Speaker 1: All right, what's going on?
Speaker 2: Drive time on a Wednesday afternoon, looking at about thirteen
Speaker 2: minutes past the hour of two o'clock Satay, shine, You
Speaker 2: have a little sunshine here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
Speaker 2: It's a little warm for a January Wednesday. We've got
Speaker 2: cold weather and snowstorms ahead coming up this weekend. Not
Speaker 2: halfway through January, about halfway through your work week, and
Speaker 2: well not about you are and one day closer to
Speaker 2: the weekend. But as it is every single day, it's
Speaker 2: gonna have you along for the ride. Spence Jackets beyond
Speaker 2: the mic. That's Porter Larsen behind the glass today. We
Speaker 2: got a good guest list man. We got a lot
Speaker 2: to do on the program. Some more takeaways from the
Speaker 2: comments yesterday from the Utah football coaching staff. We'll get
Speaker 2: to some college football as we're five days away from
Speaker 2: the national championship game. It's Notre Dame, it's Ohio State,
Speaker 2: So excited for that game.
Speaker 1: Get into some of that on the program today.
Speaker 2: So a lot of people I've been interested, certainly in
Speaker 2: following which pieces of the Utah coaching staff comments yesterday
Speaker 2: garnered the most responses. Froblem the general public waiting to
Speaker 2: kind of hear from coach went on a number of
Speaker 2: different things in Morgan Scalley on a number of different things,
Speaker 2: So we'll react to.
Speaker 1: Some of that today.
Speaker 2: There are six openings in Pro football as of right now,
Speaker 2: the Bears, the Cowboys, Jacksonville, the Raiders, the Saints, and
Speaker 2: the hapless and hopeless New York Football Jets.
Speaker 1: Reports are today.
Speaker 2: Mike McCarthy is interviewing as we speak with Chicago, which
Speaker 2: I perceived to be potentially the best job on the market,
Speaker 2: simply because I think Caleb is going to be a
Speaker 2: really good quarterback. I know a lot of people around
Speaker 2: here disagree, but when you look at the other situations,
Speaker 2: there are either horrible quarterbacks or overpaid quarterbacks like Dak.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm completely done with Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 2: but anyway, any NFL coaching news that drops today, we
Speaker 2: will bring it to you. The Utah men's basketball team
Speaker 2: is in action tonight at TCU, a TCU team that
Speaker 2: beat BYU last week. B YU by the way, last
Speaker 2: night with a they smoked Oklahoma State. Now Utah ued
Speaker 2: Oklahoma State up here, So Oklahoma State probably not excited
Speaker 2: about ever coming back to Utah butt eighty five to
Speaker 2: sixty nine. Kevin Young made some rotation adjustments, so we
Speaker 2: will do some college basketball in the show today. It
Speaker 2: is that time of year as we are inching closer
Speaker 2: and closer tomorrow. Sch halfway through January, was in the
Speaker 2: building last night for the Utah Hockey Club's lost to
Speaker 2: the Montreal Canadians. Fun time, though Man hockey one of
Speaker 2: the best spectator sports. Utah Hockey clubs now eighteen eighteen
Speaker 2: and seven. They're exactly five hundred. Kirby Datch had a
Speaker 2: couple of goals last night. The Montreal Canadians got to
Speaker 2: win five to three. And I'm shaking myhead as I
Speaker 2: say this, but Utah Hockey Club welcome in the New
Speaker 2: York Rangers coming up tomorrow. The Rangers are already in town.
Speaker 2: They're staying at the Grand America. They've been walking around.
Speaker 2: You can see guys with Ranger gears. So we'll do
Speaker 2: a little hockey club on the show today. The Utah
Speaker 2: Jazz back at action tonight against the Charlotte's Hornets. Jazz
Speaker 2: have been a lot more competitive as of late. We'll
Speaker 2: see if that continues. Keep you up to date on
Speaker 2: the injury list who you may or may not see
Speaker 2: tonight at the Delta Center seven o'clock tip against the Hornets.
Speaker 2: The Jazz schedule is really softening up. They've got some
Speaker 2: of the worst teams in the NBA on the docket
Speaker 2: and we'll see how they fare. The NBA has are
Speaker 2: scheduled nine games as a result of both fire and ice. No,
Speaker 2: that is not a Game of Thrones joke. That's a
Speaker 2: real thing. Obviously, the horrific fires in Los Angeles, some
Speaker 2: inclement weather throughout the course of the country, so the
Speaker 2: NBA has had to reschedule a ton of games. One
Speaker 2: eye ahead, of course right now to the NFL playoff
Speaker 2: weekend ahead after a really fun wild card weekend.
Speaker 1: A lot of people.
Speaker 2: Believe the Divisional round is the best playoff weekend in
Speaker 2: Pro football. Texans Chiefs Commander Lions on Saturday, and then
Speaker 2: Sunday Tilt Rams Eagles, then the Ravens and the Bills. Man,
Speaker 2: that's gonna be a heavyweight bout. So fun time of year,
Speaker 2: a little bit of everything going on. RSL has opened
Speaker 2: up training camp and preparation for their Conky Calf match
Speaker 2: coming up in just a matter of weeks. There are
Speaker 2: some player personnel pieces of news we'll get to today.
Speaker 2: It's not just RSL, you know, sending players away. They
Speaker 2: are making additions. I don't know what it's going to
Speaker 2: look like, and you know it's kind of odd that
Speaker 2: they've decided to go this route. But we'll learn a
Speaker 2: little bit more today on the program. So our guest
Speaker 2: list will go like this. Neil Smith, former general manager
Speaker 2: of the New York Rangers, will stop by to talk
Speaker 2: some Utah Hockey Club and some pro hockey. We'll get
Speaker 2: ready for the Utah Hockey Club Rangers game tomorrow. We'll
Speaker 2: talk about the Canadians game last night, and just big
Speaker 2: picture topics regarding the National Hockey League.
Speaker 1: With one of our favorites, Neil Smith.
Speaker 2: They'll voice himself Bill Riley sopspot today to talk some
Speaker 2: Utah football and some Utah basketball. NBA Daily Assists with
Speaker 2: Tom Havers show, and you know I'm going to bring
Speaker 2: up the jazz trading for Zion Williamson. We basically made
Speaker 2: the jazz interesting and relevant on the show yesterday in
Speaker 2: case you missed it.
Speaker 1: So we'll bring in Tom today and.
Speaker 2: Then Kurt Schmidt, the technical director for Ral Saw Lake,
Speaker 2: the mind behind all of these moves. The man who
Speaker 2: essentially makes the final call for player personnel will be
Speaker 2: my guest later on. So a little Utah Hockey Club,
Speaker 2: a little Utah football, you little college basketball, UT's Cougars,
Speaker 2: some jazz, some NBA, and then some RSL. We got
Speaker 2: a bit of everything for you guys on the program
Speaker 2: today on this Wednesday afternoon with Neil Smith, with Bill Riley,
Speaker 2: with Tom Haberstrow, with Kurt Schmidt, Me Spence checkets, all
Speaker 2: of you the great listeners, Happy Wednesday, and that guy
Speaker 2: Porter Larson who produced the program on a Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 2: So now that you've had a minute to allow the
Speaker 2: genius of the radio show yesterday to kind of marinate.
Speaker 2: And Zion Williamson where we've named half the date after
Speaker 2: him anyway, jazz trading for Zion. Do you have any
Speaker 2: new hot takes or fun thoughts for me on this Wednesday.
Speaker 3: I'm still I'm still kind of ruminating on that one.
Speaker 3: On the Zion stuff. Hey, it'll be fun. It'd be fun.
Speaker 3: I don't know, uh, you know how fruitful it would be,
Speaker 3: but it would be fun.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll see, probably not gonna happen. But just trying
Speaker 2: to make it relevant is the bottom line. Our first
Speaker 2: guest today will be Neil Smith, so was at the
Speaker 2: hockey game last night and the Rangers in town tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Before we get to Neil, I want to let you
Speaker 2: know that the ESPN seven hundred Cash Kickoffice here. It's
Speaker 2: time for your shot to win one thousand dollars in
Speaker 2: cash to pay your bills. Text one thousand to five
Speaker 2: oh eight seven seven seven one thousand. Text one thousand
Speaker 2: to five oh eight seven seven one thousand for a
Speaker 2: chance to win one thousand dollars in cash in this
Speaker 2: nationwide contest. Good luck from all of us here at ESPN,
Speaker 2: courtesy of our friends a Standard Restaurants supplying one stop
Speaker 2: shop for all your tailgate needs. On a Wednesday afternoon,
Speaker 2: it is time out for your opening tip.
Speaker 4: Welcome to the Drive with Spence Check. It's on Utah's
Speaker 4: number one sports talk. Now into the studio of ESPN
Speaker 4: seven hundred to set the scene.
Speaker 5: For the show.
Speaker 4: One thing tip of the Drive is brought to you
Speaker 4: by Standard Restaurant Supply, your one stop shop to build
Speaker 4: the best tailgate in town. Standard Restaurant Supply thirty five
Speaker 4: hundred Southwest Temple.
Speaker 2: Good to hear from Coach Wit yesterday. Good to hear
Speaker 2: from Ordnon Scalley. Good here from Jason Beck. They did
Speaker 2: a little media, of course, we played those comments for
Speaker 2: you here on your home of the Utes. And I've
Speaker 2: been interested to follow the news cycle surrounding the comments
Speaker 2: of all the coaches, head coach, offensive coordinator, offensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: defensive coordinator, and a couple of things that stood out
Speaker 2: to me, and number one topically only because we've all
Speaker 2: been curious. It feels like the number one story that
Speaker 2: people have kind of latched onto is that Cam Rising
Speaker 2: is not on the roster, and Cam is going to
Speaker 2: announce his intention when he elects to do so, according
Speaker 2: to Coach Wit. So of course we'll be curious to
Speaker 2: hear what's next for Camon Rising, who, as I talked
Speaker 2: about yesterday, should always be remembered as nothing but a
Speaker 2: legend around here, and I do think most people already
Speaker 2: believe that's the case. And in due time, after I
Speaker 2: guess the bad taste in your mouth wears off because
Speaker 2: of the past couple of years where the poor kids
Speaker 2: just couldn't stay healthy, I would imagine he'll be remembered
Speaker 2: the right way. But you know, there's been a little
Speaker 2: bit of a theme on the show regarding college football,
Speaker 2: and really we can expand it to several of our
Speaker 2: local products right now. The first time you do something,
Speaker 2: the first time you experience something sports or life, just
Speaker 2: it's new and it's hard to accept and it takes
Speaker 2: a lot of time to really understand exactly how to
Speaker 2: traverse your way through the space.
Speaker 1: So just new experiences.
Speaker 2: And you know, for the Utah Jazz, it is new
Speaker 2: for jazz fans to really have already had two and
Speaker 2: a half years of a rebuild that hasn't bred anything
Speaker 2: all that exciting, and other than lowry marketing, Walker Castle
Speaker 2: and a bevy of picks, we still don't know if
Speaker 2: any of these young kids are going to be around.
Speaker 2: Moments from Kyante, moments from Bryce.
Speaker 1: Isaiah has been.
Speaker 2: Good as of late, but ultimately none of us know
Speaker 2: if any of these young players will be around when
Speaker 2: the Jazz are good again.
Speaker 1: So a new situation right for jazz fans.
Speaker 2: And I do think there are basketball fans in this
Speaker 2: market that are very, very intelligent, and jazz fans love
Speaker 2: the Utah Jazz. So the building's been full and I
Speaker 2: think people more or less understand the deal, understand what
Speaker 2: time it is. New situation for Jazz fans, new situation
Speaker 2: of course for college football fans. That really has been
Speaker 2: new now for a couple of years. But some of
Speaker 2: the things still land like they're very, very raw. Right,
Speaker 2: And basically what I'm talking about is coach Wait, yesterday
Speaker 2: was asked for the first time publicly about the exits
Speaker 2: of Kiano Tanavasa and Cameron Calhoun. Right, the two players
Speaker 2: that if you're a YOUTE fan picking up your phone
Speaker 2: to check you know, alerts about who's leaving, who's who's coming,
Speaker 2: who's going, who's.
Speaker 1: Stand what have you?
Speaker 2: Those two names hit and they hit different, and they
Speaker 2: hit hard because both those players are NFL guys.
Speaker 1: They're both going to play on Sunday.
Speaker 2: And you add on to the fact that Kanu went
Speaker 2: to BYU. I mean, look, Cam Calhoun is in Tuscalusive
Speaker 2: playing for Alabama, essentially the charter college football program in
Speaker 2: the country. Even though right now they're not one of
Speaker 2: the top, they still you know, over the past generation
Speaker 2: on a Nick Saban they have been kind of the
Speaker 2: Bill Belichick Patriots version of college football. But ultimately, when
Speaker 2: coach Witt said yesterday that the main difference, essentially eluding
Speaker 2: that the only difference when it comes to these departures.
Speaker 2: His exact term, I believe is the overriding factor in
Speaker 2: their decisions to leave was nil, namely with Keanu, who
Speaker 2: left Utah to go to BYU. When Kyle said that,
Speaker 2: and I heard him say that, I went, that's probably
Speaker 2: not going to land very well for fans that are
Speaker 2: upset about the current narrative that Brigham Young has figured
Speaker 2: out things where their collective, the Utah still has to
Speaker 2: figure out. Now, we don't have any hard daddy here.
Speaker 2: We can only go off the proof, and we can
Speaker 2: go off results. And right now we're coming off a
Speaker 2: year in the Big Twelve where BYU shocked everybody and
Speaker 2: then they nearly won the thing and Utah was picked
Speaker 2: to win the thing and they picked near the bottom.
Speaker 2: And the new cycle over the past six weeks has
Speaker 2: been BYU signs the best high school basketball player in
Speaker 2: the country. He's gonna get seven mil for five months
Speaker 2: of basketball, and Utah basketball is just not up to
Speaker 2: part right now, and hopefully that could change. But the
Speaker 2: reaction to what Kyle said yesterday about the overriding factor
Speaker 2: being nil. I think disappointed a lot of people, And
Speaker 2: of course I'm not saying Kyle's wrong. A lot of
Speaker 2: people wondered, based off of the messaging from Keanu and
Speaker 2: his family, if he simply wanted the LDS BYU experience
Speaker 2: talking about wanting to become the best version of himself
Speaker 2: and that's the place he could do it, releasing a
Speaker 2: scripture announcing his intent, his father's saying, then when the
Speaker 2: heaven's open, our family walks through the door. So a
Speaker 2: lot of people were like, Okay, he just one of
Speaker 2: me any players who over the years and currently wants
Speaker 2: that experience compared to other experiences, And yes, you can
Speaker 2: have an LDS experience at the University of Utah, but
Speaker 2: if you've been around here or if you're familiar with
Speaker 2: the dynamic, the BYU experience just is different.
Speaker 1: If it's for you or not you. If it's for
Speaker 1: you or not for you, that's irrelevant.
Speaker 2: It is different, and oftentimes kids do want that experience,
Speaker 2: even though you can get an LDS experience elsewhere. And
Speaker 2: of course, coach wit Morgan Scalley, they're members of the
Speaker 2: LDS church, so it's not like they couldn't provide that
Speaker 2: pathway for Katu, you know, if you wanted it. But essentially,
Speaker 2: the bottom line is this to bring it back to
Speaker 2: all of us experiencing these things for the first time,
Speaker 2: and whether it's life or sports, when you go through
Speaker 2: things for the first time, it can be tough to
Speaker 2: figure out how to get through them.
Speaker 1: And then you get older, you get a little leathery and.
Speaker 2: You realize life is just not fair and things happen
Speaker 2: and you better figure out how to wait to deal
Speaker 2: with it or you're gonna eat yourself alive. The bottom
Speaker 2: line is this, the new reality of college football is
Speaker 2: simply losing really good players every single year and there
Speaker 2: are no exceptions, and so as college football fans, I
Speaker 2: think it's time we just lean into it and you
Speaker 2: know it does it sting when it happens, Yes, that's
Speaker 2: the deal.
Speaker 1: But two three years, two three, four years.
Speaker 2: Down the road, I think we're gonna be a little
Speaker 2: more leathery to this, and I really hope that there
Speaker 2: are guardrails put in a place that don't mandate teams
Speaker 2: have to rebuild every year.
Speaker 1: That's exhausting, man, it just is.
Speaker 2: Because fan bases love to get to know the players
Speaker 2: that play for the colleges that they support. And as
Speaker 2: I've talked about a nauseum, yes to Bowl two thousand
Speaker 2: and four, Sugar Bowl two thousand and eight, back to
Speaker 2: backpack twelve championships, Utah football's best seasons have simply been
Speaker 2: as results of recruiting, developing and players sticking around for
Speaker 2: two three four years.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 1: And it's not just that they won football games.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the point, and that's why we'll always
Speaker 2: remember mber them as great, great teams. But you felt
Speaker 2: like you knew Alex Smith or Eric Weddle or Stevenson
Speaker 2: Sylvester Robert Johnson.
Speaker 1: Or Cameron Rising.
Speaker 2: You know, you felt like these kids were part of
Speaker 2: the fabric of the community. And maybe that's just a
Speaker 2: little pie in the sky magoo, but it's no longer
Speaker 2: the reality of how this is going to go, and
Speaker 2: it's just one of those things you got to lean into,
Speaker 2: got to accept it. And it's interesting watching and I'll
Speaker 2: put myself in this category. We're all going through this
Speaker 2: for the first time really in nil transfer portal has
Speaker 2: been a reality for a few years, but it feels
Speaker 2: like this type of news has stung in a way
Speaker 2: that news prior to just hasn't really landed the same way.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's just kind of how I'm reading the situation.
Speaker 2: So new things can be tough. Got to figure out
Speaker 2: a way to get through them, then accept them, and
Speaker 2: next time they happen, maybe you're not as upset when
Speaker 2: a player decides a really good player, and a really
Speaker 2: good kid decides that he wants to play as college
Speaker 2: ball elsewhere. All right, busy show, We'll do a little
Speaker 2: Utah Hockey Club tough one. Last night Montreal Canadians came back.
Speaker 2: Utah Hockey Club had a lead, but Montreal came back
Speaker 2: to get a win. The Rangers are in town for
Speaker 2: a game tomorrow night. Rangers have not been near as
Speaker 2: good as anybody thought that they were going to be
Speaker 2: this year.
Speaker 1: Maybe the hockey club and get a win.
Speaker 2: So Neil Smith joins us are behind the glass weekly
Speaker 2: NHL Conversation.
Speaker 1: On the other side, Mike.
Speaker 2: McCarthy is reportedly in Chicago today to interview with the
Speaker 2: Chicago Bears. After getting out of purgatory and escaping Jerry Jones,
Speaker 2: my man fell forward.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that. Well, we'll get to it.
Speaker 2: There are six job openings in pro football right now.
Speaker 2: If anything comes down, we'll bring it to you on air.
Speaker 2: Got a little Utah hoops tonight. We'll get back to
Speaker 2: some college and pro football. But I was in the
Speaker 2: building last night kind of shake in my head. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I cannot believe I'm sitting in Salt Lake City watching
Speaker 2: the Montreal Canadians play hockey. Hockey Club goes up early,
Speaker 2: Montreal comes back, they get a five to three win,
Speaker 2: and I continue to shake my head as the New
Speaker 2: York Rangers are in now now walking downtown outside of
Speaker 2: Grand America to play the game tomorrow. Our next guest
Speaker 2: was the architect of the Ranger team that won the
Speaker 2: Stanley Cup in nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 1: His name is Neil Smith and he joins US Weekly.
Speaker 1: Hello Neil, how are you, sir?
Speaker 6: I'm good fancy. That must be something to see the
Speaker 6: fabled Montreal Canadians in Salt Lake City for the first
Speaker 6: time ever. That's that's quite a franchise.
Speaker 1: See that's you're smart.
Speaker 2: I'm going to lead off there because I'm you know,
Speaker 2: the rocket rashard right Like back in the day, Montreal
Speaker 2: Canadians were kind of like, I don't want to say.
Speaker 1: Because you're educated here, you're going to help me understand.
Speaker 2: I don't want to say like the first great pro
Speaker 2: hockey club, but from my vantage point, it feels like
Speaker 2: they were kind of one of the original dynasties in
Speaker 2: the NHL for our local hockey fans that went last
Speaker 2: night and maybe don't fully understand what they were watching.
Speaker 2: Myself included give us some context about historically just what
Speaker 2: the Canadians mean to the world of hockey.
Speaker 6: Well, here's some trivia for you that I've rarely ever
Speaker 6: told anyone this or brought this up, But the Montreal
Speaker 6: Canadians actually came into the league in nineteen seventeen, the
Speaker 6: first year of the NHL. AD switched from the National
Speaker 6: Hockey Association to the National Hockey League, and it was
Speaker 6: made up of only four teams, and they were called
Speaker 6: the Montreal Canadians and Montreal Wanderers, the Toronto Arenas and
Speaker 6: the Ottawa Senators. And the Wanderers building burnt down in
Speaker 6: the first season, so there was only three teams. So
Speaker 6: when we talked about the original six, we actually should
Speaker 6: be talking about the original three. But Montreal has twenty
Speaker 6: four Stanley Cups in their history. By far, the most
Speaker 6: of any team in the league.
Speaker 5: The logo on.
Speaker 6: The front of their jersey stands for Canadian Hockey Club,
Speaker 6: so there's two season an age and they've worn those
Speaker 6: same uniforms forever. And they were once called the Fling
Speaker 6: Frenchmen because they got all the best French players from
Speaker 6: Quebec on the Canadians. But they no longer get that
Speaker 6: advantage as everyone is in the entry draft together.
Speaker 1: And they more or less have been now.
Speaker 2: Look, obviously they went through that incredible run in the
Speaker 2: sixties and the seventies, but eighties as well. But you know,
Speaker 2: they last won the President's Cup, I believe in seventeen
Speaker 2: like they have been neil like consistently great now. Their
Speaker 2: last Stanley Cup I think was what ninety three, so
Speaker 2: I guess it's been a while, but they have been
Speaker 2: pretty consistent with their high level of play.
Speaker 1: Is that fair to say.
Speaker 6: It has up until lately. I mean, they did get
Speaker 6: into the Stanley Cup final during that bubble time when
Speaker 6: COVID was around, and they played Tampa in the final,
Speaker 6: Tampa winning that, but that was an aberration.
Speaker 5: Really.
Speaker 6: Montreal has been in a rebuild for quite a while
Speaker 6: and they're right now for this season on a heck
Speaker 6: of a run and are knocking in the door of
Speaker 6: a wild card spot in the East. So they're a
Speaker 6: team that's trying to rebuild, like a lot of teams.
Speaker 6: And you know, the famous Marty Saint Luis is their coach,
Speaker 6: who played for Tampa in their Stanley Cup in two
Speaker 6: thousand and six and was a tremendous player in the
Speaker 6: National Hockey League.
Speaker 2: So the hockey club took a lead after one last night,
Speaker 2: two to one, and then Montreal came back and outscored
Speaker 2: them two zero and the second two to one of
Speaker 2: the third to win five to three. Are these two
Speaker 2: clubs on kind of similar trajectories you reference the rebuild nature?
Speaker 1: Or is Montreal maybe a step two.
Speaker 2: Ahead of where the hockey club found themselves out here
Speaker 2: in Salt Lake.
Speaker 6: No, I don't think they're a step or two ahead.
Speaker 6: I think they're all in this grouping. It's really hard
Speaker 6: to give it a name, but for lack of better words,
Speaker 6: I'll say they're all in the middle class. And by
Speaker 6: the middle class, I mean those teams that are trying
Speaker 6: to be a contender to be in the playoffs. So
Speaker 6: the upper class would be the teams that are trying
Speaker 6: to be a contender to win the Cup. The middle
Speaker 6: class would be the teams that are trying to contend
Speaker 6: and be in the playoffs. And the lower class would
Speaker 6: be the teams that are totally in a rebuild and
Speaker 6: know that they're a ways away from pushing for the playoffs.
Speaker 6: So I think there's the three groups. And I've said
Speaker 6: to you since I've been coming on here that Utah
Speaker 6: is in that middle group that will be pushing to
Speaker 6: try to get that wild card spot, and I expect
Speaker 6: that they're going to keep clawing away at it for
Speaker 6: the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: One of their themes is they don't hold on to
Speaker 2: leeds Neil as I reference they were up last night.
Speaker 2: Is that just another factor of a young team that
Speaker 2: doesn't know how to handle the success yet because they
Speaker 2: haven't been there, because it really has been a bit
Speaker 2: of their theme, like they go up early and oftentimes
Speaker 2: can't hold on.
Speaker 1: To that lead.
Speaker 6: I think I think it's a disciplined, mental discipline thing
Speaker 6: for teams, the younger teams that veterans learn, and that
Speaker 6: is that you know, once you've got the lead, you
Speaker 6: don't need to have more than a lead. To win
Speaker 6: the game, and you can batten down the hatches and
Speaker 6: try to just protect that lead with a more disciplined play.
Speaker 6: We talked earlier in the season about them being undisciplined
Speaker 6: with the penalties. The younger teams are undisciplined in the
Speaker 6: fact that they see a chance to get a goal
Speaker 6: and they go for it, which could train to a
Speaker 6: scoring chance for the other team. So I think that
Speaker 6: you know, there are blown leads all over the league.
Speaker 6: I mean, they're not the only team that doesn't that
Speaker 6: those leads. There's a lot of them. My concern spence
Speaker 6: about them, we talked about this last week, is more
Speaker 6: about their home record and why they can't get wins
Speaker 6: at home, with only six wins, which is the least
Speaker 6: of anybody in the whole league. That's something that's concerning
Speaker 6: because you've got to, you know, you got to play
Speaker 6: well in front of your home fans, and you should
Speaker 6: have an advantage when you play at home.
Speaker 2: So unfortunate news is Dylan Gunther, who has had a
Speaker 2: really good year, actually leads the team with sixteen goals,
Speaker 2: also has eighteen assists, and he signed that massive eight
Speaker 2: year contract extension. He has thirty four points, which is
Speaker 2: third on the team to Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley.
Speaker 2: But Dylan Gunther is out and definitely the lower body injury.
Speaker 2: What do you make of this this hole? How does
Speaker 2: coach Torny handle this? Maybe with some line changes, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 6: It's a tough one. It's hard to replace his defensive ability.
Speaker 6: A guy can that plays a regular shift, that plays
Speaker 6: on the power plane, has a hell of a shot.
Speaker 6: And I believe that I'm correct. He scored the very
Speaker 6: first Utah Hockey Club goal in history. He's on our
Speaker 6: guy to replace. He's one of your bright young players.
Speaker 6: So they'll just have to find their way to get
Speaker 6: through it and win some games without Dylan in the lineup.
Speaker 2: So I don't want to continue to hit this thing
Speaker 2: over the head, Neo. But you referenced it like they
Speaker 2: just they do not win at home. They just can't.
Speaker 2: And I was there last night, had some really good
Speaker 2: good seats, and I'm always just every time I go
Speaker 2: to a game, and when you're able to set up close,
Speaker 2: you're just simply blown away at the size and the speed,
Speaker 2: the precision, the time and everything that we all love
Speaker 2: about pro hockey.
Speaker 1: But if they don't get this figured out at home.
Speaker 2: I mean, at this point they're now as the real
Speaker 2: time standards are pulled up, there are twelve points behind
Speaker 2: Colorado for the wild Card, six points beyond Calgary.
Speaker 1: So it's not like there's a massive gap there.
Speaker 2: But if they can't get it figured out at home,
Speaker 2: is it tough to expect a wild card postseason birth?
Speaker 6: Oh? I think so, And I'm just being honest about that.
Speaker 6: I mean, Vancouver is struggling. Vancouver and it in first
Speaker 6: place last year in the Pacific Division and the division
Speaker 6: that also has the Edmonton Oilers in the Vegas Golden Knights,
Speaker 6: two pretty good teams. Vancouver ended in first. They're struggling
Speaker 6: this year and why well, there's seven wins at home
Speaker 6: that there's seven, eight and six. It's no you know,
Speaker 6: when you go into Vancouver it should be a tough night.
Speaker 6: It hasn't been this year, and Utah is going to
Speaker 6: have to I develop their identity at home. You know,
Speaker 6: they're they're they've been good on the road, They've won
Speaker 6: twelve games on the road, but they've got to figure
Speaker 6: this thing out at home and be and whether they're nerves,
Speaker 6: whether they're whether they're taking too many chances when they're
Speaker 6: at home because they got their you know, their friends
Speaker 6: and family watching them. I don't know, but you know what,
Speaker 6: you want the opposition to come into your building and go, oh,
Speaker 6: we know we're in for a tough night in here.
Speaker 6: And right now, I don't think the opposition would be.
Speaker 2: Saying that we did get a little good news out
Speaker 2: this way as John Marino came back, and I've I
Speaker 2: don't know, I think that's a season debut. I mean,
Speaker 2: he got eighteen minutes of ice time, which is a
Speaker 2: good amount for a player that hasn't played in quite
Speaker 2: some time. You know, one of their consistent themes neils
Speaker 2: you know about this team is getting back to last
Speaker 2: year when they were in Arizona. The defense oftentimes asked
Speaker 2: the goaltender to stand on his head. And what could
Speaker 2: potentially a settling effect the return of John Marino have
Speaker 2: to the blue line group.
Speaker 6: Oh, I think it's going to have a tremendous effect
Speaker 6: on the defense of the team because he's a good player,
Speaker 6: he's a veteran player, and he'll bring some steadiness to
Speaker 6: the team. Now, they did do a great move in
Speaker 6: getting Sergachev in the offseason, Ian Cole is there who's
Speaker 6: a long time veteran in the league to help out
Speaker 6: with the younger players, so it's not like they're not
Speaker 6: teenagers playing on defense there. But Marino is a good
Speaker 6: defenseman and will really help steady things and move to
Speaker 6: Ingram and the Melka more confidence when they're there and
Speaker 6: not think that they're going to have to stand on
Speaker 6: their head every night.
Speaker 2: All right, Neil, let's move over to the team that
Speaker 2: is in town right now, walking around downtown outside of
Speaker 2: their hotel in Grand America and will be playing the
Speaker 2: Utah Hockey Club tomorrow. And that is the team of
Speaker 2: my childhood, the New York Rangers, who simply, look, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to tell you I watch every Ranger game.
Speaker 2: I just know that last year they were in the
Speaker 2: mix for potentially something special and it didn't fully work out,
Speaker 2: and you just pull up the standings and they continue
Speaker 2: to struggle. What do you what would you say to
Speaker 2: the fans here headed to see the Utah Hockey Club
Speaker 2: play the Rangers about essentially why this team has not
Speaker 2: lived up to expectations.
Speaker 6: Well, they've had a very peculiar season. They started out
Speaker 6: twelve four and one, a lot of the people that
Speaker 6: are critics critique the Rangers said that they weren't really
Speaker 6: as good as that record. But when they did this
Speaker 6: stuff with Jacob Scruba and traded him, he was the captain,
Speaker 6: had been the captain for quite a while and really
Speaker 6: liked and respected by his teammates, things started to turn ugly.
Speaker 6: They sent out a message to all the other gms
Speaker 6: saying that they were trade Crider or Truba, and that
Speaker 6: got out obviously, and then that sort of put hand
Speaker 6: grenades into the locker room and they really had a
Speaker 6: tough time to shake it off. They've played better lately.
Speaker 6: They're five hundred in their last ten games, but they're
Speaker 6: not the team they should have been this season. They're
Speaker 6: hanging around with the Islanders and the Penguins down you know,
Speaker 6: in the eighth spot for the wild card, and they
Speaker 6: should be, you know, easily in the top three in
Speaker 6: the in their division. In the Metro Division, they won
Speaker 6: the President's Trophy last year. So it's a disastrous year
Speaker 6: for the Rangers. They're playing better now. That's not great
Speaker 6: news for Utah. I wish for Utah they were playing
Speaker 6: at their worst, but they're not. They've got some guys
Speaker 6: for the fans to watch. Ninety three. Savanna jad is
Speaker 6: a tremendous hockey play ten Panarin. It can light it,
Speaker 6: light the place up and score a lot of goals.
Speaker 6: Chris Krider is really good in front of the net
Speaker 6: number twenty And they've got a defenseman Adam Fox number
Speaker 6: twenty three, who won the Noris Trophy only a couple
Speaker 6: of years ago as the best defenseman in the league,
Speaker 6: combined with probably the best goalie in all of hockey,
Speaker 6: eg Or Shasterkin. I don't know if you'll see him
Speaker 6: or not tomorrow, but he is a treat to watch
Speaker 6: because he makes some acrobatics saves. So you know, for
Speaker 6: Utah's sake, you hope that they're having an off night
Speaker 6: because they do have a lot of talent, but they
Speaker 6: haven't been living up to that talent as of lately.
Speaker 2: So from a tactical standpoint, how do you think the
Speaker 2: Utah Hockey Club will go about their business of trying
Speaker 2: to get the win tomorrow?
Speaker 1: I mean when they badly need, Like what do the Rangers?
Speaker 2: You reference some of their talent, but what makes them
Speaker 2: dangerous the way I'll ask it, I guess, Neil is
Speaker 2: what makes them dangerous.
Speaker 1: What makes them beatable?
Speaker 6: I think, you know, I don't know who's playing goal
Speaker 6: is Shitsterkin's goal. It's it's really tough because they can
Speaker 6: live off the fact that they can make mistakes and
Speaker 6: Shister can can keep them in it. They don't have
Speaker 6: a great defense right now. They don't, they're not. That's
Speaker 6: I would say that's their weakest spot. So if Utah
Speaker 6: can get the early goal on them and and you know,
Speaker 6: and then protect it and build on it, that would
Speaker 6: be one thing. Uh. You know, they're not great defensively,
Speaker 6: they and they're not playing at their best upfront, but
Speaker 6: they do have a lot of talent up front now
Speaker 6: surprisingly spent. Their power play isn't as good as Utah's.
Speaker 6: Utah's power play is better than the Rangers, uh and statistically,
Speaker 6: so that's an advantage for them. But I just think
Speaker 6: that the young guys there are going to have to
Speaker 6: get out jump on them early, and go from there.
Speaker 1: All right, A couple of minutes left.
Speaker 2: I have some kind of random questions for you away
Speaker 2: from current uh, you know, games and teams and and
Speaker 2: we were talking about this earlier, because every time I
Speaker 2: go down to a game and every time I used
Speaker 2: to go into the garden for a game and watch
Speaker 2: pro hockey, I'm reminded of the intensely impressive athletes these
Speaker 2: players are, and how incredible the sport is with the
Speaker 2: timing and the precision and the physicality and the speed
Speaker 2: and the just the skating, Like, go ahead, go try
Speaker 2: to skate, you know, skating a straight line, let alone
Speaker 2: what they do. But for some reason, Neil, it doesn't
Speaker 2: seem to translate on television as it pertains to, you know,
Speaker 2: grabbing your average Joe sports fan that sits down at
Speaker 2: night and just wants to watch a game and doesn't
Speaker 2: have a preference. They the numbers still say they massively
Speaker 2: migrate to football, And I do believe the NFL has
Speaker 2: the best TV show in sports. I've always believed that's
Speaker 2: one of the reasons the NFL is king. And you know,
Speaker 2: NBA numbers aren't what they used to be, but you know,
Speaker 2: the NHL is still very much forth in most ratings.
Speaker 2: Now there are some markets where those are exceptions. But
Speaker 2: you're the guy for this, like, why doesn't this sport
Speaker 2: seem to translate over to television?
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 7: Well?
Speaker 6: I think there's two things that are really important. The
Speaker 6: puck is small, so if you don't know the game inherently,
Speaker 6: you're wondering where did the puck go? Where is it
Speaker 6: right now? And the other thing that makes it hard
Speaker 6: in TV is that you have boards going all around
Speaker 6: the plane service. You don't have that in any other sport.
Speaker 6: So cameras, of course are on one side of the ice,
Speaker 6: and when the puck gets on to that side of
Speaker 6: the ice, you can't see it because the boards are
Speaker 6: in the way. That's another thing. If you think about football,
Speaker 6: if you think about baseball, if you think about basketball,
Speaker 6: you always know where the ball is. In those sports,
Speaker 6: you don't always know where the puck is now. As
Speaker 6: I said, people who are real hockey fans understand, they've
Speaker 6: seen it so many times. I understand where the puck
Speaker 6: is going, and they understand what the nuances are. But
Speaker 6: I think that those things Spence are really have always
Speaker 6: been the achilles heel of watching hockey on TV. I
Speaker 6: don't believe it's because there's the rules they don't understand.
Speaker 6: There's only two basic rules in hockey, and that's off site.
Speaker 6: And I think there's really not a lot of others
Speaker 6: people can understand you can't trip people, you can't hit
Speaker 6: people with a stick. You can't do that. Obviously you're
Speaker 6: going to get a penalty. I think it's the fact
Speaker 6: on TV you don't get this. You don't see the
Speaker 6: speed that you do when you're in the building, and
Speaker 6: it's really hard to follow the puck.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I know they've tried solutions with the puck,
Speaker 2: you know, having the flash like follow it or whatever,
Speaker 2: but nothing has ever really seemed stuck in a way neo.
Speaker 2: It kind of reminds me of soccer, where you know,
Speaker 2: there are a lot of average joe sports fans that
Speaker 2: don't necessarily understand soccer and they wish that rules were
Speaker 2: different and the goals were bigger or whatever. And soccer
Speaker 2: people are just kind of like, this is our sport, man,
Speaker 2: either you like it or not. I feel like hockey
Speaker 2: people are kind of the same. Like you can complain
Speaker 2: that you can't see the puck. You can complain that
Speaker 2: you don't understand this or that, but deal with it
Speaker 2: like this is our game and we love it.
Speaker 6: Well, that's true. And I'll give you one other example
Speaker 6: that came to mind of why it's difficult on TV.
Speaker 6: A camera, whether it's your camera on your phone or
Speaker 6: any other camera, can't catch an image like your eyes can't.
Speaker 6: And so think about this for a minute. Have you
Speaker 6: ever gone outside and seen a tremendous moon in the
Speaker 6: sky and thought, oh, I got to get a picture
Speaker 6: of that. This is really cool, and you can't get
Speaker 6: a picture of it with your phone because it doesn't
Speaker 6: capture that image. Well, that's the same thing with the
Speaker 6: puck and the camera. Watching from TV, your eyes can
Speaker 6: see the puck and when you're in the building, you
Speaker 6: can see the speed, see where it goes, catch all
Speaker 6: that with the naked eye, but the camera can't catch
Speaker 6: it the same way. And I use that analogy to
Speaker 6: the moon because there's been so many times I've had
Speaker 6: these great South Carolina moon So I want to take
Speaker 6: a picture. I take a picture and it's just looks
Speaker 6: like a street light up in the air. So it's difficult.
Speaker 6: They've tried a lot of things, as you said, but
Speaker 6: at the end of the day, it's what you said.
Speaker 6: It's our sport. You know, learn it, you'll love it.
Speaker 6: Try to attend the games if you can, because then
Speaker 6: when you go back to TV, you'll understand it better.
Speaker 2: Well said last thing, Neil, I'll set you lose, because
Speaker 2: this kind of caught my attention. And I want to
Speaker 2: be clear, I was alive for the Miracle on Ice.
Speaker 2: I just was too so I don't remember it at all.
Speaker 2: And a bill has been introduced to Congress to award
Speaker 2: Congressional Gold Medals to the nineteen eighty Miracle on Ice
Speaker 2: Olympic hockey team. It was reintroduced to the House of
Speaker 2: Representatives in the Senate on Wednesday. I was unfamiliar that
Speaker 2: this was ever in front of the Senate, and instead
Speaker 2: of asking you whether or not you think this is
Speaker 2: something that will happen, just wanted to get your perspective
Speaker 2: about what that team, what that moment, what that Al
Speaker 2: Michaels call did for the game and the way it
Speaker 2: changed it.
Speaker 6: You know, I think it did something for the country
Speaker 6: because at the time, the country was embroiled in that
Speaker 6: Iran controversy with the with the hostages and the the
Speaker 6: consulate having been taken over, the US consulate and the
Speaker 6: people being held hostage that worked in the consulate. Jimmy
Speaker 6: Carter had under his administration, they had tried several things
Speaker 6: that hadn't worked, and the country wasn't wasn't real happy.
Speaker 6: And I think when at the at the Olympics, when
Speaker 6: in Lake Placid, when the US team, which was just
Speaker 6: a young group of college aged guys, were able to
Speaker 6: beat the Russian team, which is all at least NHL
Speaker 6: level players, although they weren't allowed to play in the
Speaker 6: NHL back then, it gave the country something to rally
Speaker 6: around and to be proud of. And I think and
Speaker 6: I know that it's been an inspiration to generations of
Speaker 6: young Americans to want to play hockey. So it was
Speaker 6: in nineteen eighty, So if you were born, let's say
Speaker 6: in the mid seventies and you're watching that early seventies,
Speaker 6: you might want to go put skates on and become
Speaker 6: and try to be a hockey player. And now fast
Speaker 6: forward to twenty twenty five, we have tons of American
Speaker 6: players playing in the National Hockey League. And I think
Speaker 6: we owe a lot of gratitude to that US team
Speaker 6: and Herb Brooks, the coach who's unfortunately passed away, but
Speaker 6: we owe them gratitude for helping promote the game in
Speaker 6: the United States and bring it to America.
Speaker 1: Well, Neil, thank you my friend Big Daves in town.
Speaker 2: We're going to get a little dinner tonight, so I'm sir, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'll definitely pass along your hellos. And obviously he'll be
Speaker 2: excited that we spoke today.
Speaker 6: I hope he doesn't do what he used to do
Speaker 6: to me and make me pay, make you pay.
Speaker 2: I hope he's listening. I hope he's listening. Neil, great
Speaker 2: chatting with you, my friend. Have a great week.
Speaker 6: Okay, thanks buddy, take care all.
Speaker 1: Right, great.
Speaker 2: Neil Smith, architect of at nineteen ninety four New York Rangers,
Speaker 2: Stanley Cup winning team, and the Rangers are here right
Speaker 2: now to play the hockey Club tomorrow, a couple of
Speaker 2: days after. The Montreal Canadians are a town. Nothing's real, man,
Speaker 2: it is wild. If you've not been to a game,
Speaker 2: it's worth it, fun spectator experience. I want to tell
Speaker 2: you about my friends at Prize Picks. Bill Riley's going
Speaker 2: to join us coming up next, Utah football, Utah basketball.
Speaker 2: Price Pick's best place to get real money sports action.
Speaker 2: With over ten million members and billions of dollars in
Speaker 2: awarded winnings, it's made daily fantasy sports accessible to all.
Speaker 2: And here's why all you do is pick more or
Speaker 2: less on at least two players for a shot to
Speaker 2: win up to one thousand times your cash. So we'll
Speaker 2: use Tonight's Jazz Hornets game as an example, just to
Speaker 2: let you know how easy this is. So if you
Speaker 2: don't want to worry about all the other stuff about
Speaker 2: their apps, ask you to learn the spread, the over under,
Speaker 2: the money line, the hook, whatever it is. Tonight Lowry
Speaker 2: marketing more or less than twenty point five points.
Speaker 1: I'm just making these up.
Speaker 2: By the way, LaMelo Ball more or less than seven
Speaker 2: point five assists, Leangelo Ball more or less than one
Speaker 2: point five dope songs released.
Speaker 1: Just kidding.
Speaker 2: It's only players, it's not rappers. But it's very easy
Speaker 2: and they're giving away free money. So download the Price
Speaker 2: Picks app today. Use the promo code ESPN seven hundred
Speaker 2: to get fifty dollars instantly after you play your first
Speaker 2: five dollars lineup.
Speaker 1: What you can't see right now is the voice of
Speaker 1: the you.
Speaker 2: It's Bill Riley clapping to Kim Carn's Betty Davis is
Speaker 2: a c night witnessed on a number of occasions during
Speaker 2: the old Bill and Spence days. Riles I had to
Speaker 2: dust Off a classic for you. I know you appreciate
Speaker 2: this on a Wednesday.
Speaker 5: Yes, I do spend. I was kind of hoping that
Speaker 5: you would break out the Cranberries for me today because
Speaker 5: I believe, I believe it was seven years ago today
Speaker 5: that Dolores reared in the lead singer of Yours and Mind,
Speaker 5: one of our favorite bands, died.
Speaker 2: Good knowledge, good reminder, and next time we'll do that
Speaker 2: if I remember correctly.
Speaker 1: You and I disagree on the Cranberry's best song.
Speaker 5: Correct What do you think it's zombie?
Speaker 1: No, I'm a Linger guy period.
Speaker 5: I thought you I'm a Linger. No, no, no, you
Speaker 5: and I are, well, you're a Linger longer guy.
Speaker 2: Well that I have no argument there, and I will
Speaker 2: bring the potatoes. I will bring the fear. I always
Speaker 2: thought you loved dreams. I thought you were a dreams guy.
Speaker 2: But I guess you're a longer guy.
Speaker 5: I do like dreams. But there's something about Linger that's
Speaker 5: her voice was so haunting in a beautiful way, but
Speaker 5: it was just haunting.
Speaker 2: Yes, and also there is something about a Linger longer.
Speaker 2: So if any any of our listeners are listening and
Speaker 2: there's one on tap, hit me up, man. I'm a
Speaker 2: big fan that food. You cannot get food like that anywhere, Riles.
Speaker 5: It's true, it's true.
Speaker 1: How are you doing, im good man?
Speaker 2: So we'll do some hoops in a minute. Happy for
Speaker 2: Craig and that first big twelve win. And I know
Speaker 2: you were traveling when Coach Witt and the staff kind
Speaker 2: of made their comments, but you are familiar with the
Speaker 2: program and you understand the tone and tenor so I
Speaker 2: won't get too deep into the weeds. We'll give you
Speaker 2: a chance to get back on the ground and listen.
Speaker 2: But one of the big pieces of news, and you
Speaker 2: know it's I don't think it's a surprise. We were
Speaker 2: all just kind of waiting on clarity about Cameron dot
Speaker 2: Cam rising and simply he's not on the roster, and
Speaker 2: Kyle said, when the time is right, Cam will let
Speaker 2: us know what his next steps are. But what's your
Speaker 2: reaction to the news? Who like has said not surprising
Speaker 2: but now official?
Speaker 5: Yeah, kind of like you not not surprising. I mean,
Speaker 5: Cam's played a lot of football when he's older. But
Speaker 5: I thought when they brought Jason Beck in and Devin
Speaker 5: Dampier made the kid made the commitment to Utah, that
Speaker 5: kind of signaled the direction that Utah was going in
Speaker 5: with their quarterback and their new offense, and so that
Speaker 5: it really didn't surprise me. I've not heard word one
Speaker 5: about Cam. He's kind of gone radio silent on a
Speaker 5: lot of things, so it'll be interesting to see where
Speaker 5: he ends up. But yeah, it wasn't super surprised by
Speaker 5: the news, just simply because new time, new era, new offense,
Speaker 5: and the offensive coordinator brought in a very dynamic, younger
Speaker 5: quarterback to run his offense. So I will be anxious
Speaker 5: to see what Cam does. I mean, does he play
Speaker 5: under year college football? Who gives him an opportunity because
Speaker 5: he's got a track record of being hurt a lot
Speaker 5: over the last three or four years. But when he's healthy,
Speaker 5: we know he's a very good quarterback too, So I,
Speaker 5: like everybody else, would be really curious to see where
Speaker 5: he goes and what he does. I'm also really curious
Speaker 5: to see this new Jason Beck offense because just based
Speaker 5: on you know, a couple of conversation since I've had
Speaker 5: with him obviously off the air, it sounds like a
Speaker 5: pretty big departure from where Utah has been in recent years.
Speaker 1: We'll get there in a moment.
Speaker 2: Let's stick with the cam stuff for just a second here,
Speaker 2: because I want to kind of explore the space.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I don't fault, Like, dude, put off the real world
Speaker 2: as long as you can. And if you're Bill, if
Speaker 2: you're Bill Riley, you've been able to do it for
Speaker 2: forty years or whatever, So I'm not I'm not saying
Speaker 2: you don't work hard.
Speaker 1: You get the deal.
Speaker 2: Like if your only you know, if your next option
Speaker 2: is to enter the real world and you got to
Speaker 2: wake up at six thirty to return emails from a
Speaker 2: sales manager, go play at Middle Tennessee State for a
Speaker 2: year and make one hundred grand. I don't know what
Speaker 2: it looks like, but I would not begrudge him at
Speaker 2: all if he just finds a smaller school, makes a
Speaker 2: couple hundred grand or whatever, and gives it one more
Speaker 2: go to show that he can maybe put some tape
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, let's face it, even I mean, he
Speaker 5: could be doctor cam Rising by now based on the
Speaker 5: amount of schooling that he's had there. How many people
Speaker 5: step out of school and their first job pays them
Speaker 5: sick figures?
Speaker 1: Very few, very few of it.
Speaker 5: My son is an engineer with an MBA. He makes
Speaker 5: really good money spence a lot better than his old
Speaker 5: man made. But he's not an engineer with an MBA
Speaker 5: and had a drummer in a rock band which we'll
Speaker 5: be playing at Urban Lounge later this week. But I digress.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no, you do not digress. What what's
Speaker 1: the name of this band?
Speaker 5: Drunk in June?
Speaker 1: That rules? All right? Now you can go back to
Speaker 1: not digressing and continue.
Speaker 5: That's awesome, though, But but the point is back to cam. Yeah,
Speaker 5: if Middle Tennessee State, or or Western Kentucky or you know, Illinois, somebody,
Speaker 5: maybe a smaller school, is willing to offer you one
Speaker 5: hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand dollars to
Speaker 5: play football for another year. Heck yes, take it and run.
Speaker 5: You got the rest of your life to return emails
Speaker 5: to your sales manager. Play football as long as you
Speaker 5: can totally agree.
Speaker 2: Last thing here as he walks away, And I would
Speaker 2: imagine most people know that he should be remembered as
Speaker 2: a legend. And I would imagine giving time, excuse me,
Speaker 2: everybody lands in that space. But you call his biggest
Speaker 2: games pack twelve championships Rose Bulls. As Cameron walks away,
Speaker 2: how should how should we remember him as Utah's quarterback?
Speaker 5: Well, you and I both know this because I'm old
Speaker 5: and you're older. Indeed, time time is it gives you
Speaker 5: a great perspective on things. You know, you get caught
Speaker 5: up in the moment. He was hurt the last two years,
Speaker 5: but when we reflect back on it, Cameron Rising is
Speaker 5: one of the most important players in the history of
Speaker 5: University of Utah football. He was the guy that helped
Speaker 5: them become more than just relevant. He helped them become
Speaker 5: a player in a Power five conference. No offense to
Speaker 5: Troy Williams and to Travis Wilson and even Tyler Huntley,
Speaker 5: who was really good too, but Cam got him over
Speaker 5: the hump. They won Pack twelve championships, They went to
Speaker 5: Rose Bowls when he was the quarterback. I just think,
Speaker 5: you know, if you're making a short list of the
Speaker 5: most important players in program history, he's on that short list.
Speaker 2: Totally agree, all right, Moving off of it, I talked
Speaker 2: about this to start of the show. I was just
Speaker 2: genuinely curious as to which parts of the Utah coaches
Speaker 2: media would garner the most response, and Kyle was asked
Speaker 2: about Keanu, he was asked about Cameron Calhoun, and he
Speaker 2: said the overriding factor of both was ANIL in his opinion.
Speaker 2: Now somebody goes to Tuscaloosa High five man, good luck.
Speaker 2: He like, no one's competing with that type of cash,
Speaker 2: Shay and probably simply cash, right, I mean at tuscal
Speaker 2: Los Alabama is what it is. But I think the
Speaker 2: fact that Kyle alludes to Keanu to BYU was anil
Speaker 2: the overriding factor there from what I can kind of ascertain,
Speaker 2: and some feedback guys I've received that just kind of
Speaker 2: didn't land very well for folks who have this idea
Speaker 2: that the narrative out there with BYU landing aj Debantza
Speaker 2: and BYU coming off this Big twelve season that was
Speaker 2: very unexpected but very successful. On the other side of
Speaker 2: Utah basketball trying to find their footing Utah football rough
Speaker 2: Big twelve season. I just think there's this feeling with
Speaker 2: a lot of people in the market that BYU has
Speaker 2: something figured out with the collective that maybe Utah doesn't.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's the case, but you know,
Speaker 2: the deal with narratives, I just wonder what your thoughts
Speaker 2: are because there were a lot of speculation, like, look,
Speaker 2: I know there's been tampering accusations. I can't speak to
Speaker 2: any of that, but there was a lot of religiosity
Speaker 2: in the messaging from Keanu and his family. And look,
Speaker 2: you can get an LDS experience in Sault lak a Utah,
Speaker 2: but the BYU experience is different.
Speaker 1: It just is it always will be.
Speaker 2: And so a lot of people are like, yeah, maybe
Speaker 2: he just as decided as he's aged that that's where
Speaker 2: he needs to be to lean into that type of
Speaker 2: life or whatever. And then Kyle says it's nil, and
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people kind of left scratching
Speaker 2: their heads.
Speaker 1: Bill, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 5: I think it's probably a mixture, don't. I'm not privy
Speaker 5: to the negotiations of NIL, but I do know that
Speaker 5: spence in this day and age, I think just about
Speaker 5: every recruitment on every level, at every position has some
Speaker 5: tie to an NIL component to it. So I would
Speaker 5: never second guess Kyle on that, because he's the one
Speaker 5: sitting in on those negotiations. But I don't think that
Speaker 5: was I don't think that was the only component there.
Speaker 5: It was weird. I mean we you know, one minute
Speaker 5: he's a Utah man for life, and then the next
Speaker 5: minute he's he's gone. But you know, there was a
Speaker 5: coach down there. I think Cioty Pooha, who's now on
Speaker 5: the staff at BYU, recruited into Utah, and I think
Speaker 5: there might be a relationship there as well. So it's
Speaker 5: what I've always said, you know, go where you're happy.
Speaker 5: Life is short, Go where you're happy. Is it a loss,
Speaker 5: It is a loss. He's a good football player, but
Speaker 5: he's not an irreplaceable football player. Utah produces defensive linemen.
Speaker 5: They pull him out of thin air, and guys can compete.
Speaker 5: Nobody knew Kenneltonabasa two years ago and then he popped
Speaker 5: on the scene. I think Utah is going to be
Speaker 5: just fine. He's a really good football player and I
Speaker 5: think he'll probably do just find down there. But I
Speaker 5: don't think it's one of those losses that the program
Speaker 5: can't recover from. And I think too, just because it's
Speaker 5: your rival, your rival had a good year, you had
Speaker 5: a down year, and this was just kind of that.
Speaker 5: I don't know that Cherry on top of a tough
Speaker 5: tough year, Sunday for a lot of people to digest.
Speaker 5: To be very fair, I think these two programs are
Speaker 5: actually in a pretty good place. Utah is not that
Speaker 5: far off from being back where they were. Good quarterback
Speaker 5: play would have had him in the right place. I
Speaker 5: think there's still plenty of talent the program. But there's
Speaker 5: no doubt too that here the BYU programs made some
Speaker 5: nice strides in recent years too, So it seeks to
Speaker 5: lose a good player, but I think you'd all be
Speaker 5: just fine.
Speaker 2: Well, And you know, this is how I started the show.
Speaker 2: It's like, it's kind of an interesting time in our
Speaker 2: market when it comes to our sports products because a
Speaker 2: lot of us as media members, certainly the fan bases
Speaker 2: of all these teams, we're going through very new things.
Speaker 2: And when you go through a new thing, when it
Speaker 2: happens to you for the first time and it's unchartered waters,
Speaker 2: your world is shook a little bit and you're like, Okay,
Speaker 2: how do I.
Speaker 1: Get through this? This is a new space for me
Speaker 1: to traverse.
Speaker 2: Jazz fans aren't used to a super long rebuild without
Speaker 2: any immediate hope in sight, and that's kind of where
Speaker 2: we're at. Although they've been better as of late, and
Speaker 2: I think bill when it comes to college football media members,
Speaker 2: fan bases, folks that like to use the Internet to
Speaker 2: feel brave, You're just gonna have to get used to
Speaker 2: every year losing players you like and players that are
Speaker 2: really good. There's no program that isn't getting got by this.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I kind of said this a couple of years ago.
Speaker 5: You're gonna lose players every year, but there's going to
Speaker 5: be one or two players maybe every year that maybe
Speaker 5: even catch you off guard. And I think that that
Speaker 5: was one of the cases this year. And again, who
Speaker 5: can get in the head of an eighteen to twenty
Speaker 5: two year old kid, plus whoever's whispering in their ear,
Speaker 5: family friends, an attorney, an agent, whatever that might happen
Speaker 5: to be. It's hard to get a grasp on that.
Speaker 5: So yeah, it's just I think it's just a new
Speaker 5: reality that we live in Sman.
Speaker 2: So moving off of that now, I wonder what you
Speaker 2: make of the conversation regarding the efforts to get Dorian
Speaker 2: Singer an additional year nothing official. Coach Witz said, they're
Speaker 2: doing all they can to make it happen. And you know,
Speaker 2: Devin's rowing numbers weren't great a year ago, but if
Speaker 2: Dorian Singer can come back.
Speaker 1: That's the talent you want on your roster.
Speaker 2: And maybe because of the familiarity he has with Devinuse
Speaker 2: as they've known each other for a while, maybe that's
Speaker 2: a one two punch that could breed.
Speaker 1: A lot of results.
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts on the potential of seeing Dorian
Speaker 2: Singer back on campus.
Speaker 5: I think it'd be fantastic. You would then have your
Speaker 5: definitive wide receiver one Spence. That kid caught what fifty
Speaker 5: five balls for seven hundred yards this year with suboptimal
Speaker 5: quarterback play. What could he do with his you know,
Speaker 5: his stepbrother. I think they're step brothers. They're related. He
Speaker 5: and Devin are related. Throwing him the football and to
Speaker 5: Devin's numbers, I will say this because I've talked to
Speaker 5: some people. Remember he was a true sophomore this past
Speaker 5: year and it was really his first year as the
Speaker 5: guy at New Mexico. So I think those passing numbers,
Speaker 5: and it's mostly the accuracy numbers. I think he threw
Speaker 5: for like fifty eight or fifty nine percent accuracy. You'd
Speaker 5: like to have it about sixty five. I think that'll
Speaker 5: only get better. Better offensive line at Utah probably better
Speaker 5: overall weapons that he had at New Mexico too. But
Speaker 5: back to the singer thing, you know, I think the
Speaker 5: NCAA is probably in a place where they're just tired
Speaker 5: of fighting things, and I think that if you could
Speaker 5: probably get good representation in your life, there's probably a
Speaker 5: good chance that you might get that extra year of playing.
Speaker 5: So I think it would be great. We saw the
Speaker 5: kid at Vanderbilt, Diego Pavia, the quarterback from New Mexico State,
Speaker 5: basically challenge and then they said, yeah, go ahead and
Speaker 5: have that extra year. So I don't I've not heard
Speaker 5: anything on I know he's trying to, but I've not
Speaker 5: heard anything definitive. But boy, if they could get him back,
Speaker 5: that would be a real shot in the arm for
Speaker 5: this offense.
Speaker 2: You reference, you've had the opportunity to chat with Jason
Speaker 2: backoff air and get to know him a little bit.
Speaker 2: This was kind of, you know, most people's first opportunity
Speaker 2: to hear him speak since taking the job publicly. And
Speaker 2: my my take my first takeaway I told port of
Speaker 2: this is like, I can see why Kyle Exen, you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: but you reference, it's that it's going to be a
Speaker 2: little bit of a different offensive approach. Let's allowbrate on
Speaker 2: that a little bit now that the fan base is
Speaker 2: officially heard from Jason Beck.
Speaker 5: Well, I just think he talked about it a little
Speaker 5: bit yesterday in just some of the comments that I read.
Speaker 5: I didn't listen to the press commerce because I was traveling,
Speaker 5: but it sounds like the offense is going to be
Speaker 5: very multiple, three receiver sets, one tight end, two tight
Speaker 5: end sets. It's just you're gonna see a lot of
Speaker 5: different looks, and it's not your traditional spread where you're
Speaker 5: just throwing the ball forty and fifty times a game.
Speaker 5: He really likes to run out of his spread offense
Speaker 5: as well. So Andy's offense was great. I mean when
Speaker 5: it was humming, when he had good quarterback play, it
Speaker 5: was really really good. But this is going to be
Speaker 5: I think it just, at least to me, feels like
Speaker 5: a little bit of a departure from what we saw
Speaker 5: from Andy's and something that's a little bit more commonplace
Speaker 5: in college football these days.
Speaker 2: All right, before we get to basketball, a couple of
Speaker 2: basketball thoughts. I've been asking the college football guests on
Speaker 2: the show kind of this question. You'll be uniquely qualified
Speaker 2: to expand on it as you know, Bill, whether it's
Speaker 2: two thousand and four Fiesta, two thousand and eight Sugar
Speaker 2: back to Backpack twelve championships, back to back Rose Bowl appearances,
Speaker 2: Utah football's best years have been more or less on
Speaker 2: the tail end of a three or a four year
Speaker 2: cycle where they recruit, identify kids they think can play
Speaker 2: Utah football, develop them over the course of two, three
Speaker 2: four years, and then after that process has taken place,
Speaker 2: they've won conference championship, They've gone to big bowl games,
Speaker 2: they've won good bowl games. Is that still a model
Speaker 2: that you can use in college football to build up
Speaker 2: a program.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I think it's a hybrid. Now, Spence, I think
Speaker 5: you can't rely solely on that. I just don't think
Speaker 5: you can do that anymore just because of the way
Speaker 5: things are. No matter how good your program is, I
Speaker 5: think a lot of times kids are looking for greener pastures.
Speaker 5: It's not just happening in Utah. Alabama's losing guys, Florida's
Speaker 5: losing guys, you know, Ohio State lose I mean, it's
Speaker 5: just it's everywhere. These kids, all in essence, you know,
Speaker 5: fre agents year to year until something changes there that
Speaker 5: locks them in for a set period of time, so
Speaker 5: I think there's still that. Yeah, you've still got to
Speaker 5: developed guys. You have to have a base, you have
Speaker 5: to be able to bring guys in and develop them.
Speaker 5: But you've also got to save room for guys because
Speaker 5: your roster is going to turn over every year for
Speaker 5: being able to recruit out of that portal and bring
Speaker 5: guys in that can and I think Kyle's use that
Speaker 5: term plug and play with your offense or your defense
Speaker 5: pretty quickly. So yes, developmental. I still think football is
Speaker 5: always going to be about that and an eighty five
Speaker 5: ninety man roster, but it's not the only way to
Speaker 5: go anymore. You've got to be able to supplement that
Speaker 5: with finding guys that come into the program and contribute
Speaker 5: immediately through the portal.
Speaker 2: All right, a couple of minutes left and we'll set
Speaker 2: you loose. I would imagine you are in Texas. You're
Speaker 2: calling this basketball game tonight, are you not?
Speaker 5: I am in Fort Worth as we speak.
Speaker 2: All right, that's what I thought. I don't know why
Speaker 2: that just dawned on me. I've teased the game like
Speaker 2: seven times.
Speaker 1: Moving on.
Speaker 2: You know, we had your guys Sean Mooney on last
Speaker 2: week and I asked him, I said, look, I'm just
Speaker 2: looking at the schedule. Where's the first Big Twelve win?
Speaker 2: And he said, Okay State. Oh, excuse me, Oklahoma State
Speaker 2: in Salt Lake. That's a winnable game. And they smoked him.
Speaker 5: Bill.
Speaker 2: Now, Oklahoma State went down a provo. They got got
Speaker 2: good last night too. But you're around the team, how
Speaker 2: do you describe it relieved? Like was it just kind
Speaker 2: of like a weight off the shoulders? And what about
Speaker 2: that performance you think could be real and reliable as
Speaker 2: we move forward.
Speaker 5: Now, Well, I think that they played their best offense
Speaker 5: against a team that wants to speed you up and
Speaker 5: force turnovers by getting you out of sorts. Utah handled
Speaker 5: Oklahoma State's pressure really well, and then defensively they got
Speaker 5: back in transition against the team that had the best
Speaker 5: and fastest pass pace of play in the Big Twelve
Speaker 5: per Ken Ponds. So I think it was a matter
Speaker 5: of everything coming together. Now, to be fair, Oklahoma State
Speaker 5: was not one of the most talented teams. They play
Speaker 5: really hard, but they weren't an upper tier talent team
Speaker 5: in the Big Twelve, so that helped a little bit too.
Speaker 5: And being back at home did as well. But they
Speaker 5: saw some shots go in early spence, which they hadn't
Speaker 5: really seen at Iowa State or against Baylor or Texas Tech.
Speaker 5: And sometimes you know this when you see a couple
Speaker 5: of shots go in early. They built that big lead early.
Speaker 5: It was eleven to nothing early against against Oklahoma State,
Speaker 5: and I think that fed them on the confidence side
Speaker 5: of things, and their defense was really good. They were
Speaker 5: true to the scout. Tonight, they're going to play a
Speaker 5: TCU team that's on their level. I mean TCUs in that.
Speaker 5: You know, I've always said the top six or seven
Speaker 5: teams are pretty defined, and then teams eight through sixteen
Speaker 5: are pretty undefined. You can throw them at about hat
Speaker 5: and pull names out. This is a good team. Jamie
Speaker 5: Dixon's good coach, He's got good players. I don't think
Speaker 5: it's as good as some of the last couple of
Speaker 5: NCAA tournament teams he's had, So I do think Utah's
Speaker 5: got a good chance to know what they're going to
Speaker 5: have to do tonight because Nixon teams, going back to
Speaker 5: his days at Pittsburgh are really really physical. So if
Speaker 5: they can match the physicality tonight of TCU, I think
Speaker 5: they'll have a good chance.
Speaker 2: Before I say you lose rotationally, Craig is just to
Speaker 2: his credit, I mean, you have to try things.
Speaker 1: And I appreciate that.
Speaker 2: He does because there are some coaches that are stubborn
Speaker 2: enough to rest on their laurels and believe in their
Speaker 2: system and say, you know, this is just the deal.
Speaker 1: We're going to grow into it.
Speaker 2: But it seems like every game there are lineup changes,
Speaker 2: starting lineup changes, rotational changes. Some of that injuries, some
Speaker 2: of that players the way I get it, But did
Speaker 2: you see anything rotationally against Okay State that you think
Speaker 2: Craig may have found a little something with his personnel.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I love Jake wall Lean in the starting lineup.
Speaker 5: Sometimes you get off to a slow start because you
Speaker 5: don't match the other team's energy. I know it's not right,
Speaker 5: but sometimes that just happens. Walleen is an energy guy
Speaker 5: and they make the right play kind of a guy,
Speaker 5: and he can play multiple positions for you too. They
Speaker 5: inserted him in the starting lineup against Oklahoma State, and
Speaker 5: Jake was really good, hit a career high and in
Speaker 5: points that game, and he just he's he's just he's
Speaker 5: one of those guys that's a connector and a positive
Speaker 5: guy on the floor now you love to play with So.
Speaker 5: I haven't seen the starting line up tonight, but it
Speaker 5: wouldn't surprise me based on the success they had the
Speaker 5: other night against Oklahoma State. If you don't see Wallleen
Speaker 5: back in the starting lineup again tonight too.
Speaker 2: All right, Ryle, thanks for the time, buddy. You have
Speaker 2: a great call. Travel safe and with chat soon, Okay,
Speaker 2: Linger longer sman, Oh dude, don't tease me. I want
Speaker 2: to all the time. Those folks are having a good time. Bill,
Speaker 2: you can't say they're not.
Speaker 5: You're right, calculator.
Speaker 2: There he is, Bill Riley voice the Utch. You can
Speaker 2: hear him on the call tonight five forty five. You
Speaker 2: tom EN's basketball taking on TCU.
Speaker 1: You ever been to a linger longer? Young man? Have
Speaker 1: you ever experienced the magic of a linger longer?
Speaker 5: Do you do?
Speaker 1: You know what it is? No?
Speaker 3: I know the song that you're discussing that you're.
Speaker 1: Referenced now, the song is only called Linger.
Speaker 2: We can play that coming up next, beautiful tune a
Speaker 2: Linger longer. You know what, if it's still a thing,
Speaker 2: I honestly don't know if it is.
Speaker 1: But after.
Speaker 2: Sacrament meeting at an LDS singles ward, Folks that are
Speaker 2: looking to meet their live companions or pardon me, eternal companions.
Speaker 2: Folks that are looking to meet their you know, their
Speaker 2: their partner, you know, their boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever the terms
Speaker 2: are these days, that thing I can't keep up partner.
Speaker 2: Let's just go with partner. After sacrament meeting of an
Speaker 2: LDS singles ward, they linger longer and the spread is amazing.
Speaker 2: We're talking potatoes, usually a nice ham desserts.
Speaker 1: Baker.
Speaker 2: The baking is a ten out of ten, and you
Speaker 2: get the opportunity to stay after and linger longer and
Speaker 2: chat with folks. It's it's a lovely thing. It's you know,
Speaker 2: the service never really pulled me in, but the linger longer.
Speaker 2: I'm the guy that shows up for that. Yeah, that's
Speaker 2: good time, sir. It's an after party for singles, yes,
Speaker 2: you know what. Sure, and everybody parties differently. I'm not
Speaker 2: judging one way or the other. Usually a lovely punch option,
Speaker 2: maybe some soda. Funeral potatoes every time, and it hits
Speaker 2: every time. Tell me, funeral potatoes don't hit. They do,
Speaker 2: but they're just scalloped potatoes. It's not like our own
Speaker 2: thing that we invented. And even though we take credit
Speaker 2: for it. You know you don't be woke about funeral potatoes. Please,
Speaker 2: I've been waiting, no, but like, just let people enjoy
Speaker 2: their funeral potatoes, copious amounts of fry sauce.
Speaker 1: The food is. You cannot beat the food at a
Speaker 1: linger longer. I'll listen. I'm open to it. Okay, I'll
Speaker 1: stop by. I can't believe you had a hot funeral potatoes.
Speaker 1: Take mans is what I'm here for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. Yeah, lovely. Uh sometimes finger sandwiches, which
Speaker 2: are great. Oftentimes you're running into a Sunday bar. You know,
Speaker 2: Banana splits Man highly recommended for a young, single, good
Speaker 2: looking guy like you.
Speaker 3: I'll take you up on that.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, at this point we can go together.
Speaker 2: Let's go, let's catch a break, let's behave ourselves. We're
Speaker 2: going to bring in Zach Harper NBA Daily Assists today
Speaker 2: and for all you are a cell fans gather around
Speaker 2: the radio. Coming up at about four thirty, Kurt Schmidt
Speaker 2: will stop by. He's the technical director. He's in charge
Speaker 2: of roster decisions, and there have been a ton of
Speaker 2: them this offseason, so we're gonna bring him in. But
Speaker 2: coming up is the twenty twenty five Utah International Excuse
Speaker 2: Me Auto Expo. He returns to the Mountain America Expo Center,
Speaker 2: showcasing the latest cars, trucks, shiv's crossovers, evs, exotics, and more,
Speaker 2: all in a no pressure, non selling environment so you
Speaker 2: can explore twenty twenty five models discover a wide range
Speaker 2: of options, from hybrids and plugging hybrids to evs and
Speaker 2: traditional gas vehicles, helping you on the perfect fit for
Speaker 2: your lifestyle. Get hands on by sitting behind the wheel,
Speaker 2: inspecting engines, and experiencing new technologies. Also, don't miss pets
Speaker 2: looking for forever homes and the Subaru Loves Pets adoption
Speaker 2: area definitely a good use of your time. New this year,
Speaker 2: the Adventure Utah Display celebrates the state's love for the
Speaker 2: great outdoors. It can experience the latest and off road
Speaker 2: vehicles atv side by sides, tollable trailers and boats designed
Speaker 2: for adventure, whether you're planning to conquers Utah's one thousand
Speaker 2: lakes or exploits vast trail network. This show case, how's
Speaker 2: what you need It starts on Friday the seventeenth, Okay
Speaker 2: eleven am to eight pm. Saturday, open, Sunday, open Monday.
Speaker 2: Martin Luther King Day Junior. It is open from ten
Speaker 2: am to eight pm. That's Martin Luther King Junior Day.
Speaker 2: Pardon me. It's out the Mountain America Expo Center, ninety
Speaker 2: five to seventy five South State Street in Sandy.
Speaker 1: Parking is free and there's a lot of it. Here's
Speaker 1: how you get tickets.
Speaker 2: You can get tickets in advance and the admission is
Speaker 2: only twelve dollars okay.
Speaker 1: That goes through Thursday.
Speaker 2: Then it goes up to fifteen dollars okay, seven dollars
Speaker 2: for seniors sixty two and older military first responders as well.
Speaker 2: Make sure you bring that ID if you purchase the
Speaker 2: tickets online at Auto Show Utah dot com.
Speaker 1: Children twelve and under are admitted free.
Speaker 2: Our buddy Bobby Marx who joined the program earlier this week,
Speaker 2: and his cohorts over at ESPN dot com.
Speaker 1: And of course this toim of years.
Speaker 2: We are high speed ahead to the NBA trade deadline,
Speaker 2: a number of well almost days away. It's less than
Speaker 2: four weeks away now. If you missed it, yesterday we
Speaker 2: made the Jazz interested again. I took a tremendous amount
Speaker 2: of guff for being an idea man talking to you porter,
Speaker 2: for implying that should be badly injured and quite frankly.
Speaker 1: Entirely anemic.
Speaker 2: New Orleans Pelicans operation decides that it is finally time
Speaker 2: to break it down. They have the eleventh highest payroll
Speaker 2: in pro basketball. They have won eight excuse me nine,
Speaker 2: a one game winning streak. Maybe he's changed little narrative.
Speaker 2: They're nine and thirty two, and should they decide that
Speaker 2: this whole Zion Williamson situation has become untenable because he
Speaker 2: can't stay healthy and now we know that he apparently
Speaker 2: can't show up for play. You know, the flights on time.
Speaker 2: As Tim McMahon joined us, that was tuesday, that was yesterday.
Speaker 2: What the hell? Tim McMahon joined us yesterday and said that, look,
Speaker 2: you don't get suspended for being late to a flight
Speaker 2: once and probably not fifty times. So if the Pelicans
Speaker 2: decide that that's it no more. We tried, and they
Speaker 2: have elected to potentially move on from Zion Williamson at
Speaker 2: the age of twenty four, who is still generational when
Speaker 2: he's right, the Jazz should at least kick the tires
Speaker 2: and I was summarily dismissed poor by the Peanut Gallery,
Speaker 2: including you. I mean, look, it's you can make a
Speaker 2: case and if Lady Luck shines on the Jazz, this
Speaker 2: whole discussion is the moot point. But in nine lottery opportunities,
Speaker 2: the Jazz have never moved up. So even if they
Speaker 2: have one of the top chances at the top pick,
Speaker 2: I know there's a lot of skepticism about the Jazz
Speaker 2: moving up, Like if you can get Zion, who's under
Speaker 2: contract for four years, I know it's way out of
Speaker 2: the box and certainly not very realistic. If I'm running
Speaker 2: the Jazz and Dave Griffin calls me and says, hey,
Speaker 2: we're gonna move on from.
Speaker 1: Zion, I'm putting up.
Speaker 2: The chain of command, I'm calling ownership talking to everybody
Speaker 2: about that potential.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's that crazy, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Just to be clear, I don't totally disagree with you.
Speaker 1: I think that.
Speaker 3: When you look at the talent that that guy has,
Speaker 3: when you look at what he can bring to the
Speaker 3: basketball floor, I don't really see many negatives in just
Speaker 3: putting a flyer out there, especially Spence. If you're not
Speaker 3: planning on winning for the next year or two right now.
Speaker 3: Where it could get tricky is if Utah is otherwise
Speaker 3: rebuilding to the point where in three year spence they're
Speaker 3: trying to be competitive and they have allocated to their
Speaker 3: roster a lot of their salary Cap two one Zion
Speaker 3: Williamson on an expiring contract. Now, I don't hate the
Speaker 3: you know, just throwing it out there as a chance.
Speaker 3: I don't like going all in and making Zion your
Speaker 3: plan if that's if that makes sense, if you have
Speaker 3: a structure in place where you plan on being competitive
Speaker 3: in four years, and you have Zion under contract for
Speaker 3: the next three, and you just want to run an
Speaker 3: experiment with one of the more talented prospects we've seen
Speaker 3: in a long time. I'm with you there, because I
Speaker 3: don't really care if the Jazz win more than twenty
Speaker 3: games next year. I don't think that that's going to
Speaker 3: be a real priority. So I don't think it's a
Speaker 3: crazy ask. I don't think it's a completely out there
Speaker 3: I guess it just is. It's just one that you
Speaker 3: have to really dive into what it would actually look
Speaker 3: like to feel comfortable with it. Based on what the
Speaker 3: Zion new Orleans tenure has looked.
Speaker 2: Like So here's my assertion. Some good points in there.
Speaker 2: By Porter Bobby Marks about three weeks ago wrote what
Speaker 2: is called he does it every year the NBA Draft
Speaker 2: asset rankings seven year outlooks for all thirty teams, right,
Speaker 2: and so essentially he ranks the teams that are in
Speaker 2: the best position over the next you know, six seven
Speaker 2: years to add talent via the draft. Okay, so seven
Speaker 2: year outlooks for all thirty teams. The number one team
Speaker 2: is Oklahoma City. Like, it's just wild what is happening
Speaker 2: down there? And in a way that should give Jazz
Speaker 2: fans some hope. I mean, just simply market comparison, market
Speaker 2: to market, because you do hear this narrative in the
Speaker 2: market like, Okay, we're not La, we're not South Beach,
Speaker 2: we're not Chicago whatever. Boston's ever been a free agent destination.
Speaker 2: Look it up, Like that's a misnomer. It's a city
Speaker 2: that NBA players like don't love. You can kind of
Speaker 2: say the same thing about the NIXT quite frankly, but
Speaker 2: where players want to live, it's clearly La South Beach.
Speaker 2: It's it's sunshine, and that's proven to be true. Maybe
Speaker 2: Phoenix with what they've been able to build with the
Speaker 2: talent on paper, although the results haven't been there. But
Speaker 2: Sam Presty and Oklahoma City have shown you the good ownership,
Speaker 2: stays out of the way, hires good people, let them
Speaker 2: do their job. You can build up something. And I
Speaker 2: mean this with all due respect. You ever been Oklahoma City.
Speaker 2: Shout out to our friends down there. It's it's not
Speaker 2: the spot man, it's just like I like sull it.
Speaker 1: That's just me. It's home for me. Whatever.
Speaker 2: But if you can build up something like this in
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City, and the whole exception to every conversation we
Speaker 2: can have about any of this stuff is without Shay
Speaker 2: Colahoma City is in a different stratosphere. You have to
Speaker 2: have a guy like that, you just do. Look at
Speaker 2: the past champs. It's not a recent thing. It's Michael,
Speaker 2: it's Kobe, it's Lebron. Jason Tatum is a current version
Speaker 2: of kind of that guy, right and if he's not,
Speaker 2: Jalen's right there, like, you just have to have at
Speaker 2: least one of those guys if you want a chance.
Speaker 2: And that's why the Jazz are really not close because
Speaker 2: they don't have one of those guys. It's marketing's just
Speaker 2: not and he's really good and I like him a lot.
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City at one, and then it's San Antonio two,
Speaker 2: and they already have a generational piece, so they're on
Speaker 2: their way. Brooklyn at three, they're tread and water. But
Speaker 2: then the Jazz are at four. Okay, So over the
Speaker 2: next seven years, the Jazz have thirteen incoming draft picks.
Speaker 1: Thirteen incoming draft picks. Justin's anak.
Speaker 2: Danny Ainge has done a really good job of making
Speaker 2: sure these books are clean.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So they're in a good place to capitalize on a
Speaker 2: team that wants to fire sale because they have a
Speaker 2: high payroll, but they're not getting results. And if you're
Speaker 2: an owner in pro basketball, hell is paying a roster
Speaker 2: a tremendous amount of equity and capital and not getting results.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So Matt Ishbia, the new owner of the Phoenix Suns,
Speaker 2: is currently the king of this where the Phoenix Suns
Speaker 2: have the highest payroll in Pro basketball two hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty six million dollars. Phoenix is gonna have to do something.
Speaker 2: I mean, they just are two hundred and twenty six
Speaker 2: million dollars. Second Apron luxury taxing on the table, and
Speaker 2: the Suns are nineteen and twenty. They're a game beyond
Speaker 2: San Antonio. For the playing, matt ishbi is gonna have
Speaker 2: to do something. Okay, Minnesota has the second highest payroll
Speaker 2: in the NBA. Now Minnesota has been better as of
Speaker 2: late twenty one and eighteen. I would imagine they're going
Speaker 2: to crawl up to the top six and avoid the
Speaker 2: playing altogether because I do like their personnel. But that's
Speaker 2: a lot of money to pay a team that's not
Speaker 2: getting results. And it's Boston defending champs, Milwaukee, Joannison, Dame,
Speaker 2: New York, the Lakers, Miami, Denver, Philadelphia, Dallas. Philly's in
Speaker 2: a precocious spot. NB doesn't want to play. Paul George
Speaker 2: is kind of following his lead. Then you have Dallas
Speaker 2: at ten. A lot of people think they can win
Speaker 2: the West, potentially win the championship. They have the experience
Speaker 2: with long playoff runs, and they have one of the
Speaker 2: top five players in the league. Then it's Golden States
Speaker 2: Steph Curry, and then it's the New Orleans Pelicans. They're
Speaker 2: right there. The Pelicans have a higher payroll than the Clippers.
Speaker 2: The Calves who are killing it, and we could keep
Speaker 2: going Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: So if your ownership.
Speaker 2: And you're the one of the owners New Orleans Pelicans
Speaker 2: and you're David Griffin, you're just looking at this zion
Speaker 2: thing and you're just kind of like, okay, so what
Speaker 2: do we do here? Because there are a few things
Speaker 2: that are undeniable about the situation. Number One, he's awesome.
Speaker 2: He just is always has been. And when he burst
Speaker 2: onto the scene is kind of like the original YouTube
Speaker 2: social media phenom out of high school. Most people are
Speaker 2: kind of like, Okay, we know he can dunk, we
Speaker 2: know he's an incredible, insane athlete. I was always concerned
Speaker 2: about the health because a dude that size shouldn't move
Speaker 2: like that, like when you're I don't know what he's
Speaker 2: listed at. As far as his weight goes, probably too
Speaker 2: eighty two ninety and you can jump out of the gym.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get hurt. It was just a matter of time.
Speaker 2: So then he lands at Duke and you watch him
Speaker 2: and you're like, wait a second, he is not just
Speaker 2: a highlight package. This kid can go. He has game
Speaker 2: for days. He is going to change an NBA organization
Speaker 2: lands in New Orleans. Obviously, the injury stuff starts right away.
Speaker 2: But when he is right, he is really good. And
Speaker 2: here's the thing that's been lost in the narrative this year.
Speaker 2: If I just asked you eighty two games in an
Speaker 2: NBA counter seats, how many games designed Williamson play last
Speaker 2: year without looking it up, your guest might be forty
Speaker 2: right with the way he's talked about. He played in
Speaker 2: seventy games last year. He averaged twenty three point six boards,
Speaker 2: five assists. He's up to about thirty four percent from three.
Speaker 2: That's not his thing. He's fifty seven percent from the floor,
Speaker 2: and he is a menace when he's healthy. Okay, yes,
Speaker 2: they're the injury concerns. Rookie year twenty four games, sophomore
Speaker 2: year sixty one, year three, twenty nine, but year four
Speaker 2: seventy games. That's actually rarefied air in the NBA right now.
Speaker 2: So back to the whole conversation about what the Jazz
Speaker 2: could do to get involved here and why should they?
Speaker 1: Why should they?
Speaker 2: Right is ultimately the most important thing as to why
Speaker 2: they should get involved in my opinion, because we go
Speaker 2: back to Bobby Mark's trade trade Asset ranking Guide where
Speaker 2: the Jazz are number four. Okay, with thirteen incoming picks
Speaker 2: of the next seven years, six of the picks belong
Speaker 2: to the Jazz. They have two picks from Minnesota, they
Speaker 2: have two picks from Cleveland. They have a top five
Speaker 2: protector from the Lakers in twenty seven, They have a
Speaker 2: top five protected pick from Minnesota in twenty nine. Then
Speaker 2: they have a couple of swaps Minnesota or Cleveland in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six, and then Cleveland in twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 2: So if you really dig into the weeds, here the
Speaker 2: best chance for the Jazz at least, and you can
Speaker 2: only analyze what's in front of you. I don't know
Speaker 2: what the future will hold. Will Donovan Mitchell decide that
Speaker 2: he doesn't want to live in Cleveland anymore? And this
Speaker 2: little portion of elite play from the Cavs is just
Speaker 2: a moment in time and not a reality.
Speaker 1: I don't know. They're thirty four and five.
Speaker 2: There's a chance that the pick the Jazz get from
Speaker 2: them this year is the last pick in the first round.
Speaker 2: I referenced Minnesota earlier twenty one and eighteen. Okay, so
Speaker 2: they're playing a little bit better. That won't be a
Speaker 2: lottery pick. Maybe it's eighteen nineteen twenty. Okay, So as
Speaker 2: the draft capital starts spilling in from the Gobaar in
Speaker 2: the Mitchell trades, the.
Speaker 1: Question has to be asked, and I'm sure it is
Speaker 1: in that front office.
Speaker 2: Okay, what are these picks going to be and what's
Speaker 2: a realistic expectation for us to find talent if these
Speaker 2: picks are forever in the middle or the late of
Speaker 2: the first you know, the late portion of the first round.
Speaker 2: Now again, this could change with the drop of a hat.
Speaker 2: You know, Minnesota after the Cat trade, they made a
Speaker 2: big mistake by trading for Julius Randall. Maybe their best
Speaker 2: days are behind them and they're on the way down.
Speaker 2: And so potentially maybe a couple of the picks that
Speaker 2: are on the way from the Timberwolves. Maybe the unprotected
Speaker 2: pick in twenty twenty seven is up there at the
Speaker 2: top of the lottery odds, and all you can do
Speaker 2: is give yourself bye to the apple and then hope
Speaker 2: that Lady Luck finally shines on the Jazz in a
Speaker 2: way that it hasn't in nine lottery tries. You have
Speaker 2: three unprotected picks from Cleveland this year, twenty seven and
Speaker 2: twenty nine, and like I said, maybe twenty twenty nine
Speaker 2: the Calvs pick turns into something really exciting, but I
Speaker 2: don't think it would do won't this year, and all
Speaker 2: those guys are under contract in a couple of years,
Speaker 2: so I'd be stunned if anything came the Jazz way
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty seven. The top five protected Lakers pick
Speaker 2: is interesting because in twenty seven, I would imagine Lebron
Speaker 2: has finally done, but it's top five protected, top five
Speaker 2: protected from Minnesota, and then those swaps will have to
Speaker 2: see only time will tell it to a number of
Speaker 2: years away.
Speaker 1: This is a long way I will land the plane.
Speaker 2: Okay, The best chance the Jazz have to have talent,
Speaker 2: high level talent via the draft process probably will be
Speaker 2: their own picks, and they have six of their own
Speaker 2: picks over the next seven years. As a fan, are
Speaker 2: you ready to four or five six years from now
Speaker 2: being the same place that you're at now waiting for
Speaker 2: the Jazz dad talent.
Speaker 1: So to wrap it up, it's a long.
Speaker 2: It's a long way of me landing the plane if
Speaker 2: the Jazz, if their own pick ends up once again
Speaker 2: at like six, seven or eight over the next two
Speaker 2: years and they've gone through all this suffering, and they've
Speaker 2: gone through all of this losing. Yet the calculated risk
Speaker 2: doesn't turn out the way it did for San Antonio
Speaker 2: with Victor Weman, Yama, Danny and Justin are gonna have
Speaker 2: to make a move to try to.
Speaker 1: Get the jazz one of those dudes.
Speaker 2: You can find a Keyante George or a Bryce sen Saba,
Speaker 2: or a Kyle Philipowski or a Walker Kessler through the
Speaker 2: draft process, and we hope the Taylor comes back healthy
Speaker 2: and starts to fill the potential that I think he has.
Speaker 1: I'm not out on him at all.
Speaker 2: You can fill an NBA roster with decent talent, sometimes
Speaker 2: good talent if you have mid first round picks, late
Speaker 2: first round picks, and at times you hit a home
Speaker 2: run that nobody sees. If you draft a chubby kid
Speaker 2: in Nikola Jokic, the nobody knows about and a few
Speaker 2: years later he's the best player on the planet. Stuff
Speaker 2: like that happens. Stuff like that has happened here with
Speaker 2: Millsap and Kierlinko and late lottery picks with Donovan and
Speaker 2: Carl and John and Gobert at twenty nine, like all
Speaker 2: those things are out there as a possibility. But a
Speaker 2: bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Speaker 2: And if David Griffin calls Justin Xanakin says, look, here's
Speaker 2: what works. We're ready to move on from the Zion stuff.
Speaker 2: It's not working here. He needs a change his scenery.
Speaker 2: He needs a new coach. Maybe Will can unlock something
Speaker 2: with him that our coach is down here simply has
Speaker 2: not been able to figure out. Maybe Will is a
Speaker 2: guy that can get through design Williamson, So we're moving
Speaker 2: on from him.
Speaker 1: Okay, And here's what works for us, Justin Xanak and
Speaker 1: Danny Inge.
Speaker 2: You send us John Collins, you send us Jordan Clarkson,
Speaker 2: and you send us five of your future first round assets.
Speaker 2: Remember they have thirteen incoming picks over the next seven years.
Speaker 2: The Collins and Clarkson thing just make the finances work.
Speaker 2: That just makes the numbers work, right, And you're gonna say, wait,
Speaker 2: five first round picks. That seems like a lot. Donovan
Speaker 2: got that, Gobert basically got that. In a little bit
Speaker 2: more Zion when healthy is twice the player. Either of
Speaker 2: the two those two is a or excuse me, either
Speaker 2: of those two are And when you have thirteen incoming.
Speaker 1: First round assets over the next seven years.
Speaker 2: Even if you trade five of them away, you still
Speaker 2: have eight left. You still have at least one first
Speaker 2: round pick every single year. And you know what you
Speaker 2: have in exchange. You have a twenty four year old
Speaker 2: player who win right, is almost as good as anyone
Speaker 2: in pro basketball, and that's not being hyperbolic, and he
Speaker 2: is under contract for four years. You don't sacrifice the
Speaker 2: immediate plan of trying to get into a spot to
Speaker 2: draft a really, really good player this year, and you
Speaker 2: don't even necessarily have to a year from now. And
Speaker 2: you're betting on your head coach, And from what I've
Speaker 2: seen from Will Hardy, I think he's worth the bet.
Speaker 2: And you pull him aside and you say, look, we're
Speaker 2: gonna bring in this kid. My guess is Will would
Speaker 2: be all for it. But nobody's been able to get
Speaker 2: through to him. Okay, he doesn't seem to want to
Speaker 2: take care of himself, he gets hurt, apparently, he's late
Speaker 2: all the time, and there are all these stories about
Speaker 2: him being a little bit distant with his teammates, Like, Will,
Speaker 2: will you try to get can you get through to him? Okay,
Speaker 2: You're gonna You're gonna bet on your head, coach, and
Speaker 2: I think Will has shown us a lot of reasons
Speaker 2: as far as the guy who they should bet on.
Speaker 1: Look.
Speaker 2: Bottom line is, there is a point one percent chance
Speaker 2: that any of this goes down.
Speaker 1: I'm just talking you through, like when we're talking with
Speaker 1: Bobby March.
Speaker 2: You gotta flush out all of these potential rumors, flesh
Speaker 2: out all of these ways to construct a roster, to
Speaker 2: try to land on something. And I just feel like
Speaker 2: there's this kind of fear in our market that we
Speaker 2: are just going to be perpetually in the spot where
Speaker 2: it's like we're counting lottery odds and if those lottery
Speaker 2: odds never fully pan out, and the Jazz for the
Speaker 2: next three four years are drafting five, six, seven, and eight,
Speaker 2: and they continue to bring in like some nice players,
Speaker 2: but nobody pops in a way where you're like, Okay,
Speaker 2: he's a pillar. What are we doing right? We're spinning
Speaker 2: our wheels. Unfortunately, you got to be bold, and I'm
Speaker 2: not sure.
Speaker 1: It's out there.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's a crazy idea, but I thought I throw
Speaker 2: it out there today. Maybe we'll get Zach's thoughts on this.
Speaker 2: We're gonna do a little NBA Daily Assistan with Zach Harper.
Speaker 2: Kurt Schmidt joins us as well, make a little sense
Speaker 2: of this RSL roster breakdown. Man, it just just always hits.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying if it's good or bad, but it
Speaker 2: does just always hit.
Speaker 1: Right in some way. I guess it hits. It hits
Speaker 1: in some way.
Speaker 3: Some international flap for our guy who just returned from overseas.
Speaker 2: Trop Well, and according to my text message exchange with
Speaker 2: one Zach Harper, mister Pittbull apparently is truly mister worldwide.
Speaker 7: Yes, sach oh, absolutely plan everywhere.
Speaker 1: And where were you when you sent me the message
Speaker 1: that you were listening to him? You were overseas somewhere.
Speaker 7: I was right in the heart of Newtown in Edinburgh,
Speaker 7: the greatest.
Speaker 5: City in the world.
Speaker 1: Okay, hold on, the greatest city in the world.
Speaker 5: Greatest city in the world bar none.
Speaker 2: Now, as you and I discussed, I have not been.
Speaker 2: I very much want to go. But what makes it
Speaker 2: the greatest literal city in the.
Speaker 7: World Because the people are amazing, You have a great
Speaker 7: time no matter what you're doing. You know, Scotland's it's
Speaker 7: the center of the universe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that makes you one of one.
Speaker 2: I've never heard anybody else say that, and again I've
Speaker 2: never been. I very much like to go, but I
Speaker 2: don't think that's a very common opinion.
Speaker 1: Is that fair?
Speaker 7: I don't think it's a very common opinion. But I
Speaker 7: don't think it's a very commonplace, despite being a major
Speaker 7: city in the grand scheme of things. And I think
Speaker 7: a lot of people focus on London, focus on Paris, focus.
Speaker 5: On other places.
Speaker 7: But I'm telling you you'll have the best time there.
Speaker 7: The food not great, I'd like you can't you can't
Speaker 7: go around that, But other than that, everything's fantastic.
Speaker 2: Was this just like a personal mental health break? Did
Speaker 2: you have business there? What motivated the trip?
Speaker 7: I went two years ago for New Year's and had
Speaker 7: a great time. I decided I was going to run
Speaker 7: that back, so that's what I did.
Speaker 1: My goodness, My goodness, that's a good life week there.
Speaker 5: What a life.
Speaker 1: It's good to be Zach Harper?
Speaker 5: Is it not sometimes fair enough?
Speaker 1: Well said?
Speaker 2: All right, Zach, are you ready to get weird on
Speaker 2: a Wednesday afternoon?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: Because no, I was excited when you were able to
Speaker 2: join us, because I've been getting weird and maybe a
Speaker 2: little bit irresponsible.
Speaker 1: So here's my premise. Hear me out.
Speaker 2: The New Orleans Pelicans are awful, and they're dysfunctional, and
Speaker 2: they have the eleventh highest payroll in pro basketball, and
Speaker 2: Zion can't stay healthy and apparently he cannot be on
Speaker 2: time for a flight. Now he did. He played seventy
Speaker 2: games last year. So I was talking about this last segment.
Speaker 2: We know what the Jazz are doing, Okay, we get it.
Speaker 2: And they have thirteen first round picks coming their way
Speaker 2: over the next seven years, and there's an excellent chance
Speaker 2: that all of those picks are going to be like
Speaker 2: mid lottery, late lottery Cavs picks is going to be
Speaker 2: last this year and probably not great for a couple
Speaker 2: of years.
Speaker 1: We'll see what happens with Minnesota, but.
Speaker 2: Barring some crazy stroke of luck, the Jazz are going
Speaker 2: to have to find a way to find one of
Speaker 2: those dudes. Now, I still think Zion is one of
Speaker 2: those dudes when he's healthy. Every time I lock in,
Speaker 2: I'm like, man, he's still like has so much and
Speaker 2: he's twenty four.
Speaker 1: He's on the books for four years. He is signed,
Speaker 1: and look.
Speaker 2: If David Griffin is kind of like dude, it's untenable.
Speaker 2: It's not working. We've got to do something. The Jazz
Speaker 2: could make the numbers work with John Collins and Jordan Clarkson.
Speaker 2: Then they could send five of their thirteen picks to
Speaker 2: New Orleans in exchange for Zion and really not change
Speaker 2: their approach this year if they don't want to, and
Speaker 2: maybe even next year.
Speaker 1: But you have him on the books for four years.
Speaker 2: He's twenty four, and he is one of those dudes
Speaker 2: when he's right now, you're betting on your head, coach,
Speaker 2: and you're bringing Will in and you're saying you got
Speaker 2: to get through to this kid in a way that
Speaker 2: nobody's been able to so far. I know it's crazy,
Speaker 2: I know it's weird. I know it's probably not going
Speaker 2: to happen, but just give me your thoughts.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think it's worth the gamble. Right. You
Speaker 5: go into it knowing, hey, this might.
Speaker 7: Blow up in our face, and as long as it
Speaker 7: doesn't affect the draft position for this year, which I don't.
Speaker 5: Think it would, and as long as it doesn't affect
Speaker 5: too much of what they can do next year, because
Speaker 5: next year is a good draft as well, which you know,
Speaker 5: if this draft pick works out in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 5: and then let's say Zion works out as well. Then
Speaker 5: if you blow the twenty twenty six chance of winning
Speaker 5: the lottery or being high up there, it's not the
Speaker 5: most disastrous thing in the world because you've got two
Speaker 5: of those guys. I think it's worth it, Like you can't.
Speaker 5: You know, you can sell it, I think to a
Speaker 5: fan base pretty well, and so I don't think there's
Speaker 5: much of a pr thing even if it doesn't hit.
Speaker 5: You say, hey, we're taking swings here, and we acquired
Speaker 5: these picks so that we can take swings if we
Speaker 5: want to. But you do have to go in thinking
Speaker 5: this guy just may never be fully available or consistently available.
Speaker 5: But you're right, like, when he is, it's not just
Speaker 5: that he's good. He's a historic scorer. We've seen that,
Speaker 5: Like he is historically great and efficient at scoring the basketball.
Speaker 5: You hope that you get what he did in the
Speaker 5: second half of last season, because if that's who he
Speaker 5: is when he's healthy, that's a top ten player in
Speaker 5: the league easily.
Speaker 1: So I mean the natural follow up is, you're David Griffin.
Speaker 2: You're the New Orleans Pelicans, And I've talked to McMahon
Speaker 2: about this. We had Bobby marks on earlier. It has
Speaker 2: to be getting close to it. We need to talk
Speaker 2: about this situation. I don't know what that means, because again,
Speaker 2: a player like that is generational and he's really hard
Speaker 2: to find, and if you trade him and he figures
Speaker 2: it out, that sucks. And I get it. But if
Speaker 2: you're the Pelicans, how close are you to going?
Speaker 5: All?
Speaker 1: Right? Got to figure something out.
Speaker 7: I think David Griffin has done a fantastic job in
Speaker 7: terms of like, he made moves that make sense. He
Speaker 7: made moves that you would do in a vacuum, right,
Speaker 7: He made moves that we all thought even going into
Speaker 7: this year, hey, this seems really good.
Speaker 5: And they were really good last season. But I do
Speaker 5: think this is enough.
Speaker 7: Of a wake up of like, yeah, Ingram's probably out
Speaker 7: the door, Zion is not reliable, you know some of
Speaker 7: these other moves, and I think you do have to
Speaker 7: kind of start sending guys off doing a rebuild. And
Speaker 7: I think the worry if you're David Griffin is that
Speaker 7: you're not gonna be a part of the rebuild. They're
Speaker 7: just kind of clean house. We've you know, I think
Speaker 7: the books makers early on in the season, even before
Speaker 7: all the injuries hit, said that Willie Green was, you know,
Speaker 7: one of the coaches most likely to be fired, which
Speaker 7: it was crazy to me because I think he's a
Speaker 7: really good coach. But I do think, Look, they did
Speaker 7: all these things. They acquired the talent, they did the
Speaker 7: rebuild the way you're supposed to do it, you know,
Speaker 7: and it just didn't work out. And you can keep
Speaker 7: going through it, except that's a really as you mentioned,
Speaker 7: like that's a really expensive failed experiment. At this point,
Speaker 7: I do think you have to kick around the tires
Speaker 7: and like really look into how do we make big moves.
Speaker 7: Ingram's most likely gone, and I don't know that you
Speaker 7: want to resign him at big money. So yeah, let's
Speaker 7: see what you can get for Zion. Let's see what
Speaker 7: you get from Murray. Let's see what you can get
Speaker 7: from a column. Like you have good young role players
Speaker 7: and Trey Murphy and Herb Jones, Like keep those guys
Speaker 7: in the mix and try to do a quick rebuild
Speaker 7: the proper way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Zion played more games last year than Drew Holliday, Like,
Speaker 2: and maybe it was only a moment in time, but
Speaker 2: like last year was an example of what he looks
Speaker 2: like when he's on the court for a long time.
Speaker 2: And look, we won't spend a ton of time on
Speaker 2: this because, like I said earlier, it's buying this guy.
Speaker 2: It's probably never gonna happen. But if you don't, you know,
Speaker 2: if you don't see he'ze on the opp opportunity, should
Speaker 2: one strike and simply rely on lottery luck, I feel
Speaker 2: like you might as well drive up to Idaho and
Speaker 2: play powerball, Like if you have an opportunity, like a
Speaker 2: bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Speaker 2: Like if something like this comes the Jazz Way, even
Speaker 2: if it's a tough ask based off of our recent history,
Speaker 2: a player simply deciding that they don't want to live here,
Speaker 2: don't don't you just have to give it a try.
Speaker 2: I mean, otherwise, what are we doing? Like we're spinning
Speaker 2: our wheels right exactly.
Speaker 7: And I'm with you, I think like that's the reason
Speaker 7: the reason you require all those picks is not to
Speaker 7: use them all for draft picks, right, Like the Thunder
Speaker 7: haven't acquired all these picks because they're going to draft
Speaker 7: you know, twenty four first round guys and you know,
Speaker 7: eight years or whatever that number is it's because you
Speaker 7: can then use it to take those swings, to have
Speaker 7: those opportunities to capitalize on when a star isn't you know,
Speaker 7: isn't happier, isn't performing, or they just needs to be
Speaker 7: a big sweeping change somewhere, and that's what the Jazz
Speaker 7: put themselves in position to do. Now they not want
Speaker 7: to do that with Zion. I understand that because of
Speaker 7: the health risk and everything, but but you do, you
Speaker 7: do eventually have to take a swing, you know.
Speaker 5: That's the one criticism I.
Speaker 7: Would say of Danny Inge in the past when he
Speaker 7: was when he was in Boston, there were so many
Speaker 7: times that you hurt all these rumors and granted they're rumors,
Speaker 7: but you heard all this talk leading up to a
Speaker 7: trade deadline, and then you could almost pencil in the
Speaker 7: day after the trade deadline. Every single year Danny Ainge
Speaker 7: was going to talk about the deals he almost made,
Speaker 7: and Boston media ate it up, and everything is fine.
Speaker 7: It's good fodder, it's good content. But there is a
Speaker 7: certain point where you can't just keep holding onto all
Speaker 7: these assets. You've got to make real, real moves with
Speaker 7: them at some point.
Speaker 2: So ultimately, you know, with the trade deadline creeping up.
Speaker 2: You look at the teams that have ridiculous payrolls juxtaposed
Speaker 2: to average or less dand results. In the Phoenix Suns,
Speaker 2: their payroll is two hundred and twenty six mil.
Speaker 1: I mean, matt Ish be uh, you know.
Speaker 2: I love it when some of these like tech bros
Speaker 2: or real estate pros are like, I was uber successful
Speaker 2: doing this, so I'm just gonna go apply the processes
Speaker 2: to you know, this thing and owning an NBA team,
Speaker 2: and they think they're the smartest guys in the room, and.
Speaker 1: I just kind of always cheer against them. But I'll
Speaker 1: leave that there.
Speaker 2: Phoenix has won nineteen games or nineteen and twenty, and
Speaker 2: they're not built for a healthy four round playoff run.
Speaker 2: I don't give a rip how many games they run
Speaker 2: off between here and the spring. No parts of me
Speaker 2: believe that they can simply stay healthy to win four rounds. Okay,
Speaker 2: I don't give a rip about the talent or what
Speaker 2: have you. But with that payroll, it goes up to
Speaker 2: two twenty four next year, we're talking separate second apron.
Speaker 2: We're talking in luxury tax implications. They got to do something,
Speaker 2: but I'm not sure what it is, Zach, What do
Speaker 2: you think.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, they can't do anything in terms of
Speaker 7: a big change unless Bradley Beal says, yeah, trade me, right,
Speaker 7: like he and Lebron the only ones with no trade
Speaker 7: clause in the NBA. And it's funny, like there's been
Speaker 7: these talks of you know, oh, they're going after Jimmy
Speaker 7: Butler and everything, and you know they you know, maybe
Speaker 7: they can make that work. And yeah, in theory you could,
Speaker 7: except it's not up to them. It's literally up to
Speaker 7: Bradley Beal. And outside of that, you know, they're not
Speaker 7: trading KD. They're not trading book. I don't know if
Speaker 7: you could get anything for Nurkic sure or Grace and
Speaker 7: Allen at this point, but they don't have anything else.
Speaker 5: They made it.
Speaker 7: I think they made a good deal earlier today they
Speaker 7: traded Josha Kogan some second round picks for Nick Richards
Speaker 7: from Charlotte, who's a nice backup big man. But that's
Speaker 7: about the level of move that you can make to
Speaker 7: change that roster and less Bradley Beal says, yeah, I'll
Speaker 7: go play wherever you're gonna trade me. And so like
Speaker 7: they're just stuck like I believed in it, you know,
Speaker 7: through most of last season and going into the playoffs
Speaker 7: and then seeing the way and granted like that that
Speaker 7: Temberwolves team went on a really good run, but they
Speaker 7: dominated Temberwles in the regular season, and and from a
Speaker 7: matchup standpoint, they should have really handled Minnesota with smart
Speaker 7: basketball in that series. And they got smoked, Like they
Speaker 7: got smoked by the Wolves. They got it wasn't just
Speaker 7: that they got swept, they got him bare in that sweep.
Speaker 5: And so since then I've.
Speaker 7: Been like, Okay, yeah, I can't believe in this team.
Speaker 7: Like I love TD, I love book, I like watching
Speaker 7: them play, and I believe most of the last season there.
Speaker 7: I don't know what they could do right now, outside
Speaker 7: of maybe a Jimmy Butler for Bradley Beal trade if
Speaker 7: he allows it to make it even consider that they
Speaker 7: could win two games in a playoff series.
Speaker 2: Moving over to Butler, I mean, the more and more
Speaker 2: you kind of learn about the entire landscape, the more
Speaker 2: and more that you understand if Miami is like, dude,
Speaker 2: we're not doing anything. It doesn't make sense for us,
Speaker 2: Like sorry that you're angry again and you're awesome and
Speaker 2: we see what you do when you're right and actually
Speaker 2: care about playing hard. But like, we don't really need
Speaker 2: to do anything, and honestly, it might benefit them if
Speaker 2: they don't. But he does seem to be the one
Speaker 2: name that's out there that does change things if he
Speaker 2: lands in the right spot.
Speaker 1: So how do you think it plays out?
Speaker 2: And what's your favorite potential outcome here with Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 7: I mean, I really liked the idea of him in Memphis.
Speaker 7: I thought that was a cool rumor. Uh believe the
Speaker 7: reports and and kind of the whispers around like he's
Speaker 7: told them, no, I don't like, don't trade for me.
Speaker 7: I'm not going to stay there, and so that kind
Speaker 7: of bums me out. I like the idea of him
Speaker 7: on Golden State, but it sounds like, you know, we
Speaker 7: did a bunch of reporting at the athletic. They're not
Speaker 7: really interested. At least they weren't a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 7: We'll see if that changes with how bad they've been
Speaker 7: recently and wanting to make a change. And I think
Speaker 7: they're the type of team that should be going all
Speaker 7: out to try to put whatever you can around stuff
Speaker 7: and not not you know, fake these these two timelines
Speaker 7: or we got to worry about our future crap. And
Speaker 7: outside of that, like it just doesn't nothing really makes sense.
Speaker 7: Houston doesn't seem all that interested. He would be, he
Speaker 7: would be interesting there. I think this is going to
Speaker 7: get more into you know, and you can always get surprised.
Speaker 5: By this stuff.
Speaker 7: A team could step up, and he could he and
Speaker 7: his agent Brintley could could figure something out, you know,
Speaker 7: in the next couple of weeks. But I think we're
Speaker 7: headed more likely towards a battle of you know, designations
Speaker 7: for sus mention and battles between the team and the
Speaker 7: league and the players union than we are for hot
Speaker 7: trade rumors involving Jimmy Butler. I think it's going to
Speaker 7: get really weird and really ugly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think you're wrong.
Speaker 2: There any other names you're hearing, Not like you're right,
Speaker 2: Nick Richard, fine player, okay, but any other names you're
Speaker 2: hearing that should this deal go down, it actually does
Speaker 2: mean something sustainable and real for the league, I.
Speaker 7: Mean, not like that's the thing is I don't know,
Speaker 7: you know, I don't know that Ingram has Brandon Ingram
Speaker 7: has a lot of trade value at this point. He
Speaker 7: was a name that's been thrown around, you know, quite
Speaker 7: a bit over the last year or so. I think,
Speaker 7: you know, if Jimmy Butler doesn't get moved, the biggest
Speaker 7: name we might see see get moved before the deadline
Speaker 7: is like Cam Johnson, who's a really nice player, right,
Speaker 7: A good forward can shoot and defend like he's he's nice.
Speaker 7: Like whether he goes to you know, if Okay See
Speaker 7: goes after him, or Indiana goes after him or somebody
Speaker 7: else like that, that's a significant upgrade at that position.
Speaker 7: But I don't know that we're seeing like real movers
Speaker 7: and shakers a Butler or even an Ingram to a
Speaker 7: certain extent getting moved outside of you know, a kind
Speaker 7: of a miracle at this point. And I think a
Speaker 7: lot of that's just tied to, you know, teams are
Speaker 7: still trying to figure out how to operate in this
Speaker 7: new era of collective bargaining agreement.
Speaker 2: All right, since we last spoke, and I'm sure you
Speaker 2: watched the game if you were overseas or what have you,
Speaker 2: But there was that there was that big OKC Cavs game,
Speaker 2: and we're going to see a rematch with them tomorrow,
Speaker 2: which will be a lot of fun this time in
Speaker 2: Okay see. And you know I couldn't help, but you know,
Speaker 2: watch that game and consider watching Donovan Mitchell as a
Speaker 2: second year player here. You know, you remember you were
Speaker 2: around here quite a bit. Donovan's second year, that team
Speaker 2: popped like Gobert, became something nobody knew that he was
Speaker 2: going to be. Eagles turned into a great player, even
Speaker 2: though he looked like he lives in his car. They
Speaker 2: get you know, Ricky Rubio that year played really really
Speaker 2: well cold keep you going down the list, and Donovan
Speaker 2: was their primary score. He was the lead scoring option
Speaker 2: for a team that went to the playoffs OKAC with
Speaker 2: Paul George, with Mellow and.
Speaker 1: With Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 2: And at the time covering the series, I said oftentimes
Speaker 2: like this is such good news that Donovan's getting this
Speaker 2: experience as a second year player because it's so early
Speaker 2: in his career, because you.
Speaker 1: Know what this is going to do.
Speaker 2: It's going to pay off year five, six or seven,
Speaker 2: and it is. It's just paid off in Cleveland. And
Speaker 2: I made it a point to watch every part of
Speaker 2: his game, and he didn't shoot it well, but he
Speaker 2: did everything else really well, including playing good team defense,
Speaker 2: moving the basketball. They figured out his minutes. His usage
Speaker 2: is down, but his numbers are fine and they're really good.
Speaker 2: What are you ready to say about the Cabs and
Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell as of today.
Speaker 7: I mean, I think it's hard to you know, I do.
Speaker 7: There's still part of me that's always like I got
Speaker 7: to see in the postseason. But they've been at such
Speaker 7: a dominant level through the first half of the season.
Speaker 7: And it's not just like, oh, shots are going in.
Speaker 5: It's the way to create.
Speaker 7: Everything, right, like Kenny Atkinson's wrinkles to this offense and
Speaker 7: the times of the cuts and the way players are cutting,
Speaker 7: the way they move the ball. You know, there was
Speaker 7: a sequence, what was it last night against Indiana where
Speaker 7: just a couple of plays in a row, but everybody
Speaker 7: touched the ball. The Indiana defense, which you know best whatever,
Speaker 7: but they were completely out of at a sink and
Speaker 7: it reminded me a lot of what we saw down
Speaker 7: the stretch against the Thunder the week before, where like, look,
Speaker 7: the Thunder's as good a defense as as anything we've
Speaker 7: seen probably in the last fifteen years, in terms of
Speaker 7: what they're able to do and how they're able to
Speaker 7: execute and just everything that they've got going for them,
Speaker 7: and they had this thunder team just scrambling right, and
Speaker 7: all of it is the threats that they have offensively throughout,
Speaker 7: the big to big passing that they've got so they
Speaker 7: can play the two bigs together, you know, the way
Speaker 7: guys are moving the ball and cutting and knocking down shots.
Speaker 7: Everything that they have is showing a special level of
Speaker 7: offense that reminds you so much of you know, you know,
Speaker 7: the Celtics last year or maybe even the Spurs in
Speaker 7: twenty fourteen. Just it's this constant movement and constant ball
Speaker 7: hand when constant passing that really puts teams at a
Speaker 7: disadvantage and you cannot, you just simply cannot have a
Speaker 7: stretch where you don't make shots with them because their
Speaker 7: offense is so potent right now. And so yeah, they're
Speaker 7: definitely a title contender. Maybe even with the way things
Speaker 7: are going right now because Boston's struggling, they should maybe
Speaker 7: even be the title favorite. But yeah, man, this Cavs
Speaker 7: team looks as legitimate as anybody could at this point
Speaker 7: in the season.
Speaker 2: I mean, just follow up about the Knicks and maybe
Speaker 2: Orlando plays their way into the you know, this this
Speaker 2: tier once they get Wagner back and follows back now,
Speaker 2: but they've been so hurt. I suppose if you like,
Speaker 2: there are times where I watch the honest play, I'm like,
Speaker 2: we should probably just assume that Milwaukee could be in
Speaker 2: it if things go right for them, just because he's
Speaker 2: we've seen him do it before.
Speaker 1: He still has it in him. Again.
Speaker 2: I don't know that anyone believes Philly's turning this thing around.
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone else is on the tier. But
Speaker 2: how I guess the way I'll ask it is the
Speaker 2: Calves and the Celtics clearly are that the number one
Speaker 2: tier in that conference.
Speaker 1: What's the gap between them and the Knicks.
Speaker 5: I don't think it's very big.
Speaker 7: Like I think, I think the Knicks are about as
Speaker 7: good as Boston. I think their problem is Boston is
Speaker 7: a matchup issue for them, right, But I think in
Speaker 7: terms of quality of a team and the way they play,
Speaker 7: their offense is so good, their shooting is so good
Speaker 7: and can get better. I think their offense can get
Speaker 7: a lot better. We've seen them play pretty good defense
Speaker 7: over the last month or so, and I think that's
Speaker 7: hopefully sustainable. It's just gonna be about depth and minutes
Speaker 7: and who's worn down for them when we get to
Speaker 7: the postseason. But I do think I think they're as
Speaker 7: I think they're good enough to be in that conversation
Speaker 7: with that Pier, I think they're better than you know, Orlando.
Speaker 7: Once they get healthy, that's gonna be great. They're still
Speaker 7: not gonna be a team that's very good at scoring, right,
Speaker 7: and defense helps obviously the whole phrase of you know,
Speaker 7: defense wins championships and that's great, but not if you
Speaker 7: can't make a shot.
Speaker 5: Like at least kind of me more not in today's NBA.
Speaker 7: And so I don't think Orlando's there Milwaukee, and I
Speaker 7: think it is just out of respect to Giannis at
Speaker 7: this point, like he's playing so great that I want
Speaker 7: to believe in Milwaukee. You know, Philly stinks Indiana is
Speaker 7: not going to be good enough, although they're dangerous, But yeah,
Speaker 7: I do think the knickser are just about right there
Speaker 7: with those other two teams.
Speaker 2: Going back to the space of what the hell do
Speaker 2: you do? What the hell does phil what does Philly do?
Speaker 2: I mean, what what's the course of action that makes sense?
Speaker 5: Saw me?
Speaker 7: If you heard this one before, you just got to
Speaker 7: hope you're healthy for the postseason. I mean, that's just
Speaker 7: that's what they're married to, right, That's what's always going
Speaker 7: to be with indeed, and it sucks and it you know,
Speaker 7: I want to I want to have a different conversation,
Speaker 7: but hey, let's talk Clippers chances in the postseason.
Speaker 5: It's Kawhi gonna be help. It's the same conversation, right.
Speaker 2: Right, all right, moving out this way because I haven't
Speaker 2: talked about this team in a number of weeks, and
Speaker 2: just equal time, fair time.
Speaker 1: What are you willing to say.
Speaker 2: About the Rockets who through thirty eight almost forty games,
Speaker 2: just don't appear to be going anywhere and at the
Speaker 2: very least they are going to be a pain in
Speaker 2: the ass for somebody. I don't know what it means,
Speaker 2: but what are you willing to say about through thirty
Speaker 2: eight games, the fact that the Houston Rockets do not
Speaker 2: seem to be going anywhere anytime soon?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, they're just really well coached. He may
Speaker 7: a Doka is a great coach. Right. He showed that
Speaker 7: in his one year in Boston. He showed that last year,
Speaker 7: he showed it this year. He's a great coach. They
Speaker 7: play incredible defense for such a young team, and their
Speaker 7: offense is more efficient than you might think. The issue, though,
Speaker 7: is their offense is predicated on well, yeah, we're missing
Speaker 7: a bunch of shots, but we'll go get offensive rebounds
Speaker 7: and maybe we'll get to the free throw line a lot.
Speaker 7: They can't shoot. They're I think twenty eighth in effective
Speaker 7: field goal percentage on the season, but they're the eleventh
Speaker 7: most efficient offense. If you can rebound solidly against them,
Speaker 7: it cuts down everything. So I think they'll be one
Speaker 7: of those teams nobody wants to play in the first round.
Speaker 7: Maybe they even win a first round series. I don't
Speaker 7: think they can make a deep playoff run, but let's
Speaker 7: say that they're the two seed. They either lose in
Speaker 7: a tight first round series or they make it to
Speaker 7: the second round and get blown out. What a massive
Speaker 7: step forward from what they look like two years ago.
Speaker 2: So ultimately, the same way you Zach, you feel like
Speaker 2: a guy that's misunderstood and you're actually a sweet, sensitive man.
Speaker 5: Is that fair to say, Yeah, you know what, let's
Speaker 5: subscribe to that theory.
Speaker 1: No, I feel like you're a decent person, and I.
Speaker 5: Just think as as good a person as I can be.
Speaker 1: I get that sense about you.
Speaker 2: But part of me is jealous of people like he
Speaker 2: may Udoka who just seem pissed all the time and
Speaker 2: they're fine with it, like they don't give a rip
Speaker 2: about anything you have, right, Like I kind of wish
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 1: More like that.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's you know, they're parts of it, and especially
Speaker 7: you know, there are parts of like him, or or
Speaker 7: like Joe Missoula or out of JJ Reddick where I'm
Speaker 7: just like it feels performative to me. And maybe that's
Speaker 7: just me being cynical, like no one could be that
Speaker 7: angry and that intense all the.
Speaker 2: Time Reddick for sure, But I feel like you dook
Speaker 2: as the type that leaves a game is like leave
Speaker 2: me alone, rolls home, just smashes through a dinner that
Speaker 2: he throws in the oven, maybe a couple of bruises,
Speaker 2: and goes to and he's fine with it.
Speaker 1: He's like, just leave me alone.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, like like he's I wouldn't like, what does
Speaker 7: his Netflix look like?
Speaker 5: What's his algorithm?
Speaker 1: All the serial killers?
Speaker 5: Weird man, it's weird.
Speaker 2: Kings of Tuplo five times, like weird stuff.
Speaker 7: Yeah, exactly, that all right, brother.
Speaker 1: I always appreciate the time.
Speaker 2: Man, have a good week with chat soon, Okay, appreciate
Speaker 2: it all right, the great Zach Harper, NBA Daily Assis Style.
Speaker 2: Now for all of you RSL fans that have been curious,
Speaker 2: and I'll admit I've been curious to Kurt Schmidt is
Speaker 2: going to join us.
Speaker 1: Now, Kurt has not done an.
Speaker 2: Interview, did a little media earlier as RSL has launched
Speaker 2: our preseason concer CAF is right around the corner. But
Speaker 2: I'm gonna bring in our guy in and be like, dude,
Speaker 2: what's up? Like what are we doing here? So we'll
Speaker 2: get some answers hopefully from Kurt. Really smart guy in
Speaker 2: a really tough spot that'll come your way.
Speaker 1: Neck.
Speaker 2: Just reminder we will SEGA night little early in time
Speaker 2: for some Utah College basketball Utah men taking on TCU tonight.
Speaker 2: Been a busy show man Neil Smith or some hockey,
Speaker 2: Zach Harper for some hoops, Bill Riley for some football
Speaker 2: and basketball. But it has been a busy news cycle
Speaker 2: all ray. I'll saw Lake our next guest man. I
Speaker 2: know he's missed this, and I know he's so excited
Speaker 2: to be doing this. It is Kurt Schmidt, technical director
Speaker 2: for the club, on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Kurt, how bad did you miss me?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 1: Let's let's be honest here.
Speaker 5: I'm just psyched to be here.
Speaker 2: You liar, you liar? How you been Man? Things all
Speaker 2: right with you?
Speaker 5: Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I'm just waiting for the off season
Speaker 5: to start so i can relax.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: Look, I don't really know where to start, but we're
Speaker 2: gonna get to as much of this as we can
Speaker 2: because I'm not privy to the conversations behind closed doors.
Speaker 2: And I know a lot of RSL fans are very
Speaker 2: curious to hear from you and your main motivation for
Speaker 2: moving on from Chicho Orongo, the Golden Boot winner for
Speaker 2: the club and at one point one of the favorites
Speaker 2: for League MVP, and you know, he just has such
Speaker 2: a bright start and then we all know it came
Speaker 2: crashing down with the suspension. And I don't know what changed, Kurt,
Speaker 2: but something certainly did. So walk us through this. What
Speaker 2: what's it like? The communications structure, you know, speaking to
Speaker 2: ownership and Tony and everybody else in the front office,
Speaker 2: Pablo and then Jason bringing everybody together to decide to
Speaker 2: move on from a player that really went he's right.
Speaker 1: He is just very very good.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean, look, it's it's not an easy decision
Speaker 5: when when when you're talking about whether or not to
Speaker 5: move on from from a quality player, and you know,
Speaker 5: it's something that that we had to face a couple
Speaker 5: of times, maybe last year. But you know, on for
Speaker 5: all the successes that happened last year, that we achieved
Speaker 5: last year, and we did achieve some some some goals
Speaker 5: and and some heights in last season, we still fell
Speaker 5: short of our ultimate goal, right, which is winning a trophy,
Speaker 5: holding a trophy at the end of a competition. And
Speaker 5: you know, some of that was was how things went
Speaker 5: in the in the back half of the season and
Speaker 5: half of the season, you know, and as it relates
Speaker 5: to chi Cho, obviously, you know we don't need to
Speaker 5: rehash it, but everybody knows kind of how that went
Speaker 5: for him and with us, and you know, we had
Speaker 5: certain guys step up in a time when he maybe
Speaker 5: wasn't producing as much as he had in earlier in
Speaker 5: the year. But anyway, it just you know, it got
Speaker 5: to the point where it was obviously very difficult and
Speaker 5: something something changed, and you know, we had a lot
Speaker 5: of hard conversations internally about it amongst staff, with chi
Speaker 5: Cho and obviously his representation, and you know, at a
Speaker 5: certain point, you know, Chicho came to me and asked
Speaker 5: that we help him find a solution for for him
Speaker 5: and his family, you know, to get a fresh start,
Speaker 5: and and that's you know what I think we well,
Speaker 5: that's what we tried to do. And what I think
Speaker 5: we did was found a solution that you know, obviously
Speaker 5: is the best for all parties.
Speaker 2: So I'm quite prepared for a very short answer to
Speaker 2: this question, but you also understand I need to ask it.
Speaker 2: Can you shed any light on the suspension, why it happened,
Speaker 2: and the effect that it had on him and also
Speaker 2: the team.
Speaker 5: I cannot look obviously, the you know, the club and
Speaker 5: and you know did everything that they could have done
Speaker 5: and what was were required to do and needed to
Speaker 5: do in that situation. And you know, we the league,
Speaker 5: the league went through their process and we accepted their
Speaker 5: decision and we went you know, and that's what we
Speaker 5: dealt with. And in terms of how any of that
Speaker 5: affected chi Cho, you know, obviously I don't know what's
Speaker 5: none of us can know what's in his head, what's
Speaker 5: in his mind, But certainly we we saw what was
Speaker 5: on the field.
Speaker 2: How much of this the decision Kurt had to do
Speaker 2: with chi Cho and his family not wanting to live here,
Speaker 2: and how much of the decision had to do with
Speaker 2: the club being ready to move on with a player
Speaker 2: that clearly was not right after the suspension went down.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think some of that's the question
Speaker 5: for chi Cho, But I just would reiterate that I
Speaker 5: think with every with all the water that had flowed,
Speaker 5: you know, uh, float under that bridge, I think we
Speaker 5: just found the solution that was the best for all parties.
Speaker 2: Got asked the question, you know, and I am, admittedly
Speaker 2: still after covering this game for twenty plus years, a neophyte,
Speaker 2: and you're an expert. And I'll see to you if
Speaker 2: you compare what you received in exchange for Chico to
Speaker 2: what Seattle sent out for haesusre for AA. Excuse me,
Speaker 2: the package is not close. And look, I understand that
Speaker 2: you had to cut the tie. I understand you had
Speaker 2: to make the move, but one point four mil in
Speaker 2: allocation money and an international roster spot Kirk does not
Speaker 2: seem like a fair haul your thoughts?
Speaker 5: Sure, I mean, I look, obviously it's it's really difficult
Speaker 5: to compare players like that and to set to set
Speaker 5: the market based on one or two or such a
Speaker 5: limited number of transactions that you're talking about at that
Speaker 5: end of end of the market. Obviously there were other opportunities.
Speaker 5: There were other clubs, other situations, you know, outside the league,
Speaker 5: in the league, like, there were different opportunities, and you
Speaker 5: know this, you know, this ended up being the right
Speaker 5: thing from from all facets, from uh, the standpoint obviously
Speaker 5: the finances from you know, obviously it needs to be
Speaker 5: agreeable to cheat Sho and his family who are going
Speaker 5: to move there, and and also from a timing standpoint
Speaker 5: where you know, this was something that we knew was happening,
Speaker 5: and you know, preseason is is here, and you know,
Speaker 5: like we want to we want to have our group
Speaker 5: together and move forward. So just when you factor in
Speaker 5: all the implications of the decision, this was this was
Speaker 5: the best case.
Speaker 2: So Sally and Andres was proof of concept. I don't
Speaker 2: think anybody would debate that. But it's not just Andres.
Speaker 2: It's now cheat Joe. Now let's move over to Matt
Speaker 2: Crooks and I'll just kind of ask you the same question.
Speaker 2: Is this a scenario where Matt and his family just
Speaker 2: wanted to leave the market. Were you not satisfied with
Speaker 2: what you received for his production? I was also taken
Speaker 2: back that Crooks was said on his way. Can you
Speaker 2: shed a little light on on that decision?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, look where we try to put the
Speaker 5: players first at the club, and you know, again that
Speaker 5: means like we want players that want to be here
Speaker 5: and that are happy here, and we want to support them,
Speaker 5: and then we feel that that's the way to get
Speaker 5: the most out of them on the field. I think
Speaker 5: that with Matt and his family, you know, yeah, you
Speaker 5: kind of hit the nail on the head, like this
Speaker 5: family situation wasn't ideal, and he was. They spent a
Speaker 5: lot of time apart last year, and for him, the biggest,
Speaker 5: the big thought process the decision was, you know, could
Speaker 5: he could he do that again? Were they going to come?
Speaker 5: Was it better to go back? And again there's a
Speaker 5: lot of tough conversations there as well, and ultimately the
Speaker 5: right opportunity came up for him to go back and
Speaker 5: it worked for us as well. So you know, from
Speaker 5: that standpoint, it was a little bit of an unwinding
Speaker 5: of kind of what we did a year ago when
Speaker 5: we brought him in. You know, Matt's Matt's a great guy. Matt,
Speaker 5: you know, like Matt as a as a person and
Speaker 5: as a player. I thought, you know, you hit you
Speaker 5: talked about production. I don't think he lit up the
Speaker 5: production side of things. He certainly helped us with his
Speaker 5: movement and that type of thing, but he also you know,
Speaker 5: we also we needed some production from that position as well.
Speaker 5: And that's part of the genesis of us bringing Diogo
Speaker 5: here as well, is because we felt he was someone
Speaker 5: that was going to be more goldening, just was going
Speaker 5: to produce more from a similar position. And you know,
Speaker 5: so from that standpoint, we thought, you know, Jyoga coming in,
Speaker 5: you know, allows us to grant Matt and his family
Speaker 5: their wish essentially and get them back together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, entirely fair about the numbers and the production. I mean,
Speaker 2: don't take this the wrong way, but every time I
Speaker 2: heard somebody talk about how far he ran, I'm like, cool,
Speaker 2: but you know, like let's get some assistants, some goals.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not saying you had to work hard, but.
Speaker 5: It wasn't just how far, but it was, you know,
Speaker 5: just the he ran very you know, and maybe the
Speaker 5: satica to sound equally maybe boring to you, but he
Speaker 5: did run very intelligently in terms of, you know, the
Speaker 5: timing and direction of his runs, the pace and how
Speaker 5: it created space for guys like andreasen Chico and Luna
Speaker 5: at times, and you know how he filled He's a
Speaker 5: very intelligent player, how he filled the gaps that others
Speaker 5: last in order to continue and maintain our structure in
Speaker 5: certain times when we were when others were a little
Speaker 5: more fluid and kind of doing whatever they wanted. He
Speaker 5: was a little bit of a blue guy that kind
Speaker 5: of made sure that our game model was still being
Speaker 5: implemented and that the team still had the right structure.
Speaker 2: No, I totally get it. You're not wrong, But run
Speaker 2: intelligently and get your head on a ball. Let's get
Speaker 2: a couple of intelligent goals and assists. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2: But you're not wrong, Kurt, You're not wrong. Yeah, but
Speaker 2: you're yeah. And you and I talked about what I
Speaker 2: proceed to be a very professional approach to the season
Speaker 2: from Anderson Julio last year, who I just thought was
Speaker 2: called upon oftentimes to step in in tough scenarios, and
Speaker 2: I thought he did a good job. Now this wasn't
Speaker 2: a hey, you're going to move on without getting some
Speaker 2: things in return, but same question take us through the
Speaker 2: mindset of moving on from Anderson Julio.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and it was a great guy, worked hard. He
Speaker 5: he learned a lot and developed, you know, even though
Speaker 5: he didn't come here as a twenty year old. He
Speaker 5: came here a few years after that, but he he
Speaker 5: developed a lot in his time in ourselves had a
Speaker 5: great year last year. And you know, when you've got
Speaker 5: a player around that age, as they're heading towards their
Speaker 5: thirties and they're having a career year, you know, you
Speaker 5: have to think about our you know, can you make
Speaker 5: a move here at at or near the kind of
Speaker 5: top of his market, top of his value, and if
Speaker 5: we get enough in exchange, is it worth it? And
Speaker 5: so we thought we thought that's kind of the situation.
Speaker 5: And we were able to get obviously some money, which
Speaker 5: is important, but also a piece that solves a bit
Speaker 5: of death and competition for us on the back line
Speaker 5: and Sam Junkwa who can push guys in two different
Speaker 5: spots and give us solid solid death and two positions
Speaker 5: along the back line, So it was kind of a
Speaker 5: win win all around.
Speaker 2: I apologize for another uncomfortable question, Kurt, but I'm gonna
Speaker 2: throw it at you anyway. I mean, look, the numbers
Speaker 2: are the numbers, and you set a club record for points,
Speaker 2: you set a club record for goals score as you
Speaker 2: reference the ending unceremonious, you qualify for the postseason, austed
Speaker 2: in the first round. You want trophies. I want you
Speaker 2: guys to get trophies. I get it. But with all
Speaker 2: of the moves that have been made juxtaposed to what
Speaker 2: was a historic season, with the data, what does that
Speaker 2: say about the group?
Speaker 1: What does that say to the locker room?
Speaker 2: What does that say about the connectivity or lack thereof
Speaker 2: of the group?
Speaker 5: I think it would send the message of trust to
Speaker 5: the players that that we have kept and are going
Speaker 5: to rely up on honestly, Like you know, we brought
Speaker 5: in you know, we talked a lot about this last summer,
Speaker 5: and we brought in a lot of guys last summer
Speaker 5: and fit the you know, made the cap stuff all
Speaker 5: work together, so we could add them then. But but
Speaker 5: we knew that part of bringing a lot of those
Speaker 5: guys in was almost preemptively replacing some guys that we
Speaker 5: might have to move on from in the winter. So
Speaker 5: you know that some of that work was done six
Speaker 5: months ago. But again, when you talk about guys like
Speaker 5: Dominique Marshao, Tiogo Loon, you know, guys in the middle
Speaker 5: of midfield, No Hata and Mecca Poblowiez coming back from
Speaker 5: injury as well, those types of things like those Nelson Placia,
Speaker 5: like those. You know, we're putting our trust from those guys,
Speaker 5: and I think they should feel that and that should
Speaker 5: fill them with confidence and give them the ability to
Speaker 5: play with you know, without fear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well said, And I do want to get into
Speaker 2: the space of the players that you're bringing in so
Speaker 2: and look, I honestly, I don't know if you can
Speaker 2: comment on some of this stuff. I just have some
Speaker 2: of the reports that are out there, and I'm certainly
Speaker 2: not an expert with Brazilian goalkeepers Raphael.
Speaker 1: Cabral, I'm thirty four years old, know nothing about them.
Speaker 2: But acording the reports, you guys have signed this Brazilian
Speaker 2: keeper Kurk, can you shed some light on this transaction.
Speaker 5: I can't deal with reports.
Speaker 1: It's not official yet.
Speaker 5: Okay, we've signed a veteran, yeah, veteran international goalkeeper that
Speaker 5: has you know, experience playing in some of the top
Speaker 5: leagues in Europe and in South America, and so you know,
Speaker 5: we think he's going to come in and add some
Speaker 5: just experience in the locker room, but also some quality
Speaker 5: and goal and give us a little bit of a
Speaker 5: different look there.
Speaker 2: Can you do discuss us sending Gavin Beavers on a
Speaker 2: loan to a Danish club? Are you able to discuss that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Look, Gav's on his way out. It's not alone,
Speaker 5: but not official yet either, but we're certainly working on that.
Speaker 5: But you know, Gas a really good young keeper and
Speaker 5: you know, played a lot of minutes for us last year.
Speaker 5: And you know, when we talk about where like obviously
Speaker 5: where he's going is kind of within a little bit
Speaker 5: of our family or cousins, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 5: And it was actually a really productive process to just
Speaker 5: collaborate across our ownership group and different clubs and decide
Speaker 5: what is what is the best thing for ourselves, what
Speaker 5: is the best thing for Brumby, what is the best
Speaker 5: thing for Gavin Beavers and and make the right decision
Speaker 5: for all parties. But you know, I think for him
Speaker 5: it's getting exciting step in his career. You know. For us, obviously,
Speaker 5: you know, it makes my job harder when we lose
Speaker 5: players that, you know, homegrown players or players on a
Speaker 5: sub a roster who actually can contribute. So that makes
Speaker 5: my job harder a little bit. But but it you know,
Speaker 5: it makes sense for all parties to let him go.
Speaker 5: And yeah, that's why you saw, you know, Mason Statuahar
Speaker 5: come in today from from Orlando.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you said the name because that's where I
Speaker 2: was going next. Okay, Mason Statue.
Speaker 5: If I got it right. To be fair, I probably
Speaker 5: need to go check on that, but I tried.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll trust you as opposed to the guest that
Speaker 2: was about to lob out.
Speaker 1: But that one is official.
Speaker 2: It is on the website, as is Kobe Henry correct
Speaker 2: center back.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Mason was is someone you know, again,
Speaker 5: I think the other thing we didn't really touch on
Speaker 5: is is Zach is you know, Zach's looking like he's
Speaker 5: going to miss some significant time early in the season.
Speaker 5: So obviously we've we've brought in an experienced guy to
Speaker 5: be the guy. And then you know, Mason comes in
Speaker 5: as as someone with MLS starting experience that we think
Speaker 5: at competition and good depth is in the in the
Speaker 5: goalkeeper group. And then you know we've revamped it otherwise
Speaker 5: completely with with the college kids coming in as well.
Speaker 2: All right, there's a report and I know you can't
Speaker 2: discuss reports, but like you.
Speaker 1: Know, this is the deal. I got to ask you.
Speaker 2: You can tell me to kick Rocks and he's an
Speaker 2: Australian forward. Here we go. Okay, it's a new year.
Speaker 2: My goal is to just say yes and try things.
Speaker 2: Ariath Peel, I don't know, no idea, but it's out
Speaker 2: there that you're bringing in Australian for what is it close?
Speaker 5: I feel like that was close. If I had to
Speaker 5: guess his name, I would say maybe the Arif Pole
Speaker 5: maybe like that. Yeah, I mean, look, obviously we brought
Speaker 5: in Locklmbrook last year. Australia is the market that we're
Speaker 5: looking at more and more. You know, we like to
Speaker 5: bring in talented young players. So signing like that, you know,
Speaker 5: would would make a lot of sense.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, Well that's as close as we're going to
Speaker 2: get to a curded a mission.
Speaker 1: What okay, where are the goals coming from?
Speaker 2: We've already topked and by the way, as you referenced,
Speaker 2: you brought in a lot of players during the summer
Speaker 2: window that I think people are excited about once we
Speaker 2: see them with a training you know, a full training
Speaker 2: camp under Pablo.
Speaker 1: I think everybody loves the Marxian kid.
Speaker 2: I mean, you got a lot of bright options, and
Speaker 2: lest we forget, maybe your most skilled player, Diego Luna
Speaker 2: is still on the roster, so all is not lost,
Speaker 2: but you lost a lot of goals.
Speaker 1: Where are those goals coming from, Kurt?
Speaker 5: I mean, I think you started it already. Look, I
Speaker 5: think we came in. You know, if you go back
Speaker 5: in time a year ago and going in twenty twenty
Speaker 5: four season, you know, it seems like a no brainer now,
Speaker 5: But us relying on Luna and Andreas to come in
Speaker 5: and give us quality minutes and high level production like
Speaker 5: that wasn't a no brainer move at that time either.
Speaker 5: And you know, we thought we had two talented young
Speaker 5: players that were going to take a step up, and
Speaker 5: they did, and credit to them, and so I think
Speaker 5: we're looking at something similar this year where you know,
Speaker 5: I think again Luna's still a young player, that is,
Speaker 5: you know, I think it's take even another step in
Speaker 5: his development and grow and in his production. You know,
Speaker 5: Jogovinsolve is someone that came in and you know, maybe
Speaker 5: didn't quite catch the league in the first few months,
Speaker 5: but it started preseason well, and we we have high
Speaker 5: hopes for him coming in. And as I said before,
Speaker 5: I think he's someone who's from that position who's more
Speaker 5: goal dangerous, you know, dominic Is. I mean, he'll get
Speaker 5: goals too, but I think he's just going to serve
Speaker 5: up some of the easiest goals ever for for whoever
Speaker 5: three or four other guys that are going to play
Speaker 5: with him in the attack. And so I think he
Speaker 5: can he can definitely score himself and get some assists
Speaker 5: and then look what you know at the ninth you know, honestly,
Speaker 5: I think I think, you know, I probably said it
Speaker 5: earlier today. We're not going into the season, you know,
Speaker 5: playing a man down, like We're going to have a
Speaker 5: guy playing center forward that's going to do the things
Speaker 5: that we need in our game model, and our game
Speaker 5: models geared to creating chances for guys in our attack,
Speaker 5: and you know, we confident that the committee of attackers
Speaker 5: that we have will will score those goals.
Speaker 2: And before I said you loose, you know, I think
Speaker 2: we just forget, like your central midfield is pretty stacked
Speaker 2: because you get Pablo Luiz back, and of course a
Speaker 2: Mecca has he's going to the national team camp and
Speaker 2: he's he's really shown to be a very bright player.
Speaker 1: And then there there's.
Speaker 2: Also brian A Hayda, Right, so you have that kind
Speaker 2: of three headed monster and I guess that central holding
Speaker 2: mid area, forgive my my language, how do you think
Speaker 2: that's going to play out?
Speaker 1: And how's Pablo looking now that he's back?
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, And I mean we forgot about Nelson Palacio
Speaker 5: as well, who is a very talented player. And you know,
Speaker 5: I look at Pablo has been out, you know with
Speaker 5: the exceptional kind of the beginning of last evening. He's
Speaker 5: now for eighteen months. And so for us with Pablo,
Speaker 5: it's about bringing him along in the right way so
Speaker 5: that a he stays healthy and also he like gets
Speaker 5: his sea legs under him, right. It's not something where
Speaker 5: you bean out more or less for that long. You
Speaker 5: just pop up in and it's like nothing ever happened.
Speaker 5: It's something you gotta you gotta get into. So you know,
Speaker 5: I think Paba is obviously a very talented player that
Speaker 5: can add a lot to us, especially in possession, and
Speaker 5: you know, we're going to bring him along the right
Speaker 5: way so we can be a top contributor for us.
Speaker 5: But it's not a situation where we have to rush
Speaker 5: him in because, as you said, we've got a met
Speaker 5: we've got to hate it. We've got Nelson, you know.
Speaker 5: So we have a good rotation of players, even with
Speaker 5: the number of games we've got playing this to play
Speaker 5: this year.
Speaker 2: You you sleep in a night, you're hydrating, you're getting food,
Speaker 2: Like what, dude, You've been insanely busy.
Speaker 5: One for I'm usually one for three or two for
Speaker 5: three of those three things most days.
Speaker 1: All right, man, well it's usually the one I missed in.
Speaker 1: Fortunately I'm with you there.
Speaker 2: Well look, you're a smart guy, so we'll trust you
Speaker 2: and we'll hope that things pan out. Not easy decisions, Kurt,
Speaker 2: Thanks for the time, man, have a good.
Speaker 5: Week, Okay, thanks man, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Kurt Smid, he's the technical director for Raal saw Lake
Speaker 2: means he is the main decision maker, the sporting director,
Speaker 2: essentially the general manager. Soccer teams have different terms and
Speaker 2: I am very curious to see how this is going
Speaker 2: to play out. I mean, when you just simply look
Speaker 2: at the stats last year, they're five of their six
Speaker 2: leading scorers scorers are gone. No excuse me, four of
Speaker 2: their five leading scorers are gone, chi Cho Andress, Anderson, Julio,
Speaker 2: Matt Crooks, Diego's back, and you know Alex Catroanas's back
Speaker 2: and Mecca's back. Oh, and they're making a bevy of
Speaker 2: moves or there's nothing that is more anxiety inducing than
Speaker 2: getting ready to interview Kurt. While I have like seven
Speaker 2: names on the list where I'm like, dude, I've never
Speaker 2: heard of this player and I have no idea how
Speaker 2: to say this name. It is wild to see this
Speaker 2: roster turn over there. I guess we'll see how it
Speaker 2: turns out.
Speaker 3: No, I mean, it's it's crazy to see the turnover
Speaker 3: that we talk about in college football, is, you know,
Speaker 3: something new and wild to see it on a professional
Speaker 3: soccer club over the course of one off seasons. That's
Speaker 3: something you don't see very often. So we'll be tightly
Speaker 3: tuned in to see how they handled it.
Speaker 2: Mason Stadge Doohr nailed its stag Dohar, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: Orlando FC. So if you missed it, if you're an
Speaker 2: RSL fan, we'll get that up online because Kurt answered
Speaker 2: a lot of questions that I think we've all had.
Speaker 2: Zach McMath is going to be out for a good
Speaker 2: portion of the start of the season. Gavin Bievers has
Speaker 2: been moved on to a club Danish club. Two new
Speaker 2: keepers in the fold, and more moves on the way
Speaker 2: their first match. I don't know, it's like four weeks,
Speaker 2: five weeks away, cocky caff right around the corner.
Speaker 1: It's such an insane short offseason.