Speaker 1: Find me to the moon.
Speaker 2: Let me play among the stars. All right, here we
Speaker 2: go live on site today. We're a little south, but
Speaker 2: it's not that bad. Come on by and say hi,
Speaker 2: it's Tim Dolly Nissan Southtown one five South Jordan Gateway.
Speaker 2: Easiest thing to do is put Tim Dowly Nissan Southtown
Speaker 2: in your GPS and follow it out. They've got vehicles
Speaker 2: priced to move. It's there your end sale. But most importantly,
Speaker 2: if you've never met the legend himself, Richard Smith, and
Speaker 2: the actual legend himself, Coach Frank Laydon live on site. Coach.
Speaker 2: Happy holidays, Merry Christmas. How are you, sir?
Speaker 3: Same to you and your family and to everyone you know,
Speaker 3: and you.
Speaker 2: Hold it to you certainly deserve it. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2: It's smitty. Happy holidays, Merry Christmas. Great to see you.
Speaker 1: Thanks mane we uh. We had a nice time driving
Speaker 1: out here. I went to uh Uh to see the
Speaker 1: new Bob Dylan movie yesterday with some friends over here
Speaker 1: at Jordan Commons and I have friends who live near
Speaker 1: the University of Utah, and they came out and they said, gee,
Speaker 1: I thought I was driving to California or something coming
Speaker 1: out here, because they never go past twenty first, you know.
Speaker 1: So I said, come on, I'm trying to expand your
Speaker 1: world and trying to get you into a new realm.
Speaker 1: And Coach and I came out here and beautiful place
Speaker 1: here at tim Dally Nissan and they have a great
Speaker 1: place here and great great folks you know, ready here
Speaker 1: to help you.
Speaker 2: I know, recommend the movie.
Speaker 1: It was great. You enjoyed it, Okay, you know it's good.
Speaker 1: The actor Timothy Shallomy, you know, young guy. He does
Speaker 1: a great job with Bob Dylan. I had had gone
Speaker 1: back and watched a few early Bob Dylan things conterviews
Speaker 1: and stuff, and didn't realize how much this actor looked
Speaker 1: like him back there in the early days when he
Speaker 1: was in his early twenties in New York. And and
Speaker 1: he did a fantastic job. And it was there's a
Speaker 1: great storyline, you know, learning about the early years he
Speaker 1: was in New York.
Speaker 2: Cool, very nice. I'll have to check it out. Coach.
Speaker 2: I wonder how much how much Jazz basketball are you
Speaker 2: watching this year?
Speaker 3: Well? I get on TV, okay, so I mean that's
Speaker 3: a lot. I watch every game.
Speaker 2: You watch every game? Yes, okay, how do you think
Speaker 2: the progress is coming along with some of these younger
Speaker 2: players we're trying to learn about.
Speaker 4: I have to be honest with you in this respect,
Speaker 4: and uh and all fans to everyone concerned. I don't
Speaker 4: know what it was like from the beginning. Okay, I
Speaker 4: don't intend their workouts. I don't know what they're looking
Speaker 4: to do, all right. I think they've got some good
Speaker 4: young talent.
Speaker 3: Uh. Does it become the is it? Is it? Well? Eventually?
Speaker 3: Be you a foundation or is it what you're what
Speaker 3: you're building the house on. I don't know.
Speaker 4: I I think there's sometimes I like them very much.
Speaker 4: Sometimes I find it a little frustrating.
Speaker 3: But I think that's what all of us. I don't know.
Speaker 3: You know, it's interesting. I said to Smithy coming over.
Speaker 4: I was watching the game by myself last night, watching
Speaker 4: the game, and it could be anybody, right, it didn't
Speaker 4: matter whether Jazz or somebody else. And I said to myself,
Speaker 4: is this a game that I recognize what has happened?
Speaker 4: I'm thinking, I know there's going to be changes, you know,
Speaker 4: whether it's baseball, football or anything else. You know, if
Speaker 4: I look at say baseball, has there been great changes? Yeah?
Speaker 4: In the equipment size, of the athlete training perspectives. So
Speaker 4: like that the athletes better, but the records keep going up.
Speaker 4: I mean, guys are still hitting home runs and what
Speaker 4: have you. So in football, you know, linebackers when I
Speaker 4: was playing, they were one sixty eight, not at two
Speaker 4: eighty yet, right, so you know the game changes that
Speaker 4: the physical Cybernar and I watched basketball, and I say,
Speaker 4: is this a game? I don't recognize. It's not the
Speaker 4: game I started out playing. And I think somewhat, if
Speaker 4: I had to say, and if I had sum it
Speaker 4: up in one word, what is different? I'm not saying,
Speaker 4: but I mean, it's not better. The athletes are better.
Speaker 4: The game is probably better, I mean as the referee
Speaker 4: and is better. Uh, and certainly the players from from
Speaker 4: one to twelve or better. But I do say this
Speaker 4: that I don't know what it's about. Is it about
Speaker 4: just trying to outscore the other guys? I'll play them,
Speaker 4: out run them. Is it a foot racer? Is a
Speaker 4: is it a marathon?
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I I'd really have to sit down, maybe with a
Speaker 4: couple of old timers and a couple of new people
Speaker 4: in the game and see what they're what they're trying
Speaker 4: to obtain. I don't know what their goals are. I
Speaker 4: have to be honest with you. I think you used
Speaker 4: to be able to put say, say on a team,
Speaker 4: on a coach and the staff or an organization. This
Speaker 4: is a team that plays control bad. Red Holsman held
Speaker 4: the ball, you know, And the fans used to holler defense,
Speaker 4: defense in the garden. But it wasn't defense. It was
Speaker 4: how selfish they were. They never turned the ball over.
Speaker 4: They always took good shots, and they were good shot
Speaker 4: They were good players obviously. You know, I'm going back
Speaker 4: to the championship teams of Bill Bradley, those guys.
Speaker 3: By any way, Yeah, And I don't know.
Speaker 4: I found a very hard to do that with teams today.
Speaker 4: Is there some coach out there or some team out
Speaker 4: that I can say, Wow, you're going to have your
Speaker 4: hands full because Jerry Sloan is coaching, and then they're
Speaker 4: going to be a tough defensive team and he's going
Speaker 4: to make great demands of them, of.
Speaker 3: Their bodies and what have you.
Speaker 4: Frankly, and without without interjecting Jerry Sloan, there is I
Speaker 4: don't I can't put my finger on it.
Speaker 3: Is that crazy? I don't know.
Speaker 2: No, it's it's interesting because I wondered what you're and
Speaker 2: I was going to ask you about the actual product,
Speaker 2: because there's in Smitty and I've talked about this. There's
Speaker 2: this debate that's going on right now about why people
Speaker 2: aren't watching the NBA the way they used to.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: The Christmas Day games pulled some good numbers. They were
Speaker 2: also awesome games, and they featured some of the biggest
Speaker 2: stars that we have in the league. But Smittie, when
Speaker 2: you hear Frank talk about the product and not being
Speaker 2: better or worse, just but just being different, is it
Speaker 2: the analytical effect where everyone's trying to hunt threes? Is
Speaker 2: everyone trying to play like Boston? Like, what are your
Speaker 2: thoughts on the different product?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think I think a couple of things, Spence.
Speaker 1: One is that the NBA has set up the defensive
Speaker 1: rules over the last ten years to encourage more open play. More.
Speaker 1: You know, you can't hand check, you can't get guys
Speaker 1: out out in front, you can't keep them, you know,
Speaker 1: with your hand or with an arm bar, and so
Speaker 1: guys have a free reign to the basket. So and
Speaker 1: then you couple that with the analytics that everybody's into now,
Speaker 1: and some teams do it way overboard, and my opinion,
Speaker 1: other teams use it to you know, to their advantage.
Speaker 1: But it's but all the analytics show that you have
Speaker 1: a greater chance of winning an individual game if you
Speaker 1: either get all your shots at the rim, which means
Speaker 1: you know, driving the ball one on one, getting in
Speaker 1: a lane, getting a scene, getting to the rim, or
Speaker 1: getting there the defense collapses and then you kick it
Speaker 1: out to a three point shooter. So everybody is trying
Speaker 1: to get If you look at their shot charts in
Speaker 1: recent years, most teams are really overweighted where you have
Speaker 1: all these attempts at the rim or all these attempts
Speaker 1: from three point land. Last night, for example, the Jazz
Speaker 1: shot forty two threes, which is which is a big number. Now.
Speaker 1: They had it rolling. They shot fifty percent. You know,
Speaker 1: if you can shoot fifty percent from three, then you
Speaker 1: should be taking that that number. Three's right. But they
Speaker 1: had a great night. It fell short because you know,
Speaker 1: it plays at the end of the game and they
Speaker 1: got beat on a buzzer beater. But but that's what
Speaker 1: all the coaches are coaching now. And then the coaches point,
Speaker 1: you know, the guys are more athletic that they're they're quicker,
Speaker 1: they're uh, they they get they get their first step
Speaker 1: quicker off the bounce because the defense is is is
Speaker 1: in a tough position because unless you're a really good
Speaker 1: reactionary player and you can really uh stay in front
Speaker 1: of a guy, you're usually playing a step or two
Speaker 1: off because you know he's trying to get an advantage
Speaker 1: putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim.
Speaker 1: So if you if you play off him too much,
Speaker 1: then he's he's coached to just shoot over the top,
Speaker 1: Just take the three step back, whatever you've got to do,
Speaker 1: and shoot it over the top. And if you come
Speaker 1: up on him and you think you're a good defensive player,
Speaker 1: he's going to put it down and he's going to
Speaker 1: try and get in that lane. And that's what they
Speaker 1: coach him. There's no more screening. Uh. They they're all
Speaker 1: fake screens. Everybody plays scripts, slip screens. They don't they
Speaker 1: don't actually screen a guy like John Stockton used to do.
Speaker 1: There's no weak side action to screen to get a
Speaker 1: guy open, to get a guy cut baseline, anything like that.
Speaker 1: Everything's five out that nobody plays through the post anymore.
Speaker 1: And that's because of the drive of analytics now, and
Speaker 1: the coach is believing that that they have a better
Speaker 1: chance to win the game when they play that kind
Speaker 1: of ball, either at the rim or three point shooting.
Speaker 2: I wonder is there any way to zig when everybody's zagging? Like, Okay,
Speaker 2: everybody's playing like this, and everybody looks at what Joe
Speaker 2: Mazzoo has done in Boston, but not everybody has that roster, right,
Speaker 2: So it's like when everybody said, okay, well Steph is
Speaker 2: doing this, can we do what? No, you can't do
Speaker 2: that because he's one of one. So I wonder if
Speaker 2: there's a way to coach like coach it differently, to
Speaker 2: come up with a different game plan to counter what
Speaker 2: everybody's doing because not everybody has that talent. Does that
Speaker 2: make sense?
Speaker 4: Oh yes, but I think you have to be who
Speaker 4: you are.
Speaker 3: He have a coach? Would you know? Okay, and would
Speaker 3: you believe it?
Speaker 1: All right? Uh?
Speaker 3: You know is come out of spread the floor? All right?
Speaker 3: There's a lot of coaches who don't realize that. You know, the.
Speaker 4: Offense starts the strong side, the width of the floor
Speaker 4: is being started. The minuature retain possession of the wall,
Speaker 4: whether that be a steal or a rebound. Everybody should
Speaker 4: start to get ready to form that infield when they
Speaker 4: get down into the shooting area. I don't see enough
Speaker 4: of that, I think, And that has to be by design.
Speaker 3: It has to be practiced and has to be preached.
Speaker 4: But whether you hire I don't know Pat Riley all
Speaker 4: right to come back into the game and say, alright,
Speaker 4: go coach.
Speaker 3: Would he be stumbling by this?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 4: I think Pat would probably recruit or sign players that
Speaker 4: fit into his pattern and then he would coach them accordingly,
Speaker 4: you know. But I think the game is still one
Speaker 4: from the inside out, counting what you're going to get
Speaker 4: on fast.
Speaker 3: Breaks and whatever. If forty eight what they shoot last
Speaker 3: night said.
Speaker 4: Forty eight forty two threes, and how many of those
Speaker 4: threes were good shots?
Speaker 3: Right, we don't know, you know, common.
Speaker 4: Those led to baskets down the other end giving the
Speaker 4: ball up.
Speaker 3: So I mean, you have to you have to see
Speaker 3: the game.
Speaker 4: But I think you've got to have a philosophy and
Speaker 4: you've got to live within that philosophy.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It was like Jerry Sloan and I we never had
Speaker 3: an argument.
Speaker 4: I mean we never discussed something about players or or
Speaker 4: what we're what we're going to do at a certain
Speaker 4: time in the game or in the season. We seem
Speaker 4: to agree all the time, but one time we did everything.
Speaker 4: Is that I used to like to see the defensive
Speaker 4: slide within each other.
Speaker 3: And Jerry Sloan was always over the top. You've got
Speaker 3: to play a man, get in as Jock, stay on
Speaker 3: top of him.
Speaker 4: And overall his philosophy was correct. We fouled a little
Speaker 4: bit more and.
Speaker 3: But we got it. We start to get up. You
Speaker 3: take being a pretty good defensive date.
Speaker 2: You know, Samity, I wonder what your thoughts are on
Speaker 2: the dynamic of because the coach's point, you have to
Speaker 2: be who you are, and you know, analyze your personnel.
Speaker 2: And as I said, I mean maybe Joe Mazzola is
Speaker 2: a genius, or maybe he has the best roster in
Speaker 2: pro basketball. And you know, you can't replicate what other
Speaker 2: teams are doing when you don't have that personnel. So
Speaker 2: is there some way that because you have to adapt
Speaker 2: and adjust, and if what you're doing is not as
Speaker 2: good as what the other guy's doing, maybe there's a
Speaker 2: different way you can approach playing the game or have
Speaker 2: analytics just seeped in. Because the other thing I hear
Speaker 2: a lot of people say is they feel like most
Speaker 2: teams play the same. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think, well, I think you know, everybody's you know,
Speaker 1: has some kind of a weighted usage of the analytics stuff.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's the head coach. Sometimes it comes from the
Speaker 1: front office, from a general manager or play a personnel,
Speaker 1: a guy you know who's an analytics driven person. Hey.
Speaker 1: Sometimes in this day and age spence, it even goes
Speaker 1: all the way to the owner because several of the
Speaker 1: owners now are tech guys, you know, whether it's the
Speaker 1: Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who comes from the tech background,
Speaker 1: or or Steve Balmer and with the Clippers, or Mark
Speaker 1: Cuban with Dallas, you know, and Vivick Renadev who's who's
Speaker 1: the owner of the Sacramento Kings. You know, they all
Speaker 1: have tech backgrounds, so they wait. Also they think that
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff, you know, makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1: I one of the things I see in the game is,
Speaker 1: you know, to coaches point is that I don't think, uh,
Speaker 1: there are enough players who play defense aggressively enough to
Speaker 1: force the action of what they want, in other words,
Speaker 1: to be, you know, to to to be the one
Speaker 1: who dictates the action. You know, there's too many players
Speaker 1: and too many teams in the NBA who are reactionary defenders.
Speaker 1: In other words, they sit back and they wait to
Speaker 1: see what the offensive guy is gonna do, and then
Speaker 1: they try to catch up or they try to stop
Speaker 1: them when it's too late. You know. One of the
Speaker 1: Jazz's issues all last year and so far to this
Speaker 1: point this year is that they have a problem with
Speaker 1: their transition defense, in particular, because they don't get out
Speaker 1: and stop the ball when it gets over half court,
Speaker 1: and they don't make the dribbler pick up the ball
Speaker 1: and and and get it in his hand for a
Speaker 1: second or two, you know, make them pass it east
Speaker 1: to west so that then the defense can get back
Speaker 1: to coaches point and set up that defense, you know,
Speaker 1: that tier of defense and play inside out defensively. Nobody
Speaker 1: does that and and the Jazz don't do it now defensively.
Speaker 1: So that's that's either because they can't do it, or
Speaker 1: because they're they're they're too lazy to do it as
Speaker 1: individual players, or it's because they're not they don't have
Speaker 1: the physical ability to get up and stop guys early,
Speaker 1: you know, in their track and and that's but that's
Speaker 1: not just them, that's a lot of the NBA. You know,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City's getting a lot of credit so far this
Speaker 1: year for being a top defensive team. And that's one
Speaker 1: of the things I see them when I watch them play,
Speaker 1: is that they get up in you early, and they
Speaker 1: they dictate the action. In other words, they're trying to
Speaker 1: tell the offense no, no, no, we're not going to
Speaker 1: let you run your play and get the ball to
Speaker 1: the guy you're trying to get it to. We're going
Speaker 1: to get up in you. We're gonna get under you
Speaker 1: with the ball. We're gonna deny the guy who's trying
Speaker 1: to get up over a screen to get the pass.
Speaker 1: And now we're making you do something you don't want
Speaker 1: to do. From a defensive standpoint. Not enough teams do
Speaker 1: that in the NBA. Most teams sit back and try
Speaker 1: and recover, you know, you know, when it's too late.
Speaker 1: I mean, how many times you see guys coming over
Speaker 1: a half court and transition and the defensive players back up,
Speaker 1: back up, back up, and then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: they're at the rim and it's all over.
Speaker 4: See in her quarter We let the guy out there
Speaker 4: keep his it be likely saying to the quarterback, or
Speaker 4: there's only a few seconds left, so you got back
Speaker 4: there and look around and see what you want to do,
Speaker 4: rather than being the aggressor and taking that away from them.
Speaker 4: You know, I thought there was I learned something I
Speaker 4: thought was important.
Speaker 1: Early in my career in the pros.
Speaker 4: Hubie Brown was the coach at the with Atlanta, and
Speaker 4: he used to say, tell me three things that I
Speaker 4: can take away from the other team. What three things
Speaker 4: do they do the best stuff? And those are three
Speaker 4: things I want to go after and I want to change.
Speaker 4: The other thing I thought was interesting was sense of responsibility.
Speaker 3: Let's take for inst I'll take it.
Speaker 4: I'll take him because he happened to be one of
Speaker 4: my favorite players was Bobby Hanson. Bobby Hanson would have
Speaker 4: the tough job of taking on Michael Jordan or Magic,
Speaker 4: right o Magic. But you can't stop Michael Jordan nor Magic. Yep,
Speaker 4: all right, So I'd say, well, what's the AFTERRAWA just
Speaker 4: from I don't know, Let's say Michael Jordan's averaging twenty
Speaker 4: eight points a game. I'd say, all right, can you
Speaker 4: hold them? The twenty four. Can you hold them to
Speaker 4: twenty six? That's hold them is they keep them within range.
Speaker 4: If we can keep this team, if everybody does that
Speaker 4: down the line and we have them off, what their
Speaker 4: production is gonna be?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 4: And we see a sense of responsibility. Someone jumps over
Speaker 4: you a couple of times, beat you, then someone else
Speaker 4: is coming in to do the job.
Speaker 3: And the players should all know.
Speaker 4: That they're going to get this opportunity, and if they do,
Speaker 4: then challenge them to do that.
Speaker 3: But you know, we were our analytics are a little different,
Speaker 3: but I thought we could.
Speaker 4: Win if we gave up nine offensive rebounds and a half.
Speaker 4: That's eighteen in the game. That seems like a lot.
Speaker 4: But we're not gonna go above it.
Speaker 3: And the chance is that we're gonna fight to stay
Speaker 3: down below it. All right.
Speaker 4: We're gonna so many fast breaks, We're gonna make so
Speaker 4: many free throws. We're gonna get to the free throw line.
Speaker 4: Anybody gets an offensive rebound automatically has the option to
Speaker 4: get the next shot, to take it right back up.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to fool around with it. You get
Speaker 4: an offensive rebound, great, So you get guys like John
Speaker 4: Drew who just eat up the offensive board to get
Speaker 4: the ball back so they could get back to the
Speaker 4: board and take it, maybe get a three point play
Speaker 4: out of.
Speaker 1: It, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Uh, And I think there's a time and you have
Speaker 4: to shut it down. And they say that's enough. Three
Speaker 4: points today, three point shots to today, you know, except
Speaker 4: for you know, if it's one or second or something.
Speaker 4: But everyone knows that's it. But I mean they pump
Speaker 4: them up there and and I don't know, like I say,
Speaker 4: it's a different game. It's a different game than I remember.
Speaker 4: And I'm not sure that if everybody buys this game,
Speaker 4: you know, it's it's a little it's a little too uh,
Speaker 4: it's a little wild sometimes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that might be to your point. It's about
Speaker 1: the ratings and stuff. You know. I think that we've
Speaker 1: talked before about a lot of different other options of
Speaker 1: entertainment and how to spend your time, you know, nowadays
Speaker 1: with the access to the internet and the younger generation
Speaker 1: having other options that they prefer to go to. But
Speaker 1: but I think the coaches, if you're uh, if you're
Speaker 1: playing a sloppy game, if you're playing just you know,
Speaker 1: chuck them up, like you know, some games look like
Speaker 1: a version of the All Star Game where guys just
Speaker 1: come over half court and one pass and shoot, one
Speaker 1: pass and shoot, or no, no pass and shoot, whatever
Speaker 1: it is. And I think sometimes at the fans at
Speaker 1: some point they go, well, you know, are they really
Speaker 1: trying or is it just kind of a you know,
Speaker 1: we're just freewheeling out here. Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, it might be owners, owners and coaches were afraid
Speaker 4: of the players.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you mean, I'm not going to take
Speaker 3: a shot. I'm not going to get a shot. Yes,
Speaker 3: then you won't be around long for me. So I
Speaker 3: mean you got to you gotta take control. And then
Speaker 3: you've got to.
Speaker 4: Get support from above. Authority comes from above, and so
Speaker 4: the owners support the coach. The coach sets out as
Speaker 4: a plan, and uh, and they actually they don't. And
Speaker 4: and then somewhere along the line, we have to get
Speaker 4: good players, right, we can't do with yeah, poor players.
Speaker 4: But if we have good players, we should have expectations
Speaker 4: and we should try to reach those expectations. And if
Speaker 4: we don't, we should be able to answer for them
Speaker 4: with the salaries that they are.
Speaker 2: I think one of my favorite old frankisms was, if
Speaker 2: you're gonna make a mistake. Make it a big mistake, right, big,
Speaker 2: go big, right, And so I wanted to get your
Speaker 2: thoughts on what we're seeing from Walker Walker Kessler, who
Speaker 2: really is having a solid third season. I don't know
Speaker 2: if he reminds you of Mark at all, but he
Speaker 2: really can protect the paint. He's a great shot blocker,
Speaker 2: and he's still very young. As you've watched Walker Kesler play, Frank,
Speaker 2: what are your what are some of your time?
Speaker 4: I like Walker Kessler very much and I like what
Speaker 4: he does. He gets to the boy, blocks some shots
Speaker 4: and everything else. But I'm not I wouldn't compare him
Speaker 4: with with say marky Mark, he could stand well. Kareem
Speaker 4: was the one that told me you was scared the
Speaker 4: death of Mark. He says he's always afraid to hit
Speaker 4: him in the head sometime. You knowmber Caream used to
Speaker 4: wear used to wear binoculars, and so you know, because
Speaker 4: he said he all he looked up and all he
Speaker 4: said was elbow to elbow outside him and he didn't
Speaker 4: face that many guys. And I think you know the
Speaker 4: old the old saying about just keeping you between your
Speaker 4: man and the ball, and it's welly man, you know,
Speaker 4: it's it's every everybody, and I like the idea that
Speaker 4: the blocking of shots or something.
Speaker 3: I don't know. Defensive player of the year.
Speaker 2: Who is it this year?
Speaker 1: Well? Last year was Rudy. Rudy Gobert has been the
Speaker 1: defensive player there for the.
Speaker 3: Last and is he the defensive player of the year?
Speaker 3: That's oh, that's that question. I mean he I know
Speaker 3: he gets he would.
Speaker 1: But is he?
Speaker 4: Who does he got and who's he take out of
Speaker 4: the game? Everybody's another guy the size of him and
Speaker 4: has to be taken up on the other team.
Speaker 1: Is he?
Speaker 2: Are you asking who Rudio this year is?
Speaker 3: Not?
Speaker 2: Not?
Speaker 1: Who is he?
Speaker 2: As a guy?
Speaker 4: I think he's a good players, tough player and everything else.
Speaker 4: But to say he's the best defensive player in the year,
Speaker 4: maybe it was, So what's wrong?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: This year the favorite is Victor Weman Yama. The Vegas
Speaker 2: favorite is the young kid who plays for the Spurs.
Speaker 2: Have you seen him play?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Have you ever seen anything like that?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 4: I mean have I ever seen him? It's all ahead
Speaker 4: of him. Yes, he's a fine player. Yeah, but you know,
Speaker 4: I don't know. I'm looking for that guy, Like I said,
Speaker 4: I'm looking for that guy who says, Yeah, I'm throwing
Speaker 4: my body out there every night.
Speaker 3: Would be the best defensive player in the steam mm hmm.
Speaker 3: And of course he'll go differ because of the size
Speaker 3: of the athletes and went out.
Speaker 2: So Fittie Walker at this point is averaging nearly three
Speaker 2: blocks a game. He's at two point nine blocks a game.
Speaker 2: He's had eleven points. They're shooting eleven boards, so ten points,
Speaker 2: eleven boards, three blocks. You and I last year talked
Speaker 2: a lot about what's up? What's up of this kid
Speaker 2: who everybody was pumped about year one. I think he probably,
Speaker 2: for me, is the best story for Jazz basketball this year.
Speaker 2: What have you What have you seen year three growth
Speaker 2: from Walker?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, I think what he's doing now, the way
Speaker 1: he's playing for me is it looks like the game
Speaker 1: is slowing down a little bit for him. It looks
Speaker 1: like he's not trying to do, you know, things that
Speaker 1: are out of his lane. In other words, he's just
Speaker 1: doing the things that that come natural to him. But
Speaker 1: that will that feed into what his his profile and
Speaker 1: skill set are. He's a big guy, he has good reactions,
Speaker 1: so he can move. He can come and help you
Speaker 1: as a help defender. At the last second at the rim.
Speaker 1: I think that's where he gets a decent number of
Speaker 1: his block shots is as a help defender. He does
Speaker 1: a good job of of squaring up and and making
Speaker 1: himself big and make his his guy shoot shoot over him.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: And then he's he's got very good hands around the rim,
Speaker 1: so he secures the ball uh pretty well. You know.
Speaker 1: The other night in Cleveland, I think he had was
Speaker 1: an eight offensive rebounds he had and h and last
Speaker 1: night I think he had three or four. And you know,
Speaker 1: he's you know, he's doing what what you you want
Speaker 1: a big guy to do. You everybody wants wants players
Speaker 1: to be something that maybe they're not capable of being,
Speaker 1: because they project everybody to be uh, you know, Kareem
Speaker 1: or to be Shack or whoever it is, you know,
Speaker 1: but they if if he just does the stuff he's
Speaker 1: capable of doing and stays in that lane, then he
Speaker 1: can be a good contributor to what they're trying to
Speaker 1: build as a group, which you know, there there are
Speaker 1: ways away from that. But he's a good young piece
Speaker 1: who looks like, you know, at only twenty two years old,
Speaker 1: that he's he's going to have a good future as
Speaker 1: a foundational piece, at least on the defensive end.
Speaker 3: And he's working at the other side too. We saw
Speaker 3: him in practice. He's got to getting close and stuff
Speaker 3: like that. He's on a great shut.
Speaker 2: We'll catch a quick break, but coming up next we'll
Speaker 2: do more. Frank Laydon live on site. Richard Smith live
Speaker 2: on site. Coming up next, Frank Laydon, once upon a
Speaker 2: time was in a building process to build a team
Speaker 2: that eventually became came very good. And that's what the
Speaker 2: Jazz are trying to do. So I want to talk
Speaker 2: about that. But we're live today at Tim Dolly Nissan Southtown.
Speaker 2: It's one one one five to five South Jordan Gateway.
Speaker 2: If you've ever wanted to meet the legend himself, frank Leyden,
Speaker 2: I'm sure he'll take pictures with you, shake hands and
Speaker 2: say hello, and of course Smitty in addition to that,
Speaker 2: So more coming up with Franken Smitty live on site
Speaker 2: on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 1: The end is.
Speaker 3: So I think.
Speaker 1: The final coursain my friend.
Speaker 2: You shake his hand though, I'll say it all right.
Speaker 2: Frank Laydon is live on site, as is Richard Smith,
Speaker 2: which we are live today at Tim Dolly Nissan Southtown.
Speaker 2: That was Frank Sinatra and frank leyden Rolling In singing
Speaker 2: a little bit of a duet. So Frank is saying
Speaker 2: hello to a listener. And of course if you want
Speaker 2: to meet Frank, you would love to take a picture
Speaker 2: with you and say hello, Smiddy. How often does this
Speaker 2: happen when you're out of battlet coach movies, people come
Speaker 2: up and say hello and want to shake his hand.
Speaker 1: Well, we're just you know, we're we're fortunate to be
Speaker 1: able to to be able to go out and do
Speaker 1: things from time to time with him, but we always
Speaker 1: have to build in, you know, an extra fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: to get from point A to point B, because it's stop,
Speaker 1: then you start, and then it's five feet and then
Speaker 1: you stop, and then it's starting, you know, which, which
Speaker 1: we're very uh, we're very honored and humbled to be
Speaker 1: to be to be in that position that the people
Speaker 1: gravitate to uh, to coach in such a way that
Speaker 1: that that they cherish him and then what he's brought,
Speaker 1: what he means to this community.
Speaker 2: So how does it make you for your coach when
Speaker 2: people come up and thank you for what you build,
Speaker 2: because you really did build something that fifty years later
Speaker 2: is still bringing people out of joy.
Speaker 4: I think that it's overrated. I don't think, I assure,
Speaker 4: I mean I think. I think that I got a
Speaker 4: lot more out of it than the people did than
Speaker 4: I gave. I attempted to do the right things, and
Speaker 4: I hope we reached the people we were trying to reach.
Speaker 4: I never thought about trying to save communities or that
Speaker 4: the community should be saved by professional sports or something
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 3: But let's take, for instance, where we're sitting right now,
Speaker 3: the Dali name. Did they earn that? You sure did?
Speaker 3: They did it.
Speaker 4: Through years of a couple of different businesses. I mean,
Speaker 4: the clothing is, the car business or what have you.
Speaker 4: So what happens is comes trust with that and long
Speaker 4: time people saying over a long time, I believe in
Speaker 4: those people. They were interested in the community and what
Speaker 4: they do, for instance, putting on broadcasts like this.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: So I think we all should look at our minds
Speaker 4: as when I get up in the morning, I say,
Speaker 4: am I going to make this a better place than
Speaker 4: when I had it was before I got up? And
Speaker 4: everybody I seek, and you know, I say this because
Speaker 4: even the players when we meet We used to shake
Speaker 4: hands and say.
Speaker 3: What can I do for you today? What can I
Speaker 3: do for help you? You know, when there were little things.
Speaker 4: We started girls women's clubs out of our our wives
Speaker 4: of the players who kind of felt like they were
Speaker 4: left home, the players getting all the publicity and what
Speaker 4: have your.
Speaker 3: You know, we started.
Speaker 4: I was talking with the Reverend Franz Davis the other
Speaker 4: day and now he was in the beginning when we
Speaker 4: started chapel service things like that.
Speaker 1: You.
Speaker 3: Pat Williams actually thought I was trying to take advantage.
Speaker 3: He says, he's.
Speaker 4: Trying to soften us up, that Christian stuff, you know,
Speaker 4: And I said, wow, but you know, it's it's it's
Speaker 4: the way it is. I think we do. You go
Speaker 4: out every day and you do the best you can
Speaker 4: and if that works out, that's fine. I thought it
Speaker 4: was interesting. Vince somebody who I knew. I had had
Speaker 4: lunch with him a couple of times. I was very
Speaker 4: fortunate to have friends that knew him, And when he
Speaker 4: was in Washington, I got a chance to see Hm
Speaker 4: a couple of times.
Speaker 3: I was with Niagara.
Speaker 4: I thought about my own coach, Top Scalager was a
Speaker 4: great college coach.
Speaker 3: I thought about the people who said.
Speaker 4: To me, you know, if you want to be successful,
Speaker 4: make sure that you're the guy that signs the checks
Speaker 4: as well as makes the other decisions, because when things
Speaker 4: are going to go south, you're gonna have problems. So
Speaker 4: I said, for instance, he said, well you take fence somebody.
Speaker 4: He was in total charge, red outback, in total charge.
Speaker 4: He coached the team, he was the general managers. And
Speaker 4: I thought that when we came here, Whitey hers Ouk,
Speaker 4: all the fame people who had total control.
Speaker 2: And you you coach. Well, we're both hats.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, I tried. But you know, I think the
Speaker 4: big thing is that you then have a chance. Otherwise,
Speaker 4: when heat comes down, people don't like to hear it,
Speaker 4: to hear it from their neighbors or.
Speaker 3: What have you. You know, do this do that? You know,
Speaker 3: do they want to do crazy things?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 4: Yeah, if we, if we, you know, I always say
Speaker 4: it was a funny thing. One thing that other car deal.
Speaker 4: Larry Miller, who's a great guy and and you know,
Speaker 4: do a lot of good things. He would he would
Speaker 4: come up with great ideas like, uh, you know, get
Speaker 4: the get the guy.
Speaker 3: From the next who's the big center of the next
Speaker 3: of us. Yeah, he said, well, I think we've got
Speaker 3: We've got Patrick Ewing. We'd have a heck of a team.
Speaker 4: I said, I think it right now, Let's get somebody
Speaker 4: on the phone and see what we can. We can
Speaker 4: trade the Mormon Tablenacle choir for Patrick Ewing. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: think Johnny Wooden's had the best. What you do is
Speaker 4: you you have a job to do. You set goals,
Speaker 4: you have a lesson plan. You get the best players
Speaker 4: you possibly can, because nobody.
Speaker 3: Can win with bad players.
Speaker 4: You be brown, might make them a little better, you know,
Speaker 4: or something, but but no one's gonna win the championship
Speaker 4: with them. And then you know, you say, let's let's
Speaker 4: go about it, and it's your plan. You're the General Eisenhower,
Speaker 4: you're the general. MacArthur says, this is the player, this
Speaker 4: is the one that we'll attack with. But I know this,
Speaker 4: there are certain consist consistencies. When you guys were talking,
Speaker 4: wasn't it funny the three of us or we were
Speaker 4: talking to this gentleman that came over here said twenty
Speaker 4: three point shots.
Speaker 3: We're always talking about offense, but you.
Speaker 4: Know, we know that that stability comes a defense. It's
Speaker 4: more consistent, you know. So I think you have to
Speaker 4: think in terms of building a team around a good
Speaker 4: defensive plan. You know, the points will come, but we
Speaker 4: have to start by keeping our players on the floor,
Speaker 4: having them do certain jobs.
Speaker 3: You know, people think of John Drew is a great player.
Speaker 4: We forget he's a great offensive rebounder, not a good one,
Speaker 4: a great one.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: He just went after the ball, you know, and we've
Speaker 4: always been fortunate to have players that could defend good
Speaker 4: you know, Mark Eaton. He wasn't a great offensive player. Obviously,
Speaker 4: that was probably awful because we didn't give enough chance
Speaker 4: to get shots. But but he had a specific job
Speaker 4: and he did it well. He did it with the
Speaker 4: with the He was proud of himself, and eventually he
Speaker 4: got Defensive Player.
Speaker 3: Of the Year a couple of times. You know.
Speaker 4: Ricky Green, fastest of them all, could get it to
Speaker 4: where we had to start our offense.
Speaker 3: He won a seconds on the shot clock.
Speaker 4: You know, he could defend a little bit too. And
Speaker 4: Nichols later it was John Stockton. And who told me
Speaker 4: how great John Stockton was? Oh, I heard from a doctor,
Speaker 4: I mean from the coach of John Jack Gardner and
Speaker 4: Ladell and s they all told me how good he was,
Speaker 4: but coffee. They also said how good John Stockton was.
Speaker 4: But you know, it was the guy that told me
Speaker 4: he was really good. I don't think I have you
Speaker 4: told you this, but he the guy who told me
Speaker 4: he was really good. We were scribatic the first night
Speaker 4: down at the at the Dixie College, all right, and
Speaker 4: and Ricky being came off the floor and he said, oh, coach,
Speaker 4: you picked a good And then.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, yes Ricky himself, yes, and John was backing
Speaker 2: Ricky up.
Speaker 1: Coach, coach that was in That's funny you mention that,
Speaker 1: because I just gave coach a book today that I
Speaker 1: found the bookstore called The Basketball one hundred And it's
Speaker 1: a new book that just came out by David Aldridge
Speaker 1: and and and John Hollinger, and it ranks, you know,
Speaker 1: to this day. Anyway, it just came out a little
Speaker 1: while ago, the top one hundred players in basketball history,
Speaker 1: and and coaches in there quoted several times. But that
Speaker 1: that that anecdote coaches and the coaches just to look
Speaker 1: at it. Yes, it's ironic that you mentioned that because
Speaker 1: that that that little quip is in the book and
Speaker 1: where they say you know, Ricky Green to talking about
Speaker 1: John Stockton, who was in this book was ranked the
Speaker 1: number thirty three all time player, and he says, yeah,
Speaker 1: Ricky Green came off, said to Frank La and they
Speaker 1: and you got a really good one here, coach.
Speaker 3: And yeah, and which is you know, who's to know better?
Speaker 4: He was the all star point and so you know,
Speaker 4: you go run.
Speaker 3: And you look.
Speaker 4: And sometimes X players who play may have two great
Speaker 4: thoughts of what a player should be. It's very hard
Speaker 4: for him to understanding, say Ted Williams couldn't couldn't coach
Speaker 4: and stuff because his expectations were too great of the
Speaker 4: people he coached, you know, because he was the greatest
Speaker 4: of all. So I think you gotta have a plan.
Speaker 4: You live at the plan, and it doesn't work, you
Speaker 4: get a job.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, And I want to go ahead, Spence.
Speaker 1: I want to interject just a minute, because coach mentioned
Speaker 1: Hubie Brown. That's how how coach Laydon got got into
Speaker 1: the NBA. And and few people around here probably know
Speaker 1: the connection between coach Leyden and Hube Brown, who's going
Speaker 1: to do his last and final broadcast coming up in February.
Speaker 1: And coach, why don't you to take him out and
Speaker 1: share with our listeners about your recent conversation with Hube.
Speaker 4: Well, you he's had some tough lucky he lost a
Speaker 4: daughter and a son and a wife in two year
Speaker 4: period and so it was very rough, you know. And
Speaker 4: he is a guy who you know, he really believed himself.
Speaker 3: By the way, it's a good great baseball player. Bet
Speaker 3: a baseball player.
Speaker 4: He was basketball the catcher, yes, and he also was
Speaker 4: an excellent basketball coach. In a great memory, tenacious attitude,
Speaker 4: you know, worked hard, had good observation. He could look
Speaker 4: at things and quickly make a decision whether this was
Speaker 4: good or bad or what have you. And he loved
Speaker 4: to talk sports. And I met him when we were
Speaker 4: going to Niagara together. We met the train going up
Speaker 4: to Niagra first time the first day of school, and
Speaker 4: then we roomed together for three or four years.
Speaker 3: Out of four years played baseball and basketball.
Speaker 4: And then we went on. He went to coach in
Speaker 4: high school. I did too a few years. Then he
Speaker 4: went to William and Mary, then to Duke, and then
Speaker 4: from Duke, I guess to the probably went to Louisville
Speaker 4: Colonels and won the championship at the ABA, and then
Speaker 4: from there to the to the big leagues, uh, the
Speaker 4: NBA with the Latin Hawks, and and I went from
Speaker 4: high school to small college and eventually.
Speaker 3: Back to Niagara or Alba Mata.
Speaker 4: And he told me one time it was my last
Speaker 4: game was against Kentucky in the Garden and the n
Speaker 4: I t the first round and and he said, hey,
Speaker 4: I want to see you after the game. So we
Speaker 4: went out to dinner course and he said, hey, why
Speaker 4: don't you come over me with the Hawks, he got
Speaker 4: the cold weather of night falls. He said, pro basketball
Speaker 4: is gonna burst in the next few years. With the
Speaker 4: television contracts and everything else. He said, it's gonna get
Speaker 4: He said, they're gonna they're gonna get this thing done
Speaker 4: because of Larry O'Brien joined the mv n b A.
Speaker 3: He said, they're going to sew up this ABA. They're
Speaker 3: going to take the best cities.
Speaker 4: And he says it's gonna wear, the money's going to be,
Speaker 4: the officiating's better, everything even.
Speaker 3: On and on. And so I joined him. And that
Speaker 3: was it.
Speaker 1: And your owner in Atlanta was the great Ted Turner
Speaker 1: and right right on the right under the cusp of
Speaker 1: the burgeon and cable TV.
Speaker 4: Well, he was one thing. Ted Turner said, television will
Speaker 4: only survive if we have some x number of live television.
Speaker 4: And what can I get in live television? We can
Speaker 4: get some news sources. So he started T n T
Speaker 4: and the news CNN, and then the and then of
Speaker 4: course he said baseball. He owned the baseball team, in
Speaker 4: the basketball team and the hockey team all at the
Speaker 4: same time, you know, and it was live.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he said, I can.
Speaker 2: Sell it and still to this day live TV rights.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Or what generated the book of the revenue, that's right.
Speaker 4: And you know his father he was rich. He's a
Speaker 4: rich kid, be rich, but not dumb. He went to
Speaker 4: Brown he was an ivy leaguer, but he his his
Speaker 4: If you ever see billboards lit up and stuff, that
Speaker 4: was as father as invention and started years and years
Speaker 4: ago outdoor salespeople.
Speaker 3: Interesting, Yeah, that's where the money came from.
Speaker 2: Let me, let's see we've got we still got about
Speaker 2: you know, good fifteen minutes or so.
Speaker 4: They just starting to rush the building.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we still have a little bit of time. Because
Speaker 2: what I wanted to do today when I found out
Speaker 2: you were going to be kind enough to join us
Speaker 2: on site, is talk about what it's like to build
Speaker 2: a championship contending level team because you did it once
Speaker 2: upon a time, and the Jazz are trying to do
Speaker 2: it now. They're in the very early stages. And as you,
Speaker 2: Frank and Scott, you know, your son and well, you know,
Speaker 2: as you started adding pieces to build the team that
Speaker 2: ultimately ended up competing for championships. What's that process?
Speaker 3: It starts, It starts with support the top. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: You know, what is wealth? I'm not sure, you know.
Speaker 4: I think the people that own the Jazz are very wealthy,
Speaker 4: very wealthy. Are they as wealthy as the people that
Speaker 4: own the Necks the Lakers? I don't know, but they
Speaker 4: seem to be a well. To compete, all right, you've
Speaker 4: got to have support from the top, right, the authority
Speaker 4: always begins above. The principal protects the teachers. You know
Speaker 4: what happened in the schools uh and and coaching and
Speaker 4: college that you know, you get the president and the
Speaker 4: athletic directors and the coaches, and you've got to have
Speaker 4: that support. Once you have that support, then you've got
Speaker 4: to be able to hire good assistance. You've got to
Speaker 4: You've got to surround us if you've got.
Speaker 3: To have a good working area. All right.
Speaker 4: Now, if we're thinking here just in the time, we
Speaker 4: have a little bit of time. We seemed very solid
Speaker 4: own this ship.
Speaker 3: So far. I haven't heard that.
Speaker 4: They're backed out of doing anything that that is going
Speaker 4: to financially. Now, maybe maybe I don't know what happened
Speaker 4: when they the guy that went to Cleveland and uh
Speaker 4: uh uh you know Mitchell, Albert Mitchell, whatever. Maybe the
Speaker 4: demands are too great. One thing you don't want the
Speaker 4: agents to be you're running your organization. All right, Well,
Speaker 4: I think you set down the plane now. You know, here,
Speaker 4: if I look at this name, they look like they
Speaker 4: have an ownership that's wanting to move ahead and spend
Speaker 4: some money.
Speaker 3: Uh. He seems to.
Speaker 4: Very very active. Played buy a hockey team. They're going
Speaker 4: to revent the building. The building is going to be better.
Speaker 4: And then you see they get Danny Ainge involved. Danny
Speaker 4: Aingel is though, you know, a guy that just fell
Speaker 4: off the tournament truck. He's a veteran, he's a tough guy.
Speaker 4: He knows the game all right, he knows what they
Speaker 4: expect to be a champion. And then they they seem
Speaker 4: to have some good young players.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: And so I'm assuming if the if the two hundred,
Speaker 4: how many coaches they have not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think I think it's one hundred and
Speaker 1: ninety seven or something. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know. I might have had trouble with that.
Speaker 4: I had trouble, you know, just just control, controlling Akkadian,
Speaker 4: Michael and Statia. That's not happening having all those things.
Speaker 4: But someone said, we're bringing in a shooting coach. I said,
Speaker 4: I'm the shooting coach. I don't know more about shooting
Speaker 4: anybody else in the world. So anyway, you know, I
Speaker 4: think that I think they were after the right start.
Speaker 4: Patients is tough, competition is stuff, all right? And uh
Speaker 4: and there's a lot to be they said, and here
Speaker 4: this community has grown since when we came here. I
Speaker 4: was worried that we didn't have the population.
Speaker 3: We didn't have.
Speaker 4: We had a very poor arena, the original Salt Palace,
Speaker 4: you know, and then your dad did a lot to
Speaker 4: do that, I mean, getting getting Larry Larry Miller and
Speaker 4: eventually getting the getting the the Delta Center and stuff
Speaker 4: like that, and then finding Larry Miller and what have you.
Speaker 4: But uh, yeah, I think they were on the right track.
Speaker 4: I I don't know if there's anything I do different.
Speaker 4: I I like the coach, and I think the players
Speaker 4: like him, and I think he's.
Speaker 3: He's young, He's going to learn.
Speaker 4: I hope, I hope this thing doesn't burn him out,
Speaker 4: you know, too soon. Yeah, yeah, I mean, but as
Speaker 4: long as he hangs in there and he believes in
Speaker 4: himself and he believes in what he's doing, which I can,
Speaker 4: and just I don't know enough about it. I haven't
Speaker 4: been to practice right right well what their goals are,
Speaker 4: but I think they put they put a team that's
Speaker 4: words watching and go to the game and see them play.
Speaker 4: I seem to enjoy it, you know, So I think
Speaker 4: they're all.
Speaker 2: Good Stort Smitty. At what point, you know, because I'm
Speaker 2: referencing the team that Frank built, and you know, of
Speaker 2: course Scott and everyone involved with player personnel decisions, there
Speaker 2: were some really good signs early, you know. I think
Speaker 2: it was eighty four when Frank won Coach of the
Speaker 2: Year and Executive of the Year, and there was a
Speaker 2: playoff team, and you know, obviously drafting really well with
Speaker 2: Thurrell and Mark and John and Carl. But at what
Speaker 2: point from your vantage point did they start to really
Speaker 2: come together where he said, okay, no, we can really
Speaker 2: play with anybody. Anybody now.
Speaker 1: Well, I remember when when during the Karl Malone draft,
Speaker 1: and that was in eighty five and up to then,
Speaker 1: you know when when the team had moved to Salt Lake, Uh, Uh,
Speaker 1: coach had had in succession that drafted Darryl Griffith, Thorough Bailey,
Speaker 1: Mark Eaton, Bobby Hanson, John Stockton, and then uh and then.
Speaker 2: Carl Malan's quite a streak.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And I remember when, uh, during the press conference
Speaker 1: after the draft, local reporters asking coach about you know, hey,
Speaker 1: Carl Malone, you know can do this and this, and
Speaker 1: he's a good offensive player and he can score and whatever.
Speaker 1: Do you want him to come in and be a
Speaker 1: score And I remember coach saying, well, you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know about scoring. He said, we you know, we
Speaker 1: we we have enough scoring. We have Adrian Dantley, we
Speaker 1: have uh, Darryl Griffith, we have John Drew coming off
Speaker 1: the bench as a sixth man. We have Ricky Green
Speaker 1: who can score some. We have a developing center, shot blocker,
Speaker 1: Rim Protector and Mark Eaton. But we're I think it
Speaker 1: was coach at that time, maybe third third from the
Speaker 1: bottom of the NBA coming off that season and rebounding,
Speaker 1: and I remember Coach saying, you know, we're hoping Carl
Speaker 1: Malone could come in as a big body defender in
Speaker 1: the low post, maybe get some rebounds for us, and
Speaker 1: if he scores eight or ten points a game, then
Speaker 1: that'll be a bonus, you know, and then the thirty
Speaker 1: six thousand points later, you know. But but the point
Speaker 1: being that that the Jazz at that time in the eighties,
Speaker 1: under Coach Layden's direction as both the head coach and
Speaker 1: the general manager, you know, built it blocked by block
Speaker 1: and filled the certain spots you needed to fill as
Speaker 1: you went along. You know. John Stockton, of course, as
Speaker 1: Coach has said a lot of times in the past,
Speaker 1: you know, drafted him with the idea that, oh, we
Speaker 1: think he can be a solid backup. So that's another
Speaker 1: piece of the puzzle, you know, to Ricky Green or
Speaker 1: trading to Portland.
Speaker 2: Yeah, did they want John, Yeah they did, interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, they tried to They tried to trade up.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I tried to ride up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to get him and then, you know,
Speaker 1: But then, but the point being those building blocks, and
Speaker 1: you have to, as coach said, you have to have
Speaker 1: the patience to do that. We just saw, unfortunately, that
Speaker 1: we've heard during this last hour that the secondment of
Speaker 1: Kings have parted ways with head coach Mike Brown, who
Speaker 1: they just hired three years ago, who was the coach
Speaker 1: of the year two years ago, who they gave an
Speaker 1: extension to five months ago. And now they get a
Speaker 1: little bump in the road, a little glitch. They've lost
Speaker 1: five in a row, six total in a row at home,
Speaker 1: and so the Natives got a little bit restless there
Speaker 1: or whatever happened. I don't know if it's the front office,
Speaker 1: the ownership, whatever, but here we are thirty one games
Speaker 1: into the season. They're thirteen and eighteen. They were supposed
Speaker 1: to be one of the contenders in the Western Conference
Speaker 1: this year, and so they go ahead and fired the
Speaker 1: head coach. And so to coach this point, you have
Speaker 1: to have some plan, But then you have to feel confident,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about before, Spence, confidence in what you
Speaker 1: believe your plan is, and then having the fortitude to
Speaker 1: see through that even when you get to those bumps in.
Speaker 3: The road and the stick with your decision. Make Yeah,
Speaker 3: don't forget.
Speaker 4: Why did John drop the word you get picked? Where
Speaker 4: johnn get sixteen sixteen? Why was he picked maybe the
Speaker 4: best point in guard in history?
Speaker 3: Where to calm along?
Speaker 1: They picked thirteen?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: What I said that he was falling, he said the
Speaker 4: Scott at the time. He says, we got to take
Speaker 4: the mailman. I said, I think so too. But as
Speaker 4: he got aids and we're the only ones that don't
Speaker 4: know it, I mean, what's wrong here? What do you know?
Speaker 4: But but we struggled our guns. Those are the guys
Speaker 4: we wanted. Those are the guys we took, you know.
Speaker 4: And later on picking up what's the name from Phoenix? Uh,
Speaker 4: Jeff Jeff one of the second stuff. And of course
Speaker 4: we lost Scurry's kid, Scurry's father, yep, not.
Speaker 2: Scurry, Dell Curry KURRK Curry's expansion.
Speaker 3: Draft, the expension draft.
Speaker 4: So you know, we were fortunate, but we always had
Speaker 4: good guys coming off the bench of big guys.
Speaker 3: You forget. We re brought Rich Kelly back, that's right.
Speaker 4: We had you know, Bill what's name from Saint Johns? Billy, Paul,
Speaker 4: Paul's you know, yep, going out.
Speaker 2: So yeah, you know, we were talking before about the
Speaker 2: Mike Brown news. I'm going to read you the last
Speaker 2: ten Coach of the Year winners. Mike Budenholdzer Atlanta obviously
Speaker 2: not there. Steve Kerr Golden State's still there. Mike D'Antoni Houston,
Speaker 2: obviously not there. Dwayne Casey Toronto lost his job two
Speaker 2: years later. Mike Budenholzer Milwaukee, also not there. Nick Nurse
Speaker 2: Toronto not there by his choice to go to Philly,
Speaker 2: Tom Thibodeau, New York, still there, Matty Williams Phoenix, not there,
Speaker 2: Mike Brown Sacramento not there. I mean, that's six of
Speaker 2: the past ten Coaches of the Year that didn't stay
Speaker 2: with the teams where they won the award. It's pretty wild,
Speaker 2: this profession at this point.
Speaker 1: Well again, it just speaks to you know, the whether
Speaker 1: your your your top level people, again, whether it's the ownership,
Speaker 1: whether it's your front office staff, the people who run personnel.
Speaker 1: However your organization is structured. Whoever has the loudest voice
Speaker 1: or the biggest hammer, you know, do they have the
Speaker 1: conviction of what they're trying to lay out and get done,
Speaker 1: to see it through, or do they get way laid
Speaker 1: at the at the slightest point of resistance of something
Speaker 1: that going the way you wanted to. You know, with Sacramento, again,
Speaker 1: don't know their situation there. I just know that there
Speaker 1: are a lot of expectations for them this year uh
Speaker 1: to be a heavyweight in the Western Conference. They stumbled
Speaker 1: out of the block the first thirty games, and somebody
Speaker 1: made the decision while this isn't working, so we're cutting
Speaker 1: ties with the guy who you know, this summer we
Speaker 1: were celebrating as our longtime coach by giving him an extension.
Speaker 1: And whatever has happened the last couple of months that's
Speaker 1: changed that. Whether it's just the record or the disappointment
Speaker 1: in that or what what have you. But but the
Speaker 1: coach's point, you know, you you have to have an
Speaker 1: idea of what it's going to take. You have to
Speaker 1: have a plan that everybody in the group agrees to
Speaker 1: and believes make sense, and then you have to have
Speaker 1: that conviction to be able to see it through. You know,
Speaker 1: even when you have tough times. You know, as a
Speaker 1: Jazz are experiencing now third worst record in the league,
Speaker 1: you know, the worst defense in the league, playing a
Speaker 1: lot of young guys who make a lot of mistakes.
Speaker 1: Last night, I'm watching the game and Isaiah Collier has
Speaker 1: the ball up at the top and has an easy
Speaker 1: pass or to cutting and marking on the baseline. He
Speaker 1: throws a five feet over his head, you know, up
Speaker 1: into the stands literally and you're going, what are we doing?
Speaker 1: And you know, but but they're willing to if they're
Speaker 1: willing to, uh play through those mistakes and understand that
Speaker 1: they're trying to get their players better and they believe
Speaker 1: that some of those guys will be long term guys. Uh.
Speaker 1: If they can stick with that, then then you'll start
Speaker 1: to seek it. You have to have enough of a
Speaker 1: sample size spence to be able to feel confident that
Speaker 1: this is working out or it's not going the way
Speaker 1: we thought. So now we have to go to Plan B.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you have to tell tell, tell the fans
Speaker 4: that too has to be you know, there's certainly a
Speaker 4: time and when the fans are let this is our goal,
Speaker 4: this is what we're trying to do.
Speaker 3: But when when we hit it, we're going to be
Speaker 3: very very good. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Frank, before I said, you loose. Since you and
Speaker 2: I last spoke, the Jazz released their fifty year anniversary documentary. Uh,
Speaker 2: and you were heavily featured in that. We We we
Speaker 2: spoke to you, Healy, well played, sir. We talked to
Speaker 2: you right after you recorded the interview. Uh, and you
Speaker 2: went down to the premiere. But I haven't spoken to
Speaker 2: you since it's since it was released. I love the
Speaker 2: old stuff for me, I mean, it brought back a
Speaker 2: lot of memories. What was that like for you? To
Speaker 2: kind of reminisce a little bit?
Speaker 4: It's important because you know when I came with the Jets,
Speaker 4: that's what we didn't have. We didn't have a future.
Speaker 4: We didn't never passed right, right right, and so you know,
Speaker 4: and what we accomplished I was proud of. We didn't
Speaker 4: win a championship, but we came close. And I think
Speaker 4: we lost one year to the to the Lakers in
Speaker 4: seven games eighty eight. That might have been the greatest
Speaker 4: team in history that we lost it. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 4: and then of course they the Chicago teams and every
Speaker 4: day Michael Jordans. Those are exciting times that we were
Speaker 4: right in the middle of it. And I grew up
Speaker 4: in Brooklyn with the Dodgers. Our cry was wait till
Speaker 4: next year and fined nineteen fifty five us something.
Speaker 3: We finally won the World series.
Speaker 4: But there's nothing wrong with being close and as long
Speaker 4: as you played tight and you run us with the people.
Speaker 3: And you give them an effort, you know.
Speaker 4: But if you're fooling them and you're trying to fool
Speaker 4: them and consistently letting them down, and no, it's no good.
Speaker 4: I don't I don't think that the Scoop has done that.
Speaker 4: I think and I think our coach is going to
Speaker 4: be all right. He's learning odda, he's right, but I
Speaker 4: think he but I think he's a good man and
Speaker 4: he seems to be honest and uh, he's got.
Speaker 3: To work out. He's he's he's taking harder than anybody.
Speaker 3: I guarantee you, yeah, I'm sure.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you guys.
Speaker 1: Before we say coach, I just just want to say,
Speaker 1: let her listeners no spense and and uh for coach. Uh.
Speaker 1: We're a week away from somebody's ninety third birthday.
Speaker 2: Wow, okay, George Washington.
Speaker 1: So we we wish Coach laid in a very early
Speaker 1: happy birthday along with happy New Year. And thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on the show. We appreciate your
Speaker 1: time and all all your all your wisdom and everything.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you for asking me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're welcome anytime, for sure. Frank, it's great to
Speaker 2: see you. Yes, Happy New Year and we'll do it
Speaker 2: against you.
Speaker 4: That's my best of your family and friends and and
Speaker 4: to to the dollies and you know, hanging there for sure.
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. All right, we've got two hours down, two
Speaker 2: hours to go, Tony Jones and Noah Eagle, that's your
Speaker 2: four o'clock hours, so keep it here on ESPN seven
Speaker 2: hundred