Speaker 1: All right, let's get at drive time Friday afternoon, nine
Speaker 1: minutes past the hour or two o'clock. No surprise, it
Speaker 1: has been a really warm weather cycle, unseasonably warm this
Speaker 1: week and it continues today. It is ninety two degrees
Speaker 1: and sunny outside here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah,
Speaker 1: right outside of our Broadway Media Studios. Happy Friday to you. Congratulations,
Speaker 1: you made it. It is time for the weekend. Take
Speaker 1: a big, old deep breath. It is Friday time.
Speaker 2: A lot to do.
Speaker 1: Spence checkets behind the mic, Porter Larson beyond the glass
Speaker 1: on this Friday afternoon, producing the show, booking the show,
Speaker 1: and we have got a ton to get to on
Speaker 1: this Friday edition of the program. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for making us a part of your day, and a
Speaker 1: very happy weekend to you. It is game day in
Speaker 1: the world of professional basketball, and it is a massive
Speaker 1: game at Gainesbridge Field House in Indianapolis, Indiana, where the
Speaker 1: Indiana Pacers will attempt to take a three to one
Speaker 1: lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder who are a massive
Speaker 1: favorite to win the series still and a favorite to
Speaker 1: win the game tonight. Rick Carlisle spoke about that today
Speaker 1: during his media availability that there'll be a underdog in
Speaker 1: every game, and of course they're a massive underdog in
Speaker 1: this series still even though they're up to one.
Speaker 2: We'll get you ready for the game tonight.
Speaker 1: We'll talk a little NBA basketball on the program and
Speaker 1: get you ready for this big game that is at
Speaker 1: six thirty Mountain time television coverage on ABC radio coverage
Speaker 1: right here on your home of the NBA Finals in
Speaker 1: saut Lake City in the surrounding area ESPN seven hundred,
Speaker 1: So preview the game, get you ready for a massive,
Speaker 1: massive matchup, look at it from both sides, and get
Speaker 1: you ready for OKC Indiana. The battle for Lord Stanley's
Speaker 1: Cup rolled on last night with another unbelievable hockey game
Speaker 1: that saw Edmonton in overtime get the win, and once
Speaker 1: again we are even. This was an awesome series last year,
Speaker 1: it's shaping up to be an awesome series this year.
Speaker 1: Through four games, these two teams have scored thirty two goals,
Speaker 1: which is the in the history professional hockey of in
Speaker 1: the NHL Stanley Cup Final history, thirty two goals through
Speaker 1: four games. So we'll get you ready for the weekend
Speaker 1: action in pro hockey. They're gonna get back going tomorrow,
Speaker 1: back up at Rogers' Place in Edmonton, Alberta. So we
Speaker 1: talk a little hockey on the program, of course, get
Speaker 1: you ready for that, and you can hear the Stanley
Speaker 1: Cup finals on this little old radio station as well.
Speaker 1: Big match from a local standpoint tomorrow for our local
Speaker 1: soccer club, badly in need of a result, badly in
Speaker 1: need of three points. Quite frankly, they have not won
Speaker 1: in seven matches. They're without Diego Luna, They're without don
Speaker 1: Mark Zuk, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, a few
Speaker 1: different player. Gozo's gone as well. I don't know what
Speaker 1: that's starting eleven is going to look like. I do
Speaker 1: think we're gonna see a little Johnny Russell action, one
Speaker 1: of the acquisitions made by the front office during the
Speaker 1: primary transfer window.
Speaker 2: That is now closed and has been closed for a while.
Speaker 1: Summer transfer window opens up in a month, it's mid July.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: If you want to know, you can google it. Hopefully
Speaker 1: they have some things planned. Pablo needs reinforcements in the
Speaker 1: worst way, so it gets ready for the RSL match tomorrow.
Speaker 1: On the program Today US Open rolls on the television
Speaker 1: coverage I think right now is NBC Dictor Hoblin and
Speaker 1: Sam Burns. Had a great round today. Several golfers still
Speaker 1: on the course. We'll give you an update on the
Speaker 1: leader board and we'll talk a little golf on the
Speaker 1: program today.
Speaker 2: We do have a.
Speaker 1: Golf guest as well, so a lot to do, busy show.
Speaker 1: Good to have you with us. Our first guest right
Speaker 1: out of the gates will be our guy, Tony Jones,
Speaker 1: who covers the NBA for the Athletic covers the Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz as well. We'll get a couple of NBA Finals
Speaker 1: observations from Tony. But we'll do a lot of draft
Speaker 1: The NBA draft is twelve days away and the Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz have number five and number twenty one and then
Speaker 1: ultimately have a couple of second round picks as well.
Speaker 1: A lot of trade buzz surrounding several in pro basketball,
Speaker 1: including Kevin Durant.
Speaker 2: Well, what's that going to look like?
Speaker 1: We'll see what Tony sources are telling him about the
Speaker 1: potential movement in the NBA. Dave mcminnimon live in Indianapolis
Speaker 1: Game Bridge Field House, so Dave will be on location
Speaker 1: and he'll stop by today to set the scene for
Speaker 1: us for Game four tonight in the NBA Finals. Some
Speaker 1: US opened with Paul pug Meyer and some local golf
Speaker 1: with our guy Pugs and then Chris Cameranie Once upon
Speaker 1: a Time of Friday staple hasn't been in on a
Speaker 1: Friday for a long time at tkble Rolling Studio for
Speaker 1: an entire hour at four o'clock and then we'll launch
Speaker 1: you into the final hour of the program on this
Speaker 1: Friday afternoon. So a lot to do. It's great to
Speaker 1: have you guys along for the ride. We've got Tony Jones,
Speaker 1: Dave Mcmannimon, Paul Pugmyer, Chris Comrodnie Me Spence Check. It's
Speaker 1: all of you, the great listeners, and that young man
Speaker 1: in there, that's strapping young man in there, Porter Larson.
Speaker 1: All right, the narrative all day is whoever wins this
Speaker 1: game tonight wins the series.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like that's the case.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think if Arizona is able to get over
Speaker 3: coastal Carolina.
Speaker 1: Here right and turn on the golf. Dude, like, why
Speaker 1: are we watching college baseball? Due, Well, we're watching college
Speaker 1: baseball because I do believe.
Speaker 3: Actually, I'll go confirm for you, But the golf is
Speaker 3: now on Peacock, So.
Speaker 1: It's twenty twenty five. Can we get Peacock on our television?
Speaker 3: And I know I sound like the old man screaming
Speaker 3: at a cloud that they're streaming stuff going on in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five, but I'll make sure there's golf on
Speaker 3: the TV for you here the next fifteen or so.
Speaker 4: I'll figure it out.
Speaker 1: But away from Arizona and Coastal Okay, Okay, it's four
Speaker 1: to four, so it's close.
Speaker 2: Yes, turn it on bottom of the six Indiana.
Speaker 1: Ok See does the winner of this game tonight win
Speaker 1: the NBA Championship?
Speaker 3: I think so, And I said last night, right even
Speaker 3: though right now the odds are in the favor of
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City. Still, when you have a two to one
Speaker 3: lead in this type of finals, not necessarily this type
Speaker 3: of finals, but this late in the playoffs, this much
Speaker 3: pressure and urgency, I think you're in the driver's seat.
Speaker 3: I think you hold the keys to the series. And
Speaker 3: Indiana's at home tonight, so that's a big plus as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you go up three.
Speaker 3: To one man, there's only one time that has gone
Speaker 3: south in the NBA Finals, and it included one of
Speaker 3: the greatest players of all time and included a silly
Speaker 3: suspension and included some injuries and a whole bunch of
Speaker 3: other stuff For that to transpire. You go up three
Speaker 3: to one, and you better, you better win the NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: Yep, and the series porter is talking about twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: And you know what, Let's get to the opening tip
Speaker 1: because I actually have some thoughts on that. So our
Speaker 1: first guest today will be Tony Jones from the Athletic
Speaker 1: But before TJ stops by on this gorgeous, beautiful summer
Speaker 1: of Friday afternoon in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, it
Speaker 1: is time now for your opening tip.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Drive with Spence.
Speaker 5: Check its on Utah's number one sports talk Now into
Speaker 5: the studios of ESPN seven hundred to set the scene
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Speaker 1: The Finals roll along with a massive, massive game four
Speaker 1: tonight after the Indiana Pacers were able to take a
Speaker 1: two to one lead at Gainsbridge Field House over the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City Thunder one sixteen one oh seven. You know
Speaker 1: what's interesting is all three of these games have been
Speaker 1: pretty unique and different, which is kind of strange when
Speaker 1: it comes to an NBA Finals performance. We saw the
Speaker 1: Indiana Pacers with a bunch of different adjustments last game,
Speaker 1: namely on how they handled Sga and ultimately, while both
Speaker 1: these teams have depth and both of these teams have
Speaker 1: good players outside of their stars, Sga clearly is the
Speaker 1: head of the Snake and as is Halliburton, even though
Speaker 1: they're extremely different players. It really does come down in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways to those two individual players to
Speaker 1: lead their team the way that they have certainly all
Speaker 1: season long, and Shay's case and in Tyresee's case, probably
Speaker 1: since January when Indiana really started to roll. So this
Speaker 1: comes down to an interesting chess match, and it's Mark
Speaker 1: Dagnolt's move after Rick Carlisle essentially said checkmate with a
Speaker 1: couple of different adjustments teammates.
Speaker 2: So in yeah, it did.
Speaker 1: In game three as far as covering Shay, there was
Speaker 1: a bunch of different personnel switch ups and Andrew Nemhart.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, So Nemhart and Sga are teammates on the
Speaker 1: Canadian national team.
Speaker 2: They know each other really well.
Speaker 1: They played against and with each other for a number
Speaker 1: of different years, and I have to imagine that Rick
Speaker 1: thought that familiarity would help Nemhart in his individual role
Speaker 1: trying to corral SGA because he did a really good job.
Speaker 1: And you know, Nemhar during the Knick series also took
Speaker 1: on the challenge of Jalen Brunton often and he just
Speaker 1: gets up in you. He's gonna pick you up ninety
Speaker 1: four feet. He's gonna let you know that I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be here all night. You might get yours because you're
Speaker 1: the MVP, but I will be here all nights and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be an irantant I'm gonna get up in
Speaker 1: you and Nemhar gives up I think maybe three or
Speaker 1: four inches at least to say.
Speaker 2: But it is that dog mentality.
Speaker 1: I know it's a little bit corny and cliche, but
Speaker 1: that's what it is and that's who he is as
Speaker 1: a player. So we'll see what Dagnall does, because ultimately
Speaker 1: what Carlisle decided to do is utilize Nemhard is the
Speaker 1: primary defender on SGA, and then they didn't blitz and
Speaker 1: hedge on ball screens for Shaye the way the way
Speaker 1: that they did Games one. In Games two, they actually
Speaker 1: kind of left the secondary defender, oftentimes it was Halliburton
Speaker 1: or Nie Smith kind of below the three point line,
Speaker 1: closer to the free throw line. And then when the
Speaker 1: ball screen was set, the primary defender, who was Nemhart,
Speaker 1: was able to fight most of the time around the screen,
Speaker 1: and then the secondary defender, who was kind of playing
Speaker 1: like a center field role, would just kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: able to confuse Sga, takeaway some passing lanes or contest
Speaker 1: a shot, you know, the other thing clearly down the stretch.
Speaker 1: And this is where it's going to be interesting to
Speaker 1: see what Dagnault does Shay specifically. But most of the
Speaker 1: thunder I'll say outside of Jalen because I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting. I think Jalen understood that Shay was tired,
Speaker 1: and in the fourth quarter a lot of their you know,
Speaker 1: initial offensive sets were kind of initiated by Jalen because
Speaker 1: Shaye was tired. So does Dagnault extend his rotation a
Speaker 1: little bit? I mean last game he played basically seven players.
Speaker 1: Aaron Wiggins did play ten minutes, but Caruso of course
Speaker 1: got thirty two minutes. Off the bench, Hartenstein eighteen minutes
Speaker 1: off the bench. I do have to wonder whether or
Speaker 1: not Dagnall does play Chet and Hartenstein together in a
Speaker 1: way that he just hasn't much during this postseason, or
Speaker 1: I should say, during this finals matchup. Cason Wallace has
Speaker 1: received the start, Hartenstein has gone to the bench, but
Speaker 1: in a very truncated space. When Chet and Hartenstein are
Speaker 1: playing together, they're actually in that positive And I don't
Speaker 1: know how much to make of that, because ultimately, even
Speaker 1: though Indiana leads this series two to one, Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: still has out scored them, I think, plus seven, and
Speaker 1: they are positive in the net. Of course, Game two
Speaker 1: is a bit of a blowout, but every game has
Speaker 1: been very unique. Game one kind of felt like it
Speaker 1: was fitting the script, and then Indiana pulled the classic
Speaker 1: Indiana with that crazy comeback at the end, Halliburton with
Speaker 1: a step back game winning jumper against Cason and Rick
Speaker 1: Carlisle electing not to call a time out and trust
Speaker 1: his league guard and he was rewarded for that. And
Speaker 1: then Game two was essentially an example of what Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City has done to teams all year long. That was
Speaker 1: just a classic OKC game. It honestly, wasn't very entertaining.
Speaker 1: I mean, this has been high level basketball, and let
Speaker 1: me pause there for a moment.
Speaker 2: These playoffs have been awesome.
Speaker 1: Like I know, a lot of people have soured on
Speaker 1: the NBA for maybe several different reasons. Maybe you've been
Speaker 1: fooled to believe that your political beliefs don't allow you
Speaker 1: to watch basketball anymore, which is the dumbest thing, but
Speaker 1: maybe that's you. Maybe you're disenfranchised with the fact that
Speaker 1: players don't play during the regular season.
Speaker 2: I'll raise my hand.
Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons I tap out a lot
Speaker 1: of regular season basketball. Maybe you're only a Jazz fan,
Speaker 1: and oftentimes we've had a debate in this market. Are
Speaker 1: we an NBA market or are we only a Jazz market?
Speaker 1: And if you're a Jazz fan, of course you're frustrated,
Speaker 1: you're disappointed, and maybe you've lost interest. I've got some
Speaker 1: buddies that have lost interest in the NBA and certainly
Speaker 1: have lost interest in the Utah Jazz as the Jazz
Speaker 1: continue to stumble their way through this clunky rebuild that
Speaker 1: is really brought very little forward progress.
Speaker 2: So I understand all that. If you're not watching the playoffs.
Speaker 1: If you haven't been, you're really missing out because the
Speaker 1: competition has been fierce, the basketball has been really high level,
Speaker 1: and there have been some injuries, certainly, and that always
Speaker 1: is something that colors the context of how these teams
Speaker 1: were able to win something special. Is this a Boston
Speaker 1: OKC matchup of Jason Tatum iss still standing? I mean,
Speaker 1: the Knicks were about to take a three to one lead,
Speaker 1: but you get my point. Dame Lillard goes down for Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously Cleveland banged up outside of Mitchell. They
Speaker 1: lose Garland, they lose Hunter, they lose Mobili, and the
Speaker 1: players that they were playing with didn't look fully healthy.
Speaker 1: So injuries certainly always coming to play, and oftentimes the
Speaker 1: teams that end up in this spot do get extreme
Speaker 1: injury luck and extreme health luck. And neither of these
Speaker 1: teams have injuries of note. Tyree Sa had a little
Speaker 1: bit of a knee thing, but he didn't look like
Speaker 1: it bothered him during Game three at all. And on
Speaker 1: the Indiana side of things, you know, it's interesting, so
Speaker 1: we have Pascal Siaka and Alex Caruso as players on
Speaker 1: both teams that actually have championship rings. Caruso wanted title
Speaker 1: with the Lakers, I think that was the Bubble title,
Speaker 1: and Siakam won that title with the Raptors when they
Speaker 1: had Kawhi for one year. And so those are the
Speaker 1: two vets that kind of understand this stage. Otherwise you
Speaker 1: can make an argument tonight is the biggest game that
Speaker 1: Jay Gilgess Alexander has ever played, or Lou Dort or
Speaker 1: Check Holmgren or Jalen Williams or Casen Wallace or Isaiah Hartenstein,
Speaker 1: and certainly everybody on the Pacers, probably outside of Siakam,
Speaker 1: like this is a moment that will show you what
Speaker 1: you're made of. And if you're Indiana, you just have
Speaker 1: to hope that you continue to get what you were
Speaker 1: able to get Game three from the players not named
Speaker 1: Tyree Saliburton, because of course Halliburton and Sga back to
Speaker 1: my original point, are the two heads of the respective
Speaker 1: snakes of these teams. But one of the things that
Speaker 1: really killed the Knicks in Indiana's win in the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference Finals was the player of Aaron Nesmith.
Speaker 2: Was the play of Andrew Nemhart.
Speaker 1: Obi Toppin, who, by the way, has been so much
Speaker 1: better for the Pacers than he ever was for the Knicks.
Speaker 1: You know, those are the guys Bennedict Matherin who went
Speaker 1: for twenty seven points on twelve shots in Game three.
Speaker 1: Those are the guys that have been able to help
Speaker 1: Tyree Saliburton in this endeavor to reach the NBA Finals
Speaker 1: take a two one lead, and Rick Carlisle every time
Speaker 1: he does his media talks about this like Oklahoma City,
Speaker 1: they can get away with a game where Caruso is
Speaker 1: not hidden threes or lou Dort is not hidden threes.
Speaker 1: You know, as long as Shay is Shay and they
Speaker 1: get what they typically get from Jalen and chet like,
Speaker 1: they're going to be dialed in. They don't need to
Speaker 1: go seven or eight deep as far as players knocking
Speaker 1: down shots and scoring. Indiana very much does they need
Speaker 1: Siakam to be who he's been for the most part
Speaker 1: throughout this series and certainly who he was for Game three.
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see the defensive matchups and whether
Speaker 1: or not there are cross matchups that are changed. And
Speaker 1: I do think now that Indiana has found a little
Speaker 1: something as far as Ry to corral Shay, we will
Speaker 1: see that coverage mixed up a little bit. And now
Speaker 1: it's on Shay to adapt like MVPs are supposed to do.
Speaker 1: It is potentially the biggest game he's ever played. I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be a lot of fun tonight. I'm
Speaker 1: excited for this. We will say good night at six
Speaker 1: o'clock and bring you coverage of tonight's NBA Finals Game four,
Speaker 1: so stay tuned for that. But we will catch our
Speaker 1: first break of the program on this Friday in Game four.
Speaker 1: NBA Finals tips off in four hours. Right now, you
Speaker 1: can hear that game on our radio station as the
Speaker 1: Indiana Pacers will look to take a commanding three to
Speaker 1: one lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Continue to be
Speaker 1: the favorite not just to win tonight, but to win
Speaker 1: the series. Our next guest may have been one of
Speaker 1: like two or three people it said, I don't know,
Speaker 1: weeks ago when the Pacers were playing the Knicks in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference Finals, that this Pacers team could win
Speaker 1: the NBA Championship. Tony Jones, take your victory lap, young man.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 6: I think it was my second VI three lap?
Speaker 7: Right?
Speaker 2: What was the first one?
Speaker 8: Alex Jimpson?
Speaker 1: Ah, okay, well, two for two, two for two, So
Speaker 1: let me ask you, what did you.
Speaker 6: See, miss I've missed on a lot more than I said.
Speaker 6: I just got lucky on the last two.
Speaker 1: No, we all missed, man, But what did you see
Speaker 1: from Indiana that led you to make that statement when
Speaker 1: it didn't feel like anybody else was kind of on
Speaker 1: that train.
Speaker 6: The fact that you know, the landscape of the NBA
Speaker 6: has changed, and you need ten guys now to win
Speaker 6: an NBA title win before you could do it with seven,
Speaker 6: and you could do it with you know, three top three,
Speaker 6: top evy guys, and you can you know, mix and
Speaker 6: match around them and use the bandas around them. I mean,
Speaker 6: if you look at the two thousand and eleven Miami Heat,
Speaker 6: which is actually a good comparison because Rick Carlisle coached
Speaker 6: the team that beat them fast six guys. You know
Speaker 6: they're you know, Lebron and then their top five and
Speaker 6: you know they had like Mike Bibby coming off the
Speaker 6: bench and that wasn't prime Mike viv that was the
Speaker 6: sholl of Mike Vivvi. And you know, so I think
Speaker 6: that you know, the new CBA bought a different landscape
Speaker 6: in the league where you know it went from you know,
Speaker 6: you could put together a super team and you can
Speaker 6: win an NBA title to you know, instead of three
Speaker 6: five stars, why don't you get you know, four four
Speaker 6: star level players and then you know, a bunch of
Speaker 6: three star level guys. And what Indiana has is they
Speaker 6: have ten guys who can all play in the playoffs.
Speaker 6: There's different from our Knicks, who were just putting guys
Speaker 6: on the floor and they weren't playoff players. They were
Speaker 6: just guys that Tims was just like trying to find
Speaker 6: men trying to steal minutes with. You know, they put
Speaker 6: ten legitimate NBA playoff level guys on the floor and
Speaker 6: they have just worn almost everybody down. In Game three
Speaker 6: against Oklahoma City, that was the first time in this
Speaker 6: postseason that I've seen the Thunder actually look fatigued down
Speaker 6: the stretch of a basketball game.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the follow up, Tony is called you did
Speaker 1: call it?
Speaker 8: That is?
Speaker 1: You know Indiana was going to have a say here,
Speaker 1: and they're up to one and if they win tonight.
Speaker 1: In the history of the NBA Finals, teams that are
Speaker 1: up three to one are thirty seven and one. The
Speaker 1: only exception is Lebron and the Cavs in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: Which is one of the most incredible individual performances in
Speaker 1: a team sport setting that I've ever.
Speaker 2: Seen in my entire life.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to ask you, even though you said
Speaker 1: weeks ago you think they can get this done, do
Speaker 1: you believe that they will? Do you believe they can
Speaker 1: beat okay see two more times over the next whatever
Speaker 1: amount of games to get this done.
Speaker 6: Shockingly, I'm still going to go okay see and seven
Speaker 6: okay because I think that that I think the Thunder
Speaker 6: are going to play their best game of the postseason tonight,
Speaker 6: and I think they're gonna get one tonight, and I
Speaker 6: think that's gonna make it the best of three. And
Speaker 6: if you make it the best of three, then it's
Speaker 6: hard to expect in the end to win twice at
Speaker 6: Pingcom Center in Oklahoma City because the Thunder is so
Speaker 6: so good there. The thing that I think is that
Speaker 6: both things can be true. One, the Indiana Pacers are
Speaker 6: really good team, a great team, and two they're playing
Speaker 6: a great team.
Speaker 7: So I don't look.
Speaker 6: At this as you know, somebody, you know, I mean,
Speaker 6: obviously somebody's gonna have to win and somebody's gonna.
Speaker 7: Have to lose.
Speaker 6: But I look at it as you know, two real
Speaker 6: giants kind of going at each other. And you know
Speaker 6: what I thought heading into this series was that this
Speaker 6: is going to be a six or seven game series.
Speaker 6: And I still think that this is going to end
Speaker 6: up the six or seven game series. Even if Indiana
Speaker 6: wins tonight, I still expect this series to go six
Speaker 6: because I don't expect Oklahoma City to lose Game five
Speaker 6: at home.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's see, we were talking about this yesterday.
Speaker 1: I think it was, oh, it was Howard Beck who
Speaker 1: stopped and stopped by the show yesterday. And look, I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to put the cart before the horse here,
Speaker 1: but next year will kind of be like an off
Speaker 1: year for the Celtics. Tatum is out probably all year.
Speaker 1: Every rumor you hear about Boston is they're open for
Speaker 1: business to trade whoever with a new ownership group that
Speaker 1: does not want to be in that punitive economic area
Speaker 1: that they're in right now.
Speaker 2: We'll get to the Knicks in a minute.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they've contacted you about the coaching job,
Speaker 1: but what a pathetic display from ownership. But ultimately, there
Speaker 1: are some good young teams in the East. I think
Speaker 1: Detroit will take a step. I think Orlando will take
Speaker 1: a step. You never know what Miami has up their sleeve.
Speaker 1: But Tony, when you look at the bulk of Indiana's
Speaker 1: roster outside of TJ. McConnell and Pascal Siakam and Pasco,
Speaker 1: I was only thirty one.
Speaker 2: He's got plenty of good years left. The bulk of their.
Speaker 6: We don't know how Passcal is. He's on that surge
Speaker 6: of Baka train.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you say that, and I'm gonna back
Speaker 1: away for the mic.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna let you go ahead and say that.
Speaker 1: But when you look at tyresee when you look at Matherin,
Speaker 1: when you look at Nemhard and Nie Smith and the
Speaker 1: bulk of their roster, the bulk of their rotation between
Speaker 1: twenty three and twenty seven years old, is there a
Speaker 1: chance that we are seeing the start of something maybe
Speaker 1: very special with this look. I know that the current
Speaker 1: climate of pro basketball is you're not able to keep
Speaker 1: really good teams together for very long. I know that's
Speaker 1: by design, But with an Eastern Conference, it's very much
Speaker 1: up for grabs. If Indiana really is able to get
Speaker 1: this done, could this be their conference for the next
Speaker 1: three or four years.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna say no, because, like you said, I mean,
Speaker 6: it's really hard to keep teams.
Speaker 9: Like this together.
Speaker 6: I mean it's really hard. Like you know, let's say
Speaker 6: Indiana winsday. The one thing that I learned from covering Denver,
Speaker 6: from covering Denver in their championship year in the year
Speaker 6: after that is hard to do it twice because you
Speaker 6: play so many games and you expend so much energy
Speaker 6: heading me into trying to win a championship, and you're
Speaker 6: just gassed the next year. It's one of the reasons
Speaker 6: why I didn't really think the Celtics were gonna win
Speaker 6: this year, because it's hard to win twice.
Speaker 7: It really is.
Speaker 6: And you know, Denver won like quite easily. I think
Speaker 6: they went like sixteen and four, Like they lost four
Speaker 6: times on that on that in that championship run, they
Speaker 6: won sixteen of their twenty games, and they were gassed
Speaker 6: the next year by January. They were gassed. They had
Speaker 6: nothing left and and manifested itself in the playoffs when
Speaker 6: their legs just died in games set in the second
Speaker 6: half of Game seven to the Minnesota Timberwolves. You saw
Speaker 6: the Boston Celtics this year. That was a tired basketball
Speaker 6: team down the stretch. So you know, the I think
Speaker 6: the Oklahoma City Thunder are built to do this year
Speaker 6: after year after year because.
Speaker 7: They own everybody's.
Speaker 6: Draft picks in the entire league, and you know they're
Speaker 6: gonna get draft pick after draft pick after draft picks.
Speaker 6: That's going to allow them to keep kind of flipping
Speaker 6: over the roster as they have to make tough decisions.
Speaker 6: Indiana's not in that spot. I mean, obviously, you know
Speaker 6: their core is young, but they don't have like the
Speaker 6: assets that okay see has to keep replenishing the guys
Speaker 6: that they lose. So you know, when Andrew Nemhar comes up,
Speaker 6: it's gonna be hard to keep him. When aaron Ne
Speaker 6: Smith comes up, you know, he's on his second contract,
Speaker 6: I believe, but when he's valuable enough that when he
Speaker 6: gets to his next contract, that's going to be hard
Speaker 6: to keep him. That's already been hard, uh to this point,
Speaker 6: to keep to keep Miles Turner. That you have two
Speaker 6: all NBA level players, uh that you that you have
Speaker 6: to pay. You have Jarris Walker coming up, you know,
Speaker 6: so what do you do with him? You already paid
Speaker 6: Obi Topping Eventually, you know, TJ. McConnell is gonna be like, hey,
Speaker 6: what about me. You know, Benneget Matheren is still on
Speaker 6: his rookie deal. He's gonna want more money as well.
Speaker 7: It's just.
Speaker 6: So many guys that are gonna have to get paid,
Speaker 6: and you know that and turn and dealing with natural
Speaker 6: attrition is gonna make it really really difficult for any
Speaker 6: any team to have a long sustained run uh year
Speaker 6: after year.
Speaker 1: Billy Donovan, Quinn Snyder, Emmy Udoka, Chris Finch, Jason Kidd,
Speaker 1: those are the five we know about.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: The New York Knicks response to the best season they've
Speaker 1: had UH since Red Hot Lover Too with the kid
Speaker 1: and play Fade was playing basketball was to fire a
Speaker 1: great coach with no contingency put plan in place. This
Speaker 1: is like comically embarrassing for an owner who has several
Speaker 1: decisions and moments that have been extremely embarrassing over the
Speaker 1: course of his twenty seven years owning this basketball team.
Speaker 1: What do you make of the clown show, the clown car,
Speaker 1: the clown extended bus at Madison Square Garden, And who
Speaker 1: do you think ultimately gets that job?
Speaker 6: I think ultimately, you know, one of my guests. Is
Speaker 6: gonna be one of Mike Brown, Taylor Jenkins, Michael Malone.
Speaker 6: There's one other really good coach that's out there is
Speaker 6: gonna is gonna end up getting a job. You know,
Speaker 6: I wish they give it a job, Johnny Bryant, but
Speaker 6: I think it's too big for him at this point,
Speaker 6: Like he's gotta you know, I think Johnny's got do
Speaker 6: to Charles Lee thing and go somewhere like Charlotte and
Speaker 6: build and build that program up before he before he
Speaker 6: gets the job at the Knicks, even though he was
Speaker 6: the associate head coach. So you gotta go with experience.
Speaker 6: So I think you're gonna go with probably one.
Speaker 7: Of those guys.
Speaker 6: To me, and those the fine options, right, Like Taylor
Speaker 6: Jenkins is a good coach, like Michael Malone for all
Speaker 6: of his faults, and you know if basically, you know,
Speaker 6: I plan to max sit they hired Michael Malone because
Speaker 6: you basically fire tips just to hire Tips. But Michael
Speaker 6: Malone is a good coach, a really really good coach.
Speaker 6: Mike Brown is a really really good coach. And all
Speaker 6: of those guys have coached high level playoff teams under
Speaker 6: high stakes and high pressure But what this just tells
Speaker 6: me is that you know, you can never as well
Speaker 6: as the Knicks front office is run, and as terrible
Speaker 6: as Leon Rose Tree the media, this is a real
Speaker 6: compliment to him. You know, the Knicks front office has
Speaker 6: run really well, They've made really smart moves, They've done
Speaker 6: really good things to get the Knicks imposition to get
Speaker 6: this far. And you still just cannot erase the sense
Speaker 6: of the owner. And that is what it tells me
Speaker 6: as well as you know this thing is run from
Speaker 6: the top down right now, you know, the owner.
Speaker 7: Team can can really just cancel all of this out.
Speaker 6: And you know, you're right, this has been embarrassing and
Speaker 6: no matter where they land at this point, it's been embarrassing.
Speaker 6: Like you're reaching out to the Chicago Bullsha.
Speaker 7: Billy Donald Donaldvan hasn't even been good at.
Speaker 6: The NBA levels. He's been made, you know, so I
Speaker 6: mean at least like you know, reach out and get
Speaker 6: you know, rejected trying to go after Red r Back
Speaker 6: or Red Holzman or or Phil Jackson or somebody like that,
Speaker 6: or Rick Parallel, you know, Eric Foster. You know, goat
Speaker 6: level coaches don't get rejected by Billy Donovan going after
Speaker 6: Billy Donovan, Like, that's embarrassing. You know, so at you know,
Speaker 6: me and you were lifelong diehard Knicks fans. You know,
Speaker 6: we obviously hope that this lands at a palataical situation,
Speaker 6: and I think ultimately it will, but you know, the
Speaker 6: road to get there is going to be one to forget.
Speaker 7: For sure.
Speaker 2: Do believe Red our Back and Red Holsman are both
Speaker 2: no longer with us. But your point stands. I completely
Speaker 2: understand what you're saying.
Speaker 7: I hope you know that. You know that.
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm kidding.
Speaker 1: But here's the problem Ton, You you know this, Let's
Speaker 1: say they hire Taylor Jenkins, just hypothetically speaking, you know,
Speaker 1: at the opening press conference, when Taylor is addressing the media,
Speaker 1: Frank Eyes, Solar or whoever is gonna be like, hey,
Speaker 1: how does it feel being the sixth choice?
Speaker 2: Taylor?
Speaker 1: Like, no matter who they hire, he's gonna have to
Speaker 1: deal with that narrative as long as he's the coach.
Speaker 6: And Taylor should respond last week I got a paycheck
Speaker 6: where zero dollars, Like that should be his response. Now
Speaker 6: that shouldn't be a response. But still the question is
Speaker 6: going to come up because it's the new York media.
Speaker 7: That's the courts.
Speaker 6: That's the very first question that's going to come up.
Speaker 6: So you know, it's it's something that you know should
Speaker 6: not have played out. It's embarrassingly just publicly the NX,
Speaker 6: you know, they they you know, go through great lengths
Speaker 6: to be the gestapo to the media, so you know,
Speaker 6: don't try to be the gestapo to the media. And
Speaker 6: you know, you can't keep stuff inside your own house
Speaker 6: when it when it comes time time to hire a coach,
Speaker 6: basically like they should have been back channeling. I mean,
Speaker 6: there's so many different instances that we can point to that,
Speaker 6: you know, teams are back channel and they've had stuff higher.
Speaker 6: I mean, we just saw it here two months ago.
Speaker 6: You know, when the University of Utah fire Craigs. You know,
Speaker 6: there wasn't an issue on who they were.
Speaker 8: Going to hire.
Speaker 6: They knew they were who they were going to hire,
Speaker 6: and that person knew he was going to take the job,
Speaker 6: you know, so that there, you know, Preig Smith when
Speaker 6: he got dismissed, there wasn't any ambiguity on on who
Speaker 6: was going to replace him. And I just don't understand,
Speaker 6: you know, why the Knicks didn't cross their t's and
Speaker 6: dot their i's in terms in terms of doing that.
Speaker 2: Isn't Taylor Jenkins still being paid by the Grizzlies.
Speaker 5: He is?
Speaker 6: So I'm just, you know, making hypotheticals that are inaccurate.
Speaker 1: All good, All right, Before we get to the Jazz,
Speaker 1: I want to know what your sources indicate about the
Speaker 1: reports concerning all the potential player movement. I mean, I
Speaker 1: feel like every time I pull up any of the
Speaker 1: outlets you guys have the Athletic or ESPN or whatever,
Speaker 1: there's rumors that Boston is kind of open to trade anybody,
Speaker 1: including Jalen. They won't trade Tatum, but of course he's
Speaker 1: out all next year. There's the Durant stuff, which is
Speaker 1: suddenly feeling very very real.
Speaker 2: There's the Yannis stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are a lot of rumors concerning big,
Speaker 1: big name players that could really change the landscape of
Speaker 1: the league. How real do you think the reported potential
Speaker 1: chaos in the offseason of pro basketball will actually be?
Speaker 6: Well, I'm fairly certain Durant is gonna move. I'm fairly
Speaker 6: I'm fairly confident that Giannis is not gonna move. But
Speaker 6: I'm fairly certain that I think that this is going
Speaker 6: to be a wild off season because for a couple
Speaker 6: of reasons, the landscape of the NBA is wide open.
Speaker 6: Anybody can win this thing from year to year. There's
Speaker 6: no money on the market, so the free agency market,
Speaker 6: uh is caka, you know. So that leaves the trade
Speaker 6: market in terms in terms of movement. So I think
Speaker 6: you're gonna see a lot of activity prior to Draft night,
Speaker 6: on Draft night, after draft night, and I think you're
Speaker 6: gonna see a lot of activity in the first couple
Speaker 6: of in the first couple of weeks of free agency.
Speaker 6: You know, teams think that they're close. You know, I
Speaker 6: can tell you right now if you talk if you
Speaker 6: spoke to Daryl moy right now, as bad as Philadelphia
Speaker 6: was this year, if you talk to Daryl Mory right now,
Speaker 6: he'll be like, well, if we get Joel and b
Speaker 6: back healthy, we get Paul George back healthy, we have
Speaker 6: a therapick in the draft, we might move down. We
Speaker 6: might trade for Trey Murphy, we might trade for Herb Jones.
Speaker 6: We're right there in the Eastern Conference. And this is
Speaker 6: from a guy who finished thirteenth in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 6: You know, so the you know, you look at the
Speaker 6: San Antonio Spurs. They finished tenth or or eleventh or
Speaker 6: twelfth in the Eastern Conference. I mean in the Western Conference.
Speaker 6: I bet you they're thinking they're right there. We have
Speaker 6: Victor Winbayam and maybe we're gonna you know, we have
Speaker 6: Daron Fotx and Stephen Castle. You know, there are a
Speaker 6: lot of teams all across the map, playoff teams, championship
Speaker 6: level teams, teams that weren't playing teams or playoff teams
Speaker 6: last year, that feel that they're one or two moves away.
Speaker 6: And when you have that, you know, that breathed chaos.
Speaker 6: So I think we're gonna see, you know, a lot
Speaker 6: of talk, a lot of rumors, a lot of potential movement,
Speaker 6: and a lot of actual movement when when the time comes.
Speaker 2: Okay, Tom, since you and I last spoke, Sarah Todd
Speaker 2: from of the program Friend of Yours, Bill Simmons on
Speaker 2: his podcast, Zach Lowe on his podcast are three of
Speaker 2: the media members I've seen either talk about or write
Speaker 2: about the fact that the Jazz are actively taking phone
Speaker 2: calls on Lowry Marketing and Walker Kessler. Now, does that
Speaker 2: mean they will move them? Of course that's not what
Speaker 2: that means.
Speaker 1: And of the one thousand rumors we'll hear over the
Speaker 1: course of the next few weeks, maybe five of them
Speaker 1: actually happen. So what is your source and indicate about
Speaker 1: the Jazz potentially taking phone calls on Walker and Lowry.
Speaker 7: I mean they you.
Speaker 6: Know, they'll take phone calls on anybody. Nobody's untouchable on
Speaker 6: the Jazz roster.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: But you know, if you want Lowry marketing, or if
Speaker 6: you want Walker Kessler, you're gonna have to give the
Speaker 6: Jazz a lot. And you know that's the way it's
Speaker 6: always been with them. I mean, listen, our favorite team
Speaker 6: offered two first round picks for Walker Kessler last year
Speaker 6: at Draft Knight. They were told now, and that's our
Speaker 6: favorite team. And you know who I'm talking about. That
Speaker 6: was Draft Knight last last year. They were told now,
Speaker 6: you know. So, I mean the bar to get any
Speaker 6: of those two guys is extremely high. I mean, they're
Speaker 6: at least twenty teams you know, across the league that
Speaker 6: wont to trade for Walter Tesler. The Los Angeles Lakers
Speaker 6: are dying to trade for Walker Tesler. So you know,
Speaker 6: it's just going to be a matter if if you know,
Speaker 6: they meet the threshold, and that threshold is going to
Speaker 6: be high, and if not, then they won't be traded.
Speaker 6: You know, if this is not the Jazz, are you
Speaker 6: know saying extra actually read all about it lotry marketing,
Speaker 6: then Walker Tesler on the market, you know, go ahead
Speaker 6: and give me your best trade offer and I'll just
Speaker 6: take whatever I can get. These are these are premium
Speaker 6: asters to the Jazz. These are important guys to the Jazz.
Speaker 6: Uh and these are these are guys that the Jazz
Speaker 6: are not going to move uh, not going to move
Speaker 6: away from lightly. And the other thing is, what if
Speaker 6: the Jazz go out and trade for trade Markine, then
Speaker 6: those two guys aren't going to be traded. What if
Speaker 6: the guy's going Jazz going trade for Trey Young? What
Speaker 6: if they trade for Cam Johnson? You know, what if
Speaker 6: they make a move to get older uh to to
Speaker 6: to to try to be more competitive within the Western Conference.
Speaker 6: We still don't know with the hiring of Austin Ange,
Speaker 6: what what way the Jazz are gonna go with their
Speaker 6: twenty twenty five to twenty twenty six roster. And we
Speaker 6: won't know until the draft and until you know the
Speaker 6: opening moments for free agency. So once we do know that,
Speaker 6: you know, we'll have a better gauge of you know,
Speaker 6: what the value is of some of the other guys.
Speaker 6: It's the Jazz, you know, trade Jordan Clarkson, and trade
Speaker 6: Colin Sexton, and trade John Collins, and you know, turn
Speaker 6: the roster over to the young kids. And guess what,
Speaker 6: it makes a lot less sense for Lowry Marketing and
Speaker 6: Walker Kesseler to be on the roster. So maybe at
Speaker 6: that point, yes, it becomes more likely that they get moved.
Speaker 6: But at this point, you know they're gonna they They're
Speaker 6: gonna get moved if a team gives the Jazz a
Speaker 6: hault and if that doesn't happen, then they're going to
Speaker 6: be any U twelve Jazz uniform.
Speaker 1: So of course, Tony, as you know, and for our
Speaker 1: listeners perspective, the Jazz on a top eight protected pick
Speaker 1: that goes to Oklahoma City next year if they're not
Speaker 1: in the top eight. So with that in mind, do
Speaker 1: you really believe it's a possibility with all the really
Speaker 1: good players that could be on the move. The Jazz
Speaker 1: actually kind of zig when everyone thinks they're zagging, and
Speaker 1: make moves to add veteran talent to the roster.
Speaker 2: Do you think that's on the table.
Speaker 7: I think it's possible.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, when I talk to when I thought
Speaker 6: the sources within the Jazz organization, I was told at
Speaker 6: this point any direction as possible. So if possible that
Speaker 6: the Jazz try to get older and try to be
Speaker 6: more competitive, it's also possible that the Jazz keeps stripping
Speaker 6: the roster down. And they said they go into twenty
Speaker 6: twenty five to twenty six with the roster that can
Speaker 6: finish with fifty five or sixty losses. I think that
Speaker 6: the draft will tell us a lot, and I think,
Speaker 6: you know, free agency will tell us a lot. What
Speaker 6: I do think definitively is that the Jazz know that
Speaker 6: they don't have the guy on the roster. I think
Speaker 6: that that's pretty obvious. And I think that they know
Speaker 6: that they need more talent on the roster whichever way
Speaker 6: they go. So you know, I think, you know, there
Speaker 6: are guys that they need, you know, more evaluation on.
Speaker 6: I think, you know, in this sense, you know, the
Speaker 6: tailor Hendrick's injury really hurt, you saw because you know,
Speaker 6: you know, not because of whatever Taylor would have been
Speaker 6: on the floor, but because it's essentially Rob the Jazz
Speaker 6: of essentially a year and a half of evaluation of
Speaker 6: Taylor and how he fits into and how he fits
Speaker 6: into the team, and how he fits with his teammates. So,
Speaker 6: you know, I think that, you know, in some ways
Speaker 6: there is some sentiment to maybe reset the timeline, but
Speaker 6: in some ways they're sentiments to go out and be
Speaker 6: more competitive. I think that the opportunities that arise around
Speaker 6: the Jazz will tell a big story on what the
Speaker 6: Jazz do.
Speaker 2: All Right, before we get to the draft, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: ask you.
Speaker 1: We don't have time to go individual players, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna blump them all in and ask you
Speaker 1: one question about the following group. Isaiah Collier, Kyle Philipowski, Keante,
Speaker 1: George Taylor, Hendrix, Bryce Senseiba, and Cody Williams. Those six players,
Speaker 1: I feel like those are the six players that certainly are.
Speaker 2: Under contract next year. Is gonna be interesting.
Speaker 1: The Jazz actually have some options on some of these guys,
Speaker 1: and they're all kind of the young group that the
Speaker 1: Jazz have drafted over the past three years or so.
Speaker 1: I'll leave Walker out of it because Walker is established.
Speaker 1: I think we all know what Walker is, but out
Speaker 1: of those six players, who do you think Ton, based
Speaker 1: on your conversations, they think is going to be around
Speaker 1: for the long haul and legitimately part of the future
Speaker 1: moving forward.
Speaker 6: I don't know that any of those guys qualified.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you may not be wrong, man, And.
Speaker 6: That that's that's that's the tough thing about where this
Speaker 6: rebuild is gone. You know, none of those six guys
Speaker 6: we can say, you know, definitively, yeah, you know, ten
Speaker 6: years or let's not even say ten years from now,
Speaker 6: five years from now, this guy will definitively be on
Speaker 6: the roster, no question. And you know, none of those
Speaker 6: six guys, None of those guys qualify. I would have
Speaker 6: said that Taylor was probably the one that came closest,
Speaker 6: but he's the one that broke his leg, you know,
Speaker 6: because Taylor is the one that I would I would
Speaker 6: bet that when he's healthy, drives winning at the end
Speaker 6: NBA level more than any of the other five. And
Speaker 6: you know the other five, you know we all have there.
Speaker 6: There's all plus and minuses. Keyante George is a terrific scorer.
Speaker 6: He hasn't guarded anybody, and the Jazz pretty much know
Speaker 6: that he's not a point guard. So now he's got
Speaker 6: to be a really a real scorer, but he's got
Speaker 6: to do it from the shooting guard spot. That probably
Speaker 6: makes him a six man Isaiah Collier, great passer, broke
Speaker 6: John Stockton's rookie assist record, can't shoot a lick, So
Speaker 6: the shooting has to come along a long way for
Speaker 6: him to to establish himself as a starting NBA level
Speaker 6: point guard. I really, really, really like Kyle Filipowski offensively.
Speaker 6: I think he has a chance to be a complete
Speaker 6: three level scorer offensively for a seven footer and an
Speaker 6: offensive mismatch defense has to come a long way. Brice
Speaker 6: sense Ball right now is in the NBA because he
Speaker 6: was a first round pick and because he's a great shooter.
Speaker 6: What what is going to get him a second contract?
Speaker 6: I think that he gets the second con track because
Speaker 6: he's such a good shooter. But at this point he
Speaker 6: doesn't have another NBA skill and plus he doesn't have
Speaker 6: an NBA body, So he has to keep himself in
Speaker 6: tip top shape and he has to work harder at
Speaker 6: it than others. Who's the other Who's the fifth one?
Speaker 6: Is there one I'm missing?
Speaker 2: I don't think no, no, you covered it because you.
Speaker 1: You talked about Isaiah, you talked about Kante, you talked
Speaker 1: about Taylor and Cody and Field.
Speaker 2: No, no, those are the sext.
Speaker 6: No, we didn't talk about Cody. Cody had a historically
Speaker 6: bad rookie season and you know, he's got to uh,
Speaker 6: he's got to establish himself as an NBA level player there.
Speaker 6: So this is a real uh, this is a really
Speaker 6: important off season for him, and next year will be
Speaker 6: an important season for him. So, you know, I think
Speaker 6: the closest right now is Coletel of Hoowski. We'll see
Speaker 6: how Taylor comes back, you know, but every you know
Speaker 6: that that whole six, you know, they all have their flaws,
Speaker 6: and it puts more even more pressure on the Jazz
Speaker 6: in my opinion, to really get this draft right. Like
Speaker 6: they have to get this draft correct, no matter which
Speaker 6: which way they go, who they take, whether they make
Speaker 6: a trade, whatever they do, it has to be right.
Speaker 6: This is the draft that they have to get right.
Speaker 1: All right, before I set you loose, good good breakdown there.
Speaker 1: Have you changed your opinion on who's best case at five?
Speaker 1: It's been interesting, Sam Vassini over where you work with
Speaker 1: the athletic and Givoni. Who's the ESPN dot Com Draft
Speaker 1: Guy have both indicated con Nipple is rising and rising
Speaker 1: fast and maybe won't even be there at five. So
Speaker 1: maybe that shakes up the draft board ton in a
Speaker 1: way that we weren't anticipating. So final thing for today,
Speaker 1: best case scenario Tony Jones take Jazz drafting a number five.
Speaker 7: Best case scenario for me.
Speaker 6: Is Trey Johnson. I think that he has a chance
Speaker 6: to be a complete offensive player. I think that he
Speaker 6: has a chance to to to be an offensive driver
Speaker 6: in terms of, you know, being the number one guy.
Speaker 6: I watch him and he reminds.
Speaker 7: Me of a young Devin Booker.
Speaker 6: I think he has, you know, kind of every skill
Speaker 6: you want out of the shooting guard. I think he's
Speaker 6: maybe the.
Speaker 7: Best shot in the very best shot.
Speaker 6: Maker in the draft.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: I worry about the defense. I worry about the fact
Speaker 6: that he's about one hundred night. I think you have
Speaker 6: to put twenty pounds on. But if I'm the Jazz,
Speaker 6: that's that's who. That's that's who I want to follow
Speaker 6: me because I think that he's he's the guy outside
Speaker 6: of the top two. Yeah, right now, I think has
Speaker 6: the best shot. Along would be to ask him of
Speaker 6: eventually developing into an all NBA guy.
Speaker 1: All right, toll, good stuff today, man, have a great weekend,
Speaker 1: Thanks for the time.
Speaker 2: Happy Friday with chat toon. Hey, Happy Father's Day, oh
Speaker 2: to you as well. Thank you, sir. Have a great one, okay, fair,
Speaker 2: I have a good one.
Speaker 5: We're back on the Drive with ESPN's Dave mcminnimmon joining
Speaker 5: us for today's NBA Daily Assist.
Speaker 1: Game four NBA Finals tonight, six thirty bout in time.
Speaker 1: We're about three hours and twenty three minutes away from tip.
Speaker 2: It is a massive one.
Speaker 1: We go, I believe, we go live to Indianapolis, where
Speaker 1: we find fan of small Markets, friend of the program,
Speaker 1: Dave mcminnimon. Right, Dave, you are live in any Annapolis?
Speaker 1: Is this correct?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 9: I am Nastown, USA, and it's been a wonderful couple
Speaker 9: of days here. And if we had anything like we
Speaker 9: got in Game three tonight, that I will this will
Speaker 9: vault up towards one of my favorite admit cities. Because
Speaker 9: these guys are delivering a great at BA Final so far.
Speaker 1: They are they are all right right off the top.
Speaker 1: If you go out to dinner and you walk into
Speaker 1: a restaurant, I want you to give me the media
Speaker 1: member that makes you the most excited and the media
Speaker 1: member that would motivate you to turn around and walk
Speaker 1: out the door.
Speaker 6: Well, I will name drop here.
Speaker 9: I was able to break bread with Charles Barkley last night,
Speaker 9: dinner arranged by Brian Windhorse. So we had about you know,
Speaker 9: five or six of us on the ESPN side welcome
Speaker 9: me in our new colleague, the ESPN and Charles Barkley.
Speaker 9: So that was very exciting and a wonderful meal. On
Speaker 9: the other one, I mean, you can take your pick
Speaker 9: of the Tim mcmahonnormon him, you know, come on, I'll
Speaker 9: be one to turn around right away.
Speaker 1: I saw the IG post and are you familiar with
Speaker 1: the term thirst trap?
Speaker 2: Dave?
Speaker 9: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, No.
Speaker 2: I mean I'm not saying that's what that was. I
Speaker 2: just yeah, sure, not the post.
Speaker 1: Or Do you feel confident that you showed well enough
Speaker 1: to save your job moving forward?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think so. You know, I was peppering in
Speaker 9: the Philly connections, you know, yeah, playing that angle for sure.
Speaker 2: Did he know who you were?
Speaker 9: Yeah, we've we've had a relationship for about ten years now.
Speaker 8: So for sure.
Speaker 9: I never had a chance other than at a game
Speaker 9: to chat with him, so to have a three hour
Speaker 9: dinner and you hear stories and just everything.
Speaker 8: Under the sun.
Speaker 9: He is the same guy on cameras off camera, just
Speaker 9: delightful and entertaining and opinion. And yeah, it was really cool.
Speaker 1: See that's what makes him who he is though, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, I had an opportunity when the knickt retired
Speaker 1: Ewen's number. We all went back and my son at
Speaker 1: the time was like one and a half and I
Speaker 1: was holding my son in my arms and Patrick brought
Speaker 1: us all over to me Charles, and Charles looked at
Speaker 1: my son and his nose was running, and he grabbed
Speaker 1: my son out of my arms, wiped his nose with
Speaker 1: his hand, and gave him back to me. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just like this, and my mom got a picture
Speaker 1: of it. It's like the coolest moment. It really is who, right,
Speaker 1: like who these people watch on inside the NBA and
Speaker 1: see Charles, that's exactly who he is when he's not
Speaker 1: on television.
Speaker 2: But that's what makes him great, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 8: For sure?
Speaker 9: And you know, we tried to kind of discuss the
Speaker 9: secret thoughts of the show, just you know as being
Speaker 9: fans of the show, and he didn't. There's some methods
Speaker 9: to the man. That's where he and Shack and any
Speaker 9: like they don't want to talk about the topics ahead
Speaker 9: of time, Like that's all on ej. Ernie has the
Speaker 9: traffic in his head and then they'll spring it on
Speaker 9: those guys when the red camera light is already on,
Speaker 9: and you get the spontaneity, you get the improvisation. And
Speaker 9: then also Charles very cognitive the fact that, like he said,
Speaker 9: he knows that the hardcore basketball fans are going to
Speaker 9: find the programming and he wants if the husband is
Speaker 9: watching with his wife that she's entertained, or if the
Speaker 9: you know, the kid is watching with his parents, and
Speaker 9: his parents aren't necessarily sports fans, they're both entertained. Which
Speaker 9: is it's just a really great way to look at
Speaker 9: the gig that he's in, because Charles loves basketball as
Speaker 9: much as anybody else, but he wants to have more
Speaker 9: people love basketball, and you got to peel as the
Speaker 9: casual fan.
Speaker 1: So I've heard a couple of different things about Ernie. Okay,
Speaker 1: and let me be clear, with all respect to your bride,
Speaker 1: who I think is very elite at her job and
Speaker 1: everyone over there that does a good job that I
Speaker 1: don't know that that show works without Ernie. Dave, is
Speaker 1: he making the move too? Has that announcement been made?
Speaker 9: Ernie is making the move. He's tremendous. Charles, let us
Speaker 9: be known. I don't think I'm talking out of school here,
Speaker 9: because you know, I think he's been very reverent when
Speaker 9: he talked about Ernie in the past. He is doing
Speaker 9: this next iteration of the show for two reasons. One
Speaker 9: because of all of the people behind the scenes that
Speaker 9: he's developed a relationship with over two decades. You know,
Speaker 9: the camera ops, the producers, show grip, etc.
Speaker 8: Etc.
Speaker 9: At craft services, all those folks that he's gotten to
Speaker 9: know them and their families. A lot of them were really, yeah,
Speaker 9: very worried about not having a gig if Inside didn't continue.
Speaker 9: So that's a principal reason why Charles is continuing. But
Speaker 9: the other one he shared this with us is Ernie.
Speaker 9: Ernie is my teammate, and uh, Ernie asked me to
Speaker 9: stay on in this new kind of deal because Charles
Speaker 9: said last year he was actually ready to to, you know,
Speaker 9: finish out this year and walk, but it was important
Speaker 9: to Ernie, and it was important obviously for him to
Speaker 9: have all those other folks still have a way to
Speaker 9: feed the families. And yeah, you know Bernie is he
Speaker 9: is so good at being totally seemingly buttoned up while
Speaker 9: being able to throw in like a side one liner
Speaker 9: that is as funny as anything that Charles or Shack
Speaker 9: could say, which is tremendous.
Speaker 1: Well, he also Dave, from my perspective, since you asked, you,
Speaker 1: didn't he understand He understands those guys, and and that
Speaker 1: that's a really underrated thing for a studio host who
Speaker 1: works with complicated personalities to be able to understand them.
Speaker 1: And that doesn't happen overnight. I mean, I've had different
Speaker 1: radio co hosts and at the start of the show
Speaker 1: that we launch him like I don't know what's gonna work,
Speaker 1: And after a few years we kind of get each
Speaker 1: other's rhythm and cadence and understand the personalities. Like Ernie
Speaker 1: gets those three in a way that I'm not sure
Speaker 1: anybody could, at least not initially.
Speaker 9: Yeah, he plays the notes that can kind of get
Speaker 9: each of their engines revving and then play them off
Speaker 9: of one another as well, which is a great way
Speaker 9: man cadence is so apt. It's such an apt way
Speaker 9: to describe it. And you know, obviously he's a host,
Speaker 9: but it comes down to being a reporter and having
Speaker 9: journalistic instcts too, is observation skills, and then obviously, I
Speaker 9: mean he's a top tier human being too, so I
Speaker 9: think the long hours that are that are required as
Speaker 9: a job like that. You know, the way Charles spoke
Speaker 9: about Ernie last night, he doesn't want to let to
Speaker 9: earn it down because Ernie, you know, had so much
Speaker 9: professional pride and again, it's such a good person when
Speaker 9: the camera's not running.
Speaker 2: That's really cool.
Speaker 1: All right, before we get to the finals, Billy Donovan,
Speaker 1: Quinn Snyder, Emy Udoka, Jason Kidd, Chris Finch. Like the
Speaker 1: Knick's response to the best season they've had in twenty
Speaker 1: five years was to fire a really good coach with
Speaker 1: no contingency plan.
Speaker 2: It's like comically embarrassing.
Speaker 1: I mean, it is a clown car, a clown busk,
Speaker 1: a clown playing call whatever you want. I shouldn't be
Speaker 1: stunned because of that idiot who owns the team and
Speaker 1: as for twenty seven years, this is just who he is.
Speaker 1: But what's your reaction to the way they've handled this,
Speaker 1: and who do you think ultimately they land on and why.
Speaker 9: Yeah, so I'll start with the candidates they've reached out about,
Speaker 9: like this is completely unprecedented. It'll happen where maybe you'll
Speaker 9: reach out to one. I've never seen anything like this,
Speaker 9: to the point where I'm lean the arena after Game three,
Speaker 9: I see Casey Johnson's report, who's a Chicago based NBA reporter,
Speaker 9: that the Bulls have not granted permission and rejected the
Speaker 9: request by the next to speak to the Donovan and
Speaker 9: I'm like, man, I guess I gotta do my due
Speaker 9: diligence out and check in with the Lakers because she's like,
Speaker 9: they're afting for everyone right now. And I know I
Speaker 9: had to send a text just to make sure they
Speaker 9: hadn't asked for JJ Reddick, and I almost felt silly
Speaker 9: doing so. But if they're going to be trying to
Speaker 9: ask five or six other guys who already have a job,
Speaker 9: then who's to say they wouldn't with JJ Reddick. That
Speaker 9: part is wild to me. I think also, as you said,
Speaker 9: with James Dolan, it's pretty transparent. Now the team tried
Speaker 9: to make it seem like this was a decision by
Speaker 9: Leon Rose. It didn't make sense in the moment because
Speaker 9: we all are aware that Leon Rose was dumpted it
Speaker 9: as agent and they are very very close. And then
Speaker 9: I think think leonn Rose in his over the top
Speaker 9: statement about tib still being family in the release about
Speaker 9: him losing his job, was his way of saying like, hey,
Speaker 9: this this actually was not me. And now you say, okay,
Speaker 9: is this some grand scheme? And then this is an
Speaker 9: opinion shared by Gilbert Arenas on this podcast. I got
Speaker 9: to give credit there, but you know, sometimes Gilbert can be,
Speaker 9: you know, a tinfoil half guy. But it might make
Speaker 9: sense is that we're going to reach out to a
Speaker 9: bunch of guys that we know we have no business
Speaker 9: getting and then we can say, well, we did our
Speaker 9: due diligence and Rick Brunston gets the job. Like I mean,
Speaker 9: that's Gilbert's opinion. A way it could go, but at
Speaker 9: this point that would seem just as feasible as any
Speaker 9: other scenario that'sented thus far.
Speaker 1: Well, and whoever they hired Dave, you know, the intro
Speaker 1: press conference, one of the New York guys, maybe I
Speaker 1: Sola or whoever is going to like, hey, how does
Speaker 1: it feel to be the sixth choice?
Speaker 7: Man?
Speaker 1: Like, you know, that's going to be a narrative to
Speaker 1: whoever the coaches will have to deal with as long
Speaker 1: as he's coached that team.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and listen, I mean when the Lakers replaced Luke Walt,
Speaker 9: they offer the job to Toronto Loo, they offered the
Speaker 9: job to John Howard. Ultimately it went to Frank Frank Vogel,
Speaker 9: and that felt like, wow, like you're gonna at the
Speaker 9: third choice here, but yeah, this guy will be the
Speaker 9: sixth choice or later, which is It's just it's just absurd,
Speaker 9: and you know, I the teams will push back and say, well,
Speaker 9: you know what, there's only thirty few jobs and whoever
Speaker 9: gets it will be happy to take it, you know,
Speaker 9: Jordan not. Maybe you think he's walking into a tough
Speaker 9: situation in Phoenix with Bradley Beal's no trade clause and
Speaker 9: Kevin Durant probably going out and you know, not a
Speaker 9: lot of trade assets to speak of moving forward. But hey, man,
Speaker 9: he's one of the guys. He got one of the
Speaker 9: thirty spots, so he'll be happy to have it. And
Speaker 9: maybe they're justified to some degree in taking that position.
Speaker 9: But if they really want to end this championship drought,
Speaker 9: and that's what's motivating the decision, you are certainly not
Speaker 9: setting the person who remember it is that you end
Speaker 9: up hiring up for success based on their entry into
Speaker 9: the job. It will be a circus to begin the
Speaker 9: year based on the way they've handled the last two weeks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well said, all right, before we get to the finals.
Speaker 1: What conversations can you share as far as your sourcing
Speaker 1: goes concerning the rumored drama and player movement this offseason,
Speaker 1: Giannis Durant. Everyone on the Celtics, apparently outside of Tatum
Speaker 1: and others. I mean, you hear rumors almost every single
Speaker 1: day about not just bit pieces, but legitimate star players
Speaker 1: that could be changing teams, that could move and change
Speaker 1: the landscape or league. How real are these rumors and
Speaker 1: do you think we'll see a number of them actually
Speaker 1: come to fruition.
Speaker 9: It is something that's been repeated by a lot of
Speaker 9: folks that I speak to, and obviously we have the
Speaker 9: stuff above the surface that we've seen far the reporting
Speaker 9: by Seams Sharania, especially the Kevin Durant situation. Shams did
Speaker 9: a report today saying that that that could be coming,
Speaker 9: you know, even sooner than say Draft night. I think
Speaker 9: a lot of us were thinking that that would be
Speaker 9: the first domino to fall. On Wednesday, that's when we
Speaker 9: see a lot of this movement occur. But basically, Sham's
Speaker 9: reported that not only had the team list that Durant's
Speaker 9: representation had kind of provided to the Sun's already been
Speaker 9: cut down from five or six teams down to three,
Speaker 9: that this could happen in the next couple of days.
Speaker 9: So that's significant. And once that happens, yeah, I think
Speaker 9: then you'll see the people who might have been in
Speaker 9: the running for Durant. Maybe they changed their sites towards
Speaker 9: ye honest, maybe they said change their sights towards Jalen
Speaker 9: Brown and Drew Holliday and Chriszingis. Like I think, on
Speaker 9: the Boston front, we're pretty positive that Drew Holliday and
Speaker 9: Prisoner's going to be moved to avoid the punitive luxury
Speaker 9: tax for a team that without Jason Tatum will not
Speaker 9: be competing for a championship next year. So that's a given.
Speaker 9: And those are two significant pieces, and then Durant is
Speaker 9: certainly a given. And once you talk about that, and
Speaker 9: then you throw in the fact that outside of Cooper Flag,
Speaker 9: there's not like a consensus of two through eight in
Speaker 9: this draft. Then you can see teams trading down as well.
Speaker 9: And when teams are willing to trade down and draft
Speaker 9: picks of that quote unquote value get started moving around,
Speaker 9: then you see big names being moved around as well.
Speaker 7: So I do think.
Speaker 9: There's some fire to the smoke, and really, yeah, I
Speaker 9: think it will really just all start to come together
Speaker 9: with Drank gets moved.
Speaker 1: Since we are in Salt Lake City, I'm quite sure
Speaker 1: the answer will be a very emphatic no. But have
Speaker 1: you heard anything since you and I last spoke about
Speaker 1: the as taking phone calls on Lowry Marketing and Walker Kessler.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 9: The only thing you know all that front that you know,
Speaker 9: and this is I'm sure we've had this conversation to
Speaker 9: some degree over the last eighteen months that Walker Kessler
Speaker 9: remains the name that the Lakers are intrigued by whether
Speaker 9: that would lead to any sort of deal. You know,
Speaker 9: obviously last year the asking price was too too steep,
Speaker 9: and obviously the Lakers ended up pivoting those assets that
Speaker 9: they were considering moving to the Jets to get Kessler
Speaker 9: in order to do the Luca trade. So you know
Speaker 9: that came off the table after the Luca trade, but
Speaker 9: if they do revisit it, you know that that remains
Speaker 9: a player that the Lakers feel could fit the voids
Speaker 9: that they have at center. Again, I'm not reporting anything's
Speaker 9: moving towards or picking up steam or anything like that,
Speaker 9: but Kessler remains on the Lakers radar.
Speaker 2: Let me just follow up real quick, what what frame
Speaker 2: work of a deal would make sense? And do they
Speaker 2: have draft capital because you know that's what Austin and
Speaker 2: is going to be asking for.
Speaker 9: So they do have a twenty thirty one first round
Speaker 9: draft pick ticket trade and then a don't connect who
Speaker 9: had a really good first half of the season and
Speaker 9: then you know, not so great, looked more like a
Speaker 9: rookie in the secondlf of the season and really wasn't
Speaker 9: trusted by JJ Reddick in the high leverage moments in
Speaker 9: the playoffs. However, he's a guy who you know, he
Speaker 9: can put up numbers and it could could could become
Speaker 9: you know, no delicate way to say this could become
Speaker 9: a fan brave it in Utah as a you know,
Speaker 9: hoigh scoring white guy, So you know there there could
Speaker 9: be some sort of package to be had around that.
Speaker 9: I mean, quite frankly, any sort of package the Lakers
Speaker 9: would be pursuing would involve that twenty thirty one first
Speaker 9: round draft pick, Connect because obviously he showed some value
Speaker 9: and it still could be looked at as like kind
Speaker 9: of like a restaurant draft picks. And then the expiant
Speaker 9: contract of Gabe Vincent and Derrick Vanderbilt. Like, that's kind
Speaker 9: of the stuff the Lakers have to work with, and
Speaker 9: they'll see what the market can give them back for
Speaker 9: those assets.
Speaker 2: So you want us to trade our exciting, big white
Speaker 2: guy for the underwhelming white guy that can shoot it
Speaker 2: in Saul, late Dave, is that what you're asking us
Speaker 2: to do?
Speaker 9: I mean, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 6: Is that much more exciting than Connect?
Speaker 2: Fair? Fair?
Speaker 1: He's good and he would play well in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: a good player. But we'll move on. Now, we can
Speaker 1: move on. Hey, before I ask you about the game tonight,
Speaker 1: you know, I've got my brother and sister in law
Speaker 1: live in Carmel, Indiana, and a couple of my nephews
Speaker 1: went to Game three. What's the what's the feel around?
Speaker 1: And I know I teach you about the small market stuff.
Speaker 1: It's a great basketball state, it's a great basketball city.
Speaker 1: They haven't had the finals in forever. What's what's the
Speaker 1: feel and the buzz Since you're on the ground of that.
Speaker 9: Community, it's been really really cool. And Indie is kind
Speaker 9: of in one of the cities where you can stay
Speaker 9: at a hotel downtown and everything's walkable, and because it's kind
Speaker 9: of compact, every business front has some sort of pacer
Speaker 9: signage on it, and very similar I would say to
Speaker 9: okay See. Now, the Indian is bigger than okay See.
Speaker 9: But you know, you're not necessarily needing to leave the
Speaker 9: center of the metropolis to you know, experience covering the
Speaker 9: team while you're down here, and so you feel like
Speaker 9: there's a full immersion in it. And you know it
Speaker 9: may seem like a silly thing, but in both Indiana
Speaker 9: and okay See, you see all the fans wearing the
Speaker 9: free T shirt giveaway. It creates a visual environment when
Speaker 9: you walk into the arena, they are loud, they are
Speaker 9: on their feet. You know, it's cool to see the
Speaker 9: alumnus of the program coming back. You Reggie Miller sitting
Speaker 9: courtside Oscar Robertson, you know, a legend of the game
Speaker 9: hot if you've played for the Cincinnati Royals, kind of
Speaker 9: a Midwest type of legend, type of guy back sitting
Speaker 9: courtside as well. It's kind of like meeting the moment
Speaker 9: of this really good basketball being met by really passionate
Speaker 9: fan bases. And you know, no matter what the ratings say,
Speaker 9: if you are watching this game on TV, happen to be,
Speaker 9: you know, part of the shrinking television fan base or
Speaker 9: certainly coming in person, there's no way your walk away
Speaker 9: after three games thus far and not saying this has
Speaker 9: been a really good NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: The entire postseason, Dave has been awesome. I talked about
Speaker 1: it to start the show, and yes, it's been And
Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting. We'll end on this because I
Speaker 1: got to set you loose. All three of the games
Speaker 1: so far have been different, you know, and it's interesting
Speaker 1: to watch the chess match between.
Speaker 2: Two really really good coaches.
Speaker 1: So, based off of what you've witnessed over the first
Speaker 1: three games, what are you anticipating tonight As far as
Speaker 1: adjustments that dag Nault now has to make after Rick
Speaker 1: Carlisle made some very savvy adjustments.
Speaker 2: Game three, how do you think tonight's going to go?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, listen, they got to find a way
Speaker 9: to try and Shay still put up numbers, but he
Speaker 9: just seemed to be wearing down a little bit by
Speaker 9: the end of the game, and to try to alleviate
Speaker 9: him some of the pressure. You know, maybe you're bringing
Speaker 9: the ball up with case and wallets, bringing the ball
Speaker 9: up with Alex Caruso and not having Shay need to
Speaker 9: start the action until catching on the pass pass half
Speaker 9: court and you know you do that thirty times a game,
Speaker 9: maybe you have, you know, incremental extra energy left your
Speaker 9: legs when it matters in the fourth quarter because what
Speaker 9: they have, what Indiana has right now is a matchup
Speaker 9: advantage and throwing Andrew Nemzard on him and his kind
Speaker 9: of mentality and not just his you know, obviously he
Speaker 9: had the phisicality and the quickness to be able to
Speaker 9: stay with Shaye, but his mentality of like, he's just
Speaker 9: a dude. I've known since I was a teenager. He's
Speaker 9: not some special MVP has allowed them to play really
Speaker 9: good straight one on one defense against him. So thus
Speaker 9: far the series, Chase just shooting seven for twenty in
Speaker 9: one on one possessions against Andrew Neimharn Like, that's been
Speaker 9: a pretty remarkable thing that that Indy found and the
Speaker 9: way Dignaut can combat it is you try to find
Speaker 9: as many situations where Shay is catching it on the
Speaker 9: move and not in a one on one just half
Speaker 9: court scenario where you're pounded down the rock and allowing
Speaker 9: Indy to set their defense that way. And then I
Speaker 9: also think you saw Check have some success in the
Speaker 9: first half looking to score quick before Indy could really
Speaker 9: set their defense. And whether it's it's Chet, you saw
Speaker 9: some of it from Loudort also in the first half.
Speaker 9: Just be free and easy and get those shots up
Speaker 9: because the best looks are going to get are going
Speaker 9: to be in the first five seconds for the shot clock. Indy,
Speaker 9: especially with this crowd behind them, they just get more
Speaker 9: confident as the possession goes on. So o case he's
Speaker 9: going to have to try to force some pace against
Speaker 9: this team.
Speaker 1: All right, my friend, appreciate the time, enjoy the game
Speaker 1: tonight should be a fun and want old chat soon, Dave,
Speaker 1: Thank you, sir him. Dave mcmannon NBA reporter for ESPN.
Speaker 1: Get them on social Media at MC ten is where
Speaker 1: you find him. Tonight's game is three hours away from
Speaker 1: tip Game four Big One in Indianapolis Game Bridge Field House,
Speaker 1: and you can hear the game right here on ESPN.
Speaker 1: Seven hundred Dave stops by today courtesy of our friends
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Speaker 1: early the four o'clock hour. NBA playoffs resumed tonight. NBA
Speaker 1: Finals resumed tonight six thirty Mountain time, so just under
Speaker 1: two or three hours away excuse me from tip. You
Speaker 1: can hear Game four Indiana OKC on our radio station.
Speaker 1: But the third major championship in the world of professional
Speaker 1: golf is going on right now. Our next guest host
Speaker 1: of Utah Golf Radio to enlighten, illuminate and entertain on
Speaker 1: a Friday afternoon, Paul Pugmyer, Happy Friday, sir, How are you?
Speaker 8: I'm so good? It's US Open League Spencer, it.
Speaker 1: Is indeed, I want to start here. What's the hardest
Speaker 1: golf course? Well, actually, have you played Oakmont? If not,
Speaker 1: what's the hardest. What's the hardest golf course you've ever played?
Speaker 8: Paul, Oh, the ocean course where the PGA Championship has
Speaker 8: been held twice. There are a couple of shots on
Speaker 8: that from the tips that just are almost unplayable for mortals,
Speaker 8: or maybe they are unplayable. It was such a tough course,
Speaker 8: so there's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: I have never played Oakmont, and it is bringing some
Speaker 1: of the world's best golfers to their knees. Paul, tell
Speaker 1: us about this track, Why is it playing so difficult?
Speaker 8: It was designed to be difficult. Its conception from the
Speaker 8: beginning was to be the hardest course in the world,
Speaker 8: and it has stood up to that for one hundred
Speaker 8: and twenty years. It was built at the turn of
Speaker 8: the twentieth century nineteen o three by a steel baron
Speaker 8: in Pittsburgh named Henry c. Phones. He got a diagnosis
Speaker 8: that he had a year to live, so he sold out.
Speaker 8: He sold to Andrew Carnegie and and his mill became
Speaker 8: what eventually was us Steel. And then he took his
Speaker 8: money and he said, what I want to do with
Speaker 8: this year I have left to live is build the
Speaker 8: toughest golf course in the world. Turns out the diagnosis
Speaker 8: was wrong. He lived thirty five years more. However, he
Speaker 8: succeeded in building the toughest golf course in the world.
Speaker 8: He built Oakmont. It is his one and only golf
Speaker 8: course design project. It is one of the classics in
Speaker 8: the world, and it has stood the test of time.
Speaker 2: It is a brute So what specifically I mean.
Speaker 1: I was listening to the coverage, watching some of the
Speaker 1: coverage before the first round, and the guys on the
Speaker 1: Golf channel said, the rough is like five and a
Speaker 1: half inches.
Speaker 2: The greens are rolling at fourteen, Like, that's so dumb.
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine that what specifically about the track
Speaker 1: makes it so challenging.
Speaker 8: Paul, Well, it's not just that the greens are rolling
Speaker 8: at fourteen and they might end up rolling at fifteen
Speaker 8: by the time we get to Sunday. The green complexes
Speaker 8: are among the most severe in the world, and taken
Speaker 8: as a total of eighteen complexes together, they are the
Speaker 8: most severe green complexes in the world, both in terms
Speaker 8: of size and slope and undulation. And then you add
Speaker 8: in the speed that we've already mentioned that the putting
Speaker 8: of Oakmond is so incredibly difficult. The reugh is a feature,
Speaker 8: not a bug. They designed it from the beginning to
Speaker 8: have big, heavy, thick rough and the fairways are tight,
Speaker 8: the fairways are Hitting the fairway is a big deal.
Speaker 8: It matters when you hit the fairway. If you don't,
Speaker 8: you're in that rough and it will take it's a
Speaker 8: half a shot penalty and in some cases a full
Speaker 8: shot penalty to hit it in the rough. You've just
Speaker 8: got to hit the fairway in it. That is such
Speaker 8: a difficult task. The fairways are narrow and the fairways
Speaker 8: are sloped as well, so the effective landing area on
Speaker 8: a fairway is pretty narrow. You can hit it, drive
Speaker 8: the lands on the fairway, but it'll chase through into
Speaker 8: the rough on the low side anyway.
Speaker 2: So a couple of the.
Speaker 1: Ways I heard the course described, and certainly some of
Speaker 1: the elements you just kind of pointed out very well.
Speaker 1: I felt like, maybe, like when Tony is peaked, Tony,
Speaker 1: this feels like a course. And look, none of these
Speaker 1: guys and we'll get to the players that are playing well.
Speaker 1: But whether it's Scotti or Rory, I mean, some of
Speaker 1: the best players in the world are just having a
Speaker 1: difficult time. Tony actually played pretty well today, but it
Speaker 1: was a seventy six round one followed it with a
Speaker 1: seventy today. And so what do you make of Tony's
Speaker 1: inability to handle a course where based off of the
Speaker 1: outline of the track, I felt like he might have
Speaker 1: a chance to maybe be in this thing.
Speaker 8: I agree with you. I think this is a course
Speaker 8: that fits Tony's game. Well, Tony is so strong, so powerful,
Speaker 8: he has such long levers, such good hands. He's a
Speaker 8: freak athlete with an incredibly great athletic body, which means
Speaker 8: that he can swing at less than eighty percent. He
Speaker 8: can swing at sixty percent and get plenty out of
Speaker 8: his shot making. But he went into this tournament kind
Speaker 8: of searching in his petting stroke. I think we talked
Speaker 8: last week about how he hit the Pett Memorial one handed.
Speaker 8: You cannot go to Oakmont searching for something that won't
Speaker 8: let you find it. It will only expose that you
Speaker 8: don't know. And I think that's what happened on the
Speaker 8: seventy six. The seventy today, which was a terrific round,
Speaker 8: puts him inside the cut line. He'll play the weekend,
Speaker 8: but it also tells me that he's just kind of
Speaker 8: accepting what Oakmont will give him. Tony might well play
Speaker 8: himself into a stronger position come the weekend.
Speaker 2: Our other two local players will not be playing over
Speaker 2: the weekend. Zach Blair, who went viral for making like
Speaker 2: a one hundred and twenty yard putt, which is just like,
Speaker 2: you know, just ridiculous, but I guess you know that's
Speaker 2: the course. And then Preston had a rough day to
Speaker 2: day started in eighty So give me your thoughts on
Speaker 2: Zach and Preston will not be playing through the weekend.
Speaker 8: This course might simply be too big for Zach Blair's
Speaker 8: game Zach's. Zach's game is built on a superb wedge play. Now,
Speaker 8: the one thing that I need to look at the
Speaker 8: numbers and look at the shot link statistics on Zach
Speaker 8: Zach's first two rounds. But if he was missing the
Speaker 8: fairways at all, and I mean at all, the course
Speaker 8: is just too big for the second shot and a
Speaker 8: five inch rough and the reality is you're not going
Speaker 8: to hit every fairway at Okemont. Nobody is. So there's
Speaker 8: that for Preston Summer Hayes. Preston just began his professional
Speaker 8: career last week on the Corn Ferry Tour. He got
Speaker 8: corn Fairy status by finishing seventh in PJ Tour university
Speaker 8: ranking coming out of college this year, so he's just
Speaker 8: getting his feet under him as a pro. It still
Speaker 8: was out of character for him to be that much
Speaker 8: over Park. I don't really know what was happening with
Speaker 8: Preston except that holy cow oakemand is hard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and another player who, barring a really fast finish,
Speaker 1: will not be playing over the weekend, as Rory McElroy.
Speaker 1: Paul and I believe this marks his third straight tournament
Speaker 1: since he was able to get that Grand Slam under
Speaker 1: his belt where he will not be playing over the weekend.
Speaker 1: But I want to add another layer to the question.
Speaker 1: He's turned into this like whiny little baby. You know,
Speaker 1: he's like, he won't talk to the media. He's complaining,
Speaker 1: he's like a petulant little child, And honestly, I think
Speaker 1: that's the wrong approach because it feels like when he's
Speaker 1: front facing and communicating, it's actually better for his game.
Speaker 1: The guys on the Golf channel were talking about it
Speaker 1: last night. What do you think's going on with him?
Speaker 1: I'm kind of soured on him for now, if I'm
Speaker 1: honest with.
Speaker 8: Yeah, Oh, I hear you, and I feel you, and
Speaker 8: I share your view. I'm saddened by it because I
Speaker 8: think Rory is one of the great people in the game.
Speaker 8: Clearly a great player, but he's one of the best
Speaker 8: thinkers in the game. He's one of the best ambassadors
Speaker 8: of the game. And he has been acting childish since
Speaker 8: a guest and I don't understand why, but heck, he
Speaker 8: launched a club a few minutes ago. I might have
Speaker 8: it up on my auxiliary monitor here at work, and
Speaker 8: Rory hit a pretty crummy shot and he launched the
Speaker 8: club out of his follow through now. He threw it forward,
Speaker 8: which you know is good strategy. Don't ever throw a
Speaker 8: club backward. But it's sad. It's sad to me that
Speaker 8: a player, a man of his excellence, is allowing himself
Speaker 8: to behave like this.
Speaker 1: It's very disappoint You're a lot kinder than I on
Speaker 1: I think he's a baby. I just think it's just ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Let's let's move over and give some flowers where they're due.
Speaker 1: I mean, Bryson's not playing well, Wyndham's not playing well.
Speaker 1: Shane Lowry is one of the he's near the bottom
Speaker 1: of this like it's wild to watch this challenge. Really
Speaker 1: take it, take it out of the best players in
Speaker 1: the world. But let's give Sam Burns a little credit
Speaker 1: because he found a sixty. He's found a sixty five today. Paul,
Speaker 1: after a rough finish yesterday, did card of seventy two,
Speaker 1: which is a fine score. But he goes low to
Speaker 1: day sixty five. He along with JJ, of course, who
Speaker 1: deserves a lot of credit. There are leaders as of now,
Speaker 1: so give me your thoughts on the two at the
Speaker 1: top of the leaderboard.
Speaker 8: Both of them need to prove that they belong in
Speaker 8: the conversation as being among the best players in the world.
Speaker 8: Both of them are on the cusp of being in
Speaker 8: the conversation of being among the best players in the world.
Speaker 8: I JJ Spawn, of course, was in He's been getting
Speaker 8: better statistically over the past few years. He is firmly
Speaker 8: inside the top twenty in the world right now, but
Speaker 8: he hasn't yet gotten over the top on a big win.
Speaker 8: He nearly did it with the Players Championship earlier this spring.
Speaker 8: He took Rory McElroy to a playoff, and look, if
Speaker 8: you're making it to a playoff at the Players on
Speaker 8: TPC Sawgrass, you are playing great golf on a great
Speaker 8: golf course against a great field. Sam Burns again a
Speaker 8: really terrific player. He's had a solid PGA career, lashes
Speaker 8: of greatness, but he hasn't done He hasn't gotten over
Speaker 8: the top on a big win yet. Both of these
Speaker 8: players need that to cemit their status as being among
Speaker 8: the best players in the world. They both need this
Speaker 8: win this week, and they're both doing things that you've
Speaker 8: got to do. Look, Spawns round yesterday is not sustainable.
Speaker 8: He had seven puts of longer than seven feet to
Speaker 8: save par. You can't do that four days in a
Speaker 8: row at Oakmont, nobody can. But today he's been making
Speaker 8: pars by keeping it on short grass. Go JJ, that's
Speaker 8: incredibly impressive. Burns sixty five today a monster round and
Speaker 8: he kept it in play. He had one bogey on
Speaker 8: the card, still didn't have a clean card. Those are
Speaker 8: very very rare at Okamont. But Burns sixty five today
Speaker 8: is very impressive. And his seventy two yesterday two over
Speaker 8: parr but it didn't knock him out of the tournament,
Speaker 8: and so his sixty five today mattered and there he
Speaker 8: is t one all.
Speaker 1: Right, Paul, Before we find out what's on the show tomorrow,
Speaker 1: history tells us that in a US Open such as this,
Speaker 1: when it comes to second round behind us, the winner
Speaker 1: is probably going to come from the group that's within
Speaker 1: four shots of the lead. So that tells us that
Speaker 1: obviously Sam and JJ, Victor Hovelin's in that mix. Adam
Speaker 1: Scott as of now, is in that mix, My guy
Speaker 1: Sam Stevens is in that mix. But right outside of it,
Speaker 1: of course, Brooks cap gets a major championship, so Brooks
Speaker 1: usually shows up, even though the past few you haven't
Speaker 1: been great. So I'll ask you, do you agree that
Speaker 1: the data indicates that the winner will come from this
Speaker 1: group that's been within four shots at the lead or
Speaker 1: are you willing to expand that to include a Brooks
Speaker 1: Koepka or Xander Schaffle or of course a Scotty Scheffler.
Speaker 2: Like So that's kind of where we're at right now.
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts?
Speaker 8: I think Scheffler's too far out, but you know, Scheffler
Speaker 8: shot at seventy one. Today he's at plus four, which
Speaker 8: is t twenty six. But I'm totally willing to expand
Speaker 8: it because this is Oakmont. Nobody will go get the
Speaker 8: winners at Oakmont. It happened once in the history of
Speaker 8: the game, and that was nineteen seventy three with Utah's
Speaker 8: own Johnny Miller, when he shot six on Sunday to
Speaker 8: jump up thirty spots on the on the leaderboard and
Speaker 8: win the US Open. It remains I think the greatest
Speaker 8: single round ever played the But you just can't expect
Speaker 8: that that level of history will be made again, which
Speaker 8: means people are going to come backward, not forward, and
Speaker 8: that brings more scores into play. Nobody will have four
Speaker 8: rounds of good scores at this tournament. And so if
Speaker 8: Brooks keptk is seventy too, today is his week round
Speaker 8: and you know he pairs it with his sixty eight yesterday.
Speaker 8: Pardon his seventy four today. If that's his week round
Speaker 8: and he's had a sixty eight, if they if he
Speaker 8: has strong rounds over the weekend, he could be right
Speaker 8: in the mix. He's just six back. I totally think
Speaker 8: Kepkik is still in the mix. I think Adam Scott
Speaker 8: definitely in the mix. And boy, wouldn't that be interesting
Speaker 8: to see Adam Scott finally get a US Open. Victor
Speaker 8: Hoblin has to be taken totally seriously. He currently sits
Speaker 8: at minus one and he has his sixty eight today.
Speaker 8: In the books, he's done. The rest of these players,
Speaker 8: the Spawns, Burns, Thomas Dietrie a really nice player who's
Speaker 8: had a solid career, but he hasn't done anything big yet.
Speaker 8: Tristan Lawrence, who's made a lot of noise on the
Speaker 8: DP World Tour old in Europe, hasn't done anything in
Speaker 8: the States yet. Ben Griffin really interesting player. He's been
Speaker 8: on SiZ lately. He's had a very strong year. Griffin's
Speaker 8: going to make the Ryder Cup team. This is a
Speaker 8: Ryder Cup player, and so it'd be interesting to see
Speaker 8: him really step forward and make some noise. He's in
Speaker 8: the mix as well. But I am totally willing to
Speaker 8: expand that statistically established four strokes after two rounds number.
Speaker 8: I think we can take it to seven. Because it's Oakmont.
Speaker 2: All right, Paul, Before I say you, Louise, tell our
Speaker 2: listeners what's coming up on what should be a fun
Speaker 2: show for you tomorrow.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's gonna We're going to have fun. We're going
Speaker 8: to do a lot of Oakmont and US Open stuff.
Speaker 8: Danny Summer Hayes, he had a T eight, a top
Speaker 8: ten in the US Open in two thy sixteen when
Speaker 8: it was last played there. We're going to talk with
Speaker 8: Danny about his experience playing Oakmont. And we're gonna get
Speaker 8: Guy yoakum Utah, Golf Hall of Famer from Golf Digest,
Speaker 8: and we're going to get him on to talk about
Speaker 8: Johnny Miller's sixty three in nineteen seventy three, the greatest
Speaker 8: round of golf ever played. Guy yoakum is just he
Speaker 8: is all knowledge on this stuff. It's going to be great.
Speaker 8: We're going to be talking a lot of us open,
Speaker 8: a lot of Oakmont and we will be at Glenn
Speaker 8: Moore tomorrow for the Utah Golf Association Junior State am
Speaker 8: the state championship for the kid It gets underway tomorrow
Speaker 8: at Glenmore.
Speaker 1: Paul, thank you, sir. Enjoy the rest of the tournament.
Speaker 1: We'll chat next week.
Speaker 8: Can't wait. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Hi, there is Paul Pugmyer you Tah Golf Radio Tour
Speaker 1: Talk with Paul pug Meyer is brought to you today
Speaker 1: by Camclad.
Speaker 2: Choose beyond Today.
Speaker 1: Choose Camclad Moore information at camclad dot com, join us
Speaker 1: live and studio. Jamie Aslett the general manager of Keto's Brewing. Jamie,
Speaker 1: how are you. Let's get her Mike up just a
Speaker 1: little bit, Jamie. I'm great, love your brewery. By the way,
Speaker 1: you guys do an excellent job. So you're just getting
Speaker 1: back from the North American Brewers Competition and you guys
Speaker 1: won some events.
Speaker 2: There are some medals. Let's hear about it.
Speaker 4: We did.
Speaker 10: We won two golds in a bronze.
Speaker 2: Okay, so which beers won the golds.
Speaker 10: My Blondale and a Suki Sake Ricelogger which was a
Speaker 10: collaboration with Suki Sock.
Speaker 2: Okay, tell me about the blondale. What do you want
Speaker 2: our listeners to know?
Speaker 10: Uh, it is a crisp, clean ale which just enough
Speaker 10: sweetness to showcase a delicate Mault backbone balanced with pine
Speaker 10: and citrus notes from the usage of cascade and comet hops.
Speaker 2: And the second one you said it was your Suki Sake.
Speaker 10: So Suki Sake is a local sake producer and we
Speaker 10: did a collaboration with their sake mix and sushi grade
Speaker 10: rice to make it a rice lagger saki beer.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that was a thing because I
Speaker 1: was going to ask you what the differences between cause
Speaker 1: if you go eat sushi, you usually get sake. I
Speaker 1: didn't know you can make a saki beer. Very interesting.
Speaker 10: You can make a rice lagger. A lot of places have.
Speaker 10: Those are the differences. We can use the sake, but
Speaker 10: it has to be made with fifty one percent grain. Okay,
Speaker 10: so it has to be fifty one percent rice, then sake.
Speaker 2: How did you get into this?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 2: How did you develop your love for brewing and making beer?
Speaker 2: What's the origin store here?
Speaker 10: I don't make the beer, I just drink the beer.
Speaker 2: You just drink the beer.
Speaker 10: I have a great brew staff, and I am super
Speaker 10: happy that I can just showcase them and support everything
Speaker 10: that they do.
Speaker 2: Are you local? Are you from our market?
Speaker 10: I am from Idaho originally.
Speaker 2: You're from Idaho originally?
Speaker 1: So how did you kind of make your way to
Speaker 1: running the ship over at Kido's.
Speaker 10: It's a hard opportunity to pass up it.
Speaker 2: Sure is.
Speaker 1: So have you worked in the service restaurant industry for
Speaker 1: an I.
Speaker 10: Have been in customer service industry for.
Speaker 2: US summer service. Okay, very nice. Finally, coffee creaml one
Speaker 2: of bronze. Let's hear about this one.
Speaker 10: It is what we call the morning beer. It is
Speaker 10: what a lot of golfers drink.
Speaker 2: Okay, good morning on the golf course.
Speaker 10: A little be coffee in it. We use King Peak
Speaker 10: roast some coffee beans for us, so we use the
Speaker 10: real coffee beans.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So if you're a golfer and you have an early
Speaker 1: tea time, this is something you could consider.
Speaker 10: Breakfast beer.
Speaker 2: Breakfast beer. I like it. I like it. Okay. So
Speaker 2: you guys are celebrating eight.
Speaker 10: Years coming up right yep in September.
Speaker 2: Right before I set you loose locations website what do
Speaker 2: you want our listeners to know?
Speaker 10: Ketosbrewing dot com. We're at six o' we eight West
Speaker 10: seven hundred South in Salt Lake. And if you're looking
Speaker 10: for the freshest beer, we just canned our hazy double
Speaker 10: IPA about a couple hours ago.
Speaker 1: Very nice, and I would imagine your beers are also
Speaker 1: in state liquor stores right available for people to get there.
Speaker 10: Yes, liquor stores, some in the grocery stores, bars and
Speaker 10: restaurants all over. But we make over fifty different beers
Speaker 10: and they're available at the taproom.
Speaker 1: Okay, some in the grocery store. Finally, goodness, gracious, well, Jamie,
Speaker 1: nice to meet you, Thanks for coming in. Okay, thanks
Speaker 1: for having me, Jamie asked Led, general manager of Keto's Brewing.
Speaker 1: They just wont two gold medals and a bronze at
Speaker 1: the North American Brewers competition. So some good stuff there,
Speaker 1: Blondale gold for the Sukisake rice lagger and a bronze
Speaker 1: for the coffee creamal So definitely check him out, all right,
Speaker 1: Two hours down, two hours to go. Chris Camaraddi joins
Speaker 1: us live in studio, coming up next right here on
Speaker 1: ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 2: Ketos means thank you in finish expressing gratitude. Keto's Brewing,
Speaker 2: a locally born brewery, expresses that gratitude with every pore,
Speaker 2: from their Great American Beer Fest Gold medal winning Blondale
Speaker 2: Coffee Cream Ale, the BlackBerry Sour, which is the best
Speaker 2: selling sour in Utah, to the only true gluten free
Speaker 2: ale in Utah. There's something for everyone.
Speaker 1: Taste for yourself at their taphouse, downtown bars around the city,
Speaker 1: grocery stores or local liquor stores, or can be found
Speaker 1: at Keto'sbrewing dot com. I do feel like this song
Speaker 1: encapsulates what our next guest means to The Drive Live
Speaker 1: Monday through Friday, two to six. Chris comm live in
Speaker 1: studio on a Friday. Used to probably like exclusively Fridays,
Speaker 1: and we got.
Speaker 2: You on a Friday.
Speaker 4: Well it's it's summertime. Yeah, and my significant other is
Speaker 4: no longer working public educator.
Speaker 2: Yes, so I am. I am free of my constraints. Well,
Speaker 2: we appreciate you. Rolling in Beach Boys fan Brian Wilson
Speaker 2: passing this.
Speaker 4: Week, huge fan. Yeah, I was listening to Fresh Air
Speaker 4: and they re aired his last two interviews with Terry
Speaker 4: gross In nineteen eighty eight, nineteen ninety eight and very
Speaker 4: fascinating guy, very very sad story like you if you
Speaker 4: don't know about Brian Wilson, like a very depressing but
Speaker 4: also enlightening human being, like went through a lot of
Speaker 4: mental health challenges, sure, but a genius in his own right.
Speaker 4: And this song is one of my favorites of all
Speaker 4: time for a lot of reasons. But it always reminds
Speaker 4: me of the end of Boogie Nights for sure, with
Speaker 4: the Buck super Stereo world like it. Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4: It was fascinating to listen to Brian Wilson himself talk
Speaker 4: about all of his stuff in these old interviews.
Speaker 1: This week, I'll have to check that. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: seen the documentaries. And then there was a movie made,
Speaker 1: Love and Mercy, which was excellent.
Speaker 2: I lucked out.
Speaker 1: When I was ten years old, my uncle Nate played
Speaker 1: in a beach Boys cover.
Speaker 2: Band called Surf's Up.
Speaker 1: Naturally, they played a lagoon and I thought he was
Speaker 1: like a beach boy wow, you know. And so when
Speaker 1: we moved back East, my uncle Nate, to his credit, yeah,
Speaker 1: to his ever living credit. Quite frankly, I think he
Speaker 1: knew this was going to be a difficult move for
Speaker 1: a ten year old. Sure, he gave me pet sounds
Speaker 1: on tape. Okay, wow, because I had a walkman at
Speaker 1: the time, not even a dismand this was nineteen eighty eight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he gave me pet sounds on tape. He gave me
Speaker 1: Revolver on tape, Sergeant Pepper's on tape, and then another
Speaker 1: Beach Boys. He gave me two Beatles albums and two
Speaker 1: Beach Boys albums on tape.
Speaker 4: Why haven't we hung out with Uncle Nate? Is he
Speaker 4: still around?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 2: He's around. He's the best.
Speaker 4: Why haven't we hung out with Uncle Nate?
Speaker 10: He is?
Speaker 2: You know, let's do it? Is he?
Speaker 4: Is he a namesake for your brother? Don't you have
Speaker 4: a brother?
Speaker 8: Yes?
Speaker 1: Yeah, my brother Nate was named after my uncle Nate. No,
Speaker 1: my uncle Nate lives in Bountiful.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think he has five or six kids, a
Speaker 2: bunch of grandkids now.
Speaker 4: Too, Would Uncle Nate want to hang out with Nate bench?
Speaker 2: Yes, and now that's all I want, quite frankly. No,
Speaker 2: he's the sweetest guy and he very much colored my
Speaker 2: musical taste as a kid, which I'm very grateful for.
Speaker 1: And he so he introduced me to the Beach Boys.
Speaker 1: Greatest American rock band of all time?
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, probably, I think most influential at the time.
Speaker 4: I mean, like, if the Beatles don't burst out of
Speaker 4: the scene, I think the Beach Boys ride out the
Speaker 4: sixties basically dominating that decade. But the Liverpool Invasion changed, dude.
Speaker 4: But like if we're talking about if we're talking about
Speaker 4: Beach Boys versus you know, the soft dad rock of
Speaker 4: the seventies with the Eagles, Doobie Brothers, the yacht we
Speaker 4: get into some good yacht rock. Ironically, it's weird, like
Speaker 4: how many of those, like I'm thinking of just off
Speaker 4: the top of my head, just like the band's basically
Speaker 4: mentioned or pseudo mentioned and almost famous. Most of them
Speaker 4: are British bands for sure. Like it's yeah, I mean
Speaker 4: I know that this is what people are wanting to
Speaker 4: listen to on a Friday, but on the sports radio.
Speaker 4: But it's like, it's fascinating. How if you really break
Speaker 4: it down in the lexicon of the history of American
Speaker 4: rock and roll, the Beach Boys are absolutely up there.
Speaker 1: I think anyone who's listening to you and I knows
Speaker 1: the deal by now. I would hope so we might
Speaker 1: get into the top Phillips you more Hoppman movies of
Speaker 1: all time again we did almost famous. So best American
Speaker 1: rock band of all time Aerosmith, Eagles, this is Rolling
Speaker 1: Stones list, Van Halen, The Doors, Metallica, Creedence, Grateful Dead, Tom.
Speaker 2: Petty, Creeden's Gotta be up there, r Em.
Speaker 1: If you want to get weird, Nirvana, Leonard Skinner, Velvet Underground,
Speaker 1: Guns N' Roses, Steely Dan, it might be the Beach
Speaker 1: Boys that might be the answer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think out of all those bands that you named,
Speaker 4: I would go Beach Boys, Steely Dan's Gotta be in
Speaker 4: There and Criminally On and Credence.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely and CCR r em Fan. I would
Speaker 2: imagine you a phase at one point. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: not too much and probably not the greatest.
Speaker 4: I kind of miss like your like I unfortunately didn't
Speaker 4: get the ninety one to ninety five grunge.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, our guy that we talked about that you forgot
Speaker 4: passed away like ten years ago, Chris Cornell, like like that,
Speaker 4: I kind of missed that window due to my age.
Speaker 2: And you bring that up by.
Speaker 1: The way, I just said, stumbled upon a Chris Cornell
Speaker 1: cover of Nothing Compares to You, Okay, and I was
Speaker 1: very impressed. I forgot he died literally a decade Sound Garden,
Speaker 1: food Fighters, Red Hot, Chilled.
Speaker 4: Dow, I would throw red I throw red Hot in
Speaker 4: the mix, at least for a contemporary point of view for.
Speaker 1: Me, Pearl Jam, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and if my dad's listening,
Speaker 1: I have to include Young. In my house it was Crosby, Stills,
Speaker 1: Nash and Young because my dad was a huge Neil
Speaker 1: Young fan.
Speaker 4: Well he was the best one.
Speaker 1: Well, David Crosby man, yuh okay, I mean Melissa Etheridge
Speaker 1: chose him as her sperm donor to have a kid
Speaker 1: because he was such a talented musician. Let's stay and
Speaker 1: do this for an hour. That's cool, man, It's all
Speaker 1: I want to do.
Speaker 4: I hope to be that guy one day.
Speaker 2: You can't be you're that guy today? Okay, not one day?
Speaker 2: All right, Chris.
Speaker 1: Since we're getting weird, let's keep getting weird. Uh my
Speaker 1: guy poach, my guy poached Tino. Let me start here.
Speaker 1: Does this change the way we view the job?
Speaker 2: Greg did? No?
Speaker 4: It does not, No, But I you know I don't
Speaker 4: like two to my own horn. But do you remember
Speaker 4: my hottest take before the last World Cup? Well, remind
Speaker 4: me was that I would not be surprised if we
Speaker 4: didn't qualify it.
Speaker 2: Yes, last week you did warn us, which was accurate.
Speaker 4: And we got dangerously close for a second. I mean
Speaker 4: we missed in eighteen. We got dangerously close in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty two, and Guitar.
Speaker 2: Didn't you call that we would miss eighteen too? No
Speaker 2: you didn't.
Speaker 4: I I that still still too soon. The wounds are
Speaker 4: too deep, yeah, Trinida. Anyways, it doesn't change the job
Speaker 4: that Greg did, because Greg didn't do a bad job.
Speaker 4: And I think that's one thing that the soccer fans
Speaker 4: in this country are always going to be torn apart
Speaker 4: of the seams of how do we best utilize the
Speaker 4: talent that we have? How is this talent pool best deployed?
Speaker 4: And traditionally we've been and by traditionally I mean like
Speaker 4: our most successful international tournaments on the men's side in
Speaker 4: the last twenty years have been a bunch of guys
Speaker 4: who defend like hell and get it to your guys
Speaker 4: up front and make them bleep happen. And that's not
Speaker 4: to say that those teams were incapable of playing this
Speaker 4: very fluid, possession style soccer that so many people worldwide play.
Speaker 4: But odds are when you're in a major international tournament
Speaker 4: as the US men's national team, you're going to more
Speaker 4: often than not be it a talent discrepancy. Like there
Speaker 4: is going to be a talent discrepancy and you're going
Speaker 4: to be on the other side of the coin. So
Speaker 4: when you get to these tournaments, how do you best
Speaker 4: utilize your talent? This quote unquote Golden Generation was supposed
Speaker 4: to be the era that would take us into the
Speaker 4: play with flair, possession, break teams down, tire them out,
Speaker 4: and you have players that are capable of playing that style.
Speaker 4: But for a multitude of reasons, guys have been hurt
Speaker 4: over the years. You're talking about lots of drama. I mean,
Speaker 4: side note, we finally arrived as a soccer country because
Speaker 4: we just can't get out of our own way in
Speaker 4: terms of like the drama. Like that's that's when you
Speaker 4: like national teams worldwide are just like the most talked
Speaker 4: about sports soap opera, because that's all like it really is.
Speaker 2: You sent me an article on the French national team.
Speaker 4: Yes, my yeah, like moms getting involved with stuff and
Speaker 4: like telling players that they shouldn't like tackle their sons
Speaker 4: in training. Yes, that was I think that was Euro
Speaker 4: twenty twenty two, when France flamed out after winning the World.
Speaker 2: Cup in eighteen.
Speaker 4: That's right, But Greg didn't do a bad job. And
Speaker 4: I and I I think what what What the run
Speaker 4: of results under Pochettino showed us is that we have
Speaker 4: to recalibrate our expectations of this team because we're everybody
Speaker 4: is talking about this landmark once in a generational moment
Speaker 4: next summer across the US, Mexico and Canada. I mean
Speaker 4: it is, but I don't know if we're to the
Speaker 4: point now, Spence, that you're going to bring in people
Speaker 4: that haven't bought into the sport. Like I don't think
Speaker 4: that you're gonna have parents watch the US men's national
Speaker 4: team play. Let's just let's just say, like, uh, Slovakia
Speaker 4: or Switzerland next year in as in Dallas, and they're
Speaker 4: not gonna say, oh, I'm gonna have to get my kid.
Speaker 2: Involved in soccer.
Speaker 4: Now. The people who are involved on the ground level,
Speaker 4: as fans are, are loving it. No matter what, people
Speaker 4: will get their Olympic fever type you know, temperature every
Speaker 4: four years with the World Cup. But I I just
Speaker 4: I think everybody kind of has to pump the brakes on.
Speaker 4: This is going to change soccer in this country.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it is.
Speaker 1: Well, it's it's a fair point. When the last World
Speaker 1: Cup was here in ninety four, it did spawn the
Speaker 1: creation of Major League Soccer of MLS, so there was that.
Speaker 1: But you know, when it comes to the effect of
Speaker 1: a World Cup in our region on the sport, it's
Speaker 1: just something that I hear every time. You know, there's
Speaker 1: I remember when we brought the club here in two
Speaker 1: thousand and four, Don Garb was saying, this is great
Speaker 1: timing because the World Cup's in two years. It wasn't
Speaker 1: here two thousand Germany, two thousand and six World Cup.
Speaker 2: It was the first World Cup I watched. I was like,
Speaker 2: this is awesome.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we got worked.
Speaker 2: We did get worked.
Speaker 1: But I think there is a little bit of a
Speaker 1: initial bump that the sport receives every time there's a
Speaker 1: World Cup cycle, but it's never fully sustained. I mean,
Speaker 1: this sport has been a slow grow and a slow
Speaker 1: burn just to get to where it is. And if
Speaker 1: it's ever going to get to where it potentially could be.
Speaker 1: When you watch the way it's played internationally, it's still
Speaker 1: decades and decades away.
Speaker 4: It's not in our DNA man. Like I don't want
Speaker 4: to sound like a fatalist here, but if you don't
Speaker 4: like it, you don't love it, you don't like it,
Speaker 4: and you don't love it like you you're not going
Speaker 4: to tune in casually to watch a soccer game.
Speaker 2: You're just not.
Speaker 4: And that bleeds into all of the issues going around
Speaker 4: the men's national team right now, like you know, who
Speaker 4: decided to show up for the Gold Cup, who was
Speaker 4: told not to show up for the Gold Cup, Former
Speaker 4: players who are often the speakerphone now for you know,
Speaker 4: being the guys on the lawn shaking their fists in
Speaker 4: the air. Like I said, we've kind of arrived in
Speaker 4: a sense like that, it's it's kind of a bleep show.
Speaker 4: And that's how it is around most of the world
Speaker 4: because it's it's what matters to most people, Like they
Speaker 4: have so much pride in their national teams, and often
Speaker 4: national teams are very chaotic because personalities drive it all.
Speaker 4: I mean, Christiano Ronald was forty years old and he's
Speaker 4: still scoring in finals.
Speaker 2: But he's also a pain in the ass.
Speaker 4: But people know that, like when you're once in a
Speaker 4: generational player, you're gonna put up with a pain in
Speaker 4: the ass because that's just what you do. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: don't know where this team goes. Like That's why I
Speaker 4: say I think we have to recalibrate how we look
Speaker 4: at next Summer's World Cup as a as a whole.
Speaker 4: Because it's awesome that it's here. But I mean, we've
Speaker 4: talked about this before, man, Like we're talking about putting
Speaker 4: soccer in football stadiums, American football stadiums around the country,
Speaker 4: which generally doesn't make they're not built. It's gonna look different,
Speaker 4: it's gonna feel different. They're gonna be laying grass over
Speaker 4: artificial turf in some places. Now I'll be a little
Speaker 4: bit of elitist. In Mexico will look better because they're
Speaker 4: gonna be in stadiums that are designed to play and
Speaker 4: how soccer matches full time. Canada the same way. But
Speaker 4: this team was never going to be the team even
Speaker 4: before or this poor run of form with Pochettino that
Speaker 4: was going to be like, oh, these guys are gonna
Speaker 4: have what it takes to make the semis I just
Speaker 4: didn't believe it.
Speaker 2: Well, one of the points you made earlier, which is
Speaker 2: a really good one, because Pochettino said, we are going
Speaker 2: to be on the front foot, we are going to
Speaker 2: play with flair, we are going to attack.
Speaker 4: That's who he is, man, But that's not who we are.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's who we want to be, but we
Speaker 4: aren't there.
Speaker 1: But to your point earlier, whenever we've even had a
Speaker 1: modicum of success, it's like one Nill Landon scores a
Speaker 1: miracle goal at the death against Algeria or whatever. Right,
Speaker 1: We've never been the team that's like gonna lose five
Speaker 1: to four or win three to two. We're always the gritty,
Speaker 1: defensive club that relies on our keeper. Historically speaking, we
Speaker 1: have had pretty elite keepers. I'm not sure if that's
Speaker 1: the deal now this is a backwards US team, yeah,
Speaker 1: and relies on a back four and even a team
Speaker 1: that will defend as a group and then maybe catching
Speaker 1: on the counter and maybe get lucky. That's who we've
Speaker 1: always been. But Pochettino wants a different approach. I don't
Speaker 1: know that he has the personnel for that.
Speaker 4: He doesn't. Yeah, this is a backwards team. The strength
Speaker 4: in this team is in the attacking third, and the
Speaker 4: weakness in this team is in the defensive third ending goal,
Speaker 4: which is like you, I don't you probably couldn't say
Speaker 4: that about a US team going back all the way
Speaker 4: till the eighties, like honestly, like until really Casey Keller
Speaker 4: burst on the scene in the mid nineties. Like this
Speaker 4: is a very hard team to deconstruct from a like
Speaker 4: a tactical point of view because they don't do a
Speaker 4: lot well. It's odd though, because so many of these
Speaker 4: guys came up playing with each other, So like it's
Speaker 4: not like greg Or Pochettino were making these guys like
Speaker 4: solve ap calculus, Like it's not I think, like the
Speaker 4: nerds need to put their their drawing boards away and
Speaker 4: just be like, why can't these guys play well together
Speaker 4: in any sort of system, whether it's under greg Or
Speaker 4: Pochettino or BJ Callahan who was the interim I mean
Speaker 4: they played well under BJ, but like it was a
Speaker 4: very short stint. But like, why is it that this
Speaker 4: group that all accounts is the most talented, that grew
Speaker 4: up with each other for all intents and purposes. Why
Speaker 4: can't they consistently play well together when they do come
Speaker 4: together for these national team camps.
Speaker 1: So part of me believes, whether it was Bob Bradley
Speaker 1: or Jurgen or Greg or now Pochettino, you gotta find
Speaker 1: the guy you like and you gotta stick with them.
Speaker 1: I think. I mean that, that's my opinion. However, when
Speaker 1: you juxtapose that here to other places, other countries.
Speaker 2: That are really good change their managers. So every cycle,
Speaker 2: right if not.
Speaker 4: If yeah, they'll rip them, they'll take them. They'll rip
Speaker 4: the band aid right off if there's a bad run
Speaker 4: of form.
Speaker 1: So when it comes to how impatient we've been with coaches,
Speaker 1: is that your status quo or do you think we
Speaker 1: need to find the guy that we like to ride
Speaker 1: with them?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 4: I mean, like I would be surprised if Pochettino is
Speaker 4: the coach after this World Cup. I think he was
Speaker 4: brought in to try to take this group to new heights. Okay,
Speaker 4: and you're talking about a nation. You're talking about a
Speaker 4: national team coach coaching the national team level for the
Speaker 4: first time. He's been a club He's been a club
Speaker 4: manager forever. And when you're a club manager, you're around
Speaker 4: these guys Spence basically more than really any other professional
Speaker 4: sport in the world. These guys take a four week
Speaker 4: break in the summertime.
Speaker 2: That's it. That's it.
Speaker 4: Otherwise they're they're back training in August and they some
Speaker 4: of them play all the way through May or June. Yeah,
Speaker 4: So like I'm talking about like four to six weeks tops.
Speaker 4: So these coaches, like Pauch is used to having his
Speaker 4: finger tips on guys at his disposal, like whenever he wants.
Speaker 4: And now you're talking about a dude who has gotten
Speaker 4: a few camps together, hasn't had his best strikers have
Speaker 4: been hurt. Balaguan's been hurt, Pepi's been hurt. Uh, Pulisic
Speaker 4: has you know, getting getting knocks. Nobody knows what's gonna
Speaker 4: happen with Geo Rena. Again, it's not what people want
Speaker 4: to hear, but like I just think we have to
Speaker 4: try and recalibrate the expectations of this group going into
Speaker 4: next year. Regardless of where this was going to be held,
Speaker 4: if this was going to be held in Japan or
Speaker 4: South Africa or wherever in Germany, this group hasn't shown
Speaker 4: that they've been able to take in the next st
Speaker 4: I mean, I can't believe it's almost been four years
Speaker 4: since Guitar three and a half because they played in
Speaker 4: in in the winter time, but there hasn't been results.
Speaker 4: Nobody's really made that much of a jump. Christian's been
Speaker 4: really good at AC Milan, but like he's finally realizing
Speaker 4: the expectations that everybody put on him. But other than that,
Speaker 4: you're kind of like, who's who's going to step up
Speaker 4: and take a game by the scruff outside of Christian?
Speaker 2: And we don't really have any of those guys. So
Speaker 2: if we didn't have the auto qualification situation as a
Speaker 2: result of the World Cup being here, would we be
Speaker 2: in trouble?
Speaker 4: I don't think so, because this is I just have
Speaker 4: a hard time seeing that happening, but.
Speaker 2: It is. It is.
Speaker 4: We're at a time now where it's kind of like bleeper,
Speaker 4: get off the pot in terms of figuring out who's
Speaker 4: going to be in your starting eleven, who's going to
Speaker 4: be in your game day roster, how do you want
Speaker 4: to play, who are you going to play against? Like,
Speaker 4: you don't we won't know the World Cup drop for
Speaker 4: a few months now, but like man, I shudder at
Speaker 4: the idea of what would happen if the US lays
Speaker 4: another egg on home soil after Copa America, after your
Speaker 4: favorite tournament, Conka Caffe Nations League.
Speaker 2: That is my jam.
Speaker 4: Like, the only time this group has shown up weirdly
Speaker 4: is against Mexico in big tournaments in recent years, but
Speaker 4: against everybody else when the lights are the brightest, they
Speaker 4: kind of cower and it's really fascinating.
Speaker 1: So what is your opinion on uh Christian polistic h
Speaker 1: Tyler Adams.
Speaker 2: Was hurt right?
Speaker 1: Tyler played, Tyler played, Okay Weston, McKinney.
Speaker 4: Weston and Tim Ware with Juventus because they're at club
Speaker 4: where they're playing in this club world for the first time.
Speaker 1: Okay, And we had Donny on yesterday and you know,
Speaker 1: I can name like the top four or five dudes
Speaker 1: and weren't there. Donny gave me a list of like
Speaker 1: a eleven or twelve players that he thinks will be
Speaker 1: on the World Cup roster that are not on the
Speaker 1: Gold Cup roster, and he said probably seven starters.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about this dynamic where the Gold Cup, historically speaking,
Speaker 1: has been an opportunity for some of the players that
Speaker 1: aren't in the first choice group to showcase their talents.
Speaker 1: We have examples here before Kyle and Nick were part
Speaker 1: of the legitimate rotation for a World Cup. They kind
Speaker 1: of made their name in the Gold Cup. Kyle scored
Speaker 1: a goal, Nick was one of the starting keepers, played well.
Speaker 1: Beltran was on a Gold Cup roster.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: So historically speaking, the Gold Cup is a place for
Speaker 1: lesser known players to showcase their abilities. Do you have
Speaker 1: a problem with these players tapping out based on the
Speaker 1: fact that this Goal Cup is one year away from
Speaker 1: the World Cup.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 4: I think I'm the rare voice or opinion that nobody
Speaker 4: really cares about outside of we care about you.
Speaker 2: We care You're right.
Speaker 4: That's one thing that can't be lost here is historically
Speaker 4: the Gold Cup was a place for people who needed
Speaker 4: to cut their teeth and impress them manager to try
Speaker 4: to get on the radar for the next big tournament
Speaker 4: the following summer or in the years to come. So
Speaker 4: Christian not playing have no problem with it. The guys
Speaker 4: at the Club World Cup have no problem with it.
Speaker 4: You know, Anthony Robinson, who is one of our best players,
Speaker 4: had to get knee surgery. Trying to think desk is
Speaker 4: coming back from an acl Like, honestly, I think people
Speaker 4: are just over compensating with their rationale, with their frustration
Speaker 4: of guys not being available or being there versus the
Speaker 4: current player pool that Poach has just not being good enough.
Speaker 1: And that to me was the main takeaway, Like if
Speaker 1: we look that bad without our top players, it is
Speaker 1: a commentary on we just don't.
Speaker 4: Have depth, don't have depth and don't know how to play.
Speaker 4: I mean, like if you, I don't know if you
Speaker 4: watched the Switzerland match, but like the first.
Speaker 2: I got home and turned it on, it was four nil.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the first half was basically it was
Speaker 4: everybody on their own. Nobody knew how to press together,
Speaker 4: nobody knew how to together, nobody were staying in blocks.
Speaker 4: The lines were being broken. So I mean, like those
Speaker 4: goals that they were giving up, man, like that was
Speaker 4: like embarrassing. It was really really embarrassing. And like couple
Speaker 4: that with Matt Turner spilling one, and like there he
Speaker 4: already doesn't have a lot of you know, success in
Speaker 4: between the pipes in recent years, and you just wonder,
Speaker 4: like do these guys believe themselves? And I think that
Speaker 4: to me is one of the most you know interesting
Speaker 4: kind of underlying parts of this whole conversation is you're
Speaker 4: talking about a young generation who is easily the most
Speaker 4: talented and have the most success at the international club level.
Speaker 4: But the when, like I said, when the bright lights shine,
Speaker 4: they haven't been able to deliver. So like are is
Speaker 4: there is there a little bit of doubt in the
Speaker 4: minds of these guys, is their collective doubt? Like you
Speaker 4: just want to see some sort of change after like
Speaker 4: between World Cup cycles, and you just haven't it. Granted,
Speaker 4: I will say, I'll have to correct myself. The the
Speaker 4: acidhind decision to bring Greg Burhalter back after the last
Speaker 4: World Cup and then have that whole thing flame out
Speaker 4: was ridiculous. So there is a change in a sense.
Speaker 4: But like I said, the only player that really has
Speaker 4: burst onto the scene, so to speak, is a dude
Speaker 4: from here, Like it is Wild. That's not taking nothing
Speaker 4: away from Diego. Diego has proved that he should be
Speaker 4: in the World Cup roster next year. But like considering
Speaker 4: where a lot of these guys play and the amount
Speaker 4: of resources that we've you know, devoted to so many
Speaker 4: of these guys and the youth system here, like this
Speaker 4: golden generation nobody else is coming through the pipeline, Like
Speaker 4: if you if your top level guys are not there,
Speaker 4: then there needs to be some sort of reinforcements behind
Speaker 4: this quote unquote golden generation behind him.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 1: It's a great point because I can also remember when
Speaker 1: we brought RSL here in two thousand and four, the
Speaker 1: Commissioner Garber and Mark ab and others talking about how
Speaker 1: we are a generation away from really seeing our national
Speaker 1: team fly because of all of the resources that have
Speaker 1: been put in place to develop players who at the
Speaker 1: time are the players that we're seeing now.
Speaker 2: And to be fair, there have been some.
Speaker 1: Success stories like Christian and others, but I don't feel
Speaker 1: like we're any closer than we were twenty years ago
Speaker 1: to really having a legitimate shod of doing anything other
Speaker 1: than just getting out of the breath.
Speaker 4: And that's okay, And that's what I mean when I
Speaker 4: say like we have to just everyone needs to take
Speaker 4: a breather and understand where we sit in the world landscape.
Speaker 1: Well, Jurgen Klinsman himself was asked will the US ever
Speaker 1: win a World Cup? And he was like no, and
Speaker 1: he got a viscerally lost his job. He's not wrong
Speaker 1: I know, man, and that's okay. Yeah, there are listen,
Speaker 1: there are there are football. There are soccer countries in
Speaker 1: Europe that produce an insane amount of talented players that
Speaker 1: have trouble getting to the Euros right every four years
Speaker 1: because of how much talent they have to go up against.
Speaker 1: So the fact that we're in our geographical footprint, we
Speaker 1: have it. Okay, Canada's coming on. It's great for Conca
Speaker 1: cap It's good for this region. Mexico is starting to
Speaker 1: wake up a little, but the Central American teams are
Speaker 1: a little shaky compared to where they have been historically.
Speaker 1: But like, if we can get out of group stage
Speaker 1: and and have a puncher's chance and the puncher's chance
Speaker 1: in the round of sixteen every single Men's World Cup,
Speaker 1: I think that's a success. I think we're operating there.
Speaker 1: You have delusions of grandeur if you think that this country,
Speaker 1: even with the current playerpool it has right now, needs
Speaker 1: to be on the precipice of making a run to
Speaker 1: the you know, World Cup final.
Speaker 4: We just don't have the horses. And that's okay.
Speaker 2: You ever met Alexi Laals I have.
Speaker 4: And I've talked to Alexi multiple times he's always he's
Speaker 4: always been very good to me. He's always given me
Speaker 4: a lot of you know, interesting insight, especially back when
Speaker 4: I was on the RSL beat days. But hey man,
Speaker 4: everybody gets a check, all right.
Speaker 1: All right, before we catch a break, just give me
Speaker 1: a quick RSL thought. So, no Diego, no don Mark, Zuke,
Speaker 1: no Gozo. Your guy Johnny Russell in the starting eleven
Speaker 1: coming up against DC on Saturday. DC is coming off
Speaker 1: a game where they got smoke seven to one.
Speaker 2: Not great. I was at home too, it was at home.
Speaker 1: Uh not great, Bob, as the kids would say, I
Speaker 1: don't know who's going to be in the attack because
Speaker 1: they're Tyler Wolf.
Speaker 4: No love for Tyler Wolf. RSL is a developmental club spence.
Speaker 2: Not based off the interviews I've gone over the past
Speaker 2: few weeks. I mean, Peele's gonna be up top? Or
Speaker 2: what my guy, Big Willie he's coming.
Speaker 4: He's coming off a goal recently.
Speaker 2: Oh wait, Peel's not with them?
Speaker 4: Actually, oh is he not?
Speaker 2: So will be Big Willy goals up top and your
Speaker 2: guy Johnny Russell is starting.
Speaker 1: Diego is back in the good graces of Pablo. Can
Speaker 1: they win on Saturday at least Can they just get
Speaker 1: three points on Saturday?
Speaker 2: Probably not.
Speaker 4: They will need Diogo to put together one of his best,
Speaker 4: if not his best performance in an RSL kit. And
Speaker 4: uh they need to show some semblance of being able
Speaker 4: to have an idea in the attacking third and also
Speaker 4: not give up very stupid goals. That's asking a lot.
Speaker 4: It is this team right now?
Speaker 2: It is all right.
Speaker 1: We'll catch a break coming up next. Ck we'll break
Speaker 1: down house to the NCAA settlement. What's next? How will
Speaker 1: the funds be distributed? What does it mean for nil?
Speaker 1: So stay tuned for that. But before we catch a break, well,
Speaker 1: we welcome in Ryan from the disro Dishbros.
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Speaker 1: Ryan from the dish professionals more with ck livin Studio
Speaker 1: coming up on the other side right here on a
Speaker 1: Friday Drive on ESPN and seven hundred one hundred Chris
Speaker 1: Camaradi is live in studio for one more big segments.
Speaker 1: All right, man did little soccer? Last segment's move over
Speaker 1: to the space of college football. First of all, any
Speaker 1: exciting athletic teases for the upcoming season. I know you
Speaker 1: were back east for meetings anything you want.
Speaker 4: To know, Jack Meetings do have some some some bigger
Speaker 4: enterprise stories coming down the pipe. This summer and this fall.
Speaker 4: Will be on the road for some of the more
Speaker 4: interesting college football games from a culture perspective, and it'll
Speaker 4: be fun. So yeah, there there, there are. There are
Speaker 4: big ones, but nothing I can tease necessarily, But there
Speaker 4: will be stories that we will definitely be talking about
Speaker 4: on this radio show.
Speaker 1: Will you be covering Bill Belichick and his young girlfriend?
Speaker 2: I will not.
Speaker 4: We have a great North Carolina based writer named Brendan
Speaker 4: Marx who cover North Carolina and duke basketball, but with
Speaker 4: Bill being there, his job is changed.
Speaker 2: Kind of an odd story that people seem to be
Speaker 2: very obsessed with. I'm not one that clutches, pearls, over age,
Speaker 2: gaps and relationships and why do you think it's captured
Speaker 2: so many people's imaginations.
Speaker 4: Oh, it was all their fault. The CBS sent this.
Speaker 4: If they don't, if they don't make a stink about
Speaker 4: the Sunday Morning interview, I think I think that's it.
Speaker 4: Like you gave people a reason to think anything they want, basically,
Speaker 4: And and you're talking about like, dude, Sunday Morning, my
Speaker 4: parents watch CBS, and like you're not getting You're not
Speaker 4: It's a great I love it, but I'm just saying,
Speaker 4: like you're not dealing with like hard hitting, like you're
Speaker 4: nobody's been being grilled over this. Like Bill was toting
Speaker 4: a book. He wrote a book about his own life,
Speaker 4: and they're trying to control the narrative about what questions
Speaker 4: were pre you know, given the green light, give me break, dude.
Speaker 4: So after that happened, I think the gloves were off
Speaker 4: because people were already kind of fascinated. And now that
Speaker 4: he's at a public institution, like you can get a
Speaker 4: lot of stuff because you can Foy and grandmother stuff
Speaker 4: and you know guys like Brendon. I mentioned Matt, my
Speaker 4: colleague Matt Baker, who is a public records wizz. Like,
Speaker 4: we've broken a lot of stuff about Bill Belichick and
Speaker 4: his girlfriend and just how odd it is at the
Speaker 4: University of North Carolina because it's a public institution, And
Speaker 4: of all the things that I never thought we'd be
Speaker 4: talking about in twenty twenty five, it's Bill Belichick, who
Speaker 4: historically has always been a very guarded, curmudgeonly fellow, toting
Speaker 4: his own book, with his you know, with his girlfriend
Speaker 4: at his side, with his girlfriend supposedly having a lot
Speaker 4: to do behind the scenes in college football in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty five, I never would have thought. I mean, like,
Speaker 4: growing up, like you would watch Bill Belichick press conferences
Speaker 4: and you'd be like, what, what, Like, is this dude
Speaker 4: having a bad day? And now he's he has to
Speaker 4: kind of mean, he's out recruiting, he's doing all this stuff.
Speaker 4: He's chosen us a new lease on life.
Speaker 2: Let's just say yeah, no, for sure, for sure, all right, Chris.
Speaker 1: Last Friday, about ten minutes after we signed off air,
Speaker 1: I got the alart on my phone that the house
Speaker 1: of the NCAA settlement was actually finally pushed across the line.
Speaker 4: Friday News Dump, Friday News.
Speaker 2: Dump after the show.
Speaker 1: So twenty point five million dollars at the disposal aflect
Speaker 1: of athletic departments to now pay the young people to
Speaker 1: play sports and institutions I don't like the term student athlete.
Speaker 1: The general model seems to be and this is not
Speaker 1: every institution in P four. It will change based off
Speaker 1: the variants of what your unique situation is like. Utah
Speaker 1: does have a gymnastics program that brings a lot of
Speaker 1: revenue and eyes right, But the general model seems to
Speaker 1: be seventy five percent of the twenty point five mil
Speaker 1: will go to football. I think ten percent will go
Speaker 1: to men's basketball or no, fifteen percent will go to
Speaker 1: men's basketball, five percent goes to women's basketball, and five
Speaker 1: percent is left over for everybody else. Do you feel
Speaker 1: like that's kind of where most of the institutions will land.
Speaker 4: Yeah, based on my conversations with folks at the P
Speaker 4: four and the Group of five level, they've said, and
Speaker 4: this was before it got past they were waiting in
Speaker 4: the world of anywhere from fifty to seventy five going
Speaker 4: to football. And these are different institutions around the country
Speaker 4: that have different, you know, points of view, that have
Speaker 4: different powerhouse programs that aren't necessarily football. But it's going
Speaker 4: to be interesting to see which teams vacillate between you know,
Speaker 4: going all in on football, which most will do, but
Speaker 4: there will be lots of schools that don't have to
Speaker 4: because they know that in investing in I mean investing
Speaker 4: in men's basketball, women's basketball. There will be exceptions like
Speaker 4: you mentioned, like with Utah and the Red Rocks. I
Speaker 4: would imagine there will be others. I mean, Oklahoma softball
Speaker 4: is a powerhouse, Like, you're gonna have to, you know,
Speaker 4: pay these folks the Texas Tech picture that signed from
Speaker 4: Stanford and became the first female softball player to earn
Speaker 4: a million dollars in an IL like, you're going to
Speaker 4: have to figure out a way to market yourself and
Speaker 4: be tantalizing enough to student athletes. Even if we're talking
Speaker 4: beyond the revenue generating sports of football and men men's basketball.
Speaker 1: Do you think, and this is an interesting conversation because
Speaker 1: there are multiple layers here. You just can't debate that
Speaker 1: the football program is your cash cow. You cannot debate
Speaker 1: that football generates the most revenue. Next year will mark
Speaker 1: a decade between NC DOUBLEA appearances for Utah men's basketball,
Speaker 1: which is wild to think about. If you're a P
Speaker 1: four basketball program and you are not making the NCUBAA tournament,
Speaker 1: you are leaving a grip of cash on the table.
Speaker 1: So Mark has an interesting decision to make. Right, But,
Speaker 1: just theoretically speaking or philosophically speaking, should the money be
Speaker 1: allocated to your product that does give you the best
Speaker 1: return on investment? Or is there a case to be
Speaker 1: made that some of this money should probably go to
Speaker 1: sports that have not historically received the investment or attention
Speaker 1: they need. Because if you're a women's soccer player at
Speaker 1: the University of Utah men's baseball player and you see
Speaker 1: the final split and you go up to the dorm
Speaker 1: or whatever, and the football players are showing you their paycheck,
Speaker 1: and you're like, wait a second, it's this These things
Speaker 1: are more complex than meets the eye. So what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts on, just philosophically, how this revenue should be split.
Speaker 4: I'm glad you came to me because I know that
Speaker 4: you know that when it comes to investments, yes and markets.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm the guy. How is your portfolio these days?
Speaker 4: I would say strong to quite strong.
Speaker 1: It's Bolivian wormwood it took seventy two hours. I believe
Speaker 1: they call it a Hookah. I still say think it's
Speaker 1: it's Ben Stiller's best move.
Speaker 2: I know you disagree it's I still believe that.
Speaker 4: Well, it's just because it's a it's an a stagia thing.
Speaker 4: It's heavyweights for me, and it was a big show,
Speaker 4: a big show.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 4: You can look at it from a multitude of ways.
Speaker 4: You can look at it by investing in a historically
Speaker 4: downtrodden program that if it hits, we'll bring more money
Speaker 4: in if we're talking about Utah for example, or you
Speaker 4: can you can theoretically go fifty to fifty or or
Speaker 4: give more. Because if we're talking about Utah women's gymnastics,
Speaker 4: they are the exception. I don't think you have a
Speaker 4: lot of non revenue generating sports that are revenue generating
Speaker 4: sports like Utah gymnastics is around the country like it's
Speaker 4: it's hard to quantify how unique it is. They're selling
Speaker 4: that place out every single night. When was the last
Speaker 4: time you're waiting to drop and meet the parents y
Speaker 4: day by day? Oh lord? Three things? Lord, Like, when
Speaker 4: was the last time Utah men's basketball sold out the
Speaker 4: Huntsman Center. I mean, like like legit sold it out,
Speaker 4: like the Red Rocks are doing that. I know they
Speaker 4: don't have as many home meets as men's basketball has memes,
Speaker 4: but like.
Speaker 1: There have been some one offs here and there, but
Speaker 1: can see it. But honestly, I'm not even sure there's
Speaker 1: been that in a long time.
Speaker 4: So when it comes to investments, you have to you
Speaker 4: have to pick your pick your spots.
Speaker 2: And are you a podhead falker? Sorry, keep going, I'm listening.
Speaker 4: Oh man, I was thinking about the poem that he
Speaker 4: your name was Angela.
Speaker 2: You gave me milk like an unstoppable rebel force. Oh
Speaker 2: so good.
Speaker 4: The parallels between the House Settlement and Robert De Niro
Speaker 4: dialogue is not lost on me.
Speaker 2: Anyways.
Speaker 4: If we're talking about Utah specifically, Mark and his team
Speaker 4: have hard questions answered, because you can't leave a program
Speaker 4: that has made you money and has put butts in
Speaker 4: the seats at the altar, so to speak, in favor
Speaker 4: of the one that historically in the last ten years
Speaker 4: you mentioned it'll be ten years since they've made an
Speaker 4: NCAA tournament that hasn't really given you much from a
Speaker 4: revenue generating point of view. So it's it's tough man,
Speaker 4: it's this. This is where now that we know and
Speaker 4: eventually they'll tell us like, this is where everybody gets
Speaker 4: to figure out a way that you can accurately criticize
Speaker 4: or or applaud an athletic department for doing their jobs.
Speaker 1: The other element is what was Alex Jensen promised before
Speaker 1: he left a really good job to take this job.
Speaker 1: And you also do have to balance. You make a
Speaker 1: good point about like, well, look, if we're not making
Speaker 1: the NCAA tournament, do you guys deserve investment? Or if
Speaker 1: we could make the NCAA tournament consistently, that does provide
Speaker 1: a lot more revenue than the basketball program is brought in.
Speaker 1: Or do you bump that up a little bit to
Speaker 1: give the basketball team more support so they can actually
Speaker 1: start winning games and make and making the tournament?
Speaker 4: Are we talking honestly on the drive?
Speaker 2: We only talk on the drive?
Speaker 4: Do we know enough? Is there enough empirical data to
Speaker 4: say whether or not Utah is going to be a
Speaker 4: potential nc double A tournament team next year? I would
Speaker 4: say no.
Speaker 2: I would agree with you. I think that's a tough
Speaker 2: ask year one for al.
Speaker 4: Tough ask and again I would I would ask all
Speaker 4: of your listeners to not always drink the kool aid
Speaker 4: of the folks in this media market who are saying,
Speaker 4: you know these guys, watch out for these guys. My guy,
Speaker 4: who is also your guy, tweeted that there's at least
Speaker 4: going to be one pro player on this upcoming Utah
Speaker 4: men's basketball roster. Our guy.
Speaker 1: He also joined the show and said his sources indicate
Speaker 1: any direction as possible.
Speaker 4: Okay, okay at five okay.
Speaker 2: So yes, yeah, and who knows.
Speaker 4: Maybe he's right, and maybe he's right, But what I'm
Speaker 4: saying is that you have to have some sort of
Speaker 4: foundational data as Alex from Alex as a head coach
Speaker 4: before you can, in my opinion, go really all in.
Speaker 2: You're no, You're right.
Speaker 1: And I've said that from the start because I just,
Speaker 1: you know, I think Al's the right guy. I think
Speaker 1: it was the right hire. And so I am not
Speaker 1: going to be over the top about expectations for this
Speaker 1: roster year one. And if anybody out there is telling
Speaker 1: you they've been grinding tape on these new players, they're lying,
Speaker 1: we don't know what it's gonna.
Speaker 4: Be Delaware State, I don't I mean, let's be honest.
Speaker 4: If I think one dude came from like Cincinnati, I
Speaker 4: don't even know. I'm not schooled on where these guys
Speaker 4: came from, but they're not coming from. There's an Auburn
Speaker 4: guy that I think maybe didn't play a lot, and
Speaker 4: Auburn's been good.
Speaker 2: Well in that case, championship.
Speaker 4: Yeah, championship, but other than that, let's everyone take a
Speaker 4: chill pill.
Speaker 1: While we're in the space of taking a chill pill,
Speaker 1: I'm here Vegas over under. Utah football wins seven point
Speaker 1: five every single you guys at the Athletic two four seven, ESPN,
Speaker 1: everybody does the whole like, hey, way too early, big
Speaker 1: twelve look ahead. Utah is pretty Utah football is pretty
Speaker 1: squarely in the middle. They don't have the the expectations
Speaker 1: of winning the thing, at least from what I've seen.
Speaker 1: I think Phil Steele, your guy did pick Utah as
Speaker 1: one of the top three teams if I saw that correctly.
Speaker 1: So taking a chill pill, Utah football.
Speaker 4: Expected Devin damp Pier Heisman candidacy.
Speaker 2: I haven't seen it yet, but you know.
Speaker 4: I means, based on what I've been told by multiple
Speaker 4: people who watch practice secretly, he's going to be a
Speaker 4: Heisman Trophy candidate.
Speaker 2: I've been told to say I say that in jest,
Speaker 2: but I don't know if people really get it. Well
Speaker 2: a few KSL videos with it.
Speaker 4: Listen, man, again, beyond basketball, nobody knows what the hell
Speaker 4: this football team's going to look like offensively next year.
Speaker 4: So if we're taking chill pills, I implore you all
Speaker 4: to take a chill pill. Devin damp Pier's tape, his
Speaker 4: highlights that you watched on Twitter are awesome. I guarantee
Speaker 4: you didn't watch the twelve interceptions he threw last year.
Speaker 4: He threw he had like a fifty eight percent completion rate.
Speaker 4: You were probably looking at a lot of awesome plays
Speaker 4: that he made, but you probably weren't watching, you know,
Speaker 4: some air and throws that he had, which is fine.
Speaker 4: One thing we have to get out in the clear
Speaker 4: in this market is that just because you're not bending
Speaker 4: the knee, you're not You're not a villain, You're not
Speaker 4: a but you can be critical without being viewed as
Speaker 4: the villain.
Speaker 2: You're preaching to the choir, man, I know you are, but.
Speaker 4: I'm just saying, like we are, we are venturing into
Speaker 4: very dangerous territory here.
Speaker 2: But that's also but that's not just Utah.
Speaker 4: No, I know that. I'm just saying it's it's everywhere.
Speaker 2: It's our guys downtown Center.
Speaker 4: And it's the guys forty miles down south. I get that.
Speaker 4: It's everywhere, So it's not it's not specific to the
Speaker 4: guys off or car away. But will you ta be
Speaker 4: better next year?
Speaker 2: They will? I promise you.
Speaker 4: Are they going to change the world offensively? Probably not?
Speaker 4: Will they be better offensively? God, you have to hope.
Speaker 4: So because of how terrible they'd be worse, they'll be worse.
Speaker 2: They got a.
Speaker 4: Couple first round tackles on their roster, got some running
Speaker 4: backs you've really never heard of, got some receivers you
Speaker 4: absolutely have never heard of, and the defense should be good.
Speaker 4: Other than that, Vegas setting it at seven and a
Speaker 4: half makes sense.
Speaker 2: That feels right, That feels right, all right? The other
Speaker 2: element and you know, you know, actually, let me leave
Speaker 2: with this. Is there ever going to be an accurate
Speaker 2: way to really even the playing field in college football?
Speaker 1: I don't think so either. There will always be the
Speaker 1: car dealer in Tuscaloosa. That's fine, paying whatever it is,
Speaker 1: get over for it man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: But the reason I bring it up is there is
Speaker 1: a new College Sports Commission and the CEO is a
Speaker 1: guy named Brian Seely, who is a former Major League
Speaker 1: Baseball executive. See I think what a lot of people
Speaker 1: either don't know or for good is the NCAA was
Speaker 1: literally told two years ago you are no longer allowed
Speaker 1: to enforce anything which is a wild, wild format, and
Speaker 1: that's why we've been in this area of chaos. So
Speaker 1: at least there are some best laid plans in place
Speaker 1: with a new CEO of this enforcement organization called the
Speaker 1: College Sports Commission, and starting on June seventh, all of
Speaker 1: these young people who play sports for institutions who are
Speaker 1: benefiting off of NIL now have to report every NIL
Speaker 1: deal of more than six hundred dollars to the College
Speaker 1: Sports Commission. It's going to go through some derivative of
Speaker 1: an LBI software program in Deloitte who runs the NBA
Speaker 1: Draft lottery for all you Jazz fans that are.
Speaker 4: Mad, and runs a lot of stuff at a much
Speaker 4: higher correct. The stakes are much higher.
Speaker 1: They have a lot on their plate, or there's no
Speaker 1: doubt about that. So how do you think this process
Speaker 1: is going to work, and do you think it will
Speaker 1: corral a little bit some of the crazy spending on
Speaker 1: l And I don't know if it's.
Speaker 4: Going to corral the spending. I think it'll hold people
Speaker 4: more accountable, okay. And I would hope that this commission
Speaker 4: makes all of this stuff if it's a if it's
Speaker 4: a public institution, I would hope it'll be made public
Speaker 4: so people can understand because you're still at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, you're still asking people to donate, Like
Speaker 4: nil is not going away. No, like the twenty point
Speaker 4: five million is is for the benefit of the players
Speaker 4: and honestly for the benefit of the universities. But you're
Speaker 4: still going to talk about players who are getting third
Speaker 4: party deals, dealers with deals with dealerships in town, so
Speaker 4: on and so forth. So I think it will add
Speaker 4: if it's done the right way, it will show us
Speaker 4: the red tape basically that we've been missing for a
Speaker 4: very long time.
Speaker 1: So ultimately, Mark Carlin himself has said they will utilize
Speaker 1: every penny of the twenty point five million dollars. Brian Santiago,
Speaker 1: the new athletic director of Brigham Young, has not made
Speaker 1: that statement. It doesn't mean they're not going to do it.
Speaker 1: But the money stuff down there is just different.
Speaker 4: And I don't know if they need to say anything
Speaker 4: publicly because they're a private institution.
Speaker 2: So how do you think they'll handle it that?
Speaker 4: I don't know. I mean, if we're talking about recent
Speaker 4: history and how much money the basketball program has gotten,
Speaker 4: and if you're talking about historically the football program has
Speaker 4: carried the load there, so you would think that they
Speaker 4: would give most of it. In my opinion, you would
Speaker 4: think they would give most of it to football, knowing
Speaker 4: that your high profile donors are still probably going to
Speaker 4: be giving to Kevin Young and his staff to go
Speaker 4: out and pay players. But I don't know. The private
Speaker 4: school thing is going to be interesting, I should ask.
Speaker 4: I'll talk to some of my smart some of my
Speaker 4: smart colleagues that you should have on who know about
Speaker 4: all this public Happy to, happy to because it'll be
Speaker 4: interesting to see, like when this stuff gets made public,
Speaker 4: if private schools need to be involved in this and
Speaker 4: whatnot on the commission side of things.
Speaker 1: Well, and to your point about the basketball program, the
Speaker 1: money is already in the bank for this year and
Speaker 1: Jeff Goodman has reported that AJ is getting seven mil
Speaker 1: this new Rob right, kid apparently is three Richie is
Speaker 1: seven figures. If you just do some quick math, nil
Speaker 1: money for this year's BYU basketball program is in the
Speaker 1: area of thirteen to fifteen million dollars, right, But that's
Speaker 1: all nil. That's before these kids can get paid. So
Speaker 1: I wonder, if you're Brian Santiago and you know that
Speaker 1: the basketball team has already dialed in with their nil stuff,
Speaker 1: do you bump more funds to Klaudie and his team?
Speaker 2: Obviously more players.
Speaker 4: I would think, So you have to, don't you more players?
Speaker 4: More depth? I mean, basketball rosters are small man and
Speaker 4: like they're always going to be front loaded. You have
Speaker 4: to be able to disperse the correct amount of resources
Speaker 4: to a football team in order to make them good.
Speaker 4: Like I understand in the NFL, who gets paid the
Speaker 4: most quarterbacks one, But like, if you have a really
Speaker 4: good offensive tackle, you're gonna invest in them. If you
Speaker 4: have a really good defensive end Miles Garrett or Nick Bosa,
Speaker 4: you're gonna invest in them. And then there will be
Speaker 4: positions that maybe don't get that so much. Like you know,
Speaker 4: middle linebackers don't get paid the boatload of money that
Speaker 4: other positions do. And I don't know if if safeties
Speaker 4: are getting paid a lot of money. So because of
Speaker 4: the roster size and because the BYU men's basketball program
Speaker 4: is already in theoretically in a good space. From the
Speaker 4: nil component, I would think if you're Brian Santiago, you
Speaker 4: would say, Klaanie, here's a lot of money.
Speaker 1: I would hope so. And you know, they just had
Speaker 1: a really good year. The YA football is coming off
Speaker 1: a really good season. Do you think that when it
Speaker 1: Because your points about the payscale based off positions will
Speaker 1: be interesting to follow. I still believe and if you
Speaker 1: would have asked me three years ago, I would have
Speaker 1: told you that we were already in this space and
Speaker 1: we're not. And so I can't even put a timeframe
Speaker 1: on it. But based off of everything that still needs
Speaker 1: to be figured out, and the inevitability because money changes everything,
Speaker 1: it just does.
Speaker 2: I think anyone that lives.
Speaker 4: In everybody everything and everybody.
Speaker 1: Great, and I think anyone that has a little bit
Speaker 1: of lived experience in the world knows that, whether it's family, friends, business,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, when money gets involved, people change and
Speaker 1: people change their values.
Speaker 2: Their are jealousies, there's anger.
Speaker 1: It just is inevitable that the women's soccer team of
Speaker 1: Utah will find out what the starting quarterback is making
Speaker 1: from the school and say, wait a second, this doesn't
Speaker 1: feel fair. Inevitably, there has to be collective bargaining. I
Speaker 1: still believe that I agree, but I don't know when
Speaker 1: that's going to happen. I do think think we will.
Speaker 1: We will feel more momentum in that direction starting now
Speaker 1: now that payer the players are getting paid, now that
Speaker 1: people can see what the checks look.
Speaker 2: Like, now that they're being paid directly by those correct.
Speaker 1: Verses correct, and so disgruntled athletes will contact lawyers. A
Speaker 1: lot of them already have agents, and once those complaints
Speaker 1: start spilling in, I think everyone's gonna understand that the
Speaker 1: only way to really make this thing work is for
Speaker 1: allowing the players to unionize and therefore collectively bargained to
Speaker 1: come to some sort of agreement.
Speaker 4: And I wonder if and when we get to that point,
Speaker 4: are there going to be individual unions that are NC
Speaker 4: double A football unions, NC double A basketball unions? Or
Speaker 4: do they all come together? Do the probably close to millions,
Speaker 4: I don't know, Do all the Division one athletes across
Speaker 4: the landscape of this country come together and form a union,
Speaker 4: because if so, then you're talking about some heft.
Speaker 2: Yeah for sure.
Speaker 4: And now I think like a football union would have theft.
Speaker 4: But if you're talking about if you're talking about athletes
Speaker 4: who play in non revenue revenue generating sports, you would
Speaker 4: hope that they get to have a piece of the pie.
Speaker 4: So if there does come a point where there is
Speaker 4: collective bargaining, you'd have to believe that even the folks
Speaker 4: like the like the football players, like the basketball players,
Speaker 4: would would want to bring those folks.
Speaker 2: Along with them.
Speaker 1: Okay, final thing, and I'll set you loose on this
Speaker 1: as it pertains to the ongoing UH lawsuits that we
Speaker 1: see left and right. There was a lawsuit filed by
Speaker 1: a group of female athletes that say this violates Title nine.
Speaker 1: There are rumors of other lawsuits being filed, you know,
Speaker 1: labor law. This isn't fair. That isn't fair. Are we
Speaker 1: just in an area in collegian athletics now where it's
Speaker 1: time to accept that stuff like this will continue to
Speaker 1: go on and maybe every single year there's going to
Speaker 1: be another lawsuit file, there's going to be another appeal,
Speaker 1: and we're just gonna have to deal with this. Maybe
Speaker 1: in perpetuity. I mean, I don't know that it ever
Speaker 1: really ends.
Speaker 4: No, it will. It will not end until Sorry I'm
Speaker 4: contradicting myself. It will not end unless people finally get
Speaker 4: their stuff together and get their ducks in a row.
Speaker 4: And there is a model built that allows universities, coaches, players, agents,
Speaker 4: everybody to be in lockstep on how things are done.
Speaker 4: Until then, you're gonna have people filing these lawsuits saying
Speaker 4: that you know, I deserve this piece of the pie
Speaker 4: because X, Y and Z, and a lot of times
Speaker 4: they're right. So that's the reality we face.
Speaker 2: Who do you want the Jazz to draft in five?
Speaker 4: I've been told and everything's on the table. But if
Speaker 4: I'm going for do you think they go best player
Speaker 4: available at five?
Speaker 2: They do, okay, because they need everything.
Speaker 4: So since they need everything, I'm going to go with
Speaker 4: the dude from Baylor VJ.
Speaker 2: Is he going to be there? Maybe? Okay?
Speaker 4: Probably not okay. So then I'm gonna go with not
Speaker 4: the guy from Duke, not the guy from Duke, or
Speaker 4: the other.
Speaker 2: Guy from Con. Not the Con okay, and not the
Speaker 2: tall guy from Duke. He won't be there at five.
Speaker 4: No, the other tall guy.
Speaker 2: Oh, mala. Yeah, he might be there at five. I
Speaker 2: don't want him either. Okay, fair enough. Great to see
Speaker 2: you go. Enjoy your weekend, all right, my man.
Speaker 1: Wrapping it up, final segments of the day and of
Speaker 1: the week as we send you in your weekend. Happy
Speaker 1: Friday to you. Congratulations you made a weekend. Time take
Speaker 1: a big, old deep breath. Should be scorching hot weather,
Speaker 1: but nice to be outside and maybe get elevated. I
Speaker 1: want to say a special Happy Father's Day to everybody
Speaker 1: out there. Happy Father's Day weekend. Hopefully you're celebrating and
Speaker 1: whatever way you choose. The US Open will continue to
Speaker 1: roll along at oak Oakmont Country Club and Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1: Sam Burns is your leader through two rounds of three
Speaker 1: hundred par jj Spawd at two hundred par, victor Hobblin
Speaker 1: at one under par, and those are the only three
Speaker 1: offers under par. What a challenge in the world of
Speaker 1: professional golf. Reminder coming up on the other side, it's
Speaker 1: ESPN's coverage of Game four of the NBA Finals, featuring
Speaker 1: in the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, and
Speaker 1: then tomorrow on the station at six o'clock, Mountain time
Speaker 1: you'll hear game four of the game five, excuse me
Speaker 1: of the Stanley Cup Final between the Panthers and the Oilers.
Speaker 1: All right, Porter prediction time? Who wins tonight? Pacers, Oka See?
Speaker 2: Where are you leaning? Ah Tonight? You gotta lean Okac.
Speaker 3: You know you really would have put everything on them
Speaker 3: responding in Game three a little bit better, So you know,
Speaker 3: I think that that feeling kind of transfers into Game four.
Speaker 3: Backs up against the wall though, man, I mean, you
Speaker 3: go down three to one. We've talked about it all
Speaker 3: all day long. Lebron ain't walking through that door. So
Speaker 3: you know, if Oka Se number one doesn't come out
Speaker 3: with I think a little bit more urgency, but also Spence,
Speaker 3: it's forty eight minutes. If Indiana comes out and has
Speaker 3: a hot shooting night, it might not matter. That's the
Speaker 3: beauty about basketball.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: Once you're down to one, anything can really happen in
Speaker 3: a seven game series. And for that reason, I don't
Speaker 3: have a great read, but I do think tonight Oka
Speaker 3: See comes out and responds, and this series could go
Speaker 3: either way.
Speaker 1: Excited for tonight, I think it's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of fun. So we'll send it over to ESPN's coverage.
Speaker 1: As we say good night Porter, what comes our way
Speaker 1: On a Monday edition of the radio show.
Speaker 3: Monday edition of The Drive, we will catch up with
Speaker 3: Tom Happerstruck react to the weekend of NBA basketball the
Speaker 3: NBA Finals, looking ahead to what should be the final
Speaker 3: few days of the NBA Finals. Richard Smitty Smith stops by,
Speaker 3: as he does each and every Monday, We'll check in
Speaker 3: with one Bill Riley, the voice of the Utes. Will
Speaker 3: be within eighty days of kickoff for Utah football, of
Speaker 3: course house first NC double A reactions from him as well,
Speaker 3: and then hopefully hopefully react to some points from our
Speaker 3: guys in Claireton Colebal.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see RSL is a match tomorrow. They're badly
Speaker 1: in need of a result. Well, let me rephrase that
Speaker 1: they're badly in need of a win all three points,
Speaker 1: so we'll have to see how it goes.
Speaker 2: We'll say good night for a Friday special.
Speaker 1: Thank you today to Tony Jones, Dave mcmahamon, Paul Pugmyer
Speaker 1: and Chris Comaraddie for the sound you may have missed
Speaker 1: from the show today. Go to the website which is
Speaker 1: ESPN seven hundred sports dot com. Make sure to download
Speaker 1: our mobile app and take us on the go. ESPN
Speaker 1: seven hundred app available in the App Store the Google
Speaker 1: play Store for free. And then for what we do
Speaker 1: in our space every afternoon for four hours. Check out
Speaker 1: our podcast page. It is called The Drive with Spence.
Speaker 1: Check its that's available wherever you get your show. Subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate reviews and I sings in the comments. Give us
Speaker 1: all the stars. It helps reporter I'm spent saying tonight.
Speaker 1: Joy your weekend, everybody, be good yourself and begin to
Speaker 1: each other. We'll talk to on a Monday Drive. NBA
Speaker 1: Finals coverage comes your way, coming up next right here
Speaker 1: on ESPN seven hundred and ninety two NFM. We are
Speaker 1: proud to be part of Utah's ESPN Radio network.