Dave Checketts joins @TheDrive700 to remember Jazz/Utah Legend Frank Layden

It was I was, I was sitting with the other Paul Bears, as you know, and all of us were we're grabbing for Kleenex because Scott brought him right right to so he recapped his life so beautifully.

second day of work, and he came in. He was he was driving a car that the franchise had given to him to drive. And you know, here he is like the head guy, coach, head coach, general manager. He's driving this Toyoda wagon that that looked like it had been trashed that the Dealership of Choice had given him. But you know what his his great his great dignity is. I came away. I remember coming home, Dohn and saying to your mom, this guy is incredible. He knows everything

about the game, he knows everything about his job. He's just never been given the support and tools here that he needs to really build something special. And that's my job. Give him the money, give him the freedom, give him the ability instead of drafting, you know, drafting players and having to sell them as they as the Jazz had to do famously. You know, I wanted to give Frank Laden everything he needed to hire the best people, the best coaches, to draft the best players, and we were

going to be about winning. And when I said that to him, he said, that is music to my ears. But you know, he had never said that publicly. He always defended uh Sam and and Sam's willingness to bring the team to Salt Lake. But but that that became my goal and we became great partners in spite of the fact that he'd grown up in New York, I grew up in Utah. In spite of the fact that that I had I had no experience in the NBA

and he had all this experience. All he showed me my whole life, my whole life was nothing but loyalty and dignity. He's he's one of the best people I've ever met, by far. I mean, he he had a character about him that was that was full of goodness and could he be tough, Yes, he could be tough. And he and I, he and I only had one run in the whole time we worked together, and it was over something stupid that had been said during a game time promotion, and he just let me have it.

And I went right back at him and I said, Frank Book, I know I made a mistake, but we have always we've treated each other with great dignity. And you know what, he apologized like immediately, he just said I'm so sorry that there were other things on his mind, and all of the rest of the time to the most difficult moments, especially Adrian Dantley holding out on him and not reporting the camp and David Falk, his agent, just disrespecting the team, the franchise and us. Frank and

I were just arm in arm. We were in lockstep, lockstep, and I really believe, you know, he turned it around because we got into tools. He needed to do it. And but in terms of what he meant to me, I can't I can't even I can't even say, I can't even say he was He was the most valuable friend and mentor I could ever imagine, in not just in basketball, but in life, because we talked about life a lot. We talked about raising kids, we talked about

how to treat your wife, we talked about character. He loved people of character, and he taught me so very much. And one of the other is the last thing I'll say. I don't think there's any way I didn't have a choice when when Larry and I decided we could not we could no longer work together, I didn't have a choice. I had to leave. But I loved the NBA and I got my dream job because the Knicks were the

team of my childhood and Spencer, you know this. I never could have gone to New York and she sheeted without having first been prepared by the all time New Yorker Frank Layden. He got me ready for what was a really tough job back there. But he just he taught me so many principles about winning and championship, culture and character, and I took it all in. I was just a sponge with him, and it allowed me, I think, for you know, to have a decade of success with the Knicks and Madison Square Garden.

for for who he really was as a baseball player, you know, game in and game out, and his numbers over the years and all of that kind of stuff. And when you look at him, you know, his number

is far surpassed almost everybody else. Uh In baseball during that time, and and also as a catcher in the game, and we were saying, how how that somehow, you know, sometimes uh uh came over into how Frank was viewed by the public because he was a funny guy and told stories and and did the stuff he did and public facing away, but behind the scenes, a lot of people don't know what kind of X and O's tactician

he was as a coach. You know, how he was in the front office, how he managed the people, and all the things he did actually run the franchise in the early days when it was teetering, and all the things he had to do to keep all those, if you will, all those plates spinning on top of the on top of the sticks in order none of them fall off. And what great skill he had in doing all of that kind of stuff.

so caring and so committed. And I'm not sure he ever, I mean, even though he had those nice accolades Coach of the Year, Executive of the Year in eighty four when they won the Midwest Division title my first year with the team, So I got spoiled quickly because that just started a run of when we just made the playoffs every year that we were together, Frank and I, and it's because of the job that he did not exs, not just excess and those, but his leadership, his support

is mentoring. I thought of a funny story, Spencer that I'll never forget. I was, of course, negotiating player contracts and trying to get players signed as quickly as I could, to always get guys in the camp and make sure we had the best players on the floor. And I was right in the middle of the Dantley holdout, and I'm just so angry about all of that. But there was a time later on Frank was still coaching where we were almost done with a contract extent for Mark Eaton,

and he's Mark Eaton's agent. Keith Glass just wouldn't give up on this one stupid incentive he wanted in Mark's contract. He wanted an incentive that if Mark led the team in rebounding that he got an extra twenty five thousand dollars. And I I went to coach Laden and I said, Okay, Frank, this is the last thing we need to do. If we do this, he'll sign this new five year extension we'll be done with him and we can carry on.

And he said, what is it And I said, he wants a twenty five thousand dollars bonus if he leads the team in rebounding. And he said, no, no, I'm not doing that. We're not doing that because you know that's exactly what we need, is him trying to take rebounds away from whoever's on the other side of the free throw lane so he can add to his numbers.

We're just not going to do that. And I said, Frank, it's like twenty five thousand dollars in a contract that was paying eating probably something like four or five hundred thousand dollars.

that's the last thing. We have a deal. So we signed the contract, and it was a full two years later. It was two years after we signed that contract that we're playing in a very tight game at home. I think it was against the Mavericks and we're at home and on a certain free throw I don't remember. I think it was Rolando Blackman shooting a free throw out. It's I can remember the moment like it was yesterday.

And he makes the first free throw and misses the second, and Eaton goes up to grab the rebound, just as Malone does as well, and neither one of them yielded to the other, and they tipped the ball in went in the basket, and Scotty, you remember where I used to sit on the second row, just down from press row,

and I see Rank marching toward me. We're in the middle of a game and I'm sitting with my I'm sitting with my family, and he comes over and stands right in front of me and he says, so, Dave, what do you think about your I'll leave out the word what do you think about her incentive? Now he inserted a little admit, what do you think about your blank you're blank, He's blanking incentive. Now, what do you

think about it now? And he stands there like i'mus answering, and I just am shrugging my shoulders, like I'm so sorry.

Darryl Walker. But he also talked Scott about his desire to spend time with Barbara, with your mother and with the family, and you know, just kind of live his life a little bit. And you know, Jerry of course takes over and the rest is history. But Scott will start with you, then Dad will go to you on this. Can you shed some insight onto into exactly what that was like for him to walk away from a team that he had built it was ready to win at a very high level.

selflessness I think allowed him to step away. And and the other thing is and and Dave knows this well because they were really close, is that he had other, you know, other interests. It did like he wasn't he wasn't beholden to just basketball. He had so many other things that he he wanted to do and he wanted to do with my mom and my brother and sister. So it wasn't like he needed, you know, that that's all he could do. He was more of a renaissance

man than not. And he also loved being out in the community and travel and and so I think he I think he was comfortable with where he was and what he had done. And now you know, it was Jerry's time, and no one was more supportive of Jerry Sloane than my dad, because if you look at coach Johnson and you look at coach Sloan as as when they were assistants, they were both capable of being head coaches, for sure, but both of them were so fiercely loyal, and I'd say it was a great quality. It was

a great lesson for me. They were both fiercely loyal to my dad and that's what made those relationships work. So when it came time, I think it was easy for my dad to say, you know what this is, this is Jerry's time, So.

seven game series. They would go on to win the championship, but we played them in a very tough seven game series, and actually when we came home for Game six, we blew them out like one oh six to eighty on our floor and set up a big Game seven, which we lost in La. But I was surprised because he was. He started making noise right after training camp about I hate getting on airplanes, I hate all the travel, I hate the hotel rooms. All of a sudden, he said,

it's just it's just gotten old for me. And I said, but Frank, we finally have a team. We finally have a team that can do something really special. I mean really special. You saw what we did with the World Champs last year. This year could be better. We should be better. And don't you want to stick around to enjoy it? But he said, he would keep saying I just don't have it. I just don't I just don't feel it. But all these years later, I have concluded

that there was something else to play with him. And you know he'll never he'll never confirm this. He would never acknowledge it, even though I pushed him over the years to say, I know what was up with for you then, And what was up was he did not want he did not want if he stepped down. He wanted Larry and me to have no choice. He wanted it to be Jerry Sloan. And the best way to do that would be to resign mid season, because I mean, we're not going to conduct a search then and select

somebody else. I wouldn't have anyway, but Larry always talked about, you know, if Frank ever steps down, we're going to have to do a search. And I knew. I think we all knew that Jerry, even though he'd been fired in Chicago, we knew he was a great, great coach and a person of great character. I think Frank did

that totally to force our hands. I've never said this publicly, but I think he did it totally to force our hand, to make sure that this guy who had been so loyal to him and was so ready for the job, got the job.

any time to do anything else. This is what we have to do. We have to do this thing. And because we got a game with one night.

say one thing, and he looked at the mailman. I remember him giving the mailman at Death's there, and he gave him this look and he said, this was Frank's decision and only Frank, he was nobody else had anything to do with this. This is totally his decision. Because he thought Larry thought the players would would think that he had he had pushed Frank out. He wanted he wanted the players to know, and this was true. It was totally Frank.

it when he left. Never refuse a breath, mint that sound advice and then my favorite and this is where I'm nervous, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Never trust a man with two first names. So I said, I said that what I don't understand. What what do you mean by that? He said, we'll think about it. Son, Mike Lee, Lindsey Graham, Paul Ryan. Oh my god, my daughter is my speech writer, so he said. He said, you know, I'm not a member of any organized political party.

I'm a Democratic. And today's day and age. In today's day and age, it's like it's so poignant. But during the last several months, I can't tell you how many nurses came into his room and I said, coach, thank you so much. You're the only room in the hospital that has Rachel matt Ol and MSNBC. I'll leave it there. I'm sorry.

you're the same person. And then I'm telling you I loved and I told him the other night, I loved working for day check Its because every day was competitive, it was intense, and we were focused on winning it all. And that's I appreciate the opportunity to have worked with you guys, and obviously work with my dad.

He absolutely meant it, never trust the man with the beard. But this was one of his favorite sayings. And this is why I think he ran out of gas with the Jazz. I think this had something to do with it, and he resigned too early. But he always said it's better to surprise than disappoint. And that was one of his favorite sayings. And you know what, the Jazz under Frank had started surprising people in that eighty three eighty four season. And in that eighty eight season, we had

played the Lakers to a stancill. I mean they had to dig deep. We were the best team they played that year, and they went all the way to winning a title. And Frank knew that that young team had come of age, and he just didn't love being in a situation where there was only downside. He loved being in a situation where there was only upside because he knew he could prize people. He knew his team could

surprise people. And suddenly, instead of the underdog, the lovable underdog, the Jazz had become a real force in the NBA. Well daved and and Scott good I was just gonna I love I love him, I'll miss him and love the whole Laden family.

he goes, that's the key from Aison Square garden. And I said for the garden. He yeah, they gave me the key to their garden. This opens every door in the garden. And and he just had this twinkle in his eye, like I've gotten right to the top, right at the right. Now I'm at the pinnacle. This is it. I got a key to the garden. I can't get in any door I want. And this was he was so proud of that and was so so excited to show me that he had the key. It was funny.