Part of gold just doesn't feel like the right song for our next guest.
I'm not gonna laugh.
Andy's got a hard of gold.
Do you think Andy has a heart of gold? Yeah?
Andy Larson, Salt Lake Tribune, Andy accurate statement, heart of gold?
Would you concur I come on.
The show every week the kind out of the kindness of my heart, even helping you out tomorrow, and I get this from you.
That's fair?
Now, that's fair, Irish sin Andy, you have a heart of gold. The guilt trip worked? My friend Happy Thursday? How you doing?
I was good before then, I'm but yeah, I'm good. How about you?
Oh? Come on?
You know that I'm teasing you. It's a little good fun banter back and forth. Uh do you want to start with your anger at the lack of additions made by our local soccer club?
You know what's sure? Why not?
Look you can't it's just a It's terrible what.
You've done to the fan base, to Diego Loon, to Mecca and Nelly, to the other good players on this roster, to only have one designated player on it. I mean you learned about Chico Arongo's misdiscretions ten months ago. Now you sold Gomez for eleven million dollars eight months ago, now to only sign.
Willie Gotta, who I like as an addition actually, but for five hundred thousand dollars, not a designated player. Oh and by the way, you're actually only designated player on the roster. Isn't actually even very good at the MLS level.
In the year that you've made the Concacash Champions League for the first time in a decade. Is dis horrible. I mean, it's it's horrible. I think David Blitter should be a villain in local fans' mind. I'm disappointed in the Miller group for getting nothing done. I'm disappointed in the Miller group for not trying to get more done over the last month and months plus since it's been
clear that they're going to buy the team. And yeah, just you know, I just feel really bad for the Diego Lunas and the Meccanelli's and the other players, you know, even Pablo masseronnies of the world, because they have not been supported with adequate talent on this roster to really compete.
Williegata known around here as Willy Goles. He's the addition, don't know, much about him, But what does that do for you?
Honestly? Like, you know, for a cheap signing, I think it is a really good cheap signing. I guess, you know, a trade but whatever, you know, five hundred thousand dollars a game plus maybe three hundred and fifty thousand next year. If he sticks a round and has always had really good like kind of underlying numbers right where, gets himself in really good positions and as a result has a lot of straws and chances on goal, has been kind of up and down at finishing them, and you know,
which is what ends up happening. Answer if you look at kind of stock Aroundalytic's OK in the long term, is that those kind of even out. So it's a player is kind of bad at finishing you're on his career. You may see that as a sign of potential because they usually do figure that out and start to finish at kind of the league average or above rate, or
you know, kind of try to find some consistency. And so you know, I think given that, I think Williagotta is a significant upgrade over every striker that RSL has right now and be a nice addition for the team that you know will make them better. It's just not you know, he's not one of the fifteen best strikers
in MLS right now. So as a result, you know, you just don't have the kind of attacking talent that the actual teams of the top two, including some small market franchises by the way, like Columbus and Cincinnati and Nashville, and you know, teams that are the same size as Salt Lake as a market, are going after significantly better players than RSL is right now.
They're able to get Johnny Russell across the line. What does that do for you?
Yeah, he's thirty five and was kind of washed for a really bad Kansas City team. He might be better than time Wolf though, So hey, you know, I you know, I don't hate it. It gives you another depth option, but and this team really does lack depth right now. But it's it doesn't change the upside of the team at all.
Does it feel like one more thing here, because I talked to Ck about this yesterday, does it feel like this is now potentially a lost season for RSL?
Yeah?
I mean, look, the summer transfer window is with eight games left in the season, so you can miss the playoffs based on what happens over the next you know, the first twenty five games of the year. So yeah, I mean it, there's absolutely that potential. And you look at what's happened in the last few games, and you know what happened last week in losing that game, you know, I know it's it was bad red card, and you know,
I am very angry at the referee. But like in the end, just rfl lack of attacking quality showed again and as it has time and time again early on in the season. It's just such a waste of opportunity for this team to be cheaped out on as much as they have been over the last ten months.
Is it I actually wanted to ask you one thing.
Is there any sort of space to allow a little bit of I guess I'll say, grace. It sounds really cheesy as a result to what happened with the Bosanique deal, because apparently Robert Bosanik from Boa Vista was done and then I didn't know any of this, but boa Vista sounds like doing business with your second cousin. It probably is not up to business acumen as far as the
way that they operate. I don't know much about this, but he was set to be the second DP and then apparently this Portuguese club caused issues.
What's your take on that.
Yeah, first of all, I mean I did not love that as a DP Senning just because his record in Portsbowl this year has not been very good, right Like, he scored four goals in twenty nine games. That's not great. It certainly did have a better season the season prior though, and of course aren't no perfect players, but look, it sounds like the reason that it didn't go to you know, because Boavis to ask for more and kept kind of changing the terms of the negotiation. And I totally get that.
So a, you know, do something before the season so that you don't have to wait ten games into the year. The second, most importantly, it was still going to be a relatively cheap DP, right like, this was going to be a designated player that RSL could buy down with TAM and open up a DP spot for somebody else later on down the road. Well, I think that's like
the right thing to do. It ultimately, is not the designated player of the of the quality of a Chicho Aroango or carlosandrascom As kind of a like for like replacement. You're talking about a tammable DP that you know, again you can buy down. It's just not the same level of player that RSL sold in the last ten months. So yes, that would have been you know, look, I understand and you're were negotiating with a weird club it doesn't pay money, and was desperate and was uh yeah,
you know it was problematic. I get it. There are just it's even in ambition, it just wasn't up to par with what you lost earlier on in the year.
All of that is fair and I share in your disappointments.
And now I guess we'll see what Pablo can do with the cast of characters that he has.
It is disposal.
But let's move on now and do a little NBA so Andy, after it was pretty clear that Oklahoma City was the class of the West, I would ask you and my other NBA guests, who are the other teams that we should be paying attention to? Who keeps smart dagnal? The up at night is does anybody have a chance? I mean, did we overthink this is Oklahoma City just that good?
I think some people did overthink that, Like I certainly saw them as the Western Conference favorites. And when you win a conference by that many games and show, you know, have the best point differential of any team in the last few years, like, yeah, I think you have to be considered the favorites. And I think they are considered the favorites and have shown it's certainly in the first two games that they're just capable of blowing out teams.
I don't think like it's a done deal yet, you know, I think that it's totally possible that like a Lakers give them problems Denver even Minnesota, like, but I do think that ultimately, like this is, you know, the thunder should be considered the favorites, and rightfully so it's kind of funny, like I understand why the NBA is putting them on national TV tonight and putting the Nuggets and Clippers on NBA TV. You know, you want to market the team that's going to be in the finals down
the road, so you get great finals ratings. But I totally expect them to beat the Grizzlies by you know, double digits tonight and it should be a really, really great game. I'll get the Clippers one. Why, I you know, probably rather watch instead.
Weird jazz related question to this, I mean, and look, Sam Pressy might be the best of what he does in the world, and maybe he's been the best of what he does for quite some time. But you know, oftentimes you'll hear jazz fans, as you know, talk about, oh, well, the Lakers got Luca, they're gonna be great again, the
Celtics or this the heat or that or whatever. Is there any sort of positive spin that we can put on the fact that Sam Presty has built a juggernaut in a city like Oklahoma City juxtaposed to what the Jazz are trying to do in a city like Salt Lake.
Yeah.
Look, I mean, I think it's clear that the draft is a really incredibly viable way to build teams, right, Like, I don't think you need a free agent superstar. I don't think you need to like win. I obviously they got say in a trade, but I think you've got him earlier enough in his career that it was just kind of a flyer on a on a rookie with potential.
So yeah, look, I think it's totally possible. And you look at Denver winning the title and kind of look at it in the same way and what Cleveland's done up there right, like small markets to a reasonable degree, are are the best teams in the NBA this season. And so yeah, I think you can have total optimism that, like you know that the Jazz's past could work. I don't think that there is a ceiling on the Jazz's path at all.
Outline a blueprint for the Jazz to follow over the next whatever timeframe you want to before you believe that they can be competing. Because here's the thing, man, Like I'm watching these games, and obviously, for what you and I do for a living, I always try to bring it back to some sort of local prism. And the fact of the matter is this is not breaking news when it comes to any of these top teams in the West. The Jazz are a marathon away, a marathon away, and they're not one Cooper flag away.
They're not one or two pieces away.
What does the path back to legitimate consistent competitiveness in the West look like from the Andy Larson viewpoint for the Utah Jazz.
Yeah, I mean they are eight out of ten players away, They are four out of five of a starting lineup away. They are as far away as it can be. Obviously, they are the worst team in the NBA. I think ultimately you look at the path and it's, you know, you hope for good luck and getting a star in this year's lot, and I think the best chances of
that are are Cooper Flag and Dylan Harper. And then if if that does work out, then you probably still need even a second star in next year's draft, and that's an aj De Bonsa, Darren Peterson at cam Boozer or someone like that. I mean, you're looking at you need multiple all stars to be the best team in the league, right, like to actually win an NBA title, And and you know, certainly the Jazz had that five
years ago. We're the number one team, didn't make it through the playoffs due to various weaknesses and injuries and blah blah blah. But nevertheless, like you just need that top level talent and then you need the role players around them. And I you know, while I think it's possible to be optimistic on the Jazz is youth turning out to be good roles, I think it's very hard to believe that they become kind of the star level players that actually drive the drive the boat a little bit.
So yeah, I mean you're you're talking multiple drafts, and then you're also talking time for those guys to develop, kind of wreck ignizing that like, hey, you know, say Gildeth Alexander wasn't an MVP level candidate on day one, you know, and neither it is Cooper flag to be. It took him three, four or five years. It's going to tick Cooper that amount of time. It's probably gonna take a to the bouncer whoever that amount of time.
So really you're looking at a window you hope three four, five, six years down the road.
All right, let's hone in on Well, we'll just stick with the top two and let's just be hopeful and optimistic and positive that the Jazz don't fall further than two. Now, the Pistons, who are back in the postseason and an interesting case study, but they have Kate, and Kate is really really special. They were the worst team in the league last year. They had the best chance in the number one pick and they fell to five. Now that's
the Jazz floor. They can't fall past five. Here's what I'll ask you for Jazz fans that are really curious is there one comp for Cooper that you like more than the rest, Like, if it is Cooper Flagg, what sort of players should Jazz fans expect.
I don't hate the Kawhi comp kind of a like poor man's peak Kawhi if you will, where like, I don't expect him to be that difference making on offense or defense, But I kind of expect him to be.
Such a good all around player that you know, he's a no doubt or star, no doubt or all star every year, you know, kind of maybe in like the Paul George realm of impact. You know, just can do everything right. Like he's at six eight, He's does defend
really well, He's both on ball and help. He can shoot, he can He's kind of developed a pretty impressive mid range game, got better getting all the way to the rim this year, got better getting fal this year, and then was one of the youngest players in college basketball this year as well, and may have been its best player at eighteen years of age. So look, I think
he is absolutely the real deal. I think you can maybe question, like, hey, you know, does he have number one, number two best player in the in the NBA kind of potential, But heck, I wouldn't have thought that about Shake Gildess, Alexander or Nikola Yochis certainly when they were drafted either. And I do think you have to look at Cooper's rate of development in his career and kind of his work ethic and whateveryone says about him as real plus is like this kid could be really, really great.
I think kind of no doubter is as a franchise piece at franchise superstar. You know, kind of moving forward could absolutely make all the difference.
All right, let's move over to Dylan Dylan Harper, who at the start of the year it was kind of a conversation, well, it was a conversation about whether or not this draft was the Cooper Flag draft, and it clearly is. And now it feels like Dylan has moved into the consensus number two. Just kind of same question for jazz fans, aren't familiar? Is there a comp out there?
You like?
What sort of player is he?
Yeah, I kind of a James Harden isn't the right comp? You know, you may want to even go further back to the nineties and two thousands for a comp for him, but you're you're looking at like a six five, really talented scoring guard who also makes all the right decisions
on offense. Kind of the most eye popping part of his statistical profile is how he finishes at the rim, where he I believe he was seventy seventy two percent last year on and on shot that the rim, like layups like that is incredibly elite for college competition, would be incredibly elite in the NBA. Just finishes so well around the around the basket, but has the other parts of the game too, you know, can shoot from the outside again, can pass, can defend well? Is is you know,
there aren't a lot of weaknesses. You know, maybe isn't the best athlete in the world, and so that's why you know he's He's not you know, Michael Jordan, Anthony Edwards, so on and so forth, but he's he's a really
good smart player. So I think, yeah, probably has kind of again that same kind of level of all star upside, with maybe less of a higher stealing than Cooper Flag does, just with the size limitations and you know, kind of output production that he showed in his freshman year wasn't where Cooper was at an older age too, But is just looks like a really good player, and even his floor, you know, is kind of a no doubt starter in the league.
I think, Andy, you truly have a heart of gold for our listeners that will be tuned in tomorrow for four hours in the afternoon.
Do you care to give us a little tease.
Yeah, we've got fellow Beat writer Sarah's Todd joining us, so we'll talk some jazz and NBA too. That's always fun. Sarah and I always after we finished writing at the end of jazz games end up talking for like half hour to an hour just in the jazz's media room about what's going on. So we may do a little bit of that on on the air tomorrow. We've got Zach Harper as well. Used to host a radio show with him here in Salt Lake on this very radio station,
so that'll be a cool reunion. Also, we've got Paul Pugmyer golf wise, and I believe we got one other special extra guest that I'm not announcing yet because I don't think we've booked him yet. But uh well, we'll have a lot of fun tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it.
Well, thank you, my friend, not just for filling in tomorrow, but for stopping by and dealing with a little banter back and forth. So have a great show tomorrow. We got to get out and swing your golf club soon. Okay, thanks, n Larson will be on the program with that guy, order Larson. Is he leaving a guest out that you like to throw out there today?
Kyle van Noy? What oh? Here we go again? This was fences out of town?
Is Eric Weddell Hockey written Covey stopping by tomorrow?
Here we go again.
You just spoke for twenty minutes to the number one running back in program history.
You know what, I realized you booked Zach today to ease the news that you're bringing van Ney on tomorrow when I'm out of town.
I actually, just to be clear, didn't even book Kyle van Noy. Are our sales guy. Austin Rich did for a sales tournament.
So you know what, I will be okay because I'm going to Black Desert to play in Kyle's golf tournament.
Here you can interview Kyle. I'm gonna play in his golf turn.
And we're gonna set you up with Patrick Manning to get your tea times yeah, otherwise, yeah, we please send me a cell phone number whenever.
Okay, thank you, I can connect you so tomorrow Porter Larson and Andy Larson.
Larson and Larson.
Why didn't that dawn on me until just now? That's really weird.
Funny thing is we have very old like Mormon ancestry back to Central Utah.
Not related, very interesting. I think if you have LDS lineage, you just keep going back.
At some point you're related, which, coincidentally, I asked John Kimball about that yesterday. He and I are not like distant cousins at all. We're actually fairly closely related.
Oh yeah, that sounds about right. So Porter and Andy tomorrow