FULL SHOW | NBA Finals Have Been Competitive | Will Kevin Durant be Moved this Week? | Edmonton v…
happy Saturday welcome in it’s the Saturday Show 975 the KSL Sports Zone 10 a.m hope you’ve got uh fun plans for your Father’s Day weekend i know I do uh tomorrow going to take Pops out golfing i’m excited for it there you go man i know he’s excited for it there you go happy to be back for another Saturday with you Christian to talk all things sports uh but Father’s Day on the forefront i don’t know what me and my dad are gonna do yet yeah that’s okay i think tonight he’s going to a birthday party okay so there’s not We can’t We can’t really do much today but we’ll see what happens tomorrow i think we might just make him food or something that’s always And by making him food we’ll probably go buy him food because none of us none of my me or my siblings know how to make anything besides grilling that’s fine but we made carnasada last weekend there you go and I bet it was amazing so we can’t like I can’t repeat oh you got plenty of options yeah I guess we can go to the Rancho markets maybe we’ll do burgers or something i don’t know i don’t know we’ll see but I am excited for Father’s Day always always uh excited to celebrate the old man well and it’s been I mean the weather has just been tremendous it’s a little hot for me i run a little warm so once it hits 90 I’m like struggling but it’s also it’s nice it’s nice but it’s not this is probably the worst time of the year honestly because it just gets too hot i think I think August is worse no August is August is a little bit better because there’s there’s more sports going on okay okay yeah yeah but now right now it’s just like we have to wait a couple days till the NBA finals and the NHL finals start up again and then I mean obviously tonight there’s a game but you know earlier in the week like on Tuesday there’s nothing to do yeah that was Tuesday was really hard it was just hot it was just hot you just melt disgusting except in here in here it’s No in here it’s like eight degrees maybe we got the heater on man i should have brought my coat sean you got big plans for Father’s Day weekend working there you go you were in Cedar City last week for the summer games i’m sure you had a blast oh yeah we got rained on a little bit but uh yeah made the best of it it was a great time there you go yeah I know ksl had a big block party down there hans and Scotty were down there doing their show um I had family down there my sister played uh soccer heard a lot of good things about the opening ceremonies the fireworks show was apparently tremendous so I love summer games i I think they do a great job every year and uh you know I think it’s a great opportunity for kids uh I was telling you a little bit last week like between my brother and my sister feels like my parents and my family have gone down to Cedar City for the summer games for like 10 years in a row and I I just think that’s a cool opportunity um to travel without having to like travel super far and it’s not like I don’t know crazy intense it’s cool yeah it’s like the summer Olympics down there well it’s a big deal for the kids right but it’s like I don’t know cedar City is not that far and it’s not hard to get down there at all i remember the first time I went down there for summer games I got a bronze medal yeah and it’s awesome i hated it oh you were upset you didn’t we yeah cuz it was bronze yeah let’s just say my cabinet is full of bronze medals and uh participation from Yeah I didn’t do much winning i have a lot of gold mixed in there i didn’t do much winning either man i feel you oh well good times all right uh let’s let’s start things off we got to start uh let’s go NBA Finals uh because this series has been awesome uh they’re trading blows two heavyweight fighters okc tied it up last night series is tied to two okc gets the 111 to 104 win at Indiana which is huge um I think the biggest thing for this game obviously is with OKC picking up the win they avoid going down 3-1 because only one team’s ever come back from 3-1 in the finals yada yada yada and so basically once you go down 3-1 it’s it’s over that’s huge uh so avoiding that for OKC is is big now you go back to uh Oklahoma City get a play at home where they have been virtually unbeatable and it feels like the Thunder have the momentum now once again and it feels like Indiana is back to being the underdogs backed up on the ropes right we’ll see how they respond well I mean we haven’t really had a chance obviously since since last week to to dive into this series so I do want to go back to Wednesday night to that Pacers win okay and yeah we hit and talk about how monumental that was for the Pacers to get Yeah yeah to go up two-1 to go up 2-1 and have that have that I guess confidence of because the the reality is no one was talking about the Pacers before the series started right it was all OKC okc were the biggest favorites to win to win this NBA Finals okc was going to basically run through the Pacers and it wasn’t even going to be a contest but the Pacers have answered the belt man you go back to the Hallebertton shot to win game one and then you have uh Benedict Matherin putting up 24 points to to get you the 2-1 lead at at home and then phenomenal response by OKC last night and I think it’s it was super super important last last night’s game was super important because truly it felt like the winner if the Pacers won that game last night it the series was over yeah well in a in a similar sense like you’re saying going to Wednesday’s game Indiana needed to win at least one of these two home games and so they shouldn’t necessarily be worried that they lost last night um but I mean they shouldn’t be complacent with the fact that they did win a home game right but if they similarly to what we’re saying right if they go down 3-1 and then have to go back to Oklahoma City like you’re toast right um so yeah picking up the win Wednesday was big uh at the very least guarantees a game six in Indiana and you’re extending the series that far um we’ll see what game five looks like first we’ve got we’ve got to get there but overall I think this has been a tremendous series i think it’s what the NBA could have asked for i know earlier in the season the struggling ratings was a big conversation and I know that there have been a lot of poo pooing about um small market teams and whatever being in the finals and nobody wants to see this but like that’s the vocal minority on social media right you kind of got to ignore that and when you look at the actual product that’s being put up here I mean every single game pretty much has been close and you’ve got the game-winning shot You’ve got the drama you’ve got the MVP putting up MVP performances like we saw from Shay last night and we’ll get to that in a bit but I think this is exactly the type of finals that the NBA needed the last thing they need is OKC versus Indiana and OKC wins in four or five right and I feel like that’s what everybody thought was going that’s what everybody thought was going to happen so you got to give credit to the Pacers for for truly fighting and making this a very entertaining series no matter what ends up happening i mean the Thunder could still win this thing and it feels like a success because you are truly getting very entertaining basketball night in and night out and I mean this is a Thunder team that dominated the NBA all season they basically I mean they they did struggle with Denver a little bit right but through the playoffs I mean you still thought this was OKC’s trophy to win but now you’ve got this Pacers team that is really pushing them to the edge and really questioning like okay are the Thunder this juggernaut that we thought they were going to be not to say that they still can’t win this series but I think it’s raising a lot of questions about OKC’s ceiling in the near future and we can get into trade talk later we’re going to talk about Kevin Durant because that move feels like it could be coming in the next couple of days but regardless you know it it basically solidifies that the Thunder aren’t quite this dominant dynasty team yet which you know we had a conversation about i think it was two shows where everybody’s freaking out about oh they’re the next dynasty yet no I think this series proves not to say that Indiana’s not a good team either right because they’re a good basketball team they are good but I think it I like that this is kind of exposing the Thunder a little bit and not exposing because I mean the series is tied 2-2 they still have a very good chance to win the series and win the NBA finals which is what you’re all playing for right but it definitely shows that like yeah the Thunder are not this perfect team right and and I mean looking at from the perspective of both sides I think as far as the Pacers go I think head coach Rick Carile said it best when and he said after that win on Wednesday if if we’re going to pull this off if we’re going to win this series and win the NBA Finals uh and be NBA champions we’re going to need everybody and it and they’ve they’ve shown that through this series that they can rely on just about anybody i mean we talk about Benedict Matherin who showed up huge on Wednesday night they’re going to rely on every single person on that roster to get them over that hump and so far they’re doing it like we were talking about the the the whole small market talk and I feel like there was concerns about you know whether or not people were going to be excited and and tuning in to watch this final but because of that Hallebertton shot because of the way the series has gone with how with with both of the sides just trading blows back and forth back and forth I feel like it’s made it a super interesting series and a super fun series to watch as far as the OKC goes from their perspective I wonder how much truly experience also kind of factors into this because everybody talks about how young of a team they are and I mean the reality is for a large majority of these guys this is their first time here and I mean it it is true with the Pacers too but they have a head coach who’s been in this position before he’s Rick Carile has won before right carle won it with the Mavericks exactly and so I wonder how much too that plays into experience and how much that plays into why we’re seeing the series go the way that it is where everybody thought that OKC was just going to run through the Pacers but the reality is it’s been it’s been super fun and super entertaining watching these teams go back and forth yeah i think the main drawing point to me and I’m sure there are a lot of people that agree i don’t want to speak for anybody but on one side you’ve got the Thunder right you’ve got the MVP you’ve got the guy and again his performance last night was the reason that they won and that’s one style of basketball but then on the other side you’ve got what feels like a it’s just a team it’s team play i mean Tyrese Hallebertton is their biggest name right but I think he’s only crossed the 20 point mark in this series once i think you’re right in game three he put up 22 points yep uh other than that he put up 14 17 and 18 so it’s not like you’re getting a 30 piece from Hallebertton i mean he hasn’t even come close to 30 points yet um but then you’re you’ve got uh Nith Neymahart uh Mathin TJ McConnell uh Obi-Wan Pascal Seakum it’s like all of these guys are contributing to these Pacers wins whereas for the Thunder it’s like you need Shay and then JDub and Cadet right and if one of those three has a bad game chances are they’re going to lose um not to say that one style is better than the other i think it’s just it’s truly showing that there’s no blueprint to success in the NBA and I think that that is good for Jazz fans it’s good for fans of a lot of teams it it shows that you don’t need to do any one specific thing to build a championship uh contending roster there’s plenty of ways to get there you just have to make good decisions whatever the decisions are um whether you get your top five talent or whether you build the deepest team there’s no one way to do it it’s not no and I I think both of these teams are a perfect perfect example of of that and I think like uh Austin H said is in his intro presser we just want to stack good decisions on top of good decisions and I feel like the OKC Thunder and the Indiana Pacers that’s how they got there they’ve just stacked good decisions on top of good decisions sometimes maybe a little bit of luck oh plenty of injury luck i mean if you look at neither of these team has I mean they’re all fully healthy right um like the Thunder went up against the Nuggets who they went to game seven and by game seven Aaron Gordon could barely walk um I mean you look at the Pacers like Cleveland was hurt by injuries um they beat New York who got past Boston probably because of injuries maybe um we all know that New York the way that that Tibs ran that team nobody was healthy by the end of games because they get so worn down so yeah I mean I don’t think it’s a coincidence i think injury luck is always going to uh to play a part there uh I do want to get into last night’s game though because I think it matters a lot um seeing this type of performance that we got from Shay yes uh Indiana entered the fourth quarter opened with Indiana up right indiana was leading entering the fourth quarter the score was 8780 there we go yep um and it was a battle i mean it was close the entire way until the final five minutes is when Sheay kind of started his thing and over the final five minutes SGA Shay Gilis Alexander reigning MVP he scored 15 of the Thunder’s final 16 points he did that on a perfect 100 100 split he made all three of his field goals uh he made his three-point attempt and then all eight of his free throws and that’s huge because we’ve seen ball dominant players across the NBA right players that want to take it into their own hands and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t we’ve seen Luca hit big shots we’ve seen Donovan Mitchell hit big shots but then we’ve also seen those guys brick it when it matters um and I think the bottom line is this is this is kind of the crowning moment for Sheay i mean obviously the biggest goal that he could accomplish is lifting up the trophy the finals trophy and winning that but having cementing performances like this I think is going to go a long ways towards crowning him as likely the face of the league and I know that’s what the NBA desperately needs is a new face of the league and it still feels a little premature but it’s like you’ve got a guy who has done it consistently throughout the season um we knew over the past couple years that he had this potential right now he’s meaning that potential not only does he do it throughout the regular season and some of the playoffs but now we’re into the finals and he’s doing this to lead his team to wins and tying up the series when it matters like this is this is the big stage and this is SGA taking over the league and I I think last night not only the performance from SGA but I mean just the performance from the Thunder to go out and win the fourth quarter i thought that was huge because how how amazing have the Pacers been not just in this series but I mean throughout the course of the NBA playoffs how amazing have the Pacers been in fourth quarters the Pacers had uh you know I saw a stat the other day after game three right OKC you look at the scoring differential OKC had won quarters one two and three and then uh the Pacers were like plus 27 in the fourth quarter so exactly you’re what you’re saying yeah they the Pacers have been an incredible fourth quarter team mainly because of the way they play I mean they wear you down they they they gas you to death right there was a a screen grab going around of the fourth quarter of game three during like a out of bounds or a timeout or something and all of the Thunder players are like bent over like gasping hands on their hips and the Pacers players are like standing up straight like let’s do this yes and so yeah for for OKC last night to win the fourth quarter I think it’s a big response i think it sends a huge message to the Pacers and saying “Hey look that you have that opportunity to go up 3-1 but we’re not going to let you we’re going to make sure that the series goes 2-2 and we’re taking it back to our place to potentially take that 3-2 lead the fourth quarter the Pacers have been a phenomenal team but last night OKC showed up in the fourth quarter 31-7 Christian in that fourth quarter you’re down you’re going into that fourth quarter you’re down 80 to 87 and you’re able to come out put up 31 points in the fourth quarter and only hold the Pacers to 17 and I thought that was absolutely huge aside from the phenomenal performance we saw from Sha Gil just Alexander in that fourth quarter for OKC i think that’s exactly what you want that’s exactly that’s best case scenario you’re able to win the fourth quarter while your superstar while Shay your MVP the MVP is over here putting up that performance we talked about how important it is for JDub for Cadet to have good performances to help OKC win win these games but at the end of the day I feel like we talked about this last week too when it when you’re in those moments you want Shay to take over these kinds of games and he absolutely did it last night and and I think that’s huge for OKC and I think that’s huge for Shay this is the superstar the MVP rising to the occasion right and we saw this a little bit last year during the Western Conference Finals anthony Edwards kind of had his coming out party and really put himself on the map as in the discussion of future face of the league right and I know that’s getting into the weeds and it’s obviously it’s mostly personal preference you know face of the league like what does that mean um but the fact of the matter is Anthony Edwards went to back-to-back Western Conference Finals and for whatever reason I mean was never able to get it done and now you have SGA who is like I said rising to the occasion he is doing it yes and I think that’s I I can’t state it any better than he’s simply he’s playing like the MVP he’s playing like the the guy who wants to be the face of the league the guy who wants to take over like if the Thunder do end up winning this series it’s SGA’s league now for the next 10 years i’d say it already is it It’s close i mean if if they lose the series that’s really going to hurt him right because you look at like I don’t know just thinking back to the the KD Westbrook and Harden Thunder right those guys lost the finals and that kind of really destroyed their team and yes they all went and did a lot outside of that westbrook and Harden went MVPs after that um but I don’t know if any of those three really were ever in the conversation for Face of the League whereas if the Thunder would have won one of those if they would have won the finals and potentially stay together I don’t know anyways no no I think that’s valid though because what we saw last night like we are in the midst of of a takeover and that’s what it truly feels like that’s where he is that’s where that’s where SGA is and again I feel like last night’s performance just kind of put kind of put a bow on it and said “Look I’ve arrived i’m here and I’m gonna make sure my team holds up the Lariel Bryant trophy at the end of this because we’re going to be NBA champions and as the second he does I feel like OKC I mean I feel like Shay will be is going to be the face of the league which is kind of crazy because we have a guy in Nicola Joic who’s won MVP three times in the last five years but it’s I don’t know he just doesn’t have really the personality I don’t think to be the face and that matter that matters that does matter it matters that That does matter and plus he’s not the flashiest right and that goes into that right and and Sheay is flashy without being boisterous yes and he he has the swagger and he has the personality and he he has what it takes and I I really am excited because this is kind of a spot the NBA hasn’t been in because they’ve they’ve relied so heavily on LeBron James over the last 22 years and it was like okay who’s who’s going to take over once once LeBron leaves and for a second there was a thought it was going to be Giannis and it almost was but like LeBron still stuck around and I still think that as long as LeBron James is an active player the NBA is going to be reluctant to move away from him but it’s like man if if the Thunder win this series like this is this is it this is what they have been waiting for this is the successor to LeBron James i would I would 100% agree also one of the things I find the most one of the things I find interesting from this s from this series and from the NBA Finals and from watching kind of and from watching you know the voice of the voice of the media throughout the course of this series is how much the narrative switches from game to game from game to game after game one everybody’s talking about oh the Pacers might be able to pull up this upset and then they go back to 1-1 and everyone’s like ah you know what OKC’s going to take it right and then game game three happens and the Pacers are up 2-1 and everyone’s like “Oh hold up wait a minute the Pacers might actually take it.” And now we’re back to 22 and it kind of feels again that everybody’s talking about “Oh okay c’s going to win.” Yeah i mean it’s it’s very easy to live in the moment right how wild it’s just crazy how much it swings back and forth back and forth just based off of one just based off of one game yeah uh that just shows it it truly feels like that’s how big the moments have been yes you know the final whistle blows yes or the final buzzer blows every night and it’s like oh my gosh that game was so entertaining what that team did to win it they did exactly what they needed to do to win and I feel confident that they’re going to do it again and again and again so yeah I would agree it is funny to get kind of caught in the moment there but this is what the finals are about like I I truly believe that this is the exact type of finals that the NBA needed because it’s not a big market team against a big market team and you do have name value in the current MVP uh you’ve got the youth because you know these guys are going to be around for a long time you know that the Thunder are going to be formidable for a very long time you know that uh even the Pacers have what it takes to they’re not a a veteran roster by any means they could be threats to the East for a very long time and you’re just on the court you’re getting a great product and I think that’s the best thing that can happen right now for the NBA again considering how much how much talk there was coming into this series about the small markets and the ratings being down and yada yada yada i mean there’s still talk about the ratings being down i feel like that I don’t know why again who cares it just won’t go away it’s fun basketball that’s what matters it just won’t go away but at the end of the day it’s fun basketball to watch and I think both of these teams again the way that they’re trading blows going back and forth right one team punches the other in the mouth and then the other team comes back punches the other in the mouth yeah i think that’s the absolutely the best case scenario now for the NBA and it’s what’s making this series so fun truly Christian I don’t know what’s going to happen in game five no and that’s the that’s the best part is like they’re going back to OKC where like I said they it felt like they’ve been unbeatable at home but we literally saw Indiana take game one exactly and I know it took a borderline miracle to win that game but like you truly can’t say with confidence that OKC is going to win game five but that’s what’s made the Pacers so fun is the fact that they’ve been able to go off and pull those miracles right we talked about it last week after game one how important and how crazy it was that the Pacers just keep doing it again and again and again with these late comebacks with these late shots late game winners in Tyrese Hallebert and shown up at the most clutch moments they’ve already gone and stolen a game in OKC which is why looking at game five I don’t I have no clue which way it’s going to swing because truly it could go either way and I hate that we have to wait till Monday to to find out what happens we gotta go a whole weekend with no NBA finals it’s ridiculous man you know what this feels like to me have you seen uh Rocky 2 i haven’t no so essentially you know the story or No I mean kind of i So Rocky Rocky Master Stallone’s going out there boxing i don’t know so he’s like this underdog fighter right this kind of no-name and in in number one he gets a shot at taking on like the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in Apollo Creed he loses rocky loses in number one and number two they have a rematch and at the end they’re like trading blows and they’re both on the mat and the ref starts the 10 count and they’re both down and then they’re like both it’s all like super7s dramatic like big muscly sweaty guys climbing up the ropes as the ref is counting down and they’re like both trying to get up before the 10 count right and that’s kind of what this series feels like going back to the you know the heavyweight fighters trading blows and you truly don’t know who is going to stand up before that 10 count ends i like that spoiler alert Rocky ends up winning number two who’s Rocky in this case is it the OK no I guess I guess it would be the Pacers because they’re kind of the underdogs right i don’t know that’s just the way to fit that analogy clip it clip it christian just said he’s going for the Pacers yeah I would like it give me OKC bro give me OKC we will see when is uh the next game is Monday two days off it’s Monday as you were saying no no other uh no more basketball this weekend i look I like you know spreading them out and extending this i don’t like the two days between games i like extending it and and you know getting this as much as we possibly can but waiting a whole weekend lame yeah and then you have to and then to go to game six it won’t happen until Thursday so you got another two-day stretch there where you got to wait to see what happens next lame and if you if we get to game seven that’s not until next Sunday so two days in between all of these games yeah like I said I love you know being able to watch this being able to indulge and being able to watch the NBA Finals but waiting this long I’m not a fan no give him to give it to me tonight man well uh we got to take a break coming up on the other side of the break uh we’re going to talk Kevin Durant because that I mean he’s been a hot name hot topic throughout this show but we’re starting to see reports that the the Suns are really motivated to get a trade done before the NBA draft even some rumblings that a trade could happen sometime this weekend so we’ll get into uh some of those details next it’s the Saturday Show 975 the KSL Sports Zone it’s the greatest night in the history of my life i just want to say one thing yo I did it oh it’s the Saturday show 975 the KSL Sports Zone excellent job Sean that was that was great little bit of Rocky there during the clip or during the break I was I was showing Alex the clip of my Rocky analogy rocky too it was very dramatic rocky uh knocks Apollo Greed Apollo Creed down they’re both on the mat the ref starts the 10 count rocky gets up takes him 9 seconds apollo Creed gets up but then he collapses and falls down as the 10 count rings rocky is the champion that’s how I see the NBA finals going i I I agree man it’s a good analogy we’ll see it’s a good analogy i might look stupid this might be more of Rocky one where Apollo Creed wins but the but Rocky was just happy to be there he was happy to happy to make it out alive now I Now I feel like I have to go home and watch these movies man uh Rocky one and two are awesome rocky three and four are good but they’re they get really cheesy uh five and six don’t bother i don’t know what it is about Sylvester Stallone movies being a common theme but recently Alex Cury told me that I needed to watch Rambo yeah Rambo’s good the Rambo movies so I got a lot of Sylvester Salone to catch up on apparently yeah you do that’s fine i mean yeah they’re classics I guess i don’t know i’ve never seen them okay let’s uh let’s get into some of this Kevin Durant trade rumors um Sham Shirania was on Pat McAfee yesterday and he was talking about basically the teams interested in Kevin Durant and uh that team those that list of teams has been whittleled down to essentially three finalists you’ve got the Houston Rockets the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Miami Heat kind of out of nowhere and as I teased kind of before the break the Suns want to get this deal done before the draft obviously because whatever they’re getting in return for Kevin Durant is going to include draft picks this year right so they want to have plenty of time to do their scouting know where they’re going to be picking and and potentially bring players in for workouts so that’s kind of the motivation of why this deal needs to get done ASAP on their end and in case you don’t know you can make trades during the NBA finals you just can’t if you’re playing still so the the Pacers and the Thunder can’t be involved in any moves but everybody else can so that’s that’s kind of big to point out there um but I want to run through these teams and kind of talk about them we’ve talked about it a little bit i guess off the top of my head the Rockets would make the most sense just because they’ve got the young core they’ve got assets and it feels like Kevin Durant just fits best with that team where he can slide in and be the guy but not be like the only thing right and the Rockets team made the playoffs this year they actually finished the regular season as the second best team in the West and I know they’d have to give up some of their their younger players and again draft picks but at at the same time I I don’t feel like that would be detrimental to their uh I guess war chest of assets that they have i don’t they don’t have a ton right similar to the Jazz or the Thunder but they they have enough assets that they it’s not like a Kevin Durant trade would completely deplete them for the future i think I would like a landing spot of KD to the Rockets just because I I feel like they have a lot of young they have a good young core right they have a good core of players where like you mentioned if KD goes he’s the guy but he’s not the guy and I feel like with KD aging with you his inability to finish a season healthy right I feel like that would that could potentially help to bring the to bring in a veteran to help that young core for the Rockets maybe get over that hump yes they were the number two um I and I thought they played pretty well in the in the in the playoffs yeah they they played all right and I mean if you’re the Thunder or if you’re excuse me the Rockets you’re holding on to uh Shenun for certain you’re holding on to Amen Thompson um you really wouldn’t want to give up Jabari Smith and Jaylen Green but you might have to give up both of them but even still if you keep Ahmed Thompson and Alper and Shenon and then add Kevin Durant there and then keep some of the veteran guards that you have I mean that’s enough to get it done and we really didn’t even see a lot of Reed Shepard this year because of the fact that you know he was playing behind Dylan Brooks and Van Fleet and some some older veterans there so you might be able to have a pretty legit roster there in Houston now the bad news is Jazz fans this is what you’ve got to think about you’ve got that 2031 Suns first round pick so you’re kind of thinking like okay do you really want the Suns in return getting these young players to build around right so that’s the tough part it’s almost like for the for Jazz fans you want to root for the worst trade possible so in my opinion you almost don’t want him going you don’t want Kevin Durant going to Houston because they might get a the Suns might get a couple of nice players back that they could build around and potentially be competitive again here in six more years for the Yeah but again I don’t know six years is is still pretty far out and a lot can change even in one season and in the NBA so it’s hard to project that but the reality is that the Suns this whole project of going all in on Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant and having be Durant and Booker it didn’t work it blew up in their faces yeah quite literally yeah and the Suns they’re in a major they’re in a major desperate need of a rebuild because I think the way things are going right now for the Suns there’s there’s there’s not a lot of hope there exactly uh next team Minnesota similar to Houston right um I mean the Timberwolves are a team that they’ve made backto-back Western Conference Finals haven’t been able to get over the hump would Kevin Durant fit next to Anthony Edwards i would be interested to see that we know that Anthony Edwards really looks up to Kevin Durant he kind of idolized him it was his favorite player growing up so that aspect of it would kind of be cool um from Minnesota’s side they don’t really have a ton of assets uh their their picks are all with the Jazz that’s true um so I mean you’re you’re looking at trading picks like way down the road and basically just matching salaries um but that would be interesting because obviously he’s a really good scorer and it would take a lot of the scoring load off of Anthony Edwards there was not really an option that could do that with the Timberwolves and I think that might have been their biggest flaw is if Anthony Edwards wasn’t getting it done offensively there was really no other option i mean Julius Randle had a good series against the Warriors but I would not trust him i mean we saw against OKC fell apart so that would it would kind of be an interesting fit i don’t know i mean if you’re Minnesota that would really be all in right that would be your final move and if that doesn’t work you’re hamstrung if that doesn’t work it’s kind of over for you whatever whatever window this is for the Minnesota Timberwolves to potentially you know try to go get their ring if you go all in on KD and it doesn’t work out it’s your window’s over it’s closed and you’re going to have to enter enter that rebuild because at that point you’re giving up like you mentioned you’re going to have to give up some players to match those salaries and who knows what Minnesota would have to give up to get KD but you’d have to give up a lot i mean yes if you’re Minnesota you’re almost hoping that you can include Julius Randall in that deal um to get off of him and his he’s at about 31 million so you you need a couple more pieces to go along with Randall to match Kevin Durant’s $54 million salary but it’s doable it is but I want to talk about this last team the Heat because that feels really random to me it feels like it came out of nowhere but apparently I don’t know if it’s coming from Kevin Durant’s side or if the Heat are just making a strong push but this is the one that out of these three finalists this is the team that makes the least sense to me right uh because it doesn’t feel like they’re close and it’s not like they have a young superstar to build around similar to the way that the the Rockets or the Timberwolves do right you’re if you’re in this scenario with a Miami he would be asking Kevin Durant to come in and be the face of the team and I don’t know if that would really work out well i do think it’s interesting that Kevin Durant played with Bam Adabio during the Olympics um sounds like for this deal to get done the Heat would have to include Haime Hakez or Nic uh Yoic so I don’t know i mean you’d still in that scenario you’d keep Tyler Harrow and Bam I Debio and pair them with Kevin Durant but that I don’t know i know the East is thin it’s weak but that just doesn’t that screams second round exit to me i feel like from a Miami perspective it makes sense you think so from from a Miami Heat perspective yes because Miami needs a superstar yeah they need a superstar they need to bring in a big name and I obviously they feel like Kevin Durant would fit that mold but I feel like for Kevin Durant it doesn’t make sense because at this point in your career right you want to ring chase the reality is I mean Kevin Durant’s always been ring chasing exactly exactly you want to continue to ring chase and I feel like if you end up with the Miami Heat you’re kind of taking yourself out of that conversation because you’re not better than the Pacers no you’re not better than a fully health cle fully healthy Cleveland or Boston i know those teams still have moves that they both need to make right right um but I I wouldn’t take the heat immediately over either of those teams no well I mean if you look if if we’re looking at the three finalists the Heat the Rockets and the Timberwolves of those three teams the Miami Heat have the least chance right now to go out and win a title with Kevin Durant with Kevin or without I mean yeah sure so just what it from a Katy perspective it would have make sense but from a from a Miami perspective I think I I see why it would make sense because Miami is a big market and you need the star that you need that superstar similar to LA right that’s why they went out and got Luca and you you don’t have that superstar right now so from that perspective it would make sense but like I said from KD it that one just doesn’t right it doesn’t make sense after losing Jimmy Butler you’re kind of left without an identity right um I don’t know i if if I don’t know exactly what it’s going to take to get done it sounds like the Spurs were in the running but they are very unwilling to give up the number two overall pick for Kevin Durant which on San Antonio’s side I think that’s smart but it it also makes it sound like maybe the Suns are going to get a little bit more in return than we were initially thinking even though Kevin Durant is old and expensive and some I don’t want to say problematic but it’s like he’s either going to retire or leave in two years you know so it’s a big gamble for whoever takes this trade on but I’m interested to see the main thing that that interests me and it’s something I’ve mentioned so many times on this show is you’ve got Kevin Durant and Giannis onto the Koopo or the big sevenfooters that teams really want this off season we don’t know what’s going to happen with Giannis in Milwaukee sounds like there’s a lot of teams interested in Kevin Durant whoever misses out on Kevin Durant Lowry Markin is the perfect backup plan to that so I think that is the domino that needs to fall right whoever misses out on KD whether that is the Spurs because KD was too expensive or whether that is the Rockets because he ends up going to Miami or Minnesota or maybe Minnesota is like “Yeah let’s let’s get Lowry because he’s a little bit younger and could pair with Anthony Edwards for a longer time.” I don’t know i I I think I’m really fascinated by that um and I don’t know if other NBA teams really see it that way because as uh Danny Age was saying to make a trade the other team has to be really interested in your guy and it sounds like last offseason at least there weren’t a lot of teams that were really interested in Larry Marketing so who knows but uh I do think this Kevin Durant domino that’s about to fall I think is going to set off sort of a a chain chain reaction of a lot of big moves i think there’s been there’s been a lot of chatter of this could be a very busy NBA offseason i would agree and you know to kind of go along with that we had uh NBA AP rider Tim Reynolds on JJ and Alex earlier this week and he kind of said the same thing where the second one of the second one domino falls it’s going to just cause this huge chain reaction of trades and moves that leading up to the draft and that could include the Spurs trading away number two yeah and the fact that they didn’t want to trade number two for Kevin Durant I think kind of raises you know I perk up a little bit when I hear that because that’s that signals that they’re not going to make a desperate move just to make a move and it makes me wonder if they really aren’t interested in trading out at all but you never know i mean for the right offer they I think they should i think they would but we’ll see the draft is week and a half away uh I’m very excited next week by the way little tease next week our show we’re gonna spend a lot of time previewing a lot of the potential prospects for the Utah Jazz at the number five pick but who knows maybe they’ll make a trade and uh end up picking number two or three i don’t know we’ll see man we’ll see but it does kind of feel like right now we’re at a point where everyone’s just kind of waiting for the first domino to fall and the second it does I feel like we’re going to we’re going to be in for some fun yeah teams are holding their breath and it really does feel like that first move is going to be Kevin Durant and then uh teams are gonna go from there yeah I think Giannis will follow right after you think you think Giannis is going to get moved probably really i think so i I I feel like the Bucks I feel like at this point the Bucks the window’s closed man it’s over yeah uh you don’t have You went all in on Damen Lillard and now you don’t have Damen Lillard for next season i think it’s easy to see that from our perspective i don’t know if if the Bucks feel that way sometimes it’s hard you know being in the front office being desperate trading away the face of your franchise one of the best players in your team’s history is hard uh I feel like it’s probably a 50-50 shot that Giannis gets traded i wouldn’t be surprised either way but I mean if it does happen Yeah the the latest reports were saying that the interest has kind of cooled off yeah yeah and he was put maybe going to end up staying but I still think that if there’s an offer out there for Giannis that the Bucks can’t refuse especially an offer that would help the Bucks build up their own war chest yeah i feel like that’s something you have to really consider this season well and as we’re saying I mean if Kevin Durant really is the first priority for some of these teams once that trade happens teams are going to turn to other options which is wild to me yeah Giannis is more valuable than Kevin Durant i would take KD over or I would take Yiannis over KD any day man yeah but the thing is I mean KD would take less to get right yeah but I mean like you mentioned too earlier in the segment like the reality is KD has maybe what two seasons left in him yeah i’d be shocked if he’s played into his 40s and I feel like that I feel like that should really impact the value of of what you can give up for KD yeah i think the Suns are in a tough spot yeah so we’ll see uh yeah big big one potentially coming i’m excited man all right let’s take a break uh coming up next we’ll hit technical fouls i’ve got a lot this week still not sure exactly which ones I’m going to hit uh got a couple of NFL things in there stephen A smith always catching strays that was pretty funny uh we’ll get to that next this is the Saturday Show 975 the KSL Sports Zone if you touch the three mistakes you’ll get hit with the back cuz that’s a technical foul you will feel my wrath that’s a technical foul personal foul 69 offense he’s giving them to business a technical foul welcome back to the Saturday show 975 the KSL Sports Zone christian Esparza Alex Napoulos time to get into technical fouls we got a lot to go through today uh do you want to start us off for it being a slow week it was a lot of uh a lot of uh knucklehead things going on this week and we’ll start with the Knicks okay because I feel like every I feel like we need to give him a technical foul yeah this was probably the most blatant technical foul of the week so in case you weren’t aware the New York Knicks fired Tom Tibido to the reaction i feel like a lot of people was a lot of people were surprised by it um you have a head coach who has brought you your most successful era in in the in the Knicks since I think it was the 90s if I’m not mistaken and they fire him and then obviously the Knicks try to find their next head coach and what they do is they end up going to the Dallas Mavericks and asking them “Hey can we interview Jason Kidd and the Mavericks are like “No thanks we’re good.” They’re like “Heck no we’re good.” Then they go to Oh who else did they go they went to the Atlanta Hawks try to get Quinn Snyder former Utah Jazz head coach reached out to the Timberwolves reached out to the Timberwolves for Finch they reached out to who else was on that list there was the Houston Rockets they reached out to Adoka and there was one more there was a couple more regardless basically the point is they’re asking other teams if they can talk to their coach and they’re like “No.” Yeah they’re like “Are you crazy are no.” And so Charles Barkley gets on ESPN um and does the pregame for I believe it was game three and Charles Barkley phenomenally summed it up on what the situation is for the New York Knicks the Knicks got to be the stupidest damn people in the world like you don’t fire no good coach like that and don’t have a plan i mean Tips did a hell of a job obviously something’s going on there but you don’t have a a plan and now the three coaches turning you down you got to have a plan man and they don’t have a plan now i mean I don’t know what the hell they’re going to do i mean yeah he’s saying what we’re all feeling right they got to be the stupidest team they are uh yeah you fire your coach and your backup plan is to to get with other coaches that’s like in high school like you break up with your girlfriend and your plan is to get with one of your friends girlfriends like of course they’re going to say no what’s wrong with you oh man uh they fired Tom Tibido they have no backup plan you have all these teams and all these head coaches in the league saying “No we’re good we we don’t want to go there or you can’t you can’t interview our guy.” Yeah you have college head coaches who were potentially floated out there who are saying “No we’re good.” Dan Hurley Rick Patino uh they’re like “No we don’t want to we’re good.” They are meeting with uh former Kings coach Mike Brown and uh former Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins for their head coaching job well at least they’re not employed at least Yeah at least they’re not employed so they’re not employed that is that’s a step in the right direction for the Knicks are either of those coaches better than Tom Tibido was i I don’t know i mean there’s a reason that those guys don’t have a job anymore um but we’ll see it’s It’s just interesting and wild michael Malone another option by the way they’re they’re not planning on meeting with him but he is another coach that was recently fired that is jobless so I he sums it up best barkley sums it up best how you don’t fire no good coach and don’t have a plan right and that’s where the Knicks are technical foul to the New York Knicks uh sticking with the NBA and some of their coverage this one’s quick we won’t spend a ton of time on it stephen A smith last night caught on uh on his phone playing solitire during game four of the NBA finals there’s a funny picture of that going around uh he did he’s making a joke out of it he said “Good thing I can multitask especially during timeouts.” Um but I regardless that’s a bad look i mean this is your your guy Stephen A smith who people already wonder if he actually even watches the games or just repeats the same screaming talking points over and over again yeah you’ve got him on his on his solitire app during the finals in the middle of the game uh I don’t like this no I don’t like this put your phone away exactly you’re in the arena and I get you know Stephen A has been to probably a thousand games at this point but it’s the NBA finals it’s a phenomenal series at least pretend to care right and if if it is a timeout like talk to talk to somebody talk to your co-workers like interact with people that’s weird uh I’m gonna go back to back here i’m gonna go with the Cincinnati Bengals i’m giving them a technical foul this is a really weird situation um with their first round pick they drafted Sheamar Stewart 17th overall he’s a defensive end you’re seeing a lot of rookies starting to sign their their deals as mandatory mini camp is here the Bengals however are making it really difficult for Shamar Stewart long story short they’re kind of they’re trying to include some contract language in there that would void a lot of the guarantees which is really abnormal and Shamar Stewart is saying “All I want is the same type of guarantees that your last few first round picks have had.” He’s not asking for anything out of the ordinary he just wants deals structured the same way that the previous draft picks had but the Bengals really want to have these guarantees in there or the voidable guarantees in there which Shamar Stewart feels like is unfair to him so he left mini camp he’s not there he’s not participating there’s even rumors thrown around that he could withdraw his name from the Bengals which apparently you can do um as a draft pick you can withdraw your name and enter next year’s draft like re-enter the draft that’s wild uh and I didn’t know that was a thing apparently Bo Jackson did that i didn’t know i was not aware that he did that uh that was a big deal with the Buccaneers he was really upset with them so he he sat out and re-entered the draft the next year and was selected by the Raiders um I didn’t know that was a thing i think that’s really interesting i think that’s I didn’t like the Steuart pick anyways uh he had four and a half sacks in college like career sacks not last season o four and a half career sacks in college so I always thought uh that was a weird pick where did he Oh he went to uh I think Texas A&M I think yeah yeah Texas&M that’s right anyways what are you doing Cindy like first of all just sign him first of all kind of cheaping out well and you’ve got the whole deal with Trey Hendricks exactly exactly you got the whole situation with T with Trey Hendrickx who your best defensive player uh you you can’t Trey Hendrickson sorry trey Hendrickson you can’t renegotiate you lose Germaine Pratt you cut him actually one of your leaders on that defense you cut him earlier this week and now you have your first round pick who doesn’t want to sign because of language in the contract yep yeah you’ve got uh in Trey Hendrickson he led the NFL in sacks last year right he’s led the NFL in sacks over the last two years actually as the most over the last two years and then yeah first round pick and you could potentially not have either of those guys on your team because you’re so bad at negotiating contracts so I saw a funny tweet earlier in this week and I wish I would have saved it to give to give credit but I saw a tweet uh earlier when uh the Shamar Stewart news happened on Thursday I believe it was where they were saying it’s really it’s it’d be really funny if the Cincinnati Bengals drafted Shamar Stewart who is a defensive end to come in and kind of not necessarily replace Hendrickson oh he was he was backup plan for sure kind of like push you know Hendrickson and say “Oh well that’s fine if you don’t want to you know resign we got this other guy coming up and now this other guy coming up also doesn’t want to play for you.” He 100% was a backup plan and now you like I’m saying you might not have either of them so we’ll see there uh do you want to wrap us up with the last one we got to hit this or should I read it what’s going on with AB man antonio Brown and the only reason that I include this in here I made this joke yesterday nobody died so we can laugh about it right i know that’s terrible i don’t think anybody got Somebody did get hurt yeah somebody got hurt christian well the only reason that we’re making light of this is because nobody died um Antonio Brown is wanted on an attempted murder charge in Miami according to an arrest warrant uh this incident took place after a boxing match in May outside it was an amateur boxing event there were videos going online where Antonio Brown was in a melee and gunshots were heard uh the story I believe I think he grabbed a security guard’s gun and shot it at this guy that he was fighting yes that’s what happened uh again nobody died uh look man when I So I think it was uh Thursday night where I was driving home and um driving down I-15 and I get the not I get a notification from ESPN and sorry I looked at it and I read Antonio Brown wanted for attempted murder and so my mind immediately goes a thousand miles per hour because I’m thinking like oh AB killed somebody well he tried but it turns out he tried uh yeah so let’s see allegedly allegedly right thank you Sean allegedly attacked the man during the video i don’t know how alleged it is there is a video and I saw there is a video well because nothing’s official yet he hasn’t been you know arrested yeah but you can kind of see in the video and gone to trial okay we have to say alleged allegedly cell phone video captured two shots fired i want to read the funny part i just think it’s funny that they grabbed the security guard’s gun and shot at the at the guy um yeah two shots fired the man attacked uh he he ducked after the first shot was heard officers found two shell casings and an empty firearm holster at the scene and yeah that’s the I mean he’s wanted he’s a wanted man I guess is he on the run i don’t know i haven’t heard that they got him is he gonna turn himself in who knows who know i doubt he’s gonna turn himself in probably not uh anytime I see Antonio Brown trending I’m thinking like oh what kind of what you know he’s a psycho what’d he do this time this is not not a good look not what I was expecting no you know I expected some other like you know Twitter rampage where he’s just tweeting a bunch of random weird things but this is this is serious this is a very serious charge and I did not I do want to say all jokes aside I am glad nobody Yes uh is dead yes so it’s the most important thing if somebody would have died it probably would not be in the technical fouls i would Yeah wouldn’t want to touch that but but like you said nobody died so we can make fun of Right right uh okay we got to take a break coming up next Alex I want to get into an interesting conversation because I mean we talked about the NBA finals to open the show but for as much fun as the NBA finals have been the Stanley Cup finals have been arguably better so we’ll get into that next it’s the Saturday Show 975 DSL Sports Zone breaking free is drytle to the net leon Drytle has tied the series with his fourth OT winner in the playoffs final score Edmonton 5 Florida 4 in overtime [Music] oh man that’s uh Jack Michaels and Bob Staer are uh the guys on the Edmonton Oilers radio call so tune in to their radio broadcast because that’s what you’re going to be getting every night i love the energy i love the passion i love it but if I ever sound like that calling a game let me know no you need It’s overtime in the Stanley Cup finals alex you got to be dramatic that’s over the top dramatic though i felt like that was a WWE ringside i’d be here for it ringside thing happening man i loved every second i loved Yeah uh Edmonton in case you didn’t pick up on it they get the 5-4 win in overtime in Florida to tie up the series 2-2 and it was I mean what a game i can go on and on about how every game has been so much fun to watch but like this game Florida scored the first three goals they were up 3-0 yes Edmonton scores four unanswered goals it looks like they’re going to win the game sam Reinhardt scores with 20 seconds left he ties it up to force overtime and then you’ve got Dry Cidle find in the back of the net for the game-winning goal doing it again doing it again um he has been one of I mean we know he’s one of the best scorers one of the best fourers forwards in the world yeah uh that pairing of Dry Cidle and McDavid is just insane uh so yeah just incredibly entertaining hockey i’ve got a friend who’s really into hockey he was saying that this is some of the best hockey that he’s ever seen i mean I would agree too um not that I’m like an avid you know I’ve watched hockey for the entire of our young hockey viewing years this is the best hockey we’ve seen the more and more that I’ve watched I I can absolutely agree with that statement this is this series this final you know watching it last year I thought it was absolutely incredible i didn’t think that coming into the series I didn’t think that you could top what happened last season but man they’re doing it and they’re doing it in style and I love it game one overtime yes game two double overtime yes game three Florida runs away with it but you get a five on five brawl oh that was amazing uh and then game four tie and goal with 20 seconds left and then overtime again uh and you’re doing it all with I mean these are the best players in the world and I I think that I got to give credit to uh good old Bobby Barovski he had an amazing save i think it was late in the fourth or late in the third period helped them secure that game-winning goal uh it’s just amazing to me like it you hear football’s a game of inches right and if football’s a game of inches what’s hockey like a game of centimeters uh I think it was dryidle tried to to score the goal and and Bobby did the old butterfly stuck his legs out and like the edge of his skate knocked the puck away and like if his if his legs were an inch shorter the puck would have gone in or even on Sam Reinard’s game-winning goal he was on the I don’t know what that line is called but imagine like the baseline in NBA right it’s kind of like that he was right up against that and the the margin of error that he had to shoot the puck in at that angle if it would have been even half an inch to the left or right the puck would not have gone in um and it’s just it’s crazy how accurate these guys can be and even then even on that shot there was a Edmonton defender who stuck his skate out but his eggs were they were an inch too short so he couldn’t get the skate on it and it’s just it’s just so crazy to me that how accurate these shots are how close some of these saves are and it’s like nailbiting white knuckling edge of my seat the whole the whole game i 100% agree Christian and look we spent the we spent the first segment talking about you know how much the NBA finals have delivered and how awesome those games have been but you’re absolutely right this the Stanley Cup finals have been even more amazing and I think something that you know something that can be buried and I think that’s probably the biggest storyline heading into game into the game tonight is the fact that I feel like a lot of people thought the Oilers were done and dusted i feel like the I feel like a lot of people thought the Oilers it was over well that was the big thing because the game three the way game three ended with Edmonton seemingly collapsing and just going all out on they let Florida under their skin right and it seemed like they just fell apart mentally uh they were going around Absolutely cross-checking Florida for no reason uh the one player he swiped a Florida player with his stick while he was on the ground uh you had another guy crossch checkck a Florida player break his own stick on the Florida player’s back for no reason like they’re away from the puck and it’s like okay are these guys melting down is this a meltdown or it absolutely looked like it it looked like it but then it’s like or are they kind of saying you know what we’ll give you game three but you better be freaking ready for game four because we’re coming and that’s honestly what happened 100% and even then game um game four you’re up three nothing Panthers after the first quarter and again it looks like this it they’re done and dusted man it’s over the Oilers have no response they got no answers and then all of a sudden the Oilers come back yeah make it 3-3 they take the lead and then you have the the goal again with just seconds left on the clock and the P and it looked like the Panthers again were going to secure this one but for the Oilers to stick it out for dry cidle to do it again and score an overtime winner the NHL playoffs the the Stanley Cup finals man they’ve delivered and it’s been absolut What a pleasure it’s been to watch and going back to a couple weeks ago we got into like if you want to keep seeing the same teams over and over again in the finals and I think this is exactly why right because not only is this fun in the moment but you know that there’s a history between these two teams you know that Edmonton wants it so bad because Florida got it last year you know that Florida doesn’t want to give it up to Edmonton because they beat them last year right and Florida feels like they’re the team on the on the top right now and both of these teams made moves to get even better than they were last year and and it’s showing on the ice and you know McDavid so desperately wants to raise the cup because that’s his whole thing right he’s the best player in the world but he doesn’t have he’s never he’s never won the finals and that’s the only blemish on his career right now so he wants it and it’s just those dang Florida Panthers that are in his way over and over again and that’s that’s what I’m having fun with i know the fights are fun i know the uh the dramatic finishes are fun but like I’m here for the the history of it the story of it and it’s it’s really fun kind of jumping into this hockey world and learning all of the lore that’s going on it’s like oh yeah like a lot of people don’t like Edmonton a lot of people don’t like McDavid a lot of people like Florida they like Reinhardt they like Sam Bennett they like Kachchuck these guys are like pretty much American heroes because of what they did during the Four Nations faceoff right right so it’s it feels like it’s more than just oh yeah these teams are these two teams are playing for the championship it’s going to be two different teams next year like it’s it very well could be these two same teams again it’s so fun to watch and again it’s it’s the high level of hockey it’s the back and forth and you know it’s a similar conversation to what we had with the Pacers where you just have two teams just absolutely brawling at each other quite literally in this sense and they’re just punching each other in the mouth and the other team responds by punching the other one back in the mouth twice as hard and that’s exactly what you love to see and I I feel like even with this series I just don’t know which way it’s going to go because again it looked like the Oilers were done and dusted and then right the Panthers were going to were going to rally up three nothing the Oilers come back and now you take this game back to Edmonton on your home ice tickets as low as 825 by the way oh my gosh and and you got a chance here to take a 3-1 lead take it back to Florida before you take it back to Florida uh or a 3-2 lead before you take back to Florida and then you know at this game tonight I think is going to be uber important because I think whoever wins tonight is going to end up winning that feels very safe to say yeah um I still wouldn’t give it a 100% guarantee just because these two team it’s so unpredictable like like we literally saw the other day like we keep repeating Florida goes up 3-0 you think the game’s over yes so you never know what could happen but I I do think that Edmonton it felt like they were down and out and then they win and now they go back and play on their home ice big and you know they’re taking they’re taking it back you have that opportunity to go 3-2 and I’m excited to see what happens man i’m excited to see if I’m you know if it goes again to OT and the dramatics are there the NHL playoffs by far right now have I think a lot more a lot more of our attention than the NBA finals do i wouldn’t say a lot just because I mean we spent the whole segment talking about how much fun the NBA finals have been right uh but it’s close and I I think I would give the edge to the Stanley Cup finals just because I mean you’re getting overtime every single game or a five on five brawl like that’s that’s so much fun so uh let us know what you think we put a poll up on Twitter just barely question of the weekend on the Saturday show what have you had more fun watching stanley Cup finals or NBA finals stanley Cup finals has one vote i literally just put it out so uh Stanley Cup Finals is winning off the first vote uh check that out let us know what you think that is up on Twitter i think for me NBA I’ve had more fun watching the NBA Finals do you think so i think for me yes but that’s because I’ve you know I’ve watched basketball for a really really long time and I didn’t really jump into this whole hockey thing until until we knew we were going to get the hockey club yeah I get that and so I think just my love for basketball and the years that I’ve spent watching that game compared to to to hockey i think that’s probably why for me it’s the NBA finals that’s valid yeah yeah i will say I we’ll we’ll finish on this um my last takeaway from this game was because this game was in Florida right they show Dry Cidle’s game-winning goal and then it cuts to this big watch party in Edmonton and like everybody’s they’re all standing and they like you know man Dry Cidle is so awesome he gets the breakaway he’s got one hand on the stick he’s using his other hand his left hand to literally push the defender off of him and with one hand he pushes the puck into the back of the net that’s awesome right but then it cuts to the watch party in Edmonton and they just blow up they’re all going crazy and my thought was I want that here in Salt Lake City so badly whether that’s for the NBA or for the NHL I want a finals watch party where we can just stand out there on the plaza and go crazy when our team scores and it feels like we’re close i I not close as in next year right but it feels like that is it’s on the table within the next hopefully five years yes it could be a reality it could be a reality but that’s what I want especially after you know no no knock on the Jazz but not having playoff basketball here in the state of Utah for a minute right i feel like Yeah yeah even if I feel like the state of Utah needs some playoff whether it’s playoff it’s not the finals right yeah just like a playoff series yes cuz we’ve been so deprived of that yes for for what’s it been now five years almost I think so I think so uh but still like that just it looked like it was so much fun and I just have FOMO it no and it tr truly it does it does feel like you’re missing it we’re missing out and it feels like again because of you know NBA playoff environments at Delta Center i feel like all the J I feel like all Jazz fans right now can say that they they they all miss that they miss that energy they miss they miss that that excitement and I feel like right now the Utah the Utah Mammoth have a almost Cardinal in there bro get the dump button i feel like uh the Utah Mammoth have a a really really big opportunity right now to capitalize on the need the need for that the need for the playoff environment the need for that excitement and that drama and if they can do it this next season I whoever’s not hooked we’ll we’ll be hooked it’s up for the taken go grab it absolutely uh one last time got to pull up on Twitter on the KSL Sports Zone account by the way question of the weekend on the Saturday show what have you had more fun watching stanley Cup finals NBA Finals the votes are rolling in quickly uh Stanley Cup finals leads 67 to 33 so go check it out on Twitter and vote real quick before we go to break Sean Brad Marshand yeah how you feeling i It’s hard to put into words i In case you don’t know Sean is a Boston Bruins fan he’s wearing a Bruins shirt right now brad Marshand was on the Bruins longtime vet florida traded for him picked him up at the trade deadline yeah so I He’s the only rooting interest I have in the whole series i other than just hockey in general yeah so I am kind of rooting for Florida even though they’ve broken the they broke the Bruins basically the last two seasons and put us to where we had to trade Marshaway but I’m rooting for him you’re a long time hockey guy so have you had more fun watching the Stanley Cup finals or NBA finals stanley Cup for sure it this series has just been so crazy such a war such a battle the other the NBA series has been awesome too but this is just next level hockey and if you’re not watching it you’re missing out you really are yep and from the ratings it sounds like a lot of people aren’t watching it so I would highly recommend uh checking that out tonight we’ve got game five on deck what time is that uh six o’clock it is kind of hard to access you need TNT however you can get to that youtube TV youtube TV there you go mooch off your parents like me exactly all right uh got to take a break coming up next on the other side let’s talk uh stick with hockey a little bit utah hockey Utah Mammoth dump it they’re getting ready for the draft bringing some prospects in we’ll touch on that a little bit as well as RSL they’re on deck today so that’s next this is the Saturday Show 975 DKSL Sports Zone all right it’s the Saturday Show 975 DKSL Sports Zone i’m Christian Sparza Alex Napoulos with me it’s time for five minutes of still got a lot of things to talk about not a ton of time left in today’s show so we’ll kind of rapid fire through some things let’s start with the Utah Mammoth hey you did it i did it um you got it right it is draft season the uh NHL draft is two weeks from yesterday little confusing there but uh the Mammoth are starting to bring in prospects for interviews starting to heat up uh I like the way they did it sounds nice they bring these kids in and they’re kids like a lot of You got to remember TJ Ginda was was he 17 or 16 last year like a lot of these guys are are kids right uh and so the the the teams like fly them out and take them out to dinner and interview them uh anyways Brady Martin is a name that has had a lot of connection to Utah throughout the last week apparently he’s been sort of a riser in this draft and you can tell me how you feel about this i feel a little weird about it you hear Brady Martin and then you hear “Oh his comp is Sam Bennett and that’s why he’s been rising is because of how good Sam Bennett has been in the playoffs.” And it’s like okay that has nothing to do with Brady Martin so I want to kind of be weary about that maybe he is a good player i’ve never watched Brady Martin play so I can’t say that i have seen some clips of him i saw him truck a dude and so I mean he’s a he’s not big but he’s a tough physical dude who he grew up on a farm um but it’s like is he really worthy of the number four overall pick that’s for Bill Armstrong and Co to to figure out but uh they are very interested in him yeah and I think that uh I believe Cole Baggley our KSL sports insider for the Utah Mammoth I believe he talked to him here a couple days ago and you can find that interview on kslports.com and the YouTube page kslports yep um seems like a bright kid he and and like you mentioned he’s a he’s a kid and they’re 18 he’s got kind of that kid energy and and he seems like a he seems like a a good vibe and I feel like that’s I mean obviously just basing off of the kind of that kid energy i feel like that’s something you just want in that organization someone with good vibes someone that brings uh you know positive energy into the locker room but at the same time isn’t afraid to to go in and basically truck a dude yeah on the ice right yeah have that killer instinct on the ice good guys in the locker room but the second you step on the ice it you you flip that switch and you become you you become uh that you become physical on the ice i will give uh Brady Martin credit like that is what Utah needs they need more physicality on this team um and I I do think that Brady Martin would bring just that even though he’s not a big body uh but he he is a physical guy who’s willing to get down and dirty maybe Utah trades back from from pick four and selects Brady Martin or maybe they just reach on him at four and maybe it it ends up working well if you can bring him in and develop him it does sound like four is a little high but uh we’ll see another name that they’ve brought oh uh real quick Brady Martin is a center by the I think that’s important to point out uh because another name that they brought in took him out to dinner I believe last night or or somewhat recently Porter Martone a a bit of a bigger name he is a guy that’s projected to to go top four a lot of guys even have him going top three he might not even be on the board when when Utah’s picking he is a right winger um that’s a that’s a big prospect right there because he is a guy again it would not be a reach if uh if Utah selected Porter Martone he is one of the bigger names in this draft so we’ll see um where do they go wing as opposed to center and that’s hard because like these prospects aren’t even going to be playing for your team uh next season right it’s going to be a couple years before we see them so that that’s a kind of interesting wrinkle that’s thrown into roster building with the NHL and the draft it’s it’s very hard to project if you’re going to need a center or a wing more in the next two years right um so we’ll see there but regardless the number four pick is huge it’s huge and you have an opportunity to bring in somebody who can who can really make a difference for your team down the road uh with with the high caliber of player you can get at number four but I think right now for the win now mentality and for for Utah Mammoth fans I think they have more eyes on free agency and what’s going to happen with uh what’s going to happen with players potentially coming over to the Mammoth through free agency to really bolster the squad and and be able to bring in a piece that can really get them over that line and really get make really a playoff contender um and so as exciting as the NHL draft will be to get the number four pick and to bring in potentially a a top tier prospect I think all eyes are on July 1st when free agency starts couple of notes on there i’m glad you bring up free agency because uh let’s start with Sam Bennett i think he is he would be the biggest fish obviously he is in the middle of the Stanley Cup finals right now got some reports uh going around on uh on Twitter and social media andy Strickland he is a rinkside reporter for FanDuel Sports Network just reading some of his tweets he’s basically saying uh Sam Bennett’s a lock to return to Florida i mean especially if they win the Stanley Cup finals so would be a nice get for Utah in free agency but it’s pretty hard to imagine i mean Bennett has been one of the best playoff performers through all of the playoffs not just these finals and if if the Panthers end up repeating Sam Bennett’s going to be a big part of that and it would be in their eyes and you know I agree it would be dumb to let him walk away in free agency but Andy Strickland says he can confirm Mitch Mner will not be returning to Toronto he will be playing for a new team come next season so sounds like Mitch Martner will be a free agent um we’ll see if Utah’s willing to uh open up the pocketbook for him or if they want to keep it conservative splash man splash the cash yeah it’s uh it’s a little bit of what we were talking about last segment right where you have this opportunity to seize the momentum to to really take a step up and and bring that playoff culture back to the state of Utah yep and I feel like making a move like this bringing in a free a big a big fish like a Mitch Mner will will definitely help you do that but again you know everybody’s talking about how whether we’ll see whether or not the Mammoth Bill Armstrong and company are able or are willing uh to tie themselves up to to big money like that again uh two weeks from yesterday is the NHL draft and then as you said July 1st is the opening of free agency real quick uh Utah Royals they lost last night to the uh Gotham FC 3-0 so still a tough stretch for the Royals um it’s been a rough go this season they you have been plagued with injuries and I don’t want to make any excuses um for them they’ve been plagued with injuries but even with you know the the talent that’s on that roster um you expect more and you want more um and they just haven’t been able to to really get it done this season uh yet their last win yes was April 8th yes 18th they won zero against the Chicago Stars so uh tough break for them one win on the season man want to see them get back on track we do have Ray Salt Lake on deck for tonight uh they are seven straight wins yes DC United they’re hosting DC United i always get confused soccer does it backwards on the you know the Google team typically lists the home team as the bottom timeout we do it backwards everybody else in the world does it rails Lake hosting DC United tonight uh 7:30 first kick 6:30 pregame rail Salt Lake is coming off a two-0 loss last week uh was that last week no yes no two weeks ago two weeks ago two weeks they had the buy uh with they did have the buy that’s right uh two-0 loss against LA Galaxy was their last outing uh Ray Al Lake hasn’t won a game in a while as well seven straight without a win they’ve got a couple draws in there but uh yeah seven straight games without a win uh one win in the last 10 and eight wins in the last 35 games for Real Salt Lake soccer not doing too well state of Utah no it’s it’s not and tonight I feel like is a really big opportunity for for Real Salt Lake uh to one win a game and for two uh to figure out how to play the game without Diego Luna yes uh Diego Luna is with the United States men’s national team he’s uh playing at the Gold Cup that starts tomorrow I believe um that tournament starts tomorrow and so Diego Luna unavailable for potentially uh you know depending on how far the United States men’s national team make it he can miss up to four games and so your leading goal scorer your top assist maker your you know the the player with the most goal contributions for RSA Lake uh unavailable so tonight’s a good opportunity to figure out one they’ve already struggled with scoring this season so they they’ve got to figure out now how to win games without Diego Luna which is not for Rails Lake fans it’s probably not what you want to hear considering you’re in the middle of a seven game losing or seven game winless streak yep and but DC United is one of the weaker sides in Major League Soccer and so it’s a big opportunity they’re also missing a lot of key players so it’s a big opportunity tonight to figure it out for Rails Salt Lake 12th in the East uh four wins six draws eight losses for DC United so a very vulnerable opponent uh as you’re saying a good opportunity for Rail Lake to get back on track real quick while we’re with soccer sorry you go ahead and then I’ll get to my I was going to say if you’re heading over to the game tonight make sure to get there early uh be at the stadium early club legend Nick Roando is going up in the rafters um and so if you have tickets to the game tonight make sure to go out and be there early to celebrate Nick Romano um as his entering the what do they call it the ring of fame hall of Fame hall of Fame yeah he got he got inducted into the National Hall of Fame earlier this uh this summer okay and now he’s getting he’s now he’s going up in the Rafters at America First Fields which is in the Rafters is just his name plaqued onto the stadium and they don’t retire his number do they no no but he gets you know his name his name up there because Yeah i mean a a true legend one of the staples of of RSL history uh real quick though I was going to ask how did Mexico do last week how was that game uh they lost a bummer they lost they lost 42 to Switzerland um and but um honestly fun environment it was awesome to see you know the Mexico team and uh be able to do that for my dad kind of an early Father’s Day uh little present little outing um it’s not often that the the Mexican national team make it out to Utah in fact I can’t remember if they’ve ever made it out to Utah so it was awesome to be out there rice Cycles looked great they got the they had the natural grass sucks it wasn’t a you know a win but it was fun overall well I’m glad you got out man sounds like it was a blast yeah it was a good time all right uh take a quick break and then wrap this show up on the other side this is the Saturday show 975 the KSL Sports Zone welcome back to the Saturday Show 975 the KSL Sports Zone final segment of the day and then we’ll let you off to uh enjoy your weekend real quick Alex let’s hit on the US Open this course is brutal three players under par right now that’s it uh Sam Burns is in the lead he’s three under par jj Spawn is two under par and then uh Victor Havlin is one under everybody else is uh at par or above tony Fee now 10 over yeah not good this uh this course is I mean we heard all week right the real golf guys come on on all the shows throughout the week and everybody’s like “Dude Oakmont is brutal.” And that’s exactly what they want well and I I one of the things that stuck out to me throughout the course of this week was was Scotty Sheffller saying that this is the hardest course that they’ve probably ever played and you know I remember Alex and JD were talking about it and that it’s kind of proven to be true they’re looking like uh me out there i was saying you know I’m going golfing for Father’s Day tomorrow and uh you know I’ll be putting up some uh US Open scores all the big names are struggling man you have uh Xander Schoffley plus four uh Scotty Sheffler tied for 26 also at plus4 morawa at plus four rory plus eight yeah 49th all the uh all the big names struggling down at uh down at Oakmont over to the WNBA big news alex Caitlyn Clark is making her return uh she missed three weeks with an injury was it a hamstring i believe so uh they are playing at the New York Liberty tonight new York is 9 and0 but the uh the fever they’ve been struggling obviously without Kaitton Clark they’re four and five but the Fever get not only Caitlyn Clark but Sophie Cunningham as well also returning from injury tonight so they’re looking to uh hand the Liberty their first loss of the season i know the WNBA specifically The Fever have been really struggling viewership wise without Caitlyn Clark so this is unfortunately the way the WNBA is right now but uh when their star player is out when the when their big name is out not a lot of eyeballs but I’m sure that a lot of people are going to be tuning in for this one and it’s huge and uh again the Liberty a very good team the best team in the league right now yes so that’s that’s big for the Fever and the league as a whole and for Caitlyn Clark in year two huge game to return to um considering that the Liberty are undefeated they are the number one team in the uh WNBA uh huge opportunity for the for the Fever to try to go out there give them their first loss with Caitlyn Clark returning i’m sure there’ll be a lot of eyes on that game i’m excited to watch her return yeah three weeks is a long time especially I mean the WNBA season is not that long because there’s so few teams so missing three weeks is is huge and like I said uh four and five on the year so the Fever have really been struggling i think she played two and three two and three without Caitlin Clark okay there you go um so yeah I mean they’re not a perfect team with her on the court uh I think it’s still going to be a couple years before they’re true contenders but as long as she is there with the fever I mean they have a shot but the Liberty we all know that they are pretty much perennial contenders so we’ll see how that game goes tonight uh thanks for being here Alex fun show today absolutely man always a pleasure on Saturdays coming and talking sports with you man and looking forward to doing it again next week big show next weekend we will do a lot of uh draft previews we’ve got the NBA draft around the corner we’ll get a little bit of NHL draft stuff too so tune in don’t want to miss that one it’s a Saturday show 975 VKSL Sports Zone
HOUR 1 of the Saturday Show with Christian Esparza and Alex Napoles
• Pacers vs Thunder have been trading blows, will it go 7 games?
• Rumors abound about landing spots for KD, if the Suns move him
• Technical Fouls
HOUR 2
• Stanley Cup Final heads to game 5 knotted 2-2, who has the edge?
• 5 Minutes Of: Utah Mammoth draft prospects; Utah Royals struggles continue
• US Open course is winning; Caitlin Clark returns from injury +MORE
1 Comment
37:25 Don't be surprised that Kevin Durant's camp is drumming up the Miami Heat trade rumor. After being in OKC, Durant has preferred the more attractive locations to live: Brooklyn (OK, New York), Golden State, and Phoenix. KD might be chasing lifestyle rather than another ring.