HOUR 1: Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge discusses his role with team and “Big game hunting” comments | …
The noon hour is here. Check it out. And you’re locked on to Utah’s highest rated, most listened to sports radio station. It’s my station. It’s my station. This is This is Hans Olsson and Scotty G on 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Hey folks, let’s get it. Hans and Scotty 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Happy Thursday, everybody. How are you? Well, I am proud to report that I took my son out to the golfing whooping shed. You guys golfed again yesterday? This morning? Whoa. Yeah. Early. We got out again. We got out to Lloyd’s neck of the woods. Went and hit Metalbrook. Copper Hills. There it is. Right out there by the the Copper Hills Country Club. Yeah. What is the name of that course out there? Oh, mountain. Is it that one? That one on the the 20. No, there’s a copper hills like country club. Oh, is the country club? Get out of here. You’re turning out your time. I’m dead serious. There’s a country club out there. Talking about about Karns. I was talking about that one on the 2011 before you turn around and go to Twilla on 84. That is Is it Bridgestone? I don’t know. Bridge something. I think he’s singing about the old one that got ripped out by the airport. Oh, did it get ripped? Wingpoint. No, I’m not. I don’t think I’m thinking about that one. That was the old city course that they ran out of water and patience. Wasn’t it built on a landfill? Wingpoint is the one where Lloyd almost got me in a fight. I didn’t get yourself. No, I was just learning the rules. What exactly happened? I pressed up on a guy and he said something to me and I was like, “No, that’s not how we do. That’s not how we I don’t even care.” just started walking towards you and you can walk towards him and got a little closer. You’re like, I don’t even care if you’re right about the rules. You don’t talk to me like that. We’re going to turn this from golf to football real fast. We’ll turn it from golf to wrestling and then wrestling to choking you out and then from choking you out to throwing you in this river right here. Like, you know, it was Lloyd started it. How did you start it? Don’t you don’t you dare because I am one with the gentleman’s game. I am not about starting fights out on a golf course. You know that. I did something. But I whooped rock. Metobrook, by the way, that’s a hidden gym over by you. Absolutely. Have you played that one? I have not. Off 4200 South. I have not. And uh this is the summer of golf for me. Metobrook’s a great place to start, buddy. Um it Hey, by the way, very affordable, by the way. And wide open. This is my monthly plea to our good friends at Bountiful Ridge. Let me mow your lawn. I want to mow the lawn. Wait, can I can we do the old Adam Sandler Chris Farley bit? Just let the man mow your lawn? I just Can’t you let the man just mow your lawn? All he wants to do is mow your lawn. Who? I sure you got a bunch of 16 year olds that never show up to work who do a half a job. Here is a grown a man that is always up at 5:00 a.m. I would love to come to your course. And you’ve got a touch with grass and I know my grass. Yes. Not Snoop grass. No actual luscious Bermuda grass. Like I can mow. I know how to mow. Let me mow your lawns. You pay me minimum wage and you let me on your golf. Of course. That’s all I’m asking. He knows how to plug and sand. Yes. Come on. Can’t you let the guy just mow your lawn? What were those old commercials on Saturday Night Live with Adam Sandler and Chris? You’re in the ballpark, I think. Can’t you let the kid just walk your dog? You’re not going to just let that kid walk your dog? It was like Chris Farley was a promotional spokesperson for Adam Sandler, who’s a little kid that wanted to walk dogs. You don’t remember that? I do remember it. Yeah. But let me water your plants. Please, while you’re gone, let me water your plants. Yes. And then you’re Chris Farley. Just let the guy water your plants. That’s a pretty good Chris Farley. I miss Man, I miss Chris, man. How how great would it have been had he stayed with us? Amazing. Like, how many more incredible movies would we have gotten out of him? Way more than Adam Sandler. Uh, or maybe not. Yeah. Adam Sandler, boy, I tell you what, when it went with him, it went fast. It was like Pton Manning that last year because you had you had uh, you know, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, and all these and all these great movies. And then all of a sudden, he hit like um, Little Nikki. What was the one where he was the the brother and the sister? Oh, yeah. I didn’t even watch. Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill. Yeah. Horrible. And even Mr. Deeds is fine. Very medium. Not but very medium. Yeah. But I there there’s a couple I do like. I like Spanglish a lot. Spanglish. Oh, is that the one with uh he’s a cook? Yes. That’s that’s more of like a serious Yeah. Yeah. Oh, no. He actually like uh it was really good. The one where he’s a diamond guy and Kevin Garnett buys diamonds from him. Hidden gems. Hidden gems. I didn’t like that one. But I thought his acting in it was really good. I didn’t really care for the story, but I thought he acted the heck out of that. And then that one with um um the one where he was the basketball guy with the jazz player. Yeah. And Anthony Edwards. I thought he did a great job in that. Yeah. And Herman Gonz. Yes. Um what was the name of that? I don’t remember. Well, and I’m I’m one of those dopes that absolutely loved Grown-Ups. Part one. Oh, I know you. I I’m a dope. Yeah, I I know it. Hustle. That was good. No, that was really good. He and Queen Latifah had insane chemistry in that movie, which Yeah, the queen was great, which you know would never in a million years think that the two of them would have chemistry. No. And what’s Oh, and I do love Click. Yeah, for for reasons we should know. We know. But okay, I I heard what was the what’s that old uh I don’t know if he still does sports radio. the the He was really good and he was like in all the Adam Sandler movies. Oh, Dan Patrick. Dan Patrick. Yeah. I was listening to him talk about Adam Sandler movies and being in them and he’s like, “Should we be real for a minute?” And there everybody’s like, “Yeah, have you noticed that Adam picks the most exotic places to film and the most beautiful women to film with?” Like every single one. Kate Beckansel. Jennifer Aniston. Jennifer Aniston a couple of times. Yeah. And I don’t like those those Aniston movies. I haven’t even watched them. Yeah, I didn’t like them. Um, who’s the You didn’t like Just go with It. No, I didn’t like it. No, I thought it was pretty funny. Is that the one who’s with uh with the uh the girl that’s married to uh the tennis player Andy Rodic? Uh, no. I don’t know that one. Well, Drew Barrymore, you know, in the in the 90s. Yeah. Yeah. Drew Barrymore in the 90s. Um It’s got Brooklyn Decker. Yeah, Brooklyn Decker. Yeah, Brooklyn Decker on a Hawaiian island. That’s where they filmed that thing. Adam did not have a tough time in life. No, no, he’s he figured it out. Good for him. Oh, hey. Hey. Yeah, thank you. By the way, I pay up on my bets. Hold on. Let everybody hear. Everybody. Yes, sir. That’s that green monster. Got the green monster. Scotty always pays his bets. Yes. So, uh, I had the overunder on goals scored last night at four and a half. I took the under, you took the over, and it was 3-2 at the end of the second. So, you were safely in that one. Uh, we’re going to talk about that coming up here in a bit. By the way, um, do we do a little house cleaning here? Oh, I want to make sure we get this on the, uh, on the old video stream. If you’re on YouTube, you can watch us on the video stream. Here is the check that we presented yesterday to a primary children’s hospital for $1,184. Uh this is like uh a check and I think that if you endorse this and take it down to your America First Credit Union, you might be able to sneak this one past the goalie. Yeah. Yeah. It’s got the tracking numbers on it and everything. Oh yeah. Yeah. The routing number and all that stuff. So I think I think I’m zooming out on the camera right now so we can get it all. Oh yeah. Um, by the way, that is 588 donations made by our listeners. So, the reason I brought this up because we were on TV, uh, there’s a lot of stories I can tell you about that one. Uh, but we were on uh, the old KSL, the old mothership, presenting the check to the guys at the uh, at Primary Children’s Hospital. Couldn’t be nicer guys. They were great. They were fun. They were awesome. They were good dudes. And Deie was cool, too. Uh, once she figured out who we were. Yeah. And then she wasn’t there. Way to go, Deie. It was Dee. Way to go, Dee. Yes. Dee Coridini was was hanging out. Yes. Anyway, so we presented this check and everybody’s handing over these monstrous checks. Not I mean, they’re all the same size, but the these big checks and it’s like $72,000 from the Murdoch. And then right before us. Yeah. From Blake Murdoch. And then 50 thou Sorry. and then 50,000 from this group and 40,000 from this group and then all of a sudden we come out with our pitily $1,184 and and look, we’re proud of this because it all happened in like $2 increments. Yeah. Like that’s a lot of people that just said, “You know what? I’ll give you $2 in hopes of getting Cooper flag.” Yeah. And anybody could secure a $70,000 donation from the Murdoch. They give money to everybody. Yeah. They got that. Ben’s got that in his couch cushions. Yeah. that that’s nothing to bin. Yeah. But but this is from our listeners. Our listeners are hard earned money. And so number one, we thank you for that. And number two, uh the uh it was really I don’t know. I I understand like one of the marketing people were just like, you know what, this is really great. And she was super genuine when she said this, like this is super great and we appreciate this so much. And I’m like, well, you know, it’s not a lot. She goes, “But no, it’s the message that every little dollar counts and you guys are the perfect representation hurt of of it doesn’t matter the size of the donation. Any little bit counts.” And I’m like, “Thank you.” I’m going to tell you the part that really hurt is when 11-year-old Edison walked on to the set and said, “I’m going to personally write a $2,000 check.” just 11year-old little Edison who’s who’s been helped through Primary Children’s and he’s like I’m just gonna write a check for you. Yeah, I’ll beat Hansen Scott. And the guy that’s the going to be the uh the tour director for a band just reached out and pulled out 20 cotes and just handed those over and be like, “Yeah, okay. We’ll add to that.” De couldn’t get rid of us quick enough. I know. I know. What are we even doing? What are we doing? Like I told Lloyd, can we like I know that it’s only 1, but can I like take a Sharpie and just add like a little like Yeah, we we we had big time check envy. Just make the dollar sign a a five. Oh, there we go. Yeah. 51,184. That’s it. Nice. That’s the ticket. But that was a blast. I think they think it says 51 now. Yeah, I’m sure that’s it. That was a blast by the man. Primary Children’s Killed it. I also wanted to send a big thank you out to Stephanie. Yeah. And Lou and who else was down? Joey. Yeah. Oh, Joey. You know what? Joey’s the king. You know how there’s there’s sometimes like we had to I shouldn’t say this, but but sometimes, you know, you’re going to We’ve dealt with some big egos in our business, and there’s some guys out there be like, “This place is going to fall apart if I’m not here.” And you’re like, “No, Gordon. I mean, no, sir, it won’t. And I’m joking. Gordon never said that. Uh but like there are certain places where you know the guy that the place would actually fall apart if they weren’t around. And it’s not you. It’s not me. Yeah. Uh it’s Joey. It’s Joey. Like Joey is like the dude around here. The the place would literally fall apart. It’s Joey. Between him and Stone. Yo, Stone. Stone’s incredible. We we got good people we work with and big thanks to those people for putting on a smooth show because it’s not easy getting that many talent and that many stations in a room with the right connections that isn’t overbearing people talking into each other’s ears and it was all organized well. We knew who the guests were. Every one of the the the kids that stepped up to the mic were awesome. So, I’m just so pleased with how it went. And then I really want to extend a big thank you to our listeners out there. Even if you didn’t donate, I know you thought about it because you’re all good people. Yeah. And you know, I know times are tough right now. Times are tough for a lot of people. So just know even the thought like, “Oh, I wish I could.” I even appreciate that because I do that. Oh, yeah. Like, man, I wish I could, but I just can’t right now. Yeah. like everybody’s got a GoFundMes for something and it’s like h another one of my friends bad situation and you’re like I can’t I can’t keep doing these GoFundMes. But big thank you to our listeners even the ones out there that that sent their thoughts and concerns because Primary Children’s Hospital is doing Yan’s work and uh everybody who donated just $2. Thank you for that. We appreciate that. All right, let’s get to it. Starting a lineup. Hans and Scotty 975 the KSL Sports Zone. This is Hans and Scotty G. Let’s go. The lineup is set and it’s time to kick off the show with the biggest topic of the day. This is the starting lineup on 975 the KSL sports song. I’m the CEO of the Jazz, which in my opinion means calm everybody. Calm everyone. I’m the guy there to just help Ryan and help Austin and Justin and Will and the players and just help everybody get better. I kind of like that. I hadn’t heard that before. Calm everybody. He is the CEO. That was Danny A who was on with DJ and PK earlier this morning. If David Lock is listening, by the way, that is available to you right now at kslsports.com. I’d heard chill everyone out, but I had ne Oh, that’s even better. Yeah. I’ve never heard calm everybody but chill everyone out. I’ve heard that for CEO. Yeah. Cuz man, CEOs, they do get a cush. Yeah. They get a big juicy slush fund. They got a nice plush office with mahogany. They typically have already made it in life. Yeah, I know. As Scotty and I sit in Lloyd Cole’s office before every show and Lloyd’s like, “Hey, hey, not on the leather. Hey, hey, I’ve got the foldout chair. Scotty’s office is still bigger than mine, right? You got that, you know that you got that special cabinet that you knock on and it’s got uh what is it? Crouching Tiger. What is that? Uh, it works 70% of the time. It works every time. Panther. Yeah, sex panther. Steal me. You You did that. 60% of the time it works every time. So, we’re just gonna see how quick we can go off air today. I wish I didn’t know so much. Oh, you know what? whatever that stuff’s called. I don’t remember. You did that. You set me up. But Lloyd’s office is nice. So Danny A says I’m the CEO and I chill everyone out. And it’s like, yeah, but I think Danny still has a massive role and much more voice than he’s leading on to in that Oh, yeah. Yeah. In that quick sound bite. Yeah. Don’t you think? Oh, 100%. And and that sounds like a man who knows that he does too. Like like he’s very keenly aware that like if it comes down to Ace Bailey or Trey Johnson or Coniple and he’s got a dog in the fight that he wants at number five and Austin’s like, “Hey, I think I’m going to go with this guy.” And Danny’s like, “Really? That’s what you’re thinking, huh?” And Austin’s like, “Ah crap, Dad. Who who do who do you want?” It’s like, “Well, you know, shooting’s at a premium these days in the league.” And there’s a guy who shot 42% in a supporting role to Cooper Flat. It’s like, “All right, fine. Put it in. Conanle, go get him.” Yeah. I mean, I I don’t know, maybe, but it just kind of feels that there’s that there’s that Danny Age aura still with this organization. I think you’re probably right. But you know what’s cool? And I was just talking about golfing with my son this morning who’s headed out on a mission here pretty quick. And so we’re trying to get as much time in together as we possibly can. And I was having a blast with him and we laugh back and forth and we mock each other and I don’t try to bully him anymore because he picks me up and throws me around. So I I just keep my distance. But to think of being in an NFL front office. Oh yeah. As a CEO and Rock being, you know, this new hire as the president of B of football operations. And there we are. I’m the CEO. He’s president of football operations. And we’re getting to call the shots. And I’ve got all this experience, this life experience. I played at that level. I played at the NFL level. Rock hasn’t yet. Maybe he will at some point, but um Austin didn’t play in the NBA, did he? No. So to think of being in that situation as a father son, as the decision makers of a professional organization, that’s a dream come true. If if you got a good relationship with your dad, it’s a dream come true because as a son, he’s my safety blanket, right? Yep. As a son, he’s my safety blanket. Like, Dad, I’m I’m thinking Ace Bailey. Oh, really? What? Just give me some thoughts. I’m thinking it, too. But let’s go through this. Okay. Bouncing it back and forth. and you both come to the conclusion and you both have had this success and you’re leaning on each other and counting on each other and you both have different forms of connections and Danny’s calling his connections saying is this the real deal. We both sit down. We both have a chat with Ace Bailey. We vet him out. We’re on the phone late in the evening. We’re having a pizza together. We’re going grabbing a round of golf together and we’re like, “Yeah, this is it.” It could be extremely successful or it could be a complete disaster. Yeah, that’s a good point. But I do think that there is something about that relationship that I think could be very beneficial. And I know everybody’s talking about, you know, nepotism, things like that. But there’s uh a level of confidence and a level of security when you’re working with somebody that you’re that close to. Uh I got to imagine it would be an interesting thing. And just you talking like that makes me feel like, okay, what would it be like if I was working with Brody in the same situation? And I can’t help but have a big grin on my face. Yeah. you know, if he if he became a PD of a radio station and I’m just the old host that just you and me are still slumbing and he’s over there calling the shots and he’s like, “What would you do, Dad?” I’m like, “Well, I’d fire this guy, this guy, and this guy.” Like, “No, you wouldn’t.” I’m like, “Yeah, I know I wouldn’t, but you know, it’d be fun to think about. I wouldn’t, but I I tell you what I would do. This is what I would hand. This is the the talent I would get. This is the the hours I’d run them, you know.” Yeah. How valuable would that be to Brody? Yeah. who was just cutting his teeth. And Austin’s been around with the Celtics for 17 years in some This is his first reigns that he’s being handed according to Ryan Smith and his press. By the way, Ryan Smith at 205 today. So, we’ll jump a little bit deeper into Ryan Smith’s drive to go get Austin A and how he sees this managed. And I just think that having your dad there that’s got years and years of experience and connections. I think it’s a safety blanket, but I do think it could go one of two ways. Either really good or really bad. I don’t think it sits in gray area. No. Uh Austin A uh said in that press conference, and Lloyd, I’m kind of skipping down the list a little bit, but he did say that, you know, hey, those days are over of the Jazz essentially manipulating. and he clarified with DJ and PK on Monday about those comments that that he said, but uh Danny A gave his thoughts on uh on what was said by his son in that press conference. I think the fans should be excited about the guys that we have and how they’re developing and and whatever whatever pieces that are put together in this off season with the team. I think it’ll be more fun this year. And I really believe that because the players are not only getting better and growing, but I think the coaches are getting to understand one another. there’s some continuity with the group here and it’ be the second year as opposed to a first year and I do see the improvements. I’m excited for this year regardless of what you know buzzwords we want to use. I’m looking forward to this upcoming year. Uh I think that there is a sense in some of the people that I’ve talked to and we’ll talk to Ryan Smith about that coming up at 205 as well in terms of there’s a there’s kind of a renewed energy and I know you’ve talked to people close to that organization. does feel like everybody has this sense of, okay, you know what, we did it that way and we don’t like how that turned out. So, it’s not like the Jazz are going to spend a ton of money and become a 45 win team and that’s where they’re going to cap out just to appease a fan base. Just say, “Hey, no, no, no. We’re we’re going to be competitive again.” No, they’re going to continue to take the right steps, but I do think there is going to be a higher level of, you know what, let’s go out there and let’s let these guys really go. Let’s play these lineups and let’s see what these guys can do instead of like, all right, Lori, you got a hamstring, you’re going to sit out two weeks. You got a um oh, that hangail looks like it could get infected. Why don’t you uh chill out for a bit? I don’t think that’s going to happen this year to that extreme that we saw last year. I don’t either. Uh, one other angle that I thought was interesting was DJ and BK asked Danny A about the big game hunting. Remember that was the big thing going into last off season. And obviously there was no big game. There were three draft picks. They are all kept. They were all attempted to be developed. And Danny A addressed missing out on the big game. We have gone after some of the bigger players and bigger names, more star-like players to add to our current roster, but in the league now, there’s not many of them right now that are available. And those that do come available, there’s eight or 10 teams trying to get them, too. So, I think maybe the most important thing is what you’re saying is that what you have to trade matters a lot. And most of the trades that I’ve made in my career are because the other team really really wanted what I had. And that’s why you make trades. I mean, it’s tough to like call a team and sell them on a player that they don’t want. And so, they spend all their time looking around the teams they want and call the teams that have players they want. So, that’s the most important thing is just having the assets. and we do have the draft picks and we do have good players like you mentioned. But if they’re not good players in the eyes of the teams that are that have the star player, there probably isn’t going to be a deal done. Yeah, this is People need to remember that this isn’t Madden. This isn’t NBA 2K where you can rip off trade restrictions and just get whoever you want. It takes two to tango. You got to want to do a trade and the team that you’re trading with has to want to do a trade and you have to make them feel like they’re winners, too. Kevin Oconor used to tell me this all the time. He’s like, “Everybody wants to win a trade, but if you’re going into a trade wanting to obliterate another GM, guess what? You’re not going to get a deal done because he doesn’t want to see like he get got obliterated. He needs to be able to take something to his fan base, uh, you know, his coach, and say, “Look, this is what I have. This is why I think we’ll be better off for this. Not just you being better off. I need to show that I’m better off, too. So, I want to go back to Big Al Al Jefferson move. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah. Kind of a desperation stretch. Boozer’s gone. You got to find somebody to fill that role. And somebody to fill the seats and he had that awkward push shot and you knew Was it Jeezy? What did they call that? His shot. Yeah, it was Jeezy. Easy. Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. I think it was Jeezy. Yeah. Slot up is down. No, slot up is down. But that push shot was horrendous. But they needed somebody. Yeah. And I remember when they got him, I was just like, I know what this leads to. I know what it leads to. For instance, Jay Crowder is going to be out there. Steven Adams is going to be out there. Free agents. Marvin Baggley will be out there free, you know, possibility the Utah Jazz to go out and grab the Malik Beasley, Nicholas Batum. These are some of the free agents that are going to be available. Do any one of those tell you, oh yeah, okay, now we’re shifting gears. No. Every one of those tells you, “Oo, wasted energy. Oh, three more wins that you don’t need. two more wins, three more wins that you don’t need. So, I understand what he’s saying. When you’re talking about big game in the NBA, you’re talking about one of the top 10. Maybe top 20. Yeah, top 20 for sure. Talking talking maybe top 20. I might extend it to top, but if you’re telling me big game, big game. I know in particular one of the players that the Jazz quietly made a run at and I would consider him probably top 25 maybe. See, I I think you and David were talking about Zion Williamson. I I don’t put Zion in a top 20. Yeah, I’ve got him I’ve got him buried. By the way, if the Jazz wanted Zion Williamson, they could get Z Williamson. I think they could. Oh, I I know they could. I would be sick if they did. Yeah. If they wanted uh Kyler Murray, not Kyler Murray, sorry. Not they’re not going NFL quarterback. Uh Trey Young, who I always get confused. They kind They kind of look like Kyler. He kind of looks like Kyler Merly. That’s funny. Trey, if they wanted Trey Young, he could go out and get Trey Young. They could. But does that make you a winning basketball team? Hey, as somebody that, hey, is going to get you on Sports Center, going to get you some highlights here and there. Are they going to make you a winning team? I don’t want either one of those guys. No. I’d rather I’d rather grab that top eight protective pick and try to get an AJ Debansa. Yeah. Because I know what Zion is going to do. He’s going to eat up your cap. He’s going to keep you stretched stretched out. He’s going to play 38 to 46 games and he’s going to break your heart. It’s going to let you down. if it they did find a way into the postseason, they’ll find a way to zero him out and force other members of the team to win. And he he he is not a I’ll go do it. He’s not even close to a Nicola Joic. It’s like I’ll go do it. Yeah. But tell you what, you mean and him go hit the Ara. He going to go do it. We’re doing damage. Yeah. Yeah. Hands at Scotty. 1231. Five more people dying on the bearing straight trying to get our crab. We lost a sailor. Why? Well, Han, Scotty, and Zion went to the Arya buffet and uh they got an empty leg. The population just kind of a or a hollow leg. This is 975 the KSL Sports Zone on the Jazz Utes, Cougars, and Aggies. We’ve got you covered. This is Hance Olsson and Scotty G on 975 the sports zone. Panthers bring it out for Hegy advances one Schmidt across to an open man in first shot. Bennett he scores and the Panthers take a 3-1 lead. Sam Bennett buries it two minutes into the second and the Panthers lead by a pair. Schmid in his 12th year with a fifth different team. Boilers move in left to right. Kapp to the net. McDavid out front shooting and scoring. Matias ties the game. 33 brand new hockey game. Nan Hopkins on the left tapboards under pressure. Turns and gives it up. Beautiful pass. McDavid in front. What time score Leon Trictle 43 Edmonton in town. Oh, what a game. What a game. What a game. Hands 43 in OT. Edmonton was down 3-1. Looked like Florida’s going to run him out of the building. Florida responds. They put up two, send it to OT. And right before we went to the second OT, there’s the goal. What a incredible night of hockey. And um guess what? Being around this sport, watching it, learning it, and now really appreciating a special game like that one. Man, I I do not hate an an extra 15 20 minutes no of Stanley Cup final play. I don’t hate that. What was it about a minute left? Yeah, minute 30 I want to say and they scored that winning goal. It was dry cidle, wasn’t it? Dry cidle from McDavid. Yeah. And it might have been a little under under that because that was that was about when they had that penalty kill or they had was it was about that? I think it was it was getting closer. Was it under a me? I thought it was under a minute. It might have been might have been. That was right when that when they got they had the uh the power play. Yeah. Yeah. Uh did that come off McDavid stick? Yeah. McDavid was the one that passed the dry sidle. Yep. These it’s the superstars do it, man. No. And and watching McDavid in the open ice and just seeing how fast he is. Scary fast. He is. He’s the best skater. Now, this is just my untrained eye, but this goes back to the Four Nations when you’re watching him against the greatest uh in the world, all of the the different guys, and you’re like, “This guy is different.” Yeah. He just skates different. He moves fast. When he gets on the breakaway, he’s gone. It’s like watching Jerry Rice off the edge. Yeah. you know that he’s got a breakaway and he’s got different moves and he’s got veteran mind and you’re watching a guy McDavid where you’re watching him go down the ice and nobody’s catching up with him. Yeah. It’s like, you know, modern day like Tyreek Hill when you got guys that seemingly have the angle and just just right past him. I want that here in Utah. Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know how you get it. Don’t know how you get it, but Conor McDavid is incredible. And that dry cidle finish was awesome. But I’m gonna give big time Bob some major props because he had 42 saves. Yeah. For a guy who gave up four goals in a loss, I thought he played a hell of a game. A hell of a game. And he just he’s fun to watch. Henry, uh, you know, he’s just the typical the prototypical Russian goalie. He just doesn’t quit. And there was a save about a minute and 30 left in regulation. Two minutes left in regulation that Kareem just off the very edge of his shoulder. He put the he just everything he had jumped to the left and barely nicked his shoulder and sent it wide of the steel and saved his team. At least got him into overtime. Yeah. And he had That’s the one. My guy Bob. I is there any way to get him here with the mammoth? See, when we talked to Jay Stevens, I’m like, “Oh, we could get everybody here.” Yeah, go get him. And And Jay, I think, plays along with us a little bit because he’s like, “Okay.” Yeah. Cuz you and I were like, “Oh, Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett, let’s get him here. Let’s get him in the in the uh the Mammoth jersey.” And Jay’s like, “You could have them both.” And I’m like, “Well, let’s get Bob Broki, too.” Yes. Let’s do Hey, somebody open up your checkbook. I don’t know what the NHL equivalent is to NBA 2K, but let’s just let’s just get crazy. I when we talk to Ryan Smith, be like, “Hey, Ryan, I just gonna throw my two cents in.” Can we go get this guy? I got I got 50 bucks on it. I’d like to see Bob Rosski in a mammoth jersey for five years because the guy is non-stop and he is a postseason thriller. You’ve got guys that show up in regular season and then disappear in postseason play. Um then you’ve got guys that just get through a regular season and then postseason comes and it’s guns ablazing. Yeah. And I mean, I looked at I really felt like Florida was going to win that game, if not that overtime, the second overtime, because Edmonton had those three opportunities and could not finish him because of Bob. Bob got the stop. Oh, and they had some good and they had some good looks. And I’m like, you know what? Bob shut him down and Edmonton’s gonna sneak one in or excuse me, Florida’s gonna sneak one in and uh and that’s how this thing’s gonna end. But Edmonton just kept plugging away and plugging away and plugging away. And look, I don’t care. Look, I I know I’m still learning this game, but I don’t think there’s any goalie on the planet that could have saved that last goal that uh that that Florida or that Edmonton won at all. No, there’s not. That’s not on Bob. No, there’s not. That That was That was a sure shot. Yeah. The movement, the speed, uh the accuracy of the passes leading up to it, the assists. Yeah. Nobody’s stopping that thing. This is going to be a problem. This series is going to be a problem. I So, the Avy Bet I I bet the Avy Bet’s in It’s I’m in trouble. You’re not in trouble, but I’m one I I’m one up on that one. Yeah, I lost the green monster, but the Avatar bet. The monster. Yeah, the monster. The uh the Avatar bet was whoever is leading after the first period of game one would win the series. So, that locks me into Edmonton. you are or you’re still Florida or or that locks me into Florida. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. That locks me into Florida. I wanted Edmonton because I think this is going to go to seven. It’s going to go back to their home ice and I think they’re going to avenge last year. How great was that crowd by the way? Their their offense. Listen to this. So, this is what’s Oh, it was it was good. Yeah. This is what’s incredible. So Bob Bob had 42 saves in a loss. Skinner had 29 saves in a win. 42 to 29 on saves. That’s crazy. So, you know, Skinner did a lot of great things, but I I kind of feel like Sergey Babarovski was sitting in the net like, “Is anybody gonna try to help?” Yeah. Why are these guys getting so many shots on goal? Somebody please help me. And the one thing we talked about Florida leading up to the series is that Florida is bigger, stronger, physical. They just want to bully you. Well, if you just watched that game for the first time and didn’t know anything about those two teams, and you asked me who was the bully, especially in overtime, it was Edmonton. Edmonton was the bully were the bullies in that game. They’re it’s an an assault. It’s just a full-on assault. Yeah. So, I don’t know what Florida can do to stop the assault because if Babski is taking on 46 shot attempts and getting 42 saves and giving up four goals, he’s not You can’t do that. That’s a 90 almost a 92% save rate. He’s not going to get a 92% save rate. If you put 46 shots on him in every game in this series, it’ll be done in five. Yeah. So, what do you do to stop the bleeding of the Edmonton shot? Because they just are lightning and they just have a great chemistry really across the board. And Kane is a problem, too. Yeah. Yeah, he’s a problem. Evander Kane is a is an issue, but I would love I would love to have a few of these guys here in Utah, including Evander Kane. Yep. Give me Bennett. 6’3, 220 pounds of riled up nastiness. He’s an ovet. I would love to have that dude. There’s so many ticked off people on this ice right now. It’s so much fun. Yeah, it’s good. Uh game two is coming up on Friday. Yeah, let’s go. All right, hands on Scotty 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Remember, uh Ryan Smith will join us coming up at 205. The owner of the Utah Mammoth and the Utah Jazz will join us coming up at 205. Kurt Healing, not to be outdone, he’ll join us coming up at 105. It’s all right here on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. part of the show. Every moment of every show is available in podcast form by searching Hans and Scotty on your favorite podcasting platform or online at kslsports.com. This is Hance Olsen and Scotty G on 975 the KSL Sports Zub. I’m going to let it go in case we get the bad lyrics. Oh Lloyd, you play things so safe. No fun over there. Just trying. You just never know. You just never know what’s left over from old music. Hey, don’t miss another Minky Monday coming up on the Zone this Monday. Tune in all day to win mink couture blankets for your dad. You’re right. You think your dad doesn’t want a blanket? Of course he does. He’s out there busting his tail, making ends meet, bringing home that bacon. He wants to cuddle up underneath a minky blanket. The original classy blanket, Minky Couture, makes the perfect Father’s Day gift. and zone listeners get 50% off with code zone 50. Don’t miss Minky Monday coming up this Monday on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. So, do you agree with Adam Silver when he said if it was Pittsburgh and Green Bay in a Super Bowl, you’d all be cheering? Apples and oranges. Apples and oranges for sure. Yeah. Sorry, buddy. You know, those are legacy teams. Yeah, those are those are legacy teams. Here’s Adam Silver on some really flawed logic uh trying to say, “Oh, no. This is great for our league.” It’s one thing I really admire about the NFL. I mean, if if we were going into a Super Bowl and it was Packers against Steelers, you guys would be celebrating that. Nobody would those would be storied franchises. People wouldn’t be talking about, you know, the fact that Pittsburgh is a small market. So we in in fact, you know, I’m happy whatever team ends up in the finals, but it’s been intentional from our standpoint to create a system, a collective bargaining agreement that allows more teams to compete. And just by way of background, you know, we’re going to have to go through a process of getting to the point where people are accustomed to tuning into the finals because it’s the two teams that deserve to be there and it’s the best basketball. similar to again with the Super Bowl. If I asked somebody if they were going to watch the Super Bowl, they wouldn’t say who’s playing. It’s a national holiday. And now that’s Nirvana, you know, that I’m not saying we’re we’re anywhere close to that yet. There’s still if the Knicks are in the finals, there’s a segment of our fan base that’s going to watch that may not watch if it’s other teams, but my job is to get people to love and follow this game. And so that if you’re a huge basketball fan, you should want to tune in to the finals because that’s the best basketball. Um, by the way, let the man finish his answer. Quit trying to cut him off. People are there to listen to Adam Silver, not you. I don’t know who he was on with, but but geez, man. Shut your mouth and let Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, talk. Who was that, Lloyd? For crying out loud. What a nightmare. Yeah. And you know, it’s just so rude when you’re trying to ask somebody questions and they just keep cutting you off. It’s just rude. It goes the other way, too. I’m like trying to ask just a good question and it’s like, but anyway, one more thing. One more. Let me ask the dang question. Yes. And then when you’re done asking the question, you back off. Let the guy answer. Um, but here’s the Adam Silver has got caught himself in a little bit of a trap here because the NB the NFL, one of the reasons the NFL is so freaking popular is because the NFL has spent decade after decade after decade promoting what? Their teams. Okay, the NFL promotes teams. Now granted, there’s individuals that can sometimes go past their teams and the teams themselves can promote them, but the NFL has always done a great job promoting its teams, its legacy. Um, it no player outside of maybe a select few are greater than their team. It’s all about the team. The NBA has spent decades and decades and decades promoting players. So that makes it more about the cities because the players want to go to a city that’s because it’s going to hype up their promotion if they’re playing in a bigger city and that means they’re more marketable and they can make more money in bigger cities. They want to go because of their marketability because the NBA is going to market you more when you’re in a bigger city. And so that’s why there has been this schism between the NBA and the NFL. in the NFL. You’re right. Aaron Rogers never complained about being in Green Bay because he’s not being hyped up because the if you’re great in the NFL, the NFL is going to find you and promote you. But in the NBA, if you’re in Oklahoma City or sometimes you’re in Utah or sometimes you’re somewhere else, you get left behind because they’re like, “Oh, we’re talking about players in big markets. You’re gonna get picked last during the Exactly. You can’t have it both ways. Adam, you created this and the guy before you created this. This is and and to your and you know the NBA may have survived because of it because they said, “Hey, we got Magic Johnson. We got Larry Bird. We really need to get behind these guys and really push them.” And it may have saved the NBA in the 70s and early 80s. Uh but you can’t say, “Okay, but the NFL does this and we need to be like, no, no, no, no, no, no. You took one path. The NFL took another path. You can’t have it both ways. That is not how that works. By the way, he’s not wrong. Pittsburgh and Green Bay would be an incredible Super Bowl. Yes, it would be big time, but you’re right. It’s just not the NBA’s path. It’s Oklahoma City. Yeah. And the Pacers. Yeah. And your TV ratings are going to suffer significantly because of it. Now, by the way, I’m not complaining about this. I love this NBA Finals. I love that the NBA is in this situation where small market teams are playing for a title. I’m not complaining about it. In fact, I’m more apt to watch. If it was New York and the Lakers, I don’t know. I’m not too overly I’m like, I’m going to watch it because it’s my job, but I love the fact it’s Oklahoma City. I love the fact that it’s the Pacers. I’m all about it. So, I keep track of what NBA teams do and I’ve kept track of it. Let’s see. going back to 2000. So from the year 2000 until now, 24-25 season, Oklahoma City has had five conference finals appearances. This is their first since 2015. Oklahoma City has been to the conference finals five times. Since 2000, and this is their second trip to the finals. Does that sound right to you? Yeah. Yep. Definitely their second trip to the finals and five sounds right. So yeah, I think the Pacers have been to the conference finals five times including back to back. The Pacers have been backtoback conference final and now they’ve got a finals appearance. Yeah, it’s tough to keep track of this because when you get to the very bottom of the barrel, there’s the Utah Jazz. There’s only two teams that have performed worse. And as far as getting distance in the postseason and being relevant in big moments, there’s only two teams that are worse than the Utah Jazz. Sacramento Kings, who actually may have bettered. Did the Kings The Kings didn’t make a conference finals two years ago, did they? No. And uh the Pelicans. Pelicans are bad. That’s it. That’s not great company to be with. No, it’s not. And so it just um you could go to the East and in the East has some bad the Knicks haven’t been to the conference finals. Um well they weren’t there since what 99? Since 92. The conference finals. Yeah. Was it 99? It was 99 because they went to the NBA finals in 99. That’s right. Where’s the Magic in there? The Magic. No, the Magic have two conference finals. Their last was 2009. The Magic have a finals appearance. Yeah. Yeah. Dwight Howard got smoked. Magic have a finals appearance, dude. They’ve got two conference finals and a finals appearance. So, the Magic But you do have the Knicks, the Hornets, and the Wizards that are awful. You know, the Bulls have been terrible, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Since 2000, the Bulls only have one conference finals appearance. The East is pretty ugly. The East has been dominated by Boston. Yeah. Well, I mean, and you’ve got Boston West in your office now, so let’s go. All right, hands and Scotty. Uh, one o’clock coming up, Curt Healing from NBC Sports Pro Basketball Talk for his weekly conversation. And then mark it down in your calendar, put an alert in your phone, whatever you need to do. Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah Jazz, joining us at 205975, the KSL Sports Zone.
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