Jake Scott talks Ace Bailey’s ceiling with the Utah Jazz and which teams have made the best moves…
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uh Jake Scott is the man. Jake, welcome to the program, brother. Have a having a good day. Having a uh a nice Fourth of July week so far. Oh, you know what? Just great. Happy to be on with the youth legend and the Daryl Hall of Utah Sports. Listen, uh, Yacht Rock is a staple on this program. And you’re a guy who Listen, I feel like you’re perpetually in boat shoes. This works for you. Oh, yeah. It’s my vibe for sure, but I I can I can buy into most things. I just like comfort, you know, boat shoes, comfort. It’s It’s good times, you know. I’m in. I think you need to radio to wear suits. So, thanks to uh Jeremiah Jetson. You know what I mean?
Oh, yeah. You don’t want to have to be all stifly with a collar on every day. No, absolutely not. Uh Jake, first things first, we got to get some business out of the way. Is the Is the I know that you’re not a I know that you’re not a fireworks guy, but aren’t your girls at some point dialing you up and going, “Hey, Dad, are we doing some fireworks this year?” I feel like your old man uh Jake Scott situation might transfer when you have to go to your local Costco parking lot and grab some fireworks and fire him off in the flat part of the state. Uh well, you know, and then I I show them the picture of Jason Pierre Paul’s hand and we we move on with life. Uh, I live in a I I’m blessed to live in a neighborhood where that does not allow fire. It’s not uh it’s not an issue for me, blessedly. Although, my 8-year-old wants to go see a show somewhere, right? And my four-year-old is a is a terror. Uh, if you get a minute past 8, so we’ve got a dilemma. I don’t know. We’ll figure it out. You know, you know how you know how it is, Alex. I will say that uh the my favorite tweet over the weekend is somebody goes somebody in America right now has no idea that this is their last weekend with all 10 fingers and I said you know what that works that’s exactly that’s how we have to present it and I have a teenage I have a teenage son who drives and I found fireworks in his car not fireworks firecrackers in the car and I pulled the full I was like my dad would have been proud like the uh who taught you how to do this stuff, you know, like that. It was It was a very old man Cury moment for me. So, I’m really
is paraphernalia, man.
It’s like fireworks. How could you? I said, “Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? There’s a lighter and firecrackers in your car. I don’t like this this uh this edition.”
Please tell me you found the lighter first.
Uh no, no, it was afterwards like under his seat though. I don’t like I all the stuff that I absolutely deserve as a parent, I’m getting all of it. So, uh Jake, let’s get on let’s get on to some uh to some free agency talk here. free agency is like not even, you know, it’s like the old signing day in college football in February. It doesn’t it’s like not even a thing anymore. However, teams are making moves. The Utah Jazz made their moves with their their draft process presumably and then they start to make moves with uh with the with the waving of Johnny Juing and then the buying out of Jordan Clarkson’s contract. What is this roster going to look like uh come fall? And who are the most interesting pieces of that roster as it stands right now? Oh man. A I mean, Ace Bailey, hands down, that’s the most interesting. He’s going to be the most interesting guy in town for a while. I would uh I would guess. I think you know, the vibe certainly I get out of the Jazz is they’re pretty pretty thrilled about how draft night went and you know, all the all the side drama was was really never a thing. I mean, it’s you’re a rookie in the NBA, you go where they tell you to go. And and honestly, I’m I’m a believer in, you know, Salt Lake and Utah has a has a weird reputation, but I I think it’s quite normal and I quite like it here. And I think most people kind of get it once they once they get into it. I don’t know, Sly, you’d probably have a better uh a better take on that than me. But, you know, I I think that Saturday at the Huntsman Center is is they’re going to they’re going to show him a a whole stadium full of love for the summer league. And he’s going to figure out he can be a star here. He’s got he’s really got star potential. Uh if he if he improves and gets better, he’s I mean, he’s super skilled. He’s he’s big, long, he plays defense. I mean, I I think the Jazz are absolutely thrilled that they could get that guy and he all of a sudden becomes the the center of the the the center of the universe, but you know, we’re going to we’re going to see these young players. We’re going to see where the rubber meets the road um with with these guys. And, you know, the Jazz are still not all that motivated to win games. I hope it’s not as icky as it was last year where they were really trying to lose games. I I think they’d rather do it a little a little more uh you know uh with a little more integrity. Uh I think we’re going to see young players. Um I don’t at the moment I don’t see Lowry going anywhere and uh you know it’s still you’re you’re looking at the team that’s still towards the bottom of the west obviously. So um development is still the big thing but the Jazz as of yet have not identified you know the start. They haven’t they haven’t found the Donovan Mitchell or or the you know Darren Williams or the Johnny Carl, right? And so the the search for that continues. But I I I I get the optimism on why that could be Ace Bailey. It it absolutely could.
I I love that and I completely agree with you. Um outside noise before you come to Utah is very very distracting. Um but uh time and time again from myself and other people that has come here is an overwhelming feeling of love from this community and and somewhere where you know a lot of guys end up staying and we become Utons. I think I’ve spent uh a good part of my life here in Utah and absolutely love it and I’m sure Ace and and and all these new people coming into the the city would feel the same. They’ll figure it out.
They’ll figure it out. Um Jake, my question goes to like, okay, everybody’s been talking about it from the people that don’t really know um and just been hearing about it from, you know, just uh the media of the talent of this guy. Kind of put Ace Bailey into perspective for everybody. Who what type of player he is? I know you were talking about it just a second ago. He’s long, he’s rangy, but like if you could do a comparison, right? like what would be an accurate depiction of of Ace Bailey’s game and future promise uh with the Utah Jazz? So comps are tricky, right?
Right.
And you you make a comp and all of a sudden said, “Oh, he’s going to be the next Larry Bird or something like that, you know?” But I like to I especially when it comes to young players, I like to my personal opinion is what is the ceiling? You know what I mean? Like if it all goes well, what is it looking like? And I I honestly and I don’t want to sound like I’m drink drinking the Kool-Aid, but I don’t see why like the, you know, top 10, top five Tatuml like wing couldn’t be in the conversation now. There’s a lot he’s going to have to do to get there, but he already guards guys. I mean, his body is is maybe needs a little a little work here or there, but I mean, he’s he’s pretty NBA ready to go. And the measurables are all there. I It’s funny. We talked to a guy who covered him at Ruckers and you hear kind of what he was like there and he everybody kind everybody liked him. Everybody liked covering him and
um I don’t know this this story about his manager unfortunately is is really common in the NBA. I say unfortunate just because
guys I think get a lot of bad advice from unqualified people because you know sports is very public money and there’s there’s all sorts of people out there with all sorts of motives and I I think he was getting bad advice in the draft process. I I thought how it played out Friday was really interesting with uh you know his actual agent you know the head of the agency who who gave that interview where he was like no no he’s he’s excited to be there in front of me you know
the part the part where he has to be like and he has to maintain the relationship with uh with uh with with Cooper and so he’s like uh and we’ve partnered with uh with with his longtime friend and manager and so that’s an important thing to us like he’s got to like ants all around the stupidity of like the politics of this kid and all this guy wants to do is show up and play basketball. Then he has to do these social media posts about how much he likes fry sauce. Like that’s what we got on on Saturday was like, you know, the the the full uh the full effect there. But I I I agree. I can’t wait. I want all that stuff to go away just so we can watch him on uh you know, up at the Huntsman Center to see what kind of a of a body you’re going to get compared to some of these other guys there. What’s Keonte George’s future look like to you? Like in your mind, do you look and you go, I’m the future’s bright for this guy. It feels like such a key season for him. And it’s wild because he’s going into year three and he’s only 21. So I I mean, he’s still he’s still a little bit of a a mystery because when it’s good with him, it’s really good. And when he’s not and and it’s tough talk about this stuff with players, but when it seems like his heart’s not in it, he’s he’s not, you know, an NBA guy when when he’s not really playing hard because he’s not, you know, he’s he’s not undersized, but he’s not huge either. You know, he’s got a good skill set. Uh but it’s not great when the hammer is not down. And and I I’ll make a comparison though cuz Walker Kesler kind of had a similar issue in his sophomore uh you know his second season where he he was coming off that good rookie year we’ll remember and it just wasn’t clicking. His body language was bad and everything was kind of kind of down with him. And then his third year, you know, somebody got in his ear and told him like you got to go play tough. You got to go play tough every night and you got to go, you know, be a big in the NBA. and it clicked with him and he really got it. And so, you know, with Keonte, I I do think it is a little make or break, but he’s got to go prove that that he’s a guy and put that out there. But the the thing is, and you’ll see this in the way free agency is going, uh, you can find a guard anywhere. I mean, you just can there’s a reason that there wasn’t a market for Colin Ston or or Jordan Clarkson. You know, you can you can find somebody who wants to dribble the ball. You know what I’m saying? And in the NBA there that’s kind of become a dime a dozen. So, you know, I everybody in the NBA of course is replaceable. But, you know, if I’m if I’m a guard trying to make it, I’ve gota I’m thinking I really got to step my game up. Uh because there’s certainly somebody else right there.
Yeah, man. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about uh Walter Clayton. Of course, we known what he was able to do at Florida and and and the success he had there, but uh what how does he fit, you know, into all of this? you know, as you said, there’s tons of guards with the but but what else skill set does he bring to the table that the Jazz fans and and and that we could see is as is as is being a huge uh factor here in the next three to four years. I think that they’re hoping he’s as good a shot maker as he was in the NCAA tournament. You know, um they going out making big shots and tough shots and and all those things. But I always Yeah. But I always say, you know, picks and he was pick 18, but you know, picks in the 18 in the late teens and and 20s in the in in the NBA draft are are really funny. You know, for every Desmond Bane, you know, there’s a a dozen uh guys that that don’t make it, right? You can you can find a lot of value, but there’s also a lot of kind of, you know, take a take a shot at it. But one thing that I think is interesting about the NIL uh era in college sports is a lot of these underclassmen that are going to be in the late first round and and second round are going back to college. So all of a sudden you’re getting in in these nonl picks, you’re getting these veteran players, you know, and these players that have have kind of had some time to come into their own, which I find interesting. And and I, you know, with Walt, do do the Jazz get a much more mature player? And I with Ben the other day, I invented this term sports trauma. I think everybody’s got to be, you know, cut or have some adversity or something to to figure out, you know, how they’re going to make it and figure out what you exactly you got to do to succeed. And, you know, he he’s bounced he bounced around a little bit and he’s had a little bit of that sports trauma. He figured out how to be a star. So, uh, I I would think that would be intriguing and I I would guest the Jazz hoping they get, you know, a more mature guy who who’s ready to come in and and, uh, eat what he kills.
Uh, it’s like the sports, uh, you know, villain origin story. It’s just like I was created after my after I got cut the first time.
Uh,
like, listen, Michael Jordan was cut his what was it, his freshman year or whatever, high school, and wouldn’t shut up about it for the rest of his career. You know, everybody’s gota everybody’s got to have that something that’s like, “Oh man, I got to get better.”
I always love when the there’s like some guy some guy who’s young growing up and they’re like he was told he had a 1% chance that he’d be able to use his legs again and now he’s the decathlete of the century and you’re like, “All right, we’ve heard that story way too many times. Like he got he got in he got an infection in his arm. His doctors told to give him a 4% chance.” I’m like, “I think his doctors were actually not very good doctors then.” Like cuz all these kids had 1% chance of making it ended up making it. Uh, I do want to ask you about Damen Lillard, who’s now the more kind of one of these guys who is floating out there. He gets waved. They’ve uh they’ve stretched out that contract of $13 million to pay him out over the over the next five. He’s got to figure out that uh that injury, of course, but what does his future look like? Oh man, I I hope he gets better and comes back to make an impact, but at his age with an Achilles injury, I mean, we all remember what Kobe was like after the Achilles. I mean, unfortunately, it’s just um it’s it’s a tough road to hoe, right? It’s it’s a tough injury to come back from anyway, you know, but even like Tatum and Tyrese Hallebertton are going to figure out it’s a tough injury and they’re, you know, way younger than Dame. So, um obviously, uh I’m in the Dame fan club, uh from, you know, his connection to our community and how he goes back to Ogden every time he comes in to play the Jazz and it’s it’s so cool. So, I am I am nothing but rooting for that guy’s success. But I think I Bobby Marx of ESPN was tweeting out interesting that Dame might still be a Hawk Monady on the free agent market because you sign into a two-year deal and then, you know, you automatically lock him down for his return. That that seemed a bit optimistic to me. I don’t know what you guys think, but I I if I’m Dame, I have no problem with them buying me out and stretching me. Who cares? I mean, that’s the biggest out that I mean, that is ludicrous that they’re going to pay that kind of Dell.
Well, they you can roll the dice on him, though, and you’ll get him for for cheap. I mean, it’s definitely the cheapest you could ever get a a Damian Lillard, even if it is one that’s been sewn up to me, his contract. It’s It’s tough though because you don’t know what’s coming back. I mean, they have no idea. So, I I’m certainly rooting for the guy, that’s for sure. Giannis drama, too. Uh the Giannis. Well, that’s the thing, too, is Giannis got all pissy about it, right? I mean, like you don’t you don’t like your guys leaving you, but uh but it’s one of those things that too is is interesting. What what’s Yuk Ysef Nerkich going to bring to that to that big’s room, I guess, so to speak, is if it’s like the quarterback’s room, like what what are you going to get out of a guy like him if he’s healthy? Uh what does he add? Obviously, they added or they resigned as well. And then I don’t know if we even consider flip a center, but uh he’s in that in that conversation as well. Obviously, Walker Kesler is your guy, but is that group of bigs one that uh that they feel like they can get a lot of work out of or at least they can get a lot of work while they’re relatively cheap? I don’t think Youth Nerk is is bringing anything to the table, honestly. Um he was uh he was a mal content in Phoenix so much that they they had to move him. They’ve been one of their few assets just to get him off their team. Um, I I was I was a little surprised by the the lack of compensation for uh for Colin Ston, but I mean Walker Kesler is such a better player than than Yousef Nerkage. So then you put him in that that backup role. And you know, it depends on what position you want Flip to play. It sounds like they want him to play more of like a four, you know, a bigger wing stretch or whatever label you want to put on it. So maybe you don’t put him as much into that conversation and that’s where that’s where Nerk Nerkage comes in. But I mean he’s he’s and it’s Caner, right? I he’s he’s got a couple offensive moves, you know, he’s big and kind of a sneaky good rebounder, but his lateral quickness is so bad. He’s unplayable on the defensive side. And then you hope he he at least brings a decent attitude to the table because that that really didn’t happen in Phoenix. But uh speaking of Dame though, Dame loved him in Portland I guess and uh you know once upon a time Denver was picking between he and Joic and looked like they made the right move.
Was he did they uh talk about talk about that trade? Wasn’t it wasn’t it uh Nerkich going to Phoenix and they sent uh Eighton up there. It’s like
the two bad the two worst attitudes on the planet passing in the night to go replace each other on the teams that they were just on. It’s just like the weirdest thing that trend. It’s wild.
What What did you think about the other free agency moves that that went on? You know, Phoenix is giving up everything for Kevin Durant and Memphis for Desmond Bane and Houston Rockets that they’ve seen the most aggressive, most um I I think
they might have gotten the best out of all this this far. Yeah. What What is your thoughts on NBA free agency? You know, I like Oh, remind you guys who the the Rocks just landed from uh from LA today. Uh uh
yeah, Dorian Finny Smith. Thank you very much. I kept wanting to say Contavius Caldwell Pope and I was like, “Oh,
it is one of the three names.” A lot all the all the all the triple names have been moved in free agency. Walker got moved too. Nikquil Alexander Walker also coming. No, I I like him and I thought I saw that report today that Pelinka was trying to submarine his value uh on the you know by by throwing a bunch of knee stuff questions out there which I thought was kind of was kind of dirty pool but uh you know I’m not a big believer in in Jaylen Green so you know going from him to Kevin Durant I think uh is is certainly an upgrade even though Kevin’s a little bit older you know but I’ll I’ll tell you whose offseason I’ve liked and um I hate to admit it because I kind of found them obnoxious in the past, but it’s the Nugget. Uh, moving off Michael Porter Jr. was they had to move off him as soon as humanly possible. And I think Cam Johnson actually a pretty decent fit. It he was such a bad contract. I mean, it just was you can’t be play paying a player that flawed that kind of dough when you’re already trying to, you know, pay the best player on the planet and and keep Jamal Murray who who obviously has been a big part of what they’ve done there. And then they didn’t have any bench, you know. So they you you bring back Bruce Brown. Uh you make a trade for uh I’ve always loved it, Jonas Valenunis to give you a little depth behind uh behind the Joker
and you know, you hope you have a healthy Jamal Murray and you can you can get back to being being competitive again. So I I’ve I’ve liked what the what the Nuggets have uh have done. Um I I think what the Bucks are doing is weird. They’re just rotating, you know, chairs on the Titanic. I think they’re trying to get Giannis to stay obviously, but I have they really made themselves any better? Not really. So, I I It’s interesting what free agency has become. It’s It’s a lot of moves around uh moves around the edges. I mean, certainly the most interesting thing to happen so far is LeBron to opt in and then have his agent have his agent be like,
I don’t know, man. He doesn’t want to be there. direction of the team, you know, the direction of the team. They want to reveal to LeBron wants to live with win championships now. So maybe he wants to be traded. I don’t know. And it’s crazy. And the Lakers are going nowhere because they don’t have any uh assets and LeBron wants them to spend what few assets they have. So it’s it’s that’s been the most drama for sure.
Well, you know, it’s funny. LeBron’s getting management practice right now before he takes over his team. Oh, he’s always been he’s always been a miniature gentleman.
So, he’s making extreme risk with with no repercussions with the stuff that he’s doing if he does have influence that way.
Yeah, if he does. Sure. All right. Uh hey, Jake Scott, we’ve already taken too much of your time today, man. We appreciate the the breakdowns and obviously uh you’re one of the best in this market. If not, you and J you and Ben do a phenomenal job every day. We love listening to you guys and so thanks for coming on the program, man. We appreciate it.
Oh, thanks fellas. It’s great talking to you and anytime you know that.
There you go. Jake’s got everybody.
Jake Scott, Utah Jazz Pre Half Postgame and host of Jake & Ben, joins the program to break down the new rookies for the Utah Jazz, offseason moves made by the Utah Jazz so far, and what’s stood out to him in NBA free agency.
