Hour 3: Donovan Mitchell & Cleveland Eliminated | Tim LaComb Talking Utah Jazz & NBA Playoffs | S…
Didn’t want to believe it. Don’t want to believe it. Still don’t want to believe it. It’s tough. It’s tough to win this league. Give them credit. We didn’t do the things necessary. I love playing in that arena, man. Like that energy, that crowd. Rolling three at home, you know? Let the city down, man. That’s This place is special. This place is really special. And We didn’t get it done, Chris. I guess especially at home, that’s what hurts, you know. Donovan Mitchell out in the second round. Pacers win it in five games. How do we feel about it? I got to say, most of the people posting here on our Facebook page, DJ and PK, you can go post. Uh, overwhelming majority of them are happy Don is out. Some attack it with a little sarcasm. Some are br are blunt. Uh, but it’s pretty consistent. Jason, he probably blames Rudy still for this one, too. You loser Mitchell. I’m so happy. Jim. Jim, we feel fine. Justin couldn’t happen to a better guy. Uh, Ryan Donovan will never win a ring. Travis takes a deeper dive and I think there’s something to this. He says it’s uh it’s what he’s proven all along. The dude can score and dude picks up his scoring in the playoffs. That’s what he does. But what else does he do? He was eight of 25 for 35 points and he got to the line a lot which is good. But one assist in 38 minutes. You take the most shots, you have the ball and you only get one assist. Okay. In the game before he had nine assists and that’s that’s better, but but more of that. Moy can score. Moy can score. So can Garland. He isn’t a leader in all actuality. He’s never truly improved. I don’t agree with that at all. He stagnated pretty much after his third season. He’s clearly improved. You can go back and watch him in his early days. He does things now he couldn’t do then. Yeah. But I mean once he got to who he is, has he improved? Okay. If you want to go after his third season or after his fifth season, you know, the improvement slows down there. But I think for a lot of players, the statistical improvement, it’s learning how to handle big moments in big playoff games as what you’re adding later in your career. It’s not as obvious because you’re not usually averaging, you know, four points a game to your average or four points your shooting percentage. In that area, you become who you are, but how you handle big moments in big playoff series can change. And he went to the line and missed all three. So, that was bad. He got fouled on a three and he missed every one of them. Uh, and the game was somewhat in the balance towards the end. I have mad respect for him every time he goes to that podium. I mean, I want if I’m a fan, I want him to bleed like I’m bleeding. And he does. And so I have awesome amounts of respect for him to be able to sit there just to show raw emotion swearing the effing arena. Uh I mean, I heard the real one. We obviously we have to bleep it out here. Uh, and to have the the emotional pain of losing and he could hide that is great. He could hide in the locker room and he could never he could come out and and kind of blow it off. It’s not going to ruin my summer which is not what people want to hear. But he doesn’t do that. He owns the moment whether it’s good or bad. And for me as a media guy that’s most important. Yeah. But as a fan I wanted to. Yeah. I know. No question. Absolutely. Yeah. And he gives it he shows it and he was you can see the pain, the emotional pain in his face and the disappointment and that’s what you want. You want it you want it to hurt because if it doesn’t hurt for them then it just becomes a job to where they’re just raking in the money. Now he’s got three or four months off to go travel the world and do all that stuff. And that’s not what I want as a fan because if I’m a fan I had the number one seed. I had extremely high hopes and they go 0 for three at home which I don’t think is a big deal. I home court just doesn’t work for me anymore. I don’t think it ever I’m not a big fan of that. Who wins the game? Who plays better? Uh he for better or worse he’s recognized as the team leader and its best player. Although I don’t think he has the game for it. But that by me saying he doesn’t have the game for it. I am not saying that he’s not a great player. He’s just not a super elite that deserves to have the burden of win or lose rest upon him. But yet, because he puts himself out there and is very much available for interviews and willing to do it and wants to do it and views himself as that, he takes the hits. I don’t think he’s that type of player who deserves to take the hits when the team doesn’t do well. That’s two times now he’s been on a number one seed and they have lost in the second round. But I don’t think either of these losses rest solely largely because nothing is solely but largely with him because I don’t think he’s that kind of player. He’s not good enough to have the full amount of burden or the large extent of the burden rest with him. But yet he’s a great player. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. And I think the thing that’s missing here and the thing that you have to hold on to as we analyze how the Jazz build going forward here, you know, what lesson to take from this? I think what you’re saying is true. He is viewed as the quote unquote face of the team. That seems to be the expression of the decade or at least the expression of the moment. So he’s a face of the team so he gets the most credit and he gets the most heat even though it’s a team game. That’s just how it works. But if I’m building a team, I don’t want the face of my team, the number one player, the number one option to be 6’3. It’s too small in the NBA today. I don’t believe he’s 6’3. We’ve stood next to him 100 times. Yeah. Standing next to they measured him. He’s 6’1 and he is. They list him at 63. If you look up on a roster, I know him and I’ve stood next to Mitchell. He’s been listed at 63. He’s 6’1. Yeah, he’s 6’1. And that is such a disadvantage. If you’ve ever played pickup basketball with people who are four or five inches taller than you and he’s playing with people who are when he drives into the lane, people are six, eight, 10 inches taller than him. Oh, just look at Hallebertton. Yeah. A foot taller than him. That is just a a huge disadvantage. And the number of players his size who have been the number one guy on the championship team, super short list because it doesn’t happen. Yes, it doesn’t happen. Isaiah even he is like 6’2 62 and a half still but he had he had the afro then he did good point there’s a big difference now and and Nash maybe could have been and got robbed and a call and a suspension and it’s still agony in Phoenix almost well probably is 20 years later now yeah 20 years later still especially when we see guys come out and go to the other side of the uh sideline and don’t get suspended right it’s just it’s not how you want to build the team if you got a 6-3 guy who’s really good. You’re hoping he’s really good and he’s your second or third best player. But Donovan’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot and it’s always going to be an uphill battle. Literally, the thing that I would say for him is freaking back off the three-point shooting, man. You know, you averaged 34 points in this series, and that was including one in which you only played uh 20 minutes and had 12 points because you tweaked ankle if I remember the game before last. Game four. Uh so other than that he was a scoring machine. Uh but you know one of 11, one of seven and he shot 24% from three. Why why keep firing it up from three when it’s not going down? Those are just empty possessions over and over and over again. The only game where he shot the three reasonably well was the only game they won. And all I can figure in this as we beat this into the ground over and over again is that people are figuring if I miss a lot of threes, we lose. If I don’t take a lot of threes, we lose. So at least I’m going to take them and see if they go in. Yeah, that’s I mean that’s there’s nothing else for it because to your point in No, I know it’s not. And to your point, he’s one for five in one game. He’s one that’s one he only played half the game. Uh he’s one for seven. He’s one for 11. I mean, it’s clear the ball’s not going in the hoop, but he’s a strong kid and has great balance. He had two games in this series where he shot 21 free throws and people can complain about free throws and James Harden stopped games and hunted fouls. It’s an efficient way to score. It enables to stop the game and your teammates can get a breath and when guys are playing big minutes in the playoffs that can matter and you’re probably going to make a bunch of them. I mean, he had 35 points in that game last night and he only made a third of his shots. So, obviously, he made he scored a lot of points at the free throw line. He made a lot of free throws. Yeah, he might be he did miss the three. You’re right about that. 15 of 21. The most right now they’re doing it on ESPN. How much criticism does Donovan Mitchell deserve? He deserves some, but I just don’t know that he should be labeled as the team’s best player capable of winning big time in the postseason. Now, you can be the best team’s best player. That’s but I said capable of leading your team to high level success in the playoffs. That that’s where it’s team’s best player, fine. But if he’s your best player, and Shaq took a lot of heat for that in that interview thing, it wasn’t it was an inappropriate time. It was super awkward, but it wasn’t necessarily But the point he was making was spot on. Mitchell is not good enough to be the best player on a team winning three or four series and maybe even two series in the postseason. He’s not. But yet, he’s a really good player. So, I think he gets undeserved heat because his game isn’t good enough, but at the same time, he’s the one leading the team in FGAAS, so he plays like it. So, the Heat then goes your way. The ball is in your hands and you’re deciding to shoot it over and he averaged 25 shots a game in this playoff series. Now, Garland was out a couple of games, so that he was out half of a game, too. Increase the opportunity. But it’s 25 shots a game and then you got to add in the free throws. I mean, he’s taking more shots and getting fouled. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So, he’s got more FGAs that don’t count as FGAs. Yeah, I understand what you’re saying. Yeah. Uh, so yeah. So, I think this he’ll be 29 here in September. So, he’s right in his prime and and in a couple years, as you said, he’ll be aging out of the backside of his prime, which always hurts. Matt Harper. Matt Harland. Matt Har’s daughter is the number one high school girls recruit in the class of 2026. The number one. If I’m Lee Kamard, I am all over her. Absolutely. Stacking paychecks for women’s basketball down there. And speaking of that, you you brought this up earlier in this morning. I went off the air and I went and looked it up. Matt Harper made $900,000 his rookie year in the NBA according to Hoops Hype. That’s where I found it. And so who hype says 900,000. Let’s assume they’re right and they got that right and they got the data and they saved it from whatever. Will his daughter get more in NIL money. Play the prices right that they do that game higher or lower game. Higher or lower? But depends on where she goes. Yeah. The number one recruit. I’m going to take higher. Depends on where she goes. Yeah. If she goes for the money. Now she comes from an affluent background. So maybe that’s not the most important thing for her. Uh Matt’s wife is a doctor, right? And Matt’s got NBA money. So between them, I’m assuming they’re doing pretty well. They go to a private school in Atlanta. Nonetheless, I just think and and she and I I have no idea, but she may well do what AJ Debonsa talked about. People around him advised him. And I guess what they ultimately did is here’s the threshold and the number. Now over that, let’s not have an auction to get the last dollar from the last team. What’s a good fit? But you had to get to the threshold. It’s not the money was no factor. It was a factor. No. Well, by wasn’t the highest bidder. I’ I’ve been told that. That may well be. I have been told that. Their leadership told me and I believe it. But you had to get to 5 mil. And then and then we’ll weigh the contenders. And there were multiple contenders. Same thing when I got married. I said, “Here’s what you need to do, sweetheart.” And I assume there will be multiple uh And she has met the criteria all these years. And I’ve refined the list a little bit as we’ve gone on. What is going on? I don’t know. We’re talking about Donovan Mitchell. And then next thing you know, not even 9:00 yet. So Mitchell, excellent point. Y Mitchell has he he takes it upon himself, but yet he’s not good enough to take it upon himself. So I think it’s up to team management to figure out a way to utilize him so he is not recognized as unanimous universally the best player because he’s not good enough. But yet he’s good. He’s very good. So he’s the highest paid player on the team. That’s another reason next year. He’s not this year. Maybe Garland’s contract kicked in one year ahead of him or something like that. Um, but the other guys they’re paying Mobly and Garland. I mean, it doesn’t have to be necessarily you got the most money, you get the most shots, you have the second most money, you get the most shots. It tends to go that way. It does tend to go it does tend to go that way. And so, are your big three, and in their case, Mitchell, Garland, uh, you know, Moy, are your big three good enough to take the other team’s big three? You know, is everybody getting enough shots? What’s the matchup in any given series? I mean, there’s more things to dive into, but often in the NBA, it comes down to is your best player better than their best player. Yeah. I think that he is on the trajectory of a Dominique Wilkins. Yeah. He said, “Well, Dominic’s famous for never getting out of the second round his whole career.” And that’s where Mitchell sits right now. And Dominique, there’s three players. Uh do Mitchell is 20, his average is 24 points a game in the playoffs. And the three highest average scoring who have never gotten to a conference final are MBID, Dominique, and Mitchell. And that’s where he sits. But yet at the same time, he’s much smaller than those guys. Uh Dominique was a highlight and all that stuff. Uh but you and then you it depends on who you run into. The problem is here is that he’s running into the Pacers and then before that the Clippers minus Leonard H. running into the Celtics and and Dr. J Sixers. That’s what I’m talking about. So, it’s a little bit different there in that day. I mean, those teams were just better. Loaded. Yes. Multiple Hall of Famers. Not not good players, not all stars, but multiple Hall of Famers. The Hawks the Hawks would step out on the court and they would multiple matchups. You’d be like, “No, it’s not the Hawks. as the other guys. So, he never had enough ammunition in that fight. It’s a common story in the NBA. Well, it’s common, but it’s certainly not a unique story in the NBA. But the problem with Mitchell is he’s running into the Pacers. He’s lost twice now as a number one seed. And I I think for him, he’s going to continue to do this if he remains the best player on that if it’s Cleveland or wherever it was, the Jazz. And that’s going to be a problem. So that’s his ceiling is right now. And it won’t change because he’s at the prime of his career. What can he do better? I don’t think he can do anything better. I think he’s at his best right now. The only thing you can say right now is that uh you know they’ve been better served if they hadn’t been shorthand in those first two games. Maybe you dig a big hole early and yeah teams come back from it but not very often and the Pacers are good and the Pacers are on fire and that’s a pretty good combination and then you spot him a twozip lead. The I mean if you’re ranking the playoff losses I just don’t think this is his worst loss. I mean the one that hurts the most is is the Jazz. This is probably the second worst. the other two they lost, they they weren’t the better team. They were supposed to lose. Understood. We’re not we’re not talking about that. Uh but at the same time, nobody really remembers the Jazz and the future is now, right? Yeah. And and at that point, he wasn’t traded for all sorts of stuff, right? But that you haven’t been to the conference finals. The Jazz will get dragged into that a little bit, but you’re right. The focus will be on now. and why can’t Cleveland get over the hump, which has been asked before at different times as well. Great player, but not quite good enough to be the man. And I think as the Jazz build going forward, as you look at who they draft, it’s hard for the guy to be 6’3 or under. It’s really hard for the guy to be 66 or under. There’s a handful of really elite players who pulled it off, but there’s a reason the Jazz have been using their first pick on guys who are between, you know, 66 and 610. That’s where most of the great players reside. DJ and PK coming up next. Tim Lome on the Jazz Draft on the NBA playoffs. The Jazz Analyst joins us right after the break. I’m Seth. This is Hance Olsson and Scotty G. The head coach of the BYU Cougars, Kevin Young. Coach, I got to know with what you’ve put together, how excited are you to get this 25 26 season rolling? Obviously AJ gets a lot of those headlines within you. You know, you tack on the return of Richie Saunders coming back and then you bring Rob Wright in who’s obviously a heck of a ball player. I think we have a nice blend of continuity from last year’s team and blending in a lot of high-end talent which on paper looks good. you know, it’s going to take a lot of work for those guys to come together. But, you know, in terms of excitement, extremely excited. You know, especially, you know, I’m operating more from a level of confidence, having a little bit more familiarity with what we’re walking into, whereas last goround, I had no idea what to expect. So, that’s given me a lot of confidence here in this offseason. Catch Hansen Scotty weekdays from noon to 3 on 975, the KSL Sports Zone. DJ PK and we’re joined now by Tim Lome, Utah Jazz analyst for SCG media and former college basketball assistant coach. Tim, good morning. Good morning. How are you guys doing? Well, have you rebounded from the LA draft lottery disappointment or are you still down in the dumps? Oh, I I don’t get down in the dumps anymore. Um that was when there was a you know a real big uh salary attached to it. Not so much anymore. Um it’s a you know it was a tough day. Really tough day. And I think obviously worst case scenario and so it um you know you just got to you’ve got to figure out now the next move. Obviously it been easy to pick one. Um but at five and with a bunch of teams above you that might be willing to move that um it’s going to be interesting to see what the Jazz do. They have been done a great job regardless of where they drafted. um I think at acquiring talent and so this is going to be you know the I think the thing lost on it disappointment it’s not one two um it’s still five you know and and the Jazz have found guys uh in the 20s they found guys in the second round so I’m sure they’ll they’ll be able to find a guy at five that works for them this is kind of a good thing bad thing the good thing is that they should be able to get a good player and uh just take best player available. Best player available usually means well you got all sorts of needs. So depending on which side you want to look at the coin, you can play that. But the good thing is I see no reason why they don’t get a quality player. It just may not be a franchise changer, if you can use that term. Yeah. and and you know, obviously the the great thing about young guys is they’re energetic and they’ve got a lot of skill and talent. The the bad thing is they have no ugly idea what they’re doing for the first little while. And so, you know, the hope was to get a guy who’s pretty readymade. Um, but there are still, you know, like I said, there’s still great options. Um, it’s just having to reset your expectations. And then to expound a little bit more on what I said earlier, I think San Antonio at two and Philly at three um aren’t dying necessarily for the picks and are in a great position if want if they want to to um you know get into some deals. That’s another place the Jazz were kind of hoping they could get to and and maybe they can. um it, you know, it just wouldn’t be me the main marquee deals, but it will be now between now and the draft. It’s going to be a pretty interesting time for the Jazz to evaluate um and then also take the temperature around the league, see what’s out there. Um so I I would assume it’ll be a pretty interesting offseason here in Utah. If you had to guess right now, Markin still on the roster in the fall, Colin still on the roster in the fall, or one or both of them are moved for the reasons you just talked about, there’s some some good teams who might prefer to have veterans in their prime and let’s go. Yeah. No, I I think that right now, especially with the the new result, um it probably affects timetable a teeny bit. So, yeah, you’ve got to you’ve got to use what assets you have uh to try to um you know, move the timeline ahead. And the season that John had, you know, coming off of a season where he was sensational, I was surprised nobody got involved with him at the deadline uh or for him because I think he could have really helped as I watched the playoffs particularly could have really helped some of these teams. Um, but I I think it’s probably up in the air, DJ. I I wouldn’t say that, you know, rolling it back is going to happen, but I it may it may happen. Um, we just got to see, I guess, what what’s out there, what’s available, and um, you know, if now after watching Young Collins play, um, and sitting through a playoff situation, the team’s like, “Hey, we we’re going to go get that guy instead of a young guy.” Um, so there’s all that all that has to go on. Now, of the veterans that would be potential trade material, and I guess maybe you can even throw Sex in there, who’s a young vet veteran, and the other guys are a couple years older with Collins and Market in uh Clarkson at the other end. Uh what do you think individually those guys would be worth on the trade market? That that’s an interesting thing because I I think that was the issue last year is they were saying, you know, Collins would get a second round pick, you know, if they were to do something. Um so it just it’s almost like um like the economy, the picks kind of fluctuate and depending on how hot the moment gets, you know, people are willing to throw picks around, then it opens it back up. But right now, um, you know, everything I’ve heard, obviously, Lowry would command, you know, he would be, you know, the big piece. And I, and I think the way that Sex’s played since he’s been in Utah, um, you know, would lend itself to him having a little bit more, you know, he’s he’s definitely more well-rounded than when he got here. And he’s definitely more, uh, he’s less turnover prone and he’s more prone to make the right play. And I think that’s been a byproduct of working with Will. Um, so I think those two guys, you know, maybe obviously Lowry’s commanding first, but um, I think that’s what you’re trying to get into is first or another player and, you know, and the beat goes on. You’ve already pointed out San Antonio and Philly might want to make a deal. We know Milwaukee, Giannis is open to a deal. Uh, Houston and Phoenix have been a couple teams identified. any of the clubs you’re looking at and thinking they’ve been on the sideline for a while, but now they’re willing to wheel and deal and that can that can change things for the Jazz. Well, it’s just I think that’s what’s great about the NBA is it’s almost like a soap opera and the drama es and flows. Um when that drama es and flows, you know, you got to be in the middle of it. And you mentioned Phoenix, you know, the perhaps Durant or Booker on the move. Um Jaylen Green’s name’s been tossed around in Houston for them to try to get better. Um even a Jabari Smith from Houston. So I it really is now this is why you know the scouting departments they do such a great job both trying to find players coming into the league but also the league itself. Um and I would imagine there’ll be a couple more, you know, as as things settle here as teams lose. I would imagine Cleveland’s got to take a hard look at themselves. Um that looked eerily familiar to what we watched here. Team that, you know, just kind of ran through the regular season, got the playoffs, um and just really got taken apart by Indiana. Um so I I I think that is that’s what makes it fun is you can’t always predict, you know, a guy who Jimmy Butler wants to get out of Miami. The stuff happens. So, you just have to be uh aware of it and that’s where I think the Jazz are great. I think they’ve got great connections around the league and um you know could be in a position. So, we just have to sit back and watch that on hold. You speak of uh Cleveland and obviously you’re referencing Mitchell going out in the second round and having the number one seed and it’s an interesting position that he’s in because he gets on these teams that are good but they’re not necessarily great. He is the best player by salary usually, certainly by field goal attempts and the way he’s ball dominant, but at the same time, he’s not quite good enough. He’s a great player, but he’s not quite good enough. And the way I see it, unless they get some other talent that is either equal or better to him, this will be his lot in the NBA. It’s not necessarily a bad lot because he’s a really good player, yet he’s just not quite good enough. You see what I’m saying? Yeah, I I do. And I think um you know, I think that that’s an interesting thing. I think that was always the the question here. Um and I thought, you know, the Jazz kind of as that ownership group came in looked around and saw very similar. They had two pretty highriced players taking up a lot of salary and then they had, you know, good players around them. And I think the the essence was, you know, we can’t win a title with this group. We just can’t. And I think that’s why obviously this move has been made. Um, you know, there is a part of it too PK that I think Donovan’s got to look in the mirror a little bit. Um I you know he scores when it’s free and easy but it’s it’s it’s an issue in in crunch time of games. Um you know to have a team who in in essence really rolled through that regular season. I was just shocked every night I look and they just you know they just had such a great year. Um but I think Donovan in some ways still lives in the era in his head that you know the NBA is about that n that top star. And I think what teams like Boston, Indiana, um you know, Oklahoma City, yeah, they’ve got stars, um but those, you know, those are teams. Those guys, they compete together. Um they’re unselfish. The ball moves. You can tell. And I still think Donovan’s got some of that 90s, 80s, 90s in his head where, you know, at the end of the game, I’ve got to make the play. I’m the star. I have to, you know, all the attention on me. I I I have watched him enough. He He plays like he knows the cameras on him, I guess, is the point I’d use. And I think if he could break through, you know, and maybe humble himself a little bit, um, and, you know, not make it about you. That would be my that would be my suggestion for Donovan to be able to do a better job because, um, you look at Jaylen Brunson, he’s ball dominant, too. Um, but he makes it about winning and you know I think that’s what that’s something Donovan could uh could learn a little bit from. OKC still the team in your book. Are they the clear front runner to win this or is this just wide open six horses wide come making the final turn coming down the stretch of the derby? The regular season means nothing in the NBA. I mean, it it obviously gets you into the turn, you know, but you just got to finish in the top uh you know, get to even get in the play and Yeah. So, what I’m learning more and more as I watch this, I mean, I don’t know. I I think Oklahoma City would be the choice, but in my mind, Boston was the choice, and I thought that um you know, that their trajectory this year, the way they played, too, was really good, but I felt like they had something more because they had been there and done it. I I I could see a couple of different things happening now. And you know, I OKC’s still got to beat Denver and you know, with Jokic out there making onelegged three-point shots at the end of shot clock to get 44. He only had four. What do you have 44 last night on in three free throw attempts? You think he’ll shoot more at home in game six? I think so. Take the over on that one. I mean, like Donovan, I think Donovan shot 20 last night or something crazy. Uh Joic was five for five at the free throw line in that game. Oh, he had five. Okay, I saw it late, but yeah, he had five free throws and 44 points. Just crazy. BYU names Brian Santiago as the athletic director. You were down there coaching basketball. I think he had stewardship over the program. What’s your assessment of that hire? Well, I I’m really really happy for Be first and foremost. a great friend and have known him through the years. Uh, you know, we worked really closely together. When I first got there, I was the ops guy and you know, Dave Rose told me if if you if you want to if you want to do um good things on this campus, get along with that dude. So, uh, I you know, we we got to travel a little bit together that first year. Got to know him really well and he’s been great to me. Um, and I think has been great for BYU. I I think he has been big on pushing change, a little bit of change. And you know, I I can speak to when we were there, we went from flying commercial uh to flying private, and it made a whale of a difference. I mean, it, you know, to borrow some Majaras, it got us back the next day for class, which was which was really important. Um, but also, you know, we could we could practice at our building the day before a game, eat, you know, at our building and leave Provo around 5:30 and get anywhere in our league, you know, by 9:00 and go shoot at their place that night and wake up in the morning there. Um, and the travel was really light. So, I I can honestly say that was a huge part of why we had success. I think that was an advantage early on. And and that’s what Brian does. He he finds ways to get a competitive advantage, um he is one of the most competitive dudes I know. And um you know, I but I’m really excited for him and I you know, as much as I love all my people down there, Chad Lewis I know is involved uh love Chad to death and would have been really happy with Chad, but uh you know, it’s Brian’s day. I’m really happy for him today. Tim, as always, we appreciate it. Thanks for the time. And uh if you want to go see uh Ice Cube, stick around right after the break. There’s a chance to win tickets. Although, I believe you’re ineligible, so never mind. You’ll have to pay. And he’s gone. Just like that. Christian picked up the phone. We will give away ice cube tickets next. The Four Decades of Attitude North America Tour September 17th. We’ll do that in the next segment. He’ll be at the Maverick Center in September. We’ll give away two tickets after the break. Stay with us. DJ and PK. It’s 975 the zone. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present This is JJ and Alex. Now, every team has been assigned a Heisman contender. If you were going to pick somebody who’d win the Heisman Trophy, the Heisman Trophy is built for numbers. The Heisman Trophy is built for flash. And Devin Dampier for Utah could actually give you both of those things. If you’re actually going to list somebody on every team, fine. That’s fun. And Utah, I think if you’re really talking about it inside the state of Utah, the person who would actually have the ability to be able to do it, I think, is Deon Dampier. I agree with you. If he is able to do the things he did at New Mexico on a power four stage and is even more productive in the past game, he’s going to make some noise. Is it going to be Heisman noise? Utah would have to have a remarkable season. He has the type of skill set and he has the type of electricity that will get that kind of attention when he’s successful. Catch JJ and Alex afternoons from 3 to 6 presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL sports zone. It’s a win tickets Wednesday. Caller 12 right now. Now 801575 zone wins a pair of tickets to see Ice Cube in his four decades of attitude North American tour September 17th at the Maverick Center. Caller 12 right now 801575 zone. Christian will be answering the phones and caller 12 will win. Yak is on his way to Provo. BYU’s got a press conference coming up. They’re going to introduce their new athletic director officially in about an hour. So, Yak is headed down and Christian will be handling things. Right now, PK, I’m going to link you with a household name. What does Patrick Kahan have in common with Charles Barkley? Uh, neither one of us have won a title in Phoenix. There’s that. That’s one thing. Now, here’s another. He did uh Barkley was playing in a uh golf tournament I guess and then he did some uh did some radio interview as part of it. WJ Ox your JX I don’t know what that is. Jocks. Oh it’s a W then it’s on the east side. We know that. Yeah. Mroy and Cubic in the morning. Rory. No. M capital M little C. Capital E L R O Y. Maybe a former quarterback at Greg Mroy. Yeah, that’s what I assume. I just Mic. So, here’s the quote. He says, “I have quote given more money to Auburn, legal or illegal, than any other athlete in the history of the school.” So, putting pressure on Bo Jackson. And the notion that I’m going to come up with a couple of million dollars every year so that we can be good at basketball and football. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. It’s exactly what you’ve been saying about NIL. Donors will give money and we know that, but it’s different when you’re giving for a building and the building’s going to be there 20, 30, 40 years. And now for NIL, you’ve got to deliver every single year. And Barkley, who admits, hey, I’m I’m writing checks and he loves Auburn. That’s clear, right? He says that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Yeah, because he doesn’t have the money, though. It’s not going to come from him because he’s not a multi-billionaire, right? Those are the people who will write the checks every year. The multi-millionaire interest that they can earn on that would cover it. The multi-millionaires and that’s that goes back to the BYU point. You’re not going to out bid us because the tech billionaires are going to out bid the doctors and the lawyers, which was and the professional athletes. I mean, Barkley can lose $10 million and not blink an eyelash, right? Because that’s okay. But now that you need$40 million for a football team, a number that presumably would go up, Barkley’s not writing that kind of over it’s annually. Yeah. Yeah. That’s why I don’t think it’s sustainable and these guys today are going to be so fortunate. Jimmer was unfortunate bad time and these guys today but I think with the house settlement and the revenue sharing we will have some type of order. Now within the order and guidelines there will always be others who will break that. We understand that that that doesn’t change anything and that will always happen. But I think that it’ll be more um leveled out and some form of normaly instead of a constant freeforall in which I mean you know Kevin Young loves to we’re stacking days okay and that’s great but you’re also stacking paychecks. That’s a reality. And I’m not criticizing them at all at all whatsoever, but that’s the reality of the situation. You can stack all the days you want, but they’re not going to get very high unless you have the paychecks to stack, too. And I think there’ll be some form of guideline. But right now, guys like Barkley who are extremely rich, they don’t have that kind of money. And Kevin Young talked about it. All these tech dudes and they have influence. I mean, Santiago, you is going to be uh and having a press conference here in an hour and he he’s boys with those people. I mean, let’s call it like it is. There have been pictures of him on BYU TV sitting at BYU basketball games with super influential people. Well, he’s vacation with Ryan Smith. There you go. To Europe. We know that. We’ve been told that. Good for him, right? Yeah. I this is just some when you state fact particularly if it comes out of my mouth some people take that as negative. It’s it’s not I have no horse in this race whatsoever. It’s just the facts are what they are. And the story that we referenced is out there in my Twitter feed earlier. Uh you’d have to go back and dig through a bunch of stuff but it’s out there about the CBS Sports. probably easier to search them that there’s, you know, a handful of teams that are over 10 million in basketball and then there’s a two handful of teams that are at eight or nine million. And when you look at those teams, that’s going to be the final four in the Elite 8. Maybe somebody will sneak into the Sweet 16, but that’s always the way it’s been in college sports. There are schools for whom making the NCA tournament is a big big Yeah, I think you can have Butler got in there. I’m not sure Butler was a big name money. So, there are opportunities. There are teams. Yes. If you get an underrecruited kid and he develops and I wonder if that was the best window, the best era. It could be for there were er VCU VCU San Diego State. I think San State was paying sub. Okay. But I don’t know that Butler wasn’t I mean I don’t know who of these was. I don’t have any connection with Butler, but I had one. Gonzaga has been to final fours. I mean there’s an era Gonzaga. Yeah. Okay. But there’s a but there’s an era where you didn’t have to be a big-time school with the highest level of football program to get to the basketball final four. Right there there have been eras where that is true. I don’t think we’re in one of those eras right now. Well, we might get back to it though if there’s some form of universal payments as they figure that out. It is it has ebbed and flowed a little bit but over time it has largely ebed towards the big run towards the big football schools but there have certainly been and I think that era you talk about when Butler and VCU are pulling it off. Okay, that’s an era where those schools were keeping teams together for four years and other teams were losing guys one and done basketball and by and large the high donors don’t care about basketball. It’s a nice deviation to give you something to do in March. Well, and butler Butler, VCU, and Gonzaga, their big donors are focused on basketball because they’re not playing big time football. And so this, but I think we’re going into big time football is going to drive it. I think it already is. Yeah. But the line in the sand you’ve always talked about about writing these checks over and over. There’s Barkley who’s been writing checks with you, man. Year after year after year, there is a line. Yeah. the building makes sense, then it stands there for 25 years. Yeah. Your name’s on the stadium, your name’s on the football center, the the uh basketball arena, whatever it is, right? And then if they choose to remodel and make improvements, uh you could probably handle that. And then they’ll have other donors who will do that, too. Hence, we have Rice Eckle Stadium. Yeah. In the 70s, the Rice family donated. In the 90s, the Eckles family donated. Right. And now the Garf’s all over it because in the 2020 renovation, South End zone. Yeah, the south end zone the Garf name. So, beautiful uh facility that they’ve got there. Yeah. Whatever. Uh I don’t really call that south end zone a facility, but it’s it’s kind of a thing under itself as far Yeah, it is. It’s uh they use it year round and they got restaurants and clubs and and the locker rooms. I It’s part of the stadium. You’re right. It’s not separate, but it’s great. Yeah. And so that you can see how that works. But they’re going to have to find a way. And I think that there will be some form of settlement there that’ll make it more common. And then the folks who want to uh go over rules and all and around rules and whatever form you want to use there, they will continue to do that. DJ and PK, it’s 975 the zone. When we come back, history after a century after more than a century sports history getting altered. That’s next. Stay with us.
Hour three of DJ & PK for May 14, 2025:
• Donovan Mitchell out in the second round
• Tim LaComb, SEG Media
• Charles Barkley isn’t in on NIL games
