Hour 3: Steve Cleveland Talking NBA Finals | What Will the Ainge Influence Mean for Utah Jazz? | …
dj and PK it’s 975 the zone we’re brought to you in part by Teton Wealth ethan Miller with Teton Wealth will be live in studio with Hans and Scotty G Wednesday they help you with your retirement plan tune in or visit retireton.com we’re live at Cedar Hills Golf Club byu’s football media golf extravaganza for lack of a better term has just gotten underway kehani with a brief message on the microphone and I heard Colani thanking people and it was so short i thought Keelani wants to go golf he’s not interested in talking he’s like “Nobody here wants to listen to me we all want to golf.” All right i’ll say something and then let’s go tee it up so they’ve taken off now and uh there’s uh radio and TV people i’m sure uh the newspapers and multiple websites are represented here so PK’s out with the radio team jake Scott’s out with the radio team jake will be coming in to do the show at 10 i will be going out to replace him scotty G’s coming in at noon and there’s some discussion on whether Lloyd is actually going to go back and produce the show or stay in golf all day he told me last week he was going to be uh leaving at 11 and I mean we all like Lloyd and trust him but nobody really believes him so we’ll see how that plays out but in the meantime Steve Cleveland once again has been good enough to sit in here for a little while and talk some hoops when you’d probably rather be golfing too i’m going to be golfing that a kid 10:00 nice i didn’t know Lloyd played no wonder I never find him oh yeah yeah yeah yeah lloyd does play and and Lloyd is like a lot of guys he he play he played uh baseball in in high school right and and you pick up golf because you can’t play these other sports you can’t get people together right and you got to protect your Achilles and so he picks up golf so now he’s got kids and he’s got work and he’s got a family they’re like “You getting your kids into golf?” And he’s like “Of course.” Partly to be a good dad and partly because there’s no other way to get on the golf course unless you tell your wife you’re taking your kids it’s a lot easier to get out of the house if you’re taking the kids with you absolutely she gets the break and she knows you’re bonding with the kids and uh she looks at the golf like I know what you’re doing but I’m going to let it slide that’s that’s how that works i’m I’m so glad at my age that I don’t have to kind of sneak out and play golf anymore nice so I did enough of that where uh we had a lot of things going on but I remember a couple things that my uh grandmother said to me and it’s funny because I grew up they were in town and all my grandparents lived a long time so I got to spend a lot of time with them i was I was really fortunate my kids weren’t nearly as fortunate my mom uh you know my kids have no memory of my mom because she passed away so young um but I got to hang out with all my grandparents a lot but I remember a couple things that my dad’s mom said to me and one of them after my dad had rafted the Grand Canyon with both his dad and his father-in-law and the three of them didn’t hang out together a lot this was very even though they were in town they didn’t hang out together a lot and they came back three different personalities and they all had a great time and I’ve subsequently done it and if you think you might want to do it you should absolutely do it i went for the rapids i went for the e ride but the side hikes down there the history of the canyon our guides knew it was fascinating it was an awesome week but anyways they come back and my grandmother apparently her friends apparently generationally this is a little weird her friends are like “How could you let him go and how could you?” And I’m like “I’m 12 what do I A what do I know and B what do I care?” Right and she’s scooping ice cream she looks at me she goes “I love your grandfather dearly but I do not need him underfoot every time I turn around.” And I’m like “Wow that meant something.” Now years later I know what it meant but at the time I didn’t get it they were in a two-bedroom condo so it’s like “Go for a week get out of here.” Some of my greatest memories were living in central California and going up to the American River and uh you know nearly killing myself several times because you get up there and when they have four or five type uh situations where the the waves are really difficult there in the river and you got all the rocks and I remember a few times getting kind of putting my making the mistake of putting my knee in the boat and uh hitting rocks you know painful painful but Uh yeah I love the river rafting and it was really good in the upper American River up there in towards Sacramento mhm a lot of people here may have done the Snake River apparently it’s awesome i haven’t done it but I I haven’t either but it I probably went up there seven or eight times with friends and that we always got a really we had done it we thought we knew everything and and there you know there are some really difficult rapids there that are at the five and six level that you shouldn’t even be on the river for and uh so I can remember being told you know stay don’t do not put your knees in in the boat don’t kneel down you know keep your feet sit up and and I we were going through rapids and I was going up and down and all of a sudden I just got put my knee down and we must have hit some huge boulder my knee was like 12 in wide is swollen now the good news was I was in really cold water and and so like icing it was like I said but uh I had great memories going down the river and and with my with my dad my friends and uh I’m too old for that now but but my but it’s interesting my kids and my grandkids in California the they continue to do that and keep that tradition and uh but those were good memories for me as well good times good memories in Oklahoma City they have their NBA championship and I don’t want to rain in their parade and I’m sure it was fun for them but I’m selfish and I’m about me so let’s just get right to that when Hallebertton went down and I mean I picked Oklahoma City to win and I thought they were going to win and I thought they were going to win game seven even though the recent history of home teams in game seven is not great the last four or five years a lot of road teams have won i always thought the Thunder were going to do it when Haliban went down I was disappointed i mean obviously you feel bad because an injury is terrible and all that but it’s also like I couldn’t buy any of the drama after that oklahoma City sits hits a shot and leads by one at halftime it’s tied to 56 and a third i’m like but it’s just a matter of time and sure enough and that’s what it ended up being just a matter of time yeah I was that was hard to see and hard to watch because you want you want to watch a championship where everybody’s got everybody healthy and all things are there they’re right in front of you and to have that happen and and I think like you said I mean the game was competitive and close and I I think the it was a situation where Indie the guys really bonded and got together and competed and kept that thing good for about three quarters and then it was just too much and uh and too late but it it you just hate to see those types of things happen i mean as a coach I had to deal with some injuries at times with some key players and uh it just takes the air out of the balloon i mean it’s really devastating and even though you’re given a great effort you know in the back of your mind you don’t have as much talent this is impossible that we’re not going to be able to pull this off so I I fell for those guys and and uh but Indiana you got to give them credit too for just competing and being there in the moment and doing everything they could but OKC had you know they not only did they have an advantage where they didn’t have a lot of injuries but they’re a really talented team and uh I I sat there and you know you started looking at Homegrren Williams you know it’s it’s it’s one of those uh SGA that you know all of them in mid20s the Indie was never going to win this game and just never and one of one of the things too is Turner going for six points and Nezmouth three Hallebertton’s injured uh what it was fun to watch was to watch McConnell and oh my he kept him in it for a He did you know I don’t know if it was eight or 10 straight points that he scored but you know you you really get excited about it watching a guy that’s given and is that passionate and then he’s making baskets too you know and eventually it caught up with him but at the end of the day uh OKC’s the champion they’ve been had the best record in the league and uh you know they’ll have an opportunity to defend it but an opportunity has there been a better opportunity there are so many injuries in the league right now i know you know you think the Celtics could push him except Tatum’s not going to play next year and we’ll have to see this summer if they have to shed some salary because of the second apron and luxury tax and that so Boston’s got to deal with that uh Milwaukee where’s your They don’t they don’t have a Lillard maybe they’ll move Yiannis this summer uh you look at Dallas I mean I don’t think so but definitely with Kyrie Irving down and trying to break in a rookie with flags so no um I’m leaving Oh well Indiana doesn’t have Hallebertton now the Knicks don’t have a head coach who knows what they’re doing right i mean chemistry is important and the coach is part of that that they took him out seems crazy to me but the Knicks have been crazy for 25 years anyway so you know never change new York never change you know what you’re absolutely right so who’s the next best team denver i mean they need a bench clearly maybe Denver’s the best threat maybe Denver maybe Golden State with Butler there for a full year and maybe they add somebody maybe a young guy comes out of nowhere i I like I we’ve kind of ignored Denver this year they just kind of went away and and but you know previous to this time I mean Denver’s been dominant but their stats with the Joker on the floor and the Joker off the floor are so you can’t buy it serious so I’ve I’ve talked all the way around it so now I’m going to ask you what do you think of Houston now that they have Durant are they the second best team in the league and the biggest threat to Oklahoma City i think maybe so i think maybe I think Durant is gonna be so excited to be where he’s at to get a new start and I think we’re gonna see a great year by him to stay healthy but I don’t know if I don’t know if anybody’s going to beat OKC you you made you made a point of that just a few moments ago when if everybody’s healthy this is OKC is the team that comes back and defends his title and probably wins another title this is seven teams in seven years to win the title which is the longest streak in NBA history the previous was six in six years you go to the late 70s and from the Celtics they won in 74 they won in 76 and starting with 76 we had a lot of different champs portland and Seattle and Washington and the Lakers and then it came back around with Bird and the Celtics again it feels like it’s about time for somebody to go back to back and it seems like it sets up perfectly i’m curious what you think of the Durant trade because I think the best case scenario that you can paint for Houston okay is that they get a fully motivated Durant although I don’t know that I’ve seen that in a long time right i just and I’m I mean I was a KD guy from the start i found him amazing when he was in Oklahoma City he was mustsee TV and PK will tell you they’re gonna win a championship said some fool on the radio and they didn’t because they broke it up for money and I didn’t see that coming and I should have but I didn’t but I mean it just I I just keep waiting and it keeps not working and he seems aloof and above it all and it’s kind of weird with him on social media and the rabbit ears it just doesn’t seem like a championship mentality i I don’t know but let’s say they get the best KD and maybe Jaylen Green was overdrafted and overhyped and is a high volume low efficiency scorer and maybe he needs to be jettisoned the way Monte Ellis needed to be jettisoned at Golden State for the Warriors to become who they became right and Dylan Brooks well this is a tough cell here with Utah BYU fans he’s a nut job he’s a distraction he’s crazy sure he plays hard on defense but come on this guy’s a walking distraction they had to give up a 10th pick because you got to give up something but they didn’t give up unprotected Suns pick in 27 or some of the other unprotected picks they have out there that look really good a five sangaround picks sure have them whatever that makes you feel you never see those so there there is an argument i get why a Rockets fan is waking up this morning thinking this is going to be awesome we couldn’t have gotten a better player for less now I could probably talk you into the other side of that argument that Durant isn’t going to be great and they are going to miss Dylan on defense and they’re giving up on Green too quick he’s a secondyear player let him grow up already he might be a much more efficient scorer in his fourth and fifth year in the NBA give it a little bit of time so there’s another argument to be made and who’s to say the next great player isn’t going to go 10 in this draft yeah we just saw finals where guys were drafted 11 and 12 and 11 were the three dominant players well you know it’s funny i I kind of watched Jaylen Green grow up because he was from the valley in central California and uh you know as a player at Sanwaukein Memorial High School many many a few years back but uh So do you think he’s do you think he’s plateaued as he is who he is is there a whole another level he’s going to get to my hope is yes my hope is yes i know what you’re hoping put your Because you’re a positive upbeat guy Steve but it’s kind of like let your inner New Jersey out now yeah it is i I I’ll be honest with you i I think we need to believe in this kid and believe that he can actually get to a point where he can make a contribution and everybody’s kind of familiar with what his path has been uh but I you know how old is he now 26 25 26 jay Green how old is Jay 24 25 he may may only be in his early 20s let’s find out how old he is all right jaylen Green is 23 he will turn 24 in the middle of next season in February yeah so so I think at 23 I think your peak is 27 to 32 has been the NBA peak historically guys are better younger and maybe that’s why they’re breaking down later maybe they’re playing so much basketball they got miles maybe that’s why we’re seeing so many Achilles but that’s a discussion for another segment i I like the idea of Jaylen over the next couple of years really stepping up and having an impact in this league and uh you know I I like I said I I’ve been around him and I’ve watched him and know some of his family members and those kinds of things so I’m pulling for him from my heart i get that but I think that’s the info you have to have yeah because with the NBA draft come up Wednesday and I want to get to that with you we’ll get that in the next segment but when people ask me I’m like I don’t know and the reason I don’t know is I’ve never had more information and yet I still don’t have the info I need right right i can watch games i can watch whole games on YouTube i don’t need to go to any there’s a bunch of sites and you you know somebody in the NBA and they give you a password and you can watch whatever they watch but honestly YouTube with the clips and the games you can see a lot even if you don’t know anybody and you got all the measurables and so I’ve never had this kind of info before it’s awesome when I was possibly second-guessing the Jazz at one point Kevin O’Connor gave me a stack of seven tapes and said “You can say whatever you want but I want you to watch these tapes and tell me what you think of these players.” Wow you have to give me that much i’m enjoying you guys thinking you know and I told him I said “You’re going to draft Sasha Pavlovich.” He’s like “Why?” And I’m like “He’s just so smooth with the ball it’s so second in nature.” I mean the other guys were a little I mean it’s just And they did and he didn’t work out right and he didn’t work out because of offthe- court stuff he’d been through a civil war it really I I don’t know him well enough to know how that messes with your personality and all but it’s got to have a major impact and we don’t know these guys and they’re given so much money and so much fame so young it’s like how can I assess the draft and who’s going to develop Steve when I never talk to these guys I don’t interview them i don’t know who has a high maturity level who has a low maturity level i don’t know who’s grounded with mentors that help keep them on track and talk them through the tough times that everybody’s going to go through and if you don’t have that mentor whether it’s a father an uncle a coach um a cousin an older brother somebody you know some of these guys I mean they just they don’t have anybody you know and they’re they’re given all this money and fame and then they’re given problems because we all get problems yes so I don’t know well but I I don’t think these guys fall apart on hoops i think it’s what you said if like when you know the family you know all that stuff you have a better chance if they’re going to fight through the stuff they have to fight through to get where they want to get you know having having coached Paul George in college and watching his path you mentioned a couple of things that I vividly remember why Paul made that transition with a lot of without a lot of major problems he had an amazing mom and dad he had an amazing sister who was a baller herself at Pepperdine and and uh and you know who you’re surrounded with uh you know whether it’s family or close friends or former coaches but having those connections and contacts helps keep a Jaylen Green grounded i I love Jaylen Green because he’s from the valley and he’s a guy that I watched and and I know that he’s I think he’s got good people around him and so we’ll see what happens and you like you said he’s 23 years old maybe in 25 or 26 he’s an allNBA guy you know just because of that maturation process and the things you have to go through but in in the young men you know I remember Rouio who we had at at BYU and he goes to Toronto as a lottery He had no support around him he didn’t you know had family in Brazil he didn’t he didn’t have close friends he wasn’t surrounded by mentors and consequently he la you know he lasts three or four or five years in the league and he’s back in Brazil playing so it’s a perfect example of what does it look like for guys that are really talented and they they have a support system and they’re in a position to to make mistakes but it’s okay you’re here or I’m here to help you when you have that kind of mentoring and and that kind of relationship you can mature and get through difficult times that a lot of young people in the league have not and they just imploded and you never hear about them again so it is important to know you know who your agent is and who who who who’s the family members that are involved with you those uh I should have thrown agent in that list when I was talking about mentors and I didn’t exactly and I should have yeah a and so I’m I’m hoping that someone like Jaylen Greener who I do believe is being surrounded by good people and I know the family and I think he’s going to be okay but all that being said there’s still 20 21 22 23 year olds who have ex have no experience in life they’ve never had to be have a checkbook or responsibility and and a lot of these guys don’t they have somebody taking care of their finances they have somebody taking care of all the things in their life so they don’t have to worry about that but I I think the people that have been most important in my life were my mom and dad and my brothers or sisters who when I went through tough times coaching that I’d get a phone call or a text and hang in there you know and when you have that kind of support you can get through anything and so for for these guys in the league and all this money and all this fame uh and you don’t have a support system man it can be really challenging really difficult and you end up maybe making decisions that aren’t the best and consequently uh there’s some suffering during that course of time look at this list right here this is a list of all the players on the roster for Oklahoma City this is this season’s salaries in this column the next column is next season salaries there’s the column for two years out now they’re are set right these options in red are team options here is three years out that to me is why Oklahoma City three years out everyone’s saying they could win for five six seven years they got almost nobody signed in three years they have some guys Wiggins and Caruso are signed uh you know but the money they’re going to have to pay SGA now who do you pay after that yeah you know if Homegrren’s coming do you pay Williams i think you pay Williams but if you pay Williams and Holgren you’re going to start running out of money pretty quick and you only got three guys and we know the three player super team doesn’t seem to be the model you need depth through 8 10 11 guys because you’re going to have you got to get through the injuries and you got to get through a long season they played 105 games both these teams did that was game 105 for both clubs last night well you know the thing you you mentioned you know the where the money you know stops right and uh I I think that’s always going to be it doesn’t matter who you are what organization in the NBA those are things that you have to keep a close eye on and and because you know can you win can you win an NBA championship with three of those guys okay and then filling them in with I think the Joker would tell you you need eight right now that’s what he’s saying in Denver we need depth exactly you need depth and and that’s the thing that would concern me about Oklahoma City how do they handle this thing in terms of salaries who are they going to give up and you probably can’t do it with three guys you do need eight next two years they look good after that we’ll see dj and PK when we come back Steve will look ahead to the NBA drafts stay with us this is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson athletics are funny that way i’ I’ve always said this not only does it attract people from all sorts of different backgrounds but all sorts of different intelligence levels different emotionally intelligence levels like all those things like I don’t know how coaches do it honestly this is going to sound mean because it’s certainly not the case there are legitimate savants can think everything with the game and then aren’t super intelligent off the floor and struggle off the floor and that’s quite common it’s so applicable though to life i mean Elton John just sat down and played the piano i think in person you can really tell the difference between not intelligent and maybe just public speaking isn’t my first way of communicating but then you can see people is just like okay this dude’s just a dim bulb and as a dim bulb myself I feel like we can really sniff out each other you know what I mean spider sense tingles get around this guy’s faking it just like me here Jake Scott and Ben Anderson every day from 10 to noon on 975 the KSL Sports Zone listen to the zone Wednesday from 3 to 6 for a special draft round table at the cage book now and score 10% off with promo code the zone the zone get yourself 10% off dj PK the BYU media golf tournament is underway pk is out blasting 350 yard drives down the middle no that’s the one thing he’s not doing wait except isn’t there one hole here at Cedar it’s uh Cedar Hills it’s you tee off a cliff it’s number one number one i’ve never played here i I haven’t either but I driven by it enough to see the holes and I know up I mean you do a mountain peak and there’s a small strip awesome yeah they’re they are crazy they must do a lot of like weddings and anniversary parties here they do they do and I thing is I I played here once and I I’m not going to play it again i mean it’s just so tricked out and it is fun to play in a scramble where you know you can hit a ball out of bounds and that doesn’t impact your own personal game but yeah it’s not it’s not a golf course I’d play regularly and uh but it is fun to look at and watch and the one time I did play it was pretty penal i think I lost seven ray golf balls and and I’m I’m like a you know I’m nine or 10 handicaps so like I just started playing the game yeah and uh but it’s not a golf course I want to play every day got it so Steve Cleveland sitting in for PK here uh let’s talk NBA draft it’s Wednesday night round one the Jazz draft 5 and 21 and just cuz you know the Angels and I mean I only know them from the media perspective right you’ve spent way way more time around them than I have but from the outside I always understood and I think it’s becoming more clear to me now danny Inch come retires in Boston and then comes here and I think we all kind of like uh six months later and you unretired and but I think there was more truth in that it’s like he really as I look back he didn’t want to do the six or seven days a week 14 16 18 hours a day the international flights to go to Europe to go to South America to go to Australia like that wears on you but he is tight with Ryan Smith it did bring him back to Utah like you extended family here okay I’ll do it 40 hours a week my question from the outside looking in is can you really win on your terms in the NBA like you know enough to win but do you have to be in it 12 14 16 hours a day and all the flights and then as we talk to people I hear well we see Danny Angel at BYU basketball games because he wants to be there right and then Travis Hansen comes on and says “Oh yeah he’s at my kids games in Vegas to be supportive.” And then we hear he’s at grandkids games to be supportive which are all fine and noble things but it’s like does that help you win in the NBA and then Austin comes in like this makes sense to me austin’s at the point in his life where he has to prove to himself and everyone else hey I can do this at the highest level i’ll work 14 16 hours a day i’ll fly to Australia i’ll fly to wherever in central Europe to see the next Joker in the Adriatic League the Adriatic League you got to invest time in the Adriatic League yeah apparently you do apparently you do right and you got to find the next Joe Engles whose guy’s seven or eight so how often do you have to see Barcelona Real Madrid play because maybe their seventh or eighth guy can turn into rotation guy here and can be the runner up in the sixth man balloting and so it’s all consuming and so now I see more people never tell the media and the public 100% of the truth cuz we all want to keep a little bit of our lives public but in retrospect I think I see how this played out a really did want to retire he did want to come to Utah he wanted to do it but he was serious but he didn’t lie to Boston i don’t think he wanted to do it 75 hours a week right i think Austin does no he does i mean I’ve talked to him a few times and uh you know that’s the thing is that the first thing I heard from social media was nepotism okay this I mean they got the last name you can’t ignore it exactly right and and I had the opportunity on with with friends and other people and being on shows and stuff that Austin was probably the smartest young man that I ever coached and and he wasn’t the greatest player he didn’t play a great deal at BYU but his basketball IQ just growing up in that environment was always incredible and and and it was it was interesting that he I don’t want to say he was a coach and during the time we were there but when I’d sit down and talk with him and kind of go through things and what’s happening he had so many astute thoughts and just spoton from watching that for so many years and then I don’t know he had to be in Boston 16 17 years working for them so when he comes here you know what a great opportunity for him and his family but I think it’s a great move for the Jazz i like you said well you have somebody now that’s willing to go to Australia or they’re willing to go to Mongolia or where wherever you got to go right but you still had access to Danny’s brain like for the 40 hours he’s willing to watch video or watch games live like I want his I get why Ryan Smith says I want Danny’s perception you know his take on what he’s seeing but in 40 hours you can’t see everything no you can’t and and I the thing about it is like you’re right danny has all these years of experience as a player and and as you know in terms of overseeing you know the Jazz excuse me and doing those things but I the thing I love about Austin is that he’s hungry he’s got you know he’s around family you have that comfort zone but he’s willing to go to those places and do those things and kind of recreate the organization of the Jazz i I haven’t talked to him recently but I can’t imagine that there are changes that are being made right within the organization just from his experiences not not from what Danny has done or what Ryan has done but the experiences he’s had and I think he’s a great addition to this community and I’m excited to see kind of what’s going to happen but I I I do really really like Austin just because of the IQ that he has and just being around him for enough to know that this is a really smart young man he’s not a young man anymore you know he’s middleaged now he’s the guy and uh I I love that he’s here and I love that he’s had all these experiences away from his family and and raising his own family in Boston and coming back here it’s a good thing for the Jazz so the one thing I’ve heard about Austin and this makes sense because everything you said about him as a player PK told me because we’ve been doing the show that long pk told me that when he played he said “I talked to him like he secondguesses everybody he’s coaching both teams he’s subbing for both teams he’s analyzing the starters and the bench like “What’ they put that guy in for he can’t.” Apparently once in a game he snapped at a teammate what’d you foul him for he can’t score there’s no reason to foul him well he was open he’s gonna He was gonna brick it he’s no freaking good he’s just like And so PK I mean P at one point thought he’d be the next BYU coach i mean he’s covering BYU games it’s right in front of him there’s many other high-profile jobs right and he did the coaching thing for about a year and that was that was enough of that right the front office thank you coaches good luck but the player he likes makes sense to me i’ve heard how much he likes the really hard-nosed Marcus Smart type right right and he just But as a player who didn’t have the most talent who had to compete I get why he appreciates that and so when I look at this draft and I think well Flag and Harper are going one two and I know I mean I I don’t know about you but I can’t hear I I just can’t hear enough from Newton Cougar fans who want VJ Edgecom and I just with every passing week it’s more and more clear to me they have to trade up if they’re going to get him because he’s gone he’s not last until five most of the mock drafts have now moved him to three it’s it’s pretty much getting unanimous at this point the only question is will Philly be tempted to trade for veterans because they’ve got a veteran team or do they view this as a golden opportunity to start with the next generation and get a really good player yeah you know I I the thing about it is I I didn’t think that the Jazz would have an opportunity if I have to get PJ Edge unless it involved trades or those types of things that were happening uh and and right now you know there are Trey Johnson from Texas shooting guard interesting his his college coach was a guy that took my place at uh when when I was at Fresno State and I I have watched Texas play a little bit because of people I know and have connections with and just being tough-nosed uh just a that that coaching staff there at Texas got their guys to really compete at a high level and I I watched them because I knew the coach and I watched them in in cover and I have I’ve never watched him practice other than play me play in a few games but I I I think Austin’s made it very clear we’re we’re not in another rebuild here okay and uh the team’s done tanking remember when he first came Yeah they’re in a rebuild but they’re not tanking they’re not tanking yeah they may lose yes but they’re not going to arrest a 23y old so they can lose on purpose exactly that’s what they’re not going to do they’re not going to do that and so you know I I I you know right now the pick looks like it could be like a Johnson but with trades and all I got a draft night list here of of guys and you never know where everything’s going to happen with trades and everything else where they might land well there’s two other guys I want to ask you about we’ll do that next dj and PK it’s 975 the zone and now your Rocky Mountain Chevy dealer strong play of the weekend shay now giving it eight to shoot steps backfires angle right rainbow three is on the way to ting the thunder money bunny ball is shade like a shark smelling blood in the water he may be maybe 25 now 8468 Thunder by 16 [Music] Chevy Strong play of the game know it today after 3:00 Alex and JJ’ll call for it and you can win fabulous prizes the Chevy Strong play of the game all right we’re talking NBA draft with uh Steve Cleveland so we agree V VJ Edgecom’s going off the board at number three whether it’s the Sixers or whoever the Sixers make a trade with if they decide they’d rather have a veteran the Charlotte Hornets draft fourth and this pick was all over the board i’ve seen a lot of players mentioned there but it does seem like Khan Canipple’s name is settling there surprises me a little bit because for the longest time he was in the seven eight range and it seemed like people are like well if he were a little bigger well if he were a little more athletic well and now it seems like yeah sure he was playing oh Cooper flag makes the game easy for him so he’s not really that good but it seems like people are overcoming all of that or maybe they’re talking themselves out of the other guy more and more of the mock drafts it looks like people think Charlotte will take him at number four are you buying at I don’t know if the Hornets are going to get him but I love this player i I I I think Neville you know he’s a shooting guard he’s 6’5 you know he could be 6’8 we’d like that but the thing I love about him is his high basketball IQ uh he’s a playmaker he will defend uh he’s a good fit for whatever team he goes to uh you know playing with LaMelo and Brandon Miller I don’t know how that all plays out or if those guys are even there when this is all said and done but you have a chance to get him i just think the fact that you get a high IQ guy you got somebody that’s got a great work ethic and he’s really skilled and and the thing about it I I get all the athleticism and all the things that come with the potential but you give me a guy that can actually shoot has a high IQ I’m taking him every day i’m not going to bet on what this guy’s going to become and and I don’t know if he’ll be there you know more than likely the Sixers get him but I I don’t know what not excuse me the Hornets get him it may be a trade they may go some other direction i don’t know but that’s a guy I want on my team what do you think of him as a passer because to really be effective offensively in the NBA when you only have 24 seconds guys aren’t open by much and they aren’t open for long so you got to be a good shooter but if someone comes open you got to be able to get them the ball instantly on target and on time if they’re going to get the shot off and I don’t know you know the I answer that question by I haven’t seen him play enough to know what his skill set is but I know that he’s got the IQ and that he’s played for great coaches and with good teams he’ll figure that out i I just think you cannot have enough great shooters he’s got enough size and he’s really smart i want to be surrounded by players that are have high IQs that understand what a work ethic is and and can knock shots down so that leaves a group of players uh on the board for the Jazz at number five if Conipal’s gone ace Bailey Trey Johnson uh Jeremiah Fears and a guy who definitely seems to be picking up steam in this draft as other players drop uh Malawich the uh big sevenfooter from from Duke who’s extremely raw and apparently here’s the other thing that the media and the public doesn’t know when we try to dope this stuff out you watch him at Duke and you’re like well he dunks now you see him in these workouts and you’re hearing fourthhand that’s all I’m hearing but fourthhand hey he’s really lightening it up i’m reading it he’s lighting it up in these workouts shooting the ball it’s one time I think a workout when you involve I always think watch the game tape but college coaches use kids different so there might not be enough game tape of him shooting 15 18 23-footers what’s his range how far out can he go and if he’s answering those questions and if he’s interviewing well you know if you take him to dinner and you know you find out okay we’ve got a a mature kid and then I I get why people would fall in love with him because apparently his size his measurables and the way he moves what’s not to love and and I I agree that you know we’ll go back to guys that have a skill set or that have high IQ’s or in in in his situation you know he’s he he’s a young man that uh he can make baskets and and I I just think that you can get somebody with his size and where he’s going the workouts have been decent uh significant upside he has the energy he has uh the the motor that he he’ll need and continue to get better but I I I think that uh this is a guy I want want on my team as well i I’m I’m kind of high on him and I I did watch some clips and watch a little bit of watching him play and uh I like him you know we’ll see what happens and I don’t have any idea if Trey Johnson from Texas is going to go to the Jazz because that’s what all the things everybody’s saying because it never works out i take this draft night list I have and and and come back the next day and I’ve xed out 10 of them yeah but if there’s a trade or two in front never know what’s going to happen right but uh we asked Danny A about that because we saw uh PK and I had occasion to see uh Danny’s handwritten list not from Danny yeah somebody else somebody else and they’re like “Man you ranked them and the draft went exactly in the order.” Because a lot of times you’ll hear “Hey we got him at we got him at number nine or 10 or whatever but we we had them ranked much higher because of the drafts and people see stuff differently.” But that year it played out and and and Danny was like “Yeah that was a weird year it doesn’t usually play out like that you don’t usually have to take the ninth best player with the ninth pick you get to take whoever you think is seventh sixth fifth best player because other people see it differently but everybody saw it the same that year.” I think as a coaching as in as and as a coach and and things we talk about in a coaching staff when you can get skilled players that have motors that have a high IQ no matter whether their shots just perfect or not or whether their handles are just perfect or not you can look past that a little bit and know that hey this young man’s 19 years old we he’s got all the intangibles that we love about players and we love about this you know having guys like this in the league you can wait a year or two and develop him and all of a sudden he becomes a contributor in your organization djp Kids 975 the zone when we come back Rob Cuff joins us from the Utah High School Activities Association he’s also on the board of the Utah Sports Hall of Fame and we will talk to him about a golf tournament they have coming up and we’ll talk about the Hall of Fame and also a couple of the major issues in front of high school sports these days with new rules surrounding transfers how they’re prioritizing schools in realignment we’ll talk with Rob Cub about that and this is the one always gets parents going the new sports they might sanction and add a state championships because they’ve been in adding mode with uh boys volleyball and with girls wrestling and with boys and girls lacrosse and with girls golf there might be more on the way we’ll talk with Rob about that coming up stay with us dj and PK it’s 975 the zone
Hour three of DJ & PK for June 23, 2025:
• Steve Cleveland on the NBA Finals
• Ainge family influence on the Utah Jazz and NBA Draft
• Who could the Utah Jazz target in the draft?
