Tony Jones: Utah Jazz draft prospects | Jazz front office draft decisions | thoughts on OKC champ…
hey I’m glad to hear that Tony Jones returned some calls that’s awesome tony tony joining us now 975 the KSL Sports Zone from the athletic NBA savant and overall good dude the goat goats uh you know what he’s even a better basketball player than he is a writer which is saying things because he’s a hell of a writer and he’s a better dad than he is a basketball player which tells you a lot what else can we heap on you right now TJ how you been oh I got dumples yeah that’s true you got a good smile you got a good smile hey first and foremost congratulations to that baby girl man oh my god man like it’s it’s it’s uh it’s such a wonderful thing like hands i know you know it would rock man like to see your your kid kind of following in in in what you were doing and and having some success and you you know the the the greatest thing about it is she just came home with so many stories about David James so I mean listen I mean I listen DJ better not ever mess with me because I I now know where all the bodies are buried yes yes sir i love it i love it your your your baby gets home like “Honey we’re going to get you a promotion.” How does that sound listen hey listen when you when you when you know you know so you know the first thing we demanded we like “Okay well listen you guys need to take us to the draft tomorrow just take it to I don’t care what you have to do just take it to the draft that’s it.” Yep just little subtle threats here and there you know like I would hate for that story to come out that we found out about you and some you know the one thing that when uh DJ was always really good about the uh our guys here in radio cuz he would come back to studio and do some stuff after jazz games and our jazz staff would be crazy efficient because they knew they had to get out of here because if they got caught in a conversation with DJ it would add another hour and a half to them getting home yeah that that’s fire i mean like listen I I’ve got so many stories about his basketball days in San Diego now so Oh yeah this uh this this is great stuff right now so I’m just taking note hey um should we be getting to know Jeremiah Fears a little bit more you know it’s I don’t I would not say that he’s on top of the leader would say that he’s in the conversation i I would say that there’s one member of the Jazz front office that really really really likes him um um you know he he’s he’s a good player he’s dynamic he’s really good off the dribble he’s you know he’s got some flaws like you know all of the other uh candidates at the five spot um you know the the Jazz the one thing I know definitively is that the Jazz want to keep their options open and you know at at number five if there’s an opportunity to trade up they’ll do that if the guy they want they feel that they can get at eight you know trading back is on the table um but you know I would anticipate them picking F5 and picking whoever the the the top guy on their board is tony I want you to break down the saga that is Ace Bailey first and foremost is it true that he did turn down a workout option with Utah Jazz and then kind of give us the saga of Ace Bailey and if he is there at five is he too controversial to take coming up in tomorrow’s draft so to to answer your first question no the Jazz were not able to get him in into the building um they tried um but it just did not happen uh who you know and I know that there’s been a lot of stuff reported you know the the thing to to caution you know for Jazz fans and you know for NBA fans who eat this stuff up is this is you know I think AC’s situation individually is a little extreme i would say that but it’s not atypical that agents and handlers try to direct a kid to a team or to the team that they feel is best this this happens every year you know so the the atypical thing about it is that it’s happening to the teams uh to a team that’s picking number three in Philadelphia a team that’s picking number four in in Charlotte and a team that’s picking number five in Utah and and presumably you know Ace wants to get to Washington or Brooklyn you know but the the the thing to note about it is you know these teams realize it and they don’t really give a rip you know if if they want going to draft Ace Bailey is not going to matter you know it’s not going to matter whether he worked out for them or not because once they draft him they have him for seven to eight years and you know and that’s why you see the shenanigans pre-draft that you’re seeing right now because these agents and the handlers they know that once a team drafts you they have team control over you for two contracts so they want to try to get into what they consider is the optimum situation um for them individually and you know and that’s why you see you know oh I’m not coming in and work out with you I’m not sharing my medicals with you so this happened with the Jazz 10 years ago you know Dante Axom tried very very hard not to be drafted by the Jazz and the Jazz just laughed and said okay fine we’ll see you in training camp we drafting Dante Axel so it’s it’s it’s extreme in aces uh situation because you know I don’t you don’t typically see that you know with teams this high on the board but it’s not atypical overall you know for stuff like this to happen all right so congratulations you are the new general manager of the Utah Jazz you get to make the pick and at five you have Conanipple you have Ace Bailey you have Jeremiah Fears on your uh available to you where are you going at five so those are the three that are available to me correct so that means VJ Askam went three and Trey Johnson went four correct and Harper two well Dyl Dylan’s not going to be on the board we know that yeah um then I’m taking Ace congrats congrats ace you’re gonna see at our practice facility for the first time do you think the Jazz Do you think the Jazz feel the same way if aces are at five they have to take him i I don’t know that they feel the same way um it because here’s the thing and this is also what makes this a unique situation ace has basketball issues this is this is not just off the court issues this these are basketball issues he currently cannot dribble more than two times in a row without with his left hand um and that’s why you see him take so many contested shots um and you know and he is one of the worst passers in the draft in the lottery you know if you look at his film he does not pass the ball at all and those are two major areas that he really really really needs to work on as his career uh as as his career progresses but I’ll sum up Ace Bailey for you um in a nutshell and if I were a general manager I would be petrified to draft him because if I draft him he could turn into Cam Reddish and at the same time I’d be petrified to pass him up because if I pass him up he might turn into Paul George so you know what why would draft him if I were the Utah Jazz is because if you lose 65 games you should lose 65 games to be able to draft somebody with AllNBA ability and if nothing else Ace has all NBA upside um you know they didn’t get number one they didn’t get number two so you know those are the guys um that you know obviously Cooper and Dylan that that you would have drafted in those spots so if Ace is available you take him and you you bet on your development and you take you know a 6’9 bag of bag of clay and you mold him into trying to be trying to make him trace him to grad simple as that well let’s uh check out some of our options here because you know Tony I look at Isaiah Collier and Keonte George and Bryce Sensabad Taylor Hendricks Kyle Phil Pascal even go Walker Kesler and just the the youth of this roster you’ve got six essentially first round picks that you’ve drafted over the last two years and I look at it okay if I get to five and those are my options if I can’t trade the three and potentially get Edgecomb then maybe I look at packaging five and 21 see if I could could put a couple of other pieces together and really flop this roster because I got a lot of youth that I got to figure out what I got on this roster is there any chance that the Utah Jazz package up five and and try to either move up to three to get a real piece or just to move out of five altogether my guess is if you try to move up to three for five that’s going to cost you Lowry marketing and that’s probably not what you want to do um and also you know for you know the separation that that VJ seems to have gotten um at at three you know this is still the same tier that we’re talking about so if you know if I’m the Utah Jazz and I move up I’m only moving up to number two and it just does not seem that the San Antonio Spurs are are willing dance partners there i think that they are um um they’re married to to taking uh Dylan Harper uh at number two my personal number three would be Trey Johnson so if I were a Jazz fan my opinion is that Trey Johnson is probably your best case scenario because I think Trey Johnson has a chance to be another Devin Booker um but you know if if it if Trey and and and VJ are off the board um then you know I would come it would come down to me uh with Ace and Khan and if it’s Ace and Khan I’m just gonna take the guy with with you know the massive upside and I’m just gonna roll roll from there if I’m the Jets so what are the like what’s the likelihood i just assume Trey Johnson when I gave you that scenario would be gone at five do you think there’s a slight chance he could be there at five i do think there’s a chance he could be there at five i think there’s I think there’s a chance that the board goes VJ at three and Trey and uh and Khan Canipo at five wow which would leave Trey Johnson available at Fox all right so Trey Johnson versus Ace Bailey where do you go you there Tony and you hear me oh there we go now we got you i thought you were spending a lot of time all right we’re back we’re back baby i thought you I thought you were just spending a lot of time thinking about that all right so Trey Johnson versus Ace Bailey where do you go i would take Trey okay because I think Trey is maybe possibly the most complete offensive player in the draft i mean you know I he it’s like Deon when I see him I see Deon Booker and I see Ray Allen you know I see a a movement shooter that’s that’s that’s a weapon shooter by NBA standards who can also put the ball in his hand and create plays out of pick and roll and you just don’t find um you just don’t find that combination much you know you find guy there are plenty of guys in the league that that you know are off the ball shooters then there are plenty of guys in the league who can play on the ball trey Johnson can do both and he’s both a shooter and he’s a shot maker and he’s a better passer uh than he’s given credit for um and you know he’s a guy that uh can can create basketball advantage as well off the dribble so you know I know that there are there are body concerns you know he’s got to get thicker and uh he’s got to fall in love with the weight room i know that there are defensive concerns currently he can’t guard anybody but you know when you look at um when you look at him offensively you know I think he has a chance to be an offensive engine in this league hey what’s locked us into Dylan Harper so tightly at two to San Antonio and what’s Dylan Harper going to look like next to women yama what what locked him in to San Antonio yeah what makes him such the easy number two pick because we just don’t we haven’t debated it in a month and a half two months well he’s the he’s the second best player in the draft you know definitively so you know teams usually go on their board by you know who’s the best player on the board so you know the best player on the board is Cooper Flag and the second best player on the board is is Dylan Harper and you know when I watch him um he looks like Kate Cunningham to me um you know a left-handed Kate Cunningham he plays with pace uh he’s you know he’s a guy who um has a chance to be re really good offensively i you know this has been talked about plenty and this is true um you know the fit in San Antonio is wonky because you know Stephan Castle’s best position is point guard and um and obviously they have Fox there um but you know what you need to do is or what you need to do if you’re San Antonio is you just take the best player on the board and you just roll with it and you just try to make a piece of fit now if I’m the Spurs what I’m going to do is trade Dear F Fox pretty quickly and try to find you know the best wing that I that I can get because wings that defend and shoot win in this league uh and then you know I just make Dylan Harper and and and Stephan Castle um my back court you know but you take Dylan Harper if you’re the number two pick it doesn’t matter who you have at point guard it doesn’t matter who’s on the roster you take Dylan Harper and you figure you figure the rest out so that’s probably you know what San Antonio is thinking and you know that’s that’s why you’re going to see Harper go second off the board tomorrow night how much of a problem are the Houston Rockets now after that trade um very much so for for multiple reasons uh number one they traded for Kevin Durant um and number two in trading for Kevin Durant this is unbelievable they were able to get Jaylen Green off their roster like they got the ball hog off the roster now they still have one more ball hog left you know and Cam Whitmore they got to get him off the roster but they got the ball hog off the roster while trading for Kevin Durant so you know essentially they went to Phoenix and was like “We need your best player we need that top 15 player of all time but we’re going to give you the guy that single-handedly sunk us against the Golden State Warriors and you’re going to take him?” Oh no no don’t worry about it he’s 22 years old he’s going to get a lot better not Not Wink wink i can’t believe Phoenix did that deal what does uh Durant look like next to Shingun um Kevin Durant can fit anywhere he’s like LeBron James in that regard so it doesn’t matter what the basketball situation is i mean he’s going to fit into it um I would start him at the three and start Jabari Smith at the four and Singru at the five what Durant does give you is you know he gives you the isolation he gives you the shot making that they really lacked uh against Golden State he gives you the star power um and you know now you know he’s still such an elite scorer but now he’s also uh now he also doesn’t have to do the dirty work that he would have had to do in Phoenix like actually rebounding and playing defense because you know he’s got Aman Thompson and all the young boys there to do that for him so it’s a it’s a home run for Houston and and you know now Houston is probably uh definitively the second best team in the Western Conference so far all right so uh I I know for the sake of argument all all these issues have been hashed out you know already but I just for the sake of argument tomorrow night the Jazz have several players available to them austin A likes one guy danny likes another justin Xanic likes another a Does Austin really have the final say i know that’s the that’s the wording right now but does Austin really have the final say when it comes to who’s pulling the trigger what are you doing to me oh yeah we need those answers Tony and you got I’ve got to live I’ve got to live with these people oh Hans and I will swoop in once a uh once once in a blue moon and say hi just for fun um okay so I’m not going to say who but if there is somebody drafted if if somebody is drafted tomorrow I’m going to guess um that the the final say is is a lot more group oriented than we are being led to believe right so right now what everybody is saying is this is Austin’s show this is Austin Ship and you know he’s got the final say and then he makes the recommendation to Ryan Smith the owner so I want to see I I I would question that if if there’s one person drafted i am not going to say who that person is but um you know I I think it’s I I do think it’s Austin Ship i think you know I think everybody that I’ve talked to you know off the record has said “Hey that you know the final decision is Austin’s.” And obviously on the record um you know Ryan said “Hey this is you know this is Austin’s team and Justin and Danny are are there to uh to to support Austin.” So you know at the end of the day this is still a group effort you know it’s it’s going to be a group effort because they those are three really really smart guys who have done this for a really long time who know what they’re doing and who are good at what they do um but I do think that the final recommendation will be offered last thing for me Tony um any conspiracy theories on the Achilles situation three big players three big Achilles pop and rupture and I’ve got to imagine that the NBA takes player safety first and reduces regular season games and make it makes it a fivegame series in the playoffs is that is that accurate how that’s going to go that is never going to happen nobody’s ever given money back like we we almost running joke we asked this of Adam Silver like every time he does one of his State of the Union press conferences before the finals and he almost like glares at us and then he goes there’s no momentum towards reducing the regular season and that that’s never going to happen because nobody’s giving back money the owners aren’t giving back money the players aren’t giving back money you know so I mean you know people say this on Twitter all the time and I just think that is a silly and fruitless conversation because it’s never going to happen they’re not reducing games because if they reduce games they they lose millions and millions and millions of dollars with their television partners and the league’s just not going to do that and the players are not going to sign off on that and you know it’s just not going to happen now that being said you know if you break down the three Achilles tears two of them I believe were on were right off of calf strains so as tragic as Dames was and as tragic as Tyrese’s was they’re predictable because if you play on calf strains you open yourself up to an Achilles tear that’s just that’s just the science of the situation um you know Jason Tatums you know I don’t you know obviously the Boston Celtics played a bunch of games last year uh they went into June and then he played a bunch of games in the Olympics and that went into September and then you just go straight to uh the season so there probably could be some overuse there uh involved um but you know we’re talking about three Achilles tears and you know is there a correlation well you know in in two of them the correlation is those guys were coming off calf strains and they were probably well Tyrese was definitely playing when he probably shouldn’t have been playing because you know he went from a calf train and he was just like I’m just going to play on it and you know as sad and and tragic as that was he knew he knew what the risk was he knew what the risk risk involved was and he chose to take the risk and unfortunately uh that didn’t work out for him now Dames was a little different because he did sit out for a period of time but you know when you’re 35 years old you know cash string you probably shouldn’t play for about two months and he only took about three or four weeks off I believe and you know obviously you know that turned into an Achilles tear as well um you know so I mean when you play on calf strains I mean that’s that’s just the game if you get a calf strain you should sit out for a long time and make sure that that calf strain is is is fully 100% healed and I think that that more than anything uh is the lesson that we should take from this all right one more uh uncomfortable unfair question to ask you and then we’ll let you go um I talked to an NBA front office not with the Utah Jazz different organization out of the Eastern Conference back in I want to say January February and I asked him at that point you can you can pick first overall pick either Cooper Flag or AJ Debonta and he took AJ knowing what you know now if I gave you that same choice what would you take i would say Cooper not even close well it’s close but I would take Cooper i don’t even know if AJ’s going to be the number one pick in his own draft okay yeah because next year’s loaded right next year’s loaded darren Peterson and and Cameron Boozer are special would Cooper Flag be the number one pick in next year’s draft debatable i mean he’d be top four that’s that’s that um Cooper Flag is special and I think that people don’t realize how special he is um because he’s clear i don’t want to say he’s white he’s clear yeah it’s just it’s just us talking you’re good so I think because he’s clear people don’t realize just what they’re dealing with here like this guy has the potential to one day be the best player in the world and when I say he has the potential to be the best player in the world I am counting the fact that Victor Wimbayama is presumably still going to be alive at that point and that’s how good I think he has a chance to be wow he is he reminds me of Kawhi Leonard that’s who he reminds me of and um he’s a terrific passer he’s a terrific scorer um he’s gotten so much better over the last eight or nine months off the dribble um you know he’s he’s an insane competitor uh he’s an insanely good defender uh he’s a versatile piece you can play him you know on at three positions offensively you can play him at four positions defensively i mean he’s he’s a connector plus a main guy i mean he he’s immediately going to make Dallas better and people don’t realize how much better he’s going to make Dallas he’s ready to go he’s plugandplay he’s the best college prospect I’ve seen since Anthony Davis and that includes Zion Williamson uh he is just a well-rounded talent and you know I I think that that he’s going to be a terrific pro and he’s he’s going to soon he stays healthy he’s going to be an allstar and all NBA level player for years to come man there you go love it tony tony you’re the best man appreciate it we love you thank Thank you so much you got you uh you’re killing it man appreciate all you do there he is the great Tony Jones right here on 975 the KSL sports
• The Athletic NBA insider Tony Jones
1 Comment
tony is the best