Hour 1: Utah Jazz extend Head Coach Will Hardy | Top 3 Stories: Clippers & Rockets disappoint | M…
And now it’s 10:00 a.m. Let’s just get down to it and it’s time for your sports picks. Strap yourselves in, folks. From two guys who have covered the teams you’re passionate about for years, we are professionals. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jacob Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. We were uh we were just talking about bad luck off the air. Richie Valance maybe the worst luck ever. All time bad luck. All time bad luck. Yeah. Uh Jake and Ben show. Happy Monday to everybody. Ben weekend good. Solid. Yours. Uh it was good. Yeah. Maggie scored her first goal ever. Oh, great. Yeah. So, the four-year-old had one of those. Nice. Uh but uh we went shopping and I got new shoes, Ben. I saw that. Yeah. Yeah. Because you’ve been wearing old shoes for a while. Well, been wearing some weird like quasi dress shoes that aren’t really dress shoes. Oh, are you talking about my awesome rock ports? Whatever they were. I love those shoes so much. Uh, I used to wear those shoes every single day and they probably looked like it, but whatever. So, I did I bought some sweet Reebok Uhhuh. months ago. Uhhuh. And they’re like off-white, right? And here’s what I didn’t think about when I bought those is like I don’t I don’t want to clean my shoes. You really got to be committed to cleaning your shoes. And I am not wear different shoes every day person. You you I have a lot of pairs of shoes. You rotate shoes. That’s not me. I have one pair of shoes. I wear them until it rains one day and I feel the like liquid soak through to my sock. You’re like, “Well, well, it’s time.” You see the grid like the padding grid that has worn through? Uh, so I realized that maybe these Reeboks are not really what I need them to be. So I bought some different shoes, but uh, not the point. I also had a sweet impulse buy, Ben. And I actually I I made a self censorship of myself today. Okay. Which I’m I I don’t know how I’m feeling about it. Can I explain? Okay. We went to the tar. We went to the tar after the after the shoe store and I saw a sweet t-shirt and I made an impulse buy. And then I was like, I’m going to wear my sweet hilarious t-shirt to work today. And then you know what? I bocked at the last minute. I was like, I can’t do it because we have cameras now. So I have to worry like what what message I’m going to send. By the way, check it out. KSL Sports uh the app. KSLports.com YouTube. Yeah, make it happen. Uh, we have cameras now because the Swede shirt I bought, Ben, was a Keystone Light shirt. Okay. Keystone light. I was wondering if you were going to tell us. Uh, yeah. I I’m fine talking about it. The The problem is the visual and if people like Yeah, it’s not a it’s not a work appropriate shirt. Got the the wrong idea, right? You know, and then I thought to myself, like, what if people thought I was endorsing Keystone Light and not just that I thought it was hilarious? Now, I’d be more than fine endorsing Keystone Light, but you know, does the station want to be associated with with Keystone Light? Absolutely not. Does Ben want to be associated with Keystone Light? Does Christian Christian wants to be associated with Keystone Light every second of the day? You got that right. He wants to have a tall cold one in his hands at all time. No, it’s it’s the the reason I bought it is because it gives me flashbacks like of to what Keystone Light represents to me because I’ve never nobody likes Keystone Light, right? I mean, for our non beer drinkers out there, I I apologize. You might not identify, but it’s a very uh cheap low end. Yeah. And it what makes me laugh is you knew if somebody I think they only sold them in 30s. Uhhuh. That’s that’s all I saw. The big cube of Keystone Light. And so if the wreck if somebody showed up to the party with Keystone Light, you knew one, they were very generous because they were more than happy to pass those out, but very few people would would take them, right? and they were committed to quantity, not quality. Correct. That was that was going to be how their night went. And you’ve chosen that to be your identity with your t-shirts going forward, which is funny to me because I do have Pap’s blue ribbon uh uh board shorts. Okay. So, to combo that with the Keystone Light shirt at the beach, you’re going to be is so funny to me. Decked out. Is that not Is that not definitely in a fraternity? Yeah. Right. This is the This is the frat Jake coming out. And And it’s not me certainly anymore. What are we missing? Like Natty Light socks, the necklace with like the shark tooth on it. He’s got that. He’s still wearing that. Um I probably have one. I’m not I’m not currently wearing it. No. Then what else? What What’s the other low-end? PBR is not even as low-end as these other ones we’re talking about with Natty Light and Keystone. I mean, there used to be Milwaukeekey’s Best, but I don’t know if you can still find a Milwaukeee’s Best at Bush. Yeah. Bush Light. Uh oh. My uh There you go. My brother got a uh a Miller Highife hunting hat, like the Elmer Fud hunting hat, and it says Miller High Life on Champagne. Yeah, buddy. But so I I don’t know. I thought with the cameras and the show, I don’t know. People wouldn’t think it’s funny maybe. And And I’m just My dad, which is funny, uh had like a I don’t know what it was, a Coors Light sweatshirt or something one time. And he uh he wore it to work day at school, which is the parents came in and talked and he realized as he was walking in and he uh took it off and he flipped his sweatshirt inside out, which he thought was the better option was to have an inside out sweatshirt while he talked to a class of eight-year-olds who were all like, “Why is your sweatshirt inside out?” No, that is better though. It is. I see. I just seem to have these these things where like your dad, I just step in it. That is something that the like the in the cell phone department I’ve got a bunch of examples that are just terrible. Yeah. But yeah, just I mean, have you ever driven on a golf course in front of Steve Starks? Well, I have. Yeah. Yeah. In your car. In my car on the the old John Elway mobile. You’re talking about a real car. A real car. My Hyundai Sonata at the time. And I don’t have time to explain this whole thing, Christian, but it did happen. I had to I had to like turn down my radio cuz people were swinging. It’s probably why he was giving you those dirty looks when we were out at the LA You are the bozo who drove on the golf course. Way to go. How did we not can you that day? Yeah. Yeah. So, I got a bunch of I got a bunch of those cell phones, but I’m more than more than willing to own it. But I I felt cell phones. Selfowns. Self owns. Not cell phones. No, I actually did need that clarification, right? Yeah. So, yeah, that’s the story. I’m over here thinking Android. That’s the story of my uh Keystone Light shirt. Well, he can wear wears Keystone Light to the hockey game and he will fit right in. Oh, so I’m an Android guy, so bring your Android and your Bush Light or whatever. Oh, Bush Light. That’s another one. Did you mention that one before? Christian did. Oh, he did. Yeah. What about just Bush regular? I don’t think that Bush is that step up in the I don’t think that’s a thing. All right. I’d wear a Modello shirt. No, now you’re talking fancy. And it’s Cinco de Mayo. There’s probably a lot of Mello shirts floating around. Oh, for sure. Modello. But yeah, I didn’t think I’d just uh automatically uh associate the show with Keystone like. Yeah. I don’t know if that’s what the rep you want. Probably not. I know a lot of people in our building who don’t want that. Well, that was another thing to including all of our bosses. So, good start. Yeah. Nate doesn’t strike me as a Keystone light guy. Not at all. No, not in the slightest. Uh, all right. Lloyd, maybe. Yeah. No, Lloyd likes heisen. That’s his thing, which is kind of highbrow. Okay. So, yeah, that was my weekend shopping shoes and a Keystone uh light shirt that I’m afraid to wear. Big news, Ben. Yeah, Will Hardy signs an extension. Definitely a Keystone Light kind of guy. Uh he’ll be in Utah now through 2031. At least he’s under contract through 2031. What I think this is a reasonable question. What what prompted this with the Jazz? He was under contract through not just this year, I think through next year. Didn’t he sign a rework deal at the beginning of the season? He had a five-year deal and the last two years I think were team options or maybe the first last three years were team options and they have picked them all up in September. They picked it up for his fifth year option. So, he was already under contract for the Jazz through 2027. So, while you know, Shams this morning tweeted it’s a six-year extension. It’s really a four-year extension, but they tacked four more years onto this. Theories on why they would do this today? Uh, cynical me. Uh, sure. Yeah, that’s one of your best aspects other than beer drinker Jake. Cynical Jake is what we sign up for. Uh well well one I think it and let me start here actually before we we dive into the more cynical side. I do believe Will Hardy is a really good coach. I also agree and that’s actually part of the explanation. I agree that he is legitimately deserving of one of the 30 coaching jobs in the NBA. I think he’s good with the players. I think he’s uh his strategy is terrific. I think he’s transparent about his shortcomings. I think um his messaging is really good. I really like where he picks his spots to be upset or not upset, that’s not the right word, but a little more firm, a little more vocal about I’m I’m not super psyched about what’s going on around here. He doesn’t do it all the time, but he’s not afraid to do it. Seems like he manages his coaching staff really well. like all super positive things in the reason why you’d want to invest in a coach. So that’s that’s the headline and I don’t disagree necessarily with any of that. But I do think that there is a reward part of it. I think he is being rewarded for I mean bismerching his coaching record if you want to look at it that way. But PK PK when I filled in last week, he he asked I referred to Will Hardy uh intentionally coaching to lose. Yeah. And PK was, I guess, a little bit surprised that I would say that, but and he said, “Do you believe that happened?” And my answer, and maybe I don’t know, maybe people over there with jazz don’t want to hear it, but I’ll explain. Uh the answer is yes, he did. And so that kind of behavior I think merits a reward from the franchise standpoint. And I don’t have any problem with that. You know, it’s funny and I was thinking how to explain this, but like we don’t expect front offices to have any integrity, right? We don’t expect that from Danny A. In fact, he’s kind of famous for, you know, being cold-blooded a little bit. We don’t expect front off We expect front offices to encourage bad records in the NBA. We don’t We don’t all of a sudden think differently of them. We all for some reason think um oh I do the same thing. Yeah. Right. But then we get to coaches and then we get further down the line to players and integrity becomes interesting because you’re not supposed to try and lose. you know, from the coach on down, you’re not supposed to actively try to lose. And I would believe with my whole heart that Coach Hardy protected the integrity of the players. Yeah. I do not believe that he would ever in a million years, and I guess I shouldn’t say, you know, you never know anything, I guess, but I don’t think he ever pulled a player aside and said, “You got to go boot this game.” I don’t think that would ever happen. I don’t think he would. I I would hope no coach would ever do that, but I don’t I certainly don’t think he would. Right. So, I think he probably really protected the integrity of his players. But what do you call what where do you draw the line with coaching to lose? Where is that where does that fall on the morality scale and playing horrible lineups down the stretch in close games? You’re coaching to lose. Yeah, that’s that that is a thing. and he he did do that and you can say, “Hey, I’m I’m giving guys experience. I’m tinkering with lineups or whatever.” And that’s that’s all baked into the cake, but it’s not coaching to win. And that’s not what he was asked to do. In fact, he was asked to do the opposite. And so, you know what? If he’s going to swallow that pill, give the man an extension. The fact is he’s he’s too good a coach because if he coached to win, they’d win a ton of games. Yeah. I do think he’s being rewarded for following orders. Right. That’s what I’m getting at. He’s following orders. Yeah. The Jazz front office set out with a goal of we think the best way to build this team is to get a really high draft pick and we need a coach that will follow those orders and we think you can do it. But with that inevitably, and you and I have talked about it off the air, uh I’ve heard people ask me about it. I’ve answered it in mailbags before. Uh I’ve talked to other writers about it. Like was Will Hardy being set up to get his head cut off after the rebuild is done? To get Brent Brown essentially, right? Even though they did give him a what, one playoff run, two, but basically you tank, we deconstruct the roster. You’re a young coach who’s not going to push back because it’s your first job and then we move on and then as soon as we feel like, oh, we’ve landed our Cooper flag or Dylan Harper or AJ Debonsa or whoever, once we’re like, okay, this is a veteran team now. we’re gonna cut your head off and we’re gonna go win and thanks for all the fish. You know, you’re gone now and that that was your job. Uh this protects will be on that. I think that’s a big part of it. Oh, I would I would totally buy into that 100%. And I think it does also give you a sense of when the Jazz might be looking to hopefully, if you’re a Jazz fan, exit the rebuild, which is beyond the 2026 2027 season, which he was under contract for. The idea is, hey, we want you there when we do start to put or when the rubber meets the road. Sure. Um, which I which is is well, it all circles back to the fact that he is a good coach or or they believe they believe he’s a good coach. It would appear that he’s a good coach because if you’re the Jazz, you’re fine with that. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yep. And uh you give him a chance maybe to put a few more W’s on the resume. And also, you don’t want to be a coach who the players can see the end of your contract before the end of theirs and then they tune you out. Then they can tune you out. So, you want to make sure that’s involved. I also, pure speculation on my part, wouldn’t be surprised if some teams had reached out. Um, yeah. Well, he was under contract anyway. So, he was under contract, but teams still, yeah, reach out, ask say, “Hey, Greg Papovich retires. Anything you might be interested in potentially if the Jazz don’t think you’re the long-term fit or could we execute some some sort of trade, which has happened before. Coaches have been traded.” I wouldn’t be surprised if there had at least been some interest in Will Hardy by other NBA teams looking to either initiate a rebuild, begin to exit a rebuild because you look at the coaching tree he comes from and not just Greg Papovic, which I’m really curious to see how coaching trees in the NBA change post pop, but you know, he coached with Eime Udoka, who just had a very good year with the Rockets, even though they had a very disappointing ending to their season, uh, losing to the Golden State Warriors yesterday in game seven. But, you know, I I bet will there would have been some interest around Will potentially had he become a free agent or was available from the Jazz. So, yeah. Yeah. I just think I I think the easiest part though is you you give him a contract out beyond the players and you give him a contract out beyond when you think this rebuild is going to end and you start trying to win games and it allows him to have comfort in his role and security in his role. Also, the other thing we should add is that this probably I mean this makes it more comfortable and easier for him to greenlight him to have another bad season next year. Well, there’s that, too. Yeah. He’s not then saying, “Am I only going to have one year if we tank again next year to try and get another top five pick? I’m only going to have one year after that to put this together and try and win.” Yeah. It allows him to get beyond that because at some point he’s going to have to prove it. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Of course, at some point he’s going to have to put it together, win and then win at the next level and then all the steps, you know. Uh but this does hedge your bets a little bit on if you don’t get the number one overall pick and don’t get Cooper flag because I do think Cooper plus Will Hardy plus whatever you have on your roster next year is going to win more games than they did this year. If you get Cooper, if you get the fifth pick or the fourth pick, I’m not sure that’s guaranteed. But so you might be back at winning 17 or 18 games next season. But if you get Cooper, you’re probably up around 25 or 30 in all honesty. I think he might be that good. Well, depending on what they do around him. Yeah. And if they just collapse everything around him. Well, and are they trying? Because I They could have been at 25 or 30 easily this year. Yes, they could have. So, you add a good player. I mean, so, but what are you what’s your intent? Yeah. Are they going to try and win? Are they going to try and lose because that measuring stick is irrelevant, frankly. Who’s on the team? What are they trying to do? And by the way, I don’t I don’t know what one or the other leads to. Like if you get Cooper Flag, that might be the best time to say trade everybody. Totally restart because he’s that good. Or maybe if you get the fifth pick, you say, “H, we don’t like the idea of continuing to press our luck cuz what if we get the fifth pick again next year, then we’re stuck.” So they may try and be more aggressive in the offseason. If they get the fifth pick, trying to make a trade to get somebody different. So I it’s hard to read those tea leaves or what the Jazz might think. And they we don’t know what’s going to become available yet. We spent last week talking about Giannis. You know, we don’t know what the Houston Rockets are going to look like after an early disappointing exit. There’s a lot of there’s a lot of potential outs. Frankly, from a selfish standpoint, which is all that matters. Uh I really enjoy his pre and postgame availability. I agree with you. I think he’s he’s really good. I think he’s uh pretty respectful when it comes to trying to answer the questions and do it in an insightful manner where most coaches, I would say, are not. So I like that and I have to listen to a lot of Will Hardy throughout the season. So I like that. Like that. I just enjoy Will. So I’m with you. I like the pre and post. It It makes my job easier honestly because he does give good quotes. So it makes it he’ll answer bad questions which I ask frequently. So he makes my job a lot easier in that sense. Not that frequently. He gave you an A minus, dude. But so somewhat frequently, not an A+. Hey, we’re not there’s we’re not all perfect, Ben. Um, but we can’t bat a thousand. You’d probably give him an A minus as a coach. I also just enjoy him compared to a lot of the other coaches. Not that I’ve covered, but you see around like Joe Mazula is a crazy person. I don’t want to cover Joe Mazula. I don’t have any interest in like the nonsense being a jerk about answering questions the same way Pop did. You know what I mean? Like I don’t Michael Malone did it. I just I don’t want that. I don’t that doesn’t make my day better. It doesn’t make my life better. I don’t think it makes their job easier, actually. Wait, what kind of crazy person? Because Don Nelson was a pretty crazy person and I would be number one might be number one on my I’d like to cover list. I speaking of Keystone Light, I remember Don Nelson every time I interviewed him when he was in town to play the Jazz or not me personally one-on-one but in the in the availability, he had a beer in his hand every time. and similar to Mike Leech would give kind of answers that were a little offthe-wall, but so he was crazy. But Will doesn’t seem to bring other stuff in his life to work with him or put it in our place as writers. And then also, you know what I like? He seems to make very defendable defensible decisions on the court. He’s not made it hard for me to have to be like, “Yeah, I don’t know why he’s doing any of that.” He like he’s not I don’t think he’s a bad coach at that point. Yeah. Well, he learned some interesting lessons in year one. He had some clock management, foul or not foul kind of stuff, but that’s all all stuff you would expect. I still go back to there. There are two things you can point out if you want to, you know, kind of diagnose him as a coach in my opinion. And that’s not this year, but last year they had an offense all designed in camp. Uhhuh. And it failed miserably. Uhhuh. And one day he’s like, you know what? This is failing miserably. and he wadded it up and he threw it in the garbage can and he came up with something that would work better for the players and for the team and for the people that were just hoping they would take that year. Well, he ruined it because he went on a run in the month of December that was like lighting the league on fire and then uh post trade deadline they they blew up the team and tried to lose and all the stuff. We all all know how that turned out. But I thought that was brilliant. And then what he got out of Colin Ston, right? Sure. Yeah. How he had and I loved him explaining this, how he had something envisioned and built in his head about Colin Ston. This is what this guy is. And then was like, “No, that’s not what this dude is. I’m going to get this and this and this out of him and figure it out.” And Colin now is this big- time leader that they love that they probably shouldn’t hang on to in all honesty, but they’re kind of torn from within because they love the guy. and the Tony sets with other players and all this stuff, all this really positive stuff that he didn’t initially see. And then his coaching, I think, has has really brought Colin to be a really well-rounded, terrific player and a good lead uh leader. He’s going to stick around in the league until he’s 48. Big questions for Will going forward. Biggest one will be player development. Yeah. Um which I again I think he’s done a good job. You know, Colin has bought in to doing less. And you know, his numbers as a thirdyear player in Cleveland, I think, he’s averaging 24 points a game. He’s not doing that in Utah, and he still seems very bought in. Uh John Collins had a very good bounceback year his second year. I think there’s an argument John was Jazz’s best player this year. Uh if not, it was Walker Kesler who also had a huge bounceback year. Those are positives, but you’ve got to figure out which of these young players are going to develop into stars, including this draft pick, uh which we’ll figure out where they’re drafting a week from tonight. uh for the NBA draft lottery and then very minor some he’s had a lot of movement on his coaching staff and not a lot I guess I should say but you know Alex Jensen which was not his guy I get it Evan Brads did just leave to go take a job with Duke somebody uh else just left so I’m a little curious about that but that’s not a red flag it’s just a curious kind of how the coaching staff is operating honestly it isn’t uncommon in the NBA either I think all of us and I’ll throw myself in there. Picture Gordy and Phil and Jerry’s, you know, that stayed there forever and it’s not really the norm. Guys are the G-League staff and all this stuff where you’re Yeah. There’s there’s, you know, ops guys and all this movement that just happens in the league now. And also, colleges are paying real deal money. I mean, honestly, Evan Brads may have just gotten a raise to leave Utah to go be a lead assistant in Duke or one of the lead assistants. May just got more money, right? So, but you never know. Yeah. So, uh Will Hardy big story gonna be here for a while. He must like Utah Ben. By the way, classless Skip. Not a surprise that that handle tweets in. Says, “Uh, stopping at Target after work to get a Keystone Light t-shirt. You enjoy it.” Glassless Skip. I had to buy it, too. Bought it right there. I have to buy this. I have to buy this. All right. Stay tuned. Jacob Pen 975 DKSL Sports Zone. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present This is JJ and Alex. Big TH Bailey joining us. Thor, it’s so weird that the fate of a franchise can come down to a random drawing, but that’s just how it is in the NBA. Is it too much hyperbole to call this one of the most important moments in franchise history? Look, it’s not a perfect science, but I don’t think it’s hyperbole at all because your goal is to hopefully get the top pick. I mean, that’s not just your goal, but you know, the other teams that are involved in that as well, but again, it may not happen. But there’s some great players coming out in the top five. I know everybody’s talking Cooper flag this and Cooper flag that, but you know, I I think there’s definitely talent there that can help the Jazz continue to progress based on maybe what they’re trying to do with all their other assets. But no, I I don’t believe it’s hyperbole at all. It’s it’s it’s a really important time and and there going to be a lot of eyes on it. Catch JJ and Alex afternoons from 3 to 6 presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. It’s time to break down the biggest stories of the day. This is the top three stories of the day on kslsports.com. 975 the KSL sports zone. Jacob 975 the KSL sports zone. Want to remind you you can big wi win big every Wednesday on the KSL Sports Zone with Win Ticket Wednesday. This Wednesday, win tickets to Eric Church and the Free the Machine Tour uh October 23rd at Delta Center. Find your tickets on SeatGeek starting on Friday, May 9th at 10:00 with special guest pre-sales starting on Tuesday and then uh listen to the KSL Sports Zone on Wednesday for your chance to win. So make that happen. Time for the top three stories of the day at kslsports.com. Brought to you by Jbrooks Jew uh jewelers. Cherish your love with Jbrooks Jewelers. Explore their expertly crafted engagement rings made from the finest materials. Jbrooks Jewelers. All right, Christian. Where do you want to start today? Number one, the NBA gave us two game sevens over the weekend and they were both kind of duds if I’m being honest. Uh last night’s ended up with a big blowout. It was pretty good through the first three and a half quarters though. I was watching the game. Six minutes left. The Rockets had 70 points. I I I think they ended up scoring what 95 or whatever. They lost by 20. But yeah, all of their points came in the last six minutes of the game. It’s just they they cannot score and we knew that going into the series. And defensively they can hang. But at some point, if the Warriors get hot and break through, and it’s not just Steph, you will lose. And they got hot. And it wasn’t Steph. It was Buddy Heel who had maybe the best certainly the best playoff game of his career. One of the better games overall of his career. But he was on fire early in the game. And you can account for Steph and you can try and account for some of their other pieces, but if somebody slips through the cracks and it’s Buddy Heal, and he gets hot, you’re in trouble. And the Rockets were in trouble. Um, I’m glad you brought up Buddy Healed, but I want to bring up something else in a quick uh jazz hot take for you. Okay, you need to put Buddy on the phone with Keonte George. Okay, because Buddy has figured out how to guard. He had some really good possession. He He is a defensive plus, whereas for his entire career, he’s been a defensive minus. And I got to think somebody got in his ear and was like, “Buddy, you’re not going to be a superstar. That’s not going to be your future in the league. your future in the league’s going to be your your gift for shooting the basketball. Yeah. And you’ve got to be able to guard well enough that they are they have to put you on the floor. You know what I mean? Like you got to become more of a Bruce Bowen and less of uh Kobe Bryant. Warriors were up 10. It’s like six minutes to go. Like I’m talking about five minutes to go. Um no, they’re up eight at this point. And the Thunder No, sorry. They were It was five. It was a five-point game. The Warriors had been up 10. The Rockets cut it to five. Uh Alprin Shenon gets the ball being guarded by Buddy Heield in the paint. You think he’s just going to turn around and get a layup on him. It’s going to be a three-point game. All the momentum is going to be on the side of uh of the Rockets and Buddy Heield blocks the shot of Alpen Shenon and it leads to a Jimmy Butler layup and the game’s over. It totally flipped the game. It was a huge possession. So, to your point, you’re right. And then he forced a turnover on Fred Vanble the next or two possessions later. It was a huge plus. Yeah. Uh and then Houston missed 32 shots in the paint. How many threes did they take? Uh the Rockets 18. How many did the Golden State Warriors make? Uh 18. Can’t take as many as the other team makes. Uh oh, no. Jaylen Green stinks. That’s their problem there. Yeah, he is not good. They they can’t score. I if I were them, I would again I’m knocking on the door. I’m trying to see like who are the true offensive creators like number one lead guys that become available. I wouldn’t be surprised if like a Jaw became available actually and he might fit but he’s not a good enough shooter is the problem. Like there’s a real chance where they end up with Lowry Mark and an extraordinarily high on their board this off season of like preferred targets that probably won’t cause you to break the bank the way a Giannis would. I mean you can get Giannis go. If he’s not available you can’t get him. Um if Deon Booker’s not available you can’t get him. Kevin Durant, you’re renting for a year or two. He’s 37 years old. I think there’s a real chance where you kind of walk through all the scenarios and Lowry, even though he’s not a true offensive creator, you’re not going to finish the night with 18 shots. He’s going to take seven threes by himself in every playoff game and he shoots 40%. And you just think like that’s kind of what you need the most. And then you hope an Amen Thompson or whoever on their roster that is still on their team after trading for Lowry develops into a shot creator based off of the space that Lowry provides. It’s not unrealistic, man. If Jaylen Green were to be in involved in a deal like that, it would be have to be a lot more. Although, if I are the if I am the Jazz, I’m looking into trading for Jaylen Green. And I’ll tell you why. Because his stock right now is kind of low. Absolutely. The lowest it’s going to be. You trade for him and he’s going to be a scorer on a bad team, which means he’s really going to go out there and Bradley be it. Uhhuh. I mean, he’s going to put up 30. He’s going to take 30 shots. you’re gonna lose a zillion games and then you flip him after the league thinks he’s good again. I talked to a person with the Jazz when they were talking to me about their decision to lose games and how you have to have luck in the lottery to get guys and one of the names they specifically mentioned to me was to get guys like Jaylen Green you have to be bad. Now that doesn’t mean their opinion hasn’t changed since then. This was a while ago, but Jaylen Green was the number two overall pick. And that was a stretch where Jaylen Green was averaging 28 points a game and took over the NBA for the second half of last season. And you have to remember that he is 23 years old. He just turned 23. So I’m I’m actually with you. Like it’s not the craziest scenario where the Jazz take on Jaylen Green for Lowry Markin. Jaylen Green’s contract is actually shorter than Lowry’s. He’s younger. He still has star upside. Maybe he never turns into anything and if it’s fine, but you also are probably asking for something back in addition to him because you’re right, he’s at his lowest point. Lowry didn’t have a great year, but Lowry still fits a lot of what they need. So maybe you get Jaylen Green and an asset either draft picks or another young player they have and he has potential to turn into something or you still have a chance to trade him. I wouldn’t rule that out. Then the other game seven um the the Clippers totally totally no-showed. Yep. mailed it in. And for James Harden to just bounce after the game is pretty weak in my opinion. Yeah, he hasn’t talked to the refs in a while or the the media in a while, excuse me. Probably talked to the refs plenty. Uh yeah, you know what? He’s terrible. I I keep trying to buy into the Clippers over and over again and I don’t know, bad idea. really tough for Kawawaii to be as healthy as he was, as good as he was, which is clearly the anomaly and everything to be clicking for them and it just not work at all. You know, they got to seven games against Denver. Okay, it kind of worked, but they had the series won. They were up two games to one. They only needed to get a stop on a Hail Mary three from Joic. They didn’t get the rebound. Gets dunked in uh at the buzzer by Aaron Gordon and they just never really fully came back. It was pretty disastrous. I don’t know if Kawhai’s really in it to win it either. Yeah, he might not be at this point in his career. Nope. So, anyways, a 6-7 match up in the second round between the uh Timberwolves and the Warriors. And the Timberwolves is the six seed get home court advantage. All right. Uh what’s next? Number two, the hype train is back on the tracks. Utah has found their next great wide receiver. Uh Tobias Merryweather has transferred from Cal via Notre Dame to the University of Utah. He was a former, according to our guy Steve Bartle, top 80 recruit in the country. Um, 6’5, has not caught a lot of passes in his life. Oh, he doesn’t need to. But he’s got upside. No, here’s the thing. I don’t care about his upside. 6’5 who doesn’t catch passes is right up Utah’s alley. Yeah, that guy’s going to block. That guy’s going to block his mind out. Yep. Devin Dampier has his favorite target. Run behind the that wide receiver. Yeah, that guy. That dude’s a beast. Get out on the edge. He’s going to block somebody. I’m not trying to sound rude about it. I know that’s kind of the joke about Utah’s receivers, but yeah, a 6’5 guy who’s going to take up a who’s going to be a good blocker. Fine. Great. Yeah, you’ll cease the catching production from Landon King, which is what, like 12 catches a year for 115 yards and four touchdowns because he’s just a big body. You do that and you block, you have done your job at Utah. Correct. It’s also why though you are one of the last players still available on the transfer portal. Yeah. Uh in his 2024 season with Cal, 11 receptions, 125 yards, one touchdown. Yeah, great. Get three more touchdowns, but uh you’re going to get the ball thrown your way maybe in those situations as a big body, but go out and do some blocking. If you block, they’ll reward it. Happy to have you. Throw one your way once in a while. Yeah. All right. What’s next? Number three, back to the NBA. Round two of the playoffs is underway. We have already witnessed one game. Uh, how about the Cavaliers losing at home? Not that surprising. Not surprising in the slightest. In fact, I really like the Pacers in this series. Pacers are very complete. They are not super deep. I wish they didn’t have to play Thomas Bryant ever because Thomas Bryant is terrible. Yeah, sure. He’s not a playoff player and it stinks that they have to turn to him. That might honestly cost them the series, but they’re up 10 now and they looked like the better team throughout. Uh, Cleveland’s problem is number 45, Donovan Mitchell, and it was their problem last night. Uh, Donovan did Well, I I will disagree, but I’ll let you make your case. Donovan in the fourth quarter, Ben. Mhm. Minus 10, six points. Yeah. Zero assists. How many field goal attempts? He had six. He was three, four, six. Now, Ty Jerome was the more uh offensive uh offensive shot taker going three for eight, but it’s when Donovan did it and when he was not effective and I watched I I’ve seen Donovan have a lot of those games and I I think I saw you uh fire out a tweet that Donovan is better. He is better and it I don’t know it it kind of it got me thinking which is the sign of a a good opinion. I don’t know. I watched Donovan have a lot of these types of games in Utah. And when we talked about Cleveland making a jump this year, and of course you and I know all, but what was our diagnosis on why they were better? Donovan was doing less. Donovan was doing less to to his credit. And I think actually Quinn knew that. And Donovan did less here, believe it or not, at times. I think he goes to Cleveland and he starts stat packing for a lot of the the contract stuff and then this year he gets his contract and he’s like, “Okay, I don’t care about stats as much anymore, so let’s get the team involved. Let’s get let’s do this team thing. Team on three, right?” And that’s not really what we saw against the Pacers last night from Donovan. I didn’t think. And he was effective in the first three quarters right up to the point where he wasn’t. Um it’s only the fourth game of Here’s where he’s better. He’s a lot tighter than he used to be. He used to get a little erratic. He doesn’t do that as much anymore. Um he had a horrible shooting night last night. One of 11 from the three-point line. It’s the worst three-point shooting night of his career uh in the playoffs. So that was his biggest failure. Now he still took 11 threes when he only made one. So that’s a problem, right? He just kind of thought the next one was going to go in the next one was going to go in. He’s actually quite exceptional inside the paint. I think he was 12 of 19. A really good night. Um, zero turnovers. So, fourth time he’s ever done that in his career with four assists. That’s fine. Like, those things are good. His rebounding numbers always go up in the playoffs. So, he does those things well. I think their biggest issue is they were missing Darius Garland, who is probably their third best player. Uh, missing him is a problem. And the other thing is they’re just not that big. And that’s a problem. You look at they have two really big front court players in Evan Mobley uh and Jared Allen who I love a great combo. They are small outside of that. As soon as those guys are either one of them are on the floor or even if they’re both on the floor, you don’t have positional size anywhere else. Donovan’s small when Darius Garland’s on the floor. He’s small. Ty Jerome is not very big. He’s a really good player but he’s not very big. They just don’t have that great size. And you look at Indiana and Tyresese Hallebertton who also has he has less interest in playing defense than Donovan Mitchell does. He’s atrocious. Yeah, he is bad. He’s like 66. It’s just nice to be huge. You can get shots off. Aaron Nemhart plays really big. Pascal Seakum is huge. He is huge. He’s a huge person. He’s like 6’9 and he plays like he’s 6’9. He grabs a huge rebound late in that game that seals a deal for them. It’s like Well, they they created that flaw when they traded Lowry Markin. Correct. because that’s what gave them. You remember that year where Cleveland was a play was seven feet tall play in play in they lost were they play in but Lowry was seven feet tall and played small for and Darius Garland was like the only small guy they had who was playing too I’m trying to remember or uh uh Colin oh right uh even though he had kind of been hurt a couple years before. So, yeah, they have Isaac Aoro, too, like they’ve got some guys. Um, but yeah, so they they’re just not very big outside of their two big guys, and it’s going to kill them. And if it they survive this series, which they should still probably win this series, you’re going to go play the biggest team in the NBA next in Boston who has Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum who have exceptional size, and then they have a 7 foot4 guy and Chris Porzingis and El Horford’s big. They’re just big. Uh, and that’s going to be a problem. I thought they should have traded Darius Garland for Pascal Seakum when Toronto wanted to get rid of him. I thought that would have been a great trade for both teams. They didn’t do it. He goes to Toronto when it might haunt or he goes to Indiana and it might haunt them. U tonight the Knicks uh will fall victim to the Celtics, I’m sure. Yes, they will. And then the Nuggets are are big underdogs against the Thunder. Quick turnaround. Really curious to see how the Thunder’s front court handles Nicolic which you know what the Clippers actually did a very good job. about as good a job as you can because Vu is or excuse me Vita Zubots is really good player. The Hardenstein move uh in the offseason was a really good one there. It was for this. Yeah, it was much more specifically for this equipped for this type of situation. And you know, you think about how would you game plan Joic. Well, I’d foul him a lot and I make it hard. Yeah. And make it difficult for him to do what he’s going to do and Hardenstein can do that. All right. Coming up next, uh, we will talk a little more Will Hardy as we lead into Will Hardy’s press conference, which will be at 11. Stay tuned. 975 the KSL Sports Zone. The Utah Jazz selection. Do you believe in karma? Well, we here at the KSL Sports Zone absolutely believe in creating good vibes for the Utah Jazz in their hopes of securing the number one pick in the NBA draft lottery. Go to kslsports.com to donate $2 to Inter Mountain Primary Children’s Hospital. Wait, why $2? And isn’t that the jersey number? Uh, Bob, it’s it’s just a random number. Okay, just uh stick to the copy. It’s a real two for one. Your donation will help Inner Mountain Primary Children’s Hospital and help the Utah Jazz capture the Good Karma flag in their hopes of recouping winning basketball in Utah. Fingers crossed, guys. Donate your $2 right now at kslsports.com. Who’s got it better than us? Your home for the best sports coverage in Utah. You’re listening to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Happy Minky Monday to everyone. All day long we’re giving away Minky Couture Monster Blankets for mom this Mother’s Day. be caller number 1281575 zone to win. Uh, also of course KSL Sports Zone listeners get 50% off with code zone 50 for details and additional chances to win. Go to kslsports.com. Oh man, the monsters too. Ben, you got to get the monster, dude. Well, you call it the big daddy, but that’s it’s not it’s for mom’s day. Just drown in that thing. Yeah. Uh, all right. We’re going to hear Will Hardy’s uh press conference. uh talking about his extension coming up at the top of the 11:00 hour and I’m guessing he’s going to be pleased. He should be. It’s a lot of uh money. It’s a lot of security. Well, and the the the franchise is showing uh uh you know, putting their money where their mouth is that they think they’ve got a good coach. Yeah. And I think you and I both agree they I think they do. Yeah, I do too. Certainly not proven to be a a bad coach. There’s not really a lot of red flags if any I’ve seen. You mean like noted uh now Bozo the Somalier JJ JJ Reick and he’s not been in any real high leverage situations. So we’ll see what Will Hardy does when he gets to the playoffs. But uh yeah, seems to have some flexibility. He seems to be willing to listen, which again I think is a positive. But is he going to guard James Harden from behind? Probably not. Maybe. Maybe he’ll get creative. Uh yeah, that’s uh what Quinn Snyder famously did. Yeah, you hope that doesn’t happen. I mean, it didn’t that wasn’t the reason the Jazz lost that series, but there were some other more egregious Quinn Snyder failures in the postseason by not having guys prepared to play certain ways like having Rudy Gobear in different spots. All right, stay tuned. Will Hardy’s uh press conference is coming up right around the corner. It’s the Jacob men show 975 the KSL sports zone zone with you wherever you go. Download the KSL sports app to get live streaming of your favorite shows. Downloading. Download the latest podcasts and get all the latest breaking news on the teams you can’t live without. Everything you need delivered right to your phone. Let’s go get them where we can get them. Just search KSL Sports on your app store of choice. Download it now. 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Hour 1 of Jake & Ben on May 5, 2025
• The Utah Jazz announced that they have rewarded Head Coach Will Hardy with a contract extension that keeps him here through 2031.
• Top 3 Stories of the Day: Clippers & Rockets disappoint in Game 7’s, Utah lands a new WR from the Portal, Round 2 of NBA Playoffs are underway.
• More from on Will Hardy’s contract extension.
