Speaker 1: Time now though for our well hopefully weekly now that
Speaker 1: the jazz season has started. My buddy Andy Larson stops
Speaker 1: by on a Friday. Andy, Happy Friday, Man, How you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm good Man, How I'm good? So as a celebrator
Speaker 1: of holidays, saincode mile little inside baseball there. I know
Speaker 1: that your Halloween was occupied by jazz basketball, but there
Speaker 1: had to have been one or two Andy Larson Halloween excursions.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, you know. Last weekend was a good time.
Speaker 2: My friends through a Halloween party. It was a SpongeBob
Speaker 2: teams party, which was interesting. But I'll tell you what
Speaker 2: the best part of that party was that two separate
Speaker 2: couples came as the same couple's costume, one as Sandy
Speaker 2: Cheeks and one as Mermaid Man. If you're familiar, RESPONSI, well,
Speaker 2: I don't know, but the what are the odds that
Speaker 2: two couples come as Sandy and Mermaid man? It's it's
Speaker 2: uh yeah, unlikely, but it was. It was a lot
Speaker 2: of fun.
Speaker 3: I gotta know what you dressed up as.
Speaker 2: Obviously, I unfortunately did not have a SpongeBob costume, and
Speaker 2: I went pretty lame this year. I used reused last
Speaker 2: year's costume Alan from the Barbie movie.
Speaker 3: You know you're getting old when you start reusing costumes, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know, if we've talked about this on
Speaker 2: this program before, I am washed. And that's just all
Speaker 2: there is.
Speaker 1: You're thirty. You can't say you're washed. I have adult
Speaker 1: memories from the year you were born. You're not allowed
Speaker 1: to say you're washed.
Speaker 2: Andy, Listen, I know when NBA player prime is and
Speaker 2: I am beyondest.
Speaker 3: That's true. Can't argue with that all.
Speaker 1: Right, before we get to the jazz, since we just
Speaker 1: did a NBA conversation with the incomparable Howard Beck, we
Speaker 1: will start with a little RSL so had problem on this.
Speaker 3: Week, and you know, it's pretty clear.
Speaker 1: That RSL's having issues breaking down the way Minnesota plays.
Speaker 1: We have three games now and I think one goal
Speaker 1: in the run of play. What's fair to say about
Speaker 1: RSL's failure to get the win on Tuesday night, and
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on the potential of them coming
Speaker 1: back home after the match tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I mean they're just not the attacking team
Speaker 2: that they were earlier in the year. You know, they
Speaker 2: don't have the danger on the wings or in the
Speaker 2: middle to consistently score goals, to make teams scared, to
Speaker 2: make teams nervous. You know, I think the tempo is
Speaker 2: clearly lower. The technique in the final third is you know,
Speaker 2: you're not seeing guys being dribbled around, or you're not
Speaker 2: seeing shots put on target as frequently. You're it's just
Speaker 2: a lower standard of play. And look, some of that
Speaker 2: is losing Andre skimz Or. I think was a top
Speaker 2: three winger in MLS this year before he was sold.
Speaker 2: And you know, again I defended that cell before and
Speaker 2: I think it was a reasonable call for ourselves. But
Speaker 2: you know, the big loss, frankly, is that Chicho has
Speaker 2: gone from MVP caliber player, best caliber, best striker, best
Speaker 2: player in the league caliber to really bad, frankly, like,
Speaker 2: he's not even an average MLS striker right now. He
Speaker 2: is complaining to the referees, he is jogging around the pitch.
Speaker 2: He is not contributing on the defensive end, he is
Speaker 2: not making productive runs on the offensive end, he's not
Speaker 2: setting up his teammates. And you know, most importantly, he's
Speaker 2: not scoring goals. He scored one goal in his last
Speaker 2: whatever seventeen matches. I think it is so look, That's
Speaker 2: what it comes down to is the players aren't performing
Speaker 2: like they used to and you know clearly are less
Speaker 2: talented than they were earlier in the year. And so it's,
Speaker 2: as an RSL fan, a little, you know, a little
Speaker 2: bit of a bummer to be sure. I don't, you know,
Speaker 2: I think they still have a chance to get a
Speaker 2: result in Minnesota and come back to Salt Lake, but
Speaker 2: it's not something they should be favored in by any means,
Speaker 2: and it's been kind of a yeah, bummer into the season.
Speaker 1: One more thing here, and I am far from a
Speaker 1: tactician or a soccer expert. I'm simply somebody who's now
Speaker 1: watched and covered it for twenty years.
Speaker 3: So I have a little bit of a.
Speaker 1: Pults on it, but from an attacking standpoint, because look,
Speaker 1: if they do not find a solution, and they might
Speaker 1: only need one solution, I think if they can get
Speaker 1: one goal, Minnesota will have to engage and then RSL,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, probably a more skilled team that can
Speaker 1: out outplay them if Minnesota is actually engaging with them.
Speaker 1: But like Diego's your designated player, and you know, maybe
Speaker 1: I don't fully grasp the whole like Matt Crooks runs
Speaker 1: far thing, But do you anticipate any changes with the
Speaker 1: attacking formation where Crooks is centralized, Mark Zuku has been awesome,
Speaker 1: is outright, Diego's out left, and Chicho up top, Like
Speaker 1: if they're going to find a solution to break through
Speaker 1: that wall, do you think the attacking group, just as
Speaker 1: far as the personnel personnel goes, needs to be different.
Speaker 2: I think they're more dangerous with Julio up the top,
Speaker 2: and you know, and maybe at the expense of Chicho
Speaker 2: at this point, because again I do think he's been
Speaker 2: that bad. Now I get it like he's a DP,
Speaker 2: but both dps frankly, have not been among RSL's top
Speaker 2: three attacking players in the last few months, right Like
Speaker 2: I think Sperris Anderson, Julio has been better than Teacho
Speaker 2: over the last couple of months. Mark Duke certainly has been.
Speaker 2: I think Diego Luna has been too. So who of
Speaker 2: those guys are you going to put come make come
Speaker 2: off the bench out of that top four? I you know,
Speaker 2: I look at what happened on Tuesday and think, you know,
Speaker 2: probably a change needs to be made. There's not a
Speaker 2: great answer, because Dieogo and Tito haven't been playing well,
Speaker 2: and so I'm not exactly sure what I do if
Speaker 2: I'm Pablo. You know again, I do think it probably
Speaker 2: involved Anderson Julio from the jump, but I don't have
Speaker 2: a ton of confidence in that necessarily breaking down Minnesota
Speaker 2: because of like you said, they are a very good
Speaker 2: defensive team that is going to be pretty responsible and
Speaker 2: not necessarily let him get it in behind, which I
Speaker 2: think is probably his best attribute as a striker.
Speaker 3: All right, moving over now to the Jazz.
Speaker 1: Since you and I last spoke, just a horrific scene,
Speaker 1: and you know, the the night and several things are horrific,
Speaker 1: but let's start about you know, let's start with the
Speaker 1: one involving the injury. You know, the night as we're
Speaker 1: in Dallas, there was a lot going on. There's football,
Speaker 1: there's baseball. I've flipped them back and forth, and suddenly,
Speaker 1: in an instant, my phone just blows up and it
Speaker 1: was all, did you see what happened to Taylor? So
Speaker 1: I switch over, I rewind, I watched it once. I
Speaker 1: do not want to see a replay, but just gutted
Speaker 1: for the kid because I do feel like he was
Speaker 1: showing signs of improvement and potential so just give me
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the whole thing, your knowledge as of
Speaker 1: now as far as what the plan is and does
Speaker 1: it change the calculus at all about what he can
Speaker 1: be eventually.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I mean it sucks. I was in the
Speaker 2: third row in Dallas when it happened, and I'll be honest,
Speaker 2: I was watching the ball, not Taylor running down the court.
Speaker 2: I didn't see appen live. I did see. I did
Speaker 2: hear kind of a scream and I heard the crowd react,
Speaker 2: and I saw Taylor's leg in the sideway's position in
Speaker 2: a way that you know, no one ever wants to
Speaker 2: see that happened. It just sucks for the kid, Like
Speaker 2: I do think you're right, Like he had taken clear
Speaker 2: and obvious steps this year, not that he was a
Speaker 2: world beater by any means, and was in the starting
Speaker 2: lineup kind of to fill a role, not because he
Speaker 2: was like a starting caliber NBA player, but was on
Speaker 2: the path to being something useful and good.
Speaker 3: And.
Speaker 2: Now that will be delayed by probably about a year.
Speaker 2: The team still has to figure out when his surgery
Speaker 2: date is going to be and kind of what surgery
Speaker 2: in particular they're going to be doing kind of how
Speaker 2: many of the ligaments can need to be repaired and
Speaker 2: so on and so forth, like it's it's going to
Speaker 2: be a major surgery though, And it honestly reminds me
Speaker 2: a lot of Dante Exum nine years ago, where you know,
Speaker 2: had a you know, pretty raw rookie season, showed some
Speaker 2: flashes in his second year, and then had that cut short.
Speaker 2: You know, I guess Dante had his flashes in summer
Speaker 2: league and Taylor had his flashes in the first three
Speaker 2: games of the regular season. But it's it can be
Speaker 2: a huge deal for a players development and production to
Speaker 2: have to miss a full year of development and growth,
Speaker 2: and so it is a significant bummer for Taylor Hendricks.
Speaker 2: It's devastating for the Jazz, who now no longer have
Speaker 2: anyone to guard the opponent's best player as well as
Speaker 2: Taylor did. It's it's as bad as news as a
Speaker 2: franchise like Jazz can get. Given that this year is
Speaker 2: all about player development and giving the young player's time.
Speaker 2: Now they can't give Taylor Hendrick that time, and it
Speaker 2: it just does suck all right.
Speaker 1: Moving over just to the team overall, I am a
Speaker 1: huge fan. I love what I'm seeing. I'm going to
Speaker 1: order my Cooper Flag Jazz uniform when I get home,
Speaker 1: my Jazz jersey.
Speaker 3: I'm andy.
Speaker 1: I know it's a tough ask for the fans, it's
Speaker 1: a tough ask for the broadcasters, it's a tough ask
Speaker 1: for the coaches and players themselves.
Speaker 3: And it's a tough ask for team employees.
Speaker 1: But for me, oh eighty two, man, like, I have
Speaker 1: no issue with this horrible start. The best time to
Speaker 1: do this would have been two years ago, as we
Speaker 1: saw a first row last night, the second best time
Speaker 1: to do it is now.
Speaker 3: So tell me where you're at with.
Speaker 1: This whole thing where it doesn't look like they're gonna
Speaker 1: win a lot of games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm with you. And then it's funny after
Speaker 2: I think last time I talked to you, remember it
Speaker 2: was OCU. It was after the Memphis game, was like, hey,
Speaker 2: they look kind of competitive, and then they have just
Speaker 2: looked incredibly uncompetitive over the last four where they're they're
Speaker 2: not even close to even you know, the San Antonio
Speaker 2: Spurs had only one win coming into last night and
Speaker 2: had not looked like a reasonable NBA team, and you know,
Speaker 2: won that game by eighteen. It's it's going to be
Speaker 2: a long year. It's going to be a year where
Speaker 2: we're focused on off court things like the stadium, like
Speaker 2: the Delta Center, like you know, what's going on with
Speaker 2: the fan base, what's going on with TV contracts on
Speaker 2: and so forth. We're going to be watching young development.
Speaker 2: We're going to see if Keyante George is something or
Speaker 2: if he's nothing. We're going to see if Cody Williams
Speaker 2: can make any kind of impact on NBA games. We're
Speaker 2: going to see if Caylesolow is a reasonable player or not.
Speaker 2: Like there's going to be a lot of learning here,
Speaker 2: but the learning we've done so far is all pretty
Speaker 2: much in the negative direction, and that's valuable in its
Speaker 2: own right, but it's not promising, and so yeah, it's
Speaker 2: a long season. I'm with you. I think it's probably
Speaker 2: the right move if you are trying to win a
Speaker 2: championship down the road, if you just want it to
Speaker 2: be playoffs kind of competitive. I think there are probably
Speaker 2: easier ways to do that, but that's not what ownership wants,
Speaker 2: and I think that makes sense. I think you know,
Speaker 2: they want to deliver the first Jazz championship ever, and
Speaker 2: that probably requires a franchise changing star that they don't
Speaker 2: have on the roster and don't have any other way
Speaker 2: to get besides this way.
Speaker 3: So the question simply is this.
Speaker 1: And you know, as I talk about often being on
Speaker 1: this side of the mic and knowing what it's like
Speaker 1: on the other side of the doors where decisions are made,
Speaker 1: there's always the message the front office delivers. Then there's
Speaker 1: always the truth behind the scenes. And when you're losing, intentionally,
Speaker 1: you say things like youth, and you say things like development,
Speaker 1: and you do you do things like replacing Taylor in
Speaker 1: the starting lineup with other young players.
Speaker 3: So do you believe what we're seeing.
Speaker 1: Now in front of us is an intentional move by
Speaker 1: the Jazz?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's no question about it.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: I mean, look and they say things on the record,
Speaker 2: and then they say things off the record, and we
Speaker 2: know what it'll look. It's we can use our own
Speaker 2: eyes on what's happening here. You know, if the Jazz
Speaker 2: were trying to win games, Calm Section would not be
Speaker 2: on the bench. If they were trying to win games.
Speaker 2: Kyle Tilapowski is not the replacement for Larry Mark then
Speaker 2: starting lineup right, Like, you can just see what's going
Speaker 2: on and the decisions that are like, it's it's it's
Speaker 2: they don't want to win games, and it does suck
Speaker 2: like that the current NBA incentive structure, and I wish
Speaker 2: that weren't the case, but yeah, they're trying to lose.
Speaker 3: Yep, yep.
Speaker 1: Now that's the deal, all right. So, in the name
Speaker 1: of development and in the name of trying to understand
Speaker 1: if these young guys are actually growing, let's have a
Speaker 1: conversation about Kyante. And I'm not going to regurgitate the
Speaker 1: stats that I've been spewing all week, but I'll just summarize,
Speaker 1: with one year of college basketball and one year of
Speaker 1: pro basketball and five years of his second year, it's
Speaker 1: pretty simple. He can't shoot. His field goal percentage is horrible.
Speaker 1: His three point percentage is horrible. So at what point
Speaker 1: do we just simply become concerned about Kyante's growth and
Speaker 1: whether or not he can ever just simply be a
Speaker 1: guy that can make shots at a higher clip.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's completely fair. I mean I think,
Speaker 2: and frankly, I guess the second point on that would be,
Speaker 2: if he can't shoot, he can't be an NBA player,
Speaker 2: Like he can't get to the rim well enough He's
Speaker 2: not a good enough paster and is one of the
Speaker 2: worst defenders in the league. So his only value is
Speaker 2: if he is a good shooter. And as he pointed out,
Speaker 2: the field goal percentages throughout his college and NBA career
Speaker 2: have not been good enough. I do think some of
Speaker 2: that is because of shot selection, and I do think
Speaker 2: like there's a world in which he trims it down
Speaker 2: and gets kind of makes the open looks and develops,
Speaker 2: you know, two or three percent, and you know, becomes
Speaker 2: a better player, becomes a better shooter where he is useful,
Speaker 2: you know, like I think there's like a George Hill
Speaker 2: without defense kind of angle there. They know, like I'm
Speaker 2: trying to come up with another player complex Seth curry E.
Speaker 2: You know, maybe even there they're backup point guards kind
Speaker 2: of in the NBA. That makes sense. But look, I
Speaker 2: was higher on Keyante coming into the years than this,
Speaker 2: and he's it's only been a week, and maybe it's
Speaker 2: just a terrible first week, but he has been the
Speaker 2: worst player on the floor in at least four of
Speaker 2: these five games. And there's some Trey Burke frivees here
Speaker 2: where you know, Trey Burke had a pretty good rookie
Speaker 2: year and then came into his second year and had
Speaker 2: the worst shooting percentage in NBA history for the forty
Speaker 2: years Previo and pretty clearly showed that he was not
Speaker 2: an NBA player. And if Keyante doesn't turn it around,
Speaker 2: he's not an NBA player. He still has all the
Speaker 2: opportunity to the world in the world. He's smarter than
Speaker 2: Trey Burke is. I think he's watched more film than
Speaker 2: Tray Burk did. I think he's more mature than Trey
Speaker 2: Burke was then, who had some kind of like unreported
Speaker 2: immaturity issues at that time. But like in the end,
Speaker 2: it's about how you're good are are on the basketball floor,
Speaker 2: and he is not good enough right now if he
Speaker 2: continues to play this way to be in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Are you surprised that you referenced Colin Colin Sexton. Are
Speaker 1: you surprised that they've decided to put him on the
Speaker 1: bench and Star Clarkson.
Speaker 2: Again? What is the point of this? What is the
Speaker 2: goal of this team?
Speaker 1: We're just doing radio Andy, I've got about five minutes left.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, and they're not trying to win. I mean,
Speaker 2: Colin is good enough to win games. I'll say this also,
Speaker 2: like Colin is dealing with a finger injury. He hasn't
Speaker 2: played that well off or on the bench this year,
Speaker 2: So I don't think, you know, I think Jordan's maybe
Speaker 2: makes more sense as a two than Colin does. But
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's all they're just trying to get
Speaker 2: their young players in positions to succeed, right, Like, so
Speaker 2: they think Jordan's probably a better passer, maybe a better
Speaker 2: teammate to the young guys in the first unit, and
Speaker 2: then Colin can kind of drive action with John Collins
Speaker 2: and you know, and Bryce sent the bah and blah
Speaker 2: blah blah, so that you have like a semi reasonable
Speaker 2: competitive second unit. But like it's it's not again, if
Speaker 2: you really wanted to win games, you would be playing
Speaker 2: Colm Section thirty five minutes night.
Speaker 3: All right, man, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Walker Kessler's been kind of good, question mark right.
Speaker 2: Kyle Philipowski has been good, has been more NBA ready
Speaker 2: than I thought he would be, has actually looked physical
Speaker 2: on the offensive end, has done some nice stuff passing,
Speaker 2: has is not a great defender right now, but is
Speaker 2: honestly keeping up more than kind of the worry. He
Speaker 2: was both Kyle and Walker. I think are the positive
Speaker 2: stories on the jessne other than that it gets it
Speaker 2: gets rough quickly.
Speaker 1: All Right, before I set you loose, because I know
Speaker 1: you got to get to it, Let's talk vibes. Let's
Speaker 1: look for the gen Z years and the millennials out there.
Speaker 1: I'm a results over vibes guy, but we know results
Speaker 1: are put aside. I was there on op night against Memphis.
Speaker 1: The crowd was great. My buddy was there last night
Speaker 1: against the Spurs. He said it was very underwhelming. And
Speaker 1: I'm certainly not going to blame fans because this product
Speaker 1: is going to be horrible. But since you're there every night,
Speaker 1: how are the vibes, how's the crowd? And how do
Speaker 1: you think the team is holding up during this really
Speaker 1: difficult time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, honestly, it's been fine. I think it's something definitely
Speaker 2: to watch moving forward. And look, we're in the first
Speaker 2: week of a really long season, right like we saw
Speaker 2: somebody and more games of this, But I think the
Speaker 2: crowd has been, you know, relatively into it. It was
Speaker 2: pretty empty at the beginning of last night's game and
Speaker 2: then filled in more second and third quarter. It's also Halloween,
Speaker 2: so everyone has other stuff to do. Tickets are extremely
Speaker 2: cheap on the secondary market, right, Like you can buy
Speaker 2: tickets to sit in the lower bowl last night for
Speaker 2: fourteen dollars. Like, So that being said, I do think
Speaker 2: even at that price, like fans are gonna buy them,
Speaker 2: and like kind of someone's gonna probably sit in that
Speaker 2: seat and the arena won't look completely empty. And the players,
Speaker 2: you know, like Lowry knows what's going on, Colin knows
Speaker 2: what's going on. He's just like, you know, they are
Speaker 2: extremely well compensated to kind of deal with these kind
Speaker 2: of situations. So maybe the vibes I'm more worried about
Speaker 2: are from say like Walker, Kestler and Kyante and Taylor.
Speaker 2: Now obviously he's had this catastrophic injury. It's like kind
Speaker 2: of the long term pieces and to see how they
Speaker 2: do with losing and see how much effort and focus
Speaker 2: they put into their development. But so far, honestly, it's
Speaker 2: been it's been fine. It hasn't been a problem. Well,
Speaker 2: we'll get back to you in January and February when
Speaker 2: it really becomes dog days, but we're still I guess
Speaker 2: it's November first now, It's it's still fine right now.
Speaker 3: Fair enough. Andy, appreciate the time, man.
Speaker 1: We'll let you get to it O have a good
Speaker 1: weekend and we'll see if the lads can get it done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no worries, Yeah, sound good?
Speaker 3: Thanks all right.
Speaker 1: Andy Larson covers the Utah Jazz for the Salt Lake Tribune. Right,
Speaker 1: it's a data column for them once a week as well.
Speaker 1: Get them on Twitter at Andy B. Larson or Andy
Speaker 1: Blarsan as he likes us to say, a little behind
Speaker 1: the glass coming up, Neil Smith or some Utah hockey club.
Speaker 1: We'll bring in Zach Harper. Get back to college football
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