Hour 4: Tim LaComb Talking Utah Jazz & SLC Summer League | Slacker Radio Headlines | Feedback of …
DJPK, it’s 975 the zone. We are joined by Tim Lome, Jazz analyst for SCG Media. Tim, good morning. Good morning. Good to be with you. Little Sonata this morning in honor of the late Frank Leaden. You worked in the basketball community. You ever rub elbows with Frank Leaden? End up with any stories? Um, yeah. Met him, you know, several times in different places. Uh he and coach Majeras were very close so he was around a lot at Utah. Um but then you know just ran into him from at different events and you know I just got to concur with something I saw today. I really do believe his mission in life was to try to make people smile. um an authentic guy, a guy that uh you know, you saw what what he was and um he was just an awesome ambassador for for basketball in the state. I remember when you I was young enough to remember when the Jazz came to Utah. I was this young kid and um you know he he just he was bigger than life and you know I think did a a really good job at assimilating NBA basketball here in the state and kind of being the face of it. I think the thing I’ll always remember is the duel with Pat Riley when he pulled his comb out. Yeah. Um at midcourt and started slicking his hair back. Uh got to rise out of just a just a wonderful wonderful guy. will be missed and uh you know I loved the opportunity I had to get to talk to him a few times. I think we all did and that’s well said. I think all of us have had any form of interaction with him. You know he he he was the broadcaster for you games for a while when I was the beat writer. So I got to spend some time with him there and vacation with him in Mexico. So yeah, played golf with him. My wife played golf with him. I told the story earlier this morning. Steve Clark got run over by a truck a year ago just about uh what 13 months ago and so unfortunate there and he lost his life and they had a uh uh celebration of life ceremony there at the cemetery and and the line was out the door three hours after it was supposed to be over. Uh but Frank came in and he was in a wheelchair and he called me he hit golf with my wife and he called me over and and I bent down so I could hear him and he says, “Is your wife still beating you?” and golf. Yes, she is. So, he remembered the times that uh we had played uh golf together. And uh that’s just the way he was, man. Incredible memory. Incredible, incredible way to connect with people that all of us can use as an example in ways to live our lives. He was an example in that way. And uh so his his just reward certainly is coming his way. Uh as far as the basketball, you know, I watched I didn’t see the third game, but I watched the first two. I was down in Dallas watching the second game for the Big 12 media, and I like what I saw at Ace, but I didn’t really see anything that uh didn’t that surprised me. I mean, I think this kid has a chance to be a really good player, and I’m going to stick with that. I don’t see anything uh to make me think otherwise. I think the thing that that really stands out to me and and I get a kick out of it because you know Jazz Twitter’s a thing and um during the first quarter of the game against Oklahoma City when they were just getting drilled, you know, everybody was, you know, starting to make uh rash statements after about six quarters of basketball with guys that met each other the Wednesday previous. So, I mean, there’s a lot that goes into this thing. And, you know, my observations were simply that, you know, Ace showed that he can get 20 a game without even having a play run for him. And I really think that that was kind of the essence of of what Salt Lake summer league was about. Um, you look at the boxes in I think ace the two games he played, he had seven offensive rebounds. I mean, he’s he’s an absolute that’s what stood out to me was he’s a problem on the offensive glass because of his size and, you know, he has a real real good knack to go get that ball. Um, that led to baskets and I remember I think I’ve told this story, but I’ll tell it again because it’s a good one. Um, Al Maguire, uh, you know, Majaras told me story that Al would would tell recruits, you know, you want to make a million dollars, come play for us at Marquette. And they’d get there and like, okay, how do I make my million? And now Magguire said, every time the ball’s shot, go get the rebound. And, you know, if you keep doing that over a four-year period, you’re going to make millions of dollars. Um, and so I think that that’s what stood out to me. was exciting. He He’s a tough shot maker, but his his knack to go get the ball and and the pressure that puts on the other team, it was like running the floor. If you’re if you’re constantly running the floor, the other team doesn’t go, you know, as hard at the glass because, you know, you’ve got to get they’ve got to get back. They’ve got to account for your pace of play. Similar thing on the glass. I mean, if if you’ve got guys that just pound the boards, and Walker Kesler is a great offensive rebounder, led the NBA last year in in contested rebounds, but you get guys that are pounding the glass every time, you know, that can really slow down other teams break and and other things. So, that was just a little minute detail I saw. And then I loved, you know, Clayton’s Clayton’s going to assimilate over time, but what he did do in summer league is what he did in college. He made big shots. timely moments. And when a guy can do that, that’s a really great skill. If a guy’s been in the league a couple years and shot 42% for three, shouldn’t he go into summer league, score 37 points, and at that point, is there any point in Bryce sense about playing anymore? You looking for something else out of him? No, I think that was just a a really good opportunity. Again, you know, there’s a lot of things that are going on behind the scenes that and people ask why are they doing that? But, you know, sometimes there’s um you want to have some veterans with the young guys to set the tone. You you don’t want to have you also may do that to get the veterans teeny bit more confidence. Um there’s lots of different reasons to do it, but yeah, he did exactly what I expected him to do. Um, his shots looking really good, his pace of play, the shot selection, you know, it’s almost as though they they said, “Bryce, just go go lead this team, you know, go find a way to do whatever you got to do to lead this team.” Um, and he he was great. Um, you know, I thought Collier played good in stretches. You too many turnovers, but um, again, I almost talk about uh, familiarity. Spacing is a great majaras. Again, we once said spacing is offense. Offense is spacing. If you don’t have great great spacing, turnovers are going to be more readily available. Um, and I think, you know, some tech sometimes Collier tried to push it in spots that maybe weren’t there, but overall, you know, I think everybody showed well. And, you know, Cody Williams showed he’s put on a little bit of weight. He’s a little bit more ready for the the NBA. So, lots of different things to monitor. From my perspective, uh, getting rid of Colin Ston and Clarkson and Collins, you know, they’re all fine players, but I’d rather not have them around to go through the dog and pony show that we went through last year. And I recognize that the team may struggle and may not win even as many games as they did last year or maybe surprise and win 10 more. You know, that but the fact of the matter is the reasons that I just stated, I don’t know if they’re going to win 17. I don’t know if they’re going to win 27. and I don’t know who’s going to emerge is this the number one reason why I want to watch. It’s kind of a twisted way. I’m not necessarily watching for winning, but I’m just watching to see how it all plays out. Whereas last year, you know, who’s going to be available? What excuses are they going to come up with and blah blah blah. Well, get rid of all that stuff and then put the ball up there and throw it up for a center jump and let’s see what we got. And to me, even though that doesn’t necessarily mean to uh lead to a lot of wins, it gives me uh a form of excitement that I want to see how it plays out. Yeah, I I tend to agree with that. I think um you know, having ingested nearly all 82 last year, I think I missed two games. Um but I I I agree. I think, you know, on a nightly basis, um, you know, the those veterans were there and if they were available, they needed to play some. And it made it really difficult last year to try to figure out um, you know, the I guess the endgame. Uh, I do I do see a lot of people saying, you know, they held on to guys too long and that I I don’t think that was the case at all. Um, I think these guys, you know, those three guys particularly were part of conversations over the last three years and I think they finally just decided, you know, to take what was out there. Um, you know, I’d hope that John had maybe with his year last year played himself into uh being maybe worth a little bit more. And you know, at the end of the day, there there’s a lot of opinions on guys that have been in this league and and those sometimes are hard to break, but the bottom line is we’re going to be able to see these young guys in all situations. Now, um there isn’t going to be that necessarily that buffer. Um you know, those guys are going to have to go out and figure it out. It’s going to it’s going to require some solid play from a couple of dudes that maybe have been up and down, but you know, that’s what coach Hardy talked about last year. It’s the essence of the NBA is to be game ready every night that you’ve got one and, you know, go out there and compete with everything you got. And it’s a consistency thing. It’s a mindset thing. Um, and I that that’s going to be part of what these guys learn. But I I too am excited because I want to see at the end of the day, I want to see what they what they have. I want to see what they have game one and then game 40 and then game 80. You know, watch it through the process. I if you do that, you know, you can see a guy like Walker Kesler two years ago who was, you know, he was in a very bad spot and then last year he worked himself out of it by just leaning into what he does great. Um, so to me, that’s that’s the essence of this whole process is, you know, it’s not going to be over this year. We know that and these team this team’s going to take their lumps, but it’s going to be a little bit different. And I would expect that they’ll win more than the number because when Will Hardy’s got some consistency um with lineups and things like that, he’s been pretty darn good. So, I’m excited to see what these young guys can do for sure. It’s crazy how the league swings back and forth for a long time. If you had a veteran player, you could probably get draft picks or maybe some young talent, but the teams that need veteran players right now don’t have any cap room. So veteran players who make money, they just don’t look like they’re worth very much right now. Yeah, it is seems to be the same suitor all the time. The guys that have burned through all their their quid. Um you know the Clippers, I just chuckle. I saw that Beal may be going to the Clippers and I’m just like these are almost like outposts for bad contracts, you know, some of these places. But yeah, you make a great point. And I mean it’s a with the cap and with uh the repeater tax and and everything else obviously financial piece of this is really important. So um some teams you know choose like Indiana chooses not even to swim in those ponds. Um but you uh it’s definitely cyclical and and there are teams out there who will pay some of these older guys. But the bottom line is what the Jazz got back was pretty much what was I think being offered through the years, you know, as they as they went through this process with these guys. I do think if the Jazz win the summer league that they’ll make a strong push for the playoff. You do? No. Okay. I just needed to make sure I heard that right. You make sure I was listening, weren’t you? Yeah. Solid followup by you though. You just get to you do this gets right to the heart of the matter. You broke them down pretty quick. Playoffs. No, but I think honestly I do believe that they’ll overexce the expectations because I think two things. I think they’ve got talented guys. Um the last couple years drafts have been good and with some tough luck with Hendricks. You know, last year we didn’t get to see a lot of him, but we’re talking about a guy like Sensah. talking about um you know Collier who can be a solid guy in this league and much like Sexton if he can just kind of keep continuing to tailor his game and cut out things that don’t work um which he can do over time. But yeah, they they’ve got a ton of talent, but I I believe in this coaching staff. I really do. I I think Will’s terrific and I think his guys develop players well. So, if the bar is set at 18, you know, I’d be willing to say they’re going to win five to 10 more than that. Yeah. Okay. I just want to see some nights they’re just going to play harder than other teams. You know what I mean? That was one of the tough things last year was when you didn’t know if you’re in or you’re out, right? Hard every night. But they can be one of those teams that just next year I expect that’s what we we’ll ask of these guys. And I think that they’ll outplay some teams and maybe win a few more games than they would have. I like the fact that they’re all basically of the same generation, same NBA experiences. Everybody’s different from where they come. It doesn’t matter what you look like. We’re all different one from another. But I like the fact that it’s like, “All right, guys. Here we are. It’s our group. Zippo believes in us. Vegas has got us the worst team in the league. What are we going to do about it, man? You got all these guys, you know, 18 or 19 to 23, 24. It they all can relate relatively well to each other because they’ve only been a year or two. I mean, Kesler has gone a fourth year, but the other guys have all just barely they all stood still be in college. If it was the old days where they played four, they all literally all of them except Kesler would still be in college. and and and Clayton is the other one too obviously, but I think that can bind them and some unique experiences together that can help them over the long term. Yeah, you’re looking for for any advantage and I do think that having a a very kind of like aged locker room where nobody’s giving you any credit. Um, you know, that that’s a great place to start that chip on your shoulder and yeah, I mean, they’re going to take their lumps this year. There’s no question about it. But I I’m excited because it was plays like the other night where, you know, you cannot teach this. There’s a a ball shot. Ace comes flying in on the offensive glass. Catches it basically at the apex. He comes down and gathers himself. Takes one dribble and off one leg a little fader. Um, and you know, you can throw a name in there. I mean, it was Durantesque, I guess. Uh but that is the one thing that over the entire summer league that made me salivate because those are just certain things you can’t teach. Um the timing, the length, the touch, the feel. Um I think they’ve got an all-star in Ace. I think this kid’s going to be an all-star and I think his journey is going to be really fun to watch. It’s already off with a bang because, you know, pundits got in and tried to mess with it. But the bottom line is the dude’s here. Seems happy to be here. And like you said, a locker room that’s going to rely on him, but also support him and and then a great coaching staff with development. I’m excited to see his his trajectory change um you know from October to say February and then obviously into the summer and just kind of see what he does over that time. But I dare say in watching summer league I think he might be the most talented prospect the Jazz have ever drafted. [Music] Well they’ve drafted some Hall of Famer. So strong words right there Tim. Well no I’m just I’m not saying end result. I’m talking just here’s the guy that you get to to mold. I think he’s the most talented guy, you know, in all the areas, length, reach, size, touch, skill, you know, I think he’s the best, like here I am, make me what you’re going to make me. I think he’s the best prospect standing there for that to happen. Well, in the first quarter of his first summer league game, he beat his guy off the dribble. To your point, missed the shot, hit the floor, went and got the rebound, missed that shot, hit the floor, and went back up again and tipped it in. That’s a lot of athletic ability. You know, you you spent a lot of time trying to find somebody who could hit the floor and go back up like that one time, and he did it twice right out of the gate. Yeah. And so, it’s little plays like that. his um you know that dunk he had with just a little extra on it where it seemed like he hung for another hour. Um the alleyoop was great, but you know I saw they’re not even running plays for ace. Well, guess what? That’s what summer league’s about. You know, maybe the challenge is go find 20 without us running a play for you. Then if we run a play for you, you know, every other time, maybe you can get 40 sometime. Um but those are the things going on behind the scenes that that people don’t understand. But after watching him for a couple games, believe me, he’s got my attention. I think the dude I came out coming came into the draft saying that I think if they were to get able to get him, I think he was the the desire at five. Yeah. But if they were able to get him that he would, you know, I I saw him turn into to an all-star and I think that’s what’s going to happen here. All right, Tim, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot. All right, guys. Thank you. Have a great day. Jim Mcome, jazz analyst for SEG media. Join us right here on the zone. DJ and PK. When we come back, everything you missed in this show next. Stay with us. I’m Stephie. This is H. Solen and Scotty G. Coach Ron McBride’s hanging out with us. This is under the radar. Leavoni Demoney, Lander Barton, Logan Vono. Oh yeah. The Fono boys, both of them. The tackle is pretty amazing, you know. I mean, you look at him, he looks different than everybody else. Talking about Spencer. Yeah. The two offensive tackles that you thought are very good. BYU tried to steal those two guys. They did? Oh, yeah. I had I hadn’t heard that. You got to be kidding. No, I Hey, coach. That seems like I don’t make these things up. That seems like a That seems like you’re repeating rumors, coach. No way. You make it seem like BYU maybe had some money to spend that they were throwing out there. That is correct. Catch N Scotty weekdays from noon to 3 on 975 the KSL sports zone. 9 a.m. Slacker ready headlines brought you by Trajan Wealth. Call Trade Wealth today, your local trusted financial fiduciary and 1899 7600 or visit the website at trajewealth.com. spent a lot of time this morning talking big 12 media today and talking about Frank Leaden as well 93 years old he passed away yesterday really believe that without he and Larry H Miller there’s no way the Jazz stay here through the 80s or Brigham Young if you want to go back I go back yeah I always go back you can’t go forward unless you go back I’m not sure I want to go down that rabbit hole and have that discussion with you. That could be the end of the segment. That’s your choice. It is. I’ve always allowed you the freedom to be wrong. The choice that makes you laugh. Just the mere thought of that. Where did the time go? It feels like we’re going into like both like science and philosophy all at once there. I I often merge the two and come out even more confused than when I started. Richard Smith joined us at 8 o’clock. You can listen to that interview wherever you get your podcast on our website. Uh there’s a million places. Yak posts it. It is out there in the universe. A lot of his memories about Frank, stories about Frank interacting with people. You were telling stories about Fresno. He told some story about I forget where it was, but maybe he didn’t mentioned, but the hotel on the road and the as a Miss America pageant here. And the three women walking by burst out laughing. And that was Frank. Make making people feel good, going out interacting with people. He had a big uh outgoing personality. He did. Yeah. And he is a Marvel who lived a wonderful life and now he’s going to wake up in a city that doesn’t sleep. Oh, nice way to tie it all into Sinatra. Good work. Yeah, there it is. I don’t know what you believe, but I believe it. Richard Smith on the uh the catch he made at the Bees game. That was a good story. screaming line drive, one hopping off the top of the dugout, skidding off of it. Yeah. Me and Steve Clowy uh several years back we would do bees games on television, KJS. Mhm. And he I can remember looking down and seeing seeing Frank at the game. Yeah. And with a glove. Yeah. And then obviously I’ I’d gone on my own, not in a work capacity, right? Uh so yeah, he was there and I and I talked to him about baseball because he liked the Dodgers. father was a Brooklyn Dodger fan. My father What year was your dad born? Frank was born in 1932. 29. 29. So, okay. Generationally, right there. Three years older. Yeah. All the same memories. My mother was born in 31. So, get that interview and Memories of Frank uh wherever you get your podcast. We talk Big 12 media days with Barry Traml. his white hair. Cutting quite the over the ears white hair. Over the He did say he saw himself on camera. That guy needs a haircut. Oh, wait. That’s me. I thought so. Why not? Yeah. Hey, you’re pounding the pavement as a print guy. You’re not making a lot of cash. You save money. A haircut. Save money. Space that thing out a couple more weeks or a month, whatever. And it’s white, too. It’s It’s completely white. White as snow. Yeah. And he stands out and people know people know him and he should be known. He’s been doing it for a long time. He echoed you. It’s a wide openen race and he likes teams that have quarterbacks and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen and there’s a lot of good quarterbacks in the league and he said seven or eight teams. He was thinking more how many teams can win. And you were talking about, well, who can get to the game cuz what’s the point of predicting the game right now, not knowing how teams are going to develop and injuries and who’s going to do is get second place. Yeah. Just get to that championship game and then figure out that game when you get there. Win a tiebreaker. Yeah. And uh see what you do in that game. You get a couple turnovers. Tiebreers, man. They they just become so When you got there’s only 10 records you can end up. There’s 16 teams, you know, there’s going to be ties. There almost has to be. Yeah. You look at Kansas last year, there’s four teams that were tied for the division and or the conference and they went with ASU and Ohio State and some breaker deal to determine those two playing. Uh but you look at Kansas 5 and seven last year and they beat Colorado, they beat BYU, they beat Iowa State and ASU scored a touchdown to win the game with like 16 seconds to go. Kansas nearly swept the big four, but they weren’t bowl eligible because ASU scored with 16 seconds left. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. And in Tempee and that was a whale of a game obviously when you’re going down the length of the field in under two minutes and you score with 16 seconds to go. Uh so that look and Kansas, you know, they don’t have their running back back and he was, you know, the all-time leading rusher there for Kansas, but they do have their quarterback back. So, the point I’m making is a lot of things can happen. That’s what’s going to be entertaining, man. It’s going to be a fun league. It’s going to be a fun league to see and watch each week. And uh the the youths have a little bit of a question mark because of last year, but I think that question mark is overstated. And the you Cougars have a question mark because of the quarterback. And I’m not sure if that question mark is overstated. Maybe it might be legit. Uh because we remember R’s laugh for the pick against the Devils and the pick against uh Kansas end of the first half, end of the game. You had some moments in which he led you to victory that Utah down the field at the end of the game. Oklahoma State down the field at the end of the game. Huge wins, you know, that that look like they had losses. That’s the thing trying to go too much off last year when we know all the personnel changes and plus there’s so many one-score games in the league and you think some of those games flip, some of those don’t and you can completely scramble the standings. Exactly. And inevitably some of those games have to work out. I don’t think there is a favorite. Just a wide open horse race. I believe it is. Get to seven wins. Well, eight if you can. Going back to Barry Traml, he walked over to me yesterday and said, “Hey, are you willing to put together your from the Utah side of things, like your perspective on a preseason poll?” He’s putting together asking people from across the league. And I said, “Well, have you gotten any clear indicator who the favorite?” He says, “No, it’s wide open.” He said the every ballot I’m getting from people has a different favorite. We can all put a poll. I put together a poll, but there’s a third or fourth one as meaningless as any other polls. I mean, I think I have I can make cases, make a case for Texas Tech, and that’s what I did. Make a case for Iowa State and I had them second. That’s what I did. But I could sit over here and sell Baylor and ASU easily, right? And Kansas State is always good. Uh so yeah, make a case there. And then then you get into the factor of who’s playing well, who’s playing poorly when you play them. I think ASU gets Kansas when they’re a little down. BYU gets them when they’re winning. Well, yeah. And who’s available? Cincinnati gets ASU when Levit’s out. Utah gets Baylor when Baylor is not going well. later on great game. But yeah, it was I know but it’s still a point stuff changed over the course of a season. So, and there’s so much that we don’t know uh in terms of injury and who’s who gets nicked up. You know, you hope that everybody is as healthy as they possibly can be, but the reality is there’s going to be guys who are going to suffer season injuries or case of Connor Pay longterm injuries which he miss a bunch or in the case I just said Sam Levit who misses a game and they lose that game, right? Well, fortunately he gets back. My guess is if he missed two games, they probably lost both games and then they’re not there, right? But he only missed one and that allowed them to go ahead and finish strong cuz he got back and good for them. He misses two, probably lose both of them and they got three losses. Still a much better season than everybody anticipated, but not that level of season. So, you don’t know. The other point Barry made and his a his interview is also available wherever. Get your podcast on our website, whatever you want to do. He said, uh, it’s too bad didn’t beat Texas because it could have changed the perception of the league if the Big 12 could beat an SEC team. Yeah. In a playoff game. I disagree with that to an extent because I think in the history of the Devils program, they’ve never got more a claim for a loss. Sure. But what would the league have gotten for a win? I don’t think it would have got much more because then if you go ahead and get blown out in the next round then they still sometimes be happy with what you have. So the pre then oh Texas wasn’t that good. The notion that uh right because you can’t say well look how deep Texas went in the tournament that’s still thing they beat&m well and not good that year. So move the bag back. Yeah on the big I that’s why I don’t know that I totally buy that. But I think ASU did enough for the Big 12 as their representative. Will getting to the semifinals get them a second team? Cuz I totally bought when you told him you were telling about the big, you know, the Pack 12 issue. It just became the elephant in the room. Well, you can’t get in the playoff. Well, you’re not going to get in the playoff again. It became the story, right? And it did. 100% agree. And the Big 12 only getting one team in. I can easily It feels like we’re going down the same road. the numbers different, the conference is different, but the attitude is the same. Right. You don’t have more representation in a playoff. Well, then you’re no good. Right. Right. And it and it it took on a life of its own. I do think what they need to do is make sure that they have great non-conference season. Now, Hans uh two days ago, yesterday went through and was looking talking about all the big games. Yeah. I think he had an Oklahoma State kid on because they were playing Oregon. We did. And he looked exactly like the bully in the Christmas story. You brought that up with him and he’s heard that. He heard that. I was listening. Oh, it was 100%. Oh, no. Not again. Yeah, right. Here we go. All right. DJ and PK, it’s 975 the zone. Your feedback coming up next. Stay with us. That’s all over. Almost here. Don’t go nowhere. DJ and PK, it’s 975 the zone. Time for your feedback. What did Frank Leighton mean to our state? Jazz Nation playoffs when nobody thought the Jazz could drafted Stockton. Drafted Malone brought in assistant coach Jerry Sloan. We would not have the Utah Jazz right now without coach Leaden. What does the sun mean to light? Everything. That’s what Frank Leaden means to the community, to uh the Jazz. I went to a a baseball banquet for high schoolers. And who was the guest speaker? Frank Leaden. How’d you know? Cuz you wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise. And it was way up uh uh one of those canyons up there. Up there? Yeah. In Ogden. Yeah. Way. Yeah. I don’t even know. Beyond Ogden. Somewhere up there. There’s multiple canyons. I need a better clue. I know. I don’t know. I don’t know. It was years ago. All right. I don’t get up there much. Yeah. But it was up the canyon a little bit. A rustic place. And there he was. Yeah. And he had stories and he made him laugh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It makes you feel good. One of the uh there was a story a BYU guy told me when uh Cole Canyon Development opened in St. George. They had given Lavel a house for uh advertising purposes. And I remember him doing the advertising was after he retired and he was there and there was some kind of meeting and his assistant that was always with him uh told me this story that uh he heard one of the people in the crowd say it’s so great to have Frank Leaden here. [Laughter] But those two were really good at what they did and then brought a lot of positive attention. You can see the similarities between the two and they can deadpan as well as anybody and they brought attention to the state. Sunny Dikkes, coach at TCU. His father was a legendary coach down in Texas and he was telling us it might might have been before we’re on air. I can’t remember, but he was telling us a story how he grew up around Lavel Edwards because Sunny’s father and Lavell were super tight and they had that ability to bridge all sorts of gaps. There were no gaps in people when you’re around Lavell Edwards and Frank Leaden, right? They were two of a kind and they were such great assets in their own way to our community. What did Frank Leaden mean to our state, Eric? Oh man, he was a gem. He was a funny, friendly guy and he did a lot to help the Jazz and it turned them into a winning organization. He brought identity to the Jazz when they didn’t have it on a much bigger level than just uh Salt Lake and Utah. Uh and he did. And this morning I’m driving in and I’m listening I’m flicking around and go to the I oh I want to hear if they’re talking about Frank Leaden on the basketball station, the NBA station. And they were they were telling funny stories, you know, all frank stories of uh he asked a player uh you know what what’s with it? What’s with you? You’re Are you uh apathetic or ignorant? I don’t know and I don’t care. He used to do if uh if you’re old enough, Yak probably got it from his uh his dad if he knows about it. The uh the videos and you used to be able to buy them and they’d mail you the VHS tape with all the videos, all the bloopers that now just pop up on social media for free instantly, but in those days Yeah. and he did something with Marv Albert sitting in a locker room and Marv was the man in the NBA. So they put Utah on the map. They’ve put the full versions on YouTube and trust me I have gone back and watched I watched a lot of them growing up obviously on VHS tapes but they are now on YouTube and readily accessible all the time and Tim Lome brought up the time when he whips out the comb to get the slick hair Pat Riley and Pat Riley who was all business. He cracked up. He did. He did. It was funny. That was very funny and and it really it it showed Riley’s human side because he was always up there with an attitude at that point and all business. Yeah. He his his persona had morphed during his time in LA. At first he was just trying to stay on the horse, I think. But then later on, I’m the guy. I’m in charge. Frank celebrity got to him. And that and that’s the great thing about Frank is he had celebrity and it never got to him. Yep. Never did. He was your neighbor as well as being this big- time celebrity. And some of these guys, they get uh so isolated by the celebrity. DJPK, it’s 975 the zone. and Jacob better coming up next right after the break right here on the zone.
Hour four of DJ & PK for July 10, 2025:
• Tim LaComb, SEG Media
• Slacker Radio Headlines
• Feedback of the Day
