Hour 1: Are the Utah Jazz about to turn it up? | Top 3 Stories: Florida Panthers repeat as Stanle…
and now it’s 10:00 a.m let’s just get down to it and it’s time for your sports picks strap yourselves in folks from two guys who have covered the teams you’re passionate about for years we are professionals this is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone jacob 975 the KSL Sports Zone jake Scott Ben Anderson good morning Ben welcome back thank you i must have been gone a long time because that’s all I’ve gotten in the office today is like “Oh you still work here?” “Oh who are you?” Yeah sorry i was gone for a minute yeah sure i have our listeners are very happy to have you back i doubt it but you know yes they are a week on the beach other than Russ oh Russ is Russ just tuned out russ was like “This Ben show.” [Music] Oh man uh but yeah it was a little longer this year we we spent a couple days in my grandmother’s extra on top of the beach so anyway appreciate everybody uh who helped out i know uh I know you had I talked to Christian about it and uh good shows were had so appreciate everybody who jumped on with you couple good shows couple bad shows but it all worked out i don’t know about that i would I always you know since we’ve brought it up over the past couple years try to think of like the news cycles that I left you little dusty it was a little dusty there’s still finals going on there’s still the draft going on and that’s kind of my wheelhouse so it’s not the worst timing certainly so yeah it’s it is kind of funny to filter it through that especially since I was I was gone uh a couple extra days and I usually am when I do my annual beach trip but yeah no it was great week on the beach got to love it i saw some of your wife’s photos because I friends with her on Instagram and I was surprised a how big that beach is and b it looked relatively desolate is that accurate or is it really busy it’s the best part in my opinion about the Outer Banks with some minor exceptions but like it is big and it’s not desolate but you have space plenty of space all the space uh you’re looking for with this is my complaint and I I think I’m the only one back there who ever has this this complaint but fishing is a big thing back there all right and people like to fish from the beach and they’ll just do it wherever like there are kids in the ocean all around them and some bozo’s like casting out there with these giant hooks and stuff and it’s like can you find like I don’t know place where there aren’t a bunch of kids around yeah right but other than that no i I always say it’s just touristy enough that it’s not boring and it’s not too touristy that it’s just pandemonium i don’t need desolation right i don’t need to be on a beach of my own i like people but you’re right i don’t want someone to be like “Well I should just pull up in front of you.” It’s like “Well no i The beach goes straight out.” That should be a rule everyone knows where you put your blanket or your towels from you straight line to the beach that’s your territory don’t come and park in front of somebody oh I don’t I don’t understand that well you I mean like if you go to Pacific Beach in San Diego or something like that you’re lucky if you have enough room for a towel and it’s stacked like crazy i do understand yeah if you’re on Venice Beach I get it like it’s crazy but if you’ve ever been to like Myrtle Beach it’s too touristy i mean if we’re going to stick with the Atlantic Ocean beaches uh but yeah but it also rains so you can’t you know sometimes you’re up off the beach and you need something to do and there’s an aquarium and museums and then all sorts of things that make it interesting good as long as you check to see if they’re open first which is a mistake that I slash we made okay we have you ever heard of Hatteris Lighthouse we don’t have to dwell on this i know we have plenty we can we can do i bet you if you’ve seen if if you Google it I bet you’ve seen it it’s the It’s the tallest brick lighthouse in North America uh it has a black and white horizontal stripe right that’s that’s like an old barber’s pole so that’s about an hour from where we stay so we’re like “Okay we’ll drive down to Hatteris cuz my kids have never been there they can check out that lighthouse and then there’s a museum about shipwrecks that’s there because it’s the graveyard of the Atlantic because there have been a lot of shipwrecks there so we get down there Ben and had the the lighthouse at Hatteris is covered in scaffolding you can’t go up it and all the paint has been stripped off oh boring so like it’s just this big brick lighthouse which is cool but absolutely not what makes that thing unique if you know what I’m saying we’re like “Okay we’ll spend a couple minutes here and then we’ll go to the museum.” Lo and behold and we’re there on a Saturday museum’s closed weird day to choose to close the museum that’s what I said it’s not a Tuesday this is a tourist area right in the summer in the summer on a Saturday closed anyway we made a decent day out of it but a simple Google search would have spared us i think you were using common sense though this isn’t like I tried to go to Chick-fil-A on a Sunday and it was like well we you know Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays right or I told Christian this is the Bible belt if it were Sunday and it were closed I would understand for similar reasons as here in Utah a lot of stuff is closed on Sunday but on a Saturday I was shocked alexander Hamilton had the uh the lighthouse built lighthouse there you go yeah it’s it’s a famous backtory yeah yeah right they have a they have a bunch of them up there but that is the that is like the one he almost wrecked his boat so he said “Build a lighthouse here.” And they said “For heaven’s sakes build a lighthouse.” Really dark out you’d be surprised how many ships crashed there you’d think the word would have gotten out like you need to give it a little wider birth but a cool area of history uh yeah and I don’t know if you’ve ever heard about the Lost Colony went to a lost colony museum and instead which was pretty interesting uh but yeah it was it was good we had a good time my kids love the beach which I like you you said “Didn’t your daughter have an adverse reaction to the beach her first time?” Yeah it was just loud she didn’t like the noise because we were in Malibu and it has a really steep beach where the water hits it so it’s almost like a water hitting the rocks or a wall and you can play in it certainly but it was really crashing too loud she hated it and then we went to San Diego last year and it’s so mellow is she much She just loved it it’s all about the experience it’s like Christian loud noises he’s gets the ick i was like which part crashing on the beach so what has been the big topic has it been NBA draft seems like uh David spent a lot of time on that this morning has it been the finals which I’m glad it’s gone beyond five yeah I think it’s been the finals it’s kind of been that this has deteriorated a little bit into what we expected i’m disappointed in my Pacers in game four yeah and I do think there was injuries unfortunately which was kind of the nice thing that to this point these two teams had been healthy and they’d been able to give it their all and now clearly you’re just not seeing it from Tyrese Hallebertton he didn’t make a shot in the last game his calf injury whatever he’s dealing with i’m sure we will get after they get eliminated a full report that you know he’s out for 12 weeks or whatever you know what I mean it’s the summer it’s fine oklahoma City is definitely the deeper team yeah and they’re just better you know their talent at the top truly is better i I I love Tyresese Hallebertton i think Shay’s a better player i was proud of I I thought for once uh Chad’s slightness worked in his favor in an injury because he bent his ankle like nearly in half right and if he would have been a 200lb man maybe that would have been more significant right but he’s coming in at a 130 130 and so it’s like “Oh I’m fine i’m up i’m good.” Uh and then the other talking point recently has been that your guy Wendy said the Jazz intend to turn it up that nobody in the West is tanking and the Jazz intend to turn it up now if I’m being honest with you the way the sound came off I think we still have the sound but the way it sounded like was he was just kind of off-handedly throwing out there that Austin A had said the Jazz aren’t tanking anymore that’s just kind of how I read it I haven’t heard anything otherwise uh in fact the I’ve kind of heard the opposite still is that you know I don’t think there’s an expectation that the Jazz are trying to go allin this summer to avoid winning 25 games alone i think it’s more likely they just win 25 games i just think it’s far less likely they only win 17 games yeah I I saw some of that i saw some of that stuff do we want to play it we can play it again yeah we can catch you up let’s play sure almost anybody in the Western Conference who is really rebuilding right now everyone’s kind of got the gas put down including the Jazz the Jazz are intending to try to turn it up um Yeah but I I’m a s I don’t believe anybody yeah and it’s just a It’s Who cares right now everyone’s zero at zero everyone’s a little ambitious and optimistic I’m sure i you know Austin H isn’t gonna come in and say anything else right he isn’t going to probably come in and say “Well that’s going to continue or they didn’t even acknowledge that they were tanking like while it was happening.” Correct right so what is what would we expect his messaging to be right the the only thing is when you turn it up I think the movement is going to be pretty significant there’s enough big names that are going to be moved around are the Jazz going to be part of that movement right yes inevitably because of the pieces and the salaries and the draft all the things they’re like the bank we’ve talked about it a zillion times on this show so turn it up are they going to be a part of you know I I would be surprised Ben and you tell me maybe you’ve had other conversations there’s what and I think you might have even listed this online how many big names that are basically available right now six five let’s say five just for fun the odds of them being moved in five separate transactions slim like zero slim yeah you know so if that’s going to happen and all those big names are going to be facilitated there’s going to have the Jazz almost have to be involved there are some teams that almost have to be involved for the reasons that you just laid out there well if you talk about five names in general excluding the Jazz players it takes two to tango so you’re talking about 10 teamsish already um because or 10 transactions at the very least someone’s taking a guy and someone’s giving up a guy right that’s a third of the league and a third of the league can’t do anything because they’re so strapped or they don’t have any wiggle room so then you’re talking about half of the 20 teams available and the Jazz are up the top of the list of teams that can help transactions be made now answer me this can San Antonio land all five of those players no cuz like all of them want to go to San Antonio apparently apparently they all want to go there yeah so if if I were predicting Ben that the Jazz eat a b are part of whatever trade or trades and just eat a bunch of salary and move some chairs around and probably don’t make their team a lot better yeah that’s probably the more likely scenario but these big names can all land on one team right and so there’s also scenario out there where yeah they flip some stuff land a couple of veterans and all of a sudden they have a team around Lowry that isn’t out of the question i mean that comes back to the big game hunting thing but this is the value of being flexible this is the whole reason you are flexible because I don’t I don’t know i can’t remember what you described it as a buyer or sellers market when you were I think right now it’s a buyer market i kind of think it is too because there’s just so much to move and I know the Desmond Bane trade was kind of weird because it plays against that i kind of think that was a buyer move in all honesty i think they paid a good fair price i know the four picks sound like a lot it’s the 16th pick this year it’s two future picks i like Desmond Bane too but he’s not as good as Male Bridges i know that’s the Okay that’s kind of the debate that’s kind of the debate i don’t think he’s as good as New York has ruined Bridg’s value let’s forget what a great player he was before he played with Jaylen Brunson who makes everybody worse he’s better than Desmond Bane although you could make the argument John Mar makes everybody worse too but yeah uh I don’t know yeah I I think Orlando probably overpaid but Orlando is not traditionally smart and they are kind of desperate to get better which is not a good position to bargain in i think the evidence that it’s a buyer market right now is A like you said there’s a lot of players available b you know Kevin Durant’s available and the Suns can’t get what they want for him yeah i don’t think because he’s like everybody’s fourth choice does San Antonio want Giannis or Kevin Durant right giannis absolutely everybody wants Giannis right so and what does San Antonio want to do i thought David had an interesting conversation why not just sit on number two draft Dylan Harper it’s probably best for their franchise because they could exit De’arra and Fox as fast as possible i’m sure that’s what Weby’s agent wants yeah I suspect in all honesty if they get Kevin Durant it’ll be they’ve also got the 14th pick i don’t think that the nice thing is again to this being a buyer market you don’t have to include the second overall pick to get Kevin Durant i wouldn’t think so either no that would be a very high price to pay for a guy who’s 37 now Giannis on the other hand sure yeah giannis is the second best player in the world third best player in the world give him the second pick who cares and you still move off Dearren Fox because you got to make that contract right you got to get the salaries going so I can’t believe they traded for De’Aran Fox in the first place but I’m sure if they knew they were going to get the number two overall pick they wouldn’t have probably not yeah it goes to show you who knows with the lottery it can totally change overnight but even then like to the this being a buyer market I just think that you know you they didn’t pay a lot for De’Aran Fox is the truth like they paid a little bit but not a crazy amount to get a guy who’s a former all-star so in that sense like it’s been a buyer market for a little while they didn’t have to give up any of their young players right to get Fox right that’s the reason probably the Jazz have some of the players on their roster that they still do right and why the Jazz probably didn’t sell Lowry Markin last summer before they signed him to the contract extension which is oh there just wasn’t the Godfather offer this wasn’t the blow away offer that they felt like was good in a sellers market yeah and I think in 2022 they felt like they were in a sellers market and got good value for Rudy and Donovan and would like to find equal or good value for the guys that they have right now and obviously just haven’t made those deals yet and of course buy time by signing Lowry but you’re right but yeah right yeah then you have them around and you can do whatever you want with him for the next four years but yeah I mean De’arren Fox is available for trade he just has to be you know based on what San Antonio is trying to do that doesn’t mean they have to trade him but he is available i suspect Darius Garland’s available desmond Bane just got moved in a surprising fashion uh John Collins I’m sure is available lowry Markin’s available colin Ston’s available kevin Durant’s available there’s just a lot of names out there that can be had if you want to go out and bring in a player and what’s interesting I think this finals is telling us that ultimate success actually isn’t that far away it’s not that unattainable no if you tell me Orlando’s in the conference finals next year I believe it golden Golden State when they were a top their game it was unattainable yes and the East felt similarly because of LeBron but I would argue less so but it felt like you were bumping your head i mean Houston felt like it was bumping its head uh when uh Kobe and the Lakers and then before that Kobe and Shaq and the Lakers there was some unattainableness there you weren’t going to be better than San Antonio like those were the right I don’t think it’s and you’ve been to your credit you’ve been saying this for a while I don’t it’s not that way anymore certainly not that way in the east and I don’t think it’s necessarily that way in the west over three years Indiana made two really great trades in there in the finals you know yep that’s not that long and that honestly was not that hard which is why if you are Orlando you make the Desmond Bane trade but if you’re Miami you go and hunt Kevin Durant you go you know you feel like there’s opportunities to get Honestly I think it’s over in Miami i I think so too that’s the tricky part of all of this is when do you admit when it’s over because it’s not that far away but it’s not that long lasting either is Memphis saying it’s over and thus is Jaw on the move you know what I mean but I also think going back to your conversation about teams are really valuing versatility or flexibility is the word flexibility off the court i think that’s what Memphis wanted i think they recognized hey we’re going to be stuck really quickly we don’t have draft picks we got you know their own but they don’t have a lot of draft picks and they’ve got these three huge salaries what if you cut it back to two huge salaries you got Cole Anthony now and and Contavius Caldwell Pope who combined to make 30 million but might be able to be moved independently and now you got four draft picks now you have some of that flexibility to get back in conversation well and their new basketball philosophy is going to chase Jaw off anyway yes I think so his stats came way down this year and when they were up was when Taylor Jenkins just ignored they ignored what the franchise wanted yeah and thus he got fired so I don’t know how long it’s there for John anyway I’m not moving Jiren Jackson if I’m them probably but he’s popped up in what Kevin Durant rumors which is ludicrous no you would never make that trade ludicrous man the Suns are Don’t bail out the Suns you should whoever gets Kevin Durant should absolutely just steal him off of the Suns roster don’t don’t bail them out with any sort of big deal there’s really no point there’s no point to no no someone’s just going to inch above what the other offer is and grab him you know San Antonio is going to offer X Y and Z the 14th pick some salaries and maybe even a future first maybe and Houston will come in at the last minute and be like “Okay we’ll give you the 10th pick instead of the 14th pick in the same salaries.” Like that that’s going to be how that deal gets done in my opinion don’t bail out the Suns they’re in real trouble i don’t think anyone wants Make them squeeze Booker out of there that’s what the league wants to happen absolutely that’s I mean and there’s another name that could be on the move although they say so beloved in Phoenix why would they do that but they’ve got to recognize when it’s over it’s over yeah and actually I think the Jazz were smart when they realized it was over with Donovan and Rudy i know there’s some people who were saying “Well they could be going to the conference finals right now if they were still on the team.” And maybe that’s true i kind of doubt it it’s probably better to recognize a year too early than a year too late right yes 100% and as I say as easy it as it is to get to the finals but apparently as as easy it is as it is to retool in a short time well it’s less consequential to blow it up agreed yeah I think that’s an important point because if the think about I mean if the Jazz would have blown it up in 94 or 93 you know they never would have gotten to the finals or whatever but I think moving off generational players is different because they’re going to move off you but the difference between 1993 and 1997 and 2022 and 2026 which is the same four years in a totally different NBA it’s completely different i would agree yeah so it’ll be interesting to see what they do for sure austin I I don’t Let me uh let’s bring it full circle i don’t think Austin saying the tank is over actually means that and I actually don’t think it’s really in his power to just instantly do that agreed it’s a good snap nor is it in the jazz best interest came across the mic really well i’ve been working on my snaps with my kids they they’re like working all right stay tuned we have top three stories of the day at kslports.com coming up next Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone ladies and gentlemen may I present this is JJ and Alex austin announced as the president of basketball operations for the Utah Jazz they’ve got a lot of work obviously there’s not just a lot of work to be done there’s a lot of years to have to figure some things out this is not a business like position this is a personnel position within the within the organization and that is to say hey look we have got to get the right personnel in the building we’ve got to figure this thing out we’ve got to find exactly where it is that we want to put ourselves this is a big loss for the Celtics he played a big role in helping assemble the roster that they currently have brad Stevens runs the day-to-day operations of the Boston Celtics and it says a lot that Brad could have sent Danny’s son Packing a long time ago if he didn’t have value instead he made him the assistant general manager he helped build that roster that won an NBA championship last year he has earned the place where he’s at in the NBA today and catch JJ and Alex afternoons from 3 to 6 presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL Sports Zone it’s time to break down the biggest stories of the day this is the top three stories of the day on kslsports.com 975 the KSL sports zone jacob 975 the KSL Sports Zone join Hansen Scotty live coming up on uh Friday from noon to 3 of Barw Beef the new state-of-the-art retail butcher shop supporting Utah farmers and ethical farming practices all at supermarket prices that’s Barw Beef only in Nephi time for the top three stories of the day kslports.com brought to you by J brooks Jewelers cherish your love with Jbrooks Jewelers explore their expertly crafted engagement rings made from the finest materials jbrooks Jewelers all right Christian where are we starting today number one how about those Panthers huh repeating as Stanley Cup champions down to the final 5 seconds rats rain down lord Stanley staying in South Florida last year was greatness this time it’s historic the Florida Panthers are backto back Stanley Cup champions rats in South Florida go hand in hand so that makes sense have you heard about that story actually like the why they throw the rats what’s the backstory uh it was a season during the 90s a player killed a rat in the locker room so the fans started throwing rats onto the ice and then they ended up making it to the Stanley Cup finals that year and they ended up losing but because of that it’s been a tradition to throw rats on the ice the rats ever since but these are rubber rats now they’re rubber they’re not real i don’t think they’ve ever thrown real rats on the ice maybe a couple crazy people have but dead rats of that’d be a harbor disease yeah like a like a health and safety kind of in Florida so it’s fine is that what they do in Florida just carry disease all of them um yeah they were just the better team in the way better team and it actually looked like they got there was a bigger gap this year than even last year stanley Cup i uh I I’m finding it very interesting to follow team building a little closer in the NHL and it is not like the NBA where there’s one or two players that rule the league that is for sure and how you do it I think matters and that’s what makes things like the draft a little bit different in the NHL free agency a little bit different trades a little bit different and I I it’s encourage like it’s really interesting what the Panthers have done is obviously I don’t know Ben would you say replicable i mean you have to make right decisions along the way but um I’m still learning that as well because like we mentioned you know you have McDavid and Dry Idol who are two of the three or four best players in the world on one team together on one line it’s like they were rendered completely ineffective against this Florida team now because Florida’s so strong and just physical and it makes sense why when you talk about what Bill Armstrong wants and has looked for in the draft historically it’s like these huge dudes that block up the net and just are tough on both sides of the ice it’s like oh that I guess that makes sense it’s just like kind of your classic two-way players um if we were to compare it to another sport to the NBA which I don’t want to do over and over but I yeah that’s what I’m trying to learn too so I think there is value there and they still have very high-end players high-end talent but yeah it’s not just like are you the best goal scorer you’re the best player i mean I mean this is an obvious point obvious uh apparently but um Tom Tibido would hate coaching hockey your best players only play a third of the time at the very most yeah at the most at the very So mathematically speaking it means less depth is critical is critical and who do you have on what lines and I find that mix really interesting the um you know to Cole Bagley took us through the story of the third line for the hockey club this year and what a journey that was right and you get rid of Michelli mid-season and all of a sudden everyone gets unlocked you know you bring in a Josh Don or whoever and it just kind of starts to figure itself out that stuff is crazy fascinating really is and so what what Florida is doing is pretty interesting um and then to get back it’s just like goalending is so crazy you just got to have a hot goalie where the first goal that Florida scored last night on the turnover in the breakaway it’s like you probably just got to stop that goal and now you’re down 10 and the game felt over you know and that was pretty early in the first quarter so or first period so that’s that’s critical and that’s uh you know that that’s the other aspect of it that’s probably I don’t want to say less exciting but how important one player can be where we talk about one player in basketball or other sports a quarterback and how much that can change a series or a game a great goalkeeper will change everything get Marty Brod out of uh retirement sure patrick he’s got to be like 65 all right what is next number two according to Shams Tyrese Hallebertton is going to be a game time decision tomorrow night got to imagine he plays you’re back at home this is the last game of the season potentially like what are you worried about unless you’re going to blow out your Achilles well yes well 100% i hope that’s the that’s the fear um do you think he did his team a disservice by playing in game five no that that would be the question I would ask it goes back to um I always thought the most obvious local example of this is when Riley Nelson had a broken back and it was like yeah I guess he can play obviously he can play but he wasn’t playing well right it’s like are you actually helping your team and it in the NBA it’s complicated because you look at the the best players and they have such an impact and you got to say you know if he’s not shooting and not scoring is he still helping his team and maybe the the answer to that is yes i mean I think the answer might be yes yeah but that’s kind of a complicated question yeah and you know at their best to be fair TJ McConnell scores 13 points at the end of the third quarter and is kind of their backup point guard and that’s when they were playing better so if you are going to be so physically limited Cam Rising against Arizona State you know that’s a that’s a huge detriment and people out there will point to and go “But he’s Cam Rising.” And it’s like yeah but 30% of him is not better than any other player on the court or on your roster no so yeah that’s got to be the question i I don’t mind him doing it in game five it’s not a quote unquote must-win right you get a chance to go back home and extend the series and you’re not going to be favored to win this game especially if if he’s you know less than 100% but we’ve also seen Aaron Gordon come out and I think played game seven and everyone thought there’s no chance he’s going to play in fact the initial report from Shams was that Aaron Gordon was going to be out for two weeks and then came out and actually was kind of okay in game seven against the Thunder and they lost but I don’t think they lost because Aaron Gordon was hurt it actually points to the delicate nature of injuries during the regular season because truth is a lot of guys on the injury report quote unquote can play and maybe that’s the difference between the 80s and 90s was you know the travel and circus days if you could play you did and it was uh they were waters that Jerry Sloan had a difficult time navigating you can think of examples like Carlos Boozer and Jerry would always say you know and unless you can go 100% don’t go yeah and the the devil is in the details you know what I mean like Tyrese is probably missing a month if it weren’t this particular circumstance which I don’t blame players for missing a month and getting right but it does make it a little bit more del i mean it points out in the regular season guys are just not playing unless they’re 100% for the most part yep so I I I would guess we see him i mean again you’re at home it’s a chance is the last time you ever play in the finals yeah honestly a good chance really hard it’s really hard to get back yeah all right uh what is next number three as we all await this blockbuster trade that is to come our guy uh John Gambodoro down in Arizona he is on our sister station he was throwing out some trade packages that uh he has heard for Kevin Durant kd only wants to go to Miami San Antonio or Houston minnesota you had the details on the potential Minnesota trade the uh rumored package would include Rudy Gobar Dante Danchenzo Rob Dillingham or Terrence Shannon Jr and pick 17 if I were Phoenix I would have made that trade regardless of what Kevin Durant wants now the problem is Minnesota wants assurances that he will be there beyond this next season because he’s only got one year left on his contract i don’t get Give me an example of a type of team that would really want Kevin Durant sell jerseys houston makes a little bit of sense to me they need way more offense they do and that’s a guy who doesn’t just score but creates offense right he just kind of creates an offense unto his own in a better way than a James Harden does you know where it’s not just like oh well we got to change everything we do kevin Durant I think you plug and play pretty well but he actually carries a huge offensive load you can plug and play Lowry as well he just doesn’t carry that type of offensive load despite the fact that he can score over 20 points a game because he’s not a playmaker of any kind so Houston would make some sense actually the team I would love him on is the Clippers right playing next to Kawawaii he actually plays quite a bit kevin Durant does i mean he’s he’s hurt still but it’s not Paul George level injury i actually like him in that area though i don’t think he’s going to go play with James Harden again ever in his life so you know I’d love it in Denver because Denver’s a piece away clearly but yeah I like I actually kind of don’t get the San Antonio thing i don’t either well the the reason the Minnesota thing confuses me like getting an assurance that Kevin’s going to resign there is that the only teams I could see actually finding value in trading for Kevin Durant are teams that want to win next year yeah everything beyond be damned next year is all we care about houston that argument makes some sense to me because they were what the second best team in the regular season or whatever probably could talk themselves into that they are that offensive piece away um I don’t know if he fixes what’s wrong with Denver honestly um but if you just like swapped him for uh Michael Porter Jr I think they get better well yeah because Michael Porter Jr stinks yeah so you’re just better and that but yeah but how do you but why would Phoenix do that yeah right that’s not worth it and that you know the other team right there I would say is Milwaukee i would love him in Milwaukee next to Giannis that’s awesome they have no ability to get there I don’t think unless they want to trade for Dame which no it would be a three-way trade to get this done i’ll circle the Jazz into this it’s like you send John Collins Colin Ston the unprotected This is the problem they just they can’t do this milwaukee can’t do this it would be Collins Sexton to Phoenix Durant to Minnesota or to Milwaukee pardon me Lillard to Utah and the Jazz would have to get an unprotected future first from Milwaukee to take on Lillard’s contract at least at least and then the problem is Phoenix still wants something for Kevin Durant beyond Colin Ston and John Collins right because someone’s offering Rudy Gobear and Rob Dillingham and Dante Devenenzo in a first so like you’ve already got better trade offers elsewhere but like that that’s the only way I could see that conversation even happening for a team where you have mentioned this is how the Jazz get involved in these conversations right and further themselves as a franchise but I just I don’t understand the Kevin Durant thing i get Phoenix’s desperation thus his name is everywhere but I don’t know if I’m buying that comp package i mean no offense to our guy Gambo i mean I’m sure he’s hearing that from somewhere but I don’t know that seems like a ton that seems steep because what it that also does to me and I you know Rudy is not what he once was but doesn’t have a guy to replace what Rudy does and they need what Rudy does we saw it in the Lakers series like he had the 30 and 30 and 20 game or whatever it was in game five to close them out or game four to to push them to the closeout game so they don’t backfill that and all of a sudden just having Kevin Durant and Julius Randall and Nas Reed and Anthony Edwards is not gonna get you a championship well and they all take a bite out of each other that was the one thing with with Rudy my argument when Gordon Hayward left is why would you leave Rudy he does he’s a star who doesn’t take a bite out of what you do yeah every shot Kevin Durant takes is a shot Anthony Edwards isn’t taking right so and does I don’t know maybe this is true does Minnesota really need help from a like Houston would benefit from somebody who’s self-generated offense is that what Minnesota really needs no no exactly right that’s why I don’t really understand the trade for Minnesota yeah i don’t get that i don’t get that in the slightest i mean I still don’t know if Randall is a great fit i You want to move off Randall and move on to Kevin Durant maybe I’d listen to that a little bit sure but yeah why Rudy right you still have to have somebody who rebounds and plays defense right and Kevin Durant by the way who’s not a bad defensive player is going to be less and less interested in playing defense the older he gets yeah yeah and then Miami if you just feel like Miami wants to just have a star around and doesn’t feel like they have to give up much to get him when did Pat Riley become the pigeon yeah but you’re giving up like Is this him being old that he doesn’t want to reboot it is this him not I think you’re trying to give up like Andrew Wiggins and Terry Rosier to get Kevin Durant like pieces if they land Kevin Durant where are they going even if that like right is Tyler Herro Bam Adabio and Kevin Durant getting you anywhere i don’t think so coming back to the playoffs in the East because the East is relatively wide open but yeah what yeah to what end yeah I’m with you i do have sound for this one uh apparently Toronto is also in on this but uh this is from their show this is Gambo talking about a potential Toronto package that he’s heard of if Toronto comes through at the last minute or the Clippers I hate the Toronto deal you do toronto rj Barrett powerable contract yaka Purle and the ninth pick in the draft something like quickly i don’t mind that either why would Toronto do that that doesn’t make any sense right i’m with you but again I do think teams in the East think there’s a championship to be had out there there’s at least a finals run to be had well certainly Boston isn’t going to do it next year and I do think a lot of these teams would do it understanding there’d be residual moves there would be other things that you’d have to go out and do so like here here’s the thing if you could convince me that Toronto could get Kevin Durant and then could still find a way to go get Darius Garland and you have Darius Garland and Scotty Barnes and Kevin Durant i’m intrigued the very least I’m intrigued i don’t know if you’re better than Indie i don’t know if you’re better than Orlando i don’t know if you’re better than Cleveland because you have to give something back for Cleveland for Darius Garland but I think you make the move to do something else man 37 i don’t know yeah I’m I told you I’m not not a huge Kevin Durant believer historically Minnesota we’re not going to do the deal unless the 37y old extends with us and we are seeing more players play well later into their careers but to what end again to what end yeah i mean honestly Golden State re-upping Jimmy Butler will cost them they will be grumpy about that decision at some point in that contract which is exactly why Pat Riley didn’t want to do it i mean that’s the team also that should be looking at KD get him back he’s already said he doesn’t want to go back he doesn’t want to go back he said that at the trade deadline so maybe he changed his mind because now they have Jimmy Butler and he wanted to play with Jimmy and he realized nobody wants him bradley Beal looking around like uh the everyone leaves when I come into the room what’s going on here the old maid ain’t going nowhere nowhere how many years still does he have left at least two right yeah two I think good luck with that y uh all right stay tuned more Jake and Ben coming up straight ahead 975 the KSL Sports Zone this is This is DJ and PK joined now by Brandon Huffman national recruiting editor for 247 Sports ryder Lions a five-star quarterback what do you think of Ryder and what do you think the odds are he ends up in Provo i’ve said for two years that I think he’s the best quarterback in the country i know he’s a top five quarterback nationally he’s the number one player in California for my money I will take him as the best quarterback and this is big i have maintained for a while it was a BYU Oregon battle and I have said do not discount BYU’s efforts with him and now they get their shot they get the last visit this could end up being the single most significant recruit Khani Sitake has ever gotten in his 10 years at BYU so all eyes are on Provo not just with BYU fans but I would say college football fans in general are tracking this one [Music] catch DJ and PK mornings from 6 to 10 on 975 the KSL Sports Zone but whether it’s the Jazz you Cougars or Aggies these guys have got you covered time to eat fellas you’re locked on to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson 2 on 975 the KSL sports zone Jacob Ben 975 the KSL sports zone it is a win ticket Wednesday caller number 12 right now 801575 zone you’re going to win a pair of tickets to go see Monster Jam world final the fourth of July and 5th at Ricele Stadium does miss your chance to see uh the most monster jammed trucks in one place 801 575 zone i drove past the birthplace of the gravedigger on Sunday oh okay just random born well like where his I guess home is Frankenstein created the original uh Yeah garage that the truck was birthed out of I guess yeah yeah it’s in the middle of nowhere it’s kind of funny it’s like uh they’ve made up what you would think of as like a small town amusement attraction around it uh you and I did that show with the the original Bigfoot remember that i do remember that there that was really cool that Yeah that was at our B brothers yeah that was the the original Bigfoot uh can I can I get your reaction real quick to a quote from uh and I just came across this David Griffin who’s formerly LeBron James’s uh general manager there in Cleveland also then did a terrible job with the Pelicans uh he said this about uh uh he said this about being the GM with LeBron he said quote “You’re basically charged with the legacy of Babe Ruth and it’s our responsibility to allow that legacy to grow and evolve.” So it’s almost like a sacred trust that the kid gives you he’s so good in his own right by himself that he sort of mandates you uh have ah to be a title contender just by his presence alone and if you don’t capitalize on the years he has left then shame on us,” unquote it’s from David Griffin uh is he working with the Lakers uh is he now anyway this is him talking about his time with Okay with Okay with the Cavs um there are guys who are so good that if you’re not competing for a title what are you doing i I agree with that um you know I don’t know if necessarily like it’s an honor to have LeBron or Babe Ruth or whatever i guess what he’s getting at there i don’t totally disagree with the quote understand where he’s coming from uh I think this is him his justification for selling his soul okay and the fact that he would approach it as I’m coaching Babe Ruth who’s to say LeBron’s Babe Ruth okay i mean LeBron’s done pretty good job he’s fine he’s a great player whatever but you’re coming into it with the assumption that he like think about LeBron’s time in Cleveland he was by no means Babe Ruth i mean we look back at Babe Ruth over his entire career and what he did and all of that you’re coming in with the assumption like “Oh this is like I just automatically owe it to him to do all these things.” That’s why he handed over the the everything to LeBron i owe him this man these moves are terrible and they’re absolutely not going to make us a better team but I’m going to go ahead and do it like if David Griffin had a different approach where he actually instead of placating LeBron wanted to make his teams better how many titles with LeBron would he have won sure sure like he did LeBron a disservice by not doing his job actually i think this is interesting and I actually want to take a local spin on this yeah please do should BYU be doing more in the 30 games they have AJ Debonsa meaning yeah they’ve got Rich Reggie Saunders and Kata’s coming back and they invested to get Rob Wright to come over and play point guard from Baylor and they’ve gone out and got a couple of recruits but like should this just be the year where you just round up your NIL guys and hammer them and hammer and hammer them and you just have the most expensive roster in college basketball history it’s like because the truth is BYU is probably not going to get AJ Dubs a 2.0 you know maybe they will maybe they’ll just keep getting the top recruit in the country it’s possible I guess but if this is a oneoff shouldn’t this just be the year you go all in you get all the best players you can buy that money can buy and you bring them in to build this roster if this is your opportunity if this is your chance shouldn’t you just go all in allah what David Griffin is saying here i I think it’s a little different because in college allin especially if you have deep pockets doesn’t mean what it does in the NBA okay but I would say no because you’re automatically crowning AJ Debonsa the best player in the country that’s what I’m saying if you believe in this then shouldn’t you do that no okay you should build a team around the guy to help you and him succeed that’s where I think it is really interesting that a Richie Saunders is coming back mhm because he’s not necessarily the highest paid player in the country or blow it out or whatever but he’s a proven commodity and he’s a team guy he’s good and he’s going to make AJ better or whatever but you’re not pulling all your your eggs in one basket the top recruit in the country needs to go out and fit into a team and play well and do what the coach is asking him to to succeed how did Ruters do this year right yeah exactly right now but maybe Ruters is the example they spent $4 million or $6 million whatever it was to get Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper and didn’t spend money on any other piece of their roster and they were awful so maybe they should have just said “Hey what if we just doubled our salary this year and gotten everybody?” But that’s why I don’t buy in onto the the the allin that could mean different things ruckers allin meant two players sure it has available absolutely what’s all in what’s all in and maybe BYU is all in maybe they are fully tapped out in the NBA you spend money today that’s not going to be there tomorrow that’s not true in college sports right you’re acting like Ruckers withheld something right you’re you’re right you’re you know what I mean it’s a little different now because we’ve got this $20 million house settlement which we also got to talk about while you were gone if you had thoughts on it but it’s it does get a little bit more like a pro model but truthfully like if you went to your NIL guy and said he says “I’ve got five million bucks for you.” And say “Hold it for next year.” That stays in the pool that doesn’t really work in the NBA right like you’ve got your salary cap there you can’t carry money over to next season and expand your salary cap room you can do that with NIL and they have yeah to say we built a pool of $30 million because we took a cheap year last year everybody thought that they tapped out on Jaor they didn’t tap out on anything clearly they did not clearly they did not so I don’t think it’s kind of an apt comparison honestly in college basketball you might as well get as much talent as you possibly can now while the Gitens could and if we want to talk about the settlement I don’t think there’s any chance it still goes into existence beyond a couple of years because they’re going to sue it into oblivion and if a court doesn’t put a stop to it if will eventually because I don’t think it’s legal i mean why why what’s to stop a player in the SEC from going and suing and saying why are you putting a limit on what I can do i didn’t settle anything and now you’re telling me I can’t get outside money that actually the whole argument to make that legal you got to at least you can check the outside money yeah it’s got to go through the clearing house sure and who’s to say that’s legal right and that’s I think that’s the thing is that no one really believes the clearing house is going to do their job why do you think that the NCAA fought for years i know we’re in this weird evolving discussion but why do you think that the NCAA fought for years to protect amateurism even though everybody out there was going “Well that’s ridiculous and unfair why did they go to the hilt why did they turn themselves into the ultimate villain to perfect protect that concept?” because it was the only thing keeping the whole concept of college sports afloat and functioning was that these are amateurs who are students now it’s all of a sudden uh vulnerable to antitrust and all this stuff and well why can you prevent this person from making a living and it’s never going to be unionized because there’s way too many athletes way too many i agree with that yeah and we’re dealing with public institutions the thing with the NBA and the NFL they’re not taking any government funding they’re not beholden the Title 9 rules or any of that stuff right all these public institutions the private ones too are all susceptible to all these rules so there’s no way around it i don’t I don’t know i BYU should just keep pumping dough into it because it’s not going to stop and I suspect they will i suspect they will too so I don’t think there’s any allin in the NBA there’s an all-in sure yeah you can cash in all your chips and here’s what’s offensive offensive by Griffin he cashed in the chips LeBron told him and LeBron when it comes to player movement is a if they didn’t give Tristan Thompson that crazy deal right maybe Cleveland wins another championship mosgov and all these deals j.r smith yeah right made all these crazy moves that didn’t make any dang sense in the first place right yes lebron in that sense babe Ruth needs to have a little faith that they can build a team around him without him having to meddle you know if Babe Ruth would have uh did Babe Ruth asked that Lou Garrick be traded you got to get rid of this guy so I don’t know i think that attitude is exactly why he probably left titles on the table in Cleveland in all honesty because he didn’t do his job whereas he’s justifying not doing his job because well LeBron was so great so I don’t know i I thought it was an interesting quote and a a curious comparison to BYU but no BYU still has to build a team i don’t think AJ Debbons is getting anywhere anywhere anyone anywhere by himself you’re a great cause cuz honestly he’s playing against people that are five six seven years older than him now and maybe that’s what the statement is and I’m not saying this is what BYU is saying at all because I don’t represent BYU in the slightest but you know yeah maybe they recognize hey AJ serves a purpose aj’s a hell of a player you’re excited to have him on your roster uh young guys don’t win in college basketball generally so certainly not now yeah so all right stay tuned uh we do have a watch Wednesday i’m looking forward to it coming up at 11:30 did you guys do it last week we did Sam Farnsworth in town came in Came how did you do we had a fun draft we did best actually really good we did Best Sam’s which I thought was really funny what was our other one uh Sports Superstitions oh best sports superstitions who was the number one pick in the Sam department sam had it um and let’s go back i think I know who I’d pick who would you pick you know what we had a discussion about this would you pick Sam Weise sam Wise Gamji uh no no i I remember who the number one overall pick was i think I would have taken him maybe I’m being shortsighted here but Yose Sam I think I took him second and we took uh Sam Jackson won samuel Jackson top overall i think I’d still take Yose Sam i think I took Yose Sam second but Sam Jackson’s justifiable yeah sam Wise Gamji fell all the way to eighth overall oh that’s low for which I thought was a real tumble the true hero of that story Sam Wise Gam yeah that was a good draft we can go over it before uh before 11:30 okay stay tuned more Jake and Ben coming up next 975 the KSL Sport Zone
Hour 1 of Jake & Ben on June 18, 2025
• Jake is back! He joins in on the “Are the Jazz about to turn it up?” conversation.
• Top 3 Stories of the Day: Florida Panthers repeat as Stanley Cup Champions, Tyrese Haliburton is a game-time decision, rumored Kevin Durant trade packages.
• LeBron James & the GOAT debate.
