We launching at the five o'clock hour of the program coming up in just a little bit, we'll say goonight at six. Don't forget Big twelve Media Days coming up tomorrow and Wednesday, about six to seven hours of live coverage with myself and Sean O'Connell live in Frisco, Texas. Kind of the unofficial start of the college football calendar.
But we'll do some more NBA, some Summer League. The Jazz make a trade forty years with the Jazz Front Office, Radio Celebrity now Celebrity and Sugarhouse for the July fourth parade.
Richard Smith's made Happy Monday.
How are you hence?
We're doing great? You know, I just I'm putting on these headphones. I go, these don't feel right whatever here in the studio. When I'm missing around with them for
a few seconds, I realize we have new equipment. We're using new equipment here at ESPN Studios, and so I don't know if that's correlated with the new NBA league year that started yesterday, that we're using new equipment here in the studio, but this is this is fascinating, Okay, that you guys are breaking down shelling out another twelve bucks for a new pair of headphone.
Shell out twelve bucks. And this is not correlated with the new NBA league calendars.
And spending limit you have now our spending limit was was hit the day we cracked this this microphone. Uh did you were you stopped at all over the weekend and asked for an autograph as a result of your your birth radio care.
No, you know, you know who I had to take heat from of all people is their guy Dave five.
Don't ever take any heat for who.
I ran into at the at the beautiful North Salt Lake July fourth celebration that was on Thursday night where they have big band and my my buddy tom Hewitson and his band where they're playing and then they had
the fireworks show and all this. But I had to sit there for five minutes and and uh and saying hello to to Dave and listen to him rake on me about you know, oh, mister celebrity, now, mister TV, mister radio, you know, you know, you know you're getting a little over over exposed here in the Salt Lake market where we're getting a little tired of you. And I said, hey, you know what that's what my wife said.
All the time.
So there's no such thing as no such thing as too much Smitty.
All right, a lot to do.
Let's do a little summer league here, Smitty, And you know every year I kind of share this anecdote nineteen ninety seven pr intern working for Dave all Red Kim Turner, shout out to those guys worked for the Jazz Forever. Summer League nineteen ninety seven featured well, a lot of players, but for the sake of this anecdote, two centers they were drafted that year. One was named Greg oaster Tag
who played for the Utah Jazz. The other was a guy named Tim Duncan who played for the San Antonio Spurs.
And Smitty.
They went head to head and Tag battled them and some games got the best of them. And all due respect to Greg, those two careers worked out a little bit differently. I wanted you to give us a little like Smitty experience anecdotal, because you know, fans Acet goes three to thirteen, so he's never gonna be good.
Vj Edge comes an next Michael Jordan, So.
Tell us about summer league your experience, and then help us understand when we're watching this, what to actually look for.
Well, you know, Spence, you're talking to a guy who, just by circumstances was I was there when the current iteration of the Salt Lake City Summer League started way back in nineteen eighty two, and at that time the Jazz called it the Utah Pro Am Summer League, and it was a mixture of pro players both the NBA and some overseas players, and also amateurs, guys who maybe played in college and weren't quite good enough at the
pro level but could still really compete. In the first couple of years, the pro am teams were made up of players from the local college teams. They each had their own team. So the u of U had a team that was led by Pace Manion and Danny Vrains and Tom Chambers and b y U had a team that was led by Fred Roberts and and I can't remember if Danny if Danny Ainge played in it or not,
Greg Kite, you know, Devin Durant. Uh. The Jazz had their team and the primary purpose of the of the league as it still is today was to get the the Jazz young guys. Uh and the first or second year of players extra playing time during the summer in in live scrimmages and in competition. Utah State, Weaver State had a combined team of players with UH. Bruce Collins and I'm forgetting his name down. Number five was the UH anyway from Utah State. Those guys, those guys UH
put together a really good team. And so there was a collect of these college teams along with the jazz team, and that was the setup of the of the Summer League for the first several years. Over at Westminster College, we played for three weeks in August and the in the the old gymn Paine Gymnasium on the campus of Westminster College UH. And the Page Gymnasium still to this
day has no air conditioning. It still doesn't know, so you had to remember, well, I'm gonna say that, I'm not sure if i haven't been there in a few years, but but for the longest time didn't have air conditioning.
So you were sitting there, whether you were playing in it or you're sitting there as a fan watching, and you're watching these games and it was stifling hot and humid in the gym, and you know, you can't open any doors or windows and nothing to open whatever, and so it was it was a heat box and and and it went on for but we had it initially it went on for three weeks, if you can imagine. And and that that then, you know, morphed into going
to games over East High School for several years. And the famous summer where we had the big the big cloud burst one night and the rains came off of thirteenth East down the stairs at East High right onto the gym floor and it looked like the blob in
that movie. And it was coming right down and it was crawling right onto the floor, and you know, and it was also that was also the the the year that that we had Corey Crowder playing for the Jazz and went off like thirty eight in a summer league game and then got got taken a side by the GM of a team in Greece who was at the game scouting and talked Corey Crowder into signing on the spot right there with the team, yeah, in the hallway, and and Corey, hey, these guys are offering me whatever
they were offering, I can't remember a time, and I remember Scott Layden's and hey, I think I think you better do that, you know, and to go okay, thank you very much, and Corey Carter signs, you know, agrees in the hallway with the team and and went over and had a nice career over in Europe and and
uh and uh. Then it morphed into going to the Delta Center for a little bit and then out to Solid Community College for for many years, and which I personally, to me, I still think was the best Summer League venue, uh,
that we've had over the years. I just think that, you know, when you have four thousand people and they cram into a gym like that and they're standing on the sidelines, and and there's plenty of easy parking and it's easy to get to off of two fifteen and and uh and Redwood Road, I think that's a great venue to have it. But now we were we find ourselves this this year up at the Huntsman Center because
of the renovations going on to the Delta Center. But a lot of history there for the Jazz Summer League and a lot of iterations of it and and a lot of of a lot of changes over the years and and how it's operated as well.
So when it comes to jazz fans, sitting down and watching a game. It's just it's I pulled up the list of the all time leading scorers in Vegas Summer League history Archie Goodwin, Kobe Carl Vander Blue, Rashad Vaughan, Glenn Rice Junior, Bobby Brown, Andre Blasch, and look, I could keep going. I mean, for two years, I was a valet at Westchester Summer League, where the Knicks used to have way back in the day.
They don't do it anymore.
Greg Anthony's first Summer League game he had like forty and twenty you know, so and Greg got a good and be a career like probably not the best example in the world, but you know, these are inexperienced officials, these are young coaches, and these are children when it
comes to players actually playing. So for fans looking for pieces of good news or things that are act actually real when they're watching the Jazz on Saturday, then they're gonna watch them tonight, like help us understand what's actually translatable?
Well, it's it's it's very difficult to really look at any of it with any hardcore feeling for what it's gonna partend down the road.
The uh, but you're exactly right.
The whole purpose of the Summer Leagues is for everybody who's involved. Everybody you see on the front lines are all people who are trying to quote, make their way through the league in some regard, whether it's as a player, whether it's as a coach, as a as an athletic trainer, as a referee, as a game official working the UH, the scorers table, whatever. Everybody involved is UH is trying to get better what they do or trying to prove they they belong, you know, in there that little niche
that they're that they're involved with. You know, for the teams, they really have three main goals and being involved in the Summer League program. The first is to get their player just to get him acclimated to the whole process of what the organization is about. So for the Jazz players, they're just trying to get them to understand what living in Salt Lake is about. How to get around town, how to maneuver, how to set up a bank account, how to find an apartment or or where you're going
to live for the next year. You know, all those kinds of things that just get them acclimated to the process of being a member of the Utah Jazz Organization UH. The second the second goal. The second level is for the players UH to get used to the coaches and the people around them, to support staff, whether it's the way the strength training staff UH, the equipment staff, the the UH, the massage therapist, the doctors, the training, everybody
involved in the process. To get them familiar with them, to understand what the process is of being a professional, how the Jazz go about their business on a day to day basis. That's really the second level of what they're trying to learn in the summer instead of trying to learn it on the fly when the season starts in the middle of October. This is a good chance without any pressure and without anything that's really meaningful in
terms of games involved. It's their chance to find out how that ebb and flow goes, who those people are, and what I'm supposed to be doing with each of them, so I can figure out how this job actually is supposed to work. And then the third level is really getting familiar with the coaches and you know, the general level of the type of play they want they're gonna
expect of them when the regular season comes. In terms of the offense that just the general basics of it, or our defensive philosophy, those things, so they have a feel for what those are, what the terminology is, what we call this play. Some other team calls it different, different nomenclature. We call it this Just to get used to that stuff, so when you come in in the fall and you get ready for training camp in late September, you're not blindsided by all these things that are new.
They're all things that you've been exposed to already the previous three months. You've been around it, You've gotten used to it. It's kind of starting to feel like home a little bit, and now you can enter training camp with your feet under you a little bit and with a little bit of confidence about Okay, now I know a little bit of what's expected of me, and now we're getting ready to really get to work here in the fall.
So let's talk about a couple of dynamics here.
And the juxtaposition I find interesting is what to expect from rookies, and certainly what to expect from an eighteen year old rookie in Ace Bailey. I pulled up the list earlier today of eighteen year olds to play in the NBA, and even the eighteen year olds that went on to play really well typically struggle in the NBA when they're that age.
There are exceptions.
Lebron was a twenty point guy, Dwight Howard had a good rookie year, but Cobe struggled.
And I've got the list.
We can go over all the names, right, So when it comes to what to expect from Ace who's eighteen years old in a rookie I want you to kind of walk us through what to expect from a player that young, even at the summer league level. And then, certainly, if you're a fan of a team, what has to happen. Are the softs and above really have to dominate the whole thing, and if they don't, that's a bad, really
bad sign. If you've had a year of NBA basketball under your belt and then suddenly you're in the summer league and you can't get anything done, it's like, okay. So there's a lot of pressure on Bryce and Cody and Kyle and Isaiah guys that we've seen, and then there's the Ace factor too, So compartmentalize that a little bit. What do you expect from an eighteen rookie in summer league, and what do you hope to see from I'll call the veteran players, Well.
The new guys are really you're just looking to see what their level of engagement is. In other words, do they understand the basic concepts of what we're trying to get done during a particular game. Do they understand the flow of the offense? Are they are they in the right spots? Are they communicating well with their teammates? Are
they learning from their teammates during dead ball situations? Are they engaged with either the coaches on the sidelines or their teammates on the floor about what's what's going to happen next? Are they do they appear to be to have a positive vibe about them in terms of approaching what they're trying to do on the floor. You're not
worried about what shots they're making. You might be worried a little bit about what shots they're taking during the course of a summer league action, because that cantle tell
you a little bit about where their mindset is. But you're just concerned about how the assimilating themselves into the overall team dynamic and and how that how that's coming together for them with the second and third year guys, you're looking for them to be kind of the leaders on the floor, to understand what's going on, to be able to lead by example on the floor, and to be able to show that they they belong, you know there with that team and they belong you know, uh
in greater terms that you get into the uh into the fall and the regular regular camp uh A situation. But the those guys, you know, Philipowski the other night played well you knew he just you know, knew where he was supposed to be and when he was supposed to be there and how he was supposed to play.
You know, the.
Guys like that, really you really kind of get a feel for what their level of understanding from what they've already been through, and then how can they bring that to the floor but also help the new rookies to assimilate into what's going on during the course of the game.
So let's go over a couple of names here, and just you already talked about Philipowski, so we'll leave him aside. He had seventeen in the second half, looked like the grown up you know in the room twenty two to six, twenty two and six. He was eight of eleven, hit a couple of threes. Isaiah, Isaiah, call your look, it's just the same deal with him. There are moments of he had a great pass to Philipowski, a great bounce
pass that led him to a doll. It was an amazing pass, I mean, and there are glimpses where like, oh man, he's really he's got some vision. He can see the floor. He just can't shoot it. He didn't shoot it well the other night. So let's start with Isaiah. You know what you saw the other night and what you would say to Jazz fans that they should hope to see during the rest of the summer league experience.
Well, again, you know, you're hoping he has a little more of a controlled floor game. You know he sees the floor. Well, you know he can get the ball to certain places. I'll be honest with you. That pass he made the other day was was a three quarter court bounce pass through traffic. You know, a terrific play.
I'm excited to see that play. If Magic Johnson is making it or Jason Kidd is making it, if Isaiah Collier is throwing it, I'm not as excited because I don't know if it's gonna if it's gonna get to the end result which you did in that play, Okay, he gets credit for that, or if it's gonna bounce off somebody's knee and go up into the fifth row or something. So you want to see him a little
bit more of a control floor game. And then, of course, as we've been talking about since day one last year, you know, he has to show some level of improvement in his shooting ability because if that does not start coming along at some point, you know, teams are gonna that's the first thing on the scouting report, and teams are gonna be laying off, and teams are gonna be crowding the lane, and teams are gonna be you know, sagging off on to wing guys and he's going to
be on his own on an island to figure out how to start making shots. And it's still he does that, that's going to be you know, really the big stumbling block for him in terms of showing the kind of progress that I think the Jazz want to see from him.
Bryce sense about looks like he's in better shape, So that's good. Yeah, obviously that was the deal coming out of Ohio State and Will Hardy himself during his postseason media just a few months back. Now mentioned not just with Bryce, but but Keyante and Isaiah, they all need to be in better shape. They need to be in better condition. He looks like he is seven to thirteen, five of eight from three to nineteen points, seven boards, So a good night for him, did have five turnovers.
But what do you see from Bryce sents?
Well, yeah, and to that point, Spence, Jerry Sloan always used to preach to the players that being in shape is an actual skill that some players possess and some players don't. And he always to tell guys that you have to be in the optimum shape you can be.
And because as.
Long as you're not in shape, while you're on the floor playing, your mind is always drifting somewhere else other than the basketball play in front of you. In other words, you're thinking about, Oh, I'm really winded, I got to really catch my breath here, or I'm really tired. I don't know if I can backpedal and get back on defense right now. And so your mind us in thinking about the basketball play. Your mind is thinking about what your body is doing. And so that takes you out
of being an effective player. Once you get yourself in shape, and once you're not thinking about those things, then the basketball part comes into play and it makes it easier for you as a player to perform. That's what those guys really have to be about. They all have to be in great shape. It sounds like it's a redundant or it's a second grade thing that your professional athlete. Hey, look, you need to be in better shape. Like it seems
like you shouldn't have to say that. Unfortunately, you have to say it to a lot of guys because a lot of guys as they climb up this ladder and get to this pinnacle, which is the top professional basketball league in the world, the players just keep getting better. The talent just keeps increasing. Your competition is getting better.
And if you don't recognize that and you don't take that to heart in terms of what you do every day to get yourself in the best shape possible, then you're doing yourself a disservice and you're gonna leave yourself short in terms of being a competitive player who can help a team. Jerry Sionan always used to tell guys, the stuff you do outside of the game, getting in shape, working on your game, doing all the things that prepare you to play in the game. That's what you get
paid for. That's what the job is. When you get up there on Friday night at seven o'clock and we tip the ball off. You may not get in the game, you may be on the end of the bench, and you may not even play, but you're still gonna get paid right on the first and the fifteenth. So the job is really getting in shape, being prepared, getting ready
to be able to play. And if you take care of those things and do it the way you're supposed to be prepared, then when your name gets called during the game, then you'll be able to go in and contribute to the best of your ability.
We'll save your thoughts on both East Bailey and Walt Clayton Junior for the next segment, but the last name for this segment will be the other VET.
After a really roughie rookie.
Year, and I really am not piloting on this kid, like he's so young, and I feel like so many people were so down on him. It's like he never has a chance to develop. But Cody Williams is going to have to show more as a saw certainly than he did as a rookie. I would imagine it's a pretty low bar. So game one Summer League takeaways with Cody.
Yeah, he's you know, he's still thin. But you know, it takes a while to get your body in shape. Sometimes you can get stronger, and it doesn't appear that way when you look at a guy. You know, some guys just don't buff up, you know, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stolone. They don't get those kind of bodies. They can be stronger, but maybe they don't show it.
He's got to continue to fill out his body, he's got to continue to get stronger, and his game has just got to be played with more confidence right now to me, and again, it was just one Summer League game.
He'll have a bunch of games here coming up in the next couple of weeks to show what kind of progress he's made during the spring, you know, but he really has to show that he can play, uses athleticism in length to his advantage and play with a level of confidence that the Jazz are gonna want to see out of him.
All Right, we will catch a break coming up next Smidy's takeaways from a Bailey's first Summer League game. And in addition to wal Clayton Juniors for Summer League game and the Jazz have made a trade. John Collins is a Clipper, and we'll tell you about the return if there's anything at all, I would imagine Kevin Love will be bought out. But Smitty joins us for one more big segment before we launch into the five o'clock hour
of the program right here on ESPN seven hundred. All right, another segment with the local legend, the local celebrity who stars rising Richard Smith forty years with the Jazz front office. Don't take any guff from Dave Fox about being overexposed, by the way, speaking of overexposure in the market for like thirty years.
Hey, you know, if Dave Fox says something to me, I'm just gonna sit there and listen. You know, he's he's a he's a local legend, even if.
It is in his own mind. There you go, you landed the plane.
All right.
Before we get to the trade, Smitty, let's wrap up the conversation we were having last segment about the Jazz Summer League roster. We got your takes on the veteran players Isaiah call your Kyle Philipowski, Cody Williams, Price Sensiba. Let's start with Walt Wall. Clayton Junior came off the bench, played twenty five minutes, had six assists, nine points, three of age shooting, knocked down a couple of threes.
He look comfortable, do you know?
Okay, yeah, he looked like he he belonged again, spent the difference between being an eighteen year old and being twenty two for sure, playing four years in college, you know, playing tough, big time games in college, and and obviously coming through with the national championship this this past April with the with the University of Florida in the NCAA tournament. And but he looks like a guy who's you know
that the moment doesn't get to him. And again it was it was a summer league game, but he just looked like he had a feel of you know, you know, calmness and just getting the ball up, seeing the floor, moving it to the right spots, you know, and just doing the things you know, just so called staying in his lane and doing the things that he was supposed to do, you know, from his position, So a good good h by him in terms of summer league action.
We'll see how that progresses as uh as these games go along here in Salt Lake tonight and tomorrow and then and then later in the week when they get down to Vegas.
As you compare and contrast Walt with Isaiah, the assumption is Isaiah will start out of the gates a point. I'm uh, you know, Kyante is not playing on his team. There's a legitimate conversation to have about Kiante's NBA future.
Do you think there's a chance Walt grabs that starting spot?
Well, I think there's the certainly there's a chance because he's shown that he can make shots and the Collier kid has has struggled to do so.
Uh.
The Colia may be a little bit uh stronger in the upper body. He may be a little bit quicker with the ball from end to end or from free throw line the free throw line, Uh, the way he can get up and down the floor. I think the Clayton kid, you know, might again might have a maybe.
More sound all around game.
Uh when it comes to uh, you know, just mixing in with his teammates in terms of moving the ball and finding guys just making the play that's in front of him.
Uh, And so we'll see. I think I think this is.
A good uh, a good spot for both those guys to be in, you know, having another six, seven, eight games whatever, it's gonna be here the next couple of weeks against competition, you know, for the front office and the coaches to look at and and kind of see what they what they think each guy is doing well, what their notes are about what they need to to improve on, and of course then those will be things the players will be working on the rest of the
summer heading into fall camp. But I certainly think that he would have every chance uh to uh to be a potential starter on a team that is uh looking for anybody to contribute consistently in meaningful ways. And being an older guy, rookie coming end at age twenty two, and the experience he has, maybe that will give him some kind of an edge.
All Right, we'll finish the Summer League portion of the conversation with Ace Bailey, who, of course everybody is excited about in his potential as the eighteen year old top five pick.
I had a really nice week side.
Block had a couple of good boards, but three of thirteen didn't make a lot of shots, didn't play much during crunch time. There was kind of a feel as to whether or not he was being included in the offensive flow. I don't know how much is there there. I mean, these are veteran players. Maybe you're looking at rookies like, hey, you'll learn from us type thing. But what were your impressions our first chance to get a glance at Ace Bailey.
Well, he's obviously he's you can see the physical attributes he has. He's a lively body, he's long's he can be active defensively. You know, he got a key rebound at the end of the game and traffic. You know, I did like the fact that that when he was out of the game coming down to crunch time in that game on Saturday night, you know, look to me, you know, when they showed flashes of him on the bench, that he was engaged with his teammates and even the coaches.
It wasn't like he was sitting there either staring off into the stands, which sometimes happens with young guys, or not paying attention or sulking because he wasn't in the game.
Or whatever whatever it might be. He looked like he.
Was genuinely engaged in what was going on and and rooting for his teammates. And that's what you want to see. And those are the reports Spence really that we heard by and large, you know, from the people at Rutgers and the people who played with him and also against him during the year this past college season, that that that's the kind of guy he is. That he is an upbeat, positive vibe guy, and the people like being around him, and he carries himself with a certain a certain energy in.
A good way.
And and and that might be almost as important as how he played on the floor the other night, was seeing when he was on the bench, what he's what is he doing, How is he handling himself? You know, what does he do when they call a time out? Does he just you know, drift to the end of the bench or in the back of the huddle, or does he come off the bench and agreed his teammates
coming off the floor and that kind of thing. Those are all little things that the coaches in the front office will be looking at to just gauge, you know, what the type of what type of vibe mentality and engagement he has with his group.
No reason to panic obviously.
The first game of Sudden League, did he look the way you expected for an eighteen year old?
Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah.
I mean he carries You can just tell that he has a certain bounciness and he has a certain air of confidence about how he he runs the floor, how he sees the floor. When he when he's off the ball on the weak side, is he's looking, He's looking for an angle to cut to. He's looking to, you know, tie to get open with his hands ready. Little things like that, you know, give you a you know, just a little bit of a glimpse into you know, what
kind of player he can be. And look, it's gonna take him a lot of reps, and it's gonna take him a lot of you know, getting knocked around a little bit, and you know, maybe you know, some guys are gonna come at him in some games, you know where where they think, oh, oh, this is the guy I was hearing so much about. Okay, let me let me see what he's got. And so he may have to deal with some of that out on the floor, and how he responds in both skill wise and also
in terms of his professionalism. Uh, you know, may tell you a lot about how he's going to be able to carry himself.
All right, Smitty, let's move over now to the space of the news that broke I think this morning. Uh, of course it is not official to the league approves, but John Collins has been traded. He is now a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, the Miami Heat and Land Norman Powell and the deal and the Jazz get Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson and a twenty twenty seven second round pick via the Clippers. My guess is both Kevin
Love and Kyle Anderson are bought out or moved. I mean Kevin Love, for sure, I think that's probably already done. Maybe you have a different opinion on that, is this essentially getting off John salary and grabbing a second round pick for the tries that all this is sure?
Well, Spence, Look, they apparently have taken care of the big elephant in the room that everybody's been talking about since the last trade deadline, and that is okay. If they're going young and they're going to play all these guys, then we've got some big money guys over here in Sexton and Clarkson and Collins. So what are we doing with them? Well, they've answered that question with Austin Ahe coming in, they've been able to move all three guys
out right. So whether you like what they got for him, whether you think it was you know, a quarter on a dollar or whether you know, whatever you think the value was, what they did was they moved all three of those guys, and they moved them to you know, just not only alleviated themselves from those contracts and and and those those players being on the roster, uh, but they moved out of that money and so they're gonna have more money available when the dust settles.
Uh.
But what it really says is that that we're we're dedicated to playing all these young guys next year. It's not going to be as you know, as Austin Ainge had said in his introductory press conference, we're not gonna play like that. We're not gonna tank on purpose. And of course i'm paraphrasing, but you know, now what they're gonna do is all you know, we're gonna play these
young guys because that's what we got. You know, now, marking In is the one guy standing standing there going, well, I'm still here and he may still be here in October and maybe not.
Well, you know, time will tell.
Uh but they're gonna play all the guys that they've talked about, that they've drafted that you know, maybe there'll there's still guys that there and they're gonna be in the hunt for during the summer. Maybe there's still something else that's gonna come down the pike for them. But but moving those guys really makes a statement to me
that this is the direction. With all these young guys, we're gonna go and we're gonna play them, and we're gonna play the guys we got here now and that's who we're gonna run with, and we're gonna see see how this starts taking shape. So uh so, kudos to them for if nothing else, you like their draft, You like the guys they got. You have some questions about
the guys last few years whatever. The guys that were hanging around and we're making the big money and you didn't think we're gonna be part of their future going forward are now all out of the picture. So they've taken that care of that part of the equation. So now they can move forward with what their what their plans are for these guys, and that'll be very intro see for Jazz fans to see.
Any chance Kevin Love or Kyle Anderson is on this roster.
Well, I don't think Kevin Love. I think that's I think that's a no brainer. I believe on both sides. Kyle Anderson I probably would bet against it. You know, he's not quite the profile or the guy that the Kevin Love has been in his prime. Uh, but Kyle Anderson is a serviceable and and a versatile player. So you know, the money he makes, it's not it's not great. You know, I could see him on the on the
team next year. I doubt they would want to have him just because I think they they would want that those minutes eating up by some of the younger guys here. They've already got into contract. But you know, if I had to bet on it, I would bet that both guys wouldn't be on the team come October.
I agree with that. All right, before I set you loose, Smiddy, Well, we'll end on this. You mentioned marketing. He's still on the roster. We'll see if that lasted.
Donovan was traded in September.
Yeah, next summer, all right, Yeah, so there's still plenty of time for transactions. Walker Kessler still on the roster, Isaiah Callier, Wal Clayton Junior, Taylor Hendricks, Kiante, George A. S. Bailey, Kyle Philipowski, Brice Sense about what do you think this is gonna look like next year?
Well, it's not gonna be pretty. I mean, you're gonna have young guys. You know a lot of those guys. The jury is out about whether they're uh A NBA players at all?
Uh B? Can they be rotation players for an NBA team?
Uh C? Can they be contributing players on a competitive or successful team? Uh can they be leaders on a very good team? All these different tiers that you slot guys into, you know these guys are they're all over
at the moment on the sideboard. In other words, you haven't had a real good feel to take any one of their names and put them over on the board under a certain heading and say this is where this guy belongs in terms of the hierarchy of the team or how the team is going to start playing and gelling that kind of a thing. So I think all
that stuff is uh is evolving, it's changing. You've got the you know, basically the same coaching staff with a few tweaks to it now that uh see Boljahowski is going to join the coaching staff from the G League team, So you're going to get his experience and his knowledge on the bench now having coached in the G League, but also obviously being a high level coach of both Marquette and Duke, uh and and of course being a
terrific player at Duke during his years in college. So you're going to get his experience in the coaching staff. And now you've got the new perspective of Austin Ainge uh in the front office UH to to look at these guys and try to assess where they think their team is and what direction it's heading in. I mean, by no means is the team you got now the team I think you're gonna see in October, or the team you're gonna see in February when it comes around
the trade trade deadline. I think there's a lot of maneuvering still to be had and uh and I think this is just the movement of these veterans who they who they just moved in the last few weeks. Uh, Sexton, Clarkson and Collins. Now those guys are out. Now we see what they think the next move is in the formation the evolution of this team going forward.
So zake to say, we're all going to be sitting on our couches next spring watching ping pong balls bounce around to see where the jazz is.
Well, you know what's gonna be interesting, Spence is no matter how it plays out, I would be surprised and we're somewhat shocked if the level of that anticipation that we had this past May would be duplicated next May.
In other words, everybody.
Had put pushed their chips in the Jim fossil, you know, comparison to the middle of the table, hoping they would have Cooper flag and some people, I think, maybe even within the Jazz organization, we're counting on getting the number one pick and it didn't happen, And maybe some people learned a lesson, you know, through that, and you know, maybe next time they'll pay attention to what real numbers tell them and what the reality of the situation is.
And above all else, the the you know, the the understanding that winning and building teams is not easy, and it takes a lot of effort, takes a lot of coordination, takes a lot of making the right decisions at the right time. But then it also takes a certain amount of luck and circumstances happening that that fall your way that you can't control, but you have to be able to react to them when they do. And so that's what makes that part of it, can make it exciting
for jazz fans. The losing will not be fun and and jazz fans may get start getting a little uh antsy about that part of it.
About to enter year four of what's been characterized as a rebuild or a pivot or a breakdown and build up. I guess it depends on how you asked. Hey, great to see my friend. I know you get you got a trip next week, Safe travels and chat too, Spence, have fun in Dallas. Thank you, sir, Go get him. We're only how many how many football days away? Fifty four days?
Unbelievable. I believe it's right around the corner.
It is man. Good to see okay, thank you. Richard Smith will