I have a side, I have a chess cold. I am congested, I can barely breathe, and you play pit Bull for Zach Harper and some random track that Dave picks talking about taking a selfie before the beat actually comes in.
Dave, let's turn his Michael.
They even even told us that we were gonna we were gonna like this one. We're gonna love this.
I don't like it.
What is this day? It's not pit Bull. Let me take a selbie. It's paul Ette. I remember this hit.
I don't remember this.
Now that you're out in the pool, you're gonna have to put more.
Commies out there.
Okay, calm down, all right, let's let's leave our off air conversations off here.
I'm not gonna say anymore. I'm just gonna say now that you may be available, let's put some self take it easy.
Will you good?
Is?
What are you doing now? I know I can't talk to you.
You need to post that golf swing.
You were just making fun of my golf swing.
To make fun of it, I said. I said, I'd like to see a little more hip turn. I need to get the lower body involved more. Okay, I need to trust it as you know what, we're ending the segment. We're catching a break.
My personal dating life will not be a topic on this radio show.
I don't know why you're bringing it on air. How long can you have? You and Kather beIN?
Mary? Oh gosh, forty something. Man, she's hung in that entire time every year. She's like, what the heck?
Jam, Well, congratulations on finding somebody that's put it up with all your crap.
Dave Fox, how are you, sir?
I'm well, how are you doing?
I'm fine? But enough of this, Okay, no more misbehaving. Porter's enjoying it.
You're like that, You're like another son to me. I always got to look out for you. That's kind of you, okay, and I just you know, I always you know me. There's there's not much you can do that I don't have your back. No, I appreciate it, and this is one of those cases.
So yeah, yeah, dating in your mid forties and sali is a weird thing. But let's move on. All right, I'm gonna hit you with some of You're right five years ago today, I know. I wrapped up this radio show. Then I said to my producer, who was Brady Uh, no, was it JP.
I think it was. I think it was Chunga.
Yeah Brady at the time, Yeah, JP had left for the jazz. I said to Brady, I said, Okay, gotta run because I got to get to TV with And as I'm walking down uh this would be Broadway here towards the Wells Fargo building, I get an alert on my phone. Rudy Gobert tests positive for COVID. Jazz okase canceled, and then a couple of hours later the WOAJE bomb drops that the NBA season has been canceled.
What do you remember about that day?
It's wild that it was five years ago today, by the way, I well, the one thing I remember more than anything is you coming over, because I don't think you were actually scheduled that night. In fact, I know you weren't because I called you and said, Hey, we got a problem. We don't have all of our jazz material. Can you come over here and we're going to do this live. I think I'm pretty sure I'm right on that. I don't know if we were doing talking jazz at that time. Maybe maybe we were.
We weren't doing talking jazz, but I was doing it. I was scheduled.
Don't do it something I was scheduled doing it.
Then we got on the phone, that's it, and I said, do you still want me to roll by? There's no game, and you said, well, yeah, we got We've got to fill the time. So I remember we went on air and we were just like flying blind. Didn't know what to say to me. I was just like, everybody, just stay calm, you know, like we'll get through this. Without knowing anything as far as what was about to happen.
I mean, this is the ultimate. If you knew then what you know now, you probably could have had a little more fun with it. But man, it got weird, and it got serious, it got ugly, got everything. And remember this was also the same week of the tournaments, which stands the reason because they're going on now in Las Vegas. And I want to say, at that time was it was it a Thursday? It was a Thursday.
I don't remember what day of the week it was, but anyway, because Adam was in Vegas and they were, they actually started playing one of the tournament games in the morning. It wasn't involving in any of our teams. And then they finally canceled that, But really it's the Jazz game that kind of it sort of ended the world, you know.
At that time, go Bear became patient number zero.
I mean, I remember, without any of us really knowing what it was and any of us knowing about what the effects would be, people online were like, is Rudy gonna die?
Like does this thing kill you right away? We just didn't know.
And then Donovan tests positive and then suddenly he hates Gobert. Now what we know now is Donovan could have had it and gave it to Rudy just as easily as Rudy could have given it to Donovan. But you remember the day before the Jazz were here, Yeah, and they came back from Toronto and they had shoot around, and after shoot around.
They had media.
And during the media, after Gobert was done, he stands up and he starts playing with the microphones and the recorders.
Okay, let me stop you right now, because that shot you're referring to, that was our shot. We took that shot. And I remember posting that not thinking, really, not knowing the magnitude of what it was.
I was just trying to break the tension.
My post was a here's Rudy having a little fun with this. To this day, Spence and you know me, I'm not a huge social media guy, but it's hilarious to chart that one. The biggest single post I've ever had. It is probably six seven million views last time I checked. It get to reposted every year. Gobart playing with they're playing with the interesting it's and of course it's been stolen many, many times, but most people do credit us with it. But I'll never forget that night. And my
first thought that night was laughing as well. We were all just like, oh, is he being funny? Two days later the world shuts now crazy. It was wild, so crazy.
Baxter Holmes and Tim McMahon in Front of the show wrote an oral history of that night that's up on dot com today, And you know the part that they described Dennis Lindsay walking in and addressing the coaching staff and he said he's got it.
He's got it, meaning he's.
Got COVID because they went through referring to test and so that was kind of like the moment where everybody went, Okay, what does this mean. Then they had to report it to the league, and then everybody's embargoed including traveling media like Andy Larson and Sarah Todd and Tony Jones. They were kind of bunker down with the players and the coaches waiting to figure out how are we going to get out of here? Because they essentially told Rudy you got to go in that room and you got.
To stay there. Yeah, didn't it take them some time to get out? They get that night or that morning.
Well, if my memory serves, and let's get Andy on and Sarah on to talk about the memories, because if my memory serves, everybody who.
Didn't have COVID was able to get home.
But I think Gobert had to stay behind like isolated for DAB.
I think so.
I remember in the early days, the isolation time was much longer. Oh yeah, I mean.
Yeah, before everybody knew what was going on. Like I just I cannot believe that was five years ago. It's kind of blowing my mind. I had completely forgotten. But it does make sense. Let me ask you this because I have often said Dave, I've said this to Quinn, I've said this to Dennis. I've said this on air. COVID changed them fundamentally. In fact, you can make an argument that COVID ruined them fundamentally because they had playoff.
Runs they beat Okay.
See here, they had a young player that was learning how to be the lead offensive option for a good team in Donovan. They had a playoff experience in the bubble. But the Rudy Donovan relationship never recovered from that. I don't think it was ever great, but it was fine before that. That's when it kind of crumbled. And then you get the Adrian Wojnarowski report that everyone's mad at Rudy because wojin Donovan are caaa guys, which I thought
was so low brow. Then Donovan goes on Fat Joe's Instagram Live a real thing.
By the way, I'd never heard that. I heard you mention that in your last segment.
We're all waiting, like we got to hear from Donovan. When's Donavin gonna talk?
And I get this alert like hey, in twenty minutes, Donovan's going on Fat Joe's Instagram Live to address the Gobert stuff.
I'm like, none of this is real. This is so wild.
So if COVID doesn't happen, how do you think that Jazz team, Because look, if COVID doesn't happen, Dave, Maybe Donovan and Rudy are fine. Maybe Donovan decides because the other thing that happened during that summer, it was this summer of George Floyd, right, it was the summer of COVID, summer of George Floyd. And as a result of all of that, Donovan just kind of leaned into culturally some
things that weren't part of kind of his DNA. And it's fine, Like, if you're a young African American male and you're learning about the history of your people and you decide you want to express yourself, express yourself. I have no issue with that, but I think it changed the way he viewed living here. The Rudy stuff was untenable,
and ultimately they decided to break it all down. If COVID doesn't happen, and Rudy and Donovan and Bogdanovitch and Conley and O'Neil and everybody else stays together and Quinn stays the coach, what do you think.
That looks like?
Well, I'll tell you. Let me take it one step further. I would love to see. And I don't know if they had all stayed together, if Quinn would have left but if he had, I've always been very curious to see what Will Hardy could have done with that group, because he's had to manage just you know, I don't want to call it a train wreck, but a rebuild, and it's very, very difficult. What could he have done, excuse me, with a roster full of really good players
that would have been interesting. Now, circling back to what you said, I mean, there's no way to really tell. Even if there wasn't COVID, there was still a lot of other emotional things that year. By the way, how about what was it like two weeks after COVID we had that Biger earthquake. We had several It was like we had a multiple ears coming to it, and no, I felt like this was it, like get right with
your maker because it's time. Yeah, I'll never forget because I mean I remember, I don't know where you would have been, but I think you were in town. I remember being awaken. It's probably around five am, five thirty am. I was living downtown something like that. So anyway, all those things, I don't know if COVID itself brought it to an end, but it certainly kicked it off because of the whole illness thing. But I think there was some sort of animosity you could since even before that,
and it continued long after. So I don't know if anything would have saved it. And you know, Quinn kind of admitted that no matter what, he had run his course, and I don't know if he was being diplomatic by not. You know, he's not going to sit there and say, well, I'm tired of these two. So who knows whether or not he would have left. But still I think it would have been very intriguing to see will Hardy coach these guys.
I think as long as that group was willing to stay together and keep working, Quinn stays. Now the one caveat now. I want to be careful here because I don't want to, nor will I, nor could I speak for Quinn, But I do know when it came to Quinn, Snyder and Dennis lindsay they just didn't want to work
for this ownership group. They did not want they you know, you know, Dennis has one meeting with Ryan and the new group and he's like, yeah, you know what, I'm good, you know, I'll do I'll step aside here, Let's elevate Zaniker. I'm not saying that was Dennis Dennis's decision, but they elevate Zanak to GM, they hired Danny Ainge and then Quinn sits down with him, and my guess is the majority of his decision was steeped in the fact that they were about to trade most of the players.
But I don't think he wanted to work for this group either.
Well I don't know, and maybe again you and I don't have any We weren't in these meetings. Maybe somewhere in those meetings it was made clear that we're going to make a change at player and that's probably going to mean coach too. So you know what I'm saying, I think they wanted Quinn to stay.
Well, if they were telling the truth, because Dan Danny himself said I think during the press conference kind of the dog and pony show they had when Quinn was leaving, In my opinion, that was them trying to save face.
But Danny talked about all the contract negotiations that he had with Quinn, and ultimately Quinn decided he wanted to move on, and you know, the Millers were there and Quinn was very emotional and said thank you to the Miller's I'm not sure that he just I just don't think he wanted.
To be part of this new thing.
Well and either way, if if they're getting rid of all the players, then you know he didn't want to be part of a rebuild, right. I mean, he came into a good situation. Some coaches are built that way. For Hardy, it's perfect because he's just starting out. But I don't think Quinn, what was he nine years? He doesn't need had no interest in Could you imagine that asking a guy like even Jerry Sloan back in the day. I don't know that I would call Darren Williams and
boozer or rebuild because it really wasn't. But it's kind of funny because it's sort of the same situation in terms of, you know, you get player personalities, drives a coach out. Same thing happened again. I don't know what do you do with it. I really doesn't happen with this group.
I'll say this about Will I hope we get a chance to see him coach good players. Kid, I hope we get a chance to see him coach good players here because my my fear, and we'll get to some of this in a minute is Look, this is the end of his third year, and he has the options picked up for both year four and year five, So he's going to be here for two years. Barring some lady luck going the Jazz way, there's a chance Will's going to coach here for five years without a roster
of good players. And if that's the case, I'm sure the Jazz would really want him to keep riding with them. But he is well respected enough around the NBA that if there's an owner that has a good roster and doesn't think he has the coach, he's gonna call Will and say, dude.
What are you doing out there? How long is this going to take?
Like, come here, I have good players. I'll pay you twelve million dollars a year or whatever it is. And you know what, if your will, you owe it to yourself to do that. Coaches are defined by their win loss record. If after five years, Will is continuing to win fifteen to twenty twenty five games and his winning percentage is like thirty five percent over a five year stint, he's gonna want to change.
You know though, And I can't believe I'm even saying this, because I've been on board with you in this entire rebuild process. But I think if the Chips do fall where the Jazz hope they do this year, I think they can actually start turning the corner a little bit next year. And the reason I'm saying that is because they sit an inordinate amount of players that they probably don't need to night in and night out on and on it goes. And yet they're still almost winning a
lot of these games. So imagine if they don't have to play that game, and everyone's on the court, and everyone stays moderately healthy, maybe next year is a little bit of a turn about. I don't think you have to suddenly go from lottery team to NBA championship team. You certainly have to get to the playoffs. And let's just say, for arguments, let's sake, let's say they got
a number one pick and they drafted Cooper Flag. I think if everyone else is back and everyone else stays healthy, I think that team could probably compete for a play in spot.
Yeah, but who gives a rip about the place doesn't.
I'm not saying that's your ultimate goal, but that's part of the process.
I I I understand your point.
But if you have a chance, so to your point, if you get number one overall and you're able to grab Cooper flag, then we've got something.
For sure to move on, then you've got something.
But the other approach would be looking around the landscape of the Western Conference right now and saying yourself, Okay, well, Oklahoma City is good and they're young, and they're gonna be good for a long time, and they're gonna be young for a long time. The Lakers just got Luka Doncic. Memphis is a good young team. Uh Jokic, I think isn't even thirty yet. Do you look around the landscape of the conference and say, not yet, We're not going all in yet. And then next year and let's play
the fun game. Let's play the fun game here, Lottery Night rolls around, ping pong balls, Lady Luck. They go the way of the Jazz for the first time. Number one, pick Cooper flag and he decides to stay in school. And you and you put Cooper flag next to Walker and Lowry and then you say, okay, here we go, here we go.
We got something.
Does that put you as one of the top six or seven teams in the West.
It doesn't, but.
It might in a couple of years. You're still developing those young people.
But would you rather play this game again and say, look, wait till you see this kid play down at BYU.
Wait till you see agent Yah. But then you're going all in on that one kid, and that's it's you. And I know how hard this has been just to even do this. But if if we want to get wild here and we say in two years, your starting lineup is Walker Kessler, Lowry Market and Cooper Flag aj Debanza and hell you like, then we have something fun to talk about. And then in a couple of years after that, and I know jazz fans are going, wait a second, you're asking me to wait another four or
five years. Yes, I am, that's the route they're taking.
But you have to have excellent luck in order to get that to go down back to back number one overall picks.
That's a tough ask.
So if you get one and it's Cooper flag are your assertion is no more sitting players, Let's.
See how good we can be. That's kind of what I think. It depends because now you're in well what year are we in? Or we would be in year four, right, because y're three. They had to keep trading guys to make that what it would be year four. Now, let's talk about three teams that have really kind of developed. Oklahoma City did that take two years just to get to the playoffs?
Yeah, they're talked about last year.
Yeah, Yeah, Houston three or four years. Well, this is the first year's Houston has been good since they traded. But how many has have been taken? It's taken three years, Detroit probably four years. Yeah, this is Caid's third year because he got hurt last year. So the outset would be on the same trajectory as Detroit, which is in their fourth year. That would be the Jazz next year. Can you imagine having to go a fifth year. I just think that's going to be a tough ask of
the fans and even the ownership. I just I just feel like anything short off as long as you get that number one pick and it is Flag, that you have to kind of start thinking about moving forward. I honestly think Spence, it's gonna be really tough to finish in the bottom three next year. If you add Cooper Flag to this roster, you are gonna have to shut guys down. First of all, you dont have to have
a terrible start, because what is their biggest mistake? In the two previous years, they had fast starts and then they got so far behind they could never make up for it. So you got to have a really really slow start or fast start if you want to consider a fast start, meetings, staying in the hunt for the lottery. And then if you don't get that, now what do you do. You can't just shut guys down. You can't start trading guys. I mean, these are the guys that
you're hoping to build for your future. I just think it's gonna be really tough. Now if they don't get the number one pick, maybe you slide through another year of this.
Look, if they it's gonna have to come one of two ways here. Because all of the teams that we can use as an example of teams that have been in the Jazz spot not too long ago. Okay, see, you know we could talk about Houston, certainly talk about Orlando.
You reference to try right, Yep.
The one thing those four teams have, Okay, Detroit has Kaid, Orlando has Paolo, Okac has Shay.
Which they traded for by the way, that wasn't a draft, right, right?
And so wait wait wait wait wait do you mean well Gil just hole Xanner was part of a deal with Oh Shaye, I thought you meant pollow Yeah.
So no, no, no, So SGA was part of the Paul George Jess.
What all those teams have that the Jazz don't is simply a transcendent centerpiece to talent, right, and Lowry's very good, but Cooper could be that, right, so then you finally have Okay, we love Lowry, we love Walker, but Cooper is the guy.
Cooper is our guy.
Okay, he's good enough that we think he can be a franchise changing pillar, and then you start building around him.
So you have two options.
You can play the continued kind of slow build game by not sitting anybody. Next year, we got our centerpiece, it's Cooper. Let's see exactly who we are. No more sitting players, and then maybe you win forty forty two games your point, maybe you qualify as the ten seed.
Well that's one way to do it.
The other way to do it is to completely preach patients and say we're doing this again to see if we can get another franchise.
Piece.
Okay, let me tell you why I like the former, because at least you get to where I'm not saying the fans aren't engaged. It's amazing to me how many people go to jazz games. It's just remarkable. But go, let's go way back, way back to when your dad was here stalked to them alone. Well, I don't know if he was still here when they got them, but how many years did it take stock on a loan to get to the NBA Finals? A dozen? Yeah, they're in their mid thirties exactly so, but they were competitive
every year. I still remember what year was it they took the Lakers to seven games that he'd say, yeah, right, And that was ten year, nine years before they went to the finals. So every single year they were competitive, they stayed engaged, they made trades. Finally, the Horn Sec deal, I think is what we all agree is what put them over the top. So it but at least they didn't have to go through all that we stink rebuilding process.
And maybe the same thing I'm not saying, Cooper flags a guide you to the NBA the final next year. If you draft him. It may take five years, six seven years, but it doesn't matter because every player on this team is all in that age group except Lowery's getting a little.
Old well, And the other option is to do what has always happened here, and that is you don't necessarily need the number one overall pick to find a guy you like. Now, the problem is, so far they've not been able to find that guy, and they haven't had top five picks. They've had late lottery picks that have turned in to Cody Williams, who hasn't shown anything this
year at all, to Taylor Hendricks, who's been hurt. The best picks they've made Keyante was what fifteen sixteen, Isaiah was twenty nine, Philipowski I think was thirty two round. So they've found some good value in mid and late first round, early second round picks, but they have not found a franchise piece.
That's what they're missing.
But that worked again. I don't mean to keep going back and dating myself, but that worked with Stock on them alone. They're both drafted in the teams for Heavens, but they haven't found one of those yet. No, right, well, no, you're right, they haven't found You're never going to find a Stock and Malone. But they've found players that are close to I mean, call your show. It could be a long term quality NBA P You don't know yet.
Two of the best players of all time. They haven't found anything close exactly.
But maybe some of these guys can develop into quality maybe, and that's what they're trying to help.
You're right, I just haven't seen proof yet outside of Walker and Lowry to even know who's gonna be on the team in five years.
Look, I'd love to have demands. I'm with you. I can't see another fully tough ass I've finish scene at the bottom of the league. I think it's not only a tough ask. I think it's almost impossible it has taken. It's just the real MVP of this team. If if we're talking about MVP to get to the lottery, is the management, the front office that has managed us. Who's gonna sit every night and how are we gonna make
this work? Yeah, let's play more guys against the Celtics because we know we're probably not gonna win anyway, and we'll play a lot fewer guys against Toronto or Washington because we need everything we can. You know, those were by the way, those are huge losses, both of them.
It took Jez took It took Philly six years before they got Embid and then Ben Simmons. Now Ben Simmons did not turn out to be who he thought he was. But go back and look at the first two or three years of Ben Simmons, he was awesome. So Sam Hanky trust the process six years before Embiid and Simmons gave Philly hope.
This is year.
Three, Yeah, but daved Philly was at least making some uh barely making some playoffs. They weren't making the runs.
No, they weren't. They had to build the process. Trust the process.
We're going.
I'm saying.
When Sam Hankey took over, he said, we're going all in on being bad, and he came up with a Moniker.
Trust the process. They didn't make the playoffs.
They were horrible, and then they were They drafted like Okafer and it didn't work. They had all these draft misses. Then they get Embiid, who by the way, was the fourth pick.
He wasn't the first pick.
And then they get Simmons and then it's like all right, this process finally breds up.
But it took six years of futility. This is year three for the Jazz. Still that's a lot to ask, but we'll see. It's a lot to ask for fans.
It's a lot to look when footballs and the Jazz are bad. Doing this job is not that easy. So I want them to be good as soon as possible.
You know what else is a lot to ask and almost impossible back to back number one picks. So yeah, the Cavs had two and what like three or four years look back to back. The fact that the fact of the matter is Wheneverboddy in the ad, whenever anybody asked me, what's the Jazz plan, I said, well, they need to get lucky.
Yeah, like part of their plan is knock on. Well let's get lucky.
But before I let you get out of here, we haven't even talked about the fact that Utah men's basketball has a new head coach. I'm so excited since you and I last spoke, the seventeenth head coach in history. I think this was a dynamite higher. I give Mark a lot of credit for going after him. Alex Jensen, what's your reaction.
I absolutely love it. I'm excited to see what he does in terms of filling out his staff, assistant coaches, you could bring in. Smart guy deserves this, maybe even overdoing some respects. But I was actually calling you games on Channel two back in the nineties when he was playing so much fun, just in a smart guy, engaging guy. His dad was Judge, for heaven's sakes. I mean, he's just it's just this is an exciting time. And now I'm not saying it's gonna turn overnight. He's got to
go out, he's got to get players. But I mean he has what you know, when you talk about being able to what a young man want to hear, I want to be in the NBA. And just like in Provo, you've got a coach now that can look at young man in the eye and say I can get you to the NBA. That's where I've been. I've coached these guys. I know how to do it, and I just think that's going to be great for this program. And you know what, it's the first time they've hired a head
coach who played for Utah. In fact, I want to say, it's like the early fifties. It is right in your prime, yeah, right, exactly. The last time I had basketball season tickets. But how cool is that too, just to bring home one of your own. I think it's just very, very exciting. I couldn't be happier.
All Right, Dave Television Gold tonight. Even though I'm fighting the bug, what do we got? We're going to have you in a separate room for me. We're going back to the COVID days.
I'll be Rudy. Today's the five year anniversary of COVID. We may talk a little bit about that. There is something interesting. What if the Jazz are in the lottery but they don't land number one. Spence is going to tell you two or three other guys that could be impact players for this team if they can't get their hands on Cooper Flag. We'll do all that talking Jazz coming away tonight on KMYU Television.