MON POD @SpenceChecketts on #NBAFinals, IND @ OKC, #USOpen, RSL W vs DC + more

of Indiana one eleven to one oh four. We talked about the adjustments and our Dagnaut might make prior to that game and he made a lot of them, and so now the onus is back on Rick Carlisle and the Indiana Pacers to make their adjustments to try to win a game in a building that's almost impossible. Oklahoma City is really good at home. I think they only have one loss in the postseason at home. No, they

have two actually because Indiana won game one. So we'll see what happens tonight as this series is deadlocked at two games a piece. Six thirty Mountain Time will be the tip time and will Saga night at six o'clock and send you over to ESPN's coverage of the NBA Finals.

these Stanley Cup Finals. A massive trade in the NBA that broke yesterday that caught a lot of people off guard, a lot of people off guard. We'll talk about what the Grizzlies elected to do and good news for the Orlando Magic. In my estimation, we'll get into that deal and then we'll kind of bring it around through the prism of the context of what it means for the Utah Jazz and what the Jazz will attempt to do

this offseason. Brian Windhorst himself said that he has been told the Jazz are actively actually trying to add to this roster. I don't know how they'll do that. I don't know what it's going to look like. But if Desmond Baine is able to grab that sort of return, what could lowry market and bring it to Utah Jazz elect to go in that direction.

draft stuff on the program today. Big twelve released its basketball schedule last week.

assists really should have been his goal. He had a little step over and left the defender in their dust, and then he had a really good strike he just ricocheted off of a teammate went to the back of the net.

lot of radio shows. Do you like, let's predict Monday's headlines today on a Friday being Bill used to do that.

NBA title. They've shown that, you know, they can beat Okay See in a few different ways. So am I confident in them doing so? No, I think the odds probably lie with the MVP and Okay See. But I think I think this is going I think it's gonna be a fun one to end it.

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under on Tyrese Halliburton seventeen point five points. I'm actually gonna go under on Alex Caruso ten point five points. They have TJ McConnell's line at four point five points, and I cannot stand TJ McConnell, but I'll take more than six point five points. They've got the line at shit for Shay thirty four point five points. That's a big line, but I'm going over. I think Shay goes big tonight, and I think Oklahoma City gets to win at home where they are nine points five point favorite.

So instead they went Adoka Abuza, the big kid from Kansas. Right, they drafted the big kid from Kansas that year when they had the chance to draft us as a bouquet.

paper in the Eastern Conference. Now, when you look at who they have and then when you juxtapose it to the rest of the conference, Cleveland probably and these this is bad news if you're a Jazz fan. The Jazz own all of these picks from the Calves, but the Calves continue to make pretty savvy moves to make sure they're a really good regular season team.

they're really good next year. I'm gonna use the term gap year, like if you were one of those college students where you know, after your junior year you were burnt out, so you decided to take a gap year and maybe work and then come back and get your degree. That's what I feel like the Celtics are going to look like next year with no Jason Tatum. Every single trade rumor that people publish in the world of professional basketball seems to dedicate Boston is willing to move on

from maybe even Jalen Brown. If not true, Holliday and Derek White, Christaps porzingis they would move tomorrow if they could, so I don't view the Celtics as a serious contender next year. The Knicks don't have a coach, as we've talked about, They've tried to interview everyone else's coaches and everyone just gives them the double bird, like, please stop calling us. But the Knicks on paper gonna be good. The Pacers have to get their flowers for this NBA

Finals run. But outside of that, Orlando, to me, has now catapulted themselves into this level with Polo ban Caro, Franz Wagner, now Desmond Baine and some other good pieces to have something to say about what the East is

going to look like next year and then beyond. Because Desmond Bain has only been in the league five years now, what to me is more interesting about this deal is what it says about the mentality of the Memphis Grizzlies and what it might say about the mentality of the Western Conference.

of that. It's not like any other business model where if something is successful you want to copy, you know, essentially the way they go about their business and their blueprint and they're hiring practices and their best laid plans and their personnel like whatever it is, it's making it work.

about literally losing hundreds of millions of dollars. And what we're about to see in Boston is probably the first real example of the punitive nature of the economic infrastructure of the NBA now, because this new ownership group has to write a check for five hundred million dollars just to have the team, just to have this roster. That's not even what they're paying their players. That is their luxury tax penalty for being a second apron team over

the course of multiple years. That's why they have to make these decisions, and Oklahoma City at some point will have to make the same decisions. But the point is it's not coming anytime soon. That's why I'm going to use three to four years. Oklahoma City this year won sixty eight basketball games. Their net was plus thirteen. That is historic. They are a top five team on offense,

they are a top five team on defense. They're about to win the NBA Championship in my opinion, and the bulk of their roster is between the ages of twenty one and twenty seven. Okay, So the only two exceptions there, and these are good players that they rely upon.

and it will come at some point. But I have to wonder if the Memphis Grizzlies simply just did their calculations on who Oklahoma City is and then juxtaposed ok c's roster to their own and said, look, it's just not close. We're not close to them, and so we do not want to pay Jaron Jackson Junior, who's a really good player, but he's going to be coming up on a contract extension. They've already paid jaw but in Jaw you have an intoxicating talent and an absolute moron,

and that's a tough thing to balance. And also, let me say this, I've heard a couple of people's surmise that they think this means Memphis is going to move off Jaw and they're going to move off Jaron Jackson Junior. I disagree with that. I don't think that's gonna happen. John Morana this point is under contract through twenty twenty eight and his final year is forty four point eight million dollars. Desmond Bane was actually the player who is

under contract the longest. His contract runs through twenty twenty nine at forty four point eight. Jaron Jackson Junior is about to enter a contract year. He is eligible for an extension, and I wouldn't be surprised if they extend him. Jaron Jackson Junior next year is going to make twenty three point four mil. They got Brandon Clark, John conchar Zachi Edy who they drafted last year, and then grip of young players Scottie Pippen Junior and others that people

don't really know a ton about. But I don't think they're gonna move off of job. I don't think they're gonna move off of Jaron Jackson Junior. I think they're just gonna kind of ride this thing out and then see what happens with Oklahoma City as this roster moves forward.

So when you look at the books at Okasee and the reason I'm bringing this up and we are going to land the plane, I know we're circling in the airport a little bit, but it just leads me to wonder what other teams in the West are thinking about, and namely how the Jazz kind of view this through their prism. So we'll do this real quick before you catch a break. SGA Shay is under contract through twenty twenty seven. Now as a result of winning MVP. The

new contract he's gonna get is gonna be wild. It's gonna be probably the richest contract in NBA history. They also have Heart and Stein under contract through twenty twenty seven, Dort under contract through twenty twenty seven, Isaiah Joe through twenty eight, Wiggins is signed through twenty nine, Chad is on as rookie deal that expires in twenty seven. Crusoe signed actually through twenty nine as well. Kendrick Williams through twenty seven. Casin's on his rookie deal, that's twenty eight,

and I could keep going. Essentially, this group will be together for at least two more years, playing at a very high level.

they're going to have a decision to make. So this is a three year situation where, barring something wild like a really bad injury to Shay knock on Wood, Oklahoma City has told the rest of the league, we built this up brick by brick, and we're here and we're not going anywhere for at least three years, and probably not after that as well, because Sam Presty has been so brilliant about his roster construction.

rookie scales. And the reason you have to knock on these, you know, you have to knock these draft picks out of the park, is that essentially it's cheap labor, is what it is. It's really good young players that you don't have to pay very much. Guess how much Jalen Williams is making this year four point seven million dollars for a number two option on a championship team. That is smart roster construction. And Jalen will get his, but

not for at least two more years. So what Memphis did to me actually put my radars up a little bit more than I think most people have been talking about. This is an indication, in my opinion, that they've looked at Okasee and said, we're not close, so we might as well turn one of these players into an asset because we don't want to pay this roster an exorbit amount of money when we don't feel like we're in

the mix to win a championship. We'll see what this means for the Utah Jazz and we'll get back to this coming up with Tom Haberstrow.

isn't quite there. Obviously, he came out at the half and you know, building him up is going to help us a lot. But he his sharpness is getting back to where it needs to be and you know saw that with the quality when it's finished.

goals and also help some of these younger players. So, throughout the course of your conversations with Johnny during the primary transfer window, what sort of kind of details did you guys share back and forth and what essentially was your ask of him before bringing him into the club.

on the roster. So one of the things that we talked to him about was just coming in and being a bit of a leader and a mentor and an experienced guy within the group, you know, just to help the group through some things, some things that he'd seen before and some of the younger guys, despite their talents

or their quality in that moment, just haven't seen. So I think that that's something that manifested right away from day one, is how he integrated with the group and his ability to you know, just to talk to players on the field, you know. Pablo says this all the time, but to have you know, your teammate kind of make

a point to you. It's sometimes a little bit different than the coach, right, especially when the veteran player puts his arm around you and is like, hey, next time, you know, do it like this, not like that, or next time playing me here and not there. You know, it brings a little more true for those guys, and so that little bit of experience in the group has been very helpful. And then obviously you know, just about setting expectations for him and his performance. And he's a

high level player. He wants to, you know, play all the time. He wants to score goals every game, he wants to do all those things. He's very hungry, and it's just about setting his dissertations of how you've been out for a bit, like let's let's get you fit, let's get you into it, and when you're ready, you know, you'll go.

him and talk to him. I wonder what sort of expectation you guys have moving forward now that he is fit and he has started and he has scored a goal. I mean, it's safe to say that he's a piece, But do you think we're going to see him in starting elevens and what sort of expectations do you have for him now that we've seen what he can do when he's fit and Pablo gives him the start.

options out there. So he had a little bit different, which you know is a fantastic change your pace, whether it's from the start or it's off the bench later in the game.

weekly and less. The other are travel issues. He often talks about how there have been moments in every game that he's very pleased with, and ultimately this can be a really really cruel sport where you get caught with a counter or there's a deflection and somebody scores a dumb goal, or you get a red card or a PK or whatever. So eighteen games played, five ten and three eighteen points. As you said, you guys know where

you're out in the standings. Pablo kind of laid the math on us last week of what you need to do to make the postseason in. But what I wanted to get from you is, as you're watching your club, what do you feel like you can say that you're very good at and what you feel like you can say that you very much need to improve on with this club. I'm not talking about additions, I'm talking about what you see with the group.

buildout process. So I think we've seen good, good build out and ball progression from back to middle and and I think from middle to to front, middle to final third. I think it's been a little more hit or missed. I think it's been good, but I think we need to be a little more con stint where. I think last year we needed fewer chances of score goals. To be quite honest, this year we need we need some more.

We need you know, we're volume finishers. You know, like again you saw in this game this weekend, Goes was a young guy. He's working, he's getting chances and you know he needs two or three good chances and he got his goal. But we need to keep giving them those chances to make sure he gets the goals. And you know, Will he's the same, Are He's going to be the same. You know, all those guys up top that we put in there, they need chances to score.

So I think we've been creating those chances. We've been getting the ball in the good spots. Our movement in the box sometimes is an ideal. Our finishing obviously needs to improve with this group, but yeah, I think those those things are still there for us to improve upon. But I think we've put together some really good games. You know, back to middle and then you know, middle to to final third is where you know, I think he just needs to improve a bit, and I think

we've focused on that in the last few weeks. And there's been some games. You know, when we started the Vancouver game, I thought it was you know, it was obviously really good early in the game, and then the defense wasn't able to sustain it and against a really good team that was playing with a lot of confidence. So yeah, but I think those aspects on the ball are where we're looking right now.

stands out to me. But we have not seen a ton of goals so far. So what have you liked from Willy in his eight games played and what are you hoping to see moving forward?

be very effective. I think this last week he got away from that a little bit and it was a little too many touches getting caught in possession in those moments. But when he does play one in two touch, he can hold the defender off and he can keep possession for us and get back on the highest flying which just gives us more time to get our team forward and get our numbers into the final third and hopefully

into the box when the chance does come. And I think he's also someone that you know he gets his chances, and I think there are specific moments when you know, again, his movement, any any player's movement can improve in the box. But he finds a way, whether it's instinct or you know, whatever it might be, he finds a way to get chances in front of goal each game. But again he's

you know, I think like Gozo. Like I mentioned with Gozo, I think he's going to be a volume finisher, and you know, he's not a guy that can stand around for the whole game and we'll give him a chance and we'll.

his experience with a goal cup in a minute. But just for our listener's sake, what sort of insight can you shed about his growth and the process, what you're seeing so far that you like, and what he needs to do to keep it going.

level has been really really good. And so what's gotten him these opportunities is that aspect his mentality, continuing to

come back, continuing to try the next one. You know, he's like I said, he you know, he had a couple of chances early, didn't score them, made it, you know, had another chance, put it away, right, And so his ability to kind of you know, set those those prior instances aside and just take the next one as it is and and do his best with that opportunity is is really you know, elite from that standpoint, and his ability to do that is what's gonna do him, serve

him the most well as he goes and progress. This sucre because as long as he has those things in his head, you know, he's going to do the extra work. The coaches will work with him, He's going to get the reps and the experience, and he sees these situations more and he's going to learn from those situations and you know all of that will will come along with it and his ability to just continue to work and go and try the next one and the next one and the next one is with you know, relentless, I

guess is a word he could use. Is what's going to keep him developing and becoming a better and better player for us.

and he can do it. I mean, he's playing probably more of like a nine and a half or second striker role right now, where you know he's looking to stretch the defense and get in behind from a little bit of a deeper starting position. But if you look at us when we build right now, it's almost, you know, a two strikers set up with an attacking Mitchfielder coming underneath. You know that was maybe Luna before he left, and you know the other night it was Diogo coming in

underneath and getting on the ball. So I think he's he makes give us a bit of a different look than we had last year or even earlier this year, where we in possession and we were sort of two attacking Mitchelly gined one striker. Now it's almost one one attacking Mitchiellder behind two strikers when we're trying to attack.

We all know he's the only designated player on the roster. Technically, you guys were pretty dominant on Saturday, and he was intertwined in most of the you know, attacking plays that led to anything substantial. Give me an update on how he's doing and his progress and what you're hoping to see from him as diegoes with the US men's national team.

find that ball. And I think he finds those balls, maybe more than we realize, just because we have had some trouble finishing them, you know, But when you look at some of the more anthmetrics, you know, I think he shows that he had a pretty good game on the day. So you know, I think if he comes at it with that mentality and brings that level of work and quality to the game, because he has quality, I think he's going to be real, real interesting as we get in these next couple of games.

this equation too, but I don't know. Man Like for me, a couple of years ago, before Ruiz hurt both knees, he was one of the better players on the entire team on a number of different levels, not just centrally, but he would take corners, he would take free kicks, and it's hard to expect him to look the same

after two devastating injuries. So update on a Mecca and then tell me what you're seeing when Pablo Ruiz steps in, and what you like and maybe what you're hoping he can continue to try and find after those devastating injuries.

Pablo does. So those types of balls really open open the game for us and allow us to get behind the defense a little bit quicker maybe than otherwise when we're not able to hit that ball.

the US men's national team over Trinidad and Tobago. Tobago, excuse me after losing five straight matches, of course, a lot of noise because we're one year away from the World Cup.

But you know that that play was fantastic, even the I think it was the first goal.

both Williagatta and Johnny Russell, so that'll be interesting. And then they're back home for two straight games against Saint Louis and Houston before hitting the road at Providence Park to take on Portland. As we talked about with Pablo last week, this is a team badly in need of getting all three points pretty much every time they're at home, hoping to steal some on the road and then keep that ship afloat well. Diego Lune is with the US men's national team RSL DOT com for single game tickets

support our local soccer club. All right, smittye Liven Studio coming up in just a bit for an entire hour Voice of the Youths Bill Riley stops by. But big game tonight, Game five NBA Finals, got a blockbuster trade to talk about. Tom Haberstrow Monday afternoon, Tommy, Happy Monday, buddy.

the Eastern Conference, because really, that's what this is about. Yeah, it's the Memphis Grizzlies looked at the Western Conference field and said, we can't compete at the highest levels and is that climb in The GM of the Memphis Grizzlies said this a couple of weeks ago, and they got eliminated from the playoffs by the Alklamath City Thunder and he's like, you know what, you can look at this and just say like we're close, but we're definitely not.

And when you are looking at the juggernauts of the Western Conference and Oklahoma City and Denver Jokich, you're looking at Lebron and Luca, you're looking at Golden State of Houston potentially adding a big time veteran to help their contention push, Memphis is just so far away right now. And if you're in the Eastern Conference, if Memphis geographically was in the right conference, you could see them holding onto dozen Bane and not only that, adding and trying

to win the East. And for the on the Orlando side, that's exactly what they're trying to do, is they're trying to win the East because they saw Indiana do this very thing, which is they made an incredible run and

now they're two wins away from winning a championship. And so for Memphis, it really is this kind of clerical error, the fact that they were the team from Vancouver, that they're in the Western Conference despite being in Tennessee, and that has long term effects is that they're constantly fighting uphill in a Western Conference that is way better than the Eastern Conference. And they've got this rookie Jalen Wells

that they really believe in. And if you're going to look at five first round picks coming from this Orlando team, one of which could be the Phoenix pick next year. In twenty twenty six, they were looking at the situation saying, this is too good of an offer we cannot refuse. So, in the very Godfather way, this was an offer they could not refuse on a player that hasn't been an All Star. But you know, when you're a small market team,

you have to make tough choices. And as much as they want to say that they're right there in the thick of it, I think the first round exit and the uncertain future of John Morant and just how available he can be, I think Memphis decided, look, let's take these picks and take another big swing down the road. But right now, this is quite a hall for a guy who is just a tier below the all star level.

his talent is intoxicating, nobody denies that. But the off court stuff just makes it hard to commit. But do you read it that way that as a result of moving on from Desmond Bain they might just break this whole thing down and build it back up from the studs.

With the apron and the tax and the hardcap all of this stuff, they had a little bit of wiggle room to extend Jaron Jackson Junior at the full max level, and this Desmond Bain deal does free up a little bit more cast space to do that. Look, this is tough, you know, this is tough. If you're a fan of the Grizzlies, I think Utah fans can really sympathize with this.

With Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert. It's like, if you're the margin for error for these teams, these small market teams in the Western Conference is so thin, which is why it's so remarkable to see what Okac has done. And they're kind of like in the second inning, it seems of what seems to be the parts of a dynasty. It really is amazing to see that the Utah Jazz were able to make that run with Rudy Gobert and

Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley. But as what we're seeing with the Memphis Grizzlies, even having those two young studs on your team Jared Jackson Junior and John Morant, does not guarantee you anything. And as we saw with that Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell Corps, you know they probably are going to try to take a couple more swings at the Apple in the next two three years. John

Moran is on the books for another three seasons. I think maybe we'll see that in these next two three years with Zach Edie out for the for a substantial amount of time next season with his ankle at surgery. I think this could be kind of like a gap year for them, is that they're going to try to continue to contend for a playoff position. But I think they're going to try to reload with these draft picks and take another swing, probably a year down the road.

they traded out and took Trey Young. And I think you could see something similar with John Morant if there is a market for a point guard who's as unreliable from not just a off court stuff, but injury wise too. This guy has not been very healthy that the last few years. Even the off court antics aside, I could see a team like Charlotte Atlanta really think about, you know, if we're gonna make a splash, is John Morant our guy?

Toronto is another name I think about. Is trying to get into that conversation of taking someone else's star player disgruntled or you know, depreciated in value star player. I think you can talk yourself into it, but you know, this is John. Like you said, John Morant is a big risk reward move because the reward is you've got an all NBA talented point guard but doesn't have a reliable jump shot. And if you squint, you might see

like a Shay Guildris Alexander, dynamic downhill driver. But if he doesn't have the same legs and bounce as he used to, and he doesn't have that defensive value, that that effort that you get from Shay Gildriss Alexander, it's gonna be tough to convince someone to take his long term contracts, no matter how much star power he has.

It would take a team like charlot At Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, these teams that are kind of in the bottom of the East and look at like, hey, if they're selling off those stars in the Western Conference because it's just so hard to compete, we'll take a guy like that. So I think that the Southeast Division basically for the for the Eastern Conference, I think we could all think about whether Ja Morant is in the right situation for them.

have something to say about it. I don't know if the Knicks have contacted you about their head coaching job, but there's certainly a lot to like about the roster.

season they were the seventh seed. About a fire win or five hundred team next year with Desmond Vane, if you get that three point shooting that he does a high volume forty percent three point shooting, it's going to open up a lot for those those drivers in Franz Wagner and Paolo Bancaro. I think they could get into that top four. Like you said, Cleveland's going to be at the top there, Indiana, Detroit, the Knicks will be up there. But Orlando's going to try to take one

of those top four spots. I don't think that they're a guarantee to make the Eastern Conference finals with this move. It's a hefty price. But if you're Orlando and you need three point shooting and putting a premium on it, this is the price tag. I think that they were also, you know, rumored to be in Anthony Simon's talks where it's like that guy is also an elite three point

shooter that could really help them. But that price tag KCP, the Cole Anthony and the five picks, that's that's a lot, and I do think that that's worth you know, Desmond Bain, maybe a little bit of overpay, but as we're seeing with Drew Holliday, Chris af Zingis with the Celtics and this year with Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein. If you have your guy that you think is a missing piece to a title contention, go get them, go get them.

And we're seeing that on both of these champions, these these finalist teams, they both identify players that they really thought were the missing piece, Pascal Siaffram for Indiana and that baulted them into the NBA Finals. And so Orlando just feels like with Jason Tatum and the Damian Lillard Achilles injuries, they feel like they're a piece away from

contending for the East. I think they're on the outside of that conversation right now with Cleveland and with the with the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers, but they could certainly try to snag that number four slot.

But they're so rich with draft capital that even if they have to move off the piece here or there, if they just want to build around shay Chet and Jalen, they can do that while continuously adding pieces through the draft because Sam's so good at that. Do you think that's a microcosm of the mentality of other front offices in the Western Conference just doing their calculation on OKAC and saying, Okay, we've got to wait it out a bit because we're not close to where they're at.

the Clippers. I mean, look at that, I mean San Antonio with Wemby, with Dear and Fox and maybe I don't know if you want to talk about this, but on the Kevin O'Connor show, the KOs Show this week, we were talking about if Utah moves up or tries to move up, and if they really believe that Dylan Harper is their guy, the Spurs could absolutely ask for lowry marketing and say like, look, if you're gonna if if you're gonna want to move up from five to two.

It's going to cost your marketing. I don't know if Utah would do that train, but just for the hypothetical, if the Spurs ad Lowry and they get Dearon Fox, Stefan Castle and whomever they get at number five, that seems loaded. That starting lineup is loaded. And so you know the Spurs could be in that in that mix for a home court advantage in the Western Conference first round. Uh. And so for a lot of these teams in the middle, Sacramento, Memphis, Phoenix.

You're seeing Phoenix try to offload Kevin Durant.

the Jazz are out of the top eight. But you know the reports out there, and there are several are that the Jazz are very much open for business, taking calls on everybody, including Lowry Marketing. So when you look and look, player rankings are arbitrary and sometimes make me roll my eyes, but it is what it is. The Ringer Player rankings has Desmond Bane at forty seven, which feels low to be honest, and Lowry Marketing at fifty three.

So maybe generally speaking we can agree that they're kind of in the same area, although I think maybe depending on what your need is, you look at one over the other. But if the Jazz are going to move on from Lowry based off of what Memphis just received for a player, that we can say is kind of in that could to sack. What sort of return can we expect if they make that decision?

It's so hard to pin down Spence because as someone who covers this nationally, the currency of a player like marketing, it's really hard to pin down when you've got guys like you know, Nico Harrison just throwing this for a total loop. The wrench that they threw into this whole thing by having Luka Doncic, who's way more valuable than Desmond Dane go for one first round pick, and Anthony Davis and Max Christy, it's really hard to peg. If you just find one GM, you can get a steal

and get a haul for lowry marketing. And that's what that deal tells me, is that we can talk in these generalities about what lowry marketing will get you. But mckel Bridges is another cop for marketing, where it's like you can get a haul of first round picks. But in the case of Utah, I almost think that getting like guaranteed lottery picks rather than just like kicking one down the road, might be even more valuable at this point.

And so I don't know what you think, Spence. If if the Spurs called often Age and the front office and said, look, we will move down to five, you guys can jump to two if you really want Dylan Harper to be the point guard of the future. But it's gonna cost you market in I think you're gonna if you're Utah, you asked for more than that, and I know your listeners will probably say yeah, absolutely. But I propose this to Koc this week, and he said, if I'm Utah, I'm good. As long as I get

Dylan Harper, I'm good. I want that it is such a big jump to getting number two in this draft that it is worth marketing in a trade. I said, man if I am utah Jazz, I want fourteen. I want Spurs number fourteen pick as well, So in the deal it would be marketing. It would be the number five for the number two pick, the number fourteen pick from the Spurs, and then like Harrison Barnes and Kelden Johnson as salary filler. If I'm utah, I think about that deal to get off of Larry Markinen and just

get that number two pick. But it really depends how much you believe in Dylan Harper as a franchise cornerstone. But there there are some people out there that think he has a lot of the makings of a James hard and Shae Gilders Alexander type. If you're Will Hardy, if you're Danny Ainge and Austin Angel and you're looking at this and trying to find your point guard of the future, how much do you believe that Dylan Harper is a vastly bigger upgrade than what you have now well said?

in the lottery. I get that, And so maybe there's a paradigm shift where we are going to be serious about competing and put our best foot forward about actually trying to win.

maybe grab a Dylan Harper. What would the what would the opposite look like with all these players available, Like, how could they add to this group to take a couple of legitimate steps forward and bring in some veteran players that are good, know how to win and want to come in here and do just that.

other players coming in there and ramping up. You know, let's just say, for just for throwing around some names here, let's just say that you got Drew Holiday potentially in a salary switch out where you're like, you know, maybe you move John Collins off and you try to bring in Drew Holiday to win right now, you talk to talk to New Orleans about their pieces and say, if you're really serious about Trey Murphy the third, let's talk He's a really good Desmond Bain type, two years younger

than Desmond Bane, but I could see him being a star in another role. And then you just try to figure out are you able to get some more depth at the center position, whether it's Clint Capella, whether it's someone who can really help Walker Kess when I have to play thirty five minutes. But even as I'm talking myself through this experiment, this exercise. I just it's going

to be a tough sell. They were not just bad, I mean seventeen wins bad last year, and so if they're going to go for it, I can't tell you how rare it is Detroit what they did this season. It is not wreckonabable replicable. That whole jump from Detroit is insane. And so I know it was possible. They showed the blueprint to do that, but look, you look at Utah's roster. Who's their Kake Cunningham. They don't have

it right now, No, they don't. And so to that's delusional to think that you can ramp up and be like a really solid playoff team after being a seventeen win team. I think Brian spot On, I think there are intentions to add to this team, and maybe this front office wants to add to this team to be a playoff contender. But I think also what's true is that they might go to market and say, you know what, those guys are not available at the price that we

can afford. And maybe they go into the market with one idea and they come out with another.

it if you didn't watch the game, you'd like, what's up? Well, that wasn't what they asked of him, and allowed SGA to stay fresh, and he closed out the way that he can close out. Fascinated to get your take on these adjustments and what you think happens tonight, Tom, before I set you loose.

than we saw last year. Between Boston and Dallas. Each team is covering three more miles of ground in forty eight minutes than last year's finals team. It six more miles are being covered by these players. I mean they're just all over the place, zooming around the floor, playing at such high speeds, up tempo, different actions. And Shay Gilders Alexander, they figured out a way to get him off the ball with Jalen Williams that was really smart and it also preserved him for that final stretch.

They're getting past half court in like two seconds repeatedly. And that's the new York Mix couldn't keep up the Milwaukee Bucks, the Cavs couldn't keep up and shake Gildsris Alexander by playing off the ball. It is wonderful to have Jalen Williams on your team. Chet Holmgren and k som Wallace, guys who can bring the ball up up the floor today are just so good on both ends. I expect OKAC to win tonight, and I would suspect them closing out in Game six. It's been an amazing series.

I do not want it to end in six because it's been such great basketball. But this OKAC team is just on another level, and I think they found.

the NBA Finals. Tom stops by today courtesy of our friends at Advanced Window Products, where right now you can get twenty five hundred dollars off when you buy ten windows or more. It's a great local Salt Lake company operated by front of the program Date Orchard. Mayor of sack Lake City is Buddy Jake Weber. They're just awesome people, come from a great family who's been running Advanced Window

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I'm like, Okay, he's not ready for this moment. Sam Burns probably feels hard done because of the ruling. I mean, water was everywhere, Adam Scott falls apart, and after the weather break, JJ Spawn rolls back into the thing and wins it with a sixty footer on eighteen. I mean, a life changing moment. It's my favorite thing about watching sports like that. Dude's life just changed right there. How did you digest that moment? It's the whole thing.

just held on and you know, grind and grind. And then in thirteen and fourteen, there's like five guys all tied for the lead and three other guys one shot back. And so all these guys on the leaderboard, out of a legitimate chance with four or five holes to play, to come out and grab it. Who's gonna grab you know? The one masters I was fortunate enough to go to who Spens in twenty eleven. It was the same a beautiful day, night's weather on that particular day, but it

was the same scenario on the leader board. Everybody had a legitimate chance to come up and grab it. And who does it, of all people, Charles Schwartzel, who wins his one Masters in twenty eleven, comes down the back.

just keep his tour card. And he's able to grind something out on a special Sunday afternoon for him and then to do it with that but that he didn't need to. Obviously he had to. He just had the two putt to win it. But for that thing to go in like it did for him to win and clinch it right at that moment on the last stroke, you take of a major. That's that's your defining moment. That's what you're gonna have to carry with you the rest of your life, which which is.

can keep his tour card and keep going the next year. Right, and so now he's thirty four years old. He gets on top of this mountain at the moment, and he should be feeling really good about it, you know. But there are a lot of those guys, whether it's Gary Woodland who did it several years ago, you know in LA You know guys who come up and they win. There one Charles Schwartzel I just mentioned in twenty eleven. You know Mike Weir, who's a long time pro, who's

one of our favorites from the local area. You know, who won the Masters, you know when his one major. You know, these guys who are who are great, excellent golfers on the PGA Tour, but there's always something that separates them from the real top guys.

day period with the top golfers in the world. That's that's what makes it so daunting. But that's also what makes it so exhilarating as a fan to watch that live theater. Yeah, I thought I thought it was awesome. I was captivated.

in the league, which you never can count on. And so we're making a calculated guestimate that that it's going to be better for us as long as we can get Morant and Jackson on the floor. We have two guys, Okay, all right, we're giving up our third guy. All right, maybe we can find another third guy somehow, Like they

found Bain who was an early second round pick. And we're talking all all spring Spence about the draft and missing out on the top pick and having the fifth pick and you know, what are we doing when I can get a guy and whatever? You know, Desmond Baine it was an early second round pick, you know, by Memphis and were always talking about you can find guys. But that's what your job is when you're in that position.

You have to go identify them, you have to evaluate them, and then you have to figure out a way to procure them, and uh, you know, Memphis is looking at it, I think probably in saying, well, you know, if we we can keep on Morant and Jackson for the next several years, then we have to just find another third guy and maybe we can get into another trade or maybe maybe KCP. I don't think he's that guy, but I think he's a good rotation guy now in his career.

But maybe we find another young guy that we like to get in the mix. Maybe we get lucky in the draft, or maybe there's a guy we see in the draft that nobody else is seeing and we got him in our back pocket.

nobody else is even talking about. And you know, so if they can get another Bane like they did at thirty one, thirty two, whatever it was several years ago, and and do something like that, then you know, then they're feeling like they're they're getting their books down, but they're also giving themselves some more flexibility going forward to build that roster out and try and be competitive as long as Morant and Jackson are there to help them.

He's going to get paid. I believe he's up for the Supermax because he won Defensive Player of the Year. So look, if they put Jared Jackson Junior on the table, I think they get a lot of phone calls.

a big leap, and they're young guys. And then and then we've got the Denver is still sitting there in the in the weeds. And then we got you know, Golden States, or they just got Butler with you know, we got Dallas just and they're looking and going, well,

where are we going? We can't get anywhere we're gonna get so yeah, so so maybe they're looking at what the Jazz did a few years ago and saying, hey, maybe while our guys are you know, good and highly thought of, and we can get something for him, you know, maybe we do that thing because I.

you know, maybe to reinvent ourselves on the fly. I I could see somebody saying, yeah, that's behind the closed doors, that's what they're trying to do.

supported with a good team. And I can remember when the opportunity came down for the next to trade for Latrell Spree Well, and part of the package was going to be John Starks, who was like the heart of that team in the nineties, And there was a real debate, internal debate, and my dad flew Spree out and he sat down with Jeff Ernie Grunfeld was the one that was kind of like somewhat against this, and you get it right now, Jeff was all for it because coaches

want to win, and he knew he could coach him. He knew he was awesome. So with a talent like Jaw, I suppose there's a market for it. But let's say you're running a team and Memphis calls and they say, what about jaw you?

it's going to be. Or you have a GM who feels like he's too talented and he you know, you have to get him if you can, and then it's up to the coach to to figure out how to work with them. And you know, and you have those conversations before you do anything like that because you want to make sure that that everybody's on board.

parts were going to be. And so, you know, eventually that decision was made to go forward, but it was but there's a lot of discussion around you know, when you're adding someone like that into a mix that you have to really be uh, be confident that your group, whether it's the coach, whether it's a couple of assistant coaches on your staff who know the guy or knew the guy in college, or I had prior experience with him on another team, or you know, whatever it could be,

that your group will be able to handle it in a way that's professional, that is going to get you the desired results that you're after, you know, in that kind of move And and with with those kinds of things, Spence, there's a there's always a lot of moving parts and there are a lot of things you have to consider before you really decide to pull the trigger on something that's going to really have a big effect, maybe one way, maybe the other way, on how your group performs.

idea about. So if that's the mentality of the Jazz, now, if they're like, Okay, we're gonna do the thing we're gonna take this off season, we're gonna add some pieces and we're gonna be right in the mix next year, what does that look like?

to trust. So if the Jazz are serious about adding to the group this year to take legitimate steps up next year, what do you think that looks like?

two to tango. So you can have an idea and you can say, this is what we want to do, and we can lay out a plan and we want to add this kind of a guy, we want to add that kind of a player, and we can shore up a couple of things on the wings with a couple of long defensive guys because we're one of the worst defensive teams in the league the last several years,

and so we've got to start addressing that stuff. So, you know, if you're looking at building a foundation and trying to get better incrementally better, you know you have to do it.

and your long range game plan is like? For example, I heard you mentioned in the earlier segment with Tom about you know, just hypothetically a guy like Porzingis or a guy like Drew Holliday.

You know, you can say all you want about well, you know, we're gonna we're gonna go fast and we're gonna get you know, stuff done or whatever. You know, but you know that is much harder to do, uh, to say, than this to to accomplish. And those are the things, you know. Look, Austin Ainge is gonna really work.

But you know he doesn't have any magic answers. You know, if if there was such a thing, Danny Ainge would have had them, because Danny Ainge had already been through those kinds of mills several times.

you know, whether it's the day before the draft or whether it's the middle of the summer whatever where you know, like the Jazz did with Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and all of a sudden, you want, somebody's best player is on the market for whatever the reason, and the Jazz are gonna try and and get involved in that.

chance to kind of win. Right now, the Jazz are trying to add guys who can help them to build a foundation of winning getting better going forward, without any expectation that we're going to be the Detroit Pistons, who I know you mentioned last time, the Detroit Pistons had several.

knows what he's doing. And you saw the leap the Pistons took to get in the playoffs, and now they're expecting to be able to take that next leap going forward, and the Jazz are hoping to duplicate something like that in their work.

actually feels low to me. Lowry market in fifty three, So that's essentially indicates that maybe they're in the same cul de sac. Maybe they're in the same area as far as and look at like, what do you need. It's not like they're different players. I understand that. But if we agree to say, okay, in the ecosystem of pro basketball, these two are around top fifty guys, which again might be a little bit low. And we see what Memphis just received as a result of trading Desmond Bane.

Is it a similar type expected return if the Jazz do decide to deal Lowry.

in terms of value of what he got. But to him, hard to believe we're still talking about this, But to.

they saw through a different lens. And that's what makes you know, the drafts so fascinating because you can get you can get uh a Ujo at eight, and in another year you can get Jalen Williams at eight, or another year you can get Steph Curry, who I think it was seven, right yo. But the point being that you know those things, You look at it and everybody's got a different take. And that's why you don't have

one guy in your room just making decisions. That's why you have a whole group of guys who are doing it all year long. And so you're sitting there, you know, right now as we speak, ten days away from the draft, and those guys are hammering it out and discussing and debating and and throwing stuff across the room at the other guy who said, you know, you want to take Spence checkets.

decision maker three weeks before the draft. So you have a group in the room that's been working all year, and they've been working with each other, and they've been cross referencing and cross tracking guys, and they've been going to see guys, and they've been discussing in November and December and January about different guys and hey, Spence, you got to go see this guy. I just saw him last week. You know, we want to put him on our list. Okay, I'll go see it.

have been discussing all year. It's really interesting that they chose to do that at that moment. They could have easily done something to add austin Ings to the group in some capacity. And then in August said, hey, you know, we've discussed things and blah blah blah, and and we're gonna make Austin ames the boss going forward or whatever.

I don't know, but but I certainly know that you know, that changes the vibe and the flow in the room. And that's going to be fascinating too when we get to see what kind of decisions the jazz Employee's.

make a mistake and they don't want to look look. Uh, So they err on the side of not saying anything and talking their native language through an interpreter, and so sometimes that, you know, loses a little bit of the luster or or the attention you might get on what you're doing, you know. But but Otani, this is this is like a generational guy, like just you know what he not only what he does, but how he handles his business every single day and goes about being a

two way player. Now we're going to see how much of his arm is still there and and how he eases back into it. He's going to open tonight, maybe pitch just the first inning. If he gets through the first inning, and maybe they'll see how he feels and he says, yeah, I can go on throw another ten pitches. So we'll let him go out in the second inning and see how that goes and and ease him into it. But he still wants to be in the rhythm of pitching and hitting and pitching and hitting and playing all

the time. That's what he's used to doing. That's where he gets his rhythm for being able to focus all the time. And it's it's gonna be exciting to see to see how he performs tonight, first time in almost two years on the mound.

but he's just big. So stunned that he was drafted eight, I wanted to ask what was your because that had a really unique experience at the Mountain West Conference tournament when for debt was for debt when Jimmer was jimmering, and it was actually Danny Ainge who said, comes sit by me and let's watch this game. That was when Jimmer went for like I don't know, I think it was forty two against Kawhi and San Diego State. And I said to Danny, said, what do you think as

far as Jimmer is an NBA prospect? He said he said, he has no shot test have a chance. It's like, well, you're a BYU guy. And he kind of walked me through his assertion as to why he didn't believe for that was an NBA player. He was a lottery pick and BYU fans love to be revisionist. Historians will say he wasn't used correctly by Keith Smart, and then you know that hinder disagree. He would have led the NBA in scoring if he landed. It's very Zach Wilson Jets.

You just don't want to say out loud that he might not be very good. What was your calculation on for det as a pro?

they play. I really thought he'd be a good player in the euro League, which is which is a top level league, or a place where he ended up which was the best thing for him in the long run, playing in China where there is no defense and where he could shoot thirty five balls a game, and which he did, and he did it, and he was the star. And he was playing in Shanghai and which is like playing in New York City. So he's getting all the endorsements and he's getting all the love from the fans

and all that kind of stuff. And he didn't have to worry about playing defense, and he didn't have to worry about, you know, not being very athletic. Uh and and that league is that way, and and it was a good good spot for him, made a lot of money, got to play a lot for him. You know, he was you know, bounced around several NBA teams just not athletic enough, not not quite good enough, you know, to stick with the team to be able to offer something like that like we we had.

But he went to Europe and and got his foot in the door with Real Madrid and became a a UH main guy and a rotational guy and a key piece to several UH euro League and La Liga championed ACB Championship teams in Madrid and UH became a mainstay in Real Madrid for over a decade and UH, you know it was it was a very good player in Europe. And Jimmer I always thought he could have been that he had one year panton KOs and Athens and there there a can be a top level team. I just

won the euro League but last year. But they they're a team that where he could have a chance. But they were they kind of have a goofy owner, you know, who gets involved in everything there and UH, and he didn't get any traction with them, and and I think smart for him he went back to UH, to Shanghai and and UH where he could play his game and and and make some money and and UH and have a good successful career that way. So you know, I

don't think Jimmer was taken ten by Sacramento. And he was the perfect example spence of how the CBA is set up to work. And that is on the one end, you can have like a Gordon Hayward, who if a team drafts you, and they like you, and they develop you and they want you. The team controls your career for the first seven years, and then the back half of your career you control where you want to go. And we saw that with Gordon Hayward when he had the free agency after the seventh year and chose to

go to Boston. Jimmer for Debt was taken the first round. You get two years guaranteed money. You have a third year team option and a fourth year team option. Sacramento took him. They had him for two years. They liked him as a player, they liked him as a guy, as a person, as a worker, all that stuff. They determined after two years he's just not an NBA guy.

So instead of continuing to have him on the roster and to pay him money and we just don't believe he can do it, we're just gonna cut our losses. So in that example, they drafted him, they go for he played for two years, he gets the guaranteed money, and then they let him go and now he's a free agent and do whatever he wants. But then the team is out of the obligation and they can move on to make other decisions. That's that's how the CBA

is set up to work. Oddly enough, two guys involved locally that we know very well, Jimmerferd Debt on one end and Gordon Hayward on the other end, that there are prime examples of how the CBA is set up to work, yep, in the way that the teams choose to do.

I'm not buying it because I just don't think it's the right approach. As I have said a million times, and we'll say another million times. Eighth pick, top eight protected pick that goes to OKC. At this point in your journey, you have to hold on to it.

I don't think they would trade Devin Vessel. They're obviously not trading Wembin Yama, They're obviously not trading Stefan Castle. So the framework of a deal Smitty that could work would sound like this Kelton Johnson, who there's some things like about Kelton Johnson, like he's still young's twenty five, doesn't shoot it all that well. He's about twelve points five boards last year, and Harrison Barnes in exchange for

lowry marketing number five. You move up to two, you bring in Johnson and Barnes just for salary matches, and you go up to two, and you grab, you grab Dylan Harper. Something like that seems to make a lot more sense than like, if you add Porzingis and Holiday to this team now for nothing in return, you're still treading water. So that direction seems to make more sense to me just generally speaking. Give me your thoughts. Yeah, well it makes sense, Bence.

That's why you have them. So when you have an opportunity to land on a guy that you believe can be one of your main guy's long term going forward, you do that now. I do remember, and I don't know if it's been talked about reported on lately, you know, in that framework, way back early in the season, I remember there was some quote from his dad saying something about, yeah, yeah, my son and I don't want my son playing in Utah or something.

he interviews, what his personality is, whatever. But if those things line up, and those things match up to what you're trying to do, and his talent is something that you think is really has a chance to be a special thing, especially at the point guard position, that's a guy you want to get hands on because as we just mentioned Spence A. You're resetting the salary clock. Okay,

you get out of marketing his money. In that scenario, you bring in Barns, you bring in somebody to get money for a year or so, and then that money goes away. But you'd have Harper for at least a minimum of seven years under control while you try and build stuff around him. If that's something that that you're convinced about is a real thing and that you would like to hang your hat on, then those are the kinds of things that you as a jazz have been

positioning yourself to do. And now if this is something that might be presented, it might be on the table. That's the kind of thing that you know, from my perspective, you you just grab, you do that that Jim Fossil thing. You just push all your chips in the middle of the table, and you bet on that one hand and you do whatever you gotta do to make that move happen.

And that that's the kind of stuff. Spencer really also regenerates or reignites, i should say, a fan base, right because they because they say, oh, you you got a guy you really like, Oh and you're really you're really going after and you got him and you're bringing him, Okay, let's go. You know, and you know and then and then you see it plays out how it plays out.

But those are the kind of moves that you want to be in position to be able to do and and uh and if they're there, you want to really be able to to make your full commitment to pounce on it.

different ways been able to find success. I keep saying since January, the two best teams in the NBA are these two teams. Okace is one and the Pacers are two. So we saw Mark Dagnall in Game four take Shay off the ball and actually give Shay more rest and Jalen was kind of initiating the offense. So if you didn't watch the game, and you look at Shay's line, he said, wait, zero assists, what gives? That was part

of the design he was not initiating. It allowed him to stay fresh and in the fourth quarter he closed he had twelve point I think fifteen in the fourth they outscored Indiana twelve one down the stretch to get the winning game four. We go back to Okase tonight for game five. Obviously very pivotal. It's two two. What do you think goes down?

And even when they're down a bunch, as we've seen in several of their playoff games, they just keep grinding and going after it. They don't give up. They don't they don't wave a white flag. They keep getting after it. And they and they've shown what you can do when you play a full forty eight minutes. You know the old Yogi berral line that it ain't over till it's over. And so you know, I don't put anything by them.

I'm excited for the game tonight. It's gonna be fun, you know, for those guys to see both teams lay it all out there. And again, Spence, you just hope it doesn't hinge on somebody having an early Jason Tatum type injury or somebody getting three early fouls and two ticki tac foul calls and now they're out of the.

I've tried. It's it's just not catching me. But the hockey is I've been all in on Panthers oilers.

about that. But since you, since you are behind closed doors now in a way that you didn't used to be working up there, what can you shed on a little light as far as as the coaching situation, how they're feeling, and maybe you know, expand on this podcast here as you have coming up.

and things like that. It's been a lot of fun to catch up with these guys. I know them, but you know, some of the guys you see and everybody's always busy. There's been a fun time just to kind of sit down and catch up and reconnect with them. But as far as you know, I'm over at the football building a couple of times a week, and you know, it's a lot of what we talked about Spence. There's just a really good vibe around the group. I mean,

there just really is. Talking to some of the defensive coaches, they saw that all offense firsthand this spring. They're excited about what the possibilities are. You talk to the offensive coaches, they're like, hey man, we went against one of the best defenses all spring in the Big twelve in college football, and it's you know, kind of the iron sharpens iron thing.

So you know, there's still a month and a half out from camp beginning, but there's a really, really good vibe, and I think there's a lot of excitement in the building, not just among coaches. When you talk to the players, there's a good buzz about it too, So that's just kind of where football is right now. But I'll give you some dates maybe on a future hit with you on when some of these podcasts are going to drop.

But it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a nice look inside of Utah football on the coaching side of things.

to the players. And now they're kind of selling their program to these young men.

these recruits go. You know, we know money is going to certainly be a component of it, but the feedback that they get a lot from these recruits is how impressed they are by the culture and the continent. He up there with the Utah coaching staff and even the players within the building, and you know, you know in the years, here's interesting. I got this from a few different people. One of the guys and we talked about this a little bit with Cam Robot, with Cam Rising

and even Britain Covey when he was there. How those guys were such great ambassadors for Utah football. And we're really in on the recruiting. I've been told by a number of people to Devin Dampier, we're talking about a guy that's been here all of six months. He's already won over his teammates. But apparently he's been a guy that's been all in and you know, during the recruiting process and being wanting to meet with recruits and talk with guys and do some of that stuff. So I

think the message has really been a positive one. And I think the new offense certainly is getting some shine too because of some of the track record that Beck has had at both Syrah Hughes. But even last year at New Mexico.

months he's been on campus. What sort of information can you sut as far as getting to know him? What kind of person is he? What kind of coaches he?

in Utah and how excited they are. But from a football standpoint, a lot of the feedback I've gotten in talking to players and coaches through the spring as they integrate this offense is how malleable it is. Meaning he's a guy that has an idea of what he wants to do. But what he's really good at doing, because he did it at both Syracuse and New Mexico, is is adapt his offense to the personnel that he has,

If that makes sense. A lot of guys talk about it, but what they did in the one year at New Mexico was pretty impressive, being fourth in the NCAA in au total offense. When you know they Devin dan Pierre hadn't really been a starter, and some of the guys that they had were first year in the program. So what I've gotten is he's been really good at bringing these guys up to speed and melding his offensive philosophy

with the guys that are in the program already. So I think that people are going to be very pleasantly surprised when they see this offense roll out this fall against UCLA and cal Poly and Wyoming and then obviously into conference play.

personnel was brought in for that. I don't think it's such a bad thing, especially in this day and age where rosters turn over so much, that you've got some new faces on offense. Defensively, they lost some starter spence, but because of all the injuries they had last year, so many of those guys played. So I don't think it's as big a deal on defense, and they actually return a bunch of starters on defense. But on the offensive side, especially with the changeover on offense, I don't

think it's such a bad thing. Plus, you've upgraded your quarterback position in some ways. I think you've probably upgraded your starting tailback. Plus the overall depth of tailback tight end isn't going to be as big a part of the offense as it was maybe under Andy Ludwig. That's not to say it won't be a part of it, but you're not going to probably see as much three tight end sets as you did when Andy was calling

the plays. The big question still is and they added some nice pieces in the in the summer portal period or the spring portal period at wide receiver. You know who those top six or seven wide receivers are, and so I think that's really the big task that Jason Beck and Mike A. Simon, the wide receivers coach have once they get back together camp at the end of July.

But tell me what you've noticed about the relationship and the dynamic between Coach Beck and Coach Wit. As far as how you think that's going to work with communication and autonomy and all those things.

for a reason. He liked his offense. And I know that Morgan Scally had some input on it too, because obviously Scally's there, and I think Morgan's made the comment a couple of different times, and hey, what he likes about that the offense that Beck runs is Jason Beck is very good at finding ways to stress your defense, finding that weak link or where you're not quite as good defensively, and then exploiting it. And so I think

that's a lot of what Kyle was looking for. Something that was a little bit more simplistic, that's a little bit more plug and play, but something that could stress other defenses while still kind of maintaining and Beck's offenses doesn't do this. There's balance with it. I mean they ran for over three thousand yards last year at New Mexico, they threw for about three thousand, and they rush for three thousand. That's pretty good balance. But as far as

how that dynamic goes, I haven't seen it enough. I haven't been around it enough. I think it'll take kind of a fall. But I'm sure it's just kind of an evolving relationship now. Just because they haven't they haven't worked together a toime.

start with this portion of the conversation. There are a lot of people that are saying, Okay, finally, even playing field. Finally rules read will does sport ever have an even playing field? Or will will there always be a car dealer in Tuscaloosa that's willing.

and above that based on donations that come in. But that does enable schools to be able to remain competitive in some places. But the Ohio States and the Oregons and the Michigan and maybe the USC's of the world. They're you know, if they're committed, and it doesn't even have to be just those schools, schools where they're committed to it, they'll they'll probably still go above and beyond that. But what it does do is give schools the ability to be able to be competitive to a certain level.

But unless you went to a full on salary cap. And here's the other problem, and we've seen this forever in collegiate athletic spense. People have always been willing to break the rules, or been the rules, or circumvent the rules. Now they's supposed to be a third party coming in that's supposed to be, you know, kind of the law enforcement branch of this, and they're supposed to be very punitive penalties if schools are found to be breaking rules.

But we've heard that before with the n double A. I'm going to be really curious to see how that works. But you know, unless you go to some sort of a pro model where you know, you know, you can't circumvent the salary cap in the National Football League, other leagues do, I mean nobody else as a hard cap. They have aprons and luxury taxes and things like that, but if you want to be truly even, the only way to do that is to go to a hard cap, and there's only one place that's done that really in

all of sports. Well, I shouldn't say that, because I think the NHL has a hard cap too, don't they. So maybe the NFL and the NHL, I think, are the only two professional sports to do that. But I don't see a day anytime soon where college athletics is even for everybody.

want to move over here. So, according to Dan Wetzel, the initial estimate within the industry as far as how athletic departments will to siminate the cash they have at their disposal to pay these players now, so twenty point five million, okay, so seventy five percent of that allocated to football players, fifteen percent of that allocated to men's basketball players, five percent to women's basketball players, and then

five percent to other sports. Now, Mark, if you're listening, I'm asking him the question, So get off of them if you don't like the answer. Do you have any insight as to how Utah plans to disseminate their twenty point five million No.

But two, there's just so many more players on the roster. You need more money to be able to fund that. So I you know, again everybody's guessing at it. It sounds a little high to me. The Wetzel numbers not

too high, but it sounds a little high. I would guess more in the sixty five to seventy range probably for football across the board, and I would say men's basketball probably will get, you know, in the neighborhood of fifteen to eighteen percent, and then women's basketball and that five to ten and the rest spread out along the among the Olympic sports, would be my guest.

you said it correct. The settlement is different. But most of these universities in Utah included, have a you know, a section of their athletic department now dedicated to this, and they want to do their best to help these athletes, Like you said, whether it's a six hundred dollars deal or whether it's a sixty thousand dollars deal, you know, help connect them with donors or business owners in the

community to be able to do that. So yes, I mean, I think we've conflated the terms nil And for a long long time, the true nature of name, image and likeness was supposed to be about the individual going out and kind of seeking it on their own, and I think that's still there, and I think schools, including Utah, got to try to get back to that a lot more and help their athletes connect. On top of what we had already talked about with the house settlement money.

twelve was a lot more reactive versus proactive. And I like the fact that your Mark in a lot of things. Nobody's perfect, but I like the fact that he's a lot more proactive, whether it's with college basketball ideas or marketing the league, or I just I liked when you know, the Big ten was trying to shove a you know, all those automatic bids down everybody's throat for the college

football playoff. I've never understood that, Spence. Why why do we give multiple automatic bids for all these different like we don't do the college basketball Tournament's what we all love. You get one automatic bid is a conference champion, then everything else is up in the air.

to get a chance to talk with him. But from afar, I think Utah being in the Big twelve, and your Marcus a commissioner, has been has been positive reports today.

wildcards or conference champions or whatever it is. I think when the day comes, whether it's three years, five years, or ten years from now, when college football does eventually go to that super league, I think it's going to have very much a pro and kind of an NFL feel to it. I don't know what happens with the rest of it. I don't know what happens with basketball at that point, if conferences are still a thing for

everything but football. But my sense is on the football side of it, we're trending toward the Super League at some point, and I think that will have a bit more of a pro model to it all.

know some of these new players. But just your thoughts on and also realistic expectations you're one in the big twelve for this roster and this new coaching staph Anie information on the new basketball team led by former you and Alex Jensen.

defensively and they want to get out and run. And I think they've gone out and I fight guys that fit with where they're at. With all of that, I don't have any idea yet. I want to see him kind of on the floor a little bit more together. But you know, I've said it before and I'll say it again. When you're at the University of Utah, your expectation should always be competing for an NCAA tournament Berth.

I know that they've turned the roster over, but I think if you're at Utah, with the resources Utah has, I think that you should be able to at least compete for an nc doll. I'm not saying it'll happen in year one with twelve new faces. But we've seen that happen in other places around the country. But I think they should certainly be competitive and be in the conversation. You know, you want Lenardi talking about you, at least if that makes sense, sometime in February and March.

works for BYU TV. Sweet guy, very. I'll just say he's working where he should be working, and I'll leave I'll leave it at that. I don't I don't remember if Shep was the one that brought up Jericho Roade. All I know is last week after one of the shows, I'm home decompressing and Ryles texts me like, Hey, what I'm on the show next?

But the NBA Finals coming way coming up on the other side, Porter tomorrow, are we talking about oka Ce up three two or Indiana up three two?

you're the Indiana Pacers coming into the series. Now, I know that Vegas is saying it's still okay, see a heavy favorite, But man, I give Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers a big chance tonight and hell for the sake of the show. I'll go, I'll go Indiana, all right, all.

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It's available wherever you get your shows. Subscribe, grate reviews, Sandaice things in the comments, give us all the stars for Portram Spence saying to I enjoy your Monday evening. NBA Finals Game five coming up on the other side right here on ESPN seven hundred and ninety two. NFM proud to be part of Utah's ESPN Radio network.