MON POD @SpenceChecketts on NBA Playoffs round 1, NFL Draft recap, RSL weekend win over SD + more

All right, let's get a drive time Monday afternoon, twelve minutes past the hour of two o'clock. It is a very aggressively April day outside. It's about fifty eight sixty degrees. We had a little rain this morning, cloudy with a little bit of sunshine this afternoon here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. And as it is every single day, it's going to have you along for the ride.

Spence Check. It's back behind the mic.

After a little Friday off, a little John to San Diego with our little local soccer club over the weekend, RSL get to win. We'll get into a little soccer on the show today. But there's a lot to do the Monday after the NFL Draft. We kind of lean heavy into that, so we'll talk NFL Draft from a local standpoint. Kind of a quiet year. We've talked about

We'll update you on.

The local college football players that we're able to sign, some unrestricted free agent or I should say undrafted free agent deals some mini camp invites too. Of course, the big story today is shoud Or Sanders sliding all the way to the fifth round of the draft after a lot of mid season college football projections had him both as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy and the favorite in Vegas at one point to be the number one overall pick that of course ended up being cam Ward.

So we'll do some NFL today, We'll do some NFL draft today.

We'll do some college football today on the program as well. The latest with the NCAA transfer portals, Zach Williams is on his way to USC. What will the University of Utah do at that wide receiver position? As the transfer portal has come and gone now there will be more opportunities to have talent prior to the start of the season at fall, so we will get to that. NBA playoffs have been awesome. They have just been so much fun, and they continue tonight with well, one good game tonight.

Donovan's been really.

Good Man, Donvin Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers will march on, I think tonight to the second round. We'll see if Miami can get one in their arena and then series that a lot of people are tuned into with the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors. Reports are that Jimmy Butler went through shoot around this morning and may give it a go tonight after he sat. In Game three,

But an old guard that might be done.

It's not his fault. Lebron James and the LA Lakers are in trouble. I don't know if JJ Reddick was trying to send a point to Rob Polinka and the LA Laker front office staff by not sitting any of his starters in the second half. He played the same five man unit. Timberrel's are deep. You can't do that against Minnesota. Lebron ran out of gas, Luca got tired. Even Dorian Finney Smith had a wide open dunk and he short armed it.

So the Lakers on the brink elimination.

Boston Celtics no issues with the Orlando Magic some competitive games, so that one's over.

The Knicks have a three to one series lead against Detroit.

That's been kind of an unexpected fun testing back and forth. After splitting at the Garden, New York goes to Detroit and they get two. And the Indiana Pacers have been a really good team since the All Star break, so this series is not surprising me. But unfortunately, the storyline coming out of Indianapolis against Milwaukee is that our local legend, Damian Lillard might be done. I hate to say it, but the news became official about two hours ago after

Look to move on from Giannis.

Let me just say this into this microphone the Utah Jazz will not be making the deal for your honest because that's not realistic. So if we could stop sending out silly tweets and such, that would be great. But speaking to Utah Jazz, we are high speed ahead to the next date of intrigu which is May the twelve, when the Jazz will find out their lottery luck and fingers crossed knocking on wood. Hopefully it's the number one pick.

Be awesome. So a lot to do.

Jam pack show, busy show, Happy Monday to you. Hope you had a great, great weekend, full of a bunch of NBA hoops, full of some RSL soccer, some NFL drafts, maybe a little golf, maybe got outside a little bit too.

The weather is very spring like. We've not had a very sunny, warm spring.

Hopefully the consistent sunshine is on its way all right. Our first guest today, excited for this Matt Brown, who writes the newsletter Extra Points. It's kind of a north star for me. Utilize it to prep for the show. With the business of college football, we'll talk to Matt about house first NCAA settlement kind of where we're at with that structure and when we can see something final and what it means for the world of collegiate athletics, namely college football.

Richard Smith will do.

A little jazz basketball, little offseasonal NBA draft, little playoff basketball with Smitty today live in the studio. Thorn Nystrom stops by. Decided to catch up with Thor. His name is Thor, so you can guess that he's a football guy. We'll do some NFL draft with Thor on the program today, and then we'll welcome in a special guest. I've never had an opportunity to interview Sam Junkqua before. Sam scored

How are you happy Monday?

All of you the great listeners, and that guy Porter Larson who held the fort down on Friday with Andy Larson had the Friday show.

I thought it went pretty good.

It's not what I heard.

It went fun, went well.

Not what I heard.

It was Andy and I notable fun fun. Uh, guys who love fun things right and optimistic the ultimate tie.

The opposites that you are curmudgeons.

That's kind of what I was saying.

But but it went okay, you guys had a good time.

It did go It did go well, I thought, so. I even got Andy to talk some NFL Draft. Obviously the bulk of the show was NFL Draft NBA playoffs, but we had plenty to talk about on a on a Friday that that had live action. We talked about the the coverage of the NFL Draft and the live stuff there and and had plenty of NBA playoffs to talk about. So it was fun with Andy. Always good to catch up with him, uh, talking rs L and and whatnot.

And we'll do the same today.

Before we get into it, you're a football guy big time. What do you think happened for real? What do you think happened with should or why do you think you shoulid all the way to the fifth round?

First off? And not to like hot take, you know, not a huge surprise. It was a slide. It was a surprise to see him taking in the fifth round, But the one hundred and forty fourth pick in the NFL Draft is kind of relative to being like a top one hundred and fifty college football player. He was

Quinn Ewers.

A bunch of quarterbacks slid in this draft because it was a heavy offensive line, defensive back, defensive back, defensive tackle in the middle of the draft. But when when no one else is picking quarterbacks, you don't make that pick. So it wasn't as surprising as I think the the firestorm led out to be, because that's how everything with Dion, with the Sanders, with Shador is and that's fine, but that's just kind of the reality of it.

And yeah, one hundred and forty fourth pick.

Hell, that's some guy's dream, that's most people's dream, and I think it's it's it's okay to say that out loud.

Awesome human feet and achievement one hundred and forty four.

Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. So we'll get into it. Of course, the hot takes have been flying all day. Some of the same media members that were very confident in their intel on Wednesday of last week that Shador would be a top ten pick or a first round pick or now talking about how confident they are in their intel about why they got it wrong. I always find the kind of the autopsy that certain media members do about the draft pretty funny. After the fact, but

Welcome to the Drive with Spence check its on Utah's number one Sports talk now into the studios of ESPN seven hundred to set the scene for the show.

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So happy for certainly Caleb Bloher.

We heard Sean Payton talk a lot about his athleticism after the draft process. So some of the other players that have found deals. Junior Tifuna will be a Texan undrafted deal. I mentioned Karna Reid's going to Denver. Connor O'Toole got himself almost three hundred grand as far as the undrafted contract he signed with Seattle's am I A. Vaughn will be in Minnesota and McKay Bernard I believe will be with the Browns or the Bills. McKay got

So mckay'son Tennessee. Thank you porter.

So Mkai got an undrafted deal Tennessee. So Jalen Royals will be catching passes from Patrick.

Mahomes and playing for Andy Reid.

But real quick, I couldn't help but think about this, says the Chador Sanders storyline played out, and yes, mel kiper ESPN, they're going to force feed all of us these stories that maybe isn't as interesting for some as

Best possible way you can.

Like, if you're Lebron James, you can show up for a free agency meeting, you can down a bottle of wine and pontificate on random, weird stuff, and it doesn't matter. You're Lebron James, We're gonna sign you no matter what. But if you're a mid tier free agent and you have to knock an interview out of the park in order to get a deal better, you better act right, man.

And when it comes to.

All of these interviews that apparently as Porter was outlining, Shador, some of them he just refused to show up in person.

He would do it on zoom.

I guess there was a comment that he said, if you don't want to change your culture, then don't get me or whatever. And he's just not good enough to not act right with the things that have to be dialed in for a prospect that has a lot of questions for a lot of people. But last year Big twelve Media Day, we're in Vegas for our first foray into Big twelve media experience because it's the first year

That's all it's about.

That's why you see people like the Paul Brothers doing ridiculously dumb things in order to get attention. And yes, all these people are making a lot of money, and good for you, go get your bag. I'm not a hater that way, but it was a circus at Big twelve Media Day, just to watch Dion and his two kids walk into the facility, let alone what they're doing throughout the course of the season or what they're doing.

Throughout the course of the draft process.

I mean, I can't speak for any NFL general manager about how they feel about having to deal with a circus with a prospect that isn't considered to be a home run. Like That's what I think a lot of people are missing. Even a lot of the analysts that thought Shador should be a first round pick or even higher than that, maybe a top ten pick, all talked about maybe the lack of size, or he's only played for his dad his entire career, or are there entitlement

They were able to win some games to go to the playoffs.

So all the Tebow supporters were like, se told you Jesus lives and all the tee bou haters are like, okay, just wait, it's not gonna work because he's not very good at it. Like it didn't change anybody's mind about who Tim Tebow was but from an organizational standpoint, that has to bring a lot of headaches. Johnny Manzel after he lost his starting job and became the celebrity backup, only caused issues. So when you do the math here a little bit, I don't think it's that much of

Ila got Smitty Live in.

Studio, Richard Smith, who spent forty years with Utah Jazz. We'll do some jazz basketball, some lottery, some playoffs. You're gonna do some NFL draft later on, do some RSL with Sam Junkwall, who scored a goal over the weekend. But one of our favorite spats lead off on this Monday afternoon, Matt Brown writes the college football, well college athletics, but football heavy newsletter extra points that we use on the show quite a bit.

Matt, Happy money man.

How you doing, Hey, I'm doing great. It's sunny, it's eighty degrees here in Chicago. There's no way I could possibly be upset, even if it means that I'm going to be writing a lot this week about legal stuff.

I know you will, and we'll get into it.

I've got to give you my hot Chicago take, though it's my favorite summer city in America, and then on either side of summer, I'm like, I gotta get out, i gotta do something else.

I mean, I've lived here for post for a decade now, I don't think that's a hot take. Most people who live here think the same thing. From May until September. I think it's the best place in the entire country, and it's good enough that I still want to live here. But in January, and I've lived most of my life in the Midwest, I still want to walk in front of a truck by the inch. And it's not just because it's like six degrees, because it's it's less of

Now for sure.

When the weather warms up, you're like, you know, I'm not depressed. I'm just cold, so now bad? I feel better now, I feel better now? All right, Matt, I'm just stealed thirty thousand foot viewpoint here.

Like, where are we at with House.

B NCAA, Like, what's the timeline and what's the latest?

What should we know as of today, on this Monday, Well as.

Of today, there's been a little bit of a wrinkle, right Like, over the last honestly six plus months, almost everybody in at the highest levels of college athletics and in the power conferences and conference offices have been operating on the assumption that.

This is going to get approved essentially as is in early April, And all the revenue sharing and IL deals that have gone out to athletes in the last recruiting class, and a lot of like vendor hires, you know, have been pretty explicit like this, all of this is contingent upon the settlement being approved Evan. Last week, Judge Wilkins says, if you guys don't fix this roster limit issue that I've pointed out now multiple times, I'm going to blow

To do a little over a week.

So is that can we finally say we actually have like a hard deadline, like a drop dead date?

Is that what we're expecting?

Now I'm gonna have to go double check on my computer fit exact date. But when Wilkins letter last week was you got fourteen days figure this out? Yeah, we can finally you know, crap or get off the pot. I would, I would. I would still be pretty surprised if this settlement is not approved. But given the way the NCAA and Power Conference attorneys have kind of acted over the last couple of months, I can't say at zero percent.

Yeah.

And that's why I followed up, because you know every day, I mean, you're one of my first stops because we utilized a lot of the stuff you ride for the show. And then I try to see if Ross has anything the usual suspects, and it seems like all you guys that are plugged in are doing the best you can to nail down a date, but it seems to be fluid.

I'm a little surprised, and I probably shouldn't be. You know, one thing that was just reiterated to me by so many athletic directors oh for February and March, whether they were at big schools or small schools, was we don't know what's going on right. We are intellect actually aware of this settlement. Charlie Baker sent him out a couple of messages, But honestly, we hear about it from you or from Ross or from the Coleus often before we

For college football fans college but I mean fans of collegian athletics, but mainly you knowllege football fans. Uh in college basketball too, both of the revenue generators have been

I think I think if and when this is this is settled. What I would tell for what I would tell fans is now you can have some measure of structure for the next academic year. And honestly, that's about all I would say. The folks from at Indianapolis and at the Power Conferences are really hoping that this settlement would create something of a de facto CBA that would provide cost certainty and structure over the next over the next decade, and protection from additional litigation. At this point,

Okay, so let's move over here because I feel like, yeah, I don't know, Matt, maybe you've been coming on the show for four or five years. And after nil and transferport will became a reality, and it was clear that administrators and leaders had failed everybody because they're there wasn't anything that was prepared as far as okay, now, now we know that this is the reality, but here's how

And where will there be a commissioner?

Will college football look like the NFL will college basketball look like the NBA? And you know, a smart guy like you has been able to help us understand based off of you know, the Trump administration and changes they're going to make. How you know things have changed in that direction. Where where are we at now as far as your belief of what I know? You just said you don't know what twenty twenty seven is going to

Whenever?

That is what my opinion on this I think is pretty different from most of my national reporter colleagues, and they may very well be right. Maybe this is me being you know, too much of a chicken little or something, but I legitimately think there is a better than fifty percent chance that this Congress passes some sort of college sports bill. Now that bill may be something that every single economist and agent and lawyer on Twitter absolutely hates.

Okay, So let's operate off the hypothetical that what you just outlined will be the direction. Do you agree with the direction? Is that what you would like to see happen for the sport? Do you think that's the right move? Because I maintain mad that I and I will stay on the hill where I do think the right move

Field a little bit.

And of course there's always money paid into various ways, but that's not new.

That's been going on forever.

So if if there is a salary structure, a salary cap, and contracts where players are on campus for a couple of years, I believe that to be the right route. If the congressional bill that you're talking about is the route, do you think that will go a long way to alleviate some of the issues that we always talk about.

I think the bill that's coming is something that's going to be written by Ted Cruz, and I admit I am generally not the kind of person who's going to go and say with my full chest, I love this bill that Ted Cruz wrote, or that that Senator Lee is also going to support that. I'm sure we agree on something. It's a it's probably a smaller list and my understanding because I've heard about drafts of this of this bill is kind of circulated around and is not.

So for college football and college basketball fans that cannot stand the fact that we no longer get to know these kids, we no longer get to you know, the great Rick mcjari's teams always had the Keith van Horns and the Andre Millers and the Britton Johnson's that stayed

Probably unless the Byus and Utah's of the world begin to recruit a very different kind of person and begin to really go out of their way to offer value

That's hard, Yeah, for sure. And you know one more thing here than I do. I would by you questioned, because we were talking about this earlier in the show, Like the dynamic of NIL. I don't think is a bad I don't think it's a bad thing. I don't think in theory. I think it's a positive thing. NIL itself, to me, isn't the problem, right, It's the way it's administered.

It's the lack of guidelines and guardrails.

So you know, ultimately to your point, I would never have the nerve to tell anybody to turn out a bag like we're all trying to make our way through the world. And if you could parlay your newsletter into ten times what you're making right now, then go do it.

Whatever that looks like.

If I had a different offer to do the show in a different market for five times my salary, I want to go be able to do that. So I don't necessarily begrudge any young athlete for going to get their money at all. But is there any sort of way that we haven't necessarily discussed to make sure that those decisions.

And I know they've tried to close the portal.

Here and and and the calendar is not as wide open as it used to be, But outside of signing a contract, I just don't see any other way of keeping these kids on campus if they can I mean, we've had a couple of transfer portal losses for the Utes just over the past couple of weeks.

You know, Zach William's going to US seed and there's.

All this debate online about you know, there's the incestuous nature between the Utah and BYU coaching staff.

Right, and so are you poaching on Twitter?

Right? Right?

Right?

Yeah, yeah, they're poaching our player and like you can't call it poaching because it's allowed.

It's not against the rules. Like nobody is doing anything to fari us here.

So is there a way, uh to you know, because again to your point, go get your back.

I'm not saying I'm not saying don't.

But is there a way to at least keep these kids on campus for a couple of years. That's a good situation for them and the institution.

So I think there's there's a couple of things. If I can wave a magic wand right, because we actually we do have contracts, right, Like I in addition to running a newsletter, I have a software product that that collects coach and administrator and vendor contracts and I sell that to newsrooms and agencies and other people. And there are contracts between schools and athletes that are in there.

All Right, before I say you lose, you know, there's continues to be I think it's a fascinating story. You know, for years and years and years, as soon as the ability to pay players became a reality and we kind of understood what NIL was, I did a show the next ask said This is great news for BYU.

It really is.

If they want to get in the game, if they want to get involved, if they want to start really opening up their checkbooks. And I've got to be careful here because people get mad. I'm not saying the church. I'm saying a lot of the alums that have gone on to start MLMs, whether they're.

Legal or not, they make a lot of money.

And you know these CEOs of companies, Silicon Slopes and such, and the number I've been told Matt is BYU currently has nine seven figure donors. And the irony is a lot, a lot of the a lot of the money spent, a lot of the resources spent is being spent on the basketball program. And I wonder how this lands with Collatate. But since you and I last spoke, the reports are aj the bans is being paid seven million dollars for five months in basketball.

You reference that we do have contracts.

Well, according to Jeff Goodman, Robert Wright, the Baylor freshman, signed a contract with Baylor for a million. BYU offered three and he said, okay, I'm gone. Richie Saunders is coming back. Reported seven figure deal for Richie. When you do the math based off the reporting BYU Basketball has a roster that's going to cost whoever's writing checks for the Royal Blue Collective about thirteen to fifteen million dollars. I wonder what you make of you know, Travis Hanson

We don't.

We outlove them, We outdeveloped them, and we outpurposed them. And it just makes me want to throw up in my mouth because don't tell me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing. I just wonder why they can't, because look, I don't think you should run from it like you should be doing victory laps. That you have enough donors and you have enough economic power to attract players and give Kevin Young a roster the most people believe is

You know, boy, that is a really good question. And I would love to have that conversation, even if it has to be off the record with some folks that have BYU dot edu email addresses. And I say this not to point a finger at BYU. I think some of that approach is almost universal everywhere in college athletics.

If you're going to go.

If you're being a professor, if you're going to be a professor of YU or a software developer or somebody else, you're usually not paid top of market. And part of that is because like, well, don't you want to come work here and be in provo and then be in the heart of everything. And for some people, they absolutely do, and that drops you know, that that's drops the labor price.

Down a little bit. The you know, we all know that the folks that are doing a ton of work at an ecclesiastical level are unpaid. Like there is a a huge culture of I'm not doing this for the money, I think anywhere at a church affiliated institution, And I am not criticizing that. In many ways, I think that's

Yeah, yeah, no, for sure, for sure.

It's an interesting time out this way, and that's a good team.

Kevin has done a good job.

And I'm you know, yeah, Like I said, I have no yeah, for sure, and I have no issues with you doing what you have to do within the landscape of what's allowed to acquire talent. Just don't tell me I'm not seeing what I'm seeing. It's very flood the zone, muddy the water, Steve Bannon like. But anyway, I've kept you too long, Matt. Where can people go get the work?

You bet you can find my work which covers off the field stories in the college athletics industry at extra Points MB dot com. Working on some other original reporting and some stuff related to video games, which I know is the most consumers would rather hear you talk about than antitrust law. So you can find all of that at extra Points MB.

Enjoy that, Chicago Sunshine Man, thanks for the time.

Okay, okay, yeah, thank you. I appreciate you all right.

Matt Brown stops by today courtesy of our good friends at IFA Country Stores. As the weather gets warmer, you might want to start looking and thinking about your lawn care and he drive to the basket begins with the first step on the court.

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He's the Pride of Norwich, Connecticut and an adopted son of Salt Lake City. After forty years with the Utah Jazz, there's no one better to talk some hoops. Richard Smitty Smith is back on the drive on ESPN seven hundred.

Get back to some NFL draft takeaways. Good stuff with Matt Brown today. Always a challenging interview or guy that is that bright and talks that fast, So so many interesting storylines around the world of college athletics right now. Matt does a great job writing Extra Points, a newsletter that is a daily stop for me. But live in studio our guy who's getting ready to take a trip that is making me very, very jealous. He's heading down south. He spent some time with their friends at Black Desert.

You, Spence? Were doing great?

I'm excited to h to be going down to Ivans or Saint George and see the Black Desert and first time ever I'll be in an LPGA tournament, So to see the best women golfers in the world tear it up in person and see how precise they are. You know, when I watch them on TV, they just they're always in control, They got everything lined up their hands and show they you know, they're just so good at that, you know, and so excited to see that in person and see what it looks like.

Good field too, right, I was seaking that they have like seven of the top ten golfers on the Lpgah.

Yeah, yeah, I think the I think the tournament if I understand it correctly, and and I don't know this for sure, but my understanding is that they've they've arranged with whoever they could get from the UH from the first major of the year last week in Texas UH to come up to this tournament and are flying them all up in private jets and said, hey, you come to the tournament.

We got you covered. Don't worry about it.

You know, we'll get you from A to B and make sure you're all situated at the at the resort, and and and and for professional golfers at any level, you know, anything you can do to to entice them, you know, to be part of your thing is you know, is a big deal. And so that's UH, that's exciting for the for the organizers.

We had Patrick mannon on last week and I kindly offered UH to allow the plane. No, I kindly offered to allow me to be picked up by a private jet to go play at Black Desert, and he plightly declined, well really, yeah, I was surprised.

Well, he probably declined because he thought, well, Spence is just pulling my leg. He's got his own private plane. He's just trying to say.

Time, let alone a private plane at this port, Smittie. But I'm jealous, man. You'll have a good time, all right. I want to start with a non NBA story. Shador Sanders slides to the fifth round of the NFL Draft. And you're a guy that for forty years, throughout the course of your time with the Jazz, you were in a lot of war rooms. He worked with Franken Scott and then Kevin O'Connor and Dennis Lindsay, what is the process like? Because clearly, and look who knows we were

It's twenty one of the Steelers.

But he's not fallen out of the first round, and if he does, the Browns are right there in the second.

Nobody said fifth round.

And the same grifters today are saying, well, my intel over the weekend said well, this is why he slid this, that would I don't know what to believe exactly, but throughout the course of analyzing these young prospects the interview process, what what what's your take when you see this precipitous slide for a player that a lot of people.

Thought would go very early on.

Well, that's the thing that that that's really fascinating to me about the whole Shoodo Sanders thing. And I'm just a casual NFL fan. I follow it, you know, like anybody else sitting up in row forty five, you know, on the on the end zone, you know, at games, but they you know, all the stuff leading up to it, right was was him going in the top ten, you know, maybe he gets to the mid first round or something,

You gotta you gotta make it look good. Yeah, I got it. I got it.

And it seems like he's probably savvy enough to understand that and handle it that way.

You referenced the reports that Shador and his reps, whether it was Dion or what have you, contacting certain teams and saying don't draft him, We're not gonna come. He doesn't want to play for you. Over the years that you spent with the Utah Jazz. You know, we were talking off air a little bit. There are a lot of public reports that people know about the Derek Harper's

He's not coming.

So you know, whether it was through the draft or whether it was via free agency or trades over the years, whether it was Scotty and Frank or Kevin O'Connor or Dennis lindsay, when you guys received intel that my guy's not coming, doesn't want to play. If you don't draft him, don't trade for him, don't sign him, how'd you handle it?

Well, it's always a difficult thing because, first of all, your responsibility, first and foremost is to the organization, to your ownership group, and obviously to your fans to do the best you can to put the best product out on the floor. And so you have to balance. You know, what you think is going to make sense for your group, and you know what the attitude approach, the the overall mindset of the individual is who you're going to try and add to the group. You know, nobody wants to

And it's tough because you know, look, Ronnie Seychlee wasn't a chem olaju on, but he would have. I don't know what that team would have looked like. But that's exactly what you needed. And the player Dennis was talking about to make the trade to kind of supplement the growth that Rudy and Donovan he told me off the record, and it would have been a great addition.

That's what you needed.

How do you how do you balance that where it's like, look, I know you don't want to come here, but then on the other side, you're like, but if you do, we got a shot to win the thing. I mean, do you have a conversation with a player or is it is it back and white? If they're gonna be a malecontend and they're not an Iverson type talent, you say, okay.

Go kick go kick rocks.

Yeah.

Well it's again, every single one is handled differently, and you have to take in all all facets of what uh, the the situation is, all the different areas that you're that you're involved in there in terms of skill ability, talent, attitude, uh, work, ethic, all those kinds of things, uh, and then figure.

In you you have to know what your group is about.

So then you have to figure out, well, if we if we can do something like this, maybe the guys in our group that are here can win that person over okay, But it's really a sticky situation when when it comes up, and it's not always uh, it's never the most comfortable because you always feel like we're trying to do what's best for our group. You know, this guy we think can help us, this guy says he doesn't want to be here.

Whatever it is.

Now we have to balance that, like, well, do we still want them? Do we still try and make that work because that's our job and the responsibility we have to the organization to try and do these things if and when they become available. Or do we just say, oh, it's too much work, forget it, We're going to plan B and we move on, which is it may not be in the best interest of the organization. So then you feel like, well, I'm not doing the job I'm supposed to do for our group.

So it's always it's always a balance.

It's always juggling and trying to figure out what really makes sense. Is the addition going to be better than the subtraction of not doing it at the end of the day. That's always the balance and the juggling act you have.

I can remember the year Paul Pierce was coming out of Kansas and I was doing some work with the Knicks during their draft prep and process, and the Knicks had Paul Pierce as their number one ranked player that year, famously fell to tend to Boston and had a Hall of Fame career and won a championship with the Celtics. The most famous Jazz draft story of a player who slid that benefited you, guys, I think is Carl right. Whenever I look at that eighty five draft, that was

Yeah, well, well, Carl, you know, it is obviously the biggest one there.

He was.

He was projected during that draft to go so between four and seven, and everybody believed that he would be going no later than seven to Dallas because he was from that area and it was going to be a regional type pick, and and the people in that area that part of the country knew him well from Louisiana Tech. And and then when when Dallas took I think it was Bill Garnett, Is that who was Delas shremp Was it Dellas Trump?

Dallas traded with Cleveland according to the draft have up. So Mullen went seven in Golden State, Deallas, Shrimp went eight, Oakley went nine.

Okay, yeah, that was and then and so he started sliding. And part of the slide, as we understood at that time, and I think it's still the case, is that, you know, looking back on it was just that there were teams that are a little bit scared off because his his college coach wasn't his best advocate in that regard. He had some some things that he wasn't quite sure about, you know, uh, how Carl worked and and and what he was bring to a group, and so he didn't.

I'm not we don't have any intel in that regard.

And Frank was like, are you sure that he doesn't have a bum knee or he didn't have some kind of legal problem we're not aware of or something, because something's going on, And Scott said, no, I don't. I don't know if there's anything. We don't have anything. He said, but he is good enough, he's talented enough that we just have to take him, and then we have to

That eighty four draft, De la Juan won, of course, Jordan famously. Three after Portland goes Bowie Barkley at five, Charles Barkley at five, Alvin Robertson, Otis Thorp, Kevin Willis, and John john Stock and Michael Cage too, a great rebounder.

That was a great draft.

YEP, before we catch break, one more draft question, and I don't want to catch you off guard here, but is there a memory of a player that you guys passed on, that slid passed you and past some other teams that was drafted later on and you look back, and you say, oh, I think Tony.

Parker Ral Lopez.

I mean, was there was there a player that comes to mind that you guys wanted passed on went on to play really well.

I mean, you know, you big up a good one with with Raoul Lopez and and Tony Parker.

Those are the two guys we were zoing and on at the time.

And and uh, you know, Raoul had an unfortunate knee injury right after we drafted him, uh, playing in the world what's now known as the World Couple World Basketball Championships and in Indianapolis, And he had never been hurt up until then. In fact, he had been a real durable young player and was really good. And the question at the time was we didn't know if Tony Parker was really a true point guard or if he was more of a combo guard that that maybe wouldn't be

And and but.

Then again, if we have Raoul Lopez and he's healthy and he's doing what he did early in his career in in in Spain and in Europe, then we might not have had Darren Williams because we might have said, oh, we got Raoul Lopez.

We don't we don't need to pick it on Derek. You know.

So all the all those things that domino type effects that are sometimes fascinating to look back and I go, oh, what if if this happened?

Then what about that? You know, the old sliding doors theory.

Sure, it's always so easy because every NBA front office has a lot of misses, a lot of misses. It's always so easy to say, oh, I think it was Alec Burks instead of Kawhi or Clay or something like that. Like it's easy to do that, you know, you swing and miss, and then if you're going to be critical of that, you have to say, well, Donovan late lottery,

It was the.

Karl in the late lottery, and John and the later first and Donovan late lottery and go Beart and Carolinko in the second round and mill Set right, like a lot of the best players we've had here have been great value picks later on.

Yeah, well, it's it's all to do with your scouting and the way you evaluate personnel. Andre A Lanco at twenty five, but he was also the third. We had

They said, well, am I gonna do that? We'll just say so.

So it was actually Dave Friedman, you know in our in our group, who you know, said, you know, propose the idea of what if we take the carolinco kid and we just leave him in uh in Russia because

The ninety nine draft wasn't great. Elton Brand was the number one overall pick. Steve Francis at two had a good career, Baron Davis at three.

Lamar owed him at four.

You know, Gordy talks about how can equally talented Lamar was coming out of college while he's Irbiak Hamilton, Sean Marry and Andre Miller, Trajan Langdon Corry mcghetty, Frederick Weiss, Ye New York Nick Fans root our test Ak at twenty four was probably the best value pick of the entire draft, to be honest with.

Yeah, and he and uh, even at that time, I think most people would have most NBA people would have said, well, he's one of the more talented guys in the draft. But again, the teams that are drafting, usually especially Spence. When you're drafting early, that usually means it's because you haven't had a good season. Yeah, And if you haven't had a good season, you're looking for some kind of

He had said to his agent.

His agent, well, you might not get drafted until later in the first round if you stay in the draft, but if you if you wait a year or two and you develop and play more in Russia, then we

All Right, it's made me some rough news and you just feel so bad because so much hope. When the Milwaukee Bucks traded for Damian Lillard to pare him next to Giannis, and you know, I was watching it live and when it was a non contact injury, as we were discussing off air, and when I saw the look on Dame's face, I said, he knows that he just just did something. And I hate to be the sports soccer radio guy that pretends he's a doctor, right, so

Well, that's such a tough injury for him, and because we all know how hard Damian Lillard works to get himself in the best shape possible and to be the ultimate competitor.

He's always been that.

That's how he's gotten to this stage of his career, Spencer being an All NBA Player, All Star, part of the seventy fifth anniversary team. It's all out of his hard work and determination. And then when you watch that sequence and you see how how silly it was the movie made to what happened to him, you just feel for him.

The issue going forward, not just for him in his career.

But also for the Milwaukee Bucks organization is if they get end up, say they get knocked out in this this first round of the playoffs, you know they still have Damian Lillard under contract for two more years at like in the.

Mid fifties, six.

Sixty, and then you got Giannis as well, who's making a similar type money for the next three years, and so you're you're really strapped as an organization without having, you know, one of your best players on the court and having to pay that kind of money. But it's not just the money paying to him, it's the fact that it keeps you from adding other guys to replace him.

Let me ask you about where we stand with this Lakers Timberwolves series. You know, I don't know if JJ was trying to send a message to the front office, like I have no depth on this team, but I found it an ear to be a very irresponsible coaching move to play all five of those guys every minute in the second half, because what we saw Smitdi is the Timberwolves are now three to one and on the precipice of eliminating the Lakers. We'll see if they can

It's not a deep team.

I'm not saying that it is, but a Minnesota's got depth, and I think that depth ultimately proved to be the nail on the coffin.

An ant was great.

But what do you make of the way JJ elected to go about that coaching decision to play all of those five guys every minute in the second half.

Yeah, you know, you know what that is for me, Spence, that that is a rookie coach who hasn't coached before at all, even as an assistant coach, comes in. You know, Okay, he played in the league. Okay, he's a smart guy. Okay he knows his team. All those things are are true.

Teams that are up three to one win ninety percent of the time in pro basketball.

So it's it's a tough ask.

I suppose if there's a team that can do it, it's a team that has Lebron James and Luka Doncis for three to one Minnesota. Do you think it's You think it's Curtains, You think that cup?

No, No, because look, Lebron's been here before. In fact, he's been here, you know, on on the the in a different circumstance where he was down three to one and had to go on the road for Game five and one Game five, went home in won Game six, came back in one Game seven on the road, and the famous Kyrie irving a three pointer at the end of Game seven to win the championship for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

So so anytime.

Yeah, And I've always said this, Spence, I'm a big Lebron James fan. You can say whatever you want about how he, you know, manipulates things and how he's got He's put himself in a position where if he's healthy and now, if Doncic is healthy, and if they can play the way they played yesterday and they can get any kind of help, then I don't put it past

Right.

Each each game is really its own series. If you look at games, you know, an individual game chopped into quarters or even chopped into segments from time out to time out, if you can get in a flow. And you know, they get into game six in Minnesota and Anthony Edwards picks up early foul trouble, and and you know Rudy Gobert, you know, you know, tweaks his ankle or something.

You know, blah blah blah. Anything can happen.

So I don't anything any team that has James and Doncic healthy and playing the way that capable of play.

And I don't put anything, but I never bet against those guys.

Before we get to tonight.

And then I'll set you loose because I know you got to hit the road so you can go down to the golf tournament. And those those of us that are humble, working men of the people will continue to be in day to day.

But you do your thing. I don't know that I've ever asked you.

There was always this narrative, sojj jj Reddick and most teams that play against a Rudy Gobert led team like to go small, and you know, they're trying to isolate Luca on Rudy every time they can, and they're trying to make Rudy guard on the perimeter.

And we saw that happen here with Quinn.

And you know that Clippers series where Terrence Man has a career night, Maxi Kleba hits a bunch of threes for Dallas. And there's always been this debate about what's fair to say of you know, when it comes to the criticisms of Rudy in a playoff series, when a team goes small, does the coach have to sit him.

Now, Minnesota ask now is Reed who's been awesome?

And I think at times Quinn just elected to be stubborn and play Rudy no matter what, no matter what the other team was gonna do, because Rudy was so important to what you guys did defensively, what's fair to say in that conversation, the space of this team goes small?

What do we do with Gobert?

Yeah, well, I'm probably the wrong guy to ask that question to you because I'm in the I'm in the Rudy Gobert camp. As far as how he affects the game, what he brings to Yeah, you want to you want to isolate him out on a wing against a guy He's gonna get beat. You know, it doesn't matter who the ball handler is. That's not the way to play it. You know, taking him out late in games, you take

All right, final thing, let's get a thought on tonight. We'll leave calvs. Heat to the side, because well, you know, it's three to zero. But Golden State Houston, Jimmy Butler went through shoot around this morning. He is officially a game time decision. Steph had a classic Steph game to get them Game three. It's still so fun to watch Steph when he's doing stuph things, even at this age.

Houston a fun story.

And I actually thought, because of their athleticism, their strength, and their length on the perimeter, that Golden State was gonna have an issue.

Now they still might. It's only two one.

But before I set you loose so you can get down to Saint George, what are your thoughts on this series?

Is?

What do you think happens tonight?

Yeah?

I think that Golden State will play play the same way. You know, I don't know if I don't know what Butler's situation is health wise, Obviously they're better off with him on the floor than without him. If he doesn't play, then that just means Curry has to have another type of game, which he's capable of doing at home, especially, you know, to be able to to keep them in

They don't they don't want it.

They're gonna have the specter of falling behind three games to one. If they can't figure out a way to win the games. You're gonna see them scrapping and clawing. And and maybe that means that Steph Curry spends a lot of time on the free throw line, which would be advantageous for Golden State because because he's almost automatic there.

Yeah, foul, wasn't it?

It was?

It was a foul, But the NBA is wrong in not having an ability to be able to look at something like that at the end of the game, that rule.

Something something's got to change in that.

But I'm just glad that the next one there you go.

I know, I know you and your boy Tony Jones, I know you're you're all behind well, Porter some kind of you.

Know it's Porter from Oakley.

In God's Country, because would you like to order yourself young?

He has People have fair points when they bring up my the randomness of my my sports agency.

It's not just random.

You also made horrible choices, like you were a free agent. You went Mets, Nicks and Cowboys.

I know it's a lot of losing lately.

See he's a bandwagon guy.

I could tell no, no, he's He's say he should be more of a bit like it's just a broken bandwagon Mets Cowboys, Knicks. I mean that is decades of just suffering. Yeah, all right, my friend, I know you got to get going. Have have a good time down there. Send some pics, enjoy, It's gonna be fun.

It'd be great. Have a good time. Yeah, we'll miss you.

Everybody will see you next. We all right, we'll catch a quick point. Quite excuse me, we will catch a quick break. More coming up on the other side. Don't go anywhere. The Monday after the NFL Draft is completed. I always give poor to the same marching orders. I want a grinder of tape on the show. I want somebody who settles in. He puts in the work, he reviews film, and he comes away with some hot Monday takes. So we're bringing in JP today, John Paul Chonga the

I'm just glad I was there to watch it all, all of the rounds, sitting down imagining the fits, imagining the way these players will be in the schemes. It's it's revelatory to watch the draft and I'm glad to be on the program today.

What is your favorite fit of player in scheme?

Oh?

I mean, come on, where can I get started? Jalen Royles with Patrick Mahomes. Wow, I love the fit. That's a good match of player and scheme. Caleb Loner getting draft hoot? How about the basket college basketball guys that end up being NFL stars? You know, people forget Donovan McNabb, former Syracuse walk on the basketball team. He played pretty well as a quarterback.

He did, he did. That's that's good knowledge.

How much NBA draft tape are you currently grinding right now?

So I had to take off obviously the last four days because NFL Draft consumed me. That's that much is clear, but plenty. I absolutely love this time of year when it comes to the NBA Draft. You're just watching all these players. You know you do the same thing? Is the other thing? You you've been watching college basketball in the entire year and looking and projecting how these guys will fit on NBA teams.

Oh of course, I mean that's why we're kindred spirits, knower of ball, knowers of hoop and grinders of tape Jazz postseason media availability. Of course I was there on time and stayed late, because that's how it is when you grind day to day. One thing really stood out. A couple of things stood out, but Will. When Will Hardy was asked about Isaiah Collier, Keante George and Bryce Sensibah, he said some various things about all of them, but

What's big?

I think you look at Taylor Hendricks, who is hopefully going to have a good year up until you know, game three of the regular season, how much he transformed his body, how he really went into the summer and accepted challenges. You could even look at Walker Kessler in the big year that he had in the year three in playing in Summer League and taking feedback from Will and the entire coaching staff and realizing he has to get to a level where the peaking is coming around now,

Of their life.

Tell me what you know.

The complicated part when it comes to analyzing the team that isn't winning at a high level and is developing young players and is giving high usage to young players is figuring out what is real about some of the good numbers that the young players put up and will these players be able to put up similar numbers for a team that.

Is trying to win.

You know, Kyle phil Powski down the stretch, I mean that game against Portland he had like thirty eighteen and five. I mean, some of these guys put up some pretty audacious stat lines, but in losing endeavors for a team that wasn't winning a high level. And you can talk about whichever young player. You can go Kiante, you can go Bryce, you can go Walker, you can go Philipowski.

I call him Flip. It's not a big deal.

You can go Isaiah, like of the young players that had games where you look at the box score and you go, wow, he did what what sort of skill set or production do you believe can be translatable when the team is winning again at a high level.

I look at Zay because, as you know, I call Isadiyah Collier's day. I like it, and I think about the passing that can definitely translate to when this team is ready to contend and ready to win at a serious clip. But being able to run an offense knowing exactly where everybody on the floor needs to be, and as the point guard, as the league guard, as whatever kind of guard you want to call him, he has to make sure that he has all the chess pieces

Got to ask you about Cody who is still very young, and you know we had Smittian studio. It's a really interesting dynamic with Jazz basketball historically speaking, where the majority of the better players we've had here, I say we it's not a big deal.

A family on.

Three have either been mid first round picks, late first round picks, some of the second round, and a lot of the early picks that the Jazz have made, some hit, some didn't. That's part of analyzing NBA basketball. But I think it's fair to say that if you're going to be a pick, you just want to show more than what he showed. And I'm not ready to annoint or dismiss, nor should anybody else be. But what's the hope over there on the organization of what this offseason brings us off For Cody.

It is that transformation of the body. Everybody knew that he had to transform his body from just being a nineteen year old in the NBA. He was always going to be a long term investment because at his position where he's drafted, you can look at the projection of starter NBA skill what they are at each pick slot. That's why they wanted to put themselves in every position to get into the high draft. But Cody Williams is

Tell me what you're hearing about Taylor.

You brought out Taylor earlier, and as you know, Bullish over here remain hasn't changed his health, his conditioning, his mentals. I mean, I can't imagine what That's a lonely thing, man. You know, I'm not the radio host that is analogous with injuries that regular Joe's haveing players. But I've had a broken leg, as you know, I had knee surgery last year. It's a lonely thing when you're recovering and you're not mobile and you've got to deal with what

Yeah, it was good for Taylor to be around the team for as much as he could be because it can be very lonely. But he was still in the facility, being around the guys, showing up to every single practice, watching the games, making sure that he was being available there, but even going on the road and seeing what it takes alongside the season because it's still early on in

Now now it's.

Adding those big movements and making sure that he's going to be able to get to contact. The idea is still for him to be available after Summer League, But as far as the connectivity of staying with the team and still feeling like he's a part of it, I think that the staff and he himself he's done a really good job at being very open. And heck even saw him in that dumb hat that he was wearing on the bench towards the end of the season that I think we can all agree he looked like Bobby.

BACALAA nice No, you're not wrong, You're not wrong.

I just it's very rare to hear you knock on somebody for taking a fashion risk because you were very fashion conscious.

JP.

Let's be clear, I am very oh.

No, fashion conscious. But he didn't even get the reference when I said Bobby Bacala, like, he's not watching the Sopranos, He's just wearing a hat because he thought it was something that was cool to wear.

Oh, I'm stunned that he didn't get your Bobby reference. That's that's shocking.

Don't appreciate the soprano.

No, they don't, and they should rewatch it if you've already watched it. If you haven't watched it, you should. You should run to watch it as soon as you can. So you brought up the ten and two start with team forty nine, that's what I called him. But whatever, A little inside and I want to get into a conversation with market In for a second, because that team, uh, you know, you reference Mike Conley. They also had Chris Dunn,

No big deal. There were veteran pieces.

I mean your guy Thht, you know, like, there were veteran pieces on that team that.

Knew how to play basketball.

And I always bring it up because market in that year obviously All Star here in Utah, he was twenty five point six points. He was basically nine boards. He was close to fifty forty ninety. And I don't know really what's fair to say about anything critical of Lowry, even though the numbers have dropped since then, because he is a veteran playing with children. And I think it was the Laker game when the Jazz beat the Lakers

Where do you land on who he is?

Yeah, I think there's definitely nuance in Lowry's game because he's so dependent.

On what's going around him, the.

Surroundings within an offense, and he saw it earlier on in his career when he was in Cleveland Chicago, but really blossoming once he came on that Team forty nine with Mike Conley. He needs confidence at to guard positioned it get him the ball.

He needs the.

Ability to have spacing on the floor, and for a team that really didn't have necessary shooters alongside Lowry, it was very difficult for him to be.

The number one guy on a scout and report.

It's very different from being concerned about Mike Conley shooting, Malik Beaveley shooting. Jared Vanderbilt even could stretch on that Team forty nine squad, then looking at a team that has Walker Tesler taking threes at the end of the season, that's not necessarily the same spacing that Lowry market is going to be getting. So he lands we're in the middle.

May twelfth, NBA Draft Lottery. What's the John Paul routine? What sort of lucky charms will we be exercising that day as we're all hoping that the number one pick is their reward for this painful couple of years.

It's a big day. It is a big deal, is a big day in the franchise. And then look, I look this up of all the teams in the lottery. Do you want to guess how many teams have not had the number one pick?

I hope it's more than one. Is it more than one? Because one is certainly the Utah Jazz.

It is only one. Wow, one team in the law this year has never had the number one.

Overall pick, and so Utah Jazz.

And I even went further, I was like, what about top five? How many of these teams have had top fives? Only one team in the lottery has had fewer top fives than Jazz. In the history of the Utah Jazz, they've only had it five times. New Orleans has had it three times, but they've gotten two number one all picks. So when I look at just who should morally get the number one overall pick, I am confident in saying that it's the Utah Jazz. So I don't have to

How is that.

Golf game, young man? How are we doing? We improving still?

I played a couple weeks ago and I did all right, but it was only nine holes. I think that's the only capacity that I have for golf right now.

That makes me so sad. I cannot express how sad that is. I was with our guy travel over the weekend and we were promoting the fact that we can't get you out anymore.

But here's where I want to go next.

You had a front row seat to watching the new Utah men's basketball coach develop some young bigs, namely Rudy Gobert. In one year with Walker Kessler, the MAVs lose to the grizz and the play in. So Alex Jensen has now allocated his full time and energy to his new job. What would you say to you fans about your experience watching him coach when he was with the Jazz before you went down to Dallas.

Yeah, Alex is tremendous as a coach, tactician and being able to bring all the experience that he has not only from his playing days but.

To what he had in the NBA.

I think it was good for him to see an organization beyond Utah. Talked to Will about how advantageous that was just to leave San Antonio and go to Boston to see how somebody else does it, to see how an organization outside of your comfort zone he's able to operate. And I'm sure the same thing applies for Alex in going to Dallas and learning how Jason Kidd runs a program.

All Right, I hope that you are standing on your feet and you're shouting it out. Real will end with a little.

I told you, I gave up.

I'm done.

No, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that.

We have listeners, namely one little birdie source of mind that will have his heartbroken if you continue just to stay out. You've been an RSL fan since day one, meet the team day pictures with our guy Jason Christ so I understand the sentiment. But we got big Willie Goles coming in, we got Johnny Russell coming in. We've got a three to one victory over San Diego, so the vibes are high, John Paul, are you inching closer and closer to getting back in with our local soccer club?

So all right, I am out, But admittedly the Johnny Russell signing got me a little moved because my fiance's father is from Scotland, so he'll he'll be able to rally behind Johnny Russell and the beard is spectacular, so I'm in on that aspect. But I didn't see him play, and I want to hear from you because I asked ahead of the game. Over the weekend at San Diego, you were boots on the ground.

I was.

Dumbshoe reporting. So how much longer am I going to have to wait for Johnny Russell to get his debut in the Clarendon Coco.

He should be available coming.

Up sometimes the grid City Yeah.

Indeed, well said he should be available coming up this weekend. He hasn't been with a club in almost seven months. He needs to get into shape. But big Willy Goles, my guy was on the ground and you know we saw him for a little bit, so but we should we should see Johnny as early as this weekend.

How many goals has Willy scored this year?

Yeah, I believe that number is close to zero. If it's not zero, so how is he Willy Golds? He scored ten last year.

But this year it's Willy no goals.

Well, I'm trying to look at this optimistically. Remember we were all encouraged to call it Johnny Menendez Johnny Goles too when he only scored one, so he became Johnny one goal. But I'm just trying to look at this through rose colored glasses because, as you know, I'm both an mpath and an optimist.

Okay, I and I get I understand the names on the beam. There's a connection there that will never be broken. But I still need to be one over and it needs to start by seeing Johnny Russell on the on the field for r SOL. I also love how delicious it is that he was on SKC which clear RSL rival.

So the one way that we can get you back is Johnny Russell healthy fit in the lineup and performs, and then maybe we can get John Paul back.

Yeah, and then maybe he makes an appearance on Foothill, you know, at the former mccool's.

Okay, I'll be in. I like it all right before I set you loose.

What's got I know you're you got three jobs, So what's got most of your energy right now?

That's true.

I do have three jobs right now.

Listen to Roundball round up Utah Jazz Podcast Network. I spoke to Kyle Mann about the top guys at the draft, not to get anybody anticipating one lean either, but info on Cooper flag As Bailey, Dylan Harper, vj edgecome kon Kak Nippa, all those guys at the top of the draft. Just search the Utah Jazz Podcast Network in your podcast feed. And then, of course, the NWSL got a game this Saturday,

Thank you, young man.

I want you to give Corey just a big hug and tell her from me, Okay.

We'll do get Johnny Russell on the field.

We will, we will. That's the deal, all right, JP.

John Paul check out the round Ball Roundup podcast. He's also the voice of the Stars and the Utah Royals, and of course, probably the pinnacle and peak of his career in life is the producer of this radio show a number of years ago. JP stops by today courtesy of our friends at Advanced Window Products, where you can get twenty five hundred dollars off when you buy ten windows or more local Salt Lake company operated by Nate Orchard, the mayor of Sac Lake City, an NFL football player.

But RSA with a result over the weekend.

Sam Junk is going to join us coming up next right here on ESPN seven hundred. All right, show rolling along today, my friend Melissa from Sound Sleep Medical joins us live in studio once again.

Melissa, how are you doing great?

All right?

Oral appliance therapy to treat sleep apnea. It is not a seapap let's underscore it, So what exactly is it?

Melissa?

It's just like a custom made mouthguard that you wear on your teeth during the night. So maybe you your a partner is snoring. That's an easy red flag. Snoring

So I've had some friends that have tried the seapap and it's extremely uncomfortable.

It's not very convenient.

You can travel with this oral appliance, and it's very convenient to take around.

Yes, for sure, it's so small and slim you could throw it in your pocket. I have business travelers that don't want to snore on the plane, so they'll bring it on the plane with them. And this is a studied, proven device. This is not some gimmick. I mean, it's FDA approved. Your health insurance actually will likely pay for it. It even qualifies for stuff like HSA flux spending. We also have zero percent financing for those.

Who need it.

Before we get to the special offer, tell us some of the pieces of feedback you've received people that have gone through your program and started to sleep better. What sort of improved quality of life have the experienced.

Well, they're so glad they're not wrestling with their seapap anymore, and it's just great to wake up and actually feel rested. You know a lot of people out there, Spence, they've forgotten. It's been so long they don't even remember what it feels like to feel good during the day and not feel like you're gonna fall asleep every time you sit down.

And what's that special offer? Unless you have for our listeners, will call you today, Okay, call now.

The number is eight oh one three three five nine, eight two four. You can also find us at soundsleepmedical dot com. When you schedule today during the show, you're gonna get a free sleep screening, which is the test you get to do at home in your own bed, as well as a free sleep consultation. We do have six offices and this means you get to sit down with a sleep specialist, get those results and learn what you can do to fix your sleep and start feeling better.

All right, call today, It's eight oh one, three three five nine eight two four RSL went to San Diego over the weekend and got a result three to one over the expansion side. You came here earlier this year and actually beat ral saw Lake. Our next guest scored a wonder goal, a great, great strike. Sam Junk joins the show on a Monday afternoon.

Sam.

How you doing, buddy, I'm doing great.

Thanks for having me on.

I appreciate the time. So we got to talk about the goal. Did you know that you so? I always find it fascinating to talk to soccer players that scored goals the way that you did over the weekend. When you struck it, did you know that you had put it on frame? Did you feel that good about it? Right instantly after you struck the ball.

I felt like I got good contact on it. The difficulty with shots like that is there's a lot of people in and around the box and a lot of times get blocked when it's on frame. This time it didn't happen, and so fortunately went into the side netting.

How much of a relief was that result.

I mean, we'll get to some of the other storylines, but the start has been rough.

It's been up and down.

So How good did that feel, Sam, to go to San Diego and get that three points?

It felt really good. We've been in need of a win and it's never easy to win away, and to be the first team to win the same San Diego was special.

So tell us about yourself a little bit. First time we've been able to have you on the show. You're one of the new players. You were acquired from you were required from Dallas and the Anderson Julio deal.

Tell us about yourself grown up?

When did you first start playing soccer and how do you feel about, you know, landing here with RSL.

Yeah, I started playing maybe around six years old, just recreationally, and got more serious as time went on. I really excited to be here in Salt Lake, and I feel like me and my fiance are settling in here and calling it home now.

So instantly, of course, it was probably a little bit jarring. It's kind of the interesting thing when you're a pro athlete, you don't really have control over where you live. Did you know much about our market or is most of the dynamics about Utah pretty new to you and your fiance?

Most of it's pretty new. I had a little bit of an idea of what it might be like, because I actually thought when I was leaving Houston that I might end up in RSL, But you know, I ended up in Dallas and that was that. And now two years later contunity came up again and it happened this time, and so we've gotten more familiar with the valley and you know all that you has to offer.

This time around, you are competing with Alex for that spot.

What's it?

What's it been like to h and look when it comes to healthy competition, of course, that's something Pablo wants, and the season is so long, you want multiple options at each each position. But tell me about that kind of positional battle that you and Alex are kind of fighting for.

I think it's been good.

I feel like the left back position has been a strong one for us this season, and the competition is good. Alex is a great player, and I think that we've both pushed each other to be at our best, and you know, I think that's helping the team this season.

Tell me what specifically Pablo is asked for from you when it comes to that positional battle and the other things you're expected to do for the.

Club, So specifically, for that position. They want us to not just be defenders, but to provide some help in the attack and to get forward. And it's a physically demanding position. They want us to provide a pretty high output, usually the highest of the team in terms of distance covered and running back and forth. And you know, it's a position where we do a little bit of everything, and you know, we play on both sides of the ball.

So far through the season, throughout the start of the season, you know, it has been a little bit up and down. Tell me what you feel like, you guys excel at when you're getting points.

What are you doing well.

I think that we're a team that brings energy and grit, and I think we showed that in this past game because the first half wasn't easy. They had a lot of the ball and we were kind of weathering the storm for a lot of the first half. But we were the team that struck first and then we carried that into the second half where we kind of grew into the game and put the game away.

We saw another brace from Diego Luna Sam and that young man star continues to shine and continues to rise. What's it like training with him? What's it been like to be his teammate and tell us maybe your thoughts on how he continues to evolve and really rise up the ranks as a genuine legit superstar in Major League Soccer.

It's been great. You know, you always want to play with great players on your team, and he's been somebody that's been doing a great job for us this season. Funny story is he actually played with my little brother growing up when they were both playing for the center of the Earthquakes, and so I knew about him a little bit. It's kind of funny to be playing with, you know, people that my little brother has played with

Just one brother, what's the family dynamic? Like, you grew up where you're a southern California kid, right, So is your family still there?

Is it just you and your one brother?

No, I'm the middle of three boys. So I've got my little brother, the one that has played with Diego, and I've got an older brother nobody actually lives in California anymore. My parents and my little brother, they currently reside in nearby Cordelaine, Idaho up north Sure, and my big brother is actually going to be returning to California to be nearby UC Davis, but currently he's in Beaverton, Oregon.

Very does who put a soccer ball at your feet?

First? Was it Dad? Was it Mom? Was it your brothers? How'd you get involved in the game?

I had to think that I saw my big brother playing. He played all sorts of sports, soccer being one of them, and I saw him playing, and so I got involved when I saw that.

Did you play any other sports? I mean, you're legitimately six feet tall. Some of these soccer guys are like five to five and they only played soccer.

Did you play any other sports?

I played a little bit of basketball. I did a little bit of swimming growing up, but otherwise it was intramural you know, baseball, football, those kinds of things, but primarily soccer basketball.

Did you have a soccer hero growing up that you wanted to be in, a favorite club that you liked to watch growing up?

I think the one that inspired me the most was probably Ronaldinho. The things that he did on the field and with the ball were just, you know, they looked magical, and I always liked to watch his YouTube videos and try to recreate them, and I think that's what really inspired me.

When did you know that you were really good at this?

When did you know that if you put in the work and had some health luck and did the things that you could potentially be a professional player.

I would say sometime when I was a teenager. I started to, you know, believe that I had, you know, the ability and the opportunity to maybe make it. But you know, it's always hard to say because there are players that you grew up with that you think are going to make it for sure, and they don't, right, And so I think what I started to realize was that it wasn't just about the talent, and that there were other factors and other you know, non controllables control

Tell me what it's like playing for Pablo here a new coach juxtaposed other coaches you played for, or what makes Pablo Pablo?

What's it like playing for him?

It's been awesome. I really enjoyed it when I was in Houston. I'm enjoying it again being here at ourself. You know, the teams that he coaches, they show a lot of grid, a lot of fight, you know, and.

Not just.

A strong tactical sense. So I think that there's a good balance there. I like that he's a good man manager. He you know, is the players coach who and knows what it's like to be in our shoes, and so I think all that experience allows it to be the coach that he is.

So tell me your thoughts on where you guys find yourselves and the kind of the conversation at that locker room. With the win against San Diego, you're now four to six, and oh, I think you're the only team in all of Major League Soccer that has not tied the game.

And so you know, Sam, you know the deal. You're a vet.

I think he played in one hundred and forty four games and ultimately some of the best teams we've ever had here have been off to really bad starts, and some of the worst teams got off the great starts. I get is such a marathon long season. But through through ten games, where do you guys feel like you're at right now? What do you have to do to maybe get more results coming your way.

Yeah, I think that, you know, we feel a sense of urgency knowing that we're, you know, getting close to being a third of the way through the season. At the same time, we know that it's a long season, and you know, you win a couple of games in a row and suddenly you shoot up towards the top of the table. And so I think, you know, in the past couple of games, we've gotten back to playing a little bit more the way we want to and

Primary transfer window comes and goes, two editions are made, both from SKC, ironically enough, which is kind of a rival of RSLs.

It battled for the Cup back in the day.

So tell me what sort of what sort of kind of access or what sort of experience you've had so far communicated with Willy and Johnny And what are you guys hoping that those two acquisitions do for your team.

Yeah.

I think it gives us a big boost offensively getting Willy and Johnny into the team. I think that this past game Willly showed a little bit of his ability and I think that it's very promising what he brings for the team. Johnny's still kind of getting going. He hasn't been training with the team. He's been a free agent,

What do you like to do, Sam when you're not playing soccer?

I've read that you and your fiance like to foster animals and at one point, am I reading correctly that you had twelve cats in twenty twenty.

Yeah, something crazy like that, just because we had I think a litter of kidden that was in the process of being adopted out, and then there was another kiddens that we were asked to foster or else they were going to get put down, and you know, it was either we take them in or they were going to get put down that day. So we took them in and there was a little bit of an overlap, and but yeah, it's something that we're very passionate about. We love animals, not just cats and dogs, but we we

Of our listeners. RSL listeners. Do you do the social media thing? Do you do the Instagram thing? I think the kids love the TikTok? Sam, is there any anywhere that our listeners can go find your stuff?

Yeah, they can find me on Instagram. Att Junka, All.

Right, buddy, Well, congrats on that goal. It was quite a strike. And keep up the good work and most importantly stay healthy.

Okay, thank you very much, appreciate it.

Sam Junker Rsel left back. He and Alex catron Is kind of battling for that position. Had a pretty stunning goal. I didn't know Sam had that in him. It was from I don't know, twenty five twenty six yards out beat the keeper lower right hand side and was able to get that goal to help RSL get that three one victory against San Diego. The road continues for RSL. They have been on the road for a while. Three

So three the next four on the road for real salt Lake.

Kimmy Butler expected to play for the Golden State Warriors tonight as the Warriors are trying to take a three to one lead over the Houston Rockets. Unfortunately, Damian Lillard it was confirmed earlier today that he has torn his left achilles tendon in the Bucks lost to the Pacers over the weekend. So we got some NBA playoffs tonight, some Stanley Cup playoff action as well. Of course, the

Hmm, that's a good question. I don't know that.

I was entirely surprised with a whole lot of them, except Junior Tafuna. I thought that Junior would be a mid round or laid round draft pick. I thought there was little doubt about that. I thought there was even littler doubt about that when he showed well at senior Day's, senior camps, stuff like that. But this was a really, really good class when it comes to a lot of the interior defensive linemen, a lot of the interior offensive linemen. So these teams that were building up, they're insides.

Man.

There was a long list of both defensive tackles and guards and centers on the offensive side. So that was kind of the story. It was Junior Tafuna, a guy that would have been drafted in spence, I would say eighty percent of the year's eighty percent of NFL draft classes. He's gonna go late round and maybe even earlier. But this was one of the outliers there.

Yeah, and oftentimes.

You know, as we've talked about, I always go back to that anecdote, the anecdotal story I share. When Trevor Riley was drafted, and I think it was the seventh round by my Jets, I sent him this text. I'm like, dude, congrats, that's awesome, and he sent me an expletive leaden text and return about how pissed.

He was because he wanted to choose his landing spot.

If you're going to go in the sixth or the seventh round, you might, like Conrad o' toole got a nice guaranteed deal to go play for Seattle, you might have the preference of choosing where you play instead of being told where you live.

Yeah, a little inside there. I was in the know when it comes to Britain Covey's situation during that process, and it was just kind of the same situation where at the end of the draft we were actually sitting in a room hoping he didn't get drafted, which is kind of a weird feeling, because he had a prompts at that point for a couple of different teams that he felt really comfortable with the situations, one of those being the Philadelphia Eagles ended up okay for the guy.

We should uh, we should get Britain Covey on on the radio show.

I know, right, apparently busy guy.

Do I need to book that because he claims that he's down, I know, is he lying to me?

He Britain and listen, it's my guy, it's our guy. Of course he is and would love to do it. I'm sure he's just sometimes a little a little tough to nail down, all right, But we'll we'll get him on the show. He has promised, he's promised you, he's promised me, and he has a golf tournament.

He wants to to push.

So we'll, uh, we'll make that happen. The real hold up is I've been trying to get it in the studio fair enough. Well, we'll make it work.

Don mcchenry is your newest member of the Utah men's basketball program. The news was announced ab two hours ago. Seventeen points three boards to assist for Western Kentucky. Dorian Singer has signed an undrafted deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, So little little bit of breaking news as we sign off for this Monday, All right, Porter, what comes our way? On a busy Tuesday edition of the show.

On a Tuesday show, Tim mcban stops by for the NBA Daily Assist, of course, talking NBA playoffs and the latest in the association. Kaylin Jones our old friend, a bunch of different stops Kaylen's had, but currently right now doing untold with Netflix. On the sports side, Dave Fox stops by as he does each and every other Tuesday,

Field Yates the human boat shoe boat shoe, Yeah right, like like the Sperry's a lot of aggressive vineyard vines for our guy, Field Gates.

Yes, you knew a lot of Field Yates.

Coroda, Oh I did, surrounded by them, yes, no doubt? Oh yeah, Greg, And does a really good job be great. I've never interviewed Field that'd be fun. All right, will Sega and I special thank you today to Matt Brown, to Richard Smith, to Sam Junka, as well as the legend himself, John Paul JP Chunga for to the sound you may miss from the program today. The website ESPN seven hundred sports dot com, download our mobile app and