Speaker 1: You're not gonna get me down. It's like fifty two
Speaker 1: degrees in sunny outside. You can even play pitfull and
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to bring you up. It's not working. Well,
Speaker 2: you're not gonna bring me down.
Speaker 1: NBA Daily Assist Zach Harper, Tuesday afternoon. I'm bragging about
Speaker 1: fifty two degrees in sunny? What's it like where you're at?
Speaker 3: I had to turn the air conditioner on because it's
Speaker 3: like eighty all right?
Speaker 2: Never mind? Uh? Are you in La proper?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Where's home for you?
Speaker 3: I'm in I'm in Sherman Oaks. I'm in the valley.
Speaker 2: Oh, hipster just over the hill?
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, right on, man, it's not hipster. I'm poor.
Speaker 3: I'm the money to live out.
Speaker 2: Where's the uh is it? Silver Lake? Where do all
Speaker 2: the hipsters live?
Speaker 3: Silver Lake? Eagle Rock Local believe like all that are? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't. I refuse to live east.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, fair enough, fair enough, all right, Zach.
Speaker 1: There's a game in Los Angeles tonight. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you've heard about it. I think where I'm at
Speaker 1: with it is Lucas saves the whole, Like try to
Speaker 1: drop fifty for when he's in Dallas.
Speaker 2: What do you what do you think tonight looks like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's only like really played one good game, right,
Speaker 3: He's only I think played three games total, but he's
Speaker 3: only played one good game. He's looked rough in the
Speaker 3: in the other ones, and so like, I don't think
Speaker 3: this is one for him. Like, I know he played
Speaker 3: really well against Denver, but I don't know that you
Speaker 3: expect a rhythm and a chemistry with his teammates that
Speaker 3: kind of allows him to just go out there and
Speaker 3: drop fifty. I do think it makes more sense. I
Speaker 3: think when they when are they in Dallas, like April
Speaker 3: ninth or something like that. I think that's when it
Speaker 3: makes sense to like make your statement now if I think,
Speaker 3: I think if he's got a cook and today, if
Speaker 3: he's feeling good, if he's hitting shots early, yeah, his
Speaker 3: teammates are gonna feed him. He's gonna light him up.
Speaker 3: But I do think you're too early in the process
Speaker 3: of getting back from the calf injury and too early
Speaker 3: in the process of building what you need with your
Speaker 3: Laker teammates. If you're Luca like you, you can't be
Speaker 3: in this like I'm gonna absolutely dominate this game no
Speaker 3: matter what.
Speaker 1: What is your way too early takeaway on what you
Speaker 1: think this thing can look like this season? I mean,
Speaker 1: the interesting thing is the Jazz sam twice right away,
Speaker 1: and it didn't look great in either game. I think
Speaker 1: Luca dropped thirty two against Denver, and so we do
Speaker 1: have one. We do have one good game from Luca.
Speaker 1: I still believe their lack of just even decent big
Speaker 1: men on paper, let alone in execution, is gonna cost them.
Speaker 1: But you know, with these two, it's certainly gonna look
Speaker 1: really really good at times. But so far, what do
Speaker 1: you think and what are you expecting just the rest
Speaker 1: of the way this year with Lebron and Luca together.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think there's gonna be times where
Speaker 3: it looks really good offensively, right, and there will be
Speaker 3: times where the defense does look fine. But I think
Speaker 3: it's gonna be more smoke and mirrors than actually something
Speaker 3: that works in the playoffs, because I mean, when's the
Speaker 3: last time you found out a team signed Alex lenn
Speaker 3: and you're like, oh, that's really good for them, right,
Speaker 3: because that's where they're big man situation, like Jackson Hayes
Speaker 3: is terrible, right, I'd get it. He can go catch
Speaker 3: a lob, he can run the floor, he's athlete like,
Speaker 3: he's terrible defensively and someone that they can't even rely
Speaker 3: to have out there twenty twenty five minutes a game.
Speaker 3: And so they're still playing pretty small. You know, they
Speaker 3: had an interesting scheme against against Jokic and trying to
Speaker 3: make sure he didn't get any shots off, and it
Speaker 3: worked that night. So I think random Knights in the
Speaker 3: regular season, they're gonna look fine, But you get to
Speaker 3: a playoff scenario, it's gonna be very matchup dependent, as
Speaker 3: is the case with a decent amount of teams in
Speaker 3: the West, but it's gonna be very matchup dependent. I
Speaker 3: think like I could see a pathway where they get
Speaker 3: the right matchups, they're healthy, they get into the conference finals.
Speaker 3: I think like there is a chance of that, but
Speaker 3: most likely this is at best a second round and
Speaker 3: out team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's kind of where I've landed.
Speaker 1: And you know, matchups, injuries, you never know what can
Speaker 1: happen come playoff time. But I mean, look, man, when
Speaker 1: they were here, Walker Lowry and John Collins got whatever
Speaker 1: they wanted, Like they had no pushback for the Jazz
Speaker 1: front line. If they're struggling the Jazz frontline, they're gonna
Speaker 1: struggle with other front lines.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was like that was the thing.
Speaker 3: Is the first game Luca didn't play well, and you're like, yeah,
Speaker 3: but the Laker's one because it's the Jazz, right, And
Speaker 3: then they went to Utah and I was like, oh no,
Speaker 3: none of this looks good. It was to the point
Speaker 3: where I didn't even start watching the game at first.
Speaker 3: I turned it on because I looked at the score
Speaker 3: and the Jazz were up a significant amount. I looked
Speaker 3: at the score, Jazz are up, and then I was like, oh, well,
Speaker 3: I guess Luca didn't play tonight, and it's like, nope,
Speaker 3: he's playing, Lebron's playing. This is just bad.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, it was really bad.
Speaker 1: Let me let me get one jazz topic in here,
Speaker 1: because I do think there's one thing rotationally that Will's
Speaker 1: done that actually is real. I mean, mostly this is
Speaker 1: rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Speaker 2: We all know that.
Speaker 1: So like, ultimately, whether Kyle Philipowski is starting when Walker
Speaker 1: is hurt is not okay, great, And Kyle actually played
Speaker 1: pretty well against the Blazers, but we have seen Keyonte
Speaker 1: now kind of embrace this role off the bench, and
Speaker 1: we've seen Isaiah Collier as a starting point guard. He's
Speaker 1: about to break John Stockton's record for SIS as a rookie.
Speaker 1: Now John played behind Ricky Green, so it's not like
Speaker 1: he was starting and getting you know, getting a bunch.
Speaker 1: But this is something that I think could manifest itself
Speaker 1: as meaningful as opposed to all the other meaningless conversations
Speaker 1: we try to have about.
Speaker 2: A team that's unserious about winning.
Speaker 1: So Isaiah Collier as a starting point guards, he's shown
Speaker 1: you and Keyante now that he's embraced this role coming
Speaker 1: off the bench, looks a little bit more comfortable as
Speaker 1: opposed to them relying on Kyante to be the main
Speaker 1: initiator and decision maker.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean kind of what we were talking about
Speaker 3: with Kiante for a little bit is the same. I
Speaker 3: feel about Collier and like the shots mostly look good,
Speaker 3: don't really go in right, but I like his size.
Speaker 3: I do think it's important to note that this was
Speaker 3: like one of the top prospects in his class in
Speaker 3: high school and then he went to USC where apparently
Speaker 3: they're just trying to destroy anyone prospects the last couple
Speaker 3: of years because it just doesn't look good, and so
Speaker 3: I do think he I don't think he had the
Speaker 3: proper development last year. Getting into the mix, getting comfortable,
Speaker 3: getting up to speed has taken a little bit of time.
Speaker 3: But I like what he's what he's shown for the
Speaker 3: most part. I think his decision making for the positions
Speaker 3: he's put in pretty good, and his skill set is
Speaker 3: pretty good. I love I mean, look it was it
Speaker 3: was a little flurry last night. I love the way
Speaker 3: they were just like, you know, trying to extend the game,
Speaker 3: and Kiante was just fearless taking those shots at the
Speaker 3: end of the game, right, I mean, I think that
Speaker 3: was I think that's kind of the role I like
Speaker 3: for Kiante. I just don't think about it, like if
Speaker 3: you're gonna come off the bench and be, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of that super sub I do want him just
Speaker 3: kind of letting it fly. I do want him just
Speaker 3: pushing the temple. I do want him being a little chaotic,
Speaker 3: because that's that's kind of what you need in your
Speaker 3: guards off the bench of when when you're a bad team,
Speaker 3: like you just need someone to change the energy and
Speaker 3: make something happen.
Speaker 1: I am going to reach and stretch to try to
Speaker 1: make a topic. Got it out of the nothing. But
Speaker 1: I have seen kJ Martin play well in NBA games before,
Speaker 1: and he is he got a start for the Jazz
Speaker 1: and he's kind of the one tangible piece the Jazz
Speaker 1: received when they were the condu. It's all these deals
Speaker 1: going down and he's still young and he can yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he can fly.
Speaker 2: Man, He's a really good athlete. You've seen him play.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's a chance did they bring kJ
Speaker 1: Martin in with the opportunity to look at him and
Speaker 1: he might be around for more than a minute?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? Like he's I think for years A mean al
Speaker 3: has and I have been like, why isn't Justin holiday
Speaker 3: rich right, Like why isn't he getting like these big
Speaker 3: deals because we've watched him. He's like, he's this really
Speaker 3: nice three and D guy, shoots the ball well, doesn't
Speaker 3: really make mistakes, but he's never like really had you know,
Speaker 3: or been given that extended opportunity to be a role
Speaker 3: player consistently on a good team. And I've just been
Speaker 3: amazed that he hasn't found his way into that and
Speaker 3: then found his way into a big contract Because of it,
Speaker 3: I'm starting to wonder if kJ Martin's going to be
Speaker 3: that next Justin Holiday for me, And not that he's
Speaker 3: a the shooter that Holiday is, but I just think
Speaker 3: like he's got so much defensive impact potentially with his
Speaker 3: athleticism and how he plays. I think he's such a
Speaker 3: threat running the floor, obviously getting up and down at
Speaker 3: the rim. If he can just be a consistent corner
Speaker 3: three point shooter, I think that's a super valuable role player.
Speaker 3: Like I'm a big kJ Martin fan. I was a
Speaker 3: little surprised that he didn't get a chance with Philly
Speaker 3: as much, although they're you know, they've been a mess,
Speaker 3: I know, but I just thought that everywhere he's gone,
Speaker 3: where it's been the Clippers, was it in Philly, doesn't matter,
Speaker 3: Like I just think that that's a guy you can
Speaker 3: mold into a really good role player.
Speaker 1: So after the news broke about women Yama, my first
Speaker 1: thought was Bosh, Right, My first thought was Chris Bosh
Speaker 1: And you know, all the information we receive and we
Speaker 1: talked to Habershaw about this yesterday, seems to indicate the
Speaker 1: Spurs are confident that this is just a little bit
Speaker 1: of a blip, and you know, with stuff like this,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be the media guy that looked
Speaker 1: at WebMD and he's gonna break down with a blood
Speaker 1: cloud means, but you gotta shut him down and make
Speaker 1: sure he's on blood dinners and then ultimately a full recovery.
Speaker 1: My question is do San Antonio lose the final twenty
Speaker 1: five games and draft Cooper Flag?
Speaker 3: They should?
Speaker 2: They will?
Speaker 3: I mean they might. We're be in a race of Philadelphia,
Speaker 3: but yeah, like they should. I mean, this is you
Speaker 3: know this, it's not exactly nineteen ninety seven all over again,
Speaker 3: but you know, you can see see some similarities there.
Speaker 3: You know, you're like it's a different timeline and everything.
Speaker 3: But you know there's once Wendy went down, like I
Speaker 3: was kind of wit you, I was, I'm like, all right,
Speaker 3: as long as he's okay, great, it doesn't seem like
Speaker 3: his you know, long term career is going to be affected. Amazing,
Speaker 3: all right, So go get one of these guys, like
Speaker 3: that's the whole thing. Like Steph Castle looks like a player.
Speaker 3: They've got, you know, good wings with Va Cell and
Speaker 3: Kelvin Johnson. Obviously picking up Darren Fox is big like,
Speaker 3: all right, go get another one of those guys. And
Speaker 3: if you have Cooper Flat or Ace Bailey or one
Speaker 3: of these dudes next to Wemby, that's super enticing. And
Speaker 3: then you know the terrible thing is you know the
Speaker 3: report at about pop and you know it never and
Speaker 3: once we found out as a mild stroke, Like I
Speaker 3: don't care if the word mild is in there. He's
Speaker 3: seventy six, Like it just never never was like, yeah,
Speaker 3: he definitely should come back to coaching. To me, I
Speaker 3: was like, just go take care of yourself and live
Speaker 3: the great rest of your life and be with your
Speaker 3: family and everything, and maybe be a consultant in the organization.
Speaker 3: But I mean, if you have it's already going to
Speaker 3: be the most enticing coaching position in sports. If you
Speaker 3: added another piece to that, I mean, my god, Like
Speaker 3: you'd have everyone coming for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Not to be insensitive.
Speaker 1: If they draft Cooper flag Populy, like just wheel me
Speaker 1: out there, Okay, I'm coaching the team, right, Yeah, people
Speaker 1: will be in line to coach that team if they're
Speaker 1: able to grab him. Can you imagine the reaction from
Speaker 1: the league and the Salt Lake City Because look, man,
Speaker 1: I feel like it's our time.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna go goonies on you. I feel like
Speaker 2: we earned it.
Speaker 1: Every time we've been in the lottery, We've never moved up,
Speaker 1: never won a championship, haven't had a championship contending.
Speaker 2: Team here since ninety eight up.
Speaker 1: For honest, if there's one team that's earned the number
Speaker 1: one pick Zach a White power forward, it's the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. I mean, like I've been in these you know,
Speaker 3: group chats with people are like, where, you know, where
Speaker 3: should Cooper go? Where should the NBA want Cooper to go?
Speaker 3: And I get it, like, you could want him to
Speaker 3: go to San Antonio. You could want him to go
Speaker 3: to you know, New Orleans. I guess so that seems
Speaker 3: like a disaster. You could want him to save one
Speaker 3: of these bad franchises who's just kind of meandering all
Speaker 3: the time, like a Charlotte or a Washington or whatever.
Speaker 3: Get him to Brooklyn to help bump up the rest
Speaker 3: of that New York market. All those things are great,
Speaker 3: it's not gonna it's not gonna be a better story
Speaker 3: than putting on him on the Utah Jazz. It's not
Speaker 3: like we can call it what it is like a
Speaker 3: star white power Forward on the jazz that is going
Speaker 3: to move ratings and numbers and jerseys and tickets and
Speaker 3: all that stuff.
Speaker 1: I want to cater to the audience here for a second.
Speaker 1: Let's put our let's put our thinking caps on. Let's
Speaker 1: get into our imagination space and picture an opening lineup
Speaker 1: next year of Walker Kessler at Center, Lowry Marketing at
Speaker 1: power Forward, Cooper Flag at small Forward. Then they make
Speaker 1: a deal for Grady Dick at the two and TJ.
Speaker 2: McConnell at the one.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, box office, we we have just
Speaker 1: fixed the Utah Jazz.
Speaker 3: Look. Everyone made fun of David Khan when it was
Speaker 3: like Kevin Love and Pakovich and Luke ridden now Or
Speaker 3: and Alexei spid and andre Kiiralinko. Everyone made fun of
Speaker 3: David Kahan. But I bet they'll love Danny Inge and
Speaker 3: love Justin Zanik if they figure this out.
Speaker 2: No doubt.
Speaker 1: Jimmerferdett out of retirement, coming off the bench, and we
Speaker 1: are dialed in, man, do you think.
Speaker 3: Do you think? Do you think he can he can
Speaker 3: get away from from nothing right now to get a
Speaker 3: job with NBA.
Speaker 2: Isn't he doing three on three?
Speaker 3: Does that is that year round. I don't think that
Speaker 3: was once every four years. There the half court over there,
Speaker 3: go go represent US.
Speaker 1: I don't know what Jimmers doing in these days. I
Speaker 1: know he lives in Colorado. I mean, he made enough money,
Speaker 1: and maybe he's just showing he's.
Speaker 3: Not in the Big Three right and he's not playing
Speaker 3: in China anymore.
Speaker 2: I don't think so. By the way, have you watched
Speaker 2: What's that?
Speaker 1: I just saw it on the DVR because my DVR
Speaker 1: is like every time I turn it on, and it's like,
Speaker 1: you seem to like sports or here's a sport for you.
Speaker 1: It's like one on one. It's a one on one tournament.
Speaker 1: Have you watched any of this?
Speaker 3: No? No, I'm at a point in my life I
Speaker 3: watch NBA or WNBA basketball. That's what I watch. I
Speaker 3: don't even have time for college anymore.
Speaker 1: All right, you're not watching any shows, but you gotta
Speaker 1: watch movies for the pod, right, Well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I watched movies. I mean, look, I've almost binged
Speaker 3: whatever episodes of Love Is Blind or here like. Look,
Speaker 3: I'm doing other things. I just I can't like that
Speaker 3: stuff where I can turn my brain off right right,
Speaker 3: This is like if I'm gonna have to pay attention
Speaker 3: to another basketball league. I can't do that.
Speaker 2: No, I'm with you. I'm with you there.
Speaker 1: But we are fixing the Utah Jazz one good white
Speaker 1: player at a time. So we'll have to see if
Speaker 1: it goes down, all right. Do you take anything from
Speaker 1: Minnesota's come back last night? I mean, okay, see rested
Speaker 1: chet and they lost Tart and Steining in the second quarter.
Speaker 1: But Minnesota was able to come back from twenty four down,
Speaker 1: which does not happen very often.
Speaker 2: Did that do anything for you?
Speaker 1: Either tell you about OKAC at all or maybe Minnesota
Speaker 1: playing a bit better.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think we're seeing a lot recently of Minnesota,
Speaker 3: just like, hey, when Julius Randall's not out there, it
Speaker 3: looks a lot better, right, Like, it looks a lot better.
Speaker 3: And so like you know, Nazrita is headed for a
Speaker 3: big payday, and I think, you know, I think Minnesota
Speaker 3: is in a pretty good place, especially considering them and
Speaker 3: had really much recently. Like, I think they're in a
Speaker 3: pretty good place. But for OKC, look, I have concerns
Speaker 3: about a team that never is tested, right, Like they're
Speaker 3: zero to four in games decided by one possession, which
Speaker 3: is whatever. They blow out almost every I want to say,
Speaker 3: like thirty seven of their forty six wins are double
Speaker 3: digit wins, Like they're not in close games. And as
Speaker 3: good as they are and they are historic and they're
Speaker 3: historically dominant, this is still a very young, playoff inexperienced team,
Speaker 3: and they didn't play in a way against Dallas in
Speaker 3: the second round last year they made me think like, oh,
Speaker 3: they're right on the cusp, like they kind of choked
Speaker 3: that series away. And so when they get into those
Speaker 3: type moments, they're still very unproven and I don't think
Speaker 3: it's just a lock that they make it to the
Speaker 3: conference finals. So this is still a team that has
Speaker 3: to prove themselves in the postseason, and little moments like
Speaker 3: last night you can just brush them off as like, hey,
Speaker 3: it's a back to back for both teams and it
Speaker 3: was fluky, and yeah, sure, all that stuff can be
Speaker 3: and probably is true, but we got to see them
Speaker 3: win some tight games here, Like it feels a little
Speaker 3: bit like the Milwaukee Bucks before they got Drew Holliday,
Speaker 3: where they were just blowing teams out all the time.
Speaker 3: Then they got to the postseason, it was like, oh,
Speaker 3: they don't really know what to do here.
Speaker 1: If you are putting a sizeable amount of money on
Speaker 1: who comes out of the West, like for me, I
Speaker 1: think I bet on Denver right now. Even though Okay, see,
Speaker 1: by every metric is the best team in the conference.
Speaker 1: Playoffs are different, and every time I hone in on Jokich,
Speaker 1: I'm like, yep, he's still the dude. And if they
Speaker 1: can knock down shots because he provides good looks at
Speaker 1: almost every possession, I still think that you have to
Speaker 1: look at them as even though the Vegas favorite is
Speaker 1: not Denver, it is, okay, seeing the metrics favorite Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City in a seven game series, I might roll with
Speaker 1: Jokis where are you at?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would also put my money on Denver. And look,
Speaker 3: I get like, during that what was it, eight or
Speaker 3: nine game win streak whatever it was, people were like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's a soft schedule for sure, but this has gone
Speaker 3: beyond that win streak, Like, this is a team that
Speaker 3: has been pretty dominant since I think it was I
Speaker 3: think on my date right, I think it was December seventh,
Speaker 3: was when Yokids dropped a career high fifty six and
Speaker 3: they lost to the Wizards and they dropped to like
Speaker 3: eleven and ten. Since then, they've been the third best
Speaker 3: team in the NBA in terms of record. I think
Speaker 3: they've been the third or fourth best team in terms
Speaker 3: of net rating. Like this Nuggets team has figured it out.
Speaker 3: They've got to be healthy. They don't have a margin
Speaker 3: of air for if their health isn't you know, close
Speaker 3: to one hundred percent when they get to the postseason.
Speaker 3: But if they're healthy, like, I'll take them over anybody
Speaker 3: in the list.
Speaker 1: I didn't anticipate doing any Pistons talk today, but they've
Speaker 1: won seven straight. And what I try to do here
Speaker 1: with the Jazz for our listeners is look at teams
Speaker 1: that not too long ago were in the spot, and
Speaker 1: Detroit is kind of one of them. Orlando's another one.
Speaker 1: But you know, Caid Pollo, they've got stars that we
Speaker 1: don't have here. But what do you make of what
Speaker 1: has been a pretty impressive turnaround. They've won seven straight,
Speaker 1: eight of their last ten. As far as what they're
Speaker 1: doing in Detroit that might be working.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, they were one of the worst
Speaker 3: teams I've ever seen last year. Yep, and I during
Speaker 3: pretty much the entirety of that season. But once we
Speaker 3: got through halfway through that, you know, twenty eight game
Speaker 3: losing streak, I kind of had this feeling like, I
Speaker 3: don't really think Manty Williams is given us all here,
Speaker 3: and wouldn't it be great to get fired with seventy
Speaker 3: million dollars left on your contract, right Like it just
Speaker 3: kind of seemed like he knew what to do in
Speaker 3: terms of what his long term best case scenario it was.
Speaker 3: And all right, they added some veterans like Malik Beasley
Speaker 3: who didn't pan out in Milwaukee. You know, he came
Speaker 3: in and he has been phenomenal, Like he's on pace
Speaker 3: to have like one of the sixth or seventh best
Speaker 3: three point shooting seasons ever, and so he's been great.
Speaker 3: Tobias Harris came in and he's been pretty solid. But
Speaker 3: for the most part, this is a lot of what
Speaker 3: we saw last year in terms of the group, and
Speaker 3: jab Bickerstaff is just a really good coach. I didn't
Speaker 3: think he should get fired in Cleveland. It ended up
Speaker 3: working out for them, but I didn't think the process
Speaker 3: was good. I thought he did a great job, and
Speaker 3: he's doing a great job now. I think that's the problem.
Speaker 3: If you're looking at the Jazz and you're saying, well,
Speaker 3: how can we do that? The problem is, one, you
Speaker 3: don't have a kid Cunningham right, who's taken a leap
Speaker 3: and been very good. But two, Will Hardy's a good coach.
Speaker 3: He's out here looking like he wants to get fired
Speaker 3: every night. And so that turnaround for the Pistons I
Speaker 3: think was more coaching in culture than it was it
Speaker 3: was development. And and with the Jazz, like, they've got
Speaker 3: a good coach, So I don't I don't think that
Speaker 3: they would necessarily fall into that pattern.
Speaker 1: I agree, man, I think he's an elite coach, I
Speaker 1: really do. I just wonder if the Jazz don't get
Speaker 1: any lottery luck, and if they if they don't, Like
Speaker 1: if the Jazz this year fall to like the fifth
Speaker 1: pick or the sixth pick or whatever, miss out, miss
Speaker 1: out on the top three or four dudes, same thing
Speaker 1: next year and then his contract expires, what does he
Speaker 1: do If we're sitting here two years from now, none
Speaker 1: of this luck comes our way, They're not able to
Speaker 1: execute any trades for anything substantial, and it's it's five
Speaker 1: full years of Will doing the best he can to
Speaker 1: maximize the talent that he gets, but he's not receiving
Speaker 1: the talent that allows him to compete night in and
Speaker 1: night out. Like they love him and they want him
Speaker 1: here forever, and I get it, But what does Will
Speaker 1: do if his contract expires and we're still kind of
Speaker 1: spinning our wheels?
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I haven't heard anything like about his frustrations
Speaker 3: or anything. Like. I think he seems pretty happy there.
Speaker 3: Think he likes the organization. I think he wants to
Speaker 3: build long term. He seems like that kind of guy.
Speaker 3: So if I'm his agent, I would be like, well,
Speaker 3: it hasn't really worked out in terms of getting him
Speaker 3: the players he wants, so he's gonna need a lot
Speaker 3: of money to stay right, Like, I think it just
Speaker 3: comes down to that. I don't think unless there's just
Speaker 3: an offer where he's blown away and it's a perfect
Speaker 3: scenario that he can't pass up, I wouldn't anticipate him
Speaker 3: getting out of Utah. I would anticipate him cashing in
Speaker 3: on that opportunity because you are you do then kind
Speaker 3: of have the jazz at a disadvantage in terms of negotiations.
Speaker 3: But I do think it does just it feels like
Speaker 3: one of those situations where he is the long term solution.
Speaker 3: On both ends of that equation.
Speaker 2: I agree with that.
Speaker 1: But the interesting thing is, you know, with the way
Speaker 1: these guys are wired, and money makes everything taste a
Speaker 1: little bit better, I'm not saying it doesn't. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: when it comes to simply wins and losses, if you
Speaker 1: don't feel like you can compete in the job that
Speaker 1: you have because you're not giving in the you know,
Speaker 1: you're not giving the things that you need to have
Speaker 1: what your peers have across the landscape of the league.
Speaker 1: Will just strikes me as the type of guy that
Speaker 1: And this is all hypothetical because I mean this is
Speaker 1: two years away, but I do think, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I feel, and I have felt for a while. You know,
Speaker 1: they found marketing that's a real piece, and they've got
Speaker 1: the head coach that's a real piece. I almost have
Speaker 1: question marks about everything else. Maybe Walker's playing himself into
Speaker 1: the conversation. I just have to wonder if Will's looking
Speaker 1: at his win loss on his resume, his record, and
Speaker 1: he's saying, this is not going to look good for
Speaker 1: me historically speaking. Yes, money would be nice, but these
Speaker 1: guys are wired to win, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just I mean you're you're right. I just
Speaker 3: I also think they're wired with a level of ego
Speaker 3: that and I don't even mean that in a pejorative way,
Speaker 3: but like they're wired in terms of ego of like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: we'll figure it out here, right, Like they're not They're
Speaker 3: not out of talent, Like there is talent. There's more
Speaker 3: potential on that roster than anything really tangible. But I
Speaker 3: would anticipate because of how good Danny and Justin are
Speaker 3: at their jobs, and I would imagine the communication process
Speaker 3: is pretty is pretty stable there between front office and sidelines.
Speaker 3: I just I don't think he's gonna have any questions
Speaker 3: about what the plan is and how they try to
Speaker 3: execute it. Now, they may have the bad luck of
Speaker 3: the lottery and all this stuff, right like that, there's
Speaker 3: nothing you can really do about that. But I just look,
Speaker 3: and I don't know the guy at all, but I
Speaker 3: just don't I don't think he's someone who'd be like, ooh,
Speaker 3: I'm worried about you know what my record is long term? Like,
Speaker 3: I don't think Brett Brown was thinking that way when
Speaker 3: he was in Philly, right, I think it was an
Speaker 3: opportunity and he liked coaching there and it didn't work
Speaker 3: out and they got rid of him. But I don't
Speaker 3: think he sweated that because I think I think guys
Speaker 3: like that are are looking at those situations and saying,
Speaker 3: when we turn it around, all that stuff's going to
Speaker 3: be irrelevant.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Philly, what what do you do?
Speaker 1: I mean like they got und he got they got
Speaker 1: undressed by the the bulls hung one on them.
Speaker 2: What are they lost? Eight straight? Like like, what how
Speaker 2: do they? How do they get out of this? Okay?
Speaker 3: Surgery? So you give you give Joel embiid surgery tomorrow
Speaker 3: and you say, hey, we'll see in September, like, well,
Speaker 3: you're gonna rehab, You're gonna get in great shape, You're
Speaker 3: gonna get the rest you need, You're gonna get the
Speaker 3: rehab you need for this knee surgery. And and you
Speaker 3: just shoot for for next season and maybe even bring
Speaker 3: them along slowly into the start of next season. Like
Speaker 3: the awards, the sixty five game rule, all that stuff
Speaker 3: is irrelevant. Getting into the play in tournament now is irrelevant.
Speaker 3: Even if you get healthy by April, you're not gonna
Speaker 3: do anything. That team's not good enough. And I never
Speaker 3: bought them as contenders I didn't think they need this, obviously,
Speaker 3: but like this is all about, you have a very
Speaker 3: small window moving forward with a lot of money owed
Speaker 3: to Joel Embiid and a lot of money owed to
Speaker 3: Paul George, and a lot of money owed to Tyrus Maxi.
Speaker 3: And unless you are going to make a major shift
Speaker 3: in altering that roster, which I don't think they're even
Speaker 3: really all that capable of doing if they wanted to,
Speaker 3: you have to. You know, it's kind of like the
Speaker 3: Clippers conversation of the last few years. You gotta just
Speaker 3: find a way to set yourself up to catching lightning
Speaker 3: in a bottle with this group, or you start letting
Speaker 3: guys walk. But that's not gonna happen anytime soon with
Speaker 3: the way the contracts are structured. So get embead surgery
Speaker 3: now and hope that that's what fixes the problem for
Speaker 3: them and fixes the problem for his knee, because there
Speaker 3: is no there's no like, mister Miaghi, We're gonna, you know,
Speaker 3: rub this thing in the playoffs and it's gonna magically
Speaker 3: heal and and we're gonna march to a championship. There's
Speaker 3: no Disney movie here, There's no there's no incredible, like
Speaker 3: film noir that happens like this is going to be
Speaker 3: bad if you don't go this pass, and even if
Speaker 3: you do go this path, it might still be bad.
Speaker 3: You have terrible luck with this, but there is there's
Speaker 3: no magical cure that isn't surgery and rest. For Joel embiid.
Speaker 2: Did you watch Cobra Kai.
Speaker 3: I watched like three seasons of it, and it just
Speaker 3: even for me, it got too ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Oh I thought it would be right down your alley.
Speaker 1: It is horrifically awesome.
Speaker 3: The first season is.
Speaker 2: Right up and right up until the end.
Speaker 1: Man that they somehow someway find a way to be
Speaker 1: horrifically awesome until the very end.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised you didn't finish it.
Speaker 3: I mean I got to the point I've had people like, oh,
Speaker 3: you got to finish it, And I am a completionist
Speaker 3: on some level, so there's part of me that wants to.
Speaker 3: But I mean, we had like karate gangs in the
Speaker 3: valley in La That's where the story goes. He's the
Speaker 3: bloods and the crips, but karate dojos? What are we talking? Like?
Speaker 3: What am I watching?
Speaker 1: You're missing out on Daniel Laruzo being kidnapped and put
Speaker 1: into a cage with snakes, and he escapes by picking
Speaker 1: the lock.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I heard, I heard Terry Silver comes back, which
Speaker 3: I do like that because Karate Kid three is super underrated.
Speaker 3: But like one, I've had this. I've had this take
Speaker 3: for a long time. Nobody is with me on it,
Speaker 3: but it is. It is a fact. The Jaden Smith
Speaker 3: Karate Kid is better than the original. Oh stop it
Speaker 3: and guess what. Jaden Smith, as terrible as he is,
Speaker 3: is a better actor than Ralph Macchio. Go watch Cobra
Speaker 3: Kai and tell me Ralph Macchio is any kind of
Speaker 3: decent actor. He's terrible.
Speaker 1: I'm not here to stand up for Macchio's acting.
Speaker 3: Shops doing. No, that's what you're doing.
Speaker 1: I'm not, but I will not stand for the slander
Speaker 1: of the original Karate Kid, which was a gem of
Speaker 1: a movie.
Speaker 3: No offense to the amazing patmri either rip. Give me
Speaker 3: Jackie Chan.
Speaker 2: All day, okay, I'd like Jackie Chan whoever.
Speaker 3: Played Daniel's mother in the first one. Give me Taraji
Speaker 3: p Henson all day.
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, that's fine.
Speaker 1: The tough part about Cobra Kai for me, like Larusso's
Speaker 1: daughter would get her ass kicked against a five year
Speaker 1: old like she is not you know, like you know,
Speaker 1: like and they try. She's like the baddest female karate
Speaker 1: fighter on the planet, Like you know, she couldn't find
Speaker 1: a way out of a.
Speaker 2: Wet paper bag.
Speaker 1: But it is unbelievably entertaining, horrifically until the end.
Speaker 2: You need to finish it.
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't know if I have that in me.
Speaker 3: How else am I? I mean, I'm just gonna I
Speaker 3: would That's the problem. Is I fire? I like turn
Speaker 3: Netflix on. I mean I either have a new terrible
Speaker 3: season of Love is Blind that I can't stop watching,
Speaker 3: or just go to like Seinfelder, I think you should
Speaker 3: leave and just would rather watch those again.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough, fair enough, there's not enough time to
Speaker 1: watch all the things.
Speaker 2: I get it all right, before I set you loose?
Speaker 1: Are you buying any of this Golden State Warrior reborn
Speaker 1: again hype that they could be a problem come playoff
Speaker 1: time after the Butler deal and they've won three straight?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they won, they won three straight. I
Speaker 3: think they're five and one with Butler in the lineup.
Speaker 3: I'm not I'm not not buying it. I'm actually writing
Speaker 3: about this for for the newsletter tomorrow. It's a free newsletter.
Speaker 3: It's called the Bounce. Get it at the Athletic dot
Speaker 3: com slash about well a few things we do for free.
Speaker 3: I'm I'm I'm trying to figure if I buy it
Speaker 3: and everything like, Look, it's coming out of Draymond's mouth,
Speaker 3: so a huge silo of salt comes with it. But
Speaker 3: the way he's presenting it in this article that Marcus
Speaker 3: Thompson and Sam Amic wrote I think two days ago
Speaker 3: on the Athletic, the way he's presenting it, I kind
Speaker 3: of get it. I get the logic, and I do
Speaker 3: think a big part of it is you could see
Speaker 3: throughout this season they did not believe that they were
Speaker 3: the better team in a lot of these games, and
Speaker 3: with their offensive struggles, it was just rough. With Jimmy there,
Speaker 3: he does bring that gravitas, he does bring that confidence,
Speaker 3: and I get it. People are sick of the heat,
Speaker 3: they're sick of Jimmy Butler. This man does these things.
Speaker 3: If any scenario was gonna be like Rashid Wallace going
Speaker 3: to the Pistons in two thousand and four, it would
Speaker 3: be Jimmy Butler going to the Warriors.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's one of those dudes. There's no argument there,
Speaker 1: and I just cannot believe. At least admit you were
Speaker 1: emotional when Niggi Miguel Diaz was paralyzed and learned to
Speaker 1: walk again and came back and won the fight.
Speaker 2: At least admit you were emotional for that.
Speaker 3: Is that science?
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, no, no, dude.
Speaker 1: It's one of the things about that series that's so amazing,
Speaker 1: the audacity they have to do those things that are
Speaker 1: so unrealistic. You know, he's basically dead, and then he'd
Speaker 1: learned how to walk again. Suddenly he's winning karate fights again.
Speaker 3: It's see, children are psychopath.
Speaker 1: Yes they are. Yes they are. Now there's no doubt.
Speaker 1: All right, Well if you finish it, let me know.
Speaker 1: It doesn't sound like you will, but nonetheless, all right.
Speaker 2: Thanks for the time, brother, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Zach Harper from the Athletic appreciate his time. He's brought
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