Hour 1: Pablo Mastroeni Talks RSL | David Locke on Utah Jazz & NBA Draft Prospects | The Big 3
Good morning. Welcome on in DJ and PK. Thanks for joining us on this Monday morning, May 19th. Got a lot to talk about. We’re going to talk about first off RSL. Man, they lose again. They can’t score to save their lives. Right now, we’re going to hear from coach Pablo Mastriion. Diego’s a competitor. He’s absolutely a competitor, you know, and and again, I think that’s what we need. We need we need personality in that attacking third. And obviously, you know, 70, we talked about it last game, Caleb, where in this, you know, 70th minute, he was he was running on fumes, right? So, um, then then you go into this game and and, you know, and about that time he was he he wasn’t getting near the ball. Um, and just felt like some fresh legs could go in and it’s a gamble to take. And that’s why I didn’t take it at home the the the previous game is because right now Diego is the the the most dangerous the gold dangerous player we have, you know, but I felt like we were getting the ball in good areas. Um and and felt like uh you know some fresh legs might be able to to to do the trick. Gotcha. And then speaking of of the the fresh legs and the goals, I mean, I guess what did you see from the guys that came in and um maybe what’s what’s kind of the plan from here on to to get some more goals in the back of the net? Yeah. Well, that’s that’s that’s what we’re talking about. And again, I I I keep talking about this tactics will get you in and around goal. At the end of the day, you have to you have to make plays. What does making plays look like? Just so that we’re clear is the quality of service has to be really good. And today we had one really good cross from Dom, right? All right. So, we played 90 minutes, 97 minutes, and there was one quality cross. Right? So, that’s one way to make a play. The other way to make a play is even on those crosses that aren’t great, we’ve got to have guys get into the box in dangerous areas, right? So, just gambling that the ball is going to show up in that spot. Uh the third way is is creating an opportunity for yourself, right? And so, dropping a shoulder top of the box, shooting, taking guys on one v one, uh a lot like what Diego Luna does. And so that there’s there’s just no secret in football that that that you have to make plays and and that’s something that we haven’t been able to do this year. Last year they came in droves. They it was it was it was so different last year where we had guys scoring from 50 or 60 yards from goal making plays, right? It was just it was one of those things and and to break the snide from scoring goals, you guys have to make plays. There’s I mean again I feel like boxto box we played a really good game and I say that every game and so again um I I know the guys are g giving their best effort. I know there’s a lot of young players on the field. I know there’s not a lot of experience up top. I know Willy’s just getting his legs underneath them. But it’s it’s it’s crunch time, you know, and and and and again young everyone wants to play, right? All the attacking players want to play and the way you m the way you stick a claim in that position is making a play because everyone does the work on both sides of the ball. Everyone’s in good spots. Everyone’s, you know, running half spaces. Everyone is uh getting in good spots to to be able to receive and play wide. But at the end of the day, that’s not how you you score goals. Score goals is like I am going to get into I am going to execute in front of the goal, right? And you know that that the best chance we had tonight was was Jesus on the back post uh with a great cross from Dom. And that’s what I’m talking about like the quality in the final third is lacking the quality. Um and and the only one that’s able to play beyond the the the the tactics and make plays is is Diego Luna. And and again, he’s scored more than his fair share of goals this year. And we just got to find a way maybe tweak tweak it a little bit more. maybe add, you know, some some more pace and power up front. Um, you know, we we got to find a different solution because we’re uh, you know, we’re I’m, you know, after after games, I’m saying the same thing where the team’s playing great. We’re we’re controlling the games. We’re dictating it. We’re getting balls into offensive areas that we want, but at the end of the day, the final product is is going to be the same. So, um, that’s going to be our challenge uh, moving forward because again, I think defensively we did a good job. And and then the other part too is if you’re not scoring goals, you can’t give up goals like we g we gave up today. And we had two chances to clear the ball or knock it out for a corner uh to see another play. And uh you know, I I think in in in the moment that we’re going through offensively where we just don’t have enough firepower, uh you can’t be giving up soft goals like that when you have control of the moment. Lastly for me, you mentioned some guys kind of running on fumes at this point. Tight schedule, a lot of games this time of year. Um, how are you seeing how how are you guys managing minutes and is there concern at all about the just the sheer number and the volume of of of matches right now? Um, not not necessarily. I you know I think every team has to do it and and that’s why all these guys are playing is cuz we you know this is a group that we have and we got to try to find you know you know some sort of attacking spark that’s going to put some some some goals in the back of the net. And so, um, you know, we can’t bring anyone in. There’s no, you know, we’ve got to we’ve got to work with the players that we have and and put them in best positions, uh, you know, to to make plays. And so, I I don’t think it’s as much the schedule as it’s, you know, cuz even when we didn’t have three game schedules, we still struggled to score goals and and so that I think that’s going to be the focus of this week and every week moving forward until um until we start doing that. Awesome. Appreciate it. Uh we’ll stay in the room here with Matt Casey. Hey Maddie, how are you? What was your message to the team in the locker room afterwards? Um it well it was basically like you know I think these these rivalry games derby matches are always uh a lot of them are dictated by innocuous moments. Moments that you don’t think are going to be dangerous because it’s going to be two teams really fighting with a lot of passion, a lot of emotion. Um, and so I said there’s there’s a fine line of emotion you must have to make sure that you’re also thinking the game clearly because it’s going to be a set piece. It’s going to be a long throw. And in this case, it was a a couple missed defensive actions that led to a goal that we where again goals were numbers down and the team breaks us down and they switch it and they they attack, you hold your hand up and you say great great job. But when we’re numbers up in in in and around our box and the warning bells don’t go off like this is not the moment to try to keep the ball. this is the moment to clear it, toe poke it, give them a corner, whatever it is to so again I think the the the struggle is really uh you know it’s it’s it’s a it’s a young group and you can’t give them these experiences you but they have to learn from now this experience and so you know I I think that that’s that’s really the biggest challenge and so um that and again the question was who who besides Diego Luna is going to step up and make a play offensively like because we have we have players that are capable of doing that and you know like if if it’s if it’s not the hard runs in the box, it’s it’s the the lack of quality in the cross. It’s the it’s the precision. Um and and and that’s really it. And that’s really it because again, the guys gave maximum effort. The guys executed tactically what we wanted to achieve. It’s just that decision- making and the confidence in and around goal, which again is the hardest thing to do football. That’s why you pay big money for these players cuz it’s it’s the hardest thing to do, right? And so we’ve got to find a way with our group um that may not have the most experience that are struggling scoring goals to put them in positions, you know, maybe play a little bit more vertical. Um, so we we’ll be hammering those things out this week in order to put us in a in a better position to where we’re not these 000 games after so much time. It starts putting a lot of pressure on the defense to be perfect and and um we need to find that a better balance between that. There you go. That is Pablo Mrron RSL loses. Again, got to tell you about our title sponsor. DJ and PK Browley’s presented by our title sponsor, Black Desert Resort, Utah’s premier golf resort. Coming up next, DJ and I had an opportunity to talk to David Lock the other day. We’re going to replay that. Get some good jazz info. Stay with us right here. 975V KSL Sports Zone. DJ and PK proudly presented by our title sponsor, Black Desert Resort. We are joined now by David Lockach, radio voice of the Utah Jazz. David, good morning. What could be better than a little DJ and PK in the morning getting to chat with two of the legends of the business? There’s one thing that could be better and that’s Janet Jackson as the leading when you’re talking to DJ and TK in the morning. You know, having and not having the fifth pick of the draft. There it is. The number one pick in the draft would be better. And yet again, number one slides to number five. And there is outrage. But David, the reason we have a lottery is so that the team can’t dump games, lose games, and get the number one pick. This happened literally for the reason that it was designed to happen, which everybody’s okay with until they’re the one sitting in the number one slot. Then it’s terrible. That’s so funny. I just ended the podcast today and that’s literally the last thing I said is for all you out there that are like, “This is fixed. The NBA sucks. I’m no longer following the NBA.” No, no. The whole point for the NBA is they do not want you to do what the Utah Jazz Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets did last year and they built an entire system to try to not make it advantageous and it wasn’t as advantageous as it could have been. So, yes, the NBA has no idea what they’re doing. It’s completely wrong. No, no, it’s exactly what they wanted to do. Well, yeah, but then I don’t know about that because the argument is to pre prevent it or make it stupid to tank and next year we’ll have the same teams tanking again. So, why is it so great? Right. Yeah. No, 100%. Right. I I don’t know the answer here. And there’s some landscape things in the league that are changing that are making it so with free agency really no longer being a viable way to build a roster other than really rare occasions. So then all of a sudden there’s really only two ways to build your roster. One is you trade but since you’re good you don’t want to trade your good players. So, you’re trading your draft assets for players, and the only other thing you do is you trade your players, if you’re not trying to be good anymore, to those teams who are trying to be good, for draft assets, which then makes your draft asset more important. These are the only two ways right now to build a roster in the NBA. And so, I I I don’t have a good answer for you. I I’m not I’m not saying they’re right. I’m just saying the argument that the league is fixed. This is all this shows how. No, this is exactly what the league wants to have happen. This is exactly it. Then throw it open and there is no lottery. All 32 teams are in the lottery. Well, there are only 30 30. Um I anticipating Vegas and Seattle. Put them all in. That would be a TV show. That would be interesting. Are you weighing it at all or are they all even? No, everybody has the same equal chance and telev why not just go to the wheel whatever whichever way you want to whatever word you want to use and televis. Don’t do it in some other room. Televise it live as it happens. Can you do um could you build a system? I’m making this up as we go along where you cannot have the same pick within x amount of year without x amount of years. I I was going to say 30, but then by the end of it at the end the 30th year you just have everybody slotted into a pit they haven’t had and basically by the 29th you have the same thing. So I it would probably not work. But do you have something where every 10 years you cannot draft the same position you’ve already been drafted in? I’m not so concerned about that because we’ve seen players get draftwami Brown Ola Candy Wiseman here by the Warriors recently. Just because you have a high pick caner with the Jazz doesn’t mean you’re going to get a good player. They can screw it up. Yeah. I mean there’s a real catch 22 here, right? that on one level you don’t want people taking so you’ve made it disadvantageous or less advantageous and then on the other side you go present this model of everyone has equal chance in the draft and came to say well how do we possibly rebuild so there’s a total catch 22 and that no answer seems to be a good one didn’t Detroit isn’t Detroit one of the teams dropped from one to five one year. I mean, it’s happened multiple times, maybe multiple times to Detroit, right? And they rebuilt anyway. Look at them now. They’re a playoff team. They’re they’re good. They’ve got good young players. No, virtually everyone that goes and takes for two or three years ends up in the playoffs. Almost everyone goes the teams that we quote talking about not doing it didn’t actually go down far enough. Sacramento lived between six and 10 all those years, but Washington has been an incompetent franchise in regards to winning did make the playoffs with John Wall and Bradley Beal for a few years. Almost every single team that has had a top five pick or finished in the bottom five in the standings for three years in a row makes the playoffs. There were seven of the 16 teams this year that were would fall under that qualification in this year’s playoffs. Do you think they’re going to draft fifth or do you think they’re going to trade up into the uh well not the first spot but second or third and get somebody that they really value? So I think there’s something really interesting. Three, four, five all have I mean there’s five really good players in this draft. So the Jazz are getting a really really good player and in my opinion at this and I’m not this is not universal. I don’t have Jeremiah Pierce in that list and I don’t have Coniple on that list. So I have Trey Johnson, Ace Bailey and BJ Edgecom as the three players after Cooper and Dylan Harper. And so if the Jazz have one of them that they think is dramatically better than the others and they offer Philadelphia the 21st pick, can they get the three? That seems like a reasonable trade to me. I’m Philadelphia and I’ve got tax problems and I don’t have one of the three guys that I think is dramatically better. That’s the key right there. Philadelphia can’t believe the same thing. And I can get another player 21 and have Philadelphia’s got the roster money issues. Maybe I’m willing to do that. If I’m Charlotte and there’s a, you know, let’s say Ace Bailey goes and we really believe that BJ Edgecomb or Trey Johnson or Jeremiah Beers is an elite elite elite level player and we offer the 21st pick to Charlotte. The other guy and Charlotte doesn’t believe the same thing. Seems like that’s a really reasonable trade. H yeah, I can buy that. I don’t know that we necessarily needed the results of the lottery to confirm this, but since it was the fifth pick, what’s your level of uh I don’t know if confidence, but maybe conviction that the record and the playing time and all that that we saw in the 24 25 season will reflect almost the same point in the 25 uh 26 season. Who are you? I’m not I didn’t follow who were I thought you were heading toward our draft pick. Who were you referring to in regards to play? Oh, I think our draft pick will play 30 minutes tonight. Right. So, the results that we saw on the floor this year will mirror what we see next year. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Meaning they have to go through at least one more draft before they can start to think about making a move. Yeah. People get really mad at me when I say this. Hopefully two more. Two more. What? I’m about to get really mad at you, David. I mean, my point is if you start down this road, the worst thing you can do is bail out. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. So, the teams that have bailed out is that has not that that almost has never worked. Um, so you do this for a few years, then you start adding pieces around with veterans that are ready to play and bring support and then the next step is a really hard one. The one after that is then you got to like Houston did this for three years. They have a bunch of pieces now. They Fred Bimbley, Dylan Brooks are probably not championship pieces. I’m not sure. I think Almond Thompson’s pretty special. I think he’s going to be like Giannis. So, they probably have their guiding star for the future, but their next step in building is really hard. Detroit J has Jaden Ivy. They have Jaylen Duran. They have Kate Cunningham. They have a sore Thompson. They’ve got their four guys. They need to buy shares. Tim Hardaway Jr. That’s not an answer. They got to do something different and build this thing around their guiding star, Kate Cunningham. They’re in this now. They’re in the most difficult stage. Orlando’s done it with Paulo and Fron Vagner and Jaylen SS. They added Cavius Caldwell Pope fairly uncontestfully. We’ll see what they do next. They need to do something and they’re pretty inactive. Memphis did it with Desmond Bane, John Morant, Jared Jackson Jr. and then they screwed up went after Marcus Smart might have derailed the whole dang thing. So it’s that’s the that’s the model. It’s difficult and it gets harder as time goes on. When you say two more years of this, do you mean sitting resting 23 year olds because they’re good enough to help you win and they’re afraid they might win the game or are you talking about being super committed to young players and that just naturally leads to I don’t know 25 and 57 seasons? I mean I mean the latter. Okay. I mean, I think if we start a roster next year, if our starting lineup next year is Kee George, Trey Johnson, [Music] um Taylor Hendris, he’s back. Lowry marketing and Walker Kesler. That’s where we start the year. That probably doesn’t win a lot of games. Understood. Is there anything that can be done now? I mean, the the having the lottery for everybody is probably extreme and they’ll never really do that, but can they do anything that can wait because they’re not going to eliminate tanking? It’s the curse of basketball in that all these other drafts, maybe football’s the exception, too, but football is such a big numbers game that a fourth round pick can be extremely valuable to you. And if you have multiple third round picks, they get all excited because of the number of bodies that you need to compete. But in basketball, guys can come in at the top of the draft or wherever they’re drafted if they’re good enough and make such a huge difference that the draft it takes on such a level of importance that I’m not sure is there in the other sports. Uh, but you wonder because it’s it’s it’s so arbitrary and then you can have big-time results that can last forever for a long time. And I’m looking at San Antonio. They win the lottery when you got Robinson and Duncan there and then they get a number one pick and then two years later they get a number two pick and it’s so random in a sense but yet it could be so helpful to the franchise and devastating to the people that are the teams that are competing with them. Can there be anything done that like you were talking about that you can’t get another pick so high or can they weight the system differently to somehow make it I don’t know that there’s any answers to it but it just seems that I don’t want San Antonio to luck into Robinson and Duncan and then get one Bama and then two years later get a second pick and who knows if Dylan Harper might be the greatest thing since whatever and we’re looking at another great run by them and what did they do to get that? They lost. that just doesn’t seem right. So, I agree with you. Um the Spurs propensity for luck is a little overwhelming. Um we’re in the epicenter of it right now. So it feels very very you know I think for us what I kind of keep going back to from a league like if you’re the league and you’re trying to fix something and we keep going back to that kind of concept as though something’s broken and has to be fixed like it’s broken to us right now as Utah Jazz fans because of the fact that we didn’t get the number one pick and it’s probably broken to Washington Wizards fans. But I’m not sure it’s actually a broken league at all. It doesn’t have to be broken. Can’t they improve it though? But I But I think you have to get them to understand why they’re What are they like I don’t think it’s bad for the league that Cooper flag went to Dallas. No, it’s great for the league that he goes to a big market team. That’s the point. They have a 1.8% chance. It It’s actually good for the league that he went to a good team. Like he could go to Washington DC, which is a mammothly big market. But if he’s just dueling on a team that’s not any good, that’s not great for the league. Yeah, I don’t know that this was great for the league. I don’t know that this was great for Dallas. I mean, in the short run, sure, but he’s teamed with a 32 and a 33 year old. The 32-y old is routinely injured. The 33y old just tore his ACL. I think this could lead to Dallas being stuck in the middle. And the we got new ownership. We don’t know how wellrun that franchise is or isn’t going to be. We got the Donets trade which seems like a pretty big red flag, but it’s still just one moment. Yeah. I just So, I mean, back to PK’s point, I guess you have to like we’re from a league standpoint, you got to figure out what you really think is broken. And I I just don’t think that it’s like even this year when we were going through whatever the tank, whatever you want to call it. And like everyone was like, “Oh, they can’t have this. It’s terri.” Like not sure it was that bad for the league, right? It’s not great for the Utah Jazz on that moment. And certainly the lottery wasn’t very good for the Utah Jazz, but when we talk about trying to fix something or change it, it has to be bad for the league. And I don’t think that what’s going on right now and any of this is actually that bad for the league. Then why’d they find him if it wasn’t so bad for the league? Um I think that was a shot over the bow to make sure it didn’t get any worse. Okay. Well, if it’s worse, that means it’s got to be bad. Yeah. No, the league. Okay. So, that was not good for the league and the league find them, right? So, that’s that’s an example of Yes. the league deemed that as bad and they took action. I’m not sure the league sees what we’re talking about as bad and worthy of keep taking action. I think in these discussions it’s best to just follow the money and the TV networks and streaming services just gave the league 76 billion dollar over 11 years. So, the league’s doing just fine. And I would say for people and I would say for people worried about the whole how does a small market rebuild. Oklahoma City, uh, Indiana, Minnesota, these are not glamorous places or massive markets and they’re doing just fine in the playoffs. I mean, we really like we’re about to have Indiana, Oklahoma City, and I mean, hope not. Go Denver. Um, but we’re about to have Indiana, Oklahoma City, and Minnesota as the four of the three of the four final teams. It’s pretty hard to argue that market size is dictating performance. Yeah, I’m not I don’t know that people are arguing that. I mean, that that then you get into the real big- time uh conspiracy theory. I mean, I I don’t know that they’re just fine is good enough. They want every last dollar. That’s true. Yes, they do. But but to the to the dollar point, which I don’t disagree with at all. The TV networks gave all the money or the I don’t they’re TV networks anymore, right? Like streaming services. Yeah. The ser the services gave the league all this money. If Charlotte, Washington, and Utah are losing lots of games, that has zero impact on the streaming services. Yeah, understand that. But you’re still you’re still trying to grow. You don’t want to stagnate. Absolutely. I mean that there’s going to be another negotiation one day and there’s already a commissioner and there there multiple clubs thinking about that and you want to win. Winning’s fun. It’s just great. I’m like, hey, I’m like literally texting Allan Horton, the Timberwolves playbyplay announcer, last night asking if I can do snaps for them if Denver beats Oklahoma City. Like I like Allen a lot, but I don’t like him enough to go to Oklahoma City. So, I’d go to Denver. Um, but like I’m literally trying to figure out how I’m going to Western Conference Final game if Minnesota’s playing Denver. It’s amazing. I’m watching that game last night just going, “God, I want to be there so badly.” So, I mean, I’m with you, but like we’re trying to have a reasonable conversation about fixes and this and that and broken. We got to get out of the lens of just looking it up in the Utah Jazz. We’re trying to fix the league. We got to look up in the league. I don’t think it’s broken. Do you like any of these players more than others at five? Um, so I really think Ace Bailey has a chance to be really, really, really good. Um, I really like Trey Johnson. I got to tell you what, watching this year versus last year is just an incredible difference. I mean, last year literally, you’re watching players and you are trying to you are you are grasping for the tiniest littlest. If you remember, I came on the air with you last year talking about how much I like Cody Williams. The true plays I liked best by Cody Williams were turnovers. Literally turnovers. He burst through a double team, split the double team with an explosion. One threw the ball into the third row in the stands across the way and the other way he lost control of the ball on the dribble. And I thought those were signs of like that he was better than other players in the draft. That’s literally how brutal watching players was last year. This is so different. These guys are all like and the numbers are so different. The numbers on there’s very few players that red flag uh the BYU kid red flags on shooting but very few kids red flag. Last year folks every Stephen Castle red flag and I’m still not sure. Stephan Castle won rookie of the year. I’m still not sure. Like if I’m San Antonio I’m off him. They can’t like they can’t have dear Fox and Stephen Castle in their back court. You can’t have two guys shooting 30% from three. So, like this is such a different ballgame. Th this is Trey Johnson is gonna score 20 points a game in the NBA. I’m certain of it. Um I VJ Edstrom’s just a world class athlete. Like the cop is Victor Olipo and I don’t think it’s a terrible comp. U comps are never right, but it’s not a terrible comp. So I I think those three kids, Ace Bailey, BJ Edgecom, and Trey Johnson are all terrific and so one of them’s going to be there five. Um, I probably like Trey Johnson and Ace Bailey a little bit more than I like BJ Edgecom, but like DJ, you guys saw him. I mean, he torched BYU. Everyone saw that one up close and personal. That’s that’s your fifth pick. That doesn’t seem too terrible. All right, that was David Lock and we talked to him every Friday. Thought we’d replay that. Give you some good information on what he’s thinking as far as the lottery. Is it rigged? Can the NBA fix it? All that type stuff. Also got to tell you, we are giving away Cody John. We’re giving away Cody Johnson tickets all week long on DJ and PK. Tune in during the 8 a.m. hour for your chance to win. All right, coming up next, I believe there were three big stories of the weekend. We will get to that next. Stay with us. 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Good morning. Thanks for waking up this early Monday morning, May 19th. DJ and PK. Yeah, we got a lot to talk about for sure. Remind me. You got I need you guys. This is PK obviously. I need you to remind me. Today is my sister’s birthday. I got to call her later today. She’d be disappointed if I don’t. Right. Yeah. She lives in Arizona. I won’t see her. I saw her last weekend though and it was 100° last weekend in Phoenix when I was down there on a little long weekend. And then you come up here. My gosh, this weekend not the same as down there, but hold on people. Sunny days are coming. Well, we got a lot to talk about on this Monday morning. I think there were three big sports stories over the week uh weekend that will interest us. And there’s more than that for sure, but I’m going to go with three. I want to start it off with they had rivalry weekend in baseball MLB. So you had the Yankees and the Dodgers. They finished up their series last night at Yankee Stadium. You had all the inner state uh or is it intrastate, you know, Cleveland, Cincinnati, that type of thing. The Rangers and uh who’s the other team in Dallas? I think it’s Houston Astros, right? Yeah, I know it is. And so you had all that going on uh locally, if there’s such a thing. You had the Dodgers and the Angels. How about that? The Dodgers and the Angels. You know what the story was there? Oh my goodness gracious. The Angels swept the Dodgers. How about that? Yeah. In Dodgers Stadium, Chavez Ravine. My favorite stadium. Yeah. Still my favorite stadium after all these years. the third oldest stadium in MLB, obviously behind the Boston Red Sox playing Fenway and the Chicago Cubs play in Wrigley. I’ve been to both of those places. Been to Wrigley multiple times. Only been to Fenway once, but we’ll get back. I was there for the 100th anniversary several years back. And it was a Sunday afternoon. Game was hot. They ran out of ice, so you couldn’t get any cold drinks. Can you believe that? They ran out of ice. How do you do that? That’s crazy. And my wife and I were there on a trip and after the game, we had some tickets that were down right field. We were taking pictures behind the back stop and some stadium workers. Oh, you got to go. Come on, let’s go. We’re closing up. I said, my friends, I’ve waited my whole life to be here. So you just relax a few more minutes because we’re taking pictures behind home plate from the back stop. So relax from the first row behind the back stop. And once I said that, they did relax. We also took the tour uh got there at like 10 in the morning. That was way cool. A fine time was had. Baseball stadiums hold a little bit of a lore for me as opposed to NBA arenas or NFL stadiums. I mean, I would like to be to all of them. Uh, but I think the baseball stadiums are a little bit more special. Gonna knock off at least one more. I’m down to I think eight. I think seven if you count uh sh the Mets with Sha Stadium, but I can’t count that. I was there when I lived back there many times at Sha Stadium and now they got City Field and actually I think I’m going to knock off that one. So, I’m going to knock off two this summer. Saw a baseball game last week. saw the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks in Phoenix. Going to go up to Toronto this year. We’ll knock off that, knock off City Field, I just said, and then probably head our way down to Philadelphia, Citizens Bank Ballpark to see the Phillies. My uh have a My wife has a nephew who lives in Philadelphia, starting medical school next month. I’ve already been to that stadium uh one time. been to Philly many, many times over the years. Sort of a second home for me. And uh big news coming out of Philadelphia. Did you see that? Jose Alvarado suspended 80 games. He’s their big old closer and he’s gone now. He’s out of here. 88 games. So, if you do the math, if there’s no rain outs or whatnot, double headers, however it may be, he can’t come back until mid August. Yeah. And he’s really important to that team. And so, he gets the 90 or 80 game peed suspension. And then what is the bigger story? Obviously, missing 80 games is huge, but Phillies got a really good team. They’ve been in the playoffs a number of years, right? and they are expected to get there this year. We’ll see if him being out changes it, but the rules stipulate that he cannot pitch in the postseason. That will be a major development. We’ll see if the Phillies make a move. Closers, really good ones, they don’t grow on trees, man. That’s for sure. And of course, it was uh the positive test was caused by a weight loss drug that Alvarado took during the off season. He uh their uh team president Dumbrossski said Dave Dumbrossski it’s not something he did knowingly. I believe that the way he talked to me now. Isn’t that the way it is? Does anybody do it knowingly? Anybody do anything wrong knowingly. Just seems like that’s what they say over and over again that he did not I did not knowingly use this or that. And he’s a big hefty guy. So maybe he was trying to lose weight. And then he loses $4.5 million of his $9 million a million dollar salary. Man, that’s a lot of cash to be losing if you ask me. I wouldn’t have any idea how it is to lose that money because I wouldn’t have any idea how it is to make that money. So, we’ll see how that goes. And that was one of the big stories over the weekend as I used to not be for inner league play, but you got to come around. You got to embrace the new and inner league play has been around for a number of years, but I thought the sanctity, the purity of the National League versus the American League, but that doesn’t apply anymore. The fans have responded and they know what they’re talking about and they uh want to have that and they respond completely. So, that’s what I do. I respond completely to it also. I’m all for it now. The fans want it. It’s about entertainment. Same thing with the designated hitter. I held off on the designated hitter for years, but both leagues have it. I thought it was ridiculous that he didn’t have it. And you’d go different rules uh depending on which park you were playing at. National verse American in the World Series. That seemed preposterous to me. Fortunately, they got rid of that. I’m all for the DH now. I’ve accepted that. You got to go with the times, don’t you? Or you get left behind. That’s an old Kyle Whittingham line. You got to move on or you’re going to get left behind. Now, I’ll move on to what was uh I consider the second biggest story. The PGA Championship, Scotty Sheffler. The WMaker Trophy is his. He got his third major on Sunday at Quail Hollow back there in Charlotte, North Carolina. And he got it easily, I think. you know, he was in the in the mix on Thursday and Friday. Saturday, he got himself in position to take the lead and then he wraps it up with a fivestroke victory. There was not a lot of drama in the back nine. I know John Rohm I think they both got to nine under for a bit and then Rom blows up. What did he double the final two holes? So, he didn’t even finish in the top three. No, that didn’t work at all. There was a brief moment that essentially it was something that, okay, maybe we got some competition, but that did not happen whatsoever. In fact, the five-stroke victory came over Harris, Bryson Dshambo, and Davis Riley. So, what do we make of Sheffller as Rahm imploded on what they call the Green Mile Quail Hollow’s treacherous threehole closing streak meant something to Sheffller, that’s for sure. He threw his arms in the air as the crowd chanted his name. He spiked his hat on the green. Of course, he finds his wife and then his young son, Bennett. Oh my gosh, this he’s a dad. It means so much to him. I get a little tired of that story because everybody’s a dad who has kids and it means so much to them. And you remember Sheffller, what was it, 366 days ago? He was in handcuffs in the back of a squad car if you recall. Uh there was that unfortunate incident. There was an accident. A man died, lost his life. Scotty was trying to go around or something and next thing you know, he was in jail. That was a crazy story. So, Sheffller joins Sevi Balisteros, the Spaniard, who is died way too young. I think like 54 as the only golfers in the past 100 years to win each of their first three majors by more than three strokes. How about that? That’s something that DJ would love. That type of bizarre stat. So he captured the 22 Masters by three over Roy Moy and the 24 Masters by four over Lou Aber. I don’t know. I keep hearing his name pronounced five different ways. And it’s the 15th PGA Tour victory for Sheffler. He’s 28 years old, right? And since World War II, only two golfers have won 15 times on tour and captured three majors before age 28 or 29. 29, not 28, 29, excuse me. And how about this? You want to know? So, I’ll say that again since I screwed it up. Since World War II, only two other golfers have won 15 times on tour and captured three majors before the age of 29, right? So, that means there’s a total of three. And obviously, Sheffller is one of them. You know who the other two are? Oh, just take a guess. I’ll give you a second. You may have heard of them. Even if you’re not into golf, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of them because you know who they are? The other two golfers who’ve won 15 times on tour and captured three majors before the age of 29. Yeah, they would be Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods. Yeah, you heard of them, right? So, where is this going with Scotty Sheffller? Is he going to be an alltimer? Well, with the three majors, you know, he’s certainly on his way. You get multiple majors, and he’s not even 30 yet, as I just said. So, there’s no reason to think that he couldn’t have a prime that doesn’t last unleashed until 35. Yeah, I think for sure that he’s got a good six years of his prime, maybe more. Why not? the way these guys take care of themselves and the money that they have available to hire all these specialists in their lives. I think so. I think that can be the case. And what will it mean? Where will he finish when it comes to that, right? Oh my gosh, I’d like to see it. Why not? I love I loved watching Tiger. didn’t get, you know, I saw a little bit of Jack, but uh when he was truly in his prime, I realized he won the Masters at age 46 and 86, and I would have been plenty old enough to remember that, but uh when he was doing his thing in the 60s, yeah, wasn’t uh old enough to remember. Wasn’t into golf. Didn’t really get into golf until I got into high school. So, that would have been 10, 15 years before I was following golf. My My dad followed it. My father followed it. That’s why I love golf is because of him. I was golfing over the weekend. Got paired up with a a retired guy and he said, “Oh, you’re pretty decent. I bet you started early.” Yeah, like uh 14 15 years of age. He didn’t start until like he said six years ago. And he wasn’t very good. He was kind of making excuses for not being good. But I guess those are reasons. And you look at all these guys today, gosh, 14, 15. No, they’ve been playing tons of junior golf tournaments by the time uh they’re that age. Uh I didn’t. We didn’t have the finances for me to be able to do that type of thing and it probably wouldn’t been any good. Anyway, I’m happy with how good I am uh for what what I can do on a golf course. Love the sport and love watching Sheffller. We’ll see if he can do it some more. I bet you he can. All right. Now, the third biggest story, not necess I’m not going in order actually. So, you can argue that it’s the first biggest story depending on what you’re interested or the biggest story depending on what your interest is. And that’s clearly the NBA playoffs, right? And we had a game seven yesterday afternoon and boy, it was a snoozer. the Oklahoma City Thunder. They just destroyed the Denver Nuggets. Uh what was it by uh 32 points, I think it was. Yeah. So, it was not much of a game seven. It started out a little bit. Started out thinking, oh, maybe we got something here as the Nuggets took what a 10, 11, 12 lead point lead, but that went away in a heartbeat. So, what we have here is the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Oklahoma City, they they had the number one seed. They had the league best 68 and4. They were the youngest team to win at least 60 games. You know, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens as the next few years roll on. uh because uh if they get to the NBA finals this year, which you know, I’d have to think they’re favored. They’re playing the six seed Minnesota Timber rolls, but Minnesota’s got some run going on, right? They’ve got some momentum, I think. So, what do you think as far as this series? I believe this one gets underway Tuesday. Obviously, the Thunder will have the home court to start. Uh, hope it goes longer, you know, six, seven games, then maybe it could. Don’t know. You never know what’s going to happen. I would think Minnesota would be able to give them a run for their money. This is Oklahoma City’s first trip to the conference finals since 2016. So, all you Jazz fans out there that are feeling down about this rebuild that just uh seems to last in perpetuity, I get it. But the Thunder, they got to the top themselves, right? They did it. got to acknowledge it. They were able to win enough games and draft players or lose enough games is what I was trying to say. They lost lose enough games. Got good draft picks, made the SGA trade, and filled out some free agents and away they go. And here they are. And I have to think they’re the favorite. But I don’t know. Who do I want to win? I can’t decide right now. I’m not sure. Ultimately, I really don’t care. I just want to be entertained. But what would I what would I want to see as far as an NBA finals? Uh probably the Knicks on the other side and they destroy the Celtics what on Friday. So they’ll play the in the Pacers that uh that series gets going what on Wednesday? Uh I think I would want to see the Knicks. No, nothing against the Pacers. I don’t have any problem with the Pacers, but get the big market team in there. the team of my youth growing up only about uh 25 miles away on the other side of the state line in New Jersey, North Jersey as they call it. You know, I was I was a Nick fan in terms of following them for sure. Oh, I follow them religiously. I can name all their guys. Had posters and all that stuff. So, I consider myself an oldtime Nick fan. Although my fandom didn’t necessarily reside in winning and losing. It just resided in teams that I had the most interest in. And that was the Knicks. I always just enjoyed the game rather than latching on to a single team. Went to several games in Madison Square Garden when I was a kid. Haven’t been back there for years. So, I think I would like to see the Knicks. And but on the other side on the West, what do you think? Who do you like? One thing I will say is how about this? You’re going to have Minnesota or Oklahoma City in the finals. So, you’re going to have Minneapolis or OKC. So last week, you know, all about the conspiracy theories of the lottery and uh Dallas getting the number one pick. So flag can go there. Well, at least we can’t say the big markets cuz these uh I don’t know their market sizes. I don’t get into the TV stuff. That doesn’t matter to me. DJ, when he gets back, he’s going to be uh off today, I believe. In fact, I know. And so he would know their market size. For me, it doesn’t really matter. I watch what I watch and I don’t really care about market size and any of that stuff. I care about talent and being entertained. So, I’d certainly think this series has the opportunity to be entertaining, but you cannot say, “Oh, the big market, the league is biased towards that.” Blah, blah, blah. That’s out the window, man. We got more proof. We may have had it with Denver. Uh certainly Oklahoma City way small. I’ve been there multiple times for work over the years, covering basketball, landing there to cover football. uh and all that stuff. And obviously it’s it’s take you five minutes. Maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but not much to walk around downtown. They got the brickyard there, which that’s nice the restaurants and stuff and has the AAA ballpark. So that’s a fine city. I don’t have any problem with it. Uh down the road is Norman, Oklahoma, 20 miles away, 25 miles away, whatever it is. Uh but it is not a a glorious place by any stretch of the imagination. Think about that one. Right. Yeah. I think we can go there and have that as far as a conclusion and throw out the idea that oh my gosh it is about small markets or big markets. Nope. If you’re good enough, you can get in there. So those are my three big stories of the weekend. And this a little uh what’s trending before what’s trending. We’ll have more. Stay with us. We got some guests coming up. We got Bob Casper talking about the PGA. Hey, Sam Farnsworth from Channel 5 KSL KSL Sports is going to join us at 9:30. And then we’re going to continue also with our spring football tour. TCU team that was in the playoff just a couple years back. See what they got cooking. They have the opportunity to rebound a little bit. So stay with us. Coming up next, we will get to what’s trending this 7:00 hour. Thanks for staying with us.
Hour one of DJ & PK for May 19, 2025:
• Pablo Mastroeni, Real Salt Lake
• David Locke, SEG Media
• Big three stories of the weekend
