Hour 3: Walker Mehl on Charlotte Hornets Draft Options | Cole Bagley Talking Stanley Cup & Utah M…
dj and PK it’s 975 the zone we are joined now by Walker Mail host on WFNZ in Charlotte North Carolina and co-host of the Locked On Hornets podcast walker good morning good morning man how are you doing doing well doing well love the countdown to the draft and we wanted to have you on because obviously Charlotte’s parked at number four right in front of Utah number five before we get to any of the specifics are people happy that Charlotte had a sale and new ownership do they miss MJ running the show or was it so long with no success on the hoop that MJ celebrity didn’t matter and they were ready to move on oh it’s the latter for sure the the celebrity did not matter and they were ready to move on you know the Michael Jordan mystique ends pretty much as soon as he starts his tenure as majority owner here in Charlotte and fans were ready for him to move on and sell the team like he did I guess over what two years ago now right about two years ago yeah when when the Hornets never reach the conference finals and in this second iteration right the second iteration of the franchise when the Bobcats are born in 2004 and then we get the Hornets name back in the second iteration of this franchise we’ve never won a playoff series here during that span so yeah it as cool as it is to have Michael Jordan as the owner uh it’s it’s much cooler to win a playoff series every now and then so no um I don’t think anybody is all that mad that Michael Jordan is not majority owner anymore so three playoff series in 20 years 21 years now I guess and all losses oof yeah i was about to say are you are we about to do the whole list of pain because I don’t think What is this going to be like a 15 12 minute hit i We don’t have enough time to do the whole list of pain man i’m just going to stop you right there all right stop right there because what it sets up is they’re the Charlotte’s going to make a decision in front of Utah presumably barring a trade we’ll get into that are they going to make a good decision because for a long time the reason you only go to three playoffs in 21 years and the reason you don’t win a series in 21 years you make a lot of bad decisions in a weird way everyone fears oh the guy we want is going to get picked right before we draft and that happened with Klay Thompson and the Jazz a long time ago and see how that worked out right but is Charlotte I mean for decades you could say well they’ll probably take the wrong guy the bust right in front of the Jazz you know save any possibility of somebody else making the mistake and then who’s left how do you how much confidence do you have in Charlotte’s ability to get the right guy at number four yeah so we have a new regime all throughout really here i mean we have new owners even which does not happen except for every I guess 20 years for most franchises right so we have new everything around here new owners we have a new GM that’s only been in charge of one draft we have a new head coach that’s only been here for just one full season so everything’s new it’s tough to answer that completely i will say based on all the moves that they’ve made there’s not been any moves that they’ve made and they’ve made a lot over the past I guess year and a half that Jeff Peterson the EVP of basketball ops has been in charge i’ve not disagreed with a ton of their decisions one is still hanging in the balance with their first overall or first round draft pick I should say in Tan Salon that was a surprise when they drafted Tan Salon at six overall last year but I understood it because the way that we were talking about last year’s draft class was that it was the weakest in quite some time and so you take the swing on the guy that has all the tools has the athleticism has the form to be potentially a good shooter but doesn’t have the numbers to go along with what a good a good shooter is quite yet but you take the raw prospect and then you see what can pan out in the next three years and so while it wasn’t a great rookie season for Tan Salon um I think there’s still a lot of hope that he could become that guy with all the work ethic so the draft we don’t exactly know what the draft history is for a Jeff Peterson and this regime we know what it was for Mitch Cupchack he had some hits he made the right decision in a couple of the top three selections that he had brandon Miller he got injured last year but is a good pick lamelo Ball even with you know depending on what you think about him still a good pick at number three a $40 million a year player at LaMelo a good selection right also had some bad ones with this regime we just don’t know we don’t have enough intel yet on what they’ve done so far because we just don’t have as many years I I I like a lot of the decisions that they’ve made though like clearly defining where they want to go trading a Terry Roier trading a PJ Washington trying to go after some picks understanding that this is not going to be a team that wins right now but they’re trying to build towards the future so you know we’ll see with the draft but I’ve like I like excuse me I’ve liked a lot of the decisions that they’ve made so far so the draft Cooper Flag one and then number two well Dylan Harper and at number three it was Ace Bailey for a long time but he won’t work out for people then he’s not as tall as uh he’d been advertised for a while i’ve seen him well we’ve all seen him at three but now you look lately and you see him dropping i’ve seen him at six right does Charlotte want him or is Charlotte one of the teams that’s going to look at Ace Bailey shake their head and move on to somebody else i I think it’s the latter again i really don’t think they’re going to draft Ace Bailey i don’t think he fits very well here at all with for a couple of reasons there have been some comparisons to Brandon Miller and overlapping a little too much i think that’s true with the physique i I think it’s true with their inability to get to the rim even if they do finish pretty well once they get there there are some similarities in their game the thing is Brandon Miller was a bonafide three-point shooter coming out of Alabama one of the best three-point shooters in all of college basketball that’s not true with Ace Bailey he takes over 50% of his shots in the mid-range and that’s not the way that Charles Lee wants to run an offense so if you are trying to figure out what players fit this organization in the best way it’s really hard to make that happen with Ace Bailey even if he’s clearly a very talented player but of course he has all of these question marks with the way that he plays with apparently the interview processes going on behind the scenes the Hornets value high character guys that’s been the one thing that we know they really value it’s the work ethic it’s the rah rah got that dog in them type of player and that’s been true with every single player that they’ve added to the roster via trade via draft via free agency that’s been true of every single one of those guys vj Edgecomb fits that mold the best i think Khan Canipple also fits that mold trey Johnson seems to maybe not with the defense but it does feel like Trey Johnson is somewhere in that realm it i’m not even saying that Ace Bailey isn’t that guy so to speak it’s just that there are a lot of question marks about him being that guy compared to other draft prospects that the Hornets might consider and so perhaps we get into this in a little bit but it’s why if VJ Edgecom is off of the board and he’s taken right there at number three in Philadelphia which he’s favored to go to right now I think there’s a very real possibility the Hornets decide to trade back possibly with Washington who might be looking to move up to get to number four you only move back a couple spots and then you just take whatever shooting guard is there so there could be a world where the Jazz are actually selecting one spot ahead of the Hornets and the Hornets just take whoever the Jazz don’t take that was brilliant i can see why you’re a really good host and you have the job you have because I had like three questions lined up and you just answered them all at once you know you don’t really need me here you can just handle But that’s undercutting you though like a good host actually helps the other hosts and so I apologize for answering them uh yeah I I don’t know if that is a good job by me i apologize so let’s go with break it down here so Edgecomb I would say that among Jazz fans and you know we we see a lot of games well first off there’s way more video YouTube you can go see anything but he played in the Big 12 and Utah and BYU are in the Big 12 so there’s a natural built-in bias and then Edgecomb just builds on it because he plays really well and apparently you know off the court he handles all of that it’s really important when you’re going out to dinner with you know you go to a town and you do the official interview and you go out to dinner and you apparently he’s pretty good at that I guess and it just seems like his stock is going so are you convinced he’s going to be number three cuz I thought no way and then I thought maybe and now I got myself where I’m at like it’s like 80% he’s gone at number three i haven’t totally locked it down but it feels like that’s where it’s going same i that’s that’s what I think is happening look it is smokeokescreen season daryl my likes to pull the puppet strings that that’s all very true so you can never be too 100% certain that something is gonna happen when all of these scouts all of these GMs they’re all feeding the NBA insiders a couple of different things here and there and planting the seeds for all the rumors so you have to be a little careful during talking season because a lot of these rumors just float about and then one podcaster has a source in the organization that’s like a secondderee scout that does not have the game plan for what’s going to take place on draft night but this podcaster has the second scout rumor and then they put it out there and now other people check in on it like it’s talking season man there’s a lot and we can play the telephone game where this gets misconstrued all of that being said if we just take a look at the history of what these GMs usually do Ace Bailey doesn’t really fit the Daryl my profile either he’s a guy that when he was building the Houston Rockets organization he liked a lot of three-pointers he liked an offensive hub surrounding James Harden and then building around that person he liked two-way type of basketball players well VJ Edgecomb again fits that mold way more so than Ace Bailey and if Philadelphia is really going to try to make a run at it with all of that money tied up going to Joel Embiid and going to Paul George do you feel like Ace Bailey and Paul George and Joel Embiid can be on the floor at the same time with the way that Ace Bailey plays i don’t like that fit i don’t like it all that much at all to be honest with you so if you go with VJ Edgecomb or I mean even a Kon Canipple is getting some play with Philly then I think those players fit the kind of style that Philly wants to play more so than Ace yeah I’m with you man like I think VJ Edgecom is is the favorite to go there at three but no you can’t be too certain because Daryl my especially knows how to play the game so and under the whole theory it’s talking season or as a a former Jazz executive used to hear Walt Parin um the the general manager didn’t do the interviews during the um the workouts uh the Jazz in that era were pretty open they are once again not open it tends to change every time we have a change in management but they were very open you could come in you could talk to people when they came through town the players and that kind of get a sense of their personality and Walt would talk and he could talk for a long time and he’d tell you exactly as much as he wanted to and you could not pull him across whatever line he had mentally drawn in the sand you couldn’t right and so sometimes he’d start to get into all this he’d just look at you and go you know it’s lion season that’s it it’s lion season that’s what I thought when I heard about the Hornets trading back because while there is a group of players between three and eight that there doesn’t appear to be a lot of difference and you look at the different mock drafts and they have the same group of players but they have them in a different order you know and you got a lot of guys who are guards or wing scores and you got one big man at Duke who’s a mystery right wait is he really good but he’s developing and they just had too many NBA guys around him so he wasn’t the focus what he’s a mystery right and you hear all of this and you think but the people who actually have access to these players they’re going to have favorites they are absolutely going to think this guy’s got the work ethic and the personality he’s going to develop and this guy isn’t so would the Hornets really trade back and give up two spots do they really think all these players are the same when I heard that I thought I don’t really believe it and then I thought or this is just another crazy decision out of Charlotte sure why not it’s one of the best drafts to come along in years so of course they would give themselves a worse draft position it’s Charlotte yeah the reputation isn’t great what what I will say is if you feel like you can collect a couple of nice assets from Washington you only have to move back a couple spots and the guy that you’ve done your homework on in BJ Edgecom is gone because he really does fit well with this team and you don’t want to give up any assets to go get that guy at number three with Philadelphia so let’s just say he’s gone you have a chance to get some shooting let’s just say I don’t know you get a Cory Kisspert you get some kind of protected pick only moving back a couple of spots and then you get to take the whoever is left of the shooting guards player with Coniple or Trey Johnson and yeah I I could see that process playing out really well because all these all these GMs have their own draft boards right we can look at all the mock drafts we can pick out the guys that we like but it’s not going to be so crazy if the fourth guy on consensus boards is really the seventh guy on Jeff Peterson’s board so if that’s true and then you want to play the odds and you only want to move back a couple of spots and then collect some assets and look this team obviously has a lot of needs that’s what happens with a 19- win basketball club you got a lot that you need to address so maybe falling back just two choices isn’t the worst of ideas the other thing is and you know you could speak more to this than me but I know there’s a lot of Jeremiah Fears love over there in Utah and that is not somebody I envision the Hornets taking because they have LaMelo because they already have some backcourt help and so if they’re convinced that Utah is going to take Jeremiah Fears and not take one of the other guys that I think the Hornets covet then maybe that’s all the more incentive to move back a couple spots and collect some assets so those are all the things that are on the table for Jeff Peterson and company right now it’ll be interesting to see what Austin H thinks uh he’s brand new and he’s holding his cards pretty close right now fair’s name has certainly been out there for potential Jazz pick but I don’t know what they’re going to do I don’t I don’t know could be somebody else i I don’t think it’s Ace Bailey i’d be pretty surprised about that uh my co-host who’s off today PK uh was told that before Austin showed up you know so who knows how things change um and then and then Mal is out there i don’t know i don’t know what to make of him you know I think this is it feels like there’s a lot of uncertainty around this one man like I was talking about this the other day and I feel less certain about what the Hornets are going to do or how this draft is going to play out last year almost doesn’t count just because nobody had a consensus like okay I Reed Shepard I guess sure like sure he’s the best but nobody was convinced it feels like there’s a lot of people that are convinced yet I don’t know what’s going to happen because of all the trade opportunities it it it feels like I have less of a grip on this draft than I’ve had in typical drafts apparently in his workouts which of course we’re not privy to uh and maybe people are lying about his workouts so it it’s all you know it’s a it’s a mystery wrapped in a riddle shrouded enigma whatever that quote is that I just butchered his his mobility apparently was really good and he’s really been shooting the ball well now whether that’s because he’s improved or whether they just had so many weapons at Duke that him showing range just didn’t seem like a good idea it’s college basketball and he’s 71 with a 96 standing reach so just get him to the rim already you know they’re not trying to showcase his pro game they’re not spreading the floor the way the NBA does and nobody in college matches up with this guy so just get him to the rim and just let him hammer people so right well and you know yeah getting getting to watch him too around here you know obviously being so close to Duke it it’s it’s hard to get a grip on him as well just because he played basketball nearly as much and I know there are the concerns about or there are the questions about how much can he truly show more when Cooper Flag and Khan Canipple have the basketball in their hands so often and really it’s just a lot of Khan dribbling to the paint bringing that center out a little bit further from the basket throwing the lob to Malawatch and watching him dunk it like that’s how he got a lot of his baskets last year it’s the protecting the rim stuff you know only playing like 25 minutes a game like this is someone that literally threw up on the court cuz he was tired and drank too much Gatorade that’s a thing that happened last year like it’s it’s a it’s a lot of interesting stuff surrounding Malawatch but yeah like perhaps he could be the guy i I know that there are a lot of NBA teams that like him according to NBA insiders um even the Spurs who I can’t imagine take him at two but I don’t know i mean maybe in a tradeback scenario yeah it seems like there’s a lot on the table uh can you imagine i mean the Sure they’ve already got a big guy but he can shoot threes so they could have two Giants on the floor at the same time and it could be really really hard to get anything around the rim when those two are on the court they really could yeah absolutely a 77 wingspan good grief and and he you can put him in the dunk spot and you got Wimbeyama out there so who knows yeah all right well as many questions as answers but we appreciate the time Walker thanks for joining us and uh so if you had to guess are the harm are is Charlotte picking a four or trading back and if they’re picking it for who’s the guy yeah I you know I’ll go with the default i’ll say because it takes two to tango and I don’t know if they would agree on what little compensation might be coming back their way from a Washington or God I don’t think they would move all the way back to eight with Brooklyn possibly but I don’t see it i would say that they’re going to stand Pat at number four and just take their guy man with all the rumors circulating about if VJ Edcom is gone like I think he’s going to be I I think Khan Canipple is going to be the pick i do um that that’s that’s where I’m leaning right now uh and and with with if VJ’s there it’s going to be VJ Edgecomb but if he’s gone I’m going to say Coniple is going to be there at 4 with the Hornets staying home all right Walker we appreciate it thanks so much you’re the man all right appreciate you thank you Walker Mail host on WFNZ in Charlotte North Carolina co-host of the Locked On Hornets podcast i would bet I would bet Edgecom’s gone and more and more it just seems like he’s the guy and it could all be scrambled because maybe Philly trades i mean Philly they got veterans and they’re in win win win now mode but if they really believe in somebody and you’re getting a foundational piece for the next decade you got to go for it but they could get veteran help you would think but then you got cap considerations man get it if you got a good young player on a rookie deal does it get any better than that dj PK when we come back Cole Bagley Utah Mammoth and NHL insider for the zone it is free agent season it’s draft season the NBA draft is one week from today the first round one week from tomorrow for the second round it’s a Wednesday Thursday and then the NHL draft follows on a Friday Saturday we’ll talk with Cole Bagley Utah Mammoth and NHL insider for the zone he’s next this is Hson and Scotty eric Wedle kind enough to join us you find out you’re up for the College Football Hall of Fame what’s your first thought when uh you get that phone call just humbled by it all quite honestly I think I have a real shot is the College Football Hall of Fame i don’t think I have any shot at the NFL Hall of Fame so when I look at the College Football Hall of Fame I think yeah I belong there at some point whether it’s now or 10 years from now like I think I belong as one of the best college football players to have played the game so whenever it happens or if it happens like you guys know me I I live life to the fullest it’s not going to change whether I fall asleep at 10:00 or midnight i got many other things that are on my mind but it’s really humbling and and truly honored obviously and know that it took coaches players faculty family wife kids like it doesn’t happen alone catch Hansen Scotty weekdays from noon to 3 on 975 the KSL Sports Zone dj and PK it’s 975 the zone we’re joined now by Cole Bagley Utah Mammoth and NHL insider for the zone cole good morning good morning how you doing doing well so Florida they’re the champs again more Stanley Cup parties 24 hours take the cup wherever you want to go while all that unfolds and I love those stories who knows if it’ll get left on a curb or thrown to the bottom of a pool or flown halfway around the world it’s done all those things they’re great stories everybody else moves on trying to build the next Stanley Cup champion and I was uh struck by as soon as Florida won how many stories were out about well here’s three free agents and they can only afford one or two of them so who wants some championship DNA off the Florida roster yeah i mean you know this is something that that always happens um you know you win a couple championships and suddenly those players on your team that that aren’t making as much money suddenly get a lot of interest from everybody around the league right um you’re you’re proven champions especially a team like Florida that goes back to back you’ve won two Stanley Cups you’ve gone to three straight and so you got a lot of championship DNA on that roster um so it’ll be interesting to see you know who stays and who goes um you know obviously Brad Marshian um who they traded for is on an expiring contract um Sam Bennett is on an expiring contract and Egglad is also on expiring contract um I would anticipate they keep Bennett you know he just won the playoff MVP it’s hard not to do everything you can to bring bring it a player like that back with you um especially when he was just so clutch so good in the playoffs led uh all teams in scoring i believe he had 15 or 16 goals um so I know that’s a player that a lot of Mammoth fans were hoping hey maybe we could take a shot at him um but I just don’t see Florida letting him go as for Marian you know a lot of the reports have said “Hey this this guy’s gonna go to the highest bidder.” And they even asked him as soon as he won the cup last night “Hey are you sticking around?” And he said “Hey we’ll we’ll enjoy this tonight and we’ll see where we go from here.” So yeah I I I you know there’s going to be a shuffle of the cards but overall um you know Florida will will likely maintain um you know their best players their most important players and I don’t know that that organization is necessarily going anywhere in terms of competing for Cups yeah uh I’ve read that of the three they cannot afford three there’s no way the question is can they afford one or two what’s the price tag going to be so if they prioritize Bennett and for all the reasons you say that makes sense uh Ekblad’s been on their top pairing u So if you’re if a club’s looking to add a defender he’s a big dude like listed at 6’4 220 he’s still not 30 years old yet what kind of market is there for him would and whether that’s like would the Mammoth be interested in him and if not does the market invol for him involve somebody else moving somebody to open a room for him yeah um you know I think Sam Bennett Bennett is going to command somewhere around 910 million especially because he just won playoff MVP you know it this postseason couldn’t have gone any better for him in terms of hey I’m walking into free agency and a lot of people were speculating you know he he he might get overpaid well I I can guarantee you he’s probably going to uh you know get those higher numbers and I don’t know know that you’re necessarily overpaying for him but you’re giving more than I think the market would want to but it is what it is he’s uh you know the best best player in in playoff hockey this season and he has been critical for that organization in terms of Eblad I I think they’re going to let him walk um you know like you said there there’s just there’s not a lot of room uh for them to bring everybody back he has been very very good for him um but I I anticipate he’ll enter free agency and uh in terms of the Mammoth showing interest um you know they’re primarily focused on uh their forward lines you know upgrading there adding size adding depth adding more scoring um so you know if he does go to the free agent market I don’t I don’t necessarily see the mammoth going after him heavily but you never know uh you know a player like that hits the market and you know you’d be a fool not to at least make a phone call and see if there’s uh any way that you could bring him in one interesting thing is he would come in and among the elite players uh you know in my mind there’s four or five elite guys he’d be the oldest one and I’m curious how Bill Armstrong tries to build this because the core right now depending on who you add is the core the guys who are in that 26 27 year old and really hitting their prime and so it’s go time right now or is he thinking the guys who are 2021 they’re the core of this team and all decisions have to be made with an eye towards their development and when are they ready to play how do you see that yeah Bill has said repeatedly that they’re looking for players that fit their timeline um and this is a this is a young team i think they’re the third youngest in the National Hockey League and they’re a team that that time is one of their greatest assets and I don’t think you want to rush that you know i don’t think you you want to go sign somebody that’s 29 you know 29 seriously it might be Yeah i mean it that might be on the edge of where they’re willing to sign and it would maybe look more like a shorter contract maybe three or four years um just to add some of that more of that championship mentality and experience and and to help the younger guys but yeah they they want players that fit their timeline that fit their kind of that age group of you know maybe a little bit younger uh because they’re not quite ready to step into that championship window right they’re they’re hoping next year to even just make the playoffs um and so I think you you need to find guys that are maybe more in that 24 to 26 range you know if possible now if some incredible player comes along and yeah he’s a little bit older yeah you can probably afford uh afford to bring him along but they do want to they do want to you know stick to that timeline they want to continue to take the right steps they don’t want to rush anything because these rebuilds are are very fragile and if you you know if you try to you know bite off more than you can chew well I that can steer things the wrong way and it’s all for nothing well then in that case you got to keep an eye on the fact that Clayton Keller turns 27 in July and Sergeev actually turns 27 in another week uh the day before the draft and on top of that jerseys turn in 27 in the fall so to me it’s like okay adding a 29y old that’s on that that’s on the older edge of your of your core guys and you know you’re sitting over here with who’s it’s ridiculous 21 he’s 20 i mean yeah it’s completely ridiculous that he is sitting there at 21 as good as he is but he just had his 21st birthday so and you got Gunther also and so if those are the core guys maybe you’re trying to let’s add guys who who can we get in the 24 25 year old range um which is you know it’s hard enough to get good players and then you start putting limitations on yourself in terms of age you can paint yourself into a corner yeah for sure and uh you know that’s why I think their range of where they’re willing to go is like 28 29 uh especially because a lot of those guys you know those top free agents are probably going to be asking for you know the more max extension so six seven years and yeah you know you you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you’re paying 10 to to 12 million a year and that guy’s going to be on your roster till he’s 35 so you know Keller and Sergev and Derzy those are your your older veterans if you will um and obviously they’re playing in their primes and so yeah the this team is stepping into year five of the rebuild and it’s starting to it’s go time uh it’s time to make the playoffs you know give yourself maybe you know two or three years of experience uh in the playoffs and then you’re probably stepping into that championship uh contention window where it’s you know you need to win you need to win uh at that point uh because you know those the the Kellers and the Sergeevs and the jerseys they’re going to be pushing 30 years old at that point and not that that means oh well they’re they’re past their prime they’re too old no but you want to make sure that that group um is helping you win before they start to step out and helping those younger guys you know three years from now Kuie is going to be 24 but you have a lot of prospects in your pool so it’s all about I think creating this you know uh winning mentality you know a championship type organization um being able to uh mirror what you know the Tampa Bay Lightning have done or you know the Florida Panthers have done where they’re good for for a number of years and they just continue to be competitive and and relevant for a decade i think that’s critical because the Stanley Cup playoffs between the injuries and just the freaky nature of the way the puck bounces and you know the puck hits the post and goes in or goes out you need to give yourself as many chances as possible because they aren’t all going to break your way but if you give yourself six or seven chances you got a better chance of one breaking your way than if you’re you know the peak for your club is just two or three years so how do you maximize that that window and with that in mind what free agents have caught your eye who would you like to see them chase or maybe who have you heard that hey this is this guy’s on the radar they’re going to prioritize him well what I do know is um you know two things in terms of needs uh right now you know they they still are going to be looking for a goalie um simply based off the fact that you don’t know if Connor Ingram’s going to be ready you don’t know if Connor Ingram’s going to be in a situation where you know he can play and so you know you you got to have a backup you got to plan for worst case scenario that you know either Connor is not ready to go or maybe he’s just not fully up uh to the standard of what you need as your your 1B or your backup uh obviously Vamela uh you know figured it out this last year got himself a nice big contract and he’ll be their starter moving forward uh but you need somebody to to back him up so you know they they’ll be looking for goalenders it’ll be interesting to see uh what that market looks like there’s not a lot of overly um great goalies entering for agents too it doesn’t mean that the trademark wouldn’t be an option there uh second they need size and scoring and uh and physicality uh like I said earlier that is what this team knows that they need to take that next step they’ve been able to uh to make um some sightings you know Denil Boot and Demetri Simichev who were in their prospect pool will now be playing for the big club uh this next season they’re both uh I think Simichev at 6’5 Booth 67 so couple big boys that you know are coming up through the ranks and ready to help contribute uh we’ll see what they do in the draft if they do end up keeping the pick I think again they’re going to go for uh a center with with size um guys like Porter Marone or Caleb Denoier and then in terms of free agency I just don’t know that the top two guys are really going to be in situations where Utah’s going to have a little bit legitimate chance to bring them in not because of Utah itself but more because of um you know financial uh restrictions and um as well i don’t know that Bennett is going to be a guy that leads Florida so if Bennett stays in Florida you know there’s no chance to go and get him and then Mitch Mner who everybody’s talking about not that Utah couldn’t pay him as much as he wants but they don’t want to overspend again it goes back to what I was talking about earlier with you know Utah doesn’t want to rush anything they don’t want to make any decisions that hey on paper and during the summer it looks really good but then you get to the winter it just doesn’t work out so I’m sure of course they’d love to to try to add Mitch uh if he’s willing to you know negotiate and come to their terms uh but you know to my understanding Mitch is going to want the most possible money out there and there’s a couple organizations that are willing to do that and Utah again they just don’t want to overspend so maybe a guy like uh uh Ellers who’s coming off uh his contract with the Winnipeg Jets very very good player i believe he had 80 or 90 points this season uh you know he kind of fits that mold of maybe what Utah’s looking for um so we’ll see here in a couple weeks uh how conversations start to go and and who they really show interest in but like I said uh they’re looking for size scoring and physicality you said the fourth pick if they keep it uh just off you know short conversations it seems to me like they’re going to but I have heard that thrown out there so what do you think the odds are they would move that i think they’ll keep it um you know in conversations that I’ I I’ve had and been a part of you know kind of the mindset is look we got this selection without any of the associated pay right uh you know they they weren’t terrible um you know they they weren’t experiencing any of the financial wos um they’re not a team that doesn’t have any direction like look this is a team that only missed the playoffs by about three or four games and then they were you know blessed by the hockey gods with the fourth overall pick and you can get a really good player you know you’re not going to get a McDavid or a Cindy Crosby or an Alexander Ovetkin but you’re gonna get a player that you know that could be similar in in overall skill to Logan or Dylan Gunther and it could be a long time if if plans go uh accordingly before Utah’s going to be able to select in the top five again you know if if things go the way that they’re hoping it could be another eight to 10 years before they’re getting a pick like this so um I I would anticipate they they do they do use it um but Bill has said “Look we’re open to anything.” You know we’re going to take the phone calls we’re going to listen listen to other GMs we’re going to hear them out but what I do know is it would take a Sergeev type deal for them to move off that pick so a player that you know would help you a lot sooner right like a guy that you can you can put on your roster next season he’s helping you as opposed to you know even if you get this fourth overall pick it’s probably a guy that’s a year two maybe three out before he’s going to suit up for you so uh we’ll see what they end up doing but it would take you know a significant return for them to move off the fourth pick well it’s almost go time now Cole the games are out of the way so here we go yep off we go uh as much of of an off seasonason as it’s been the offseason’s over for me and we’re moving into to draft and free agency and and development camp so uh hockey as much as the season’s over it’s it’s about to really get serious for the Mammoth in the coming weeks cole thanks for the time we appreciate it yeah of course cole Bagley Utah Mammoth and NHL insider for the zone joining us here this morning we’re going to take a break tim Lome Jazz analyst for SCG Media 9:00 if you missed the question of the day we got it for you next got a couple things up on uh on our Twitter page David DJ James and on Facebook DJ andPK and we will get to that next one thing we told you about just happened officially stay with us DJ and PK it’s 975 the zone and now a look at traffic from the KSL traffic center [Music] traffic looking good uh around the valley but watch for crash on crash west of Redwood Road 104 south otherwise slowing continuing coming into Salt Lake Valley if you’re uh coming from North Salt Lake and also eastbound I80 from Tilla this update is brought to you by Advanced Window Products they offer great window coverings high-end quality with the best warranty save 30% off when you mention KSL go to advancedwindows.com with your KSL traffic update i’m Jay Hatch here 975 the KSL sports zone [Music] 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 catch JJ and Alex afternoons from 3 to 6 presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL Sports Zone dj and PK it’s 975 the zone what’s today yock it’s Wednesday it’s what kind of Wednesday as always win tickets Wednesday caller 12 right now 801575 zone win a pair of tickets to the Monster Jam World Finals July 4th and 5th at Rice Eckle Stadium caller 12 81575 zone call now well earlier in the show I was telling you about uh text I got last night the news was breaking in Sacramento and apparently other people had as well and now the school’s officially announced Sacramento State is going to the Big West leaving the big sky blue to replace UC Davis and UC Davis is going to the Mountain West because Texas State is going to the Pack 12 sak State hoped to be one of those two teams well maybe next time and they’re laughing at UC Davis because their rivals were replacing them in the Big West they got over on Sak State again and what does that mean for all the local schools here is the Big Sky going to be adding teams is more teams they actually have enough for football well it’s basketball where it’s getting a little thin down to nine teams utah Tech sitting over there raising their hand su used to be in the league but left it makes it a little hard to go back it’s a little embarrassing oh hi we’re back that wasn’t uh I wasn’t the president who did that that was somebody else sorry about that sorry I walked out on you the food chain continues in college sports non-stop it never change it never It never stops uh the other news last night that we haven’t really gotten to man the jealousy just runs rampant in the WNBA kaitlin Clark raked across the face maybe poked in the eye it’s hard to tell she was away from the camera there she reacted poorly they’re timing in bumps her to the ground she’s the meal ticket man there’s so many eyeballs on her gains she’s making everybody so much money but it’s just something about human nature shaq and Jordan guys who made money and moved the needle they took heat when they came into the NBA there was jealousy there and I just don’t know how to explain it other than jealousy and then the Suns the Sun’s mad because there’s a hard foul later in the game one of the uh the Fever players on a fast break took somebody down it was kind of like old school uh Kevin McCale Laker Celtic stuff it wasn’t quite that brutal and it wasn’t it wasn’t from behind and you know you see it coming to protect yourself a little bit but none nonetheless it’s just and the thing is it’s competition it should be intense and you have to be physical with Caitlyn Clark because she’s so skilled why would you try to play a finesse game with someone with that much skill so you’re going to body her up and some of this stuff is going to happen hitting somebody in the face yeah not not great always going to get a bad reaction for that and Ka Kayn Clark will say stuff on the court i mean there’s all kinds of stuff out on social media where they have the CL and you can lipre it clear as day um you know and she’s been hitting deep threes and you can’t do that i can do whatever the belief I want you hit me in the face i got a lot to say to you and then afterwards why do you lecture the media can we talk about basketball well obviously not everybody’s mad at the refs everybody’s hitting each other and you want to break down the pick and roll no most people don’t understand how to defend the pick and roll most people don’t care but they get the just the energy that comes from people are competing and people don’t like each other and they see the hard fouls that’s not hard to explain throwing somebody to the ground bumping somebody to the ground hitting somebody in the face now I’d like to talk about basketball and the rotations actually the quote was “Do you want to talk about the Commissioner’s Cup?” No nobody knows what the Commissioner’s Cup is yock explain to me the Commissioner’s Cup it’s a miniature Lefield Director’s Cup aka how you perform in all sports gives you points and then you get to celebrate a fake award but that’s not the what happens in the WNBA all sports oh sorry i thought we were talking about college yeah okay fine you’re doing Sacramento State i thought earlier I transitioned i’m doing a contest over here okay that’s a good point it’s a So the Commissioners Cup and the WNBA it’s the It’s the NBA Cup it their interest how do you qualify you see you play in the WA come on we have the NBA Cup where all 30 teams are put in contrived brackets against one another they did something like that there was some pool something exactly kayla Clark wanted people talk about that like when you just got hit in the face and bumped to the ground and your teammate grabbed the other player and threw it to the ground we’re not going to talk about the Commissioners Cup how to defend a pick and roll and defensive rotations ken Clark it’s like why is everybody beaten up on the meal ticket human jealousy i don’t know how else to say it and a lot of times it’s been race and this was a white player who hit her in the face a white player bumped her to the ground and a white teammate who tackled a white player yeah this is not the British Miner Ming i think at the basis of all of this it’s it’s jealousy she’s getting all the money well she’s not she’s getting a lot of the money a lot of the attention she is making money for other people the rising tide is going to is going to raise all boats but to your point there’s a human jealousy aspect in effect that other players can’t get past i don’t remember it happening with LeBron which is kind of funny maybe it did but I don’t think so it definitely happened with Shaq and it definitely happened with MJ i think it’s definitely happening now with Caitlin Clark when we come back Tim Lome Jazz analyst for SCG Media breaking down the draft we are one week away we’ll talk with Tim next
Hour three of DJ & PK for June 18, 2025:
• Walker Mehl, WFNZ and Locked On Hornets
• Cole Bagley, KSL Sports
• Why do WNBA players loathe Caitlin Clark?
