Jake & Ben: Full Show | David James on Utah Jazz Offseason & Player Unions | Eric Pincus talks NB…
And now it’s 10:00 a.m. Let’s just get down to it and it’s time for your sports picks. Strap yourselves in, folks. From two guys who have covered the teams you’re passionate about for years. We are professionals. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jacob Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake Scott, Ben Anderson. No Ben today. He is on vacation. Are uh I think you haven’t you and PK talked about something like this. Are you uh now that you’re a Uton, are you a Lake Pal vacation guy or are you a bare lake vacation guy? Oh, you maybe pick between lakes. Well, I thought this was lake or ocean and the answer is ocean. I feel like the the maybe it’s just people who grew up here and honestly I grew up here for the most part and I’m really neither. I’ve I’ve enjoyed both but it feels like you know like Hatch Hatch is with his family up at Bear Lake. Like that’s a you know and then I grew up with several families that their thing was to go to Lake Pal you know so I’ve never been to Lake Pal so I guess by default I am Bear Lake person because I had been to be bare lake multiple times beautiful both I haven’t gone for a week all like day trip kind of stuff I took friends from Santa Barbara uh beat rider Dave Lton or as we called him Lov and Bill Mahoney sports information director and the three of us in the winter they were up for a UCSB game and I went up and I picked him up, I don’t know, 11:00 in the morning or noon or something. And we drove up Logan Canyon in the winter. The weather was nice. There was snow everywhere, but not on the road. Everywhere but the road. And we went up and when we came across to the hill and they could look down and the little turnout up there. And I got out and they were like, “Whoa, we had no idea this was here. They’ve been coming to Utah State games for years.” They loved it. It’s gorgeous. It is. It is gorgeous. Okay. Well, anyway, Ben’s out. He’s on vacation. That is the one and only David James who has been so kind to uh stick around here at the top of the 10:00 hour after doing a show on his own all morning. So certainly appreciate you came in early so uh certainly that’s fair play. Oh yeah. Well, we help each other. I I uh I tell people all the time it’s it’s challenging in this job to take a vacation because you can’t just put the automatic email return on and say, you know, be back on Tuesday. uh you have to find somebody to fill in which the pool for that is not big vast you know and so it makes uh and it does it affects people the way people listen you have to be have consistency and and things like that so I’ve always had the approach that whatever I can do to help out uh you know somebody else or another show or whatever I’m going to need that to come back around so karma so it is very nice of you because I know you have a similar view. I do. That’s why I’m here right now. And aren’t you uh Didn’t you tell me you were filling in for Fox 2 last night? Yeah, it’s vacation season. It’s summer time. This is it. It’s kind of how it works. So, you’re you’re super nice. I did hear yours uh segment this morning with Hance. And I did not hear the story on their show about the pizza. Did you hear it off the top, though? I I heard Yes, I heard what you said and I heard what Hance said. And I can’t believe that I am going to say this, but I’m more with Hance on this issue of eating pizza that’s been out for a while than I am with you. And here’s my theory as to why that. Okay, first off, I’m not going to tell you I’ve never eaten food that’s been left out for a while. And my wife could give you specific stories cuz she’s super careful with that kind of stuff. And I’m like, “Ah, it’ll be fine.” I don’t leave stuff on the ground. Uh yeah, the ground was a little rough. Okay. They only had stuff on the ground for hours. Hans and Scott got deep dish pizza. They had leftovers. They were going somewhere. They couldn’t uh take it in the building. They left it outside on the ground for several hours. You know, it’s Vegas and I have gravel cuz they don’t have the lawn cuz it’s so hot and it’s there and there probably no bugs cuz the bugs get barbecued by the heat. So, I get that there’s some contributing factors, but nonetheless, and they ate it later. And then they carried around to the show or to the casino or to the whatever. And it was hours before I got him into a fridge. And I thought to myself, you know, that’s a guy who uh did not uh work a a hungry afternoon producer shift when that pizza’s been sitting out Yeah. since 10:00 a.m. But you know what? It’s it’s 5:30 p.m. now and I’m going to eat that thing cuz again, I’ve taken chances. I’ve taken chances. I’ve done that a lot. And but I thought that was an extreme story. And anybody who knows like how it works around radio clusters, there’s always a table. There’s there’s always a table somewhere that collects food that has been brought in for a variety of different reasons. Having worked at multiple TV stations, I can tell you it’s the same way there. And sometimes the free food and if it’s there, it’s fair game. And sometimes it gets creamed and sometimes it sits out for maybe weeks like not weeks. I mean, for an extreme Definitely been day old donuts and bagels out long time. And I have had that moment where it’s like I’m eating that thing. Hasn’t it been out since Tuesday? I don’t care. I’m eating that thing now. It I don’t know if Hance really needed to eat it at 2 o’clock in the morning. I don’t I don’t think that was probably Hans knows how to tell a story, too. Oh, you don’t say. I do say I do say he’s he’s a gifted storyteller. We’ll just leave it at that. Yeah, he he can spin a yarn that Hans also exactly to in the morning sets an alarm to get up and eat uh eat pizza. Um uh well anyway, I appreciate you sitting sticking around, David. And I was listening this morning and Hance was very good. You can grab that uh podcast. You guys uh you guys talked a lot of uh football, but I want to talk NBA with you. I’ve got Eric uh Eric Pinkis coming up uh at the top of the 11:00 hour and he writes for Bleacher Report, but he’s a national guy, so we might hit some uh you know, some broad topics, but I’m certainly curious to get his take on the Jazz. And I I was kind of thinking of, you know, which direction to go to like you know what hot like uh radio cliche like, “Hey, Eric, rate the Jazz off season.” But it’s kind of what I’m getting at. I you know, how how has the Jazz off season gone? I mean, the goal of winning a title is still uh, you know, hardly worth talking about. Yeah. I mean, that’s so far away. So, so very far away. It’s far away on the old timeline and it’s far away looking at the Jazz roster. I mean, there is a universe where it is possible to miss the to miss the playoffs three years in a row and then win the title two years later. I Oklahoma City just did it, but the Jazz do not appear to be on that timeline. It seems far away. Yes. Even on even in the new modern world, it’s far away. Certainly far away has made a lot of good moves, but they still haven’t gotten back to the playoffs yet. And and there’s there seems to be a lot of momentum in San Antonio. There seems to be a lot of, you know, positive people around the league analyzing what they’re doing. There’s a lot of positives. Uh but nonetheless, they got a long streak and not going to the playoffs. Here’s why I kind of side on really good off season and m it’s it’s all the optimism with Ace Bailey and then moving off bad contracts. They had to I mean they had to get off the veterans that I mean I’ve had this discussion with you that it took forever. I don’t know you can give an A for the offseason doing something that doesn’t everybody wish that was done a year or two ago? Well, they didn’t do it a year or two ago. I know. But but shouldn’t Clarkson have been moved two years ago? Uh in theory. Yeah. I don’t think I think they’re all the same thing. I think Clarkson could have could have would have should have been moved two years ago. Uh get a second round pick. Don’t hold out for a first round pick. Whatever. Just get on with it. Right. Nick Collins coming in. Okay. You’re basically going to rehab his career and then flip him, right? You get a distressed asset, you build it up. It’s like flipping a house after you’ve uh painted it and put a new driveway and put a new roof in, right? And he was like he was in a much better place really shooting. And there should have been a market for him, but given the way the CBA works, there wasn’t. So, they misjudged the market there, which isn’t great, but given the fact the rules just changed, I get how it happened, but I don’t like it. Do you watch South Park, David? I do not, actually. Uh, you are aware of what that that show was aware. Yeah. A little zany, but there there’s one particular episode where they It’s a zany cartoon where they introduce a superhero. Mhm. And the superhero’s name is Captain Hindsight. And they they go to all these disasters, right? You know, things happening event, you know, aliens uh attacking the world or whatever. And everybody’s like, “Oh, we need Captain Hindsight.” and he lands and he’s like, “Well, you should have done this and you should have done this and you should have done this and we’ll see you later.” And it’s like, I think you need captain in hindsight to see John Collins. I don’t think any captain But no, hold on. My point is, my point is though, they did it. They didn’t do it two years ago. They didn’t do it last year. They did it this year. That’s a good thing. They had to do it. And maybe they didn’t get Max’s return, but you you know what? John Collins isn’t helping you win games because he’s not part of the future and he’s not on the team. So that’s the idea and they did at least get something back for him realizing they didn’t for others. But it is what it is as uh an old boss of mine used to say. But at least they did it. You know what I mean? Yeah, I suppose so. I don’t see I don’t disagree with you. I I don’t like they they bet on a market. We talked about this the other day. They bet on a market that wasn’t there for a couple of reasons. Because the new CBA kicks in, but the TV money hasn’t. So now all of a sudden is extraordinarily punitive to take on salary really at all in any way, shape or form. And it froze up the market on mid-level players. Yep. Because young players on on rookie deals still have value because they don’t make any money. And stars still have value because they’re stars and you’ll still have owners who will bend over backwards to get them on the roster. guys like John Collins, all of a sudden there wasn’t a market. Cuz in theory, the acquire him, polish it up, teach him how to shoot, or not teach him how to shoot that. I don’t mean to be condescending and that that isn’t the case, but but really up his numbers in his uh production. And man, yeah, he’s a he’s a modern NBA player. He’s versatile. He’s athletic. He’s he’s long. He’s skilled. There should be a market for that guy. there’s not because he’s in this range of salary that is just not does not fit the puzzle for other teams. And so they misread they misread the tea leaves. They would not be the first team to to do something like that. Oh, I mean the the crazy example was the last time they got a new TV deal and they put it into the salary cap in just two years instead of smoothing it out, which they’re doing this time where they’re going to spread it out. And do you remember teams just went bananas? Yeah, that’s why Kevin Durant went to the Warriors. But well, not Kevin Durant who who actually made a not greedy move and made a I guess you could argue a basketball. But who were the guys? Do you remember all the Boz that signed these just giant might as well just lit that money on fire and throw it out the window? Talk about misreading what the impact was going to be, right? And then these players end up being an albatross for you know half a decade around the neck of these franchises and they you know who who were a couple of examples. I mean Gordon Hayward kind of was honestly but uh what like Nick Batum signed a giant um Chandler Parsons. Does that sound right? Yes. Yeah. These mediocre players that signed these crazy deals and ended up really hampering franchises. I mean, franchises misread what the cause and effect of of things are going to be and the tightening of the screws on the luxury tax with the second apron and all that minutia is having an impact for sure. And if if you would tell me that the Jazz did not read that tea leaf correctly, I I would agree with that assessment. But what are you going to do about it now? Wor the worst thing they could do is roll the dice that the value was going to go up and sit on them for another year. So that would have uh that would have cost him a top eight pick in the draft. Maybe I’m not as worried about the draft. You know, lottery and all the luck of the draw and all that. It’s just not having John Collins on the team is not. You’re pumped. They got Ace Bailey at five and he’s a young guy and he’s going to grow and he has superstar potential. Is supposed to be better and deeper and maybe maybe it will be, maybe it won’t be, but they can’t get shot. No, I’m not saying be good. I’m saying stop stop sweating every win and loss for one slot of lottery luck or the other. You have it or you don’t. Yeah. Oh, because you convey it. I understand. That’s what I was getting. No, no, no. I understand. No. And that’s a Yeah. Uh, valid point. And I actually think they could, depending on how it goes, be good enough to kind of threaten that a little bit. Honestly, depends what everybody else does. Like Cody Williams played really well in summer league. How many games can they win when teams aren’t running out their best? Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? And the back third of the schedule is wild. And if you’re trying, you can pick up a lot of W’s. Exactly. Yeah. And then if you get unlucky with the slots also, how far how far do you fall? And honestly, you saw how what how hard it was to lose that many games last year. How difficult that was. You worked at it. How how honestly I could I mean you have them too but I could tell you anecdotes about little subtle ways that they fixed ball games basically not I should say fix most exciting part of a game day was seeing the list of who was going to play and who wasn’t which for honestly that was like the newsiest thing and and it all comes back to me uh all the time but for a pregame show host that is the most frustrating thing in the world. You have no clue. I mean, you’re sitting down a show, you’re picking out topics that are going to be relevant to the game, and all of a sudden, you know, I built half a segment around this player who played well that game, and then J in our ear is like, so and so’s out. Hey, just so you know, Larry Mark is not play. Wait, wait, what? What? Okay, well, let’s wad that up and throw in the trash and we’ll figure out. Uh, but that’s honestly how much of that is modern NBA, too. But I mean, it just now it just happens with all teams all the time. It’s pro sports. We had the bites this morning where Cincinnati and uh Dallas owners, the Bengals and the Cowboys were complaining about uh injuries and having to pay guys who weren’t playing, all that. And like we’ll go find a baseballer and talk about pitchers on any given day. Look at how many pitchers are on the injured list. How many pitchers in any season? And we’ll get to the end of the year and like how many people had Tommy John surgery this year, right? Starting pitchers used to be celebrities and now they’re super careful with them. Nobody’s pitching into the eighth inning. They’re not doing that. And it used to be you go to the ballpark and you see the starter and the starter is a big deal and the starter sold tickets and now they’re protecting their arms and it doesn’t work and basketball players over here shredding Achilles left and right. I think we’re pushing the human body about as far as it can go. You can strengthen the muscles and the bones, but we haven’t figured out the ligaments yet. Yeah, I I think so. Laments in a pitching arm. Achilles. I mean, and modern Americans are super super soft. Just soft pudding soft. I don’t know that these athletes are soft. You got You got different athletes. I’m kidding. I’m No, I’m just making a joke. Uh I I No, I do think the uh I do think the mentality has shifted. Protect the protect the asset. Definitely supposed to push through. And they have more power and leverage to do it. For example, uh Ron Boon played how many games in a row? I’d set that. But he wouldn’t have played if he tore his Achilles. No, he wouldn’t have. But my point more is Ron probably played through injuries they would sit for today. Injuries a lot. And you know why he did it? Because if people didn’t come through that door, there wasn’t going to be a league tomorrow, right? And the owners had all of the leverage. They would tell I mean getting to your I’m I’m complaining about paying hurt players owners. I mean that mentality is goes back like well if you’re not going to play Ron um here’s an application at Ace Hardware because that’s your other option because this hasn’t made it yet and it’s there’s no TV money and it’s allgate and it’s all you know you talk about you play for the love of the fans back in the day it was fans would just spend money on something else if Jerry West wasn’t playing and they felt burned by I mean it was just a different world now the money doesn’t come from the gate. The money is crazy huge. And the players through a a series of labor victories have a ton of leverage. A ton of leverage. And if you don’t like Kawhi Leonard sitting out all those games, well, he’ll just go play somewhere else. He’s done it before. It’s the wild popularity of the sport because yes, the players have a ton of leverage and through CBA deals and yet arguably they’ve gotten well really not arguably they’ve gotten rolled back in the last couple of deals. Yeah, Derek Fischer sold him out and he should be much money. Yeah, everybody is a wash in it. They have won they they won even when they got basically the salary cap in the late 90s. There were other concessions from a Barri standpoint where they were making more than 50%. Mhm. And they got creamed in the last lockout. And did they? I mean, they did, but they didn’t. I mean, they’re still Yeah, the power’s on, David. That’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about The money is still getting bigger. It’s not getting bigger as quickly as it could have. I get that. It could be accelerating more quickly and all of that. But if that’s the definition of getting crushed, sign me up. But that’s all the the owner’s argument is, oh, you’re still doing great and you’re still and this is everybody is. There’s no losers in pro sports. And this is what you know, the owner’s opinion is what is going to grow the sport. and and some of that may be true, but if the owners had their way, they’d be making 99% of the of the the Barri in basketball. Are you old enough to remember when owners actually ran out of money and had to sell teams because they were bankrupt? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. We’re not hearing that anymore, are we, Jake? No, we’re not. We’re all We’re past that. Well, players would say that’s because of them. Owners would say that’s because of me. So, where do you meet? And it used to be so lopsided for the owners somewhere around 53 or 49%. As it turns out, that’s where you That’s right. And they had to fight for and they used to have 50. Was it 50? As five as high as 53. Now it’s at like 49. More damaged by labor negotiations. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey. What do you mean damaged? Well, I think baseball was hurt by the overall process. They didn’t play the World Series in ’94. I think hockey was hurt when they wiped out an entire season about a decade later. Yeah. But look at football took some dings. They had two very compromised seasons in the 80s. But hockey got some really interesting reforms. So you say hurt say hurt by the the player the players were hurt by it, but they bounced back. Yeah. I mean look at some of these stars who were making just they’re making like seven million bucks. Yeah. And these really great players. you look at the the salary range for NHL players and it’s like which which 7 million bucks sounds like very little compared to uh you know whatever the biggest b whatever uh you know the biggest baseball contract is Trout gets it Harper gets it you know it’s everybody gets Sodto gets paid I mean it’s one guy after another getting paid more and more show hey uh but 7 million you can’t just so who’s damaged though that’s why I’m saying the players the sport oh in the short run it was damaged and the players yeah and the sport was hurt. Um, yeah, but baseball, but over time they they grow out of it and their revenue grows again and you know, I mean, we’re generation down the road. But baseball baseball is funny because could the sport of baseball if the owners had more, you know, self-control or or more of a hard cap or or something like that? Would the sport be more successful? because baseball has gone from number one in the sports lexicon to arguably three, four. Well, I think two. Um, I think the NBA’s pushing there’s there’s a um, you know, there’s some dynamics that are unique to each sport that shape how they make money. You know, the fact that you can only play one NFL a game a week, you can basically broadcast a lot of these games nationally. Whereas basketball, you’re playing three or four times a week. So they set up these TV contracts with double headers seven nights of the week and sell them off to two and now three different providers to make big money. Baseball, there just isn’t the appetite for the national. And I don’t think it’s because people don’t care and don’t want to watch. I think it’s because your local team is playing every night. They’re playing six days out of seven and you’re watching them. So, you don’t have time to watch whatever the equivalent would be of the TNT Thursday Night Package or Monday Night Football. That doesn’t really exist in baseball. But if you’re watching the Yankees or the Dodgers or, you know, the Padres’s or the Tigers or, I don’t know, whoever, six days a week, you don’t how much more time do you have? Uh, baseball sucks on TV, which is uh makes it really hard. But but here’s where baseball why they just print money is because there is no more lucrative gate in sports than baseball. They play a zillion home games. They play in stadiums that are huge and they sell a bunch of tickets whether they’re good or not because it’s an experience and an event. So it depends on the team. There’s baseball value. Not every team does. That is baseball’s value. That actually scares some people because they don’t, you know, the Jazz can rebuild and their gates great, but they’re getting so much money from the national TV that they’re set. It really can’t go wrong. It’s it’s it’s foolproof. But and baseball doesn’t have that because there are stadiums you look around and hello, hello. You know, it’s true. And I’m not saying, you know, it’s always the case, but with baseball, you’ve got you got a little bit of this in football, too. And some in basketball, but I would say less. It’s the event. You know, I’ll go see. I don’t care if I’m in San Diego and the Padres are in town. I don’t know where they’re sitting in the standings. I don’t care. I’m just How many players can you name? Yeah. Right. I’m But you know what I’m going to do? It’s a game. It’s an event. Going to park my butt on the first baseline. Is it really that different than going to a concert? No, it’s not. You go to some concerts where you know every lyric of every song and other concerts where like I’ve heard of them and I know two songs and I’ll go. It’s summer and I’m outside and it’s beautiful and I’ve got hot dogs and malted beverages and you know I went out to the Bees game a couple Sundays ago. Like the food is really good nowadays. They pour a lot of effort into the game experience. That has nothing to do with how good the team is or is not. And like I said, there is some of that in in all sports, but I think it’s really prevalent specifically in Major League Baseball. Yeah. I mean, if you go to a market, David, you used to travel so much. I mean, if you go to a market and the team’s in town, there’s a good chance David James is bouncing over to that stadium to catch a game. Went to the Nationals game and it got rained out on me. Bummer. I was right there. But that’s how I got Fenway Park checked off the list is I was there. I was there for a soccer game. We went to four of us got tickets and we were out in right field. By the way, I thought it’d be more hardcore baseball fans. I thought I was going to see a lot of people keeping score and all that. And at Fenway, they got the big jumbotron and they sing every half inning. Tons of college students in a town with I don’t even know how many universities, right? And they’re they’re all out and just it was crazy. It was not what I expected. But the gate is magic for baseball. That’s the thing. In some cities, in other cities, it is not. And in the case of the old Dodgers owner parking for baseball games, uh, McCort kept the sweetest plum for himself. There it is. Take that, Major League Baseball. Thank you. I know you’ve got a thing and I’ve kept you a long time. Appreciate it, David. Have a great day. We’ll have more coming up next. Top three stories. Jake and Ben 975 DKSL Sports Zone. This is This is DJ and PK. Joined now by Brian Gueltzer, SiriusXM NBA radio host. I find Ace Bailey to be a fascinating story on multiple levels. So, how high is this ceiling? I think when you look at what Danny’s trying to do to create the right atmosphere for Bailey, you want Bailey to develop, that ball’s got to be in his hands a lot. And they brought in Walter Clayton Jr. to be, for lack of a better term, even though he’s a young guy, the adult in the room, an experienced college player. And they cleared the decks for these younger players to be able to come in and play big roles early on. The Angels are going to do a really good job with this. They just are. It was the right pick for the Jazz. I love it. I thought the Jazz were one of the big winners on draft night and may take a couple of years to marinate to get there. I mean, you just kind of have to wait and see how all this plays out. Catch DJ and PK mornings from 6 to 10 on 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Who’s got it better than us? Your home for the best sports coverage in Utah. You’re listening to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. You can win big every Wednesday with Win Ticket Wednesday. Uh coming up tomorrow, we’re giving away tickets to Jason Aldine on the Full Throttle Tour July 26th at Utah First Credit Union Amphitheater. Uh, get your ticket uh tickets now at livenation.com or listen to the KSL Sports Zone all day on Wednesday for your chance to win top three stories of the day. KSLports.com brought to you by Jbrooks Jewelers. Cherish your love with Jbrooks Jewelers. Explore their expertly crafted engagement rings made from the finest materials. Uh top three stories may be brought to you by Jbrooks Jewelers, but it is curated by Christian Esparza. Uh who who came up is is today the desert of uh of all deserts in the world of sports. Is it is there no I mean we’ll we’ll make some topics interesting. I’m not I’m just I’m not judging our topics. Submarine is today like there just isn’t a scorcher. You know what I mean? There’s like that time of the year. There’s not I mean I was even flipping around to the national sites to see like well what’s what what are the big topics? I mean we’re going to do a a baller segment, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just it’s that time in the summer where it’s just like wow. There’s there’s not a big headliner. With that in mind, Christian, where do you want to start? BYU basketball just barely released their non-conference schedule. Uh yeah, and I suppose, you know, I I was about to say something snarky about basketball, uh non college basketball, non-conference, uh that it doesn’t mean a whole lot. Um and it really doesn’t, but this year with AJ Debansa, uh things might be a little bit more interesting and and honestly, they played an interesting non-conference uh schedule uh last year as well. But um few of the highlights here. They open things up uh against Nebraska on October 18th. Then they’ll play um and I believe at Delta Center they’re going to play North Carolina. The Tarheelss are going to be in town. Amazing. November 3rd they’re going to play uh Villanova. So first three games, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Villanova. They’re going to play Holy Cross, Delaware. Uh then they play uh on November 15th in Boston. They’re going to take on Yukon. Uh then they take on Wisconsin again in Salt Lake City and then they do some tournament play. Uh the ESPN Invitational and then uh the rest of their non-con uh is really just a gear up. Oh, I take it back. They have Clemson December 9th in uh in New York City. So that’s uh that’s not bad. But they’ve got Riverside, Pacific, Abalene Christian, and Eastern Washington getting ready for Big 12 play. Hey, North Carolina. That’s going to be pretty cool. That’s a big draw. They don’t have a great coach, I don’t think, at the moment. So, I don’t know how good North Carolina is going to be, but that’s pretty cool. And then, uh, you get to play names like Yukon and Villanovavva. Uh, you know, this this could be the exception to the rule with non-conference college basketball. Maybe we’ll get some good showdowns. Certainly, a lot of those games are going to be on national television. And BYU is going to be good. AJ Debons or not, they’re they’re bringing back basically their entire team. Uh, and I thought Kevin Young proved himself in year one to be a pretty solid, uh, solid coach from a schematic standpoint, decision-m, all that good stuff. So, uh, yeah, going to be an interesting college basketball season, at least in Provo. All right, what’s next? Number two, this came out of Yahoo Sports yesterday. Memphis apparently tried to buy their way into the Big 12. $200 million offer. They got rejected. Yahoo reported that, eh? Yes. Uh I am I was kind of digesting this yesterday because listen, it makes no sense to get bigger. It doesn’t make any sense. If anything, the league’s too big now. Uh they you have to split, you know, the the revenue eventually. And I know Memphis, they said in addition to the $200 million, they would take a you know, a shorter cut for a period of time, but eventually you’ve got to pay that piper. And what benefit really does it bring competitively to add another team? I mean, Memphis is good sometimes. I don’t know. It does. It It doesn’t really have anything to do with Memphis. I mean, what who out there is good enough to make the league more interesting? Well, and that’s why they said no, I guess, right? Yeah. I I mean I’d be curious if if the reporting gets a little bit more thorough on on exactly why uh the the decision was made and maybe we don’t know, but um it doesn’t make any sense to me to expand. Well, from Memphis’s side, it shows I mean they’re they know that they need to have a seat at the table. like everybody’s expecting that expansion and more realignment is to come in the future and you know they feel like I’m assuming if they are already in a P4 conference that’s going to make life easier for them. Um but right now they’re not that the Big 12 in their expansion over their last two rounds of expansion. First was they had to expand to stay a conference. They had to add BYU and those uh who are the other Houston and Cincinnati and Central Florida to exist going forward to have some sort of product to well I mean by rule they had to add add teams but they had to stabilize in order to exist. So that’s a reason to expand and made sense and it worked. You expand the second time because of opportunity. another league fell apart and there were valuable parts of that league that were there to be had. That makes a ton of sense. You know, it it would have made sense if they would have added two teams, but they decided to add four, five, four. Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado. So, they add four teams. That makes sense. you feel like those are are valuable and they are out there because uh Brett Umark was really good at lobbering grenades at uh George Kavkov and Larry Scott was a huge bozo and so you benefit from uh the bad decision of another league decisions I should say uh of another league now what is the reason to expand what is the real reason I mean you could get Memphis at any time the they don’t bring anything competitively they don’t bring anything interest wise they bring a midsize market if you want to look at it that way and then 200 million bucks in a promise to take less money for at least some period of time. There’s not I’m glad I guess this sounds weird. I’m glad they passed on it because it doesn’t make sense. Does Memphis I mean Memphis’s basketball program is pretty good. They’re they they may cheat a lot but hey cheating isn’t a thing anymore. And uh football has been good once in a while I guess but it’s really nothing to write home about. You you’ve got the FedEx guy who’s a big booster. I guess that that’s a feather in their cap. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. I heard you uh advocating for uh Nevada Las Vegas earlier today. And that doesn’t make a lot of sense either. That’s what DJ said, too. Just because athletically they’re not there. What do they bring to What do they bring to the conference? I mean, you could argue they somewhat make the television contract more valuable, but that’s relevant the next time you uh negotiate a television contract, which isn’t for what, half a decade, right? A decade. Yeah. So, it doesn’t it doesn’t make a ton of sense. Yeah. As far as right now, I don’t think the Big 12 is dying to expand, unless maybe the ACC falls apart and they want to go after Miami or something. There you go. Now, you’ve got an opportunity. So, you snap up some of the valuable leftovers from the ACC. But it doesn’t make any sense today to go, “Yes, let’s welcome Memphis.” What? It doesn’t make any sense to go, “Yes, we’re welcoming in Nevada, Las Vegas.” No. No. I do think it’s interesting, though, these these G5 schools trying to get out ahead of it, though, because they realize that I’m sure it’s going to fall apart quickly when it does. And the ACC is so desperate that they took SMU last year, and the Big 12 is just not that desperate. the ACC is going to lose its valuable uh universities and may not survive. The Big 12 lost its most valuable universities and absolutely survived. So, they’re in a much better position than the ACC other than the ACC has that long horrible television contract with that grant and writer agreement. So, we’ll see how much all that stuff holds up in court eventually. All right, what’s next? Number three, Jerry Jones taking shots at his own guys now. All right. I have not heard this yet, so I I’m very eager to hear it. It’s Jerry who by Have you ever heard the saying I think it was they said it about Barbara Walters? The most dangerous place on the planet is between her and a television camera. That’s that’s Jerry. The most dangerous place on the planet is the space between Jerry Jones and a television camera or microphone. Uh, he takes a shot at his quarterback, Dak Prescott, and Micah Parsons. Okay, let’s see. Let’s hear how this goes. Just because we sign him doesn’t mean we’re going to have him. He was hurt six games last year. Seriously, we’ve signed I remember signing a player for the highest paid at the position in the league and he got knocked out twothirds of the year, Dak Prescott. So, there’s a lot of things you can think about just as the player does when you’re thinking about committing and guaranteeing money. It was It’s interesting. We we play those clips after our conversation with David about owners and players and their um yeah, their priorities and it it that’s a very ownory take right there, right? because he’s almost setting expectations low. I’m missing, oh, I have no idea if we’re going to be any good because these softies can’t stay on the field. You know what I mean? Uh, so yeah, I I’m sure you do have that opinion, Jerry. I’m sure you uh you do want your players to to play, your best players to play to help you win games. Uh, yeah, interesting take. But he’s right. He did pay them even though they did get hurt. And didn’t he pay he paid Dak coming off an injury, right? He gave Dak Prescott his most recent uh contract. Was he coming off uh it was did ankle, I think. Was it his ankle? He was coming off a serious injury and you paid him. So, you know, that’s the other side of the coin is that you made that decision. Do you remember how badly Jerry botched Dak’s second deal to begin with where he kept franchising him and kicking the can down the road and the the contract just went up exponentially because he was stubborn for the stupidest reasons and then he ends up doing it anyway because Dak Prescott had all of the leverage because if you you either have a quarterback in the NFL or you don’t reason Kyler Murray somehow twisted Arizona’s arm into getting that contract you know They the quarterbacks have all of the leverage and Jerry paid him at the worst possible time and then he was coming off an uh an injury. I think you’re right, Christian. I think it was an ankle injury and it’s like you did that, dude. Yeah. You did that. If if you had that opinion about Dak and you were worried about him missing six games, go find a different quarterback. That’s that is that is not only on you as the owner, but he’s also the dang general manager. You know, like the hubris where I Yeah, I not only am I a Which makes you think, you know, that’s probably not a good thing most of the time, right? There’s probably some conflict there. If the owner is so worried about his pocketbook, maybe you need to hire bring somebody in to be the general manager. Yeah, maybe that’s a maybe that’s a good idea. You what you’re talking about is a conflicting interests there. Yeah. Which what you’re getting at. And it definitely makes it more personal, right? If you’re the general manager and you are the owner and you are giving the players their money and deciding, you know, football operations, it definitely makes it more personal. But Jerry Jones could probably be a constant nominee for the Bozo of the week week after week because again, he is addicted to attention and will say anything. Uh JJ Watt chimed in. and he tweeted, “Anytime you can publicly take a dig at your star quarterback and your star pass rusher simultaneously right before the season begins, you just got to do it.” Nothing makes guys want to fight for you more than hearing how upset you are that they got hurt while fighting for you. And Micah Parsons retweeted that tweet. I’m sure he feels that way. All right, stay tuned. We’ll have more coming up next. Very excited. Top of the 11:00 hour, Eric Pinkis is going to be on the show. National NBA writer for Bleacher Report. Stay tuned. 975 the KSL Sports Zone. The sports you love, the teams you can’t live without. Sense of urgency. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben want to remind you, nominate the youth sports volunteer you know for the Hercules Hero of the Week. Submit your nomination at kslports.com/contest and listen every Thursday to JJ and Alex for the winner. You can help us celebrate the efforts of those volunteers making an impact with the Hercules Hero of the Week. Uh sponsored by Hercules First Federal Credit Union and Beehive Meals. Let’s give away some tickets. We’ve got a fourack of tickets to go see RSL take on San Jose coming up this Saturday at America First Field. Um 801575 zone. Caller number 12 right now. 801575 zone. Spend a a summer night out there watching soccer. Uh sounds like a great way to do it. So caller number 12 right now. 801575 zone. 801575 zone. Why is Christian? You’re uh you’re in the know more than me. Why is Klay Thompson like all over news? Is it because of Is he dating? He’s dating Siza. He’s Who is that? She is a singer. Pretty. Yeah, pretty prominent. Yeah. I thought it was I thought it was somebody else. He’s not dating What’s his connection to Megan the Stallion? Oh, never mind. No, no, no. Sorry. I get them confused. It is. He’s dating Megan the Stallion. Yeah. So, Klay Thompson of all people is dating a pop star. Yes. More rapper, I guess. Like an R&B. Pop. R&B. Yeah. Megan the Stallion’s kind of like rapper. Okay. All right. Good. Good. Good for Clay. He didn’t strike me as like a celebrity hookup type of player. You know what I mean? I don’t know why. I know nothing about Clay uh and his personality. But there you go. Chasing, you know, chasing the pop star. Like he doesn’t feel like the the Derek Jeter type for some reason. But I guess there, you know, get the opportunity and love is love. I suppose Eric Picas will join the show. We will not ask him about Klay Thompson’s love life. We’re going to do that coming up next. Jake and Ben 975 the K uh KSL Sports Zone. What’s up? Whether it’s the Jazz, you cougars or Aggies, these guys have got you covered. Time to eat fellas. You’re locked on to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson 2 on 975 KSL Sports Zone. Jacob bed 975 the KSL sports zone. It’s time to talk some NBA. Joining the show now, he makes the magic happen for the Bleacher Report. He’s Eric Pinkas with us here on Jacob and Ben. Eric, thank you for a few minutes. How are you? Doing well. Thanks for having me. Uh curious to your thoughts on the Jazz off season because it’s it’s obvious that winning might not be the top priority next year, but the youth movement has been even further leaned into uh with the trading of some uh some veterans. So, uh your thoughts on what the Jazz have done this off season? Uh well, excuse me. I think like the the expression that they weren’t going to do what they did last year uh I think Austin uh was being truthful. Uh they aren’t going to sit older veterans to lose games. So the answer to uh get to that is to train them so that they can truly go for it in the in the terms of letting these young guys play. Not try not to worry about the scoreboard. uh because young guys tend not to win games at this point in their careers and and I think a patient fan base can really buy into that. If they see the young guys playing hard, trying to win, losing games at the end, which is, you know, kind of how it tends to go, it can make for more of a it’s just a better product than seeing some of your best guys sit there in street clothes and just not play at all. So it it has been from you know covering the team or or certainly fans it has been a bit of a roller coaster right because the the lottery certainly didn’t break the Jazz way but then draft comes and you know I can tell you the folks over there in in that facility are riding pretty high about how it turned out for them. They feel like they got Ace Bailey who uh was higher up than five on their board and feel like he’s going to be a home run. You have uh any thoughts on how the draft ended up turning out? I mean, it was certainly interesting. You know what I mean? It was Ace U and his representatives seemed to have um I don’t know, an approach. Certainly certainly a point of view on how they wanted to handle the process. They didn’t sort of follow the normal uh ways about it. Didn’t really work out with teams the way that uh prospects usually do. Uh but Ace is a, you know, superb talent. Took a minute for everything to sort of settle. uh and you know while he’s young and and needs development and I wouldn’t expect day one for him to come in and dominate the league uh you know he has real uh high you know star potential at that that forward position you know the kind of forwards that the games uh the game of the last you know however many years has been built around and some have likened him to uh you know young Paul George at least to grow into that role and and we’re talking the you know the healthy one unfortunately Paul has struggled in recent years to be himself, but uh it’s really about finding young uh exciting talent uh giving them a a good place. I mean the Jazz as an organization for for a very long time has been very stable, has uh you know put a lot into the development and has a great coach. So, you know, I I think this is a good place uh for someone like Ace Bailey to to grow given the right kind of uh opportunity and and uh just get out there and play and not necessarily worry about the scoreboard. Uh but get out there and learn how to play and and grow into what he can be. So, I thought it was a great pick. Uh once, you know, it was a little touch and go for a minute there. Uh was he gonna show up and and there’s no real way to get around it. uh you know if a player whether he wanted to be here or not he never said that he didn’t want to be in Utah as far as I know. So uh I think this is a great place for him and I and I always root for someone I root for all the young guys coming in to you know find who they are and and and to get there on the court. So Utah’s a good place for him. You know summer league is is a funny thing. We’ve had summer league here for a long time and I’ve covered the one in in Vegas and I I refuse to read into summer league at all for rookies because everything is so new. But sophomores, I I’m curious to your take because the Jazz had kind of both sides of the coin where Isaiah Collier didn’t shoot it well in summer league and Jazz fans are a little, oh, that’s probably not a good sign. But Cody Williams played great in summer league and he didn’t show, you know, kind of that aggression and and the belonging his rookie season. So, I guess my question is, how much do you read into a sophomore summer league? Uh, well, I like your line of reasoning. Usually when a rookie comes in in a lot of cases they haven’t necessarily played five on five actual hoops uh dating back to you what March, April depends on how far they went in the tournament and whatnot. So um outside of the the workout process to get drafted a lot of times this they’re just not in shape at the you know and and when I say not in shape we’re not talking you know where I am right now at my age. We’re talking like you know absolute basketball elite shape. And then also uh you know summer league ball is a mixed bag because you know it’s it’s it’s kind of like G-League where um you know it’s just different levels of play. It’s a team that may not necessarily have the continuity and players who are better in a system might not show out even in their sophomore year. But I I do agree that you you want to see that leap in the second year. You want to see like oh this guy doesn’t belong here anymore. like this guy is clearly a better player than than the players coming in. And and so I think, you know, in the case of Kier, it just might be, you know, if you’re, you know, a lead guard uh who is more of a you maybe a system guy, uh someone who needs to have some organization, some structure, summer league may not be the best place for him. And and Kier may not be a dominant scorer even in the NBA. Uh but you don’t necessarily need that from him. you might just need someone to help organize the offense, play defense at that position. Uh whereas, yeah, like someone like Cody Williams, uh didn’t necessarily get the chance to find himself in that first year, not consistently, but he spent a year, all all these sophomores in theory have spent a year in the gym. Uh there’s usually a noticeable improvement in in body and after a year in the conditioning and strengthening programs that they have. And then the the mental growth in that first year of just understanding how things work. Usually you want to see by the time they get to summer league that they’re showing out. But again, like sometimes it’s it’ll be a big and they’re playing with guards who don’t pass them the ball or uh you know don’t they’re gunning for a job. So sometimes you might have a big come in and just you’re like, “Oh man, they look they don’t look like they’ve grown.” Uh but that’s because they’re not playing their type of basketball. might be a great example of of why you just have to be careful overreacting to anything you see in summer league, whether it’s a rookie or a sophomore. All right, I’m going to keep this question super broad on purpose because I’m curious to see where you go, but what do you make of the drama surrounding the Lakers and LeBron this off season? Well, I I think from an agent’s point of view, I work with a lot of agents. I do a lot of consulting and teaching. uh working uh you know not officially but consulting with the the MVPA and I can’t think of a reason why LeBron would not have opted out to resign on what’s called a oneplus 1. A oneplus 1 is where you have a player option because all it is is you’re extending your contract just in case you get hurt for another year in his case over $50 million. So there’s no reason why LeBron would not do that that I can think of and I’ve talked to many people No one has offered any answer other than the obvious, which is that the Lakers weren’t offering it. And so now we have a significant change in this relationship where they have more or less bent over backwards and and done whatever LeBron wanted, you know, within reason. And now, uh, you know, with Luca Donuch in in on the roster, they’ve shifted to this is now Luca’s team instead of LeBron’s team. And so there was a little bit of maybe verbal fallout from Rich Paul uh in quotes. Uh I didn’t talk to Rich so I can’t really speak to what he feels but you know if we just go off of just some of you know the quotes that came out uh you soon after you know they definitely suggest that both sides recognize that this marriage is is nearing an end. Uh whether that means he’s traded or not in this year he has a no trade clause. So, the Lakers can’t trade him, period. Unless he says, “I want to be traded, and I want to be traded to this team in particular, whatever team that might be.” Some have speculated going home to Cleveland. Some have speculated New York. Uh, we could probably come up with another two or three. Dallas has been mentioned and whatnot, but trading a guy making that kind of money is not easy. Uh, as you get into the season, it gets even harder. Although, we saw last year June Butler was traded at at a similar price. So, it can be done. Uh but you know I the the the temperature seems to be that the Lakers are going to finish this year with LeBron and then after this year he’ll either retire or move on to another team. Uh but there’s definitely an argument that if LeBron wants another 50 something million next year that the best path for him to receive that money is via trade because of his rights. It’s very difficult for a team to get to what what you need, which is cap space to have that kind of money and then also have a winning team. You teams can get to cap space, but usually that means sacrifice. And so we have to wait and see. This is a, you know, a potential drama. If the Lakers start out slowly, uh, if things don’t go well or if LeBron just becomes unhappy, he could force this out. Um, but it’s also very reasonably possible that this is his last year or we just we don’t have enough information because, you know, Rich Paul, LeBron James, the Lakers aren’t going to tell us exactly how they feel with Truth Serum at this moment in time. But, um, reading between the lines, I think this is uh, one of the interesting stories to watch this year. With uh, injuries being what they are, what’s handicap the East for me? I mean, who’s the is it hands down Cleveland the favorite? I mean, who who are the favorites in the East now? Well, I I think New York is certainly um one of the best teams in the league still. Uh you know, East or West, they were very very good last year. They fell a little short. Um Cleveland is right there. Unfortunately, Boston and Indiana aren’t what they were. I don’t have a ton of faith in the Milwaukee Bucks as as constructed without Dame. Uh and while they have made improvements, I don’t know if it’ll be enough. Detroit and Orlando start to climb from, you know, like borderline playing to possibly top four homecourt advantage teams. Atlanta made some solid moves. I’m curious to see how they turn out. But yes, and certain I don’t want to discount the Sixers. If if Embiid is healthy, I know Paul George had a a surgery. I would love to see him healthy still. I got to spend some time around Paul in LA with the Clippers. Uh and I, like I said, I root for people. I root for people to be healthy. I don’t root for teams. I root for people I know and and Paul’s a good dude. So, you know, it’s it’s an opportunity for a team to push in a little harder in the East. You know, West is more competitive. a team like let’s say the Portland Trailblazers who didn’t make the playoffs last year, they could try to push or New Orleans at the draft, trading away basically an unprotected first in next year’s draft to get uh Queen in the draft be a trade to me was a little surprising because of, you know, the opposite of what you just said. Like the East is what it is. It’s like it looks so wide open and the West is the opposite. It’s so packed that I don’t know how New Orleans makes this jump to make that lottery pick it uh what’s you know safe. I I think it was a very bold move and let’s see if it pays off for them. But the East is pretty wide open and you know I think the Cavs are absolutely one of the favorites but I think New York is in that same same uh area. You are uh you are so much nicer than me calling that move bold. Bold. It it was it it was bold. You could you could say that. Uh in the West, how how big is the gap between Oklahoma City and everybody else. I mean, it’s not it’s not huge. It is very difficult to repeat. They’re still an absolutely amazing team that’s bringing back more or less everybody. They they I think they’ve lost one player via trade. I mean, someone who didn’t play was it Dylan Jones or one of the Joneses, Kobe Dylan. I don’t lost track cuz they traded two Jones for each other and that’ll just mess up my mind a little bit. Uh but I you Dallas looks, you know, interesting. I don’t I don’t know if if and when Kyrie is healthy, but Cooper Flag could come in and you fill some of that, make them better. Uh Denver got I think in ways better. I’m still trying to decide, but I think Houston is they were number two surprisingly uh because they were terrible a couple years ago or not terrible, but three years ago they were terrible. Two years ago they were not great. And then last year they just made this leap that usually it was a bigger leap that than teams normally make. And so I’m really curious to see what the addition of Kevin Durant does and and you putting him on a a much better team. It’s easy to say, “Oh, you know, he’s past his prime.” Of course, uh LeBron’s past his prime. There are people who are past their prime who are still absolute powerhouses in this league and are still top 15 or 20 or even top 10. Uh it doesn’t matter that they’re not what they were necessarily at their best, but you put KD on a very good team that defends with athletes and other players who can uh you know, score and and I I’m very excited to see I I don’t know what the Lakers are. Uh, you know, I would say from a point of view, they’re better. Uh, they were third last year. I I don’t know if I would put them top three or four right now. I think they’re in that they they have potential to be. Uh, and then the Clippers, I mean, the Clippers are old. Uh, they’re not built for the long term. This isn’t something you would buy and say, “Oh, yeah. I know that this is going to be a three, four, five year run. This is a one or maybe two-year run uh with an older team.” But that’s okay. Uh if you’re a Clipper fan who’s, you know, franchise number one an NBA title, this would be, you know, a year to join the bandwagon if that’s your thing. Uh Steph, you can’t forget him. Uh Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and I’m probably leaving someone out. Like the the West Minnesota, there’s a lot of talent in there. Oklahoma City is still the best and they’re going to stay the best and I’ll continue to have them as the best until proven otherwise or you know some sort of issue or you know god forbid an injury or something like that. Uh but yeah, there’s going to be a tighter race in the west than there will be at least on paper than in the east. Christian and I have a pool going on who the Clippers next signing would be and I said Tim Hardaway senior. Sorry I had to get that joke in. Uh, Eric, you are great. Thank you very much for jumping on with us. We love your stuff. We’ll continue to follow. All right. Anytime. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Thank you. That’s Eric Pinkis does a great job uh covering the NBA for the the Bleacher Report. Yeah, that that New Orleans draft night trade was bananas. Bold. Bold to say the least. I I thought his read on uh on the the LeBron situation was was 100% right on the money. The Lakers did not offer him that one-in-one contract. And so he’s going to play it out and see how it goes, but it looks like he’s going to stay a Laker. Um I do think he could force his way out if he gets tired of watching Luca play basketball, but what would the market be? Where would he go? And who would want to trade the assets necessary to land a $50 million a year player? Which is kind of crazy to think, but you know, you I think it was you who made the joke uh Christian the other day that is LeBron the new old maid? Our our joke about Bradley Beal forever that he had the you know the the game old maid where the ideas do not get that card in the end. You know, you don’t want the Bradley Beal contract. Who is the new old maid? Is it LeBron? You can’t move off of his deal. And so the Lakers are just going to wait it out, which is just a really crazy way to to look at it. But it it appears we’re there. I mean, I don’t know, Christian, you if you’re Cleveland, do you make a move for LeBron knowing that you have to match 50 million bucks? So, you’re going to have to give him somebody. I don’t think that they do. I think he I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to strongarm his way there, but I don’t I think he’s lo losing his grip on the league, right? He has that kind of power anymore. The other team has to be willing to do it. I think the the Knicks might be dumb enough to do it, but who are, you know, who are you packaging to match match that 50 million bucks? Cat, is that what the Lakers want? But that’s right. You got to take it takes two to dance. And I can’t think of I can’t think of a scenario where both sides are like, “Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Again, coming back to our conversation this morning with with David James, things are just so sticky in the the NBA right now because no team has flexibility really to do anything. Uh it makes it so tricky to get any sort of deal done. You know, I if Giannis were all of a sudden available, teams would figure it out, right? But LeBron isn’t Giannis anymore. In fact, what role do you think LeBron would ideally play on a championship team? He’s not the the number one on a championship team anymore, right? If he’s okay with being second fiddle, he might as well just stay in LA. Or I’d say third on a on a championship team because I don’t think the Lakers are a championship team. Not even close, right? So ideally, I mean, if he were the second best player in Cleveland, are they a championship team? I don’t know. Not with Donovan. It depends on who that other guy is. It does. And yes, Cleveland’s shortcomings and Donovan shortcomings are certainly a different conversation, but does LeBron instead of Cat put the Knicks over the top? I don’t think so. The Now, the East is weird because everybody’s hurt, so it’s going to be a a crazy race in in the Eastern Conference. And I I thought Eric was right on the money uh in his analysis of that as well. I mean, the Knicks, that flawed team is the favorite in the East or the Cavs. I mean, I like Orlando. I think it’s more than likely that somebody makes a jump. So, maybe then, I mean, one of those teams talk themselves into LeBron that he’s the answer for that jump. But LeBron comes into that conversation at $10 million, not $50 million, right? Because you just have to give up too much of your team to get it. Well, and like Orlando, they don’t do they even have who could they even trade away to match that salary? You know, you’re not they’re not giving up Fron Vagner, right? You know, they’re not giving up one of their key guys. Obviously, not Paulo. I mean, so where did Yeah. How do you match that 50 million up KCP like a a tradable contract now? They’re tied up to Desmond Bane. They don’t have anybody that they’d be willing to trade away. Yeah. So, Eric looked at it as LeBron’s in control because of the no trade con uh clause. I don’t know if I agree with that. I He He is, but I mean, no trade clause obviously he he is, but I don’t know. You know, LeBron could pick where he wants to go, but I don’t I don’t necessarily think those other teams want him at that cost. What Eric meant, I’m assuming, is LeBron thinks he has the power with the number. I’m sure he does. I’m sure he does, but his behavior has been and Rich Paul has been bizarre uh this off season. They’ve never been in this situation where they are not the most powerful people in the NBA, where they can’t twist arms. They’re like, “Wait a minute, that’s what we do. That’s our management style. All we do is twist arms. All we do is leverage LeBron and his value.” So, yeah, it’s it’s interesting. And I don’t I don’t necessarily think they’ve handled it well. I think riding it out for a year in LA is honestly, other than the 50 million bucks, kind of worst case scenario for LeBron and immediately throwing a fit the moment that they I mean, everybody knew that Luca was the era parent. That’s why they make the move. And then he immediately breaks down. Not everybody, Christian, right? Everybody outside of those two people, LeBron and Rich Paul, not everybody understood that that is what was happening. And that is exactly what was happening. Hello. Yeah, Adele’s used to having leverage. It’s It’s interesting to watch. Wait, what? We don’t have the leverage cuz he’s going to ride it out for a year watching Luca play ball. It’ll it’ll be interesting to see how it goes. What do you mean you can’t get a random deal done with Cleveland? What do you mean? Five years ago, they would have traded their whole franchise to have you back. Now, you’re not that player anymore. And there’s no future, right? No, no offense to LeBron, but I mean, he can try to play into his mid-4s, but yeah, you’re not trading for a 30year-old LeBron. Yeah, that’s a that’s a huge question mark. So, uh but anyway, I thought Eric was great. Big thanks to him for jumping on. Uh we’ll have more coming up next. It is the Jake and Ben show 975 the KSL Sports Zone. This This is Hanselson and Scotty G. It’s what you want. So, I’m trying to get my phone to not call me Hans. All right, try it again. Don’t call me Hans. Okay. What should I call you? Hants. You’d like me to call you Hats? Is that right? No. Pants. You’d like me to call you pants? The dumbest thing. What is my name? Google. Your name is Hans. Ah, stupid dumb thing. Could you call me Hmed? You’d like me to call you handsome? Is that right? It’s better than Hans. Yeah. Catch Hans and Scotty weekdays from noon to 3 on 975. The KSL Sports Zone. Who’s got it better than us? Your home for the best sports coverage in Utah. You’re listening to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975D KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben 975D KSL Sports Zone. Ben Anderson continues to be on vacation. Never you fear all you Ben Anderson fans out there. He’s going to be back on Friday. Is that the Is that the rumor, Christian? I think that’s what I heard. Okay. So, we’ll look forward to talking to Ben. Um, you can join us coming up on Wednesday, that’s tomorrow, at the BarW Beef Popup event at the IFA in Spanish Fork. And when I say us, I mean Hansen Scotty. Uh, yes, if you write it on that read, I will or on that dock, I will read it. Join Hansen Scotty at the BarW Beef Popup event at the IFA in Spanish Fork from noon to 3. Uh, your chance to stock up for those summer barbecues with premium BarW beef meats. See you at the IFA in Spanish Fork for the Barw Beef special popup sale. And when I say see you, I mean they will see you, not I will see you. Hon Scotty will see you. We’ll be there in spirit. Oh, I butchered that. Uh, all right, Christian. We uh the unions are in the news a lot. We have a bozo of the week candidate from the NFL players union where there had expensed some trips to uh uh some toddry places got in trouble and had to uh and had to resign. the the NFL players association is right in the the middle of a collusion scandal too which is interesting where the players are going to win or excuse me the owners are going to win that because the owners always win because the NFL players union is terrible. And did you see Christian that the the former head of the players uh union who went to those toddry establishments and decided that he would write him off his business expense him as business uh expenses that he had sexual misconduct in his past at his previous company and the NFL PA knew about it before they hired him. They just did not care. They’re like, “Yeah, yeah, we had this come up in uh uh in a background check.” And apparently the guy explained himself like, “Oh, that was nothing.” And they still hire they still hired him. Like it’s, you know, unions are a really funny thing. Obviously, uh not a funny haha thing, but funny. And it there’s a lot of nuance with unions. You know, people bring up unions and say, “Oh, I’m either for or against.” And it it lacks a lot of nuance. There are some really great unions. There are some unions that don’t function all that well. Uh but there are also some really necessary unions and conceptually speaking uh you know I think unions do a lot of good. It just is a lot more complex and the NFL players union I think is extremely necessary and they are terrible. They are terrible. I mean if you look at the players association is just awful. If you look at what the collusion is all about, it’s all about not giving fully guaranteed contracts to quarterbacks and how the owners are basically telling each other, “Stop it. Stop giving these Deshun Watson contract.” Yeah. You’re you’re screwing us all. Stop it. Stop giving those deals. Um and it was actually the the Rusty Wilson extension with the Broncos was the one that broke the the uh I guess the the trend. He was yeah he was the next big quarterback after Deshun Watson and they they stood up and said you know what we’re not gonna continue this right we’re not going to give you the fully guaranteed deal and Kyler Murray was at the same time and there’s a text there’s text messages out there between the owner of the Chargers and the owner of the Cardinals and the owner of the Chargers is going hey thanks for not giving that deal because we’ve got Justin Herbert coming up and now we don’t have to give him a fully guaranteed contract like it is absolely absolutely collusion. The owners are going to have nothing happen to them because the NFL players union is such a joke. Now, if you look at another sport, Major League Baseball, the pendulum is like the entire other way, right? The Players Union is so strong and they came out of the strike in the 90s even stronger that you could argue it hurts the sport on the other end, right? Like the the players, it’s it’s too much. And now now this stuff which they’re doing with show Otani where they’re deferring his payment and all this crazy stuff. Uh you know it’s I don’t think it’s necessarily good for the sport. But unions are are are some good, some bad, some powerful, some not. And it’s hard in football because careers are so short and there are so many players. It’s so hard to to get anything done. But here’s step one. Stop hiring bozos. Just if your instinct is to hire a bozo and and actually in your background check it is revealed that this person is indeed a bozo, don’t hire that. Yeah. What’s the purpose of a background check? Don’t don’t hire. There are plenty of other honestly qualified people that could take that job. That’s a big job. It’s a frontward-facing job. It’s an important job and there’s plenty of people out there. But this this whole screed is to bring me to the WNBA. They have a big labor negotiation currently going on. And this is really important. David and I were talking we we brought up unions a little bit in the 10 10:00 hour and we were talking about victories that players unions had in the 70s, 80s, and to a lesser extent the 90s that really empowered players to be to make the kind of money that that they are making today. The WNBA is at the that point, the the 70s and 80s point where they really need to establish themselves as a union and they need to get a good deal for their players. And we can talk about how much money the WNBA makes or does not make uh if if we want to go down that road, which I’m I’m perfectly fine with. But the WNBA players association, their job is to get the most possible for their players. And right now, their players don’t make a lot of money. They don’t. They have to play in other leagues in the offseason, which is crazy. They just got private air travel last uh last year. I mean, they’re absolutely in where the NBA was in the 70s. It’s just it’s just how it is. They need for the players sake to have a strong union and to really maximize leverage that they have for the first time in their existence. This might be the only time the WNBA has actually have leverage, actually has leverage. And honestly, it’s not that much leverage. The WNBA can’t afford a work stoppage. They can’t. So, the leverage that they have has a name, and her name is Caitlyn Clark. So, let’s go to All-Star Weekend where the WNBA uh and was this warm-ups or halftime, Christian? Was it halftime? But, uh all the players in the game put on t-shirts that says, “Pay us what you owe us.” All right. Making a statement. Pay us what you owe us. All right. Made headlines. We can talk about those headlines in a minute. But then in postgame, Kelsey Plum uh of the WNBA talked about those t-shirts. And let’s play that clip now. That was a very powerful moment. Um we didn’t at least as players, we didn’t know that that was going to happen. Um, so I think it was kind of like a genuine surprise, but the t-shirt um just united front was determined this morning um that we had a meeting for and uh you know, not to not to tattletail, but zero members of team Clark were very present for that. But no, we were just uh we we had a very uh that really needed to be mentioned. I’m trying to make a situation light. Okay. But uh but yeah, no, I think it was just all of us getting on the same page for the game. We wanted to do something that was just united and collective and I thought that um it was a very powerful moment and got the point across and you know sometimes you don’t have to say anything. Oh, you did? Powerful. And nobody from the Clark team was present probably because they heard what the slogan was going to be and thought I want no part of that. Listen, the the I’ve got no problem with the players wearing a shirt or the players having a slogan. They’re in the middle of collective bargaining negotiations. They don’t have a ton of leverage and so they need public sentiment and they need that sort of thing to create leverage. The the statement the the slogan pay us what you owe us might be the dumbest slogan they could have come up with because it leads everybody down the path of owe you. Well, how’s the league doing? Where’s the revenue coming from? All this stuff. And then all of a sudden they create this blowback of well the WNBA actually loses money and they don’t make any money and it’s supplemented by the NBA and people who are don’t know the whole story now are all inflamed about the word oh oh pay us what you owe us. What a dumb slogan that just brings negative attention. Yeah you getting attention. I I’m glad it was a special moment for you but it’s negative attention. A better slogan in my opinion is just write the word fair. Why do you have to use the word oh? Why don’t you say, “Hey, we’re out for fairness. We want our fair share of the pie.” And then you can go into the television contract that’s coming up and there’s a more payday coming for the league because the league is growing. We want fairness. Upcoming collective bargaining agreement. We want fairness because this product is gaining in popularity and is thus gaining in value. And the players want it’s it’s such a better word than O. O sounds like you’re the victim of something. I don’t think the WNBA players are the victim of something. I think that they are players in a union in a league that is growing. And for the players to argue that they deserve a fair cut of of the pie is a much better message to go out than what do you owe us? Because a bunch of people that aren’t on your side anyway are just going to say they don’t owe you anything because they don’t be letter of the law. They don’t. Your current CBA allotss for what you’re getting. The the NBA, the WNBA, the owners don’t owe you anything. Now, if you’re making the argument that the players need more a a more fair share of the pie, that’s a legitimate slogan because you can make that argument. Then you’re into, okay, what is fair and what is not. Now, what makes I don’t know if this is bozo of the week territory, Christian, you tell me. But what makes Kelsey Plums take such a bozo one is that the only leverage you have is Caitlyn Clark. Why would you publicly discount her in any way? Even if you don’t like her or you’re jelly or whatever, why would you make the decision to say that publicly? The only reason you have leverage is because of this phenom who is in your league who is commanding attention and eyeballs and ticket sales. And you may not like it, but it doesn’t make it less true. So, if you were smart, what are you doing discounting your leverage? That doesn’t make any sense. I do not get it. And maybe if the WNBA had a stronger union that thought more about uh I don’t know, uni like playing the game and being unified as opposed to printing t-shirts, maybe they’d be in a better spot. Does that make any sense? I I feel bad for the the WNBA players association because obviously their leadership sucks. It makes perfect sense. And I’m glad you use the word, by the way, fair um and not equal because when you talk about people who take a stance without knowing exactly what they’re talking about. There are a lot of people that are so against this because they’re like the the NBA makes way more money than the WNBA. No way they should be paid equal amount as NBA players. That’s not what they’re asking for. They’re not asking to be paid $50 million a year, but they want to be paid a fair amount, which to your point, which you just laid out. I think that’s a they have every right to ask that. That’s the point of a union is to achieve fairness for its members. The messaging on this sucks. If you want to make t-shirts, what message are you getting out there? The Oh, it’s it’s this weird grievance thing. People don’t that doesn’t makes you sound entitled. Entitled, right? That doesn’t turn people on. That doesn’t change hearts and minds. Language like that creates resentment because everybody feels like they’re owed something, right? So, if you go out there and say, “Oh, you’re owed this.” You’re just leading right into the criticisms that people make because the criticisms aren’t necessarily wrong. You know, you can The WNBA is not nearly as valuable as the NBA. So to say that the contracts should be equal is ludicrous and not how it’s just not how things work. I wish I were paid the same amount as Colin Coward, but it’s a different platform. It’s a different game entirely. And if I watch walked into my boss’s office and said, “I demand this kind of money. You owe me this money. You owe me.” I would be laughed right out of town. Rightfully so. So it’s to clarify and it’s not the the WNBA players are not asking be paid equally. They’re not. No, no, no. We’re talking concept clarify that. We’re talking conceptually conceptually speaking. The I guess you could say connotation of owed versus fair. Two very different words that could mean similar things in context, but the way that people take it and react to it makes a big difference. It’s all in the messaging. It’s all in the messaging. So, whoever I’m glad it was a special moment for Kelsey uh Plum, but whoever approved those t-shirts is a There’s a a million different better ways to get your message out there. Nobody faults a union for fighting for more. So, how do you do it? And in the case of the WNBA, I guess they’re playing the sympathy or we were wronged somehow card. And people don’t respond well to that. They just don’t. Whether it’s true or not, your average person out there doesn’t respond all that well to that kind of rhetoric in my opinion. And frankly, even more so when it comes to women’s sports. Absolutely. And and whether that’s fair or not, I guess we could have that argument, but it’s it’s reality. And I think the WNBA needs a strong union for the future of its sport. I do I believe in that. I’m most people It’s kind of weird when doing this job through several labor disputes. It’s interesting to see fans always fall on the side of the owners. And I never really understood why it’s not their money. Why the owners get all the sympathy in in the situation. I never really got that. Uh because a healthy league depends on healthy players. You you grow up wanting to play WNBA basketball, not just because it’s the grandest stage, because you hope you’re going to make a zillion dollars. You know, you Christian, you were you were playing uh you know, uh playing hoop on the lowered rim in your front yard as a 10-year-old, pretending you were playing for the Bulls. It’s not just because you love basketball and that would be a dream because it’s the highest level and all this. It’s also because you know what? I’d love making I’d love to make $30 million a year. Player the players having a fair share is a big deal in the health of overall sports. I believe that. and the WNBA should fight for the rights of their players and especially now that they have leverage, but that was a terrible way to do it. And then to bag on her in the press conference after, “What are you doing?” Luckily, Sabrina was there to kind of help cool some of the flames and be like, “Hey, you didn’t need to say that.” But it was still a really weird look. What? It’d be like the the work stoppage in the mid 90s. It for the NBA. It’d be like an NBA player like bagging on Michael Jordan while they’re going through. It’s like you may not like Mike, but he’s the value in the league right now. He is your leverage. And honestly, if Caitlyn Clark her her uh level of participation in these negotiations is going to matter. If you turn her off and she just goes out looking for number one, well, then you’re screwed. Which is basically what LeBron James has done in his career. He hasn’t done anything for the union or for the the players even during his work stoppage didn’t do anything which is Caitlyn Clark’s right to do right she doesn’t have to flex her muscle but her muscle is the only one that matters so if the rest of the players turn her off and she doesn’t participate they’re going to get a worse deal the only one anyone cares about striking no offense to the WNBA is Caitlyn Clark if she threatened to strike that would move the me the needle Not if pretty much any other player. Certainly not uh uh not Kelsey Plum. So, I don’t know. That situation stood out to me. I just don’t understand why people make silly decisions. Just fix the messaging. It’s not that hard. Hire somebody. All right. Stay tuned. More next 975 DSL Sports Zone. The sports you love. The teams you can’t live without. You have sense of urgency. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975D KSL Sports Zone. [Music] My star. Oh my [Music] Jacob 975 EKSL Sports Zone wrapping things up on a Tuesday. This segment is brought to you by Peach Doors and Windows. Amazing home transformations begin with Peach. For fivestar reviews, they are the norm. Call them today for your free and home estimate. 8015661255. Peach doors and windows. Christian, let me ask you a weird question about Ben. Do you think he wears shorts on vacation? He has to. Ben has this weird thing. He would tell you it’s not weird. I don’t know. He does not wear shorts. He refuses to wear I’ve played golf with him in the middle of the summer and the guy is wearing pants. Refuses to wear shorts. I just wonder if that is true on vacation. Here’s my theory. So he’s at Bear Lake. He probably wades into the water, but he’s wearing like the cargo pants that you can zip off the pant leg and just turn into shorts. And then when he comes out of the water, he’ll put the z back on. So you never actually see his shins. I picture him more as roll up the jeans guy. You know what I mean? Roll up the jeans to just above the knees so you can wait in the water at bare leg. Do you Am I weird for thinking that’s weird that he does not wear shorts? Some people just don’t like wearing shorts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lloyd wear shorts. Oh, I’ve seen Lloyd wear Lloyd will wear shorts. Wait, what? What are you talking about, Lloyd? He’s managerial now. Oh, so he has to wear pants. It’s not like you’re wearing slacks, though. I guess Ben doesn’t wear slacks all the time. I just think it’s weird. When Lloyd plays golf though, he plays golf in shorts. That is what I can’t imagine golfing in pants. No. And jeans. Jeans. Jeans nonetheless. Rough. All right. Hans and Scotty G are coming up next. Stay tuned. We’ll talk to you tomorrow on the Jake and Ben show. 975 the KSL Sports Zone.
Jake & Ben Full Show from July 22, 2025
Hour 1
• David James joins Jake for the first segment to talk about the Jazz’s offseason moves & also player unions.
• Top 3 Stories of the Day: BYU Basketball reveals their non-conference schedule, Memphis tried & failed to buy their way into the Big 12, Jerry Jones took shots at his players.
• Klay Thompson + Megan Thee Stallion.
Hour 2
• Eric Pincus, National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report, joined the show to talk about the biggest NBA moves this offseason.
• The WNBA is negotiating a new CBA, but they aren’t doing themselves any favors.
• If anyone is in Bear Lake this week, let us know if Ben is wearing pants or shorts.
