All right, Utah Jazz are inaction tomorrow. O Case is the opponent. The second half of the NBA season kind of got going last night. Lakers have lost now excuse me to the Jazz and the Hornets back to back games with Luca and Lebron. Our next guest covers the Jazz and other things for the Saul Lake Tribune on a Thursday afternoon. We welcome in Andy Larson. Andy, Happy Thursday, Budy. How we doing.
I'm good man, how are you?
I'm good? That was beer Bar last night. Most important question. The RSL Conker CAF Champions Cup watch party. Vibes immaculate. As the kids say, the vibe are good.
You know, Look it was not a strongly attended watch party. They're probably I don't know, ten fifteen RSL fans player, But to watch a nil Mill draw and where nothing happened, and so I would say the vibes were were probably pretty mid.
Let's be honest, mid vibes at beer bar. Wow, don't sell rimando.
Look, beer bar had nothing to do with this. It's it's it's a great location to watch a game. But yeah, I mean nil Mill with in a it was it was not the peak of watch parties like you and I have been too.
For example, fair enough, fair enough. So after that performance, have you changed your expectations for better or for worse for this club this year?
I mean, I guess a little bit worse. Look, Coast Recon teams aren't very good, and ideally you would be promoting more ideas and having better chances than I think RSL had during that match. And I mean I watched the Cincinnati Motagua match after that. That's a hunt Duran club and they just they you know, Cincinnati bought that game, and to a degree that ARSOL didn't now didn't have Diego Luna, didn't have Justin Glad for most of that game, you know, And the biggest thing is they didn't have
a striker. And then unfortunately, Gioga Gonsalves looked as average as he's been since RSL acquired him. And so I think that in particular, that last note, that Diego doesn't look like a special player even in year two. As we start year two, and maybe we'll see how this develops. It's game one for sure, but it was, as they put it on Twitter, kind of mildly disheart named.
Last RSL question. I am told that reinforcements should be expected. I don't know when. I don't know what it looks like. What do you hope it looks like? And when do you hope it comes down?
Yeah, look, it's got to be a striker. And Eliath Manuel didn't want to come to RSL again. It's disappointing that a replacement hasn't been found more quickly, you know, given that now you are playing in Champions League play, Champions Cup play. I guess it's disappointing frankly that they didn't find a bigger player after they knew that the teacher was going to be moving on, you know, pretty
clearly midway through the season. They had knew what that situation was and knew that maybe that wasn't going to be tenable moving forward. So yeah, look, it's got to be a stacker. It's got to be a good striker. It's got to be you know, a designated player striker in my mind, and or at least you know, someone who's got significant history of scoring goals in this league. You know, there's been the Duncan McGuire rumors and maybe
that's the way they go. And I think Duncan's a very good player and would solve a lot of those problems. I don't know about it at the DP level, but yeah, and in the end, you know, this team needs more upfront to be one of the best teams in the Western Conference, Like I hope they will be.
All right all Star weekend? Andy, goodness, gracious, what was your interest slash consumption level and your takeaways?
Yeah, I mean, honestly, pretty lowly. I tried to take some time off and but you know, it also just seems like the exact the exact opposite of must watch television, right, Like even in the sports world that I, you know, love watching sports, Like why is an average sports fan and watching the NBA All Star Game with its tournament and all of it's Kevin hartskit and you know, giving awards to Charles Barkley and the inside the inside the NBA T and T crew when that show is still
going to continue next year just on ESPN. No one cares what channel this is on. To turn you know, thirty minutes of basketball into a three hour presentation is rough. And so yeah, like the DAYTOTA five hundred, frankly may have been more interesting to watch. For me, I had dinner with my family and did not feel like I was missing a whole lot of what was happening on
All Star Sunday. You know, I think Mac McClung does some cool dunks on on All Stars Saturday, and and you know, Stefan Castle did as well, and that was I think a relatively above average dunk contest. But yeah, it's just not must watch anymore. And I think, you know, that's the league of probably that all these leagues are facing, is that like the traditional All Star game format doesn't
work anymore. And and ultimately, you know, I think kind of the further you get away from that traditional kind of idea, whether that be you know, what the NFL has done with the Pro Bowl or what the NHL has done with the Four Nations Tournament, it's probably the best way to go at this point.
So are you old enough to remember when the All Star Game was fun?
Yeah? Okay, yeah for sure. I mean I remember being a big part of growing up, being like eight, nine, ten years old and watching the All Star Game and it seemed really fun and cool. Then right like, it seems like these superheroes in my brain and some of that's just because I was a kid. But we're coming together and playing in this this game. You know that that had everyone I had ever heard of in it, right, So yeah, you know, it was better to look. And
it wasn't amazing. It's not like they were killing each other out there, but it was it was significantly, significantly more real than what was you know over the last five and ten years.
Do you have any ideas to make it, you know, consumable because ultimate I understand your point about other leagues and dealing with their All Star stuff, and but the Pro Bowl was never good, Like the Pro Bowl was never good. And the NBA All Star Game for like thirty years was the best pickup all you know, pick up basketball game that you could find in the world because the best players showed up and played high level basketball.
So whenever ask anyone asks me, like, what's your preferred format, my preferred format is the All Star Game with players who give a rip. That's my preferred format. But I don't think that we're ever getting back there. Is there a format idea, whatever it is that you've heard that you think makes this thing redeemable or is it just time to eat our crow and understand that this is not anything that's ever going to be exciting. Ever.
Again, I haven't heard of one that I think makes a real difference, you know, like if you they've done so many they've tried so many things, right, Like the one that gets me is that they you know, literally gave you know, I think it was five hundred thousand
dollars to the winner of the game to charity. And in fact, they in Cleveland, they brought kids who were food insecure, who were actually needed food from the food bank, sat them in they you know, lower bowl, very obvious section, a group of what twenty thirty kids, I don't know what the actual number was, and said we will give the food Bank five hundred thousand dollars if you win
this game. And the game still sucks, Like, I don't know what you do with that level of player, you know, disassociation from it being a quality product, and like I you know, yeah, you can kind of play around.
The edges with the elam ending and you and the tournament and you know, make it look worse. So that hey, and some of these games are playing rising stars players and maybe they're trying to establish their name and so play a little bit harder. But like in the end, the rising Stars didn't play that hard either, right, Like, it's not like they were really defending.
They just want to be cool. And when you have the incentives that the NBA currently does, where most of the All Stars are making between thirty and sixty million dollars a year, you know, paying them each a million dollars if they win also doesn't really cut it. You know. I think we've seen that with some with the play in tournament and you know, home court advantage in the
NBA finals. Let's say, I don't think really cuts it, because we see teams tank out of those positions here after year or just not you know, maybe not tank, but load manage out of those positions here after year because they think, hey, being the third seed or the fourth seed in the playoffs is fine compared to being the first seed. It just doesn't matter that much who hosts that Game seven at the end of the series. So I'm fresh out of ideas. I haven't heard anything
that's that interesting to me. And ultimately, I think that just like the incentives of the league, that the league is too big right now for these guys to care about this because they are are already stars and just don't have that much the game from trying really hard in the All Star Game.
So PK Suban, you know the Four Nations Finals tonight, Canada taking on the US. It's on our station. After the Craigsmith Coaches Show, he went on a couple of
different platforms today. On ESPN, he was doing the rounds and he just eviscerated NBA players and he utilized his platform as an opportunity to express to consumers if you are interested in watching a sport, if you are interested in watching a game where the league employs people that actually care about their craft, and I'm paraphrasing, of course, you should watch hockey because hockey players play through injuries, They play for the flag tonight and for their club
as opposed to simply individual glory. And it's pretty unanimous, man Like, it's pretty much across the board, whether you're talking about Connor McDavid or or you know one of the local guys here Dylan gun Through. It is a different brand of athlete, it's a different brand of care.
Do you think that's something that people in the NBA could maybe learn a thing or two from As far as the commitments to their craft that hockey players have or is this just a cultural societal thing that it is what it is, And if you're covering pro basketball, you just have to deal with what this thing has become, which is a product oftentimes played by players that don't seem to give that much of a rip.
I mean, I think it's a mix of balls. And I think like the NBA players not caring generally is kind of overstated. Like Kevin Durant, did you watch that Court of Gold documentary?
I did. It was awesome, It was awesome.
Yeah, Kevin Durant cried about the idea of playing in the Olympics, right, like and in that in that documentary, and it clearly meant a ton to him, right, And Like KD is not someone who I think is like an outlier in terms of caring about the game. Like I thought it was really clear that the Olympics really
mattered to those players and to a huge degree. And so I think, like the Four Nations tournament being a success in the NHL level is reflective of kind of those same things that we we did actually see from NBA players in the Olympics, right, And I think we could see in kind of a tournament similar to four nations in the NBA. I also think that you're right that, like, clearly there's a pride in playing through injury that hockey
players have that NBA players don't. I would also say that, like frankly, that happens more on the team side, and I put more blame on the team putting out the injury report than the players. I mean, look, I've been in these jazz locker rooms or on you know, jazz shoot arounds whatever all year long and watches kind of the training staff and these team representatives come up to players and essentially say, hey, you know, how serious is
this injury? Hey, maybe we should take this one, you know, be cautious about this, Maybe you should sit these next couple of games out. Like while the players have those conversations and are not happy about them, right, like would prefer to be playing those games. I mean, like John Collins is sitting, you know, had sat in the last few weeks with a fake injury. Would rather be playing
out there. Larie Markinen would rather be playing, uh, And it's just the team that is preventing them from doing so. And I think that to me is like Okay, you need to change the incentives of the sport a little bit. Where in hockey, you know, for whatever reason, those seven game series are not foregone conclusions, even when it's a one seed versus they seed. I mean, we've seen eight seeds make tremendous runs for the NHL playoffs in a
way that we just have not seen NBA playoffs. The NBA eight seeds make those runs generally, you know, with a couple of exceptions, it feels like upsets are much more common in the NHL, and it you know, again those games seems to individually matter. But like I do think that mean maybe over state of maybe peak. It's about an overstates a little bit like the players side of everything that's not the All Star Game. I will
absolutely blame the All Star Game on the players. I don't necessarily blame a whole lot of what we see in the NBA on the players exclusively, because I know how much the teams are involved in not getting the best product every night.
Yeah, I think PK was probably utilizing the moment to make a larger point to get more people to tune into hockey, and a lot of it was performative, But I think a lot of points that were made are very fair and yeah, and you're not wrong ultimately to bring in the dynamic of not just teams but the league. And I always bring up agents behind the scenes wanting their clients to get to that second, third, fourth, sometimes fifth contract if you're Chris Paul, to make generational Well,
I get the game. But has the league simply become andy a Fortune five hundred company that is only caring about creating value for their shareholders? Like it feels like the league is run like a and it's always been a business. David Stern was a hardcore business man, but David actually got the media game and the consumer game a little bit differently than this. You know, this office
under Adam Silver seems to get. Is it just now that this league is simply about creating as much value for their shareholders as possible and it's just being run like a tech company.
Frankly, yes, I'd agree with with all of that. And I think the kind of too big to fail idea does apply to the NBA a little bit right now, where you know, the despite the TV ratings being what they are, you know, kind of mid whatever, the TV deal is tripling over the in the next contract, right like, they are assured so much money and so much revenue at the team level and at the player level that you know, frankly, teams back in the eighties, right like
the Jazz were a million dollars away from going bankrupt at any given time, right like, and now they are incredibly flushed with cash. And and even if a team tank, even if a team tanker, even if the Jazz didn't se we'll sell out the Delta Center, like that's going to be signed for them. It doesn't make a big deal,
you know. They they will still make a profit and the value of the franchise will continue to go up because the league has been so successful in running it well as a business, in ensuring that every team throughout the league makes a profit. And you know, that good business sense. And I'm sure the thirty owners appreciate Adam Silver for you know, making moves in that direction. But it does just remove a lot of the stakes of
the competition, especially from the team side. And so yeah, as a result, I think you do see all of these things that you know, the tanking and load management and all these kind of anti consumer kind of results of that consequences of that that weren't there in the eighties and nineties because profit was, you know, the kind of way more aligned with the product out there on the.
I can't tell you how many buddies I have that are lifelong NBA fans that are just like disenfranchised with the old thing. It's just I don't know. But to your point, you know, they'll email you their P and L statement with their middle finger and say, what's our problem? Like, we're doing fine, and I get it. One more question in this space and then we'll do a little jazz before I say you lose. What's your opinion on? And I'm not a Lebron hater. I've sounded like it this week,
but I'm not. I mean, I don't know that we have an example of another athlete that was anointed at the age of like sixteen or seventeen, who lived up to every expectation and superseded most of them. The story of Lebron James is phenomenal and always will be. But you know, I'm watching the intros and they I think it was on Shacksog team, and they introduced every player and then they go to Lebron and he's in street clothes and we all find out like he's not playing. Now,
there are a lot of ideas we're having. Amina El Hassan on coming up in the four o'clock hour his podcast asked with Tom Haberstrow Basketball Illuminati. Their theory is he was silently protesting the young players playing on Sunday. I do not have my tinfoil hat on like that. But my issue with it, Andy is this, and I've never loved clauses and contracts that award All Star appearances or give you a bonus if you win a postseason award, because the process at times is arbitrary and it messes
with people's money. All Lebron had to do was let somebody know he wasn't gonna play. They could have named his replacement, and that player could have had a clause exercise in his contract where he makes a couple hundred grand, like if I'm a player that had the opportunity to potentially step in as a replacement, And Lebron pulled that
act that was continued by always Questionable for the Hornest Game. No, he's not like he was playing like obviously, so I had a real issue with the way he approached what he did over the weekend. What are your thoughts, I'm work dealing.
I feel like you've kind of covered it. Lebron absolutely should have said that he was if he didn't want to play or didn't feel, you know, like that he was going to play, should have said something earlier. So Demontes the bonus could have been in that game, and frankly honestly did it with Anthony Edwards, who also did not play for an injury. If we're you know, we should be fired of both of those guys that if
we criticized one and criticize the other. I if they if they didn't want to play, if they felt that their participation was at risk, they should have told the league earlier. And again, a deserving All Star would have got gotten to play in the game. I yeah, have a I have a significant problem with that. I don't. Yeah, it doesn't mean I'm a Lebron height or it doesn't mean I'm an Anthony Edward Peter. Uh. It's just it's just, you know, not cool.
I did not mean to take the good points with that was embedded into my question. Andy. I just know you're a smart guy and you could bounce off of it. But yeah, I mean, like it's just a bad look. Uh. Is there anything and this is me reaching for a topic. Is there anything Keanta can take away from that weekend? I mean, I suppose if you're going to be around your peers and they're the best players in the world, that has to be a good thing.
Right, Yeah, probably, I mean probably. I'm interested in talking about this. So the jazz practice at three o'clock, so really quite soon here, and then once they're done with practice, we'll go over and talk to both Kiante and I think we're talking to Lowry market In as well after practice, and I will ask him my question because I'm curious too. Yeah, what he took away from it? I kind of wonder if like, playing as reasonably well as he did in the Rising Stars and even on Sunday, like may give
him kind of a boost of confidence. But yeah, well I'm curious to see what he says. I don't guess. I guess I don't want to put words into his mouth, and and I am just going to ask him about it in an hour and a half.
Fair enough, all right, do you want to give me a hot Jaden Springer take I guess Jazz fansher at least get to know the new player on the roster.
I mean, he's a ten ten day guys who is going to be on the game and the on the team the next five games I believe it is. And then but yeah, I mean kind of has struggled to find a consistent role in Boston and Philadelphia can defend a little bit. We'll see kind of. Yeah, if if he gets playing time over the likes of Johnny Choosing, etcetera. I you know, if everyone's healthy, I'm I'm curious which way will Hardy will go with that? But yeah, you know he's the fifteenth man on the roster.
All right, before I say you lose make the final what twenty eight games? I believe it is the final twenty eight games for the Jazz. Make it interesting?
Yeah, I mean, look, it's the same thing as we've done all year, right, Like it's whether or not the young guys are building bloss or if they if you feel comfortable kind of jettising them for a shot another player, like the Jazz did with O trag Boji last year. Right, So you know it is there something there with bright sense of ba or is there not. Is there something
there with Cody Williams? Can he show Frankly anything, how you know, can Isaiah improve continue to improve his shooting percentages? Can you know, Keyante George figure out kind of be how to be an impact player when his shot isn't going in. I think there are opportunities for them to show those things. And you know, it's it's this is the most boring cliche in the world, But it is
about stacking days. It is about like playing well in not just one game out of you know, ten, but one game out of two, and then kind of working to improve consistency. So like, I'm watching that stuff and we'll be reporting on that in my in my articles.
Of up Team, we got a stacking days drop for Andy Larson. My man was down in provo listening to Kevin Young. Weren't you?
I was, Do you see Kevin recognize me in that press conference? I thought that was kind of funny.
I did not see that, but I'm happy for you that our guy Kevin Young recognized you. Did you have You've been.
Watching too many NBA games with a question like that. I was like, yeah, maybe I'm out of my depth.
Peer Well, I don't know if you know this, but Kevin spent some time in the NBA. If you didn't know that, all you got to do is ask him.
Yeah, and everyone else around the program too. But hey, look, actually that was fun.
Oh dude, it was amazing.
And uh, just yeah, the degree to which few way you tore apart Kanvas. You know, I was coming in expecting a good game, but not a eviserration like that.
Yeah, no doubt. Ken Palms live in studio coming up next, Andy, So we're gonna let you go enjoy the weekend. We'll chat soon. Thanks, buddy, and you. Larson covers the Utah Jazz for The Solid Tribune, writes a data column really interesting piece up that Andy did on Daylight Savings, smart kid man whatever, Andy Right writes. I like to read because he's kind of a north star for us. So appreciate Andy Sime today