FULL WED POD @SpenceChecketts on Jazz/NBA tip-off, UHC latest, Utes midseason OC change + more

Hello, how are you jive toime?

Wednesday afternoon, fourteen minutes past the hour of two o'clock.

It is another great day, man. It's beautiful.

It's about seventy degrees and sunny, little breezy outside on this Wednesday afternoon, and as it is every day, it's going to have you along for the rides.

Spence Check.

Its behind the Mike Porter Larson back in downtown Salt Lake City, behind the glass and we got a lot to do on the opening night for the Utah Jazz this evening. The NBA opened last night with a couple of not so awesome games. A couple of takeaways from those games. Momentarily, the Celtics ran away from the Knicks and the Lakers handled the Timberwolves pretty easily. So two NBA games last night. Now tonight it is the turn of the Utah Jazz. They welcome in the Memphis Grizzlies,

He's out tonight. Luke Cnnard out tonight.

Cam Spencer, the rookie out of Yukon out tonight, and Gig Jackson out tonight as well. For the Jazz, No Johnny Juzang or Isaiah Collier, two young players that are probably are not going to play all that much either, so we'll get some Jazz hoops.

Get you ready for Opening Night tonight.

Always love when the NBA is back and NBA basketball is back, and we got some good guests talk NBA hoops today on the program on this Wednesday afternoon, one day closer to the weekend, halfway through your work week, one day closer to football, one day closer.

To week eight in the NFL.

Getting going now, it's am interesting NFL storylines. Apparently the Rams are looking to move Cooper Cup who is awesome but can't stay healthy. It's going to be the Vikings and the Rams from SOFI coming up tomorrow Thursday Night Football and we will get you ready for some pro football. We are your home of the NFL here in the market, so you can hear Thursday Night Football at ESPN seven hundred after we say goodnight tomorrow just about six o'clock.

Prime Video is your home for that game.

So Viking rams Minnesota one of the surprise teams in the league. They're five and one overall after losing last week to the Lions. They're a three point favorite on the road and so far so that that's how your NFL weekend will get going. Obviously, continuing to monitor the situation for Utah football is they're going to try to get right again. You know, I've said it, this feels I could get right game for the past three weeks. It has not been a get right, get right game yet.

A lot to do.

The Utah Hockey Club humbled last night at home. The Senators hung four goals in the first period and neither team scored the rest of the way. Anton Forsburg with thirty one saves and the Utah Hockey Club only shut out for the second time.

All year long.

They're back at it against the Avalanche coming up on Friday. RSL off until next week. The MLS playoffs will start at America First Field on Tuesday night at seven o'clock as Minnesota is in town to take on RSL best of three, with RSL maintaining that home field advantage. So great time of year, a little bit of everything going on.

Just how deep the Big Twelve.

Is in men's hoops, and you know, ultimately how many good teams with a ton of talent are in this conference.

BYU is gonna be really good.

They're picked to finish ninth, a ton of Big Twelve teams in the top twenty five. So yes, we can add college football to the Nicks.

Oh.

By the way, the World.

Series starts on Friday, so a little bit of everything. Here's how we're gonna roll today, Mark Harlan, Utah athletic director will stop by. This is an interesting time for Mark since he took over, Since he took the job a number of years ago.

Youth football has more or less in a really good space.

But the football team is down the basketball team pick to finish last in the Big Twelve. So we'll get with Mark today, see how his world is. Right out of the gates. To two thirty NBA Daily Assists was Zach Harper. Zach makes his trump for a return of the program from the Athletic in the Cinafold podcast, My buddy Blake Murdoch will stop by. I got a bunch of great deals going on at the Murdoch Auto Group, and I'm driving a great car right now.

I'll tell you about Coming up at three thirty, it's a.

Little behind the glass with Neil Smith, source some NHL, the latest on the Utah Hockey Club and what's next.

And then Richard Smith's Smitty.

Live on site to get us ready for Jazz Grizz tonight and talk some NBA basketball.

We're live today at the Dish. Professionals. Come on buy and say hi.

It's eight oh one.

Four to two four dish.

That's eight oh one four two four dish. A bunch of great deals on Internet, bunch.

Of great deals on cable. We'll let you know what we have going on.

So Mark Carlin, Zach Harper, Blake Murdoch, Neil Smith, Richard Smith, me spent check ats all of you the great listeners. All right, Porter, The good news is the Knicks don't have to play the Celtics every single game. The bad news is all they did is put kat and pick and roll like I thought they would.

Yeah.

I think the issues with the Knicks are going to be exactly what you expect, right, You had a star of that caliber and you're gonna have some benefits on the offensive side. But you also see why there are some detractors on Karl Anthony towns.

Well we'll see.

But yeah, after one game, looking like the Celtics might be class of the East again.

Yeah, and probably the entire NBA. So our first guest will be Mark Harlan right out of the gates. But before we get to Mark, courtesy of our good friends at Standard Restaurants Supply. On a Wednesday afternoon, it's time now for your opening tip.

Welcome to the Drive with Spence Check. It's on Utah's number one Sports Talk. Now into the studio of ESPN seven hundred to set the scene for the show.

The opening tip of.

The Drive is brought to you by Standard Restaurant Supply, your one stop shop to build the best tailgate in town. Standard Restaurants supply thirty five hundred south West Temple.

Opening night tonight for the Utah Jazz.

It's something that I've always loved all the way back when I was a kid in the eighties watching jazz basketball, and definitely Jazz fans NBA fans waking up with a little different pep in your step. Couple of games last night neither really all that, you know, you know, interesting to get into.

I'll just tell you this.

I mean, I know Tom Thibodeau had Karl Anthony Towns in Minnesota. All the Celtics did was put cat and pick and roll with either Tatum or Brown. Get the switch they wanted, beat them one on one, swing it side to side, take a three, or get a bucket. They had twenty nine threes. Joe Mizula talked about them shooting even more threes this year, and they averaged twenty nine attempted threes last year, or excuse me, thirty nine attempted threes. They shot sixty one last night. The Celtics

The Jazz will be without Johnny Juzeng, who shot really well in the.

Preseason, and Isaiah Collier, their rookie, who did show a little bit of an ability to be elite guard in a way maybe some of the other players on the roster have not shown so far. Memphis is your favorite tonight, two and a half point favorite on the road. Get used to that if you're a Jazz fan. So ultimately, when it comes to what you're watching for from the Jazz this year, if we take the front office, that

We've heard from Will Hardy a little bit.

This is going to be a year where you're going to get to know these young players, including the young players they had on the roster a year ago, but maybe even a little bit more so with the second year guys. And we'll see what happens with the rookies. My guest is Kyle Philipowski is going to start the year in the G League. Don't panic, That's fine, That's what the G League is for. Rudy Gobert spent some time there, and I wouldn't be surprised if we see

Some time in the G League. But if the front office is.

Telling us the truth, and we can only take them at their words starting tonight, if you're a Jazz fan, you better get accustomed to seeing these young kids play. We'll already is saying all preseason long. Pups can't raise pups. Hence Patty Mills, Drew You Banks and such. Look, they're not very good. Okay, I can't tell you on anything other than the Jazz or building. It's gonna take some time,

How are you buddy?

All right?

Look, let's try that again. How are you right? Nope?

Let's see eight oh one four to two four dish is the number. It's eight O one four to two four dish. I can tell you right now. They've got great deals on cable. Of course, they've got great deals on internet as well. Ryan, let's try that again. No, we can't here, Ryan, take my headset and tell the people the truth. Let's pretend my wait oh wait, wait wait wait, okay, okay.

Hi Ryan, how are you? Yes?

She always does you know, Luckily she's here, else we'd just be driving back to the studio. All right, So today, let's talk to customers that either have Dish TV or Direct and tell them about the specials that you have available for them.

If they don't take advantage of now, they're just going to expire.

Yeah, they're gonna miss it. This merger is pretty interesting. That's gonna happen. And you know, this is an opportunity where you we still can get customers all the new customer benefits, and you know you're gonna end up in the same place when it's all said and done, but you can take advantage of these credits and there there's so much money out there and new customer incentives, and.

That's where we specialize.

It's just getting people the best offers and best promotions.

And guys, that thing is is prices go up.

And with this offer with Dish especially, it's got a two year price guarantee. We saw a cable rate increase, we saw an internet rate rate increase.

Most everybody had fiber.

Their bills went up, guys, what like was it almost like sixteen percent or something.

It's a pretty massive increase.

So if you call us, let us see what we can do and lower the bill. And you know, we've had so many customers and it's I say the seventy to like one hundred and ten plus, but almost seems more like I hear more one thirties, one hundred and thirty dollars a month cheaper than what they're currently paying. And you know that's that equates to you know, almost three thousand bucks in a couple of years.

Yeah, let's hone in on internet. Because you are Ryan from the Dish pros and so when you hop on the show, people think cable. But I can tell you, you know, I go out and I get my Internet bill and I look at it every week and I'm like, I'm paying too much, you know, because it does continue to rise.

So how can you help people save money on Internet?

Well, so Internet has changed so much in the past three years, especially in this market. Kind of a lot of people like, well, the only option was maybe the cable company, and that's not the case. Now there are so many different providers available that offer very, very good services. We have this five G product that I've been using for over two years and there's a two hundred dollars gift card if you get set.

Up on that. Guys.

It is lightning, lightning fast, and it doesn't have a commitment or a contract, and i can actually get fiber and at my house. And I'm like, why bother because I'm paying less money for this five G product. And the true test is the kids and the wife happy and there, because if it breaks, it's always my fault, right right, yeah yeah, and you know, never have any

Look, the easiest thing to do because we hit you with a bunch of information during our conversation. Yeah, the number one best thing to do is make the phone call and ask some questions.

Right, That's that's the thing.

No, that's what the goal is to say, like to tell you kind of like, hey, this is the possibility this can happen, but just call up and go.

Okay.

I hear Ryan on the radio. I keep saying I want to do this all right, this is what I have. This is the number of TVs, of the channels. I'm looking for what can for us, and we'll lay out the very best promotion offer out there, guaranteed plus because you're here, a little extra special rush back.

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Is it a mistake to play an emotional song for Mark today?

I don't know.

I don't want to make my guy cry because I was appreciate what he takes his time, uh to spend it with us on a Wednesday afternoon. The athletic director of the University of Utah, Mark Harlin, is our guest.

Mark.

Happy Wednesday, sir, How are you hey?

How you doing?

Man?

I'm good, I'm good. I appreciate your time, and let's just get right into it. You know, the football program has really been on incredibly stable footing for the majority of your tenure.

And I'm not implying that they're not.

It just the foundation feels a little looser than it has from my prison ever since you've taken the job. How have you have you digested the last three weeks for Utah football and the news that coach a lot of step decide.

Yeah, it's certainly been a tough It's tough, really four weeks to you count the buy in there, you know, obviously some unexpected results and some disappointing play, and especially when you consider, you know, two of these three in this losing streak, you know, being at home. It's something that's obviously really disappointing, but no more so than for anybody more than this football team and this incredible staff that surrounds them down there at the Echos Football Center.

On track, a coaching staff that has a track record of turning around slow starts, as I continue to talk about, and so certainly coach Wit deserves the benefit of the doubt. But Mark, if you could, and obviously there are plenty of things that you'll keep between the walls where they happened, but if you could take us in inside the decision making process that ultimately led to coach led stepping aside and coach but Jaki and stepping in now calling the place, well, you know.

I think you know when you go through kind of the last few weeks that we've been going through. Like Witz said after the game late on Saturday night early Sunday morning to the media, you know, he was going to look at every everything, and that also meant not only he looking at it, that every single coach was going to look at their position group and and the things that need to do better, because this is isn't just one player, it's not one coach, it's not one

Have any other changes been considered when it comes to the staff at this point, because, as you outlined when you answered my first question, the issues, it's not in one silo, it's not one coach, it's not one player. Like you know this, it hasn't been good enough all the way around with the standard that year program has set and Coach Wits program has set.

Have you considered any other changes at this point?

Yeah, I'm not going to go in the direction of that. I think that's up to Coach Wit to continually analyze that and we talk and we bounce things off each other. You know, let's not forget we're in the middle of a season. We're not in a bye week. The best thing that we can do right now is to get the minds right to play a great football game in Houston Saturday, night and prepare for that like it means everything,

So I exist in a stratosphere mostly of you'd fans as far as my social circle, and these are boosters, these are alumni, these are season ticket holders. And if my inbox says what it says, I have to imagine your inbox says something that you know. And I'm not talking about the internet where cowards go to feel brave, Mark, I'm not talking about the social media feedback. When the football team struggles, What does the athletic director's inbox look like?

You know, it's always going to be up down, and I've just chosen not to really even consider that kind of noise. It's the same thing we encourage our student athletes on any teams, and that includes when we're playing at a really high level, right, because if you buy into that stuff, then you're probably not spending your time

And certainly I understand that when it comes to comments on an article or tweets underneath you know, mentions on a tweet or what have you. But do you feel like, because look, the lifeblood of college football right now, certainly with nil, you need revenue from boosters, you need support from the community, do you still feel like the people that you need as part of your program or steadfast in that support.

Well, I mean, why would I think otherwise? I don't think folks that are invested in a deep way that we have so many folks here going to take three weeks of a football game we decided to walk away. You know, they are concerned. I'm concerned. What's concerned? The players are concerned? Right, but we also talk about being a family, and the family is not you know, is a group that's investing in us, in a group that's

Well, this is as a result of the expectations the football team is set. I mean, you understand that when I was in school, it wasn't this. When I was in school four and three, it was like, sweet, maybe we can get to a bowl. Like there's just a different expectation with Utah football over the past, you know, really twenty years or so. That didn't exist once upon a time. So the reaction of the community, the downtrodden field. Because I'm in the stadium, Mark, I can feel it.

It's different.

The muss is the muss, and you need good football to cheer for. But I think the at least from my prism, I mean, we all come at this from our own echo chamber.

I think the.

Downtrodden emotion in the fan base right now and the folks that care about Utah football as a result of what they're accustomed to because of the standard that's been set, and when the standards not met, people are are not going to be thrilled, if that makes.

Sense, of course, and I have every right net to be thrilled. I mean, like I said earlier, this this has been a program that has been dominant, particularly since the twenty eighteen season, much less the historic seasons and moments that happened previous to that. One of the highest winning percentages in the country. I mean, even this season we were ranked tenth at one point. I mean, I

Come to cheer.

So all of that's there, and all of that's part of college football, but when you're in a moment like this is the leadership position I'm in, and coach and all the coaches and staff surrounding those student athletes is to make sure they remain confident or make sure they have the space to work and prepare and get on to the next opponent. And that really has been our focus.

And also, Mark, it's a chance to see what you're made of, because I'm often and folks who listen to the show, and I know you're an every day So thank you for that. You know that I have any sports as it reflects real life guy, And these are the times in life, and these are the times in sports where you find out what your group is made of. Because look, and I've been called a lunatic for this, I've been called a lunatic for several things. But there's

I appreciate your thoughts, and I'm sure there's folks thinking that way. I would just tell you straight from this office, throughout the Eccles football and beyond, it's all about Saturday at Houston. It's about winning a football game. And all of those other things are out of our control. And the teams you mentioned may win, they may lose, but right now it's all about Houston. That's where we're at and that's our singular focus within the football program.

Help us understand if you can. And look when I was eighteen, if I put on matching socks, I won the day. So I'm going easy on Isaac Man Like he enrolled in April. He was trying to throw touchdowns again Skyridge High School a year ago. But help us understand the dynamic between Mike Bajakian, the new play caller,

Dude, he is so he's just like so young.

So what's the dynamic like between those two And what do you anticipate seeing now that there's a different, different guy in charge of playing a call in plays.

Yeah, I mean I really appreciate the entire team, and the team is made up of so many incredible young men. You know, we have some grizzled vets and then we have our freshman group and certainly our sophomore And I think it's been a little on a report how many young players have really been making impact this year. You look at our tackles, just how amazing they are, how young they are, and I think both being named, you know, on all American lists midway through the year. You know,

Him for a while.

We actually lived close to each other in Tampa, of all places, when he was coaching quarterbacks with the Bucks, and I was the athletic director there at South Florida, and so I've really admired him, and he's been great, and I think, you know, he's ready to take on this challenge. He certainly has the experiences called plays, but more importantly, you know, the connectivity of the offense and

One more football question then when a couple of minutes left.

There there's a lot going on right now.

It's like the busiest time of year, which makes it fun and probably a little chaotic. But since you and I last spoke, and look, my bottom line here is the worst possible luck for Cameron Rising.

I just my I'm gutted for him.

I feel horrible for him because of course he wanted to come back and play against ASU. He probably was hearing some noise and feeling some pressure. Then he gets rolled on the third play and if you watch that replay in slow motion, I don't know how he's even walking after that play, but he got up and gutted it out.

Unfortunately didn't work out.

But if this is it for Cameron, because the future will figure itself out, there's going to be a time for that conversation, but today's not that time. If this is it for Cameron Rising, how should we view him as he walks out the door?

Epic game changer for this program? Leadership Alpha Dog? You know all of all of those things, And I just I have so many memories and interactions with Cam through the years, and you know, I remember when he didn't get we had applied it was like years and years ago now when we had applied to have him play immediately after he transferred in from Texas and we got the word that he couldn't, right, he didn't satisfy those requirements.

And forever grateful, all right, lost in the shuffle, because there's so much going on is Big Twelve media days for the basketball team, both the men's and the women's.

Let's start on the men's side.

I mean, you know, the Pac twelve at times was a solid basketball conference. It you know, it went up and down like most conferences do. This is a different challenge. There are five Big Big twelve teams in the top ten, which is a record. Six are ranked five in the top ten, So this is going to be quite a challenge for Craig. And you know, I think what we've learned on the football side of things is, don't ever listen to the media. We don't know anything better. Pick

Yeah, just a lot of really solid work. You know, with the new rules in this transfer portal era, you know, most teams are adding seven to ten new players across the country, and you know, being able to that summer work and then stretching into the fall has been real blessing for us. You know, we had a scrimmage with a really solid Big ten team here on Saturday, we played fantastic. I was able to watch the whole game,

You know.

I think that that's what's you know, student athletes at this level, that's what they want. They thrive in that competition. It makes them work even harder. So I'm excited about that. And then the women, you know, they have Gianna back. It's just just gigantic for the program. I mean, the loser last year was just devastating, and to see her back smile and running around is fantastic, along with Jenna and some other incredible returning players. And they just got

Before I say you loose, I just wanted to give you a couple of minutes.

I saw that the golf team is climbing, and as a old man, you can't play pickup hoops anymore. I swing a golf club quite a bit, so excited about that. But football and basketball from a meat and potato sports stock radio standpoint kind of gets a lot of bandwidth around here. What are some of the other happenings around the athletic department right now?

Mark, Well, I appreciate that because obviously football takes a lot of headlines, but the other sports are just having some of their best balls they've had in years. You know, you mentioned golf, the highest ever rating today at tenth, when two tournaments already cross country highest rating in their program history at six in the nation and volleyball, you know,

Know it can be.

Better days ahead, Mark, And you know you're not always up, as you know you've been in this business a long time, So thank you for the time on a tough week, and I'd love to have you on again soon.

Okay, appreciate it. Thank you all right.

Mark Carlin, Athletic director for the University of Utah. He is on social media. He has his own podcast. You can find it at Mark Carlan Underscore Ad. All right, before we catch a break, I want to tell you about my friends at Fiica Infusion and Wellness. You can give yourself a head start with a little push from Fika Infusion and Wellness.

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Pitbull is on my radio show.

It must mean the triumphant return of one Zach Harper on a beautiful Wednesday.

Zach, I love you, I hate you.

How are you?

I'm great? I love you and I love you. You know, no hatred here, even though you're wrong about Pitbull. The concert happen yet in Salt Lake City.

I wouldn't know if it did, Buddy. That's where I'm at with pit Bull the perfect cover. How you been Man, I'm good man.

I you know.

I try to take time and not get excited about the season until like opening night, and yesterday I was geeks for it. I was so excited that everything was back and I'm here for well. Tonight's games are terrible, but for the most part, I'm here for the return of everything.

For sure, and I follow you, follow you on socials.

So you had a rather eventful off season, mister world traveler, tell us give us the cliff notes.

You know, much like much like Pitbull, I was trying to be mister worldwide.

Indeed, I went to Europe.

I went to Amsterdam, I went to Copenhagen, I went to Prague, I went to Paris, I went to London. That was everywhere.

Now has your palette changed?

That's the number one thing that changes when you're traveling travel internationally.

I mean, I like, I learned about some you know, Czech or Czech Republic chech food, I don't know.

I don't know what.

I don't know what you call it, check food, prog food. I learned about some stuff, and I wasn't a huge fan. I was reinforced on all things French cooking, and then just very surprised how into Italian food that Amsterdam was ah a lot of and also in Copenhagen apparently known for hot dogs.

I did not know that.

I've only been to the airport in Amsterdam, so I haven't really sampled the cuisine.

But we can move on. Nobody gives a rip outside of me, but it's my show, Zach, as you know.

So indeed, so we sit here opening night for the Utah Jazz. We'll start locally and then we'll expand it to some other topics and conversation around the NBA.

They essentially ran it back with three new rookies.

Justin Zanik for his preseason media availability, when asked about the big game hunting Moniker, he said, we tried and there was nothing out there. Well, I'll leave aside the fifteen really good players that actually did move. I guess what he's saying is there was nothing out there that was worth it to sacrifice. You know, the assets they have Vegas over under is twenty nine and a half, so they think we're in for another year of maybe

I feel like we're the two radio guys and in the movie groundhog Day, just yelling in the Groundhog Day.

Yeah yeah, yeah, uh yeah.

I mean this is where this is where the jazz exists. They don't want to do a full tank. They want to be competitive. I expect a lot of like the

And that's where I've been at.

But they disagree and they run the show, and they've yet to hire us as their consultants even though our business is out there.

Just go ahead and hit us.

Up on the social too.

Yeah, I know, man, And they're blowing it by not bringing us in.

But ultimately, since you and I last spoke, they did bring back marketing on a Max Steal and that's who he is in the league, and that's who he is to this team. Do you have any insight as to whether or not they were ever close to actually pulling the trigger on a move with him, And what do you make of who they perceive to.

Be And look, he's really good.

I don't want to come across like I'm knocking on marketing because he's awesome. They talk about him as if he's a legitimate cornerstone. I think he's more like the third best player on a title winning team, but they're not close to that.

So do you have any.

Insight as far as how close they were to movie him and what are your thoughts on them committeing a big portion of their cat to him in the future.

I don't think it got particularly close, you know, I know, I know Sacramento called in, I know you know the Warriors were heavily involved, but you know, some other teams were definitely interested. But you get into this negotiating standoff and it happens a lot. It's not just the Danny Aingeer jazz thing, but you get into the standoff where, hey, this is our guy. We like him a lot, We're gonna max him out. He you know, he's he's an

So xanik Ames, even Ryan Smith, the owner, whenever they're asked about kind of the plan for this season, they refer to the youth and they talk about development, and they've all said with some small variation with each like the only way to develop our young players is to play them. So there are seven players twenty three or under. It's Walker Kessler is the oldest, and obviously all these rookies all the way down.

To Isaiah Callier.

The question is Will Hardy right, because ultimately the rotation is going to be up to him, And so do you anticipate Will leaning into simply developing young players? And on the night that Isaiah Colliers one for seventeen and isn't going to impact winning, will he allow these young players to play through mistakes? Are we gonna have to suffer?

Yeah, I mean I think Will. I think, you know, like I do think they empower Will from what I hear, and I think they should. I think at a certain point it won't be up to Will as much, right in terms of like, hey, you know, we're five ten games under five hundred. It's the middle of the season. We're good, but we're not terrible. You know, we maybe we start focusing. Maybe this guy is a little injured,

Last year.

There were times where he showed glimpses early on. I'm like, yo, this kid is good. This kid deserves to be on the court. And there were times where he played and you don't. I don't know why he's out there, right. I mean, it was more good than bad, but he was a rookie. He was a rookie point guard, and I think it led to that kind of ebb and flow and he's stuck with him. But I don't think everyone gets that same luxury as Kante George gotten, nor

Yeah, let's uh let's dig into Kiante a little bit. So the fact of the matter is you brought this up a couple of times. He was not a great shot maker in college, and he was not a great shot maker his rookie year, even though he had some volume in some usage. I mean, he averaged eleven field goal attempts at night but shot thirty nine percent, shot six threes a night, but only shot thirty three percent.

You like the body you like to build.

I still am a little bit skeptical about his ability to lead a team as a lead guard. Will continuously talks about not using labels and it doesn't matter who initiates the offense. That's fine, but somebody still got to make a play. So your two keyante, George, what do you think it looks like?

I mean, I think I think it looks you know, I think it looks a lot better I you know, he it's it's weird. It's with him, everything looks good in terms of creation and ability, Like he creates a shot that I think is like, that's a good shot and it just doesn't go down. I don't look at his shooting form and think, God, it needs an overhaul, right, Like I look at him, like, yeah, it's pretty good.

A lead guard.

He he's he's got a good build, like he's you know, everything is everything looks like he's a player. But if that shot doesn't start falling and isn't progressing, and the finishing at the rim isn't progressing, like all that stuff isn't progressing as this season goes on, yeah, like early on next season, if that's still an issue, you have

So it's a big year for Walker because ultimately, you know, year three rookie deal. They did pick up his option, which isn't a surprise so beyond the team next year, but second Rookie of the Year voting shout out Andy Larson, who voted for him for Rookie of the Year.

Oh Andy, God bless you.

He was never gonna be that uh And the year one to year two jump was not there. All of his numbers dipped outside of blocks per game, but the opponent's field goal percentage at the rim actually improved a lot. So he was blocking shots but not affecting them in a way that he did as a rookie. So for Walker to convince the organization that he's not just a guy in a rotational piece, but a guy that you can start and roll with, what does this year have to look like?

I mean, you know it starts with health obviously, but he he just has to be someone. Can he run, dribble, handoff stuff. Can he you know, be alone on the perimeter with the ball. And it's not a complete minus. It doesn't mean he has to shoot threes, but he has to be able to, like, you know, kind of dribble into some action. Find you know, find a guy coming off the screen with a crisp pass like. All that stuff has to happen. He has to finish at the rim. He has to be a lob thread at

We had local media members saying after two weeks that he was better than Gobert when he was a rookie.

So you know, that's kind of how we roll around here.

I suppose I should ask you, is there any player on this roster that reminds you of a young Manu Ginobili.

You know, one that actually does Maybe Cody Wallents. I love Cody Williams, like that rookie the year. I'm a big Cody Williams guy. I don't know if that's Manu territory, but you know there's time for that to develop.

Yeah, one step at a time.

Let's move into the Cody space, because, like you, I like him a lot, and I do think he's going to get run out of the gates.

I think he's going to play right away.

I don't think the other two will Isaiah Collier has hurt tonight and he might crack the rotation. I think Philip Palace. He's going to start the season in the G League, which is fine. He's a late first round pick. But I, like you, I'm pretty enamored with Cody, so I hope to see him quite a bit starting tonight. What do you like most about this young lottery pick rookie for the Jazz.

I just I think he's feel for the game, you know, I don't. I don't think it's fair to compare him to his brother for those who don't know, you know, Jayalen Williams and the good One and okay, see the guy who's a borderline All Star, Like they they have similar games, but it's you know, his brother was just so much further along than he is at this point. But I think, like, I think the SHOT's good. I think his feel for, you know, just doing things with

Last Jazz thing.

Then we'll move on to some other topics before I said, you loose for this Wednesday hit. And you know, Dennis Lindsay, the prior iteration of the Jazz front off is Quinn Snyder. Those guys, and they often talked about both on and off the record, by the way, kind of calculating their build to coincide at its peak with the rest of the league, kind of going down a little bit with Age with Lebron, aging with Steph Age, aging with Durant

Yeah, I mean, I don't think you can look at it that way anymore. Right, There's so many different timelines throughout the Western Conference, And again, like if the Spurs can be just solid all season and not go through those big dips like they did last year, they'll be in the mix of the playing tournament too, because I don't know how many wins it's gonna saey, Like, there's just too many good teams in the Western Conference to believe that, you know, you're gonna have a forty seven

Like whoever that is.

They're like, there's just so many prospects in the next

Yeah, I've applied, I've not heard back, So we'll see kind of how.

That plays out.

Hey, before right, I know we do, I know, I know, I mean we are worldwide to speaking of pitbull, I mean prestige worldwide. You know, hit us up last thing, then I'll set you loose. Since Memphis is in town tonight, I'm wondering what you expect now. Jared Jackson Junior is not playing. Neither's Lukenard, neither's Gig Jackson, their rookie cam spencer from Yukon. They're without four rotational pieces, but they do get job back, who only played nine games last year.

You know, I've been anti Zachi Edie just I don't. I didn't. I haven't thought it's gonna work in any way. I'm you know, it's just preseason. But like I was, I was impressed with how he moved, sure, impressed with with how they used him and how John him played off each other a little bit. So I do think that adds a really interesting just presence, and especially if you're talking about a jazz team that has Walker Kessler

You have to have focus on.

Deszon Vane, just Jaw in those nine games he was back with the Grizzes last year, which just a reminder of oh, yeah, that guy is so good. I get all the nonsense he's been through, but that guy just galvanizes a team in a way few can, and so I expect them to be up and down the floor. I expect them to try to play at a really fast pace. I think the defense is going to be very aggressive. I think the Jazz can take advantage of that because it's still kind of new getting everything back

Great to have the NBA back, Zach. Great to have you back. Have a great weekend. We'll chat soon, Buddy, okay, dolly, Oh goodness.

Pitbull fan NBA expert Zach Harper on the show Jazz in Action tonight taking on the Grizzlies today. The Dish professionals give him a call it eight to one, four to two four Dish eight to one, four to two four dish. So I'm currently driving around a Genesis GB eighty and it is awesome. I was in a G eighty before, which is kind of their luxury sedan, and then I traded it in because my friends at Murdoch were good enough to take care of me for the winter.

Ben.

How are you man?

I'm great? How are you?

I'm good.

All I want to know is why you were working and Blake happens to be golfing.

How'd you get how'd you get? The rhynd of the deal?

There, we're not supposed to say.

That out loud in case he's case, he's listening. No, he's he's a little trip with my dad out with some good friends of theirs, and hopefully they're enjoying their time down in South Carolina.

And you know, I'm a big fan of the Murdoch family. Our fathers were at BYU together. You were at BYU with my brother Nate, and I was a teammate of Blake at Bountiful High. We both played for Mike Maxwell. You played college basketball, but we won state.

Yeah.

Does Blake ever throw that at you?

No, he doesn't because he could never play. I mean he played a little bit. But yeah, my senior year actually, you know, let's go back to some Uncle Rico days. We were ranked number one in the state pretty much all year and lost a lone peak in the semi finals. We had good good my senior we had a really good high school team. H and uh, you know, we just didn't have it that last game they beat us.

You know, we we put together a little video for Mike Mike Maxwell as he stepped aside, I wonder what your experience was like playing playing for coach Maxwell and now that he's done a Bountiful high.

Yeah, I loved it. I thought Coach Maxwell was awesome back then. He was a great teacher, he was a great team guy. I loved the system that we ran at that time. And same as when you were their spences. You're pressing the whole game, you're up and down, you're shooting threes, which back then, shooting the amount of threes that we shot was an outliner. Yeah, yeah, right, pull up threes on a fast break that's what we did. Yeah, and uh so I loved it. And Mike's a great guy.

It's funny with the modern day because we we're gonna go full Uncle Rico for a moment. Okay, because your boy here said a record for three points shots made in a half.

I hit five against Leyton.

It stood for like two years because now I think at one point the record for threes made. I think it was wilbur who said it with nine for Bountiful back in the day. And now you look at box scores, these kids are making nine, ten, eleven threes every single game.

The game has completely changed.

Every game, and they shoot it from anywhere. It was a terrible shot, right in some cases still is a terrible shot.

Yes, you know, yes, absolutely.

But you know they make thirty percent of them, and they think their world beaters sometimes for sure, because they're making it from ten feet behind the three point line.

And even if they bank it in, they're strutting back like, oh I meant to do that, And it's like ward ball. It's not like everybody plays that way. Now, you played for Dave at b YU, Dave Rose, Yeah, what was it? I mean, I sent my son to Dave's camps for a couple of years. I went to BYU camps when Roger Reid was was there coaching. What was your experience like playing for Dave.

Coach Rose was awesome. I loved him. I had the opportunity. I played in junior college first actually for John Judkins.

Oh now to Dixie.

Jutty was awesome. He was so fun and that he's a great coach. And then going up to BYU. I loved coach Rose back then. Once again, our style of play was so much different. We had Trent placed it and we had Keena Young in the post. So everything we did half court wise was through the post because we had some unbelievable post players.

Was an NBA guy here, Yeah, but it was still up.

And down and we still you run and gun, you get the rebound. Dave Rice was the who's now at Sally Community College is that head coach? He was kind of the offensive coordinator force who came from UNLV and so it was early offense, run, open shot, you shoot at your open off the break, and if not, then then we feed the post and work off of that. But coach Row is awesome. He was a great motivator and and you know he did a great job for BYU.

You played football and soccer Bountiful, I did. Okay, so you were a three three sport athlete.

You have kids, Yeah, yes, So it's interesting now because when also, as we go full on Uncle Rico, when I was young, it was baseball, it was lacrosse, it was football, it was basketball. I mean it dependent on the seasons. Now, I feel like as you raise kids, the pressure is to get them into the comp stuff when they're like six or seven. Spend ten grand a year, if not more, to make sure they're in this pipeline

Right.

Have you noticed a change?

I mean, I don't know how old your kids are, but to kind of pressure them to play one sport, even if they only want to play high school.

Yeah. So my oldest is fifteen, he's a sophomore. Work's cross. Youngest is five. He's kind of going towards golf now, not the best basketball player, and he's really small sophomore anyways, ninety pounds.

I could put a golf club in his hand.

But when we lived in Logan, and obviously Logan's a lot smaller than down here on the wasatch front. It was like, Okay, we're going to go trout for this Blue Sox team. And I was coaching his basketball team and he wanted to play soccer two and a really competitive soccer team that was really good. And this baseball team, like, we're going to practice twice a week. We got double headers every Saturday, and this has got to be your main parative. It's like, well, what if we want to

That's a great point because you don't know what Look, you're eight, you only know your parents. You're lucky if you don't pee the bed at now. You don't know what you like it eight.

And so Malcolm Gladwell kind.

Of did this disservice to people with the outliers thirty thousand hour rule. Okay, because people view that as gospel that has been dispelled, and what's found now is yes you need reps and yes you need probably that amount of hours. But what Malcolm Gladwell didn't teach what we're learning now is the athlete has to love what the

He that's all he wanted to do.

So what we see now because I coached my son's junior jazz team for a few years and the parents are just the worst. These parents are forcing kids to get their thirty thousand hours whether or not the kids like the sport.

And to your point, if.

They don't like it, they're gonna get burned out. They're gonna want to do something else.

Yeah, it's as I said, it's it's it's frustrating sometimes as a parent too. And you know, for my kids, some of them, you know, it's like I want to play basketball. I'm like, hey, just so you know, like you don't have to play. Don't do it for me. I don't want you doing this for me because actually my life is a lot easier if you don't do it.

Absolutely.

Yeah, well I have more time to golf myself, I have more time to But if you want to do it, then I will be there to help you, support you, train you, all those types of things and so. But but I wish we could go back in some ways. Sure because of that.

Yeah, now you reference golf, and I'll give Blake a little credit here because he was honest that you're a better player than he is now.

He said he's improving now.

Right, So if you and Blake go head to head, what does that look like if you're just playing against each other.

On a golf course.

Well, the way it is right now, we usually play just basically best ball. I would love to play strokes. He won't ever play strokes. Ok he's a nine and a half handicap right now. Some days obviously it's with amateur golfers like us. You can go and you know, shoot even every once in a while and just kill it and then the next day you're shooting at ninety. But we play best ball. It's competitive. I give him five or four to six strokes, depending on how it

Now, that's what I was going to say.

It feels like you're giving your older brother a little bit of a break there, because what's your index right now?

I'm a five point three round Okay.

So I'm a seven six five to three? Is your stick? Where'd you like to play there? Are you a member anywhere?

I'm a member at Oakridge?

Love Oakridge and.

Oakridge is a phenomenal course. I think this this year is maybe the best shape that it's been in since. I remember because my dad was a member when I was growing up, and I didn't play very much golf growing up.

Neither did I thought it was boring.

And I regret it. I was playing baseball and soccer and football, so I never played golf. But it's unbelievable. I love the Logan Country Club too. I lived up there for thirteen years. So they've basically just redone the whole course up there, and it's unbelievable. The Junior, the the stateium is there next year if they get it all finished.

Very nice.

So Blake does this sneaky thing where he pretends he's a youth fan in addition to a BYU fan, and look, it's like the old Michael Jordan line. Republicans buy sneakers too. Okay, So I understand you want to take care everybody. You guys work with coaches at the up. You're your b Why you blue though, Big Big Blake played football down there.

You know, my pops is a BYU basketball player.

So everything that I thought Utah football would be is taking place forty miles down south.

Right now, Klanie's my guy a Rod.

They joined the show What do you make of this magical star for BYU football.

It's very exciting actually for BYU, for their fans, for everything BYU right now, and it is Utah is really disappointing. I myself, Yes, I'm a BYU fan.

Played there.

I love the Witninghams though Kyle is you know, assault of the Earth guy, and so we're we're Utah supporters. That's what I say. I'm a BYU fan, but I'm a Utah supporter. I like that, And but it is it is frustrating, kind of feels like Utah just isn't meshing very well. Is that because the play calls? Is that just because one thing? Miscommunications between players? But at by you, Yeah, everything has just kind of come together and they talked a lot about it in the off season.

Yeah, it's been fun. I mean I always say because we're the home of the utes. But people always ask me, you know, who do you cheer for? And I say everybody. My job is better when everybody's winning. And I've got a dashboard I can show you segments I do. When BYU football wins, it's a rising tide because their fans come out and they listen to the radio and they read the newspaper. So I wish you taught football was better. But I'm thrilled the BYU football is doing this because

Believe played with your dad at BYU.

They were there together, right, Yeah, Kyle was a fresh when my dad as a senior, and then Kyle's dad was my dad's linebacker coach. My dad went on a mission after four years, came home and then coached Kyle as a grad assistant.

Ah, that's right, so they're very close, very close. I really don't love if this is the end. I wish it was a different final chapter. I don't know if it is, but I just don't want to see him going out like this.

Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent. You always want to see people go on top that you have their back, you root for and uh and it is. I I hope they can kind of turn it around against every team but b YU.

For sure.

But yeah, I hope, I hope it doesn't end this way because Kyle's been so great for so long for the university, for the state, for his players, you know, and and so hopefully they can they can turn it around.

What sort of parallels if any? Because your dad was a great athlete, you blake, there are.

Seven girls and three boys, because you.

Guys used to host family dinners for our basket team, and I would I would always get your dad's hire because I'd walk in and I'd pretend your mom was one of the daughters. I'd say, oh, it's nice to have you know, your oldest daughter here, like you know, and your dad, which you know, so spending a bunch of time up at the house back in the day. Obviously your parents are salted these people. But your dad's

Yeah, one hundred percent. I think your mindset, your winning mindset, is your growth mindset as opposed to you know, a fixed mindset is we got to go from here to here. How are we going to do that? Setting plans. That's all what sports are about, obviously, and then the discipline that it takes. You got to have discipline to do the right things over and over and over again to be successful in business. We're fourth generation in the car

It were really coming up on one hundred years or have we passed it?

Next year? Is our one hundred year?

Yes, that's insane to think about, you guys, have been doing this in the state for one hundred years, all right. So a few months back and we'll end on this. But a few months back I was driving around. I had an A six that I loved. I loved the car, had it.

For a couple of years.

Unfortunately, a very eager Utah college student came barely out of her driveway and branded inside of my car. It totaled my A six, which she had been good right. Luckily she was at fault. Insurance took care of it. But I called Blake. I'm like, look, I need a car, and I said it's totaled. I need a car, like next week, right, So he said have you heard about Genesis And I said no, and he said it's a

Yes, And within five minutes he put me in the G eighty.

I was like, dude, this is the one, right, And so I drove around the G eighty and then Blake had me turned it in for the winter, and now I have the GV eighty, which is the suv.

As we talked about off Er, it's an awesome car.

So essentially, the way I describe it is it feels like you're driving any luxury brand that comes your mind when I say luxury car. The Genesis feels just like any one of them. And I come from a BMW family, Like I've driven, you know, top shelf cars. This feels like you're driving that, but the price point is insanely lower.

So let's start with the Genesis. What do you want our listeners to know?

So, yeah, Genesis is Hyundai's luxury brand. Just as you said as Lexuss to Toyota. It became a brand officially in twenty nineteen itself. The way the company is structured is Genesis is one hundred percent its own brand, and the cars that they build are top notch. As you said, you sit in the car, you fill it, the technology

Yeah than that. Yeah, I agree.

So I'm telling you, if you're in the market for a new car and you want luxury, you want a luxury experience with a much better price point, check out Genesis of Linden.

It's a luxury brand for the Murdocado team.

All right, before I set you loose seven locations, the one hundred year anniversary is coming up. What else do you want our listeners to know about what you have going on at all your locations ben.

Obviously coming in the end of the year, whether it's a Chevy truck, a GMC truck, whether you want an electric vehicle, whether it's Chevy, Cadillac, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Genesis, all of those things obviously major discounts right now. And so we can be your one stop shop. And as far as used cars are concerned, we can. We can get fined sell you any use cards you're looking for out there.

That's the way to go. Website real quick. For say you lose there's.

A couple, but the Murdoc Auto Team dot.

Com Murdoch Audo Team dot com. Yeah, Ben, good to see you man. Let's hope YU keeps it up and hopefully Kyle can.

Figure it out. All right, that's right, thanks. Ben's all right, Ben Murdock.

I am telling you I've been in this GV eighty for about two months now, and it is it's awesome and the price point is great.

Check it out.

It's Genesis of Linden. It's the luxury brand for the Murdoch Audo Team. They have seven locations serving the Oasatch front. In addition to Genesis, Murdoch Auto Team has three Hundai stores, two Chevy stores, one GM store Volkswagen. Check it out Logan Lynden, Murray woods Cross. Murdoch has a dealership near you. They've been the number one Hundai dealer for nineteen years running and has Ben just reference.

They've been in business for one hundred years.

So check it out. Tell me you heard it on the drive with Spence. Check its telling me you heard Spence talking about the GV eighty or the G eighty and gone down to that luxury spot. It is the Genesis of Lyndon. Check him out online and they'll hook you up.

With a great deal.

I'm telling you, it feels like you're driving any of the high end brands, but it's like forty fifty thousand dollars less out with my good friends at Genesis of Lindon.

This is Neil Smith, former president and GM of the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders. Join me and my co host Vic Morn for our podcast NHL Wrap Around for all the important news and views around the NHL.

A little Neil diamon on a Wednesday. Wow, wasn't expecting this. Nothing wrong with it, though. We're going to get back to little college football later on and some NBA as the Jazz are starting tonight. But let's do a little NHL. Let's do a little Utah Hockey Club. You just heard his voice there in the intro. It's great to have Neil Smith back on the program.

On a Wednesday. Neil, Happy Wednesday, sir.

How are you.

I'm I'm great. I was at the game last night and then trying to keep track of fifteen more on my phone because last night, as you know, it was a sixteen. Every single team in the league playing last night.

That's right, that's right. I was actually going to ask you, is that is that a new initiative for the Frozen Fury? I believe they called it, Is that a new initiative for the league?

The Frozen Frenzy? And I think it's yeah. I think I think they do it in conjunction with the ESPN, and they staggered the times. They start them at six pm Eastern and run them all the way through till eleven o'clock at night, that you know, starting every fifteen minutes. I think it's just done once a year, and I think that in conjunction with with ESPN. But you know, it's it's hard to night. I got to keep track of sixteen games going on, no I can imagine.

I can imagine.

So we'll start with our local club and then we'll pan out a little bit from a thirty thousand foot view to get your thoughts on the start of the season. We've got to talk about Winnipeg. They can't lose at this point. But really the.

First game, and I've watched all of them.

I was there for the opening night and the Devils did blank the Utah Hockey Club. But last night they just looked like they were over their skis a little bit as they got smoked pretty good four zero by the Senator.

So give me your thoughts on both the.

Start of the season so far and what we saw last night is the Utah Hockey Club suffered a four zero loss.

Yeah, I think their start has been has been real good. I think last night they laid an egg. But I think Connor Ingram letting in four goals and nine shots really put them in a hole. And so you can start with that. And I don't want to throw all the blame on the goaltender, but he can't allow four goals on nine shots, and so In came to Milica and did a good job after that. He didn't let anything in. So I think that was just, you know, as I said, they just laid and egg. They've played

They're there fourth in the in the central and you know, it's been a it was a super super fast start. Then they've leveled out a little bit with the dynamic of how young the team is. Neo, would you tell our hockey fans out this way to probably expect the season that will have and flow a little bit like it has so far.

Yeah, I think it is.

And you know, I was today when I read the news about Jersey and Mary Marino not being able to come be back in the lineup for a number of months. That's scary because those two right handed defensemen are you know, in the top six obviously. And now you've got to go down to the Miners, and I think they're going to call up a twenty year old kid, six foot seven defenseman from the Miners whose name is escaping me. I knew it ten minutes ago and I've forgotten now.

Maverick lamarrea Maverick Lamaro.

That's right, They're going to bring him up. He's a twenty year old, he's he was the first round pick for them for the for the former Arizona Coyotes late in the first round. But he'll be a big body out there and he'll he'll do his best to fill in for these guys. But when when you lose defense, when it's a big hole, they're lucky. They when I say they're lucky, they're smart. They signed Bortuso, who's a veteran, won a Stanley Cup with Saint Louis, so he's up.

Well, that's exciting to hear. I hope you're right.

We love a little playoff hockey, little Stanley Cup action. First year on the market, so Neil, they scored twenty two goals, that's good for third in the Central Division, but they've allowed twenty four, which is good for second to last. So they're scoring at a high clip, but

What do you see there.

Well, you go back to the two injuries. For sure, you got Sergachev who's there, who's a really dynamic player on defense, but he is going to cost you from time to time being weaked offensively. And you go back over these three games they just played this past week that the including the the Leo Carlson overtime goal in Anaheim, where you know, Serghev was badly beaten. So I you know, but that's going to happen with him because he's a

So before we move on to some big picture NHL topics, I was asked this question, I do a TV hit here in the market on a weekly basis, and now of course with hockey here. Believe it or not, I'm the one they ask hockey questions to wrong dude, But I do the best I can.

Follow the sport.

So they kind of they asked me, like, what's the personality of this club through the early parts of the season with what we've seen so far? Is it reasonable to expect, you know, high powered offensive club that can really score goals in bunches and continues to struggle on defense. What would you what's your response if I asked you what's the personality of this club so far?

Well, I think it's an exciting offensive team, and they're going to have to start to play a lot more responsibly, especially because they've lost two veteran defensemens. So it's a very exciting team. They love to play, run and gun.

Do you think they're deep enough to survive a season where injuries are certainly commonplace with a sport like this, because certainly top end with Clayton Keller and Dylan Gunther and Logan Cooley, Nick Smaltz has seven assists.

I mean, I mean, their top end guys are playing really well.

Are they deep enough in your opinion, to survive the long season or do you think there's something going on with Bill Armstrong in the front office that they've got like eight and a half mil in cap space and a bevy of draft picks and capital to play with. Do you anticipate potentially any additions or do you like their depth as it is?

Well?

I think that the GM is always looking to try to improve his team, make his team have more depth and stronger and be able to withstand injuries, for sure, And I'm sure Doug Armstrong's doing that. Sorry, Doug arm I always do that, don't I see Doug arm Rest, And I'm sure he's doing that to try to bolster's team. You can never have enough defense. And that's I mean, we're seeing it already this year with those two guys out. So yeah, do I think they're deep enough. I think

So Colorado rolls into town nil on Friday, and there's a lot of buzz around this game because regionally, there's like this natural potential rivalry fit. In my opinion, rivalries are made in the playoffs, and the Abs started out horribly, but they've rided the ship as of late. They've won three straight over the Ducks, the Sharks, and the Kraken, and the Abs are the favorite to win here in Salt Lake. Tell us about this Ava.

Lance team, What do we what do you? What do you expect them to see coming up on Friday night?

Well, where they've really struggled as in goal they they have just not been good at all and then played pretty well in their last game. He's and he's usually their backup goalie. Yorgia is their number one, but he has just had an awful start to this season, and Colorado has had some losses. They've got some injuries also,

All right, moving over to some other big picture of topics. I will admit ignorance.

If Winnipeg was supposed to be this, I just didn't know about it. But they have not lost through six games. They've captured all twelve points. They have the first spot in the Central Division, which is where we lie here with the Utah hockey club. What stands out most about this hot start to the Winnipeg season and is it something that we should have seen coming.

No, it's not something you should have seen coming because I didn't see it coming, and I wondered if how good they would be to start the season. But they've got a tremendous goaltender in Hellibuck, and their guys up front are playing like Sisley and that are playing really well. They got a new coach and Scott O'Neil, who's paid his dues as an assistant around the league. He had a previous opportunity to coach Columbus as the head coach, and then he served with a lot of other teams

Okay.

In addition to let's stay in the division, just kind of interest out this way, the Minnesota Wild have also not lost now they've got a couple of overtime situations. They have ten points through six games played. They're sitting at number two in the division. Kind of same question. What do you make of their hot start and was this something we should have anticipated?

Again, I didn't think they had I didn't think they make the playoffs, So I was saying that they weren't. They weren't going to be any better than they were last year. But having said that, they have had a real hot start, why have they had a heart hot start? Again? Their goaltenders playing great. Gustafson has been really good for them, and the coach is getting a lot out of them. So you know what, these are the things that come to surprise you when you think that it's automatic that

So I certainly my heart lies with the Rangers and always will. But there's a piece of my heart that I left in Saint Louis because of our experience there as a family. And I smile when I see the Utah Hockey Club next to the Saint Louis Blues in the Central Division. It's something I never thought i'd see, certainly in this business, being able to cover a hockey club here locally that goes toe to toe with a club that I was very close to for a number of years.

Give me your thoughts on the start of the season of the Blues.

They just had a pretty bad injury unfortunately, and are you expecting more from them as we kind of traverse our way through the year.

Yeah, I'm you know what, I like the Blues. I like what they did in the summer, and Doug Armstrong's the GM there and he did those two offer sheets and got both the players from the Edmonton Oilers that really bolstered his lineup. He re signed the Snevitch to a long term contract, who's one of their best players. So you know, I think they're going to be fighting

You know, one more thing before I say you lose, because I don't think I've asked you about our coach out this Way, Andre Torney. I guess they call him Bear. He's a very entertaining interview. He's fun to listen to, and I think a lot of people are pretty excited about He's only fifty and you know he's been around for a little bit. What do you know about coach Torny? What sort of coach is he?

The guy that's kind of running the club out this way?

You know, I know most people in the nhl'll spend but I don't know him. But I have watched him for his years in the Phoenix, and he's got to be a player's coach. He's got to be a guy that's well liked by the players to have survived all those frustrating seasons that they had in Phoenix where they didn't they weren't spending money, and they were continually just trying to use young guys and do the best they could.

All right, Neil, before I set you loose, we have a lot of new hockey fans out this way, thirsty for hockey content.

How can they find the pod?

Well, I hope they will give us a try on NHL wrap Around. You can find it on Spotify, Apple and everywhere else, and you could find a podcast. I think you'll learn things on there that you didn't know before you started to listen to it. So give it a chance. And I appreciate that, Spence.

It is quality, Neil. Thank you for the time, sir. What chat next week?

I can't wait, thank you very much.

Neil Smith, former general manager of the New York Rangers when they want to Stanley Cup in ninety four, former general manager of the Islanders. He was the chief scout for the Red Wings. My man knows hockey probably the best hockey. Yes, you're gonna hear in the market. The Utah Hockey Club got spank last night. Back an action against Colorado coming up on Friday. All right, are you watching the Utah Hockey Club games? Are you watching the NFL? College football, NBA? You can get it in one place

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Right, that's my guess. Unless you're Christopher Mccanndaliss listening from far off in Alaska, that's probably the deal. So what you're saying is, with the three options we have available today, you'll end up saving right out of the gates about three hundred dollars a month. Now, off the top, that might not sound like a lot, but if you do the math with com pound interest for one year, that's three six hundred dollars.

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All right, we're live today from the dish Professionals.

I just got the last pack of peanut Eminem's and Cynthia doesn't think panot eminems are an elite candy, so she's wrong. The Utah Jazz are in action tonight. Our next guest usually is live on site. He must be very busy today, so we'll give him a pass. Richard Smith forty years with a jazz front office, good enough to give us some time on an opening day.

Smittie, Happy Wednesday. How are we doing?

Thanks?

Thanks for doing great on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon. How about this weather?

I know it's perfect, but enjoy it because it's going to be thirty five next weekend, so we'll enjoy it while we can.

Smitty, what's what's your opinion on Pean and M and M's. I say they're elite. My tech disagrees.

We Eminem's are right at the top of the list. That's that's that has to be one of the go. You're in the dire straits and you have five minutes to get something going.

All right, I'm glad we're on the same page, SMITTI. All right, Opening night for.

The Utah Jazz.

Uh.

Take us behind the scenes on what opening night is like in the arena, in the front office. All the hard work that most people never see and never will see behind the scenes culminate in the actual show.

So what's what's the buzz like down at the arena? What's the feeling like typically when opening day is here.

Well, it's always a day of renewal, Spencer, because everybody starts the season, oh and oh nobody's lost the game yet everybody thinks they're gonna be better than they probably are or as other people are saying they're.

Going to be. But there's always optimism because you always feel like, you know, we can get something more done than people think we can. We're gonna work hard, we're gonna be organized, we're going to be better in our player development this year than we were last year. So when we roll the ball out you start the season, you know where everybody has that same feeling. It doesn't matter whether you were the worst team in the league. Last year you were the best team. Everybody's got that

Let's stick with that theme of positivity. What's your Jazz fans? What what are the positive elements of what the season could bring? If you're a Jazz fan, what are the reasons for positivity?

Well, I think they're just, uh, you're just going to be looking at whether you see any kind of incremental development, uh in a plus way with all your young guys and that and that's what that's the system they've set up this year. Obviously, they brought back lowry marketing in on a big number contract and and they in my opinion, they should have done that. That was a smart But now you've got to add some other guys. So who

So ultimately, I agree with you when it comes to the development side of this, and when we've heard from Jazz brass. When we've heard from the front office, namely Danny and Justin and then Ryan Smith too, the owner of the club, most of them all say that this will be a year of development, as you just outline, meaning if you translate that literally, the young players are going to play a lot of minutes. Seven players under

Like, how do you think Will handles this entire thing?

Yeah, well, I think the main thing is going to be that he has to be in lockstep with the with the front office and the ownership about where they're at and what they're trying to get done. And I believe from everything I've heard and talked to some of those guys individually, it seems like they're all on the same page, which means that takes a little bit of the weight off of his shoulders. Where, yeah, he's a coach, he wants to win every time he steps out there.

Uh.

They tell us that they're getting better, and so some of that I believe that the weight will be taken off Will's shoulders by by having the backing of the front office group to say, Hey, don't worry about it. We don't need tonight, Clarkson and Collins in the game in the fourth quarter. If it's a two minute, two point game with five minutes to go. We want to see how those three young guys up front, how they play, and how they figure out how to win the game

Just continue with the theme of development and incremental growth, and all this stuff is brick by brick and step by step. I mean, it's pretty rare you see some rapid ascension, but you do see it. Usually those guys are unicorns, rookies that actually impact winning or even second year players to learn how to do that so early on. But let's start with some of the second year guys.

Well, you hope that he becomes more of a playmaker. He seems to be when he when he's in a playmaking mode. To me, it seems to be like it's a little he's a little too much in second gear for me that he has to be a little more forceful uh when he's trying to distribute, when he's trying to get get guys in certain positions. I think he has to be a little more demonstrative with his teammates on the floor, uh to make sure they're getting in spots where they should be uh to to run an offense.

All Right, So, you know, Bryce Sensiba made a living in college at being a shot maker, and somebody who could, you know, really find a way to get a shot off in college at Ohio State and he scored it a very high clip. I've used this parallel before. There's a little like Dennis Scott to his game. You know, he needs to be in better shape ultimately, and I don't think he's ever gonna be anything other than a acceptable,

You hope that his body is better, which I think it is is somewhat better what I saw him in the fall, during training camp, in the preseason games. But he's got to continue to get that body in better shape, get it more toned up. He also has to play with with more with more punch, with more force when he gets the ball. You know, he can't just be a one trick pony in the NBA unless Spence, You're at the top of the list of whatever that trick is.

Let's move over to Taylor Hendrix.

So I find the most I don't know interesting Year three project only because I do believe he OSes potential at times, and the way he's built just indicates if he works and if he's coached and developed. I mean, with those measurables, if you can combine it with a good skill set, I think he could play in the league for a long time, maybe at a really high level.

So it was up and down last year.

Injured, missed Summer League, which is a big deal when you're a rookie to not have that experience, and then injured, you know, incrementally throughout the course of the year. Looks like he's going to start and get minutes. What should we all hope this thing looks like this year for Taylor?

Well, he's he's a young guy, Spence. He's not only young age wise, of course, but but he's young playing wise. And you know, having only played one year at a mid major in Central Florida and then coming in last year playing mostly in the G League. He you know, that was a year of development of his body. He's

So, as we've discussed, and I continued to maintain that I was a little bit surprised that the Jazz used all three of their draft picks last year. But they did, and maybe it's because the three guys that were available that they wanted were available. Maybe it's because, as Justin said, they tried to make a lot of deals and couldn't get anything done. I don't know, but we do have three rookies on this team, and we'll go in order here. Cody Williams the.

Lottery pick at only nineteen.

He's got a big bro who's a really good NBA player, and like Taylor, he's built really well for the modern day wing, although probably could use to put on a little weight, but at only nineteen, that will come with time. Looks like he will be a part of the rotation pretty quickly. We'll see what it looks like tonight. You're one expectations for young Cody Williams.

Yeah, he's got to just show some consistency in knowing what's going out on the floor night in and night out. He's got to be able to be in the right spots. He's got to know rotations. He's got to understand what the physicality of the NBA is all about. His brother is a is a tremendous player, uh and really getting better for okayc and he's and you know, if he can play, you know at that you know, approach that kind of a level, uh, in terms of intensity, in

All right, two more young players.

Isaiah Collier is not available tonight due to injury or illness. I didn't check out the injury, but it looks like, uh, he might start in the G League. We'll get to Philipowski, who I heard is going to start in the G League, and that's what the G League's for.

That's fine.

Isaiah was one of the best high school players in his class. He was one of those players. It was a little bit like my Michael Porter junior who got hurt at Missouri. But if he came out of high school, he may have been the number one overall pick. Isaiah would have been like a top three pick if he was able to come out of high school. Goes to Southern cal for a year where the situation was how shall we say, not awesome, and then falls to the Jets and they end up going with him with the

Set as elite guard.

But again, when you're that young, without the experience, he's not getting the keys of the car. So incremental growth, step by step. What does it look like for Isaiah Collier this year.

Well, he's going to have to show that again like we mentioned earlier with the George kid, he's got to be able to show that he has tighter handles, that he can control an offense. He is a natural point guard in terms of feel, in terms of court vision, the way he plays sometimes I think he takes too many chances with the ball, and then at USC he

All right, may last thing, then we'll set you lose. So men, this is in town tonight. And they had excuse me that a chaotic year. Last year, Job played nine games, Marcus Smart played twenty. They sat I think Desmond Baine played half the year. They sat a lot of players down the stretch to get healthy this year. Now tonight, there's no Jared Jackson junior, or he might be their second best player. There's no Luke Canard, there's no Gg Jackson, Cam Spencer their rookie from Yukon, and

What are some of the matchups you'll be looking for? Do we see a little.

Taylor Hendrick's not Job Moran? What do you expect them to see? Is the Jazz take on the Grizzlies tonight?

Well, I think that, you know, they lean a lot on John Moran and him having a solid year coming back is going to be key for how Memphis season goes on. You know, coming out of the blocks, having several guys including Jackson, who's who's one of their main guys not in the lineup, that that gets you off to a little bit of a bumpy start at the beginning of the year. But they have all the makings of being a good team. Uh, Zach Edie is going to be a better NBA player, I think than people

A Timeddy, Thanks for the time, man. Enjoy the game and look forward to seeing you assume.

Appreciate it.

All right, the great Richard Smith.

All right, five o'clock hour of the Drive starts right now on this lovely Wednesday evening.

Happy Wednesday to you. You're halfway through your work week.

You are one day closer to the weekend Thursday at football in the NFL gets rolling tomorrow. So NFL news, by the way, looks like New Copkins is on his way to Kansas City. The Chiefs are reportedly trading at fifth round pick Tennessee in exchange for DeAndre Hopkins. Obviously, the Chiefs having a ton of injury issues at that position, and my goodness, I think the potential of Patrick Mahomes

He is back on the team.

He is box office, although hopefully he's learned some lessons so he stays on the floor this year.

Only played in nine games.

Last year, John did and Memphis had a chaotic season, but they're thought to be among the contenders, certainly for a playoff spot. I think they're over under in Vegas is forty seven point five, while the Jazz are I think twenty eight point five. So should be a fun game tonight. Hopefully guys are heading down to the arena. If you're driving down right now, we appreciate you tuning in on this Wednesday.

Memphis a two point five point favorite.

They will be without four rotational pieces in Jaron Jackson, Junior, Luke Canard, GG Jackson, Cam Spencer as well. So look, I know a lot of people were knocking on Cam Rising for not playing after well being a paid athlete. Well, NBA basketball where load management happens. And it's already been announced that the league is going to investigate the Philadelphia seventy six ers over Joel Embeid sitting out the first week of the season. Paul George also will not play.

So we'll see what the Jazz are able to do.

I'm expecting the same starting five they used throughout the preseason, and as Justin's Danny Ainge Ryan Smith have told us during their.

Media availability, this is going to be about development.

It's going to be about incremental improvement, brick by brick, step by step, and that's how this stuff works unless you are a unicorn, and I hate to say it, there's not a unicorn on this roster. We're not going to see some sort of burst on the scene, kind of like what we saw from Donovan when he had that forty point game against the Pelicans' rookie year. But we'd seen signs of that from Mitchell during summer league.

Isaiah Collier is out tonight.

He is not going to be available, which means Patty Mills will probably be the first guard off the bench.

He or Jordan Clarkson. Patty will back up Keyante. They're interested to see what that looks like, though.

If the task is to learn about the young players, and there's a night and it could happen as early as tonight where Keyante is two of thirteen with five turnovers and you're down.

Twelve fourteen points.

Will will lean into the veteran that he has on his team and give Patty Mills more minutes.

I mean, my initial reaction is for what, like why?

But Will is whired just like all these other coaches. All they want to do is win every night. And if he thinks playing Jordan Clarkson a little bit more or Patty Mills instead of Keyante, George or Isaiah Callier, Will will do that because the goal is to win. Or will he let these rookies ride with their mistakes because the goal is to develop. I honestly don't know

And Adam Silver's quest, even though he won't say.

It out loud, to bring parody to pro basketball in a way that they have in the NFL.

Now, the Boston Celtics last year.

Became the sixth straight NBA champion six years, we've had six different better way to say that, we've had six different NBA champs in six.

Years the Celtics wanted a year ago.

Let me pause and say this, Boston just might spoil Adam Silver's plan to try.

To find parody. At least for now. I have a.

Feeling that this is the best team in the league by far. It's not a hot take. That won the championship last year. But if you watched the game last night, and the Knicks are going to be in trouble because they have a Karl Anthony Towns problem, and they have a Karl Anthony Towns problem with out.

Of defensive center behind Cat.

That's why I worked in Minnesota because Gobert was there to provide the rim protection. Maybe the Knicks get Mitchell Robinson back and he helps out a little bit. But all Boston did it wasn't even creative. And this is why Cat only played twenty four minutes. Joe Mizzoula essentially said, look, whether it was Tatum, whether it was brown, whether it was white, whether it's Holiday, whoever the primary ball handler is.

When it was Sam Howser, who's a good shooter. Peyton Pritchard was one of nine, but they shot sixty one threes.

Made nine, and they just smoked Who a lot of people believe is the second best team in the East, and that's the New York Knicks. So maybe the Knicks get Mitchell Robinson back, but the Celtics are the team

But they do have a treasure trove of picks.

The Gobaar and Mitchell picks start to convey this year from Cleveland and Minnesota.

Their books are incredibly clean.

They have a bunch of young players, and there will be teams that are strapped and as a result of the second apron and now computitive that is even for billionaires. We've already seen the Clippers lose some talent because of the second Apron. We've already seen the Nuggets lose some

Now.

The bad news is the other teams that are also still in a great position at talent. Oklahoma City, who's awesome now, is gonna be awesome for like a decade in San Antonio, who has the best building block in pro basketball, and Victor women Yama.

So they're not alone, but they're in the mix to.

Acquire talent when that talent becomes accessible and available. The key continues to be as I've said all along and I'll continue to say, but you probably get exhausted. You got a draft, you got to develop, and then what you got to do. You got to retain, So you got to acquire talent, you got to develop talent, then you have to retain the talent. The Jazz have still been unable to figure out the last piece. In the modern day and age of the NBA, we've seen the

That's the thing. So the Jazz are back tonight, excited for pro basketball. Is back to that. I excited for wrapping it up from the dish professionals at oh one.

To four to two four dish, aightoh one four to two four dish, give them a call one hundred dollars cash back to save.

A grip of money.

Jazz in action tonight bevy of NBA basketball going on right now. I'm gonna head down to the arena. We'd love to see you come down and say hi. So there you go, All right, Porter, are you gonna venture down to the Delta Center tonight and joy some basketball downtown?

I may just do so, obviously. It's it's been a long time waiting for some hoops. I usually get heavy into it in the winter and spring, but with tip off here and with a market that's pretty excited about hockey and hoops right now, I think we should give them the support. So I'll try to head down there and see what the atmosphere is like, at least on a tip off Wednesday.

Utah Hockey Club back in action on Friday against Colorado live in Salt Lake, RSL. It's their turn next week for some playoff action jazz basketball tonight. Of course, the bevue of college football will continue to get you ready for yous taking on Houston and of course BYU on the road at UC. Before we say, and I want to tell you about my friends at Prize Picks. It's the best place to get real money sports action, with over ten million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings.

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Today, use the promo cod ESPN seven hundred to get fifty dollars instantly after you play your first dollar line of prize picks, run your game all season long, all right, porter what comes our way? On a Thursday edition of The Show.

Back in studio on a Thursday, we'll catch up with our friends Craig Bullerjack and Gordon monson a big hour on the program. We'll also have another friend in studio, JP Chunga, the former producer of this here program, a guy you joined on the round Ball Roundup this week. And then, of course, as we do each and every week, talking some soccer, talking some college football, whatever else comes about with our friend Kyle Bonegera of ESPN.

Hi, there you go.

That will be an excellent Wednesday show. Excuse me, Thursday show. We're done with the Wednesday show and we move on to Thursday. That'll do it special. Thank you, Mark Harlan, Zach Harper, Ben Murdoch, Neil Smith and Richard Smith ur In the sound you may miss we did college football, NBA basketball, NHL hockey, getting ready for the Jazz tonight. If you want any of it, head on over to the website which is ESPN seven hundred sports dot com. Make sure to download our mobile app and take us

Get your shows.

Hit that subscribe or follow button, give us a rating and a review, say nice things, give us all the stars. It actually does help for Cynthia my onside tech. Our good friends here, the dish Bros. Porter Larsen, the producer of this program. My name is Spence check it saying, and I enjoy your Wednesday evening. Talk to you on a Thursday Drive. And as always, you can find it right here on ESPN seven hundred