Oklahoma City has advanced to the NBA Finals. They will represent the Western Conference deserveverly so. After just dump trucking Minnesota last night, the New York Knicks will try to make it interesting. They're down three to one MSG tonight. That is a six o'clock Mountains on tip on TNT. Could this be the final night for inside the NBA on TNT. We'll have to wait and see. A few weeks away from the NBA Draft, RSL cannot hold on to a lead. A lot to talk to our next
guest about on his birthday week. Happy birthday, Andy Larson. How are you, Bud?
Thank you? I'm doing well?
Thirty nine, thirty eight? What do we got?
Thirty four?
Man on Teason. I know you're a young but now, if I remember correctly, on your thirtieth birthday, you tweeted out that you were washed. What do you at thirty four?
Even more wash? I mean, look, I had a soccer game yesterday. We lost five to one. We are even worse than rails the lake. It is. Yeah, I'm flo. I can't move. People were like getting knee injuries. It's it's it's rough out there.
It's rough. Scenes. I love that you just compared your rec soccer team to RSL. That rules who are if you're if I'd ask you who the RSL equivalent? So who would you be on your on your rec team of this year's version of Ursel.
Force for Jago. So, I do play a good deal of forward, and look, I'm trying out there. I'm doing my very best. It's just definitely not enough, not anywhere close. And I should be sent down to maybe the over forty leagues soon or the over thirty third division, whatever it is. I need to be sent down to a lower league where I can compete for real.
Okay, okay, fair enough. I was gonna say Forrester did get sent down, So I'm glad you pointed that out. Look, man, since we're in the space, we'll stay in the space. At least our guy, Willie Big Willy Goals as we call him on the show, finally got a goal off a nice little set piece and then you know it's money. Man. I just have and I hate to be this guy. I just have no confidence in this group. But I'm sitting there watching last night. I'm like, they're not gonna
hold the lead. They're not gonna hold the lead, and sure enough they don't. So a point on the road typically is a good thing, but it's another late game collapse and the galaxy of not won this year. Something tells me that I might win on Saturday. Just where are we at right now with the club? Andy, Yeah, and like.
I don't think they're terrible, and there are some good moments yesterday and yeah, but then in the end, like set piece marking has been so bad over the last couple of games, like just letting opposing guys get free headers within frames of goal, Like it just doesn't make sense how those are being defended, and that's been a problem for ourselves for a lot of this year, along with as you mentioned, the late game. Leeds look like they are at the bottom of near the bottom of
the Western Conference. Austin's not a good team either. They're not a playoff team right now. And you know, it feels like you're halfway through the are actually halfway through the season, right they are one game short and halfway through it feels like this isn't the year. And so at this point I think the plan should be to prioritize young talent. I mean, we heard a Mecca and Nelly is out for at least a month, maybe two
with an injury. It's probably time to like prioritize Yeglena, prioritize Davior Gozo, Dominic Mark Soup, even like body Hidalgo's relatively young on on the outside back, I mean, like Nelson Platio in the middle, like and just see what
you have I guess with some of these guys. But you know, it's maybe even rotate goalkeeper, even as good as Raphael Sprawl's been, because like in the end, it's hard to imagine this team getting back into it when they have this much of a talent deficit and when they you know, don't seem to have any chemistry to speak up.
Kind of an interesting dynamic on the show over the past week with my RSL So Pablo joins the program and, among other things, drops the tidbit that new ownership has informed him they're not interested in selling young players anymore. They want to change their approach. Kurt hops on and he was more kind of sitting on the fence about it. Then Jason hopped on yesterday and basically said, Pablo was a little bit over dramatic about it. I don't exactly
know where to nail it down. I mean, look, as I continue to say, if some European club or some Mexican club calls and says, I don't know, twenty thirty mil for Diego, you're going to do that, I get it. But if the Millers really have kind of done their calculation, and you know, the Millers showed as stewards of the Jazz they would do what they had to do to make sure this team was always competitive. They never really
tried to lose, they never tried to tank. And you know, it was kind of interesting at that media round table listening to their thoughts on how the Jazz are being run right now. So they have a track record of putting a competitive team on the court with the Jazz, and I think they'll show that they'll do that with RSL.
But how does that news, whatever exactly it means, land with you that maybe you know, are if RSL is able to develop really really good young players, this new ownership group wants to keep them around for a while.
Look, I mean I like that, and I think that's good and I think, you know, obviously it wants to see the best product possible on the pitch. I also think that it's a little bit unrealistic about given where RSL stands in the global soccer world, right, Like in the end, is Diego Luna really actually going to be happy playing at RSL for his entire career? Yes, but you know, like in the end, I don't think that
that is likely. And you know, certainly at least Diego has some local ties and has found them familiarity here.
But like guys like Andreskiemez, we're clearly just using RSL as a wrong on the ladder, right, And so it is unrealistic to expect to keep those guys here in Salt Lake when they are not happy here and they want to go on to greater things, not in MLS but overseas, and so look, I mean, I think that's good and you can keep them for longer, and maybe you are more strategic about when you sell them rather than just trying to get top dollar. I think there
is room for that. But I do think that, like if you imagine how to get RFL successful in Major League Soccer, it does have to involve young players developing to some degree, and then you know, you can put des many players around them and figure kind of that out and yes, then if you do have one or two guys who are happy that want to stay upet Lake for their whole careers, then think great, please by all means sign them up rather than get that check
just for selling on their rights. But yeah, it doesn't strike me as super realistic given where RSL is in the global soccer spectrum.
Last thing here, and this is a dynamic that all three of my RSEL guests over the past week have been in lockstep about Pablo, Kurt and Jason, two attacking players away from being among the better teams in the league. So the summer transfer window will open in July, and if you look at the schedule, if they're able to
act really quickly, they will have thirteen matches left. Now, if they wait until closer to the end of the secondary summer transfer window, they'll have seven or eight matches left. I can't remember off the top of my head. So my whole thing is like, look, if you claim that you were really close during the primary transfer window the closed last month to getting a few things across the line, if that's real, then be prepared to get these things across the line as soon as you can. When the
summer window opens. So two part question before we get some basketball. Do you agree that you know, theoretically speaking, it depends on who the players are, but two attacking players away. Do you agree that that's the need right now? And do you think there will be enough time to salvage something this year if they can act quickly when the summer window opens.
I think they I agree with them that clearly the attack is the largest problem. I think they have been significantly overconfident on the defensive end and have been just you know, frankly exposed defensively multiple times this year in a way that only Rafael Cabral being amazing, has has shaved them. And it's probably not sustainable defensively either. So I have significantly more fastimism about them, and actually did even from that roundtable from the beginning of the years,
than you know, than they have. So I'm not sure why they believe in the glad they're a back line as much as they do. I'm not sure why they believe in the outside back situation as much as they do. But anyway, in the end, yet you do need to attacking players, and if you are able to sign them with thirteen games less then yeah, maybe you have a chance.
But then we always hear when these signings happen that it takes weeks to integrate these guys, that they always you know, they always come off you know, coming off bench to begin and if you're getting players from Europe for most of the leagues in the world, they probably are coming off of a summer break to some extent.
So like, I'm really skeptical that, like, yeah, you can get all of that done in time in order to make a move when you know, I look at what happened during the winter window and what happened during last summer transfer window and did not see that urgency. And you know, even when a Champions League spot was on
the line, they flow played it. So you know, maybe different ownership group, maybe we'll see different things, but it is the same management group and they have not shown an affinity for getting deals done quickly.
All right, moving over to some basketball, A let's do some jazz. And actually, I know you listen every minute of the show, so I'm sure you heard the open, So I'm going to ask you for listeners that did not hear it like you did. The Dwyane Wade jazz
stuff Okay, so we were talking. We were talking during the first segment of the show about some difficult years as Knicks fans, Ron Baker, Clean, Anthony Early and such and non secuit or kind of turned into a conversation about the Jazz and is Dwayne Wade still around at all? Was he ever really a minority owner? Was that just like hey, Donovan, look, I have cool friends. You should live in Salt Lake. That didn't work? Like, what what is Dwayne Wade in the Utah Jazz? What is it? Andy? Yeah?
I mean like he's he's real, that's on paper, like he does actually on a part of the team. I think it's relatively clear, given that he chose the Jazz over the Miami Heat. And it has been reported multiple places that he had conversations with Mickey Erison about potentially buying his life and it sounded like it was just too much that it sounds like Ryan Smith gave him a somewhat of a discount in buying whatever share of
the Jazz he has. The NBA bylaws say that you have to have at least one percent if you're going to be a minority owner, So you know, that's a relatively significant amount, you know, compared to some other leagues that do it differently. And then I would say, but yeah, like is he involved day to day and like who the Jazz are gonna draft? No, Like he's very much onto other things right now, and more so now than
ever because the Jazz are bad. You know, Like I do think that, like he was a figurehead there for a while and in kind of a useful way for the Jazz as as a owner, you know, like he opened up some doors, started some conversations that make it make sense why the Smith Ownership Group would give him a discount on an ownership stake. But now I think, you know, I think it's fair to say that those relationships have opened the door. You know, those doors have
already opened a little bit. And yeah, he's pulled back a little bit. So like I feel like it feels like shruk tink to me, to be honest. It feels like you get Mark Cuban as your partner and it's great, and then you know, Mark Cuban buys ten percent of a share in your company for fifteen thousand dollars and you've got the fifteen thousand dollars and Mark Cuban connected you to three different people that were useful and then probably pieced out and went to go do his own
other stuff. Right Like, that's that's what Dwayne Wade is to the Utah Jazz right now?
Okay, fair enough. I just wanted a little bit of clarity there because there was a lot of ambiguity about the entire thing. All right, let's go here. Is there anything, because you know you're watching Oklahoma City and I've tried to do this all year, whether it's you know, when Orlando was playing a little a little bit better or Detroit, who was the worst team in basketball last year suddenly
showed at Poltz. Is there anything that we can learn from the way Sam Presty has gone about his business to build this Oklahoma City Thunder team into this juggernaut who I think is gonna win it this year and probably will win it next year. And maybe I know that the luxury tax situation and the second Apron will come calling at some point because that's how it's designed
to work. But they're awesome this year. They're young. They'll extend Shay, They're going to extend Jalen, They're going to extend chat and even if they have to trim some fat around the edges. They have a bunch of different draft picks, and they've just knocked every pick out of the park. They grab Lou Dort undrafted, they turn Josh Gideon Alex Caruso, who's been perfect. Is there anything that the Jazz can learn from this or is this an outlier in Sam Presty is just a genius.
I mean, look, I think you can say that tanking does work like can work. Maybe not does all the time, but clearly has in this instance. I think you can say that it's clearly important to nail when you do trade your superstars away, to nail what you can get in return. Obviously getting Sga back as a whole lot better than getting call and Sexton back. I think you can say that, yes, nailing the draft picks and at least giving yourself a lot of really good draft picks,
that's really important. You know that Uzman jang Is is nobody, but Jalen Williams is an all star second banana on an NBA Finals team, and they're drafted in kind of that similar ten or twelve range in the lottery where you know, one guy succeeded one guy failed, and that's how that goes. Obviously, they drafted really well in some other slots too, but you know they had for every chat home grin. They also have a poku right like
it did happen? I think you can say that, like, I'm impressed with kind of the way that they've rotated through given guys chances and and kind of kept players who fit and moved relatively quickly off of guys who didn't. You know, like there was like the Gordon Hayward experiment, which they moved on from me extremely quickly. But guys like Kenrick Williams and I Dad Joe and Aaron Wiggins. You know, I guess everone Wiggins a new one but
has have lasted longer and fa kind of in their culture. Yeah, I think they are kind of a lot of good lessons that are probably like difficult to apply immediately to any given situation you're trying to make this year, Like
who should you draft with the number five pick? It's hard to be like, well, the Oklahoma City thunder are doing it this way, and so we should copy them, right, Like, I don't think that that's the right approach to drafting at number five, but I do think like just kind of their patience and basketball evaluation skills is something that you can kind of look at and emulate or try to emulate to some degree.
All Right, moving over to the Jazz now, before we get to the draft, I have not asked you if you have heard anything about Walker about Walker Kessler, because he is eligible for an extension. It feels like it's a no brainer. It feels like it's probably a foregone conclusion. They do have the ability, like they did with Gordon, to have him play his final year this contract out and then bet on himself if they want to go
in that direction. Are you hearing anything about whether or not they're going to extend Walker this offseason or let him play the final year of his rookie deal.
Yeah, I mean we actually did talk about this last week. I have not heard anything. Those conversations would be much later on in the summer, given kind of when the
NBA's rules allowed to extend guys. But my guess is kind of based on what makes sense and where the Jazz are capwise, that it probably makes sense for you to do that extension now rather than next year, because you potentially, in my mind anyway have the ability to get him at a lower number now, assuming that he plays well and you know, has played thirty five minutes a night next year and continues to grow. So that's kind of my thought. But yeah, we shall see, you know.
I think there is a possibility that Walker looks around and wants to see what else is out there. But like in the end, mostly everyone's just going to go get the money out for their rookie deal. And yeah, it would would make some sense to for I think Walker and the Jazz to kind of lock him up in the long term.
We did talk about it last week. My bad, Have you dug in on any of the because I have the free agent list in front of me, uh not. A lot of teams have space and at some point, you know, players got to decide that if he can't get his you know, optimal landing spot, maybe he looks elsewhere. Do you think the Jazz get involved with any of the notable free agents on the board. I mean, I
think Golden State's can move on from cominga. That could be an interesting situation because he's still young and there were reports that when the Jazz were talking to Golden State about market in I don't know how real any of it was that Jonathan Kaminga was a name that was banded about. Any any thoughts on the Jazz potentially moving outside of the typical boxes we talk about dadd some talent via free agency. Do you think that's a real thing.
I mean, I don't think they have fifteen guys coming back. They actually have no free agents of their own that they could lose. I mean, they have some non guaranteed guys you can wave and open up spots, but you need, frankly, to wave all four non guaranteed guys to open up
four spots for your four draft picks this year. They also don't have any cap space really to speak of a little bit, but like certainly not enough to get Jonathan Kaminga, uh, because you still have Jordan Parkson and John Collins and Collins Suxton on the books, right So maybe if you trade one of those guys to another team for free, but again, then who is that team and why do they want John Collins given that they have cap space and could go get Jonathan Aminga, who
you know, maybe I would say is probably the worst player right now. But if you have cap space in this market, you're probably looking for more upside than the younger player like Tomenka has. So yeah, you know, I could see them going maybe the cominga out in the trade. But also if Cominga were interesting to the jazz or really interesting to him to them, then maybe you would
have made the marketing trade a year ago. Right, So I you know, kind of at least those those outlets that you mentioned, I don't see them chasing after I could see them, you know, taking a swing on like a low valued star like a Trey Young as Zion Williamson. But David Locke idea, like I don't think that's unimaginable. But in the free agency market, I don't know how that would play out.
The David Locke ideas trading for Zion Williamson. Yeah, what trade? What for Williamson?
Number five pick?
Trade five for Zion Williamson. Huh all right, okay, I had not heard that. What do you think about that?
I don't know, Like I mean, so his point of view is like, hey, you know, you wanted the number one pick, so you had a chance at a star like a former number one pick, and Zion Williamson, who, by the way, is still kind of a mystery box due to injuries and off court issues and a weird situation in New Orleans and everything else, right, like, and if you do just truly won a shot at All Star talent like Zian is a guy who really can
put up twenty five and ten. I'm worried about it because clearly physically he's not the same player he was two or three years ago, not just from a weight point of view, but from an athleticism point of view. And I think it was all that athleticism that made him really special. I don't think that I would be excited to pay out that contact if he's the player
that he currently is. And then, you know, I think again, if we're maybe this is one path or Oklahoma that he did teach us lessons is that they weren't ever making those gambles on stars, right Like they never have said, oh, we have one gazillion draft picks, why not trade one for a guy and see if it works out, Like they always stayed true to that, And I think you look at you know, I'd be a lot of the other good teams in the league. A Gale. The Pacers did
trade picks for Pascal Siakam. I guess they made a gamble and going for a younger player in Tyrese Haliburton. I just don't. I don't see how that necessarily makes sense with where the Jazz are because, Uh, in the end, I don't believe in zign Enough as a prospect, and I just even with him playing extremely well, you're still so far away.
Porter. Didn't we discuss trading for Zion Williamson prior to the NBA trade deadline in February on this radio show? Shortly? Does it sound like David Locke is blatantly stealing my ideas to uh to to uh essentially, you know, send those messages out to his audience the uh the highest form of flattery. Yeah, will you go if you if
you go that way, will you contact legal allegedly? Yeah, tell them that I've got to complain about Locke several Actually, all right, moving on a kid as we are, let's see about four weeks in change away from the draft, Andy, have you landed on who you believe best case scenario is at number five for the Jazz if they stay there.
No, I still have to I still don't know.
You had Cinco de Mayo on your birthday. This month. Okay, so I know that you've been busy.
Look, and I don't know that the Jazz have decided either in my defense, right, Like, uh, I think it's really interesting to think about, like who Philadelphia wants a three. I would say, like the analytics and Jamory being an analytics kind of decision maker, would probably put vg edgecomb as the number three guy. But then, you know, does that make sense given that you have Terry's Maxie already.
I don't know that it truly does, but maybe you're just trying to get best player available and then uh for four just Charlotte one. I mean, like again, just I don't know that that makes sense for them to get another wing in like an Ace Bailey type. It's just a weird setup. I think Kay Johnson is a reasonable prospect and player, Like I don't think he's going to become Ray Allen. And I am worried about the defense.
I am worried about stuff, but like I thought, he interviewed well when I talked him, when we talked hibout the combine, and I thought, like, you know, I think he does have some real NBA skills that you can bring along. I don't think he's going to be like a super duper star. But I do think like the buddy heeled path makes a lot of sense for him, and I think that's a relatively good outcome in this draft. I do worry about a Sley a lot based on
how he interviewed at the Combine. When I talked to him, I mean, he was just so focused on getting more of his shots up that I both at his time in records and in his interviews that I think being on a bad team like the Jazz could only kind of enforce that. And then you end up with a brandon Ingram style player, and I don't love that. And then yeah, j you know, I think is a really promising prospect that doesn't have a lot of offensive ability right now, and so you're hoping and betting on his
athleticism near skills coaches. But yeah, it's it's not an easy pick. And I do think like to some degree, you probably if you do just stay at number five. Just which of those three guys ends up falling to you?
All right, birthday boy? Well, I appreciate the time this week. We got to get you out on the golf course soon, Okay, all right, sounds good We'll do. Andy Larson, I want to remind you guys that Live nine Events presents the twenty twenty five Granary Live Concerts Series, powered by Nightingale College and Murdock Hundai, Utah's number one Hundai dealer. Experience outdoor concerts in the heart of downtown Salt Lakes Granary District. You can find more details on the ESPN seven hunder
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