Speaker 3: the switch with Michael Porter and brought in Cam Johnson,
Speaker 3: you know, not quite as big as Porter, but maybe
Speaker 3: maybe does the same kind of stuff, you know, within
Speaker 3: reason for for how they their group operates, of course,
Speaker 3: and then you know, by adding those guys in the mix,
Speaker 3: you know, to to go with the guys they already
Speaker 3: have in Gordon and and Jokic, and Murray, those guys
Speaker 3: you know, you know, can fit in with what they
Speaker 3: do and how they're trying to do it. And of course, uh,
Speaker 3: they've got the emerging player Christian Brown, who I think
Speaker 3: you know, it gives them something. And then also they
Speaker 3: you know, they brought in uh both Jonas Valentunis uh
Speaker 3: and they got him in the trade now, uh, to
Speaker 3: bring him in as a backup. He's a very good
Speaker 3: be a very good backup for Jokich and may be
Speaker 3: able to give him some extra minutes from game to game,
Speaker 3: which would be interesting to them. And then uh, and
Speaker 3: and then I believe they're bringing out they bringing it
Speaker 3: back Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 2: That's not official, what is officials. They've also traded Dario
Speaker 2: Sarriz for Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, They've traded Sharge for for Valentnish and they're
Speaker 3: getting him, you know, to be Jokicic's backup, which is
Speaker 3: smart because he can take extra minutes. He can meaning
Speaker 3: he can play you know, maybe more backup men than
Speaker 3: the Denver backups have been doing for Jokic, so can
Speaker 3: give him more time off the court during games, which
Speaker 3: you will extend him during the course of the season.
Speaker 3: So when he gets to April and May and hopefully
Speaker 3: June for them. You know, he's played fewer minutes that year,
Speaker 3: and maybe he'll have more gas in the tank come
Speaker 3: playoff time.
Speaker 4: Final one. Smiddy.
Speaker 2: I think this is fascinating because the Atlanta Hawks have
Speaker 2: a coach named Quinn Snyder, and once upon a time,
Speaker 2: Quinn Snyder had a player named the kil Alexander Walker
Speaker 2: who could not get off the bench. Quinn seemed to
Speaker 2: prefer Royce O'Neil and some other players. The Kiel Alexander
Speaker 2: Walker goes to Minnesota, has a really good run playoffs
Speaker 2: Game two, three and four. You had like fifty two
Speaker 2: points on nineteen and thirty two shooting. Once Minnesota brought
Speaker 2: back nas Reed and Julius Randall, it looked like Nikio
Speaker 2: was out of their price range, and the Kiel Alexander
Speaker 2: Walker lands in Atlanta to play for Quinn again. They
Speaker 2: make the deal last week for Kristaps Porzingis. Terrence Man
Speaker 2: goes to Brooklyn, George Niang former buddy around here, goes
Speaker 2: to Boston, and then they also bring in Luke Canard
Speaker 2: from the Minnesota or achieved me from the Memphis Grizzly.
Speaker 2: So again as we've talked about, the East certainly feels
Speaker 2: like it is pretty wide open. I don't know if
Speaker 2: you think Atlanta has put themselves in the mix, but
Speaker 2: some interesting movement from the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaker 3: No, they they've added some players that will help them,
Speaker 3: some guys who will be very good players, maybe starting,
Speaker 3: but certainly rotational type guys. And Nikiel He'll he'll come in.
Speaker 3: He'll give him good rotation minutes. He's a good role
Speaker 3: player who can play multiple positions. Of course, Luke Canard
Speaker 3: is one of the better shooters in the league. Then
Speaker 3: he has had that experience to be able to extend defenses.
Speaker 3: They have the new draft pick that you know they
Speaker 3: got last week, Ason Newell out of Georgia, who I
Speaker 3: think has a chance to be a pretty good player
Speaker 3: if Porzingis is healthy. He's got one year left, so
Speaker 3: he's kind of like on a try basis with them
Speaker 3: to see what he can do during the course of
Speaker 3: the year and if he can stay healthy. And of
Speaker 3: course they had the number one pick two years ago,
Speaker 3: Zacharyache who's still a guy who's learning, who's developing. So
Speaker 3: they have a nice mix of guys there all around.
Speaker 3: Trey Young who controls all the action from the point
Speaker 3: guard position. So you know, a nice mix of guys there.
Speaker 3: Of course, again Atlanta dealing with the front office change
Speaker 3: of their own, so they have some different decision makers
Speaker 3: there now, and we'll see how that plays out for
Speaker 3: Quinn Snyder and his group.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask you one more question only because I
Speaker 2: just received my fifth text message of the day about
Speaker 2: this and I know the answer to it.
Speaker 4: So don't get mad at me. Don't put me in
Speaker 4: my corner.
Speaker 2: There's nothing that makes sense about the Jazz and Dame Lillard, right,
Speaker 2: there's nothing that makes sense about Dame Lillard signed with
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz for either the Jazz or Dame that.
Speaker 3: Would be correct in my opinion. I mean there's no
Speaker 3: I mean, Damian lil is gonna he's gonna be taken
Speaker 3: next year to to rehab, to get his leg right,
Speaker 3: get all that stuff straightened out. He'll do that because
Speaker 3: he's that kind of a worker. And then my opinion,
Speaker 3: I would assume that he would then be in a
Speaker 3: position to be able to look around the league and
Speaker 3: target three, four five teams that he thinks he could
Speaker 3: add to either as the starter, depending on what a
Speaker 3: particular team situation is or you know, as a valuable
Speaker 3: rotation backup guy to try and get somebody over the
Speaker 3: hump in a playoff situation, you know, is that you know,
Speaker 3: might be too late for somebody like the Lakers. But
Speaker 3: just as a hypothetical example, maybe a year from now,
Speaker 3: if he's if he rehabs well enough and he's ready
Speaker 3: to go next March or April, maybe maybe he looks
Speaker 3: at the Lakers and go he says, hey, I can
Speaker 3: go with Lebron James and Luka Doncic and those guys,
Speaker 3: and I can help them in the spring, you know,
Speaker 3: make something happen. Or maybe you know, he goes somewhere
Speaker 3: else for one of these other teams and and tries
Speaker 3: to give them some help again, either as their starter
Speaker 3: or off the bench, to try and help them make
Speaker 3: an extended playoff run towards a potential championship.
Speaker 2: Well, Smithy, I think today was the day you finally
Speaker 2: became a pro at radio. You gave me five minutes
Speaker 2: on Johnny Juzang being waived and sphe m kay Luke's
Speaker 2: contract picking up that that's called filibustering. And if you
Speaker 2: can't do that, you can't do this job, so bravos sir,
Speaker 2: see that.
Speaker 3: And you can throw any name you want to spends
Speaker 3: that meaning if I don't know it, yeah, I certainly
Speaker 3: will have two minutes that I just make up on
Speaker 3: the fly.
Speaker 4: That's part of that's part of the job.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: Hey, great to see. We'll get you back soon, okay, thanks,
Speaker 2: Thanks Richard Smith. Day two of NBA Free Agencies