We'll do a little jazz now, but before we get there. Andy Larson, Salt Lake Tribune, Andy, Happy Monday.
How are you.
I'm good Man, I'm good so Andy. As we've talked about in the past, you are your many things. You're not just one thing. Nobody puts Andy in a corner. I will not put you in a box. You cover the jazz, you do a data column, gamer, golfer, optimist, footy fanatic, ladies man Rico suave I. I could keep going, Andy, but you're also okay, fair enough. I got carried away, got carried away at the very end. You're also a human who lives in Utah. There for Utah BYU football
is something that you're aware of. I wonder what your thoughts are in the chaos that ensued in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.
Yeah, I mean, there's no shortages of things to talk about after that game. I guess I my mind goes to two things. One, Utah should have won that game, right, Like I mean, I think by you got a little bit lucky in its fumble, luck in how many pass deflections weren't tipped up but were tipped down into the ground. And so you know, weren't an intercepted, the fumbles weren't recovered. See why you've kept the ball, maintained possession, and was
able to score on those possessions. I also think that Utah shot itself on the foot a little bit with
its play calling in the second half. I mean, I and this is something that at least it feels like we've seen and I want to do a little bit more research on this, but how the play calling changes with when Utah has a lead, and just in general how conservative the play calling is doesn't feel like it matches how teams play offense in twenty twenty four, right like in kind of a high octane college football ecosystem, everything is so slow and predictable with the UTHA offense,
especially when you get I mean, once you got past kind of the midpoint of the third quarter, it was it felt like it was wind out the clock time, when you know, the youths I don't think had that luxury. And then look, I think the go ahead, Oh I didn't.
I'm letting you, I'm letting you finish.
Gone yeah, okay, And then I would say the the second thing, honestly, was that the Mark Harlan stuff is a little bit crazy. And look, you know me, you know me, I'm not one to uh have any qualms about complaining with the rest. I love complaining about the rest. It's a great time.
Uh.
You can't be on the field as an ad when your team is trying to make a miracle. Lateral Hail Mary kind of play happen on that kickoff return, and it's it's irresponsible, it's problematic, it's not reflective of good
decision making. And frankly, I don't think we've seen that in any other sport, right Like Larry Miller didn't come down onto the stand, from the stands onto the court to yell at NBA refs, right like, we don't see that from Bryan Smith or Danny Ames, that they're actually stopping play and getting a penalty or a technical call themselves.
So that was I think I'm fortunate, and you know, obviously I thought the find was deserved, and you know, hopefully those people, you know, really Mark Harlan does better next time.
Yep, yep, fair enough. We're going to talk more about this coming up in about thirty minutes from right now. Last thing on this then we'll do some jazz and maybe a little RSL offseason stuff before we set you loose what is your because I started the show off today. I'm always just so fascinated at the reaction of the fan bases after the fact, Like the game is one thing, and more often than not, the game is awesome. It
very rarely delivers. It usually gets weird. It got really weird on Saturday night, but just kind of some of the I don't know if I don't know what you want to call it, just the back and forth, because I find this societal dynamics so interesting, with the cultural fabric of our community, where you have a BYU fan base that loves the moral high ground and a youth fan based that loves to call out the hypocrisy of pious, holier than now judgmental people, and the football game magnifies it.
Like in every single time you get BYU fans says, send me every video of every youth fan who misbehaved on Saturday. And then YOUTE fan who will have videos because he kept receipts of BYU fans throwing trash on the Utah players and the Utah coaches and the rafts back when Utah won their seven or eight straight rivalry game. Like, as someone who again is a resident and a human who lives here, what about that dynamic of this football game stands out most to you?
Yeah, look, it's it's a rivalry game. I feel like people expect it to be different because it's in Utah and we're so friendly and whatever. But like if you go to oh you Texas or whatever, you know whatever, it's some of these the other top football rivalries in
this country, you're gonna see some crazy behavior. You're gonna see the kind of favorite behavior that comes out when fans are passionate and like this idea because you know, Utah is a religious state, more religious state overall, or that things are going to be different in Utah, eu Yu, I don't think is realistic. Like I think ultimately, you know, I saw people on Twitter, for example, talk about like they were surprised that BUYU fans were saying it's purse
words during the game. Well, look of course they were, like it's you know, they're they're college football fans. They're fans of of this thing that they're passionate about. Like I think, you know, I don't think either fan base is worse than the other I don't think that either fan base is uh throwing more. You know, obviously you don't like to see things thrown onto the field, or you don't like to see assaults happen in the stands
or what have you. Right, Like, that's that's all bad, but it's also just a ubiquitous part of watching games in stadiums and has been for the last few decades. So, like, you know, there was a fight that like the Broncos Chiefs game this weekend, and I that's it's just to expect that Utah would be different or that that says anything about Utah fans or b Yu fans or whatever. I think is unreasonable to expect.
Well said, all right, moving over to the Utah Jazz. You know, it's gonna be an interesting season when it comes to development and storylines. It will not be an interesting season when it comes to scores in the standings because they're gonna be bad. They're bad all year. They're gonna be bad all year. They're two and seven now, which is the worst record in the West. Surprisingly enough,
Milwaukee is still bad. Phillies needs to get healthy. But those two teams will we find The Jazz are gonna be the seller dweller in the West, probably with the Blazers when things kind of settle in. But they did get a win over the Spurs. They got to win over the Bulls last week. So what can you say
about kind of where we're at. Some things that are standing out, and you know, it's got to be nice for Will and the players to at least taste some wins here or there to rewind, you know, remind them why they're doing all this.
Yeah, and you know, look, they they beat two bad teams I think in the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs. Bolton have Zach Levine and yeah, you know, the Spurs had Devin Basel on a minister restriction. I you know, And I just don't think that they're that good, I you know, but I do think that it kind of helps the process a little bit to see players do the right kind of things. And I think in those two games they did do the right kind of things
that we haven't seen in the other games. Right. They moved the ball much more quickly, much more accurately. They avoided the turnovers, the worst of the turnovers anyway, and got into their offense much more reasonably. You know, I think when the Jazz do that, and frankly I said, Bolls defended the Jazz really poorly. That's a very bad defensive team. San Antonio. I think again kind of made a ton of different offensive mistakes the Jazz were able
to take advantage of. But if you do play basketball the right way, at least that study you up moving forward to to maybe make that transition easier when you have good players or you developed the young players that you've had, right you know, I think we've seen some good things from Kyle Philipowski. I think we're seeing Cody Williams, Kiante George and and Isaiah Collier kind of struggle early, although Collier has only played really just the one game.
But look like, yeah, well we'll see what happened here, you know, they kind of I think the story of the season so far is they are who we thought they were. You know, this is probably one of the worst teams in the league, and we'll see if they're truly worse than the Blazers or the Wizards or or
what have you. But to this point, yeah, you know, this is a team that's pretty far away from contention, and you're still hoping for Yeah, you just development and then obviously getting you're gonna see just significant roster turnover between this team and the next Suggests team. There's no question about it.
We finally saw Isaiah call you're you know, he's been banged up and Keyante was out, so we got the start. You know, the whole thing with him is certainly that three ball, the outside shooting, but he does have a feel for the lead guard position that potentially nobody else outside of Patty Mills has on the roster, and you know, saw some good things in twenty five minutes. He didn't hit any of the sixty three point attempts, had six boards for sis and only actually didn't even turn it over.
That's really nice in twenty five minutes. So, ultimately, what were your impressions Game one, now that we've seen Isaiah Collier.
Yeah, look, I think again some of us is the Spurs, but the offense seem to run a lot smother With Calier on the floor, he got into the offense more quickly. He did look more like in a real point guard. He was able to break the paint I think easier than Kante George, which kind of makes sense, like Kiante is not a plus NBA athlete at that position where
I think Isaiah Collier. You know, the reason why he was considered the number one high school player was because of that athleticism, because of kind of that pulling ball Sazique, the strength and then ability to kind of drive past people on the first step. Kiante doesn't really have that. I think Caianty has other skills and it's obviously is a better shooter than Collier is, but there was a
different aspect to the Jazz offense. So I'm kind of excited to see how that develops through multiple games, and I certainly hope that Will Hardy gives him the playing time over Paddy Mills in order to kind of explore that. But yeah, it was it was a good performance except for the fact that he couldn't shoot and the Spurs were playing Victor Wembin Yama on him, and that allowed Wemby to be a kind of free safety on the Jazz offense, and ultimately that's why Collier didn't finish the game.
So you know, look, if he can't shoot, he can't be an NBA player. That's the rule for point guards everywhere. But if he does develop that shot, then you know, I think there's a real chance that he becomes a useful player.
So you just referenced something that you know not in a vacuum. I'll focus on, but I'll expand it out because you talked about the balancing out of minutes, the distribution of minutes of Patty Mills and Isaiah Collier and then certainly Cante George, And really, what's the point of playing Patty a lot of minutes outside of maybe teaching these young kids what it's like to be a pro. Is that real? I don't know that's what we're supposed
to say, so I just said it. But ultimately, what's your takeaway so far about the balancing of young developmental minutes juxtaposed to vetts playing here or there? Do you like what Will is doing or do you think he's leaning too far one way or the other? If that makes sense, I.
Would say it's been pretty good, with the exception of the Milwaukee game where Kyle Philipauski and Isaiah Collier weren't in the rotation, and I thought that that was pretty It was just a bad decision, and I think I criticized Will pretty heavily forward in that night's Triple Team postgame article, like if this season is about youth development, this if fifth season is about thinking there's no excuse in the world for giving Patty Mills and Drew you
Banks minutes over Kyle Philipouski and Isaiah Collier, when when those guys have the potential to be part of your future in a way that Drew you Banks and Patty Mills don't. And that's what you know. You remember when I was on the show after the Patty Mills signing and I was actually pretty frustrated by it because it did represent that the team had the possibility of playing the Vets over the youth. And you know, I think
most of those concerns have been handled. You know, they are starting, They started Taylor Hendricks, they're now starting Cody Williams, Kyle Philipowski was in the rotation the next game. Isaiah Callier then started. But like, you know, there has to be I think some sort of consistent theme this year that hey, this is actually the time where we're not messing around, we're not playing the Vets and we're not gonna win twenty five thirty games here. We're really trying
to develop the youth. And he didn't stick to it in the Milwaukee game. He did do it in the San Antonio game. And I hope to see the youth continue to play because yeah, look, if we're giving Patty Mills and Drew Eubanks minutes that could go to players that might actually help the next Jazz, the good next good Jazz team, Like, you know, what are we doing here? All right?
So before we'll get a couple of RSL thoughts from here, but before we do that, looks like Phoenix is in town tomorrow. I'll be down there so excited to get down to the stadium. Kevin Durant the arena. Kevin Durant will not play. What's the update on Kyante and what are your thoughts on where we could see tomorrow night? As the Phoenix Suns have played really well. Again, no Durant, but they're eight and two in the West. So give me your thoughts on tomorrow before we get a little RSL from you.
Yeah, Kyante went through practice today, so I would say that's a good sign for him being available tomorrow. We haven't gotten the official injury report yet on whether or not he'll be available or if he's questionable or whatever, but we'll we'll find out probably about in an hour or so, and then I would say, you know, I think the Jazz, you know, are probably going to lose against the Suns even without coming Durant, but there is
a chance there. And I think talking to Kante today at practice, the team realizes, like, look, they are in last place in the Western Conference. They're not super likely to make the playoffs. But is this NBA Cup thing that you can kind of try for and see if you can get something going in a much smaller period of games, And maybe that gives you a little bit of extra incentive. And you know, obviously the million dollar prize at the end does too, So we'll see. You know, yeah,
I certainly expect the Jazz not to win tomorrow. I think that's gonna be kind of smart for the rest of the season obviously, But you know, it is a little bit more at stake with the NBA Cup, and you know, it's kind of fun to have a different thing during the eighty two game regular season with different courts and different attention on it and what have you.
Oh, one more Jazz thing because I've only been to one game and it was opening not against Memphis. How are the crowds holding up? Like, are people still showing up? I mean, this is this is true pain tolerance in a way that I don't think we've had here maybe since Corbyn's last year. So are we seeing the crowds continue to show up? And do you think that's something we'll see all year long?
Yeah? Look, the last game I was at, you know, obviously the last home game was the Halloween game, right, and with four road games since then, Baling game was there were empty seats at the beginning, and then it seemed like it did fill out pretty well in the second and third quarters. Ticket prices were really cheap, like you could get four dollars upper bowl tickets even fourteen dollars lower bowl tickets on the secondary market. And I think that's going to continue to be a feature of
certain games the season, especially weekday games. But I also think that a little bit fans are willing to pay those prices. You know, if you have those prices low enough, then you can fill the building a little bit. And so I feel bad for kind of the season take holders who pay the premium and how aren't getting that value? But I do think like the attendance will be kind of sticky enough that you know it won't be I go to every arena in the league, right and there
are teams and markets that have half empty buildings. Even in good team situations. I think even when the Jazz are at their worst, which I think right now, their attendance will still be higher than a lot of markets in another a lot of places with better teams.
All right over to ourselves. So since we last spoke, the lads lost again in penalty kicks, third straight year. Postseason. You could, you know, when you talk about not getting out of group in League's Cup, when you talk about losing the first round of Open Cup and losing in the first round of the playoffs, it's hard to really paint a picture other than, you know, probably not capitalizing on one of the more talented teams we've had here.
We've talked about the Gomez stuff. I don't know how much of that there is here at a chie Joe just stopped scoring, which is like the main thing you need your striker to do. Breaking soccer news for you guys. But single season record for points, single season records for goals, It's not like it was all bad. But what do you most attribute this team's inability to when it comes to trophies being at play in tournament soccer, the inability just to get it done kind of even at all.
I mean, I would say, first of all, like the majority of those points were made in the first half of the season, when you're not playing for trophies, right, like the Open Cup playoffs and the League Cup playoffs and obviously the MLS Cup playoffs or all at the end of the year, and by that point you had either gotten rid of Gomez or Chicho was in his extended slump. And by the way, I don't think Chicha's
not just scoring goals. I think he's also not doing the other things asked of center forwards, whether it's making quality runs or tracking backs on defense, or staying engaged in play and engaged and build up. I don't think he's been really good at any of that really since
the suspension, So that's obviously a key concern. You know, I think there are things that can improve on the back line that would have been nice, but ultimately, when it came to the playoffs, like they just weren't good enough offensively, They couldn't break down kind of the shell that Minnesota played in, and in fact, Minnesota ended up having pretty decent spells of possession in those couple of games.
So I guess I would say in the end, and you know, the level of MLS is raised enough that what RSL has right now, especially an attack, is not good enough, and you know you're asking for that that you know, maybe Chito does have a resurgent or maybe not. But Diogo was, Gonsalves was, it was a disappointment and was certainly one of the worst under attacking midfielders in MLS when he when he had those minutes on the pitch in the second half the year. Uh Mark Zuk
was nice, but again was a young player. Diego Luna was very good this year, but also as a young player. I mean, they're they're just you look at the other kind of attacking fours, if you will, around the league and uh in in especially the playoffs, and and I'm not sure that RSL's really stands up to that. So yeah, you're looking for more investment, you're looking for more development, and you're looking for more consistency, adding some backline improvements
and and maybe you actually get somewhere. You know. Well, the interesting thing is now that this team's quality for conquer CAFT Champions League the Champions Cup, I guess they call it now. They have to be ready by early in the season and those signings will have to be made sooner rather than later. So we'll see if they those actually get done.
Last thing, do you run it back with the two keepers? What are you doing?
Goal change the keepers? I mean, look, I don't hate having Gavin Beavers as a developmental project. He's still young, you know, and especially given the goalkeeper developmental timeline. I think Zach McMath is a like a decent option, but I think ultimately was you know, way way way too mistake prone this year. Get somebody else, like you know.
I think ultimately it proved that it didn't work this year, despite Zach's pretty good two playoff games, and you know, I think they're just replacement level and in goalkeeper in the goalkeeper possession at position in MLS is high enough that I think you have to have bring in at least another option there for for next season.
Ah, but thanks for the time. I'll see this is at the arena to marrow night, Okay. Andy Larson covers the jazz for the Salt Lake Tribune. Rights a data column too, does Little r SL. Get him on Twitter at Andy depends. It depends on who you listen to. It's either Andy B. Larson or Andy Blarson. Every time I read it, I just read it Andy Blarson. But he's on Twitter, so get him there.