Speaker 1: About an hour and twenty five minutes away from tip
Speaker 1: off at Madison Square Garden tonight Game two Knicks Pacers
Speaker 1: after a historic collapse by the New York Knicks in
Speaker 1: Game one. We also have playoff hockey tonight for the
Speaker 1: Dallas Edmonton game.
Speaker 2: Keep it right here on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 1: If you're looking for the basketball on the Eastern Conference
Speaker 1: final side, checkout the fan for Game two of Knicks Pacers.
Speaker 1: Andy Larson, Salt Lake Tribune, Happy Friday, Andy, How are
Speaker 1: we doing?
Speaker 3: I'm good man.
Speaker 4: How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm doing well. I'm doing well.
Speaker 1: How did you digest that horrific collapse by the Knicks
Speaker 1: and the comeback by the Pacers Game one?
Speaker 5: I mean it was fun, right, Like I mean, I
Speaker 5: think that's one of the great things about basketball, is
Speaker 5: that like that can happen that like an aaron Ne
Speaker 5: Smith and all of a sudden hit six threes and
Speaker 5: you're right back in it. And I loved Halburton, you know,
Speaker 5: with the nods, Reggie Miller. I love that, you know,
Speaker 5: Reggie shot when he did the choking symbol also was
Speaker 5: tie to tie the game, and so I thought it
Speaker 5: was a brilliant homage and lookay, I have to admit
Speaker 5: I'm you know, I suspect we are on different sides
Speaker 5: of this, but I am rooting for the Pacers a
Speaker 5: little bit because they're a team that's built in a
Speaker 5: really interesting way, like has just nailed trades with their
Speaker 5: with Pascalciokoman obviously Haliburton, and then drafted really well around
Speaker 5: him with you know, picks six through thirty. Really like
Speaker 5: it's it's kind of a cool story that's just gone
Speaker 5: so under the radar, and you know, they have every
Speaker 5: good of a chance as they you know, it's the
Speaker 5: next to them, maybe better to make it to the
Speaker 5: NBA Finals.
Speaker 1: Now does it matter who makes it out of the
Speaker 1: East When Oklahoma City appears to have a level that
Speaker 1: nobody else has and maybe Boston has it when they're
Speaker 1: fully healthy, but they're out of course Tatum hurt and
Speaker 1: and look, you know this, you've been watching them all
Speaker 1: year and the net is is historic.
Speaker 2: It's not like they just found this level this week.
Speaker 1: But it's just it's I feel the same way andy
Speaker 1: about Oklahoma City now that I felt about Boston this
Speaker 1: time last year.
Speaker 2: And I just feel like they have a level that
Speaker 2: nobody else does.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree with that one hundred percent. I would
Speaker 5: say the only thing is, you know you you want
Speaker 5: to get to the NBA Finals because you never know
Speaker 5: what's going to happen healthwise, right Like, if we're honest,
Speaker 5: the Toronto Raptors, the Kawai Toronto Raptors of twenty nineteen
Speaker 5: weren't favored to win the NBA Finals then, but then
Speaker 5: all of a sudden, Clay goes down and then Kevin
Speaker 5: Durant tears his achilles and then it's Stepan versus you know,
Speaker 5: a pretty good solid Raptors team, right Like, so if
Speaker 5: Shay goes down for whatever reason in the NBA Finals
Speaker 5: are between now and then, like you know what, I
Speaker 5: don't think that's likely, but in that five percent chance,
Speaker 5: then yeah, I think then you know, the Pacers have
Speaker 5: a really good shot at it. But yeah, you're right,
Speaker 5: like healthy as is this Thunder team is rolling. They're
Speaker 5: too good. They have been good, all too good all year.
Speaker 5: Like it's it's pretty clearly a fund in five or
Speaker 5: six situation, I think against either eatern conference team if
Speaker 5: both sides are healthy.
Speaker 1: Shaye, excuse me, Shaye is your MVP. I believe when
Speaker 1: you last joined us. You said that you were going
Speaker 1: to cast your vote for Nicola Jokicic, which I have
Speaker 1: no problem with it all. I feel like and I'm
Speaker 1: I'm not you know me, I'm not usually a fence center.
Speaker 2: I'm not like this. I just thought both were deserving
Speaker 2: and Shaye gets it.
Speaker 5: Give me your thoughts, yeah, I think, yeah, completely reasonable
Speaker 5: and a good pick, like just like you have no
Speaker 5: problems with anyone who went with SJA. You know, I
Speaker 5: thought of really telltale series between the two last you know,
Speaker 5: last week.
Speaker 6: And two weeks ago.
Speaker 5: Like, just both of them are very good players. Shay
Speaker 5: has a little bit more help. Jokic is probably more
Speaker 5: heliocentric offensively, right, Like, just in order for the Nuggets
Speaker 5: to succeed, they need Jokic, and in order for the
Speaker 5: Thunder to succeed, they are they are in a better
Speaker 5: place without Shay. That being said, you know, Shay has
Speaker 5: had an awesome individual year, and I think these first
Speaker 5: few games have also served to kind of draw a
Speaker 5: line between him and like the other stars of the league,
Speaker 5: like an Anthony Edwards, who is struggling a little bit,
Speaker 5: was struggling with the efficiency, can't get to his spots.
Speaker 5: You know like it has been it hasn't been easy
Speaker 5: where I think Shay has made it look easy. And yes,
Speaker 5: you know, like people will complain about the fouls in
Speaker 5: game one, Game two is about as clean as of a.
Speaker 3: Performance as you're ever going to see from a star.
Speaker 5: And he maybe had even a better game, you know,
Speaker 5: like he is kind of the classic mid range sniper
Speaker 5: scorer guard that like I think NBA basketball fans love
Speaker 5: to see and so like that is, you know, and
Speaker 5: that has been a successful formula in the playoffs before
Speaker 5: and it is certainly right now.
Speaker 1: So is somebody that had a front row seat to
Speaker 1: the Rudy go Bear experience.
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm a Rudy guy.
Speaker 1: I appreciated everything he did here, and you know, I
Speaker 1: don't think he'll ever get all the credit he deserved
Speaker 1: for the way he conducted himself when I think his teammate,
Speaker 1: more often than not, was the guy throwing him under
Speaker 1: the bus.
Speaker 2: Now, Rudy was not innocent.
Speaker 1: Of everything, but I'll tell you what, Andy, Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: is so intentional about putting him in switches. And it's Shane,
Speaker 1: it's Jalen specifically. But what's interesting is they're feasting in
Speaker 1: the mid range. It's not like, let's get him out
Speaker 1: behind the three point line. Rudy wants to play and drop.
Speaker 1: We know this, But what is fair to say about
Speaker 1: what happens when Rudy is putting those positions where other
Speaker 1: teams do seem to find a lot of success by
Speaker 1: getting him out on switches on perimeter players.
Speaker 5: Yeah, look, it's not about getting switches and putting him
Speaker 5: on the perimeter against ISO and going one on one
Speaker 5: right like that is actually a pretty big, bad mass
Speaker 5: move when you look at it over the aggregate, Like
Speaker 5: he's actually pretty good at staying in front, and you
Speaker 5: waked a lot of shot clock in the dribbling and
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 4: Like the backing it out and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5: I think what Degnel and the Thunder have done really
Speaker 5: well at is you attack him in the pick and roll,
Speaker 5: go drop, and then make the defender so that it
Speaker 5: is just you and Rudy now from fifteen feet away while.
Speaker 3: The ball handlers on the move, rather than.
Speaker 5: From twenty five feet away outside the three point line
Speaker 5: kind of holding onto it. And I think that's where
Speaker 5: Rudy can kind of get in between a little bit
Speaker 5: where he's you know, thinking about room protection first, but
Speaker 5: ends up giving up the twelve to fifteen foot mid
Speaker 5: range floater kind of stuff. But I think Sja and Jalen.
Speaker 3: Was a really good at that has always been a
Speaker 3: little bit of a problem.
Speaker 5: For him, if I'm honest, you know, like that is
Speaker 5: a lot of what we saw in the Rocket series
Speaker 5: when the Jazz played him. For example, when Westbrook was
Speaker 5: making his jumper, it was a little bit of a problem.
Speaker 4: In the Thunder series, it is.
Speaker 5: I would also say that I do think, and have
Speaker 5: thought this for a couple of years now, that Rudy
Speaker 5: is not quite the defender that he was in his
Speaker 5: hugef Rian like he is at that age where it
Speaker 5: makes sense that he has lost the step. And I
Speaker 5: think he has lost the step and it's not a
Speaker 5: huge step, and you know, I think he makes them
Speaker 5: a well, it makes him a second team All defense
Speaker 5: guy rather than.
Speaker 4: A first team All defense guy.
Speaker 5: And I think, you know, we're seeing a little bit
Speaker 5: of that where the margins are pretty fine and the
Speaker 5: Thunder taking advantage of them.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move over to some Jazz stuff.
Speaker 1: Since you and I last spoke, the all rookie teams
Speaker 1: were released and the Jazz are not in the mix
Speaker 1: and have not been in the mix for very many
Speaker 1: postseason honors. That's what happens when you're unserious about winning
Speaker 1: and you don't have a lot of good basketball players
Speaker 1: and you're a basketball team but holding out hope for
Speaker 1: maybe Isaiah or Kyle to potentially grab us. I don't
Speaker 1: think either of them we're going to be first team.
Speaker 1: Wasn't a great rookie class, you know, the Reshache Kid,
Speaker 1: the number one overall pick, Stefan Castle Rookie of the Year.
Speaker 1: Are you surprised that neither Cody nor Kyle uh finished
Speaker 1: on the at least the second team All NBA Rookie.
Speaker 3: No, because neither you know.
Speaker 5: First of all, a lot of voters are just gonna
Speaker 5: look at the win loss record and be like, you know,
Speaker 5: why am I going for a Jetman. Second, a lot
Speaker 5: of voters are going to look at the points totals
Speaker 5: and why am I voting for these guys?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 5: And you know, kind of the interesting thing about Isaiah
Speaker 5: was his assist number. The interesting things about Kyle Philipasky
Speaker 5: was his efficiency in shooting and scoring the ball. But
Speaker 5: wasn't like the number of points they put up, whereas
Speaker 5: if like either of them had put up you know,
Speaker 5: thirteen points a game or something, I think there's a
Speaker 5: realistic shot there are second team or first team, but
Speaker 5: you know, they weren't able to didn't have that chance,
Speaker 5: and you know, frankly, maybe probably weren't that good in
Speaker 5: their rookie years. Right, So look, I would have had
Speaker 5: probably both of them over Bob Carrington. I did in
Speaker 5: my vote, but I don't think and as well, he's
Speaker 5: missed me from New Orleans. I don't think I had
Speaker 5: him on my second team either, But I don't think
Speaker 5: that the grand miscarriage of justice. You know, Isaiah Collier
Speaker 5: missed out on the second team by one point compared
Speaker 5: to Bob Carrington. I thought Collier, when you take into
Speaker 5: account the passing over the second half of the year,
Speaker 5: did have a better season overall than Carrington. But again,
Speaker 5: like it's hard to get two up in arms when
Speaker 5: you're talking about spot eleven versus tenth in a ROS
Speaker 5: rookie class on a team that doesn't you know, on
Speaker 5: two teams that didn't win anything, right, It's just it's
Speaker 5: hard to know who is right in that scenario. I
Speaker 5: will say, like the Jazz and Jazz management were very
Speaker 5: happy that bub Carrington made the game winning shot in
Speaker 5: Game eighty two. It didn't end up mattering, but like
Speaker 5: that made a the Jazz management happy. So there were
Speaker 5: some jokes about voting Bub Carrington Rookie.
Speaker 3: Of the Year.
Speaker 5: Made to me, but look like it's again no grand
Speaker 5: miscarriage of justice.
Speaker 3: This is fine.
Speaker 5: Those guys were about the eleventh and twelfth best rookies
Speaker 5: in the class. That's where they ended up. It's good
Speaker 5: that they got the eleventh and twelfth best rookies in
Speaker 5: the class with picks number twenty eight and number thirty two.
Speaker 1: As we are about one month and change, almost exactly
Speaker 1: one month away from the NBA Draft, I think everybody's
Speaker 1: moved on from the disappointment that the Jazz are at five,
Speaker 1: even though mathematically that was one of the more likely
Speaker 1: spots in the fall. Give us some intel, what are you hearing?
Speaker 1: You know, you hear all this stuff. They're going to
Speaker 1: be bullish and try to move up. Maybe san Antonio
Speaker 1: looks at moving too, because there's some redundancy. Although reports
Speaker 1: are they going to keep it in draft Dylan Harper
Speaker 1: and let them grow alongside Stefon Castle and learn from
Speaker 1: Daron Fox.
Speaker 2: Maybe Philly's in play at three.
Speaker 1: That's a complicated transaction based off of what it would
Speaker 1: take to get three. If it's Paul Georgian return, does
Speaker 1: that make sense? Are you willing to move on from Larry?
Speaker 2: What? What are you hearing prior to draft night a
Speaker 2: month away? What give us some intel? Andy?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, I mean they are open to everything, right.
Speaker 5: I would also say that those conversations don't ramp up now, right, Like,
Speaker 5: it's still a month, in more than a month until
Speaker 5: the NBA Draft. You know, they're working on scheduling those
Speaker 5: prospects to get in that. It does sound like they
Speaker 5: are going to be successful in meeting with or working
Speaker 5: out all of those guys in that range. So I
Speaker 5: think that's notable, you know, besides probably the top two.
Speaker 5: But look, it's you know, I think they've also signaled
Speaker 5: probably that this is not They're not going to be
Speaker 5: giving up the farm to move from number five to
Speaker 5: number three, right Like, I don't think that they they
Speaker 5: see those players in kind of the same tier, And
Speaker 5: so yes, maybe you give up something, you know, if
Speaker 5: Philadelphia wants to compete next year and is interested in
Speaker 5: the column Sexton. Sure, you know, like I think that's
Speaker 5: something that would be a good use of an expiring
Speaker 5: calm secton and I think obviously the Jazz would.
Speaker 3: Be willing to do that as well. But like in
Speaker 3: terms of visit worth a lowry marketing, yeah, probably not.
Speaker 5: And so you have that conversation. But I also think that,
Speaker 5: you know, they the plan scene still seems to be
Speaker 5: the long game, right like that is, as much as
Speaker 5: there was a lot of handering, and I think reasonably
Speaker 5: so when the picks fell to number five about the
Speaker 5: tanking and the long term plan not working out, I
Speaker 5: don't see a huge shift coming in terms of like
Speaker 5: them all of a sudden going out and getting some
Speaker 5: of the players on the trade market. So that's what
Speaker 5: I continue to hear again. You know, look, there aren't
Speaker 5: those conversations right now for the most part. They're all
Speaker 5: like little kind of hey, you know, isn't it interesting
Speaker 5: san Antonio got the number two pick kind of conversations
Speaker 5: with league exacts, like everyone's just kind of.
Speaker 3: Talking generally about the league to each other.
Speaker 5: No, I'm talking in specifics right now, And so I
Speaker 5: think that's that's where the Jazz stand right now.
Speaker 1: As you've been able to dig in to study, watch,
Speaker 1: learn about the prospects and understand the landscape ahead of.
Speaker 2: The Jazz who are drafted at five.
Speaker 1: Have you landed on who you perceived to be the
Speaker 1: best case scenario available at five and who the Jazz
Speaker 1: should walk away from for fans learning about names, Who's
Speaker 1: best case at five?
Speaker 2: In your opinion?
Speaker 5: Andy, that's a good question, and I honestly want to
Speaker 5: do more work on it.
Speaker 3: And I know that's a top answer, but I'm.
Speaker 5: Working on building a stat model right now, going back
Speaker 5: to Andy Analytics mass days like yea, So I want
Speaker 5: to wait until I finish that before I like, really,
Speaker 5: you know, stake my name, because let me be honest,
Speaker 5: what happened last year is I thought Cody Williams was
Speaker 5: a really good ticket number ten. I thought he was
Speaker 5: it was a good selection that he fell to number ten,
Speaker 5: and I thought it was the best outcome for the
Speaker 5: Jazz and that made me look really really dumb, and
Speaker 5: it may jazz look really some too, frankly like, and look,
Speaker 5: there's still a chance Tody Williams, you know, six seasons
Speaker 5: his NBA career, but look when he had as bad
Speaker 5: of a rookie season as he did. The odds are short,
Speaker 5: and you would not have drafted him number ten if
Speaker 5: you were to redraft last year's draft again. So I
Speaker 5: want to approach this draft number five more important drafts,
Speaker 5: better draft, with a little bit more rigorousness than I
Speaker 5: did last year because it sent me astray.
Speaker 4: And so yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 5: You know, there are a lot of good names, and
Speaker 5: I'm sure you thought about them on the show, but
Speaker 5: I'm trying to figure it out.
Speaker 3: Like my sense is, I.
Speaker 5: Don't love Ace Bailey. I don't love that archetype of player.
Speaker 5: I would be more in favor of a Trade Johnson
Speaker 5: RVD film or a Conkine ple But like I again,
Speaker 5: have to know more than just vibes at this point
Speaker 5: because I did such a bad job Blackcraft.
Speaker 1: When you say you're sure I talk about these prospects
Speaker 1: on the show, is that an admission that you're not
Speaker 1: tuned in every day two to six live.
Speaker 5: I you know, I just missed that last half hour.
Speaker 5: That's all where I'm sure you're talking about them all
Speaker 5: the time. No, I am.
Speaker 3: I'm busy learning.
Speaker 1: The news, you know, And there's a lot there's a
Speaker 1: lot of news out there. One thing that you and
Speaker 1: I haven't discussed Walker Kestler extension eligible coming up.
Speaker 2: How do you think this plays out?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a really good question.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: I think ultimately most likely is that the two sides
Speaker 5: kind of come to a deal, like in that twenty
Speaker 5: five million dollar a year range, you know, plus minus
Speaker 5: five a year, which is where you know the league
Speaker 5: is kind of extended guys in that platte you know,
Speaker 5: so like the Spurs with Kelvin Johnson or Devin Vessel
Speaker 5: or you know, like kind of good players who you
Speaker 5: know can play roles on great teams, probably sub all
Speaker 5: star potential, but guys who want to keep around are
Speaker 5: kind of in that range.
Speaker 3: And I think that's.
Speaker 5: Where Walker likely finds themselves. But yeah, you know, they
Speaker 5: can't really do that until later on in the summer,
Speaker 5: until September, and that's you know, when you should expect
Speaker 5: that to happen. That being said, you know, I also
Speaker 5: think it really.
Speaker 3: Really matters what else you're doing around the team.
Speaker 5: And you know, like if you draft Metalwaks, who I
Speaker 5: don't think you should, but at number five, then all
Speaker 5: of a sudden, maybe you're thinking about Walker Kessler in
Speaker 5: a different way. So we'll see, but I think generally
Speaker 5: like there was one of the things, one of frankly,
Speaker 5: the only good things that came out of last season
Speaker 5: was that Walker clearly made himself into a figure, into
Speaker 5: a player that you want to have on the roster
Speaker 5: moving forward. And given that the Jazz have kind of
Speaker 5: not a full out else going for them right now
Speaker 5: in terms of young, really talented talent, and then the
Speaker 5: fact that you also have to get to the salary floor,
Speaker 5: it just does make sense to give Walker an extension.
Speaker 1: Do you think based off of what has now transpired
Speaker 1: not just with this draft cycle, but every draft lottery
Speaker 1: since twenty nineteen, the Jazz will put their best foot
Speaker 1: forward this year? No inventing injuries, about marketing, no cittying
Speaker 1: veteran players, no telling Walker Keshler you are Ray Allen
Speaker 1: from nineteen ninety eight. Now, do you think we might
Speaker 1: have a serious approach to competing based off of how
Speaker 1: everything played out last year?
Speaker 5: I'm skeptical because, if anything, there's more incentive to tank,
Speaker 5: not less, you know, like as much as Cooper Flagg
Speaker 5: with a president, and I truly think he's a very
Speaker 5: excellent prospect, like one of them be one of the
Speaker 5: better number one picks in the last ten years. Like
Speaker 5: I think at the top of this draft they are
Speaker 5: even more good dudes who you might be even more sure.
Speaker 3: On, right, Like I feel really confident.
Speaker 5: On Age Debanta, and I feel really confident on Darren Peterson,
Speaker 5: and I feel maybe even most confident on Cameron Boozer,
Speaker 5: like his floor is so high, so all of a sudden,
Speaker 5: now you have even more incentives to try to get
Speaker 5: a top three pick, not just one pick, not just
Speaker 5: a fourteen percent chance, but a forty two percent chance
Speaker 5: at one of those three three franchise changing guys, plus
Speaker 5: a number of guys blew them. Like, I don't think
Speaker 5: that the incentives have actually changed all that much other
Speaker 5: than public pressure, like you know, fan ticket right, you know,
Speaker 5: ticket interest goes down, people get more mad at Ryan Smith,
Speaker 5: et cetera. He's been pretty uh, he's been pretty hard to.
Speaker 3: You know, stone face to that.
Speaker 5: So to this point, I'm I don't know if that
Speaker 5: changes necessarily. I think they probably just continue to go
Speaker 5: down the.
Speaker 1: Spat So Windhorst and McMahon and Bontevs last week did
Speaker 1: a pod on The Hoop Collective about the era of
Speaker 1: parody in the NBA, and we had Bobby Marks on
Speaker 1: the show. I think it was Monday of this week,
Speaker 1: and Bobby did just a masterful job of kind of
Speaker 1: walking us through while we are smack dab in the
Speaker 1: middle of a great time in the NBA, if you
Speaker 1: are a fan of a basketball team that plays its
Speaker 1: basketball in a city like Salt Lake. And as a
Speaker 1: result of those conversations, I did like an entire segment
Speaker 1: to open the show about how you know with the
Speaker 1: new CBA and billionaires clearly scared of the second apron
Speaker 1: if you always wondered what the answer to the question
Speaker 1: what scares billionaires is? And pro sports in the NBA,
Speaker 1: it's a tax bill like Boston's gonna have a five
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars just for the right to have the
Speaker 1: team that will not have Jason Tatum next year and
Speaker 1: lost in the second round. The new CBA expires in
Speaker 1: twenty thirty, and there's already a significant amount of pushback
Speaker 1: to what it's done in pro basketball to not allow
Speaker 1: teams to keep their great teams together based off of
Speaker 1: punitive economic penalties.
Speaker 2: And you said out a tweet that said it's disappointing.
Speaker 1: The Jazz are missing out on the NBA's parody era.
Speaker 1: It is unfortunate that the Jazz are not in a
Speaker 1: better spot to capitalize on this landscape that's allowed teams
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Denver, Minnesota to build really
Speaker 1: good teams. What's your take on it? What are your
Speaker 1: thoughts on it? Expand on the tweet that you sent.
Speaker 5: Yeah, look, I mean it's hard because I don't know
Speaker 5: that it's their fault, and I don't think like the
Speaker 5: Donovan Mitchell Rudy Gobert Jazz is that interesting in this
Speaker 5: era either. I think ultimately the economics of that team,
Speaker 5: just with the cat and the way that they had
Speaker 5: treated and misused some of their like, meant that.
Speaker 4: They weren't going to compete either.
Speaker 5: But you know, in the course of jazz history, there's
Speaker 5: a couple of famous times when the Jazz had very
Speaker 5: good teams and came up against greatness and lost, and.
Speaker 4: And that's just how that happens, right, Like, But if the.
Speaker 5: Stock in Them and the Lone Jazz are in the
Speaker 5: twenty twenty five NBA Finals or in NBA playoffs, like.
Speaker 3: I think they win the thing. I think they.
Speaker 5: I think they win the title, and so from a
Speaker 5: Utah perspective and a Jazz time perspective, it is disappointing
Speaker 5: that like the cycle of success and failure has lined
Speaker 5: up this way so that in an era where there's
Speaker 5: more parody than ever, the Jazz are at their lowest
Speaker 5: point in franchise history.
Speaker 3: Now, Like, do I expect that to continue? I kind
Speaker 3: of do.
Speaker 5: Actually, I think this current setup allows owners to sell
Speaker 5: their team.
Speaker 3: Their fan base is hope a little bit. I do think.
Speaker 5: Overall the Warriors dynasty was probably actually bad for the league.
Speaker 5: I think there are some tweaks they can make about
Speaker 5: keeping their own teams, keeping their own players, and you know,
Speaker 5: whether that's a franchise tag or a lesson salary cap
Speaker 5: impact or something like that. But ultimately you also look
Speaker 5: at the TV deal and everyone's making too much money
Speaker 5: to change, And I think that's one thing we learned
Speaker 5: and the last go around is like, Hey, if everyone's
Speaker 5: making hundreds of millions of dollars here, the incentive to
Speaker 5: change a ton is not going to be there. So
Speaker 5: I think ultimately there's not going to be a ton
Speaker 5: of support for changing drastically the way that the NBA operates,
Speaker 5: and then so it becomes, you know, can the Jazz
Speaker 5: take advantage with their own era at some point, you know,
Speaker 5: let's be honest, three, four or five years down the road,
Speaker 5: and that is to be determined by the draft picks
Speaker 5: they make and whether they get luckery on lottery night,
Speaker 5: and like whether or not you know Larry continues in
Speaker 5: all start kind of status or it falls off a bit,
Speaker 5: and whether or not you know Isaiah call you is
Speaker 5: a starting point guard or a backup point guard or
Speaker 5: not an NBA player. Like all this is still super influx.
Speaker 5: But I you know, That's all I was trying to
Speaker 5: say is just like, hey, the fine waves have just
Speaker 5: lined up in the exact opposite way from the.
Speaker 4: Way you would want him to if you were a
Speaker 4: jazz fan.
Speaker 1: All right, Andy, we got to do it before I
Speaker 1: say you lose. If you believe, then you'll just stand
Speaker 1: up on your feet and you'll shout it out loud.
Speaker 1: The problem is, goals are fun. Two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: minutes I think now between goals for our cell win
Speaker 1: listen for.
Speaker 4: Again.
Speaker 1: We established earlier that you listened every minute of the
Speaker 1: show live, so I don't have to rehash what Pablo
Speaker 1: said this week, but just in case you may may
Speaker 1: have missed that small portion. Pablo and then Kurt smit
Speaker 1: the next day. They both said that they been informed
Speaker 1: by new ownership that they are not interested in selling players.
Speaker 1: They're not interested in selling Diego Luno. They're not interested
Speaker 1: in selling young players who are playing well for the club. Now,
Speaker 1: if a team in La Liga or whatever calls RSL
Speaker 1: and says thirty million for Diego, you probably do it,
Speaker 1: and I understand why, but that was kind of new.
Speaker 1: That was, you know, positive news to ascertain from. I mean,
Speaker 1: I will have to see because at this point, the
Speaker 1: bottom line is they just badly need economic confusion. And
Speaker 1: Pablo said he thinks they're two attacking players away from
Speaker 1: being really good. Kurt essentially cooperated that as well. So
Speaker 1: while the present certainly appears to be bleak and as
Speaker 1: you point out on your Twitter page, not a lot
Speaker 1: to hope for right now, I just wondered what you
Speaker 1: make of that piece of information that the Millers seem
Speaker 1: to be maybe moving away from the ethos of developing
Speaker 1: and selling players and maybe we'll have good young players
Speaker 1: for a long time, which is what you need to
Speaker 1: do to build a winning team.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's so interesting because you know. Then Pablo reportedly,
Speaker 5: at least according to the Apple TV broadcast, said the
Speaker 5: opposite that he feels Diego Luna would like real.
Speaker 2: Quick, real quick, real quick, real quick.
Speaker 1: Not to interrupt you, but I asked Pablo that very question,
Speaker 1: and I was glad I did because he did not
Speaker 1: say that it was taken out of context, so the
Speaker 1: context was based off of how well he's played. He
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of offers
Speaker 1: this summer.
Speaker 6: Okay, well, look and you know that that maybe the case.
Speaker 6: And I do think like keeping Diego Luna is is
Speaker 6: number one, you know, important thing to do if you
Speaker 6: want a successful RSL.
Speaker 5: You know, I think to some degree also depends on
Speaker 5: Diego Luna, whether or not he wants to spend his
Speaker 5: entire career in an RSL uniform or not, based on
Speaker 5: the quality of the team or whether he thinks he
Speaker 5: can go accomplish bigger things in Europe, you know, like
Speaker 5: for a lot of soccer players understandably so if they're
Speaker 5: doreamed to be on like Champions League stages and not
Speaker 5: US Open Cup stages and so yeah, we'll see.
Speaker 3: But like, regardless, that is great to hear that.
Speaker 5: It is good to hear that they want to keep
Speaker 5: young players in. And then, you know, so with the
Speaker 5: model RSL has chosen, which is the two designated player
Speaker 5: for under twenty two slot model, that means you've got
Speaker 5: two kind of older, talismanic guys who have to set
Speaker 5: the the caliber of the team, and then you have
Speaker 5: four twenty two year old ish guys who are on
Speaker 5: their you know, up and coming trajectory who can also
Speaker 5: help that you can spend unlimited to uncapped money on.
Speaker 4: That's the MLS rule.
Speaker 5: Diego Luna is one of your under twenty two guys,
Speaker 5: Brian o'hade is clearly one of your under twenty two guys.
Speaker 5: Then you need to do better with like the Nelson
Speaker 5: Pelasio spot, right like, but nevertheless that can be done
Speaker 5: Tom nick Mark, who's another under twenty two guy.
Speaker 3: Then uh, you just need to be.
Speaker 5: Way, way way better on the designated players scale, right Like,
Speaker 5: I think it's fair to call Thiago Gonzalez a failure
Speaker 5: at this point, and he's your only designated player. You've
Speaker 5: left that second slot open. So look, I mean given
Speaker 5: how long the Miller deal was in the works, right,
Speaker 5: Like they first have those conversations in November, they did,
Speaker 5: to some extent have the leeway to say, hey, this
Speaker 5: is how we'd like to see the club change when
Speaker 5: we're in charge. Now, maybe they didn't have they didn't
Speaker 5: feel good about it.
Speaker 3: Whatever.
Speaker 5: But the disappointing week after the Millers finalized the paperwork
Speaker 5: they did the press conference and then only signs Willia
Speaker 5: Gatta like is you know, leaves me to be more
Speaker 5: pessimistic than optimistic. Also maybe the fact that I'm a skeptic,
Speaker 5: but like, in the end, I would love to see
Speaker 5: a Miller organization really invest into the team because the
Speaker 5: team desperately needs it, and you are letting down players
Speaker 5: the likes of Diego Luna, Rafael Cabral and Mecha and
Speaker 5: Elli et cetera, because they you know, the team does
Speaker 5: not lack talent necessarily, it's just so bleak on the
Speaker 5: offensive side of things that it's holding everyone else back.
Speaker 1: All right, any good stuff today, man, appreciate the time,
Speaker 1: have a great weekend, and.
Speaker 2: We'll catch up soon.
Speaker 5: Sounds good, thanks then.
Speaker 1: Andy Larson, Salt Lake Tribune covers the Jazz a bunch
Speaker 1: of other things as well.
Speaker 2: At Andy B. Larson is where you find him.