NBA Playoffs roll along tonight, Midtown Manhattan is the scene. It's gonna be chaos, probably already is. It'll be six o'clock Mountain time. The New York Knicks will try to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the year two thousand, when they played the Indiana Pacers, who, ironically enough, are awaiting the winner of next of Knick Celtics.
All right, big day for our next guest.
I understand that Craig Bowler Jack is turning forty five years old today on this Friday afternoon.
Bowler, Happy birthday, sir. How are we doing?
Thank you, buddy. Hey, you know that's a nice that's a nice birthday present. There, pal, I got allergies. Is spring summertime. But other than that, I'm good. Yeah, forty you're off a year forty four.
Oh my bad, my bad.
Well you don't look a day over forty, my friend, you've taken good care of yourself.
So happy birthday, Craig, from all of us.
All to you. Okay, appreciate that, appreciate it.
We got any plans tonight? What do we got going on? What we got cooking for the birthday?
I tell you, I'll be honest man, kind of laying low of families everywhere this way and that may do something Sunday, but I know I'm going to be watching some basketball. I'll tell you that I've loved the playoffs incredible. I like the physicality, the comebacks leads me nothing free throws last night and a lot for Denver and tonight. You just said it. I don't know. What do you think? Twenty five years since the Pacers and the Knicks met in the conference final? Interesting? Huh yeah?
Very interesting, And as a unbiased basketball observer.
I think the Knicks probably get it done.
As a longtime Nick fan, as this team has led me down year after years since I was ten years old, I'm very nervous.
Greg.
Yeah, you're not alone. I'm sure you know it's crazy and that New York just had that something happened, and you know better than I do that the no fan ever felt like it was in the bag. You know, so many disappointments. They're involved in another interesting draft night, you know scenario that Patrick Ewing came to the Knicks on what was allegedly a frozen or a bit frozen
draft card. If I'm not mistaken. It's been a while, run man, a lot of a lot of basketball, a lot of players, a lot of have come and gone, but to what a pretty good team. I think with Tatum out, this has got to go. W Man at the Garden, I would think. But we've been proven wrong before.
I hope you're right.
And since you brought up lottery and draft day malfeasans and things that are questioned by the general public, I just got to know, Craig, where were you and what was your reaction when you saw Mark Tatum pull out the envelope and the Jazz were set to draft at five?
You know what, honest, I walked in my office and said, I'm just going to shut the door and watch this, so you know, if I want to say yeah, I can, or if I want to go damn, I can't. You know. I just sat there, put my hands and you know, underneath my chin, I said, all right, let's see what happens.
And my gut was rolling and I thought I got a feeling after all the talk and all the numbers and you know, all the percentages that the five spot's going to be the Jazz, and it just rolled up and there it was and I just stared and thought, wow, how does that happen? And then I got up and told the wife and said, let's go have dinner because I wasn't going to sit around here and just you know, hit my head against the wall. You know, seventeen win season,
worse than Jazz franchise history. Dallas trades away Luca in the dark of night, Kyrie blows up, ACL fans nearly riot in Dallas Spence, as you know, and they end up getting number one, and the Jazz dropped down, you know, to to number five. And it just doesn't make sense. But in a way nothing does. You take a chance when you alleged or you go the tank position, you know,
let's tank it. And what's interesting two Spence. All three of the teams that had the first the top three worst records in the league all fell back in this in this in this draft selection. And I find that intriguing. If there is a lesson learned, you just go play, you know. I'm I'm like you, I'm old school, and I just think you go play and just do what you can with what's given. But you know, you take a chance, you roll the dice, and you come up empty.
Now you have to wait and see what the next the next step, the next direction is for the Jazz.
Yeah, and you know, the good news is that in a way, not the way that we were all hoping it would work out, but in a way it did work out because as the worst team in the league, you are guaranteed a top five pick. So it so the point of what they did this year certainly was probably twofold and one was to have the best chance possible at.
Getting number one overall.
But the other point of it was to not fall past five because the top five pick Craig is very valuable in every single draft, and it's going to be valuable in this draft. So the bottom line is they're still going to get a really good player at five
if they stay at five. My question to you is are you hearing anything about where their heads are at, because we've heard a couple of reports over the past twenty four hours that they're still going to be bold to try to do something to up the bottom line of this team, and to me, that indicates maybe stand at five is not on the table because san Antonio has to look at moving too.
Now.
The problem is there's a Giannis component out there. There's a durant component out there. What does Boston's new ownership group do with a luxury tax bill of five hundred million dollars next year?
Amazing?
Is Jalen Brown available?
So if you're San Antonio, you probably have a lot of options. But any insider intel as to where the head of Danny Ainge is the head of Justin Zanik is what you think the approach will be?
You know, Spence, I wish I had an answer for you of yes, this is what direction they are, but no quiet. From what I know, you can speculate and there's options, and that's a good thing. Look, the Jazz collected draft picks for a reason, and that was to bargain. And right now it's probably the most opportunistic time for them to have these picks in their pocket. And how do they use them? I mean, this is where Danny's expertise is going to have to come through on what
he did in Boston in prior years. And you know, Jazz fans are going to have to sit back and go that worked or it didn't. But you're right, the five spot still gives you a player that you can slide in. But I don't think that's where the Jazz were ever thinking personally. I mean all indications where you know, it's Cooper, it's Cooper, it's Cooper. If Harper's there, and by chance it goes too, that's a possibility and will
survive it. But I think this is an opportunity this summer where the Jazz can do a lot of things. They can move players, they can decide to stay young and and rense and repeat, which I think would be a bold decision. Knowing that downtown is being re energized with a billion dollars in change, the three year project to give the Delta Center a Facebook for hockey, and
the Jazz is right in front of us. They're underway now, and you know, the Olympics around the corner, and you also have a new competitor in town and Ryan Smith owns that team. It's it's you know, what was the Utah Hockey Club but the Utah Mammoth. And you know, I think that's the most intriguing thing for me, Spence. You know, it's how do you handle, you know, to have both teams financially fiscal and making money and getting return on the investment. But also is there enough advertising
dollar to go around. Does someone peel off to join hockey that was a Jazz fan. That's interesting to me because this has never really happened ever in Utah. You know, sports is to have that type of competition, and they own the fourth pick Lady Luck shine down on the Mammoth, unlike the Jazz. So I think had some of the most intriguing conversation over the next month and a half on how this plays out. And you know how aggressive Danny and Justin and Ryan truly are going to be.
And you brought up some names that are gonna move. You know, injuries are going to force it. You know, in Boston that's kind of a quiet, unknown, big story because new ownership. I've got a college buddy of mine who had some interest in financial interest and investment in Boston, and you know we've talked a little bit about you know, he's very quiet on the up and up, but yeah, it's it's but they're interested in Boston about what the changes will be. And now it's been accelerated with the
Achilles here, did Jason Tatum right? They may have to make a move quicker than they may have thought and maybe not play this again, maybe won't play it forward. So, man, there's a lot of stuff going down. What do the Lakers do? What about Lebron? What about Phoenix? What about
Steph Golden State's era of greatness? Man, it's it's interesting in Milwaukee again with Dame Lillard's achilles, that puts him kind of in the driver's seat on what he wants to do and how this may play out for not only the Bucks, for multiple teams though around the league, East and West.
All right, Craig, are you ready for my trade idea?
Let's do it.
I'm gonna throw this at you, and let's remind the listening audience that Craig Butler Jack is an employee of the Utah Jazz, so he needs to be careful about what he says. And we all understand that Patrick Dumont, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has said, we are keeping one and we are drafting Cooper Flag.
So no, Nico, you can't trade it. Get out of the room. That's what we're doing. So one is off the board, Craig.
So let's move over to two, where the San Antonio Spurs find themselves in an interesting spot because they made the trade for Daron Fox, and they have the reigning rookie of the Year in Stefan Castle. So if the second best player in this draft is Dylan Harper, the reality is there's a lot of redundancy on San Antonio's roster. So what if you call san Antonio and you say, send us two, Okay, send us two, and then send us fourteen. They've got two lottery picks, Send us two
and fourteen. Send us Kelton Johnson and Harrison Barnes. We're going to send you five, and we're going to send you marketing. Lowry marketing the number five pick for the number two pick, the number fourteen pick in exchange for Harrison Barnes and Kelton Johnson is only twenty five and a really good player.
What do you think?
You know, that's intriguing. And I think it depends too on where Lowry's head is in this because it's been well documented documented that he wanted to see in Utah, he did stay in Utah, and he still wants to be in Utah. Now that was before. I haven't heard
anything out of Lowry since Draft night. But you know, I think the other part of the equation, Spence is at the timetable for Lowry in the sense of how many years in the league, his age, and how do the Jazz look at him in the future and is he now going to be past his prime when this all comes to, you know, fruition of being a major player in the Western Conference. I think, you know, it's
an intriguing idea, I really do. I think there's a lot of them out there, and you know, you still have a John Collins, I believe who have the player option. You know, jac There's a lot of players that Jazz had. There's some talent even you know, the talent of the last two draft class could be moved if necessary, some of them. So I think Will Hardy said it back best in his pressure last summer was you know, this
is not an easy league. It's not easy to make a roster, it's not easy to stay on a roster. And this past year I think they got a really good insight of who can actually I think, play under pressure, deliver under pressure, and who wants to be a part of this of this build. Obviously there's a few that probably may want to go some place else. They may not have a choice, but that's just the way the life is in the NBA. I think there's gonna be a lot of names out there, Spence, I really do.
And I think it goes beyond Giannis. You know, what does Golden State want to put on the table? Are they players? This? What is Phoenix gonna do? They're gonna be players? And now Dallas, out of nowhere, is obviously sitting in the driver's seat trying to revitalize a franchise who most of us thought a week ago, five days ago was basically dead on the vine, right, and they're going to have to take a step back and really
rethink this thing. But Lady Luck shown shown down on them. Man, I'd say, it's it's amazing to see how this thing worked out. It really is. This will go down again in jazz Loar is another year where you wanted to develop and you did. You had the worst record in basketball, the worst in franchise history. But it didn't work out, and you have to move on and find a way. One thing, Spence, you cannot take this. You cannot allow this, and through your idea of a trade, that idea is
moving forward. The one thing you don't want to do under the circumstances to make you move backwards in this situation. So anything Justin and Danny probably do. They've got to be forward thinkers on what will get them past this disappointment, this bump that didn't occur for Cooper Flag, and can you survive it and move on without missing a beat in the rebuild. I think that's the biggest challenge of all.
Lowry is turning twenty eight in six days, so he will be twenty eight this year. And you know, Craig, even if the Jazz grabbed number one and drafted Cooper Flag, the reality is that would not have put them in a place to really challenge for anything all that special this year. As it is, they didn't grab number one and they're left at five where they're going to get a good young piece. And look, man, I don't know Ryan Smith all that well personally. All my interactions with
him have been very pleasant. One thing we can all agree upon is the dude is bold. I mean, he's a bold guy. And you know, I would imagine that an owner like Ryan who at least front facing says he wants to win and wants to win soon. I think you put everything on the table at this point, because sure Larry wants to be here. But you know, Larry Marketing is making max money for the next four years. He he you know, he's fine no matter where he's at.
And yes, when players want to be here, it's important. But if he doesn't fit the timeline, I actually think they might put him on the table, on the table to move up or grab a couple of young pieces that are a little bit more exciting because they have to have done their calculation by now to understand that there really is not many avenues to improve the team to make next year look different than this year unless they're going to be bold.
And Ryan's a bold guy.
So I wonder if we're going to see finally some bold movement from this ownership group and from this from this front office.
What do you think? Yeah, great points, And you remember the comment about going big game hunting that didn't happen, and maybe this summer that that statement by Danny comes to fruition And how however they end up doing it, Spence, there's multiple ways, as you know, uh, draft, free agency, UH, using trades and moving players in and out. I think you're going to see a lot of a lot of movement because of age and injury, A lot of teams have to re energize and rev their you know, their
their roster back up. Uh. But there's a lot of great players are on the cusp of the end. And that's what the jazz I think, probably in the back of their planning, in the in their mind of planning all this is that they would be setting in a position where in the West especially it was aging rapidly with you know, Hall of Famers, first ballot Hall of Famers, and now injuries hit the East and you wonder, you know,
who's going to accelerate the process even more. That to me is is so intriguing, but also it's of the future of downtown. It's a competition with the with the Mammoth and the Jazz. The Jazz have always been, you know, top dog, and it's interesting to see to me what Ryan wants to do on how competitive they can be
against each other but yet still profit. And that to me intrigues me a ton, because again, Salt Lake's growing, but when it comes to multimillion dollar deals, you know in advertising packages, yeah they're out there, but just how many and is there enough to sustain and profit off of two young franchises that are looking to make their way through the NBA and the NHL. Spen to tell you, I mean, you know, this is where you earn your money.
Danny's experience has got to shine through. Justin's been an agent, he knows players and tendencies and all this all has to come together to get the right decision on the table and and to pull pulled string on it and make sure that it's a long term. You know. Going back to Lowry, you know he's intriguing, but not so if he doesn't have the right players around him. I think we saw that this year. Is he the second or third best on a great team? Most likely? Does
he want to play? I know he wants to play, but he also understood what the situation was. And as each day and each game went by, you know, TikTok, TikTok. I mean, time goes on and you lose a season and all of a sudden you jump in and you're ten years in. So you make a great point. There's young young players, and they're younger every year every you know, Scooper's not even eighteen yet. I mean I find that fascinating,
and so that comes into the equation. I think too Spence is you know, how long do you hold a player? How long do you want to give the development, give him time to development, to develop, because look back in the day of Sloan and look that's going back, I know it, but guys were three and four years they were twenty three, some twenty four, Big t was a senior, won the national title. Seventh player taken. Was the NBA ready, he says he was, and I think you know, he
proved that he was. And now you're waiting to see if the pick was right. And that makes this whole situation, I think even more intriguing and more difficult. You're rolling the dice on young, young talent because you're not sure how they're going to mature and what kind of work ethic, truly do they have if they're going to be a pro and make the top of money that's in the league right now, All.
Right, Boler, last thing and I'll set you loose. We had your guy a Lemma in studio yesterday for an hour and it was fun man telling some story time, and we both decided that we've all just kind of followed you to, you know, find our way in this business. Is you know, Alema kind of followed in your footsteps over Ksel. Of course you have the original Big Show. I had the second iteration of that. Unfortunately we had
to drag the same partner around for years. But he said something that kind of shout out, Gordon, we love you. He said something that kind of I don't know, maybe smile because a Lemma is such a sweet guy. He just said, Look, we all as a collective jazz community, and whatever part of the ecosystem you're in, you're part of the jazz community. Whether it's fans, media, we all want to see the jazz win and do well. We all just have to find our own way to enjoy
the ride. How do you do that when the team is not close to what we're accustomed to? How do you enjoy the ride as a media member, as a fan, as somebody who cares about the jazz?
How do you do that?
Well, you know what you're catching me on a quick answer, But what first came to mind was people working with a Lemma. I've known him for years and years and years. We've we've been through it at KSL and beyond. You known Monson, David James, I mean Scotti, Girard all the names that we hear around town are people we all know and interact with, and it makes that you know,
West rough Over Channel four forever. But I think it's the people that I see on a nightly basis, but the fans who are wide eyed, and also the newer fans that come into that building and just embrace, embrace a franchise now fifty one years and year old, and you go, wow, look at the longevity of the franchise, but also look at the generations of fans that have come through the house that Larry built and before it at at the Salt Palace. And you know, for me,
this year was challenging. Thryll and I had multiple talks and Lauren her first year was you know what, first run in the NBA. We're lucky. We love it and I love being around the game and the people. But it's a privilege to set there and call the Utah Jazz it's called you know, it's the NBA, and I
see great players every night. You're disappointed, absolutely, do I want to win, absolutely, And it's hard to win seventeen and still try to keep your focus, but that's my job, and we try to prepare the best we could this year to find a positive an Isaiah Callier, Kyle Philipowski, you know, even Will Hardy's growth as a coach, Spence as you and I talked with, you know during the year, and Walker kester Man, he could have totally tainked after
a sophomore slump, and the guy busted through in the minutes given and he matured and became a legitimate big In my opinion, He's got a long ways to go, but I think the Jazz see that there is definitely hope and growth with Walk and others. So that's what I try to hang on to. You man, But you go to the arena of the inner energy in that building is it just takes you. It just takes you.
And that's what I enjoy every time I walk in the building and prepare for a game, is because win or lose, you're still out there trying to give your best to a group of people who most of them have a connection with the past and they're trying to build one with the future. Do they get frustrated? Oh yeah, I hear it all the time. Go on the road, I do you know, talk shows on the road and fans ask or you know, hosts ask the same thing about what about the jazz E're going to become stocked
and alone. Well, look, those days are over and that's hard to accept. But at the same time you have to also say thank you for those days with Jerry and Hats and John and Carl and Horniseck because it built the foundation of where we are today. I know this sounds probably like, you know, over the top, but you ask the question, and honestly, this is what pours out of me, is that the past does help explain
or at least guide the future. And there's nothing more than what jazz fans want to taste and Ryan and Ashley want to taste. Is another opportunity to go back and win a championship, or have the opportunity to win a championship for Salt Lake, stay to Utah. In fact, now it's more regional than ever, so you know the people that are involved. Man, I'd say, I love walking through the hallways and the fans are there and they
are ready to roll. They love the NBA, they love the jazz, but they also are intrigued with the rest of the league as well. They're there to see superstars, They're there to see to Lebron. They're there to see you know, Steph Curry, and so it's it's kind of a combination of everything, but man, it's hard not to love it. Even though you're losing. You're trying to find some positives spent the long the way, I'm hoping some
positives hit because Jets fans deserve it. They've been i'd say, strong, durable for a long time and it'd be great to have an opportunity to see them enjoy postseason play at a high level again.
All right, Bowler, well, behave yourself tonight. I don't want to see end the night with a lampshade on your head after getting a little loose. But go have a good time, man, celebrate that birthday and I appreciate your time.
Okay, all right, Bell, have a great weekend. We'll talk soon.
The birthday boy, Greg Bowler Jack on the program on a Friday afternoon, Brought to you by friends at Outlaud Distillion, a new partner here on the ESPN Sports networkout Outlaw Distillery, a homegrown grain to glass, nitty gritty whiskey, vodka, rum and moonshine distillery right here in sal Lake County, Outlaud Distillery, Utah grown with so much history here of cowboys, outlaws, mining,
and more. Outlaw has everything on the spirit spectrum, from their spiced rum, vanilla bean rum, Outlaw coffee, rum, honeybourbon, barrel proof whiskey, vodkin, moonshine. They have it all and they're embracing the Outlaw name by being rebellious and making some very unique spirits that aren't being seen or created by any other distilleries in Utah.
Passionate group, We're happy to have them on board.
If you want to take a sip of their spirits, you can either find their bottles in local liquor stores or book of tasting. Tell them I sent you to an hour and a half and you get to keep your shot glasses a souvenir after trying all their spirits. Get your tour and tasting booked at Outlawdistillery dot com today. The doors open in twenty fifteen. Is only the fourth distillery in the Great State of Utah. Deeply rooted in
Utah history and tradition. Even the name Outlaws inspired by the legendary character Butch Cassidy and the Utah Law Trail, which served as primary transportation for many of the notorious wild West Outlaws. The vision for Outlaw Distillery is clear, to help show the world that some of the best spirits can come from one of the least expected places, i e.
Here in the state of Utah.