Smitty Liven Studio.
Tim McMahon's gonna roll by today NBA Daily Assist style, back to college football, Kevin Reynolds, Sam Bruckhaus will stop buying to do some NFL. Then we'll get you ready for a big RSL match tonight. As the playoffs are here, fall soccer is here, so.
We're gonna bring in Brian Dunsa coming up a little bit.
But my guy, Richard Smith on a Tuesday, even though it's a Tuesday, I had a lovely weekend in Park City at a wedding. It was a good time. Saw some old friends. I hadn't seen it quite some time. What what kept you busy this weekend?
Smitty?
See Spence, We we had divergent weekends going on. I actually went to u LA to see an old friend of ours, an old NBA colleague of ours down in La, and I got to uh, I got to take a moment out of the visit with him to go to Game two Saturday night, and right here live on the radio that people can't see, I'm presenting Spence with his own special world ball.
What oh wow video? Are you serious?
Because because that's the kind of guy I am, you are a good guy. See that I appreciate this. How about that? We found that? And I said, you got to be kidding me. I said, I know exactly who would appreciate something like this with an Otanian judge pictures on the.
Ball, I had a decent curve back in the day.
That's a little curve.
See that that that goes with the line Spence. You know, the older I get, the better I was.
Oh for sure. Yeah, I'm learning that now in my forties.
And I should probably watch him tape to remind me of exactly who I was.
Hey, hey, to your left, I put a little holder there. Oh sweet, the little thing you put the you put the ball on, and uh, thank you bow to it every time you walk by.
So here's the real question.
Twenty year anniversary of the greatest comeback in sports history that I know, can my Yanks get a little Bosox manage I can try to come back from the trio?
Well, anybody who remembers that, you know back in four between the Red Sox and Yankees and the a l Cs the year before it was Aaron Boone who had the walk off home running. I know this is a family show and and uh, and that and that was off Tim Wakefield, the great Red Sox pitcher, rest in peace.
And and uh.
And then the next year they're playing again in the ALCS and the Red Sox were down the ninth inning, down a run, and uh, the greatest reliever in history is on the mount of the Yankees. It's all over. This is this is a four game sweep. You gotta be kidding me. And and then Kevin Molar, who has made a living since then, off his rant before the game, walking around anybody who would listen, and they got him on camera right saying.
Saying, don't let us don't let us go tight.
Let's go let us win tonight because then we got p D tomorrow, and then we got Shill in game six, and then anything can happen in game seven, so they better not let us win tonight. And then he's the one who drew the walk in the bottom of the ninth and Dave Roberts came in and ran for him and stole second and blah blah blah.
So yeah, Yankees could.
Do something, you know, And they're at home right just like the Red Sox were, so they have a chance to do something, and you know, maybe try and claw
their way back in. But tell you what, the Dodgers seemed to be just in one of those grooves that you can get in in any kind of a playoff series, in any sport, where all of a sudden you can't plan it, and you can't you can't map it out, but all of a sudden, things just start falling your way, one thing after another, and it starts snowballing, you know, to wit the Freddie Freeman, I don't know, is he gonna play? Is he not gonna play? He's got a bum ankle, I don't know. Oh, home run, home run,
home run. Like you know, that's the kind of stuff that you can't plan for and you can't make it up, and that you that you're just in the middle of right now for the Yankees and the Dodgers.
So it's funny because as I'm watching the playoffs, I felt like the Yankees had a far superior roster as they were making their way through, and now I feel the same way about the Dodgers juxtaposed to the Yankee lineup, Like there's no oxygen, there's no break for the Yankee pitchers because even some of their you know, the batters, at the end of the lineup. One just won the MVP of the Conference champions.
Like when they won the Pennant.
Right, Yeah, so I thought the Yankees had a better starting pitching, but clearly the Dodgers top to bottom have a much better lineup and all the momentums on their side.
I do think the Yankees have better pitching. They are lined up better too, but again, look, it's one swing in Game one right there. The Yankees are a pitch away from winning Game one, and the series will still have a different tone if Freeman doesn't connect on that. And and but that that's what happens in a series, right, one play, one one swing, one missed ground ball, you know, one error here. I mean, how about the two plays at the plate?
Yeah, last night, like chi Oscar, that throw was right on, but like how close with both of those?
I mean they were, it was it was an inch or two, Like you can't tell in a replay the guy was safer out. I mean, it's it's both of those and and but that's what makes baseball, uh, you know, so exciting, especially this time of year.
You know, yeah, Otani's banged up, and they like don't need them it's ridiculous. Yeah, that's right, all right, smitty.
Uh fun night last night with so many things going on, So flipping back and forth between Monday Night Football World Series, Utah Hockey Club, and then I get a text saying, did you see what just happened to Taylor? So I switch over in time for the replay, which I did not need to see. I don't like, like the Kevin ware Kid Louisville injury back in March madness.
You know what I thought of? I thought of Joe Thysen.
Joe Thaisman, Paul George, Gordon Hayward, right like whenever these things happened, I don't enjoy watching it. So Taylor Hendrix, who according to people that I talked to over there, worked his tail off all summer, you know, got his body in better shape. He looked bigger, he looked stronger, was off to a pretty solid start to the season, some good defensive minutes on John Morant opening night. He played Luca pretty well last night in a couple of
occasions as well, as you referenced. I don't know that Taylor is ever going to be a guy that's going to drop forty on you. I'm not sure he's ever gonna be like a twenty point a night guy. I don't think he has to because of his measurables, his ability to guard, rebound, and also finish at the rim. But what does this mean now? As far as the what's next for Taylor? As Will mentioned last night, the development obviously is on hold.
It sucks, it really does.
But your thoughts on young Taylor Hendricks probably being out for the year.
Now, Yeah, it's devastating injury, and the the freakish part about it spendses all these injuries that you see that happened, whether it's football, whether it's on an NBA court, someone and you know, sliding into a base in baseball and jamming their leg whatever it is. This thing happened right in plain view of everybody, with nobody around him. He was just running down the court and went to stop and his leg just completely gave out on him. Just
a freak accident. He'll rehab, He'll get back. Uh. The Jazz I think will be super ultra conservative in his rehab. It's not like they need him back for any kind of a playoff push in the spring. It's not like they're depending on him, uh to to come and save the day in terms of their season or what they their plans are currently with this, with this roster. So they're gonna let him do the rehab he needs to. They're gonna rely on the doctors who are involved. They're
gonna set the path. They're gonna set the schedule of what he has to do, surgery wise, rehab wise, getting back to playing condition, ultimately all that stuff. They're not gonna rush it. They want to make sure he's okay. He's only twenty years olds Bence, so they they realize he's got his full career ahead of him, so they're gonna do everything they can to make sure that he's okay physically, that he's okay emotionally, which is a big part that a lot of people don't take into account
with these things. He's a young guy who's never been hurt before. Now he has a devastating injury early on in his professional career that in your mind you can't help but start thinking, oh am, I am I ever gonna be as good as I thought I could be, or as I even was at the moment that this happened. Is this gonna set me back somehow? Is this gonna be. Am I only gonna be eighty percent of what I was before this happened. Am I gonna get back to
being better two years from now? All those things play in your mind as a young man, And so that that'll be one of the things that their staff with Ron Kimmins, who's their their psychological player rep within the group, he's gonna try and help him on the mental side to make sure that he's okay during the rehab process. And look, Speth's just because he can't play doesn't mean he won't be working on his body. He'll be working on his upper body. He'll be working on that kind
of conditioning. That'll give him time to add a little bit more weight, to add some more strength, and to do some of those kinds of things to along with his rehab of his leg. To make sure that he's he's okay, whether that's twelve months from now or fifteen months from now, whatever it is, and try and get him back on the floor when it makes sense for him and when it makes sense for the organization.
And excuse me, I don't want to be over dramatic here, so I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but this is not a sprained ankle, This is not a jammed wrist.
This is a serious injury.
Yes, and Taylor's a really, really good athlete, so he relies on his verticality and his speed side decide if he's ever going to be an elite defender. He's got to move laterally. So look the fact that and you know, the staff down there obviously a great reputation for caring for their players, and the fact that he's twenty is a good sign for long term recovery. But this is an injury like Marquise Chris had it and that essentially
kind of knocked him out of the league. Like we have seen, this injury essentially change the scope of careers for players.
So give me your thoughts on Jazz fans.
The hope that we do see Taylor back at peak potential at some point.
Oh well, he's gonna everybody's Every individual is different. They all heal differently.
Uh.
They all approach it supposedly the same way. Some guys, you know, cheat a little bit left and right depending on what they're supposed to do along in the process. Some guys are more patient than others.
Uh.
Some guys adhere to the strict rules of what they're they're supposed to be doing along the way. A lot of it is gonna be on how he approaches it. And and again Spence, not just the physical part, but the mental part of of how he how he thinks about the process, how he goes about it, the people around him, how they're coaching him to handle it on both the physical and the and the mental side of it. And and then then you just have to wait and
see how he comes out. You know, some guys get healthy, uh the doctors say you're ready to go, Oh, you're you're all mended, You're good, You're good, and the guy just has a mental block about doing something because they're afraid it's gonna happen again. And and that's that's that's
a big thing, especially at the pro level. And so that's gonna be part of it for him is a maturing process as he is a young man, not only dealing with the injury and the rehab part of it, but as he comes back, how can he get his frame of mind back to where it needs to be to be able to at some point compete at the highest level in this sport. That that's gonna be the thing that's gonna be for him, and and that's gonna be something that's gonna take patience.
One more thing on this and then we'll move on.
You know, we were very spoiled by two of the greatest iron men in NBA history when the Jazz were at their apex with John carl And I'm wondering if you could provide some insight because I was in I intentionally went back to watch Will last night and then interviews of the players Keyantay and Walker.
It sounded I couldn't see it.
I was only listening. It sounded like they were crying. And if you go back and watch Will, he was holding back emotion. So as far as the uh, you know, the the effect that it has on his teammates, as Kiante said, his brothers who he works shoulder by shoulder, and and the effect that it could have kind of on the rest of the group. What's the best way to kind of try to traverse that space.
Well, again, that that's going to be a group effort and and uh, their their mental preparation, UH is going to be key. How they communicate with each other, how the staff works through that with them.
It's not just Taylor.
Of course, you know that that's a whole separate thing that that that they'll be dealing with with him and and giving him the priority of their of their efforts and their their knowledge. But at the same time, you've got a whole group of guys who witnessed it, and they're now thinking, in the back of their minds, oh am I the next guy, Am I gonna is something
weird gonna happen uh to me? And so the fragility of the group, the mindset of of how they approach their their task is UH is always interesting because you really need everybody focused together, but you need people around you, whether it's coaches, whether it's the support staff, to be able to help in terms of coaching them through the mental part of being able to deal with it. Not just that Taylor's not here, he's not with us where
we we can't count on him to help us. Now, we've got to be able to move forward with our group, but we also have to do so in a way that that where we can perform the way that we uh that we want to, and sometimes the mental part holds you back. And so that's gonna be it's gonna be interesting to see how they respond as a group. Look, when you're in the middle of the game, guys are playing, Guys aren't thinking about that stuff, but all the stuff
outside of the game. When you're on the road or in a hotel room by yourself and you're sitting in the locker room before practice or after a game or whatever, those are the times when your mind can kind of wander through those things, and you have to have the people around you as a group to support you, to make sure that you're all working on the same level and all working in the same direction, to try and get everybody together on the same page.
So rotationally, what this does is really open up about thirty minutes a night. So Taylor played twenty nine against the Grizzlies. Against the Warriors, he played twenty five, and then last night twenty one, but then he left the game, So about twenty seven twenty eight minutes a night, probably it opens up. So if we go off of what they've been saying, it's development youth. You know, we want to learn what we have with the young players. And would you look at what Will has at his disposal.
He could bring in John Collins and that would be a pretty big front court with Walker, John and Lowry. He could bring in Bryce bry Senseiba, we could see a little bit more of Cody Cody Williams, and maybe even a little bit more of Kyle Philipowski. So with about you know, twenty seven twenty eight minutes, now open up.
What do you think rotationally we see.
Yeah, well you just named all the options are going to have and I think it's probably going to be a rotating door depending on the matchups from night to night, the teams are playing, who the who the opponent is, you know, they could go smallish with Sensible as a three.
They could go bigger with Philipowski, you know, and move him and marking in around, depending on again, on who they're playing on any given night, like for example, tonight they're playing the Sacramento Kings, who have a set rotation, a set lineup.
They have a starting five who are here early in the season.
It's only been the handful of games, but there they're guys are playing thirty four thirty six minutes a night, so they're they got a regular group that's playing and a group that's set to try and win this year, to try and get something accomplished for them, So they're a group that's that's gonna come in, you know, with
their own agenda. So every night the Jazz are gonna be facing a different team that has a different approach based on where they're at in their team development situation, whether they're competing for playoffs, whether they're competing for a championship, whether they're just trying to get in the playoffs, whether a developmental team like the Jazz are, say like Portland is or something like that. So it's gonna it's gonna
be a rotating door. I think it's gonna be something where they're gonna be giving different guys different looks with different groups on the floor and to see who works well with each other. I don't think it changes a lot spence in terms of the approach they're going to take as the season goes along. In terms of rotation, I think they're just going to be trying to find out who we got, who plays well with who what makes sense on any given night, And it may be
different guys. It may be sensible could play one night as a starter and play thirty two minutes because he because he gets on a little bit of a role and then two nights later he doesn't even get in the game because the matchup isn't right and they're trying to, you know, take a look at somebody else, and so, uh, that's what you're gonna see. That that's I don't think a lot of that changes for what the Jazz is overall approach going.
Into this season was gonna be.
So let's let's talk about some of the individual players we've seen so.
Far and your thoughts.
And I want to start with Keante, but I want to start with a question at at what point because I I oftentimes say, like comes to summer league, don't worry about mak or miss. When it comes to rookies, not many of them are going to shoot a very high percentage. But at what point do we worry about maker miss with Kyante? Because here are his college stats at Baylor, he played thirty three games, he shot thirty
seven percent from the floor and thirty three percent from three. Okay, So then we move over to his rookie year with the Jazz, he shot thirty nine percent from the floor in thirty three percent from three. And now we look at what we've seen as far as this start goes and Kyante right now is twenty seven percent from the floor, twenty three percent from three. So college rookie start to second year, the maker miss numbers.
We can't ignore them.
Like at this point he has shown that he is a lead guard that can't shoot the basketball. I mean, I don't know how else to say it, Like, at what point does that become a concern.
Well, it's a concern the whole time. I mean, well, let's look at it this way. He in another another ten days or so, he turns twenty one years old. Okay, So he's a young guy. Played one year of college, played one year professional last year. Now he's starting his second year. You know, the thing with him with the Jazz, from my perspective, is that they're still trying to figure out whether he's a point guard or whether he's a
scoring two guard. And I think, you know, based on what he's done so far for me, I think he's gonna be He's gonna be best served long term in his career being utilized as a as a Jordan Clarkson type or a Lou Williams type who's a smallish scoring guard who's a volume shooter. He's I don't know if he's ever gonna be a great shooter, but he can be. I mean, look, he he I think his shot selection needs to improve, and that's that's not anything different than
any young guy who's trying to feel his way. I think the thing with him for me is that at the moment, he's trying to figure out how to be a point guard and he's trying to also figure out how to score at the NBA level. And one thing is hard enough to do on its own, but trying to do both those things at the same time and to be relied upon and to have the spotlight on you in that regard.
Is puts another layer to it.
So I think the Jazz at some point they have to figure out is he going to be a point guard? Do we think he's good enough to do that? And if he is, then we need to work with him on being better with the ball and not trying to score as much. Or are we just gonna let him loose to do the Jordan Clarkson type thing. I think that's what's gonna happen, you know, as his as his season this year unfold.
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Want to listen to Utah's number one sports talk from home, Just simply say, Hey Alexa play ESPN seven hundred or Hey Google play ESPN seven hundred and get Utah's best sports talk Utah football and basketball all on your smart speaker at home, Stay connected at home, or I'm a go with Utah's number one Sports Talk ESPN seven hundred.
We have the triumphant return of one Tim McMahon to the program today. Bean McMahon will drop your NBA Daily Assist coming up at about We'll call that like thirty minutes right now. Then we have Kevin Reynolds from the Trip covers BYU Undefeated Sam. I'm going to go ahead and go with Bruckhouse. I believe that's what it is. He's been on the show before, so I need to learn his name before he hops on. Do a little NFL. Then we're gonna bring Donnie for some soccer. AZRSL welcomes
in Minnesota. Have you ever been do an MLS playoff match.
Yes I have, aren't they And I've been to several you know, I become a real fan the last several years. We have good friends, the Farleys, who have season tickets and they let us come with them and we, uh, I don't know about like tonight, where it's gonna be freezing out and it's gonna be a little.
Dicey, you know.
I Usually when I go there, it's ninety degrees out in the sun and we're sweating and whatever.
And that's what's funny about soccer, right.
It starts in the cold in March, and then in the middle of the season if the sun is out and it's hot and it's ninety five and whatever, whatever, and then at the end of the season it's back to being cold again.
When you're watching, the season is way too long. It's garrely long.
Yeah, but we'll be cheering for oursel the mast Downny's gonna hop on get us ready for that mass great all right, Smitty. So look, it's three games in, but it is sports radio. So it's not like I'm worried about Lowry. Nobody should be worried about Lowry had a great game one against Memphis and then the last two games, he's combined eight of thirty two and it's clear he's on the first page of the scouting reports.
Right.
So Golden State ran a couple of guys at him Dallas. You know, he was their main point of emphasis defensively. So what do you like most.
About Lowry Start?
And what do you make of the past couple of games when he is going to be the number one dude the teams are watching out for how he's kind of adapting to that role.
Yeah, and that's what he's going to get every night. So that's he's going to have to get used to that. Then you know, the other the other guys who were in the so called developmental stages and are just going to have to be able to start pulling some weight to help him, to free him up a little bit more. I mean, he's still he's still shooting. You know, it's early in the season. It's only one week spend. We
spend twenty six weeks in the NBA season. They've played one so they played you know, three games out of out of eighty two. But but you know, he's still shooting the ball, okay, you know from distance when he's open you know, early season here he's shooting forty seven from three eighty five from the line. He's I still think he's a potential one eighty guy for a season, but he's gonna have to get more help, you know. I do like the early season play of Colin Sexton.
I think he's playing with his usual passion, his usual aggressiveness, but it looks like he's playing a little bit tighter, a little bit smarter, and and again that that that speaks to his maturity in the league now and uh and and I think they're gonna have to rely on
him as well. And then whether you're throwing the guys like Clarkson and Collins or if they're even gonna be here, you know, during the season as a season unfolds, if the Jazz are gonna do something with them, which I don't know anything about that, but it doesn't seem like those guys fit in with what they're trying to get
done long term with this group. So some of those young guys are going to have to play, and they're going to have to start pulling a little bit of weight to just take some of that burden off.
Of marketing it.
So and I always say this. You know, we can only go off their word. We can only go off what they're saying. And as you and I both know, there's what the front office says to the media and the public, and then there's what actually goes on. Okay, but whenever Danny and Justin speak, it's development, development, development, youth. We got to see what sort of hand we've been dealt. If the developmental program is working, Walker will be a case study this year because it's his third year in
the program. Right I think it's been an a plus start for him. Right now, through three games, Walker's at ten points, eleven boards, three blocks. His shooting percentages are back to where you want. He's sixty eight percent from the floor, only fifty seven percent from the line. We need Walker to shoot better from the free throw line, but that's getting nitpicky because I think he's been among their best players through the first game.
Give me your thought, Yeah, well, he looks a little bit better to me. You know, I like his rebounding. I like the fact that he looks like he's moving with a little more purpose when he's uh, especially on the on the offensive end. Look, you know these are early numbers, but if you if you told me now in October, Uh, he's averaging you know, in this this first handful of games, ten points, eleven rebounds, and and
almost three blocks a game. If you told me, if you said, would you take that in April and say, oh, that's what he did all year? I would say give me that because those those are those are helpful numbers for a group that's trying to get better and trying to improve. Those numbers from a center position, with the way that they're constructed currently, would be very would be a contributing factor to them getting better. So if he can keep up that kind of pace, I think that
would be good. You know, I don't think he should be doing anything that's off the charts, but anything that he can do where he averages a double double and I don't know if he can do that, if that if he can keep that up, but anything around those
numbers he's ten to eleven. Now, if he ends up averaging eleven, eleven and eight or something like that with a two blocks, a block and a half, whatever, that kind of thing, that would mean to me that he's made that incremental step in this third year to being a contributor to a winning effort.
So tonight he's got Sabonis. Right, So the Kings are in town, and you know Sacramento one and two, first three. They bring in DeMar DeRozan in the offseason. But Walker's got Sabonis, who right now is twenty three points eleven boards, about just under a block six assists because he can pass it. Yeah, So what is Walker up against tonight?
Yeah, he's he's gonna get worked tonight by Sibonis and then and then and and because because uh, Demontes can go outside and that's the thing. He can go outside, and if he gets Kessler in space at all, now he can go to work. He's got a great pivot move, he's got great footwork, and and he'll be able to set up. He can make elbow jumpers. He can even step back off of that. If you give him space, he can make that. If you get up on him.
He's got the footwork and the ability to go one two bounces and get right to the rim on a big, big guy like Kessler. So he's gonna he's gonna have his hands full because Sibonis is a different type of big man that that doesn't really fit into the mold of what Kessler is usually used to guarding.
Since he is in town tonight. And I don't think I've ever asked you once about your experience with Trey Lyles. Yeah, he's still in the league. He's still playing significant minutes for a good team. And you know, I I understood why you guys liked him. I thought it was easy to see a guy with that size and still with the skill that he has put it on the floor shoot a little bit.
Uh.
But what was what was the experience like from your vantage point when Trey was here? And obviously when he left, he had some things to say about Quinn that didn't seem to land very well.
Yeah, I don't know.
He was he was always a quiet guy, had great parents who were always here, a lot that you know, involved in his career. Maybe maybe a little too much on the pro level, you know, but that's okay. You know, they they cared about him and about how he was doing. So I I get that, uh, And I had to deal with some of that in my role at the time, you know, with the organization. But he's a good guy. He's a quiet guy. He was always uh, you know, came to work. I always thought that he had another gear.
Uh yeah, he never really got to in any kind of consistent level, you know. But uh uh then again, you know he was uh he was on that Kentucky team, you know, with with Devin Booker and the Jazz. We we we took Trey Lyles and Phoenix. The next pick took Devin Booker. So you can sit there and go, you know, you guys, you know, how dumb were you? Guys?
You know, you guys took Booker. My whole different story. Okay, all right, yeah, so you win some and you lose some, all right, But you know, Trey Lyles has been a a serviceable journeyman player, Okay. Devin Booker has been a multi time All Star, a main guy, and an Olympic
gold medalist. Okay, so he's the guy. So you know, that's one of the things when you're scouting that's difficult on some of these so called a big blue blood programs, whether it's a Duke or a Kentucky or a Kansas where they may have multiple NBA level guys on the team and you see him play one year before they enter the NBA Draft, but maybe you don't see everything that they can do or maybe their shortcomings because they have to work within a confined space because they're with
all these other guys. They're not the one star on the college team. You know, like Dalton connect last year in Tennessee. You know who's getting all the shots and getting all the attention and everything. You know, they're there with a bunch of other guys, and sometimes guys get lost in the shuffle. That happened to Wesley Matthews way back when in Marquette. You know, he was playing with two other teammates who were all three of them were NBA guys, and he didn't show as much as you know,
maybe he could have. And in his collegiate career the senior year, and the other two guys got drafted and West didn't get drafted. And West comes into the Jazz Summer League and to a series of events, ends up his second year signing a free agent, you know, a contract with the way the rules were at that time, making more money in his second year than Blake Griffin, who was in the same draft class, who was the number one pick.
I mean, just by a.
Set of circumstances that's that we would have to go into on another show. But it's really it's one of those things where you really have to scrutinize who you're looking at in college because you're never quite sure if all you're seeing is all that is there?
How much while we're in this space, and I want to acknowledge how unfair this is as far as what I'm going to bring up, because to your point, everybody has hits, everybody has misses. So whenever anybody throws Trey Burke at me, I said, well, okay, Donovan late lottery, go bear late first, like in order to be fair. But how much of the this is do you still think about it? Do you still think about Kawhi? Do you still think about Devin Booker? Do you still think
about uh Jokic Gianness? I mean, and everybody missed on those dudes, let's be clear. But as a guy that evaluated talent, do those misses still kind of haunt you a little bit?
Well, it just I don't know if it haunts as much as you just you're always try and be retrospective about you know, what you were looking at, uh and you and you've got to make sure that you don't
get caught into a mode of revisionist history. In other words, you have to remember that what you thought and what you had at that time in terms of information and intelligence was what you based a decision on, and you can't change that five years later and say, oh, well, well we should have done this, So we should have done that.
You know, everybody can do that.
Yeah, of course.
And that's that's the Monday morning quarterbacking and that's you know, that's that's a lot of that spens in my opinion from where for more, the seat I used to sit in for for a long time is you know, guys people who never did it before, and they always have the answers. Tomorrow, I'll give you the answer tomorrow. Okay, after the game tonight, I'll tell you who the best play you know, And so you have to do you have to work with what you have at that time.
And yeah, you you know, hey, I was I was really high. I remember at the time on Robert Swift who was coming out, who was coming out of high school and you know, out of Bakersfield and looked like a big guy who knew how to set a screen,
knew how to roll, you know, had good hands. You know, it could be you know, it could be a really solid big man in the league, and I think he had the skill or ability to potentially do that, but he had other things off the court, uh, that got in his way and derailed him from any kind of
a lengthy career, you know. And uh, you know, then there are other guys, you know, whether it's a Paul Millsap at forty six or whether it was a Mo Williams at forty six, and guys that you like, and they're still there in the draft, and you go, well, well, I like this guy.
I don't know why he's not gone already.
He's a you know, and and so you you know, if you get a chance at him now Carl, yeah, Johnny, Carl, Yeah, you know, John was taking sixteen, Carl was taking thirteen.
You know.
But there's also all the guys that you liked that went somewhere else for whatever the circumstances were, and you were convinced, oh, Spence, check it's that guy. He you know, I really like him, and we were two spots away from getting them. And now now the other team has him, and five years from now, you know, he's a four time All Star and going, boy, those guys are really smart. You know, and you don't. You're sitting there going, well, you know, hey, I was pretty smart too, I just
didn't get him. You know, that kind of thing. So you have those kind of thoughts that you can get carried away with at times, and and you know, but when you're in the in the heat of it, when you're in that that space, you really have to be cognizant that you've you've checked all the boxes and that you're comfortable with whatever it is you're doing at that moment,
because those are the things that live with you. Hey, look, a lot of people liked Donovan Mitchell right, and the Jazz were just we were never going to get him at twenty four, which is where the Jazz were picking that year, And Dennis Lindsay made a great move with Tim Connolly and Denver to move up from twenty four to thirteen, which, by the way, was where when we traded Trey Lyles. So Denver liked Trey Lyles coming off his rookie year, So the Jazz traded Trey Lyles and
twenty four to get up to thirteen. Denver liked the move because they thought they were getting two, you know, decent players and Trey Lyles and the kid I can't remember his name, not from Syracuse that they drafted who really didn't pan out, but they liked them at the time, and we the Jazz were able to get Donovan Mitchell.
Now Dennis doesn't make that move, or or Denver doesn't want to make a move, and Dennis can't get something done with the other teams, and Mitchell goes seventeen to Portland or you know whoever it would have been, and then Donovan Mitchell never shows up in Utah and doesn't have the start of the career that he had. And there's millions of those stories, and sometimes it's always fun to go back and see what might have happened if just one different thing had taken place, whether it's during
a draft process or during a workout process. You know, Carlos Boozer came in had a I had a terrible workout with us, and we asked him afterwards, hey, you know, how come you and he tells us, well, we didn't. I haven't eaten in about thirty hours, and we go, what do you mean you haven't eaten? He goes, well,
I didn't. I didn't eat yesterday morning before he got on the plane because I thought there'd be food on the plane, and then there was they didn't have it, And so then I got here and I didn't have any money. I don't have a credit card, so I didn't eat last night because at Duke they told us we couldn't order room service or anything when we're staying at the hotels. So I haven't eaten since yesterday morning. And Kevin O'Connor like blew his dad, like what are
you talking about? You know you got to eat and whatever. I remember Kevin famously in that meeting saying saying, look a Booze, wherever you go from now on, if you're hungry and you don't not sure what to do, use my credit card and just buy some food wherever you I don't care, I'll pay for the food. Don't don't do that, Yeah, you know, And that's how That's how Booze was.
That's the kind of guy he was.
And then and then we had him back for a second workout where just before the draft we obviously did much better, and but we didn't get a chance at him because Cleveland took him early in the second round. And then we got him two years later. Blah, blah blah and and all that stuff. But all of those are fun stories, backstories about things that that did happen or things that didn't happen that could have happened if
just one other thing had had gone differently. It's, uh, that's what makes this business so fascinating.
Yeah.
And the margin of error so thin.
Yeah yeah, yeah, it's uh by winning is it comes and.
That stuff is crazy and and you know, I we always would would uh would use a comparison to like, you know, a professional golfer and all these guys, you got the top guys you always hear about now, whether it's Shoffley or Scheffler or you know, Marcu or whatever. But the guys who were like twenty five to two hundred, Yeah, they're like base the same guy and one guy made a putt right and a qualifying thing, and the other guy shanked one shot off the tee or something and
then that was it, you know. And it's that that that line of making it not making it successful not successful is such as such a thin line, and there's so so little margin for error.
I saw that there's a video going around of a I don't know if it was the corn Ferry back in the day. But whatever the tour was that you had to play on to get to the PGA Tour. And there was a golfer who I think was in his mid thirties, and he had a chance to grab his card. All he had to do was two putt from like four feet out, and he three putted because he just missed like a tap in and he never had a chance to qualify again. I mean yeah, and people never go with that.
People never never hear about those stories, right right, And they they wondered why I thought you were a good golfer. I thought I heard a lot about you. Well yeah, I was. Yeah, well, you know, and it's hard to explain to people. You know, how how thin that that that that that line really is?
All right, smitty before I say you loose, We got about thirty seconds here, so it's probably not long enough to explain the whole thing.
They're awful defensively.
They're twenty fifth in efficiency, they're twenty seventh in scoring defense. Yeah, I know it's only three games, but they were the worst defensive team in pro basketball last year, so they've improved. I get They're not last this year. They're third to last or fifth to last inefficiency, how do we how do we see a little bit.
It's not well, they've got to they've got to be better, Spence, And it's no that that's just work, that's just effort, that's determination and and again, through this developmental process and the stuff that the Jazz are going through now, they're going to find out who the guys are that want to play, who want to get after it. And when they identify guys that don't, after a certain amount of time, they're just going to put them on the train and
ship them out of town. They're going to go on to the next guy because they've got to get better, and especially the offensively is one area you can do that with effort and determination and grit, and that's what they're trying to find.
Great to see my friend, enjoy the game tonight and we'll see you soon.
Okay, Okay, Spence, And I haven't said this and maybe ever, but go Yankees, just for you.
Just for you.
You're rolling on that, Okay, for to God for you. I'm gonna have them cliped that and I'm gonna use it as my ring tone. Let us get one game at least, all right, it's many brought to you by diamond Coat Today diamond Coat Premium Home Siding. They're new here along the loss sets front, and you won't believe what they can do to your home's exterior. Diamond Cote Siding next generation system delivers the exterior transformation you deserve
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