Hour 2: Jake talks Georges Niana & his fit on this Utah Jazz roster | BYU Quarterbacks: Should th…
[Applause] What’s up? Whether it’s the Jazz, Utes, Cougars, or Aggies, these guys have got you covered. Time to eat, fellas. You’re locked on to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson. 1 2 3 on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jacob in 975 the KSL Sports Zone. and Jake Scott, Ben Anderson. Uh, your favorite player is coming back to the Jazz. George, gorgeous George. I never liked the minivan. That was never my favorite. Can you explain? I don’t know where the minivan came from. It’s kind of an insult to him. Like, if Donovan Mitchell were a sports car, George Nyang must be a minivan. Yeah. If somebody else was a Ferrari, George was a a minivan. Yeah, that’s messed up because he’s just kind of big and slow, right? and he leaned into it, which good for him. Yeah, he did. Uh, you know, whatever you got to do. The Jazz are bringing him back. Obviously, um, the fans liked him when he was here. He played his way onto a roster here. And I, you’re going to have to help me though understand the point of bringing him back. And I realize what it’s two second round picks. I think that’s really the biggest point is what the two second round picks. They just recouped some of those picks that they had given up in Colin Ston and they gave up three to move up to get Walt Clayton. I just think it’s Yeah, it’s just asset management. You’re okay paying $8 million. It’s a fan favorite. So, there’s no real basketball point to it. I don’t think so. And you can trade him again at the deadline. I think at $8 million, you know, in all honesty, like what he does is more valuable than KJ Martin. Sure. Conceptually, KJ Martin could be a better player, much better athlete, might have some defensive chops. If he could ever learn to shoot, you think that’s a really good player. He’s never learned to shoot. And I don’t know if KJ Martin’s going to be on the roster. George Niang just like is fine. You put him on the roster, he doesn’t need to develop. There’s no growth left in George’s game really. You know, he is who he is. He’s pretty safe bet. The funny thing is he doesn’t know anybody here other than Justin Xanic. It’s not like he’s coming back to, you know, reunite with Joe Engles or something. He’s never played with any of these guys. Never played with Walker. Walker’s longest tenure player on the team now. Doesn’t know Lowry. Um, could it be a little goodwill with the fans? Do you think it has anything to do with it? It’s certainly not a negative in that regard. You know, if you were to take on a bad contract of somebody people hate, Miles Bridges or something like that, you know, a quote unquote bad guy in the NBA that is just going to anger the fans that he’s in Utah, George isn’t that at all. People like George, right? I don’t know how many tickets he sells, but zero, but people like to root for him and they he was popular when he was here considering his role. And you know what? He is a good locker room guy and he’s a good media guy. He is willing to talk. He’s funny. He will step up there and you know be a voice for the team through good and bad. Though he’s not been on a lot of bad teams in his career. He’s generally been on pretty good teams minus maybe he’s got like the highest winning percentage in the league or something like that in the west five years or whatever. Jazz on the best record to the 76ers who I think had their good couple of years and then went to Cleveland that was very good before you know Atlanta and Boston though he never played but yeah he’s he’s been on winning teams. Are you going to grill him about his weight? The first thing first thing to cut them down to size. First question, no pun intended, from uh Ben Anderson. George, is a log jam you gonna how you gonna squeeze in there? That would be funny if you worded it exactly the same. Exactly the same. Go back and find the question. Is he going to come in and help Cody put on weight? That would be great. Um I honestly he might You know who he could mentor the best truthfully is Bryce because those two guys are probably pretty similar. Okay. When George isn’t playing defense, Bryce’s a little more athletic, don’t you think? Yeah, he is. But is he athletic to the point that it makes a difference? You can play him at different positions. George’s problem is you can’t play him for long stretches because he doesn’t really have a defensive position. Never has. I I don’t think if Bryce could learn to play defense, he will be certainly a better player than than George. Well, I just think his his body type is more useful than George’s. He’s more of a true back if we want to tiptoe around it. George is a front court player. You can hide Bryce Sensiba somewhere. You know what I mean? On positions one through four, you can hide him somewhere. I don’t think you can get away. That was always the problem with George. You couldn’t get away from That’s why he was not very useful in the playoffs, right? Is because you couldn’t hide him anywhere, right? He would get exposed wherever it was. and he’d hit a timely three and do some nice things that help keep him on the floor, but it’s the reason he was never going to be a 25 minute a night guy. Yeah, I think that’s exactly right. I think Sensah can be a 25 minute a night guy. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, he can. Absolutely. He can if he does some of these things better like plays a little bit more defense or develops his game a little bit as a backcourt player. And if he doesn’t, he’s George Yang. But you know what? George has had a great career and that’s still valuable and that shows the value of having a shooter on the floor. great career cons going I think he may have been a second round draft pick I can’t remember now but considering what he was yeah I mean if you were to go back to well the Jazz signed him off the couch right they did he was w he was waved by the Pacers or let go here I’ll look at the if you want to look at somebody who was signed off the couch and played their way onto a roster and has stayed in the league for a long time absolutely great career but I don’t know if he’s ever been a real great player has he been really impact actful. No, he’s a role player, but he has played the second most games of any second round pick from his draft. Uh, Visa Zubots has obviously played the most. He was the number 32 overall pick, though. And George Nyang was number 50. And in fact, yeah, but Zubots is a way better player than Yeah, Zubots is a legitimately really good player. George Niang. Yeah, but Zubots was never cut. But like Malcolm Brogden was the second player in that draft or the the other good second round pick in that draft. one rookie of the year, right? Yep. And he’s only played 463 games. That’s a hundred fewer than George has. He’s made a lot more money, but George is No, it’s made a real life for himself. Yeah. It’s a He’s a success story for sure. So, you’re you’re guessing probably on the team until the trade deadline. Yeah. And a guy who will get moved to a contender who needs shooting at $8 million a year. It makes It would be stupid to let him stick around. Unless you really are just valuing salary cap space, but you didn’t have to take him. If you’d wanted the salary cap space, just don’t take him. you’re at the salary floor. You don’t have to add money to your team. You could have maintained more flexibility. Basically, all you did is just add a couple of second round picks. And if you ask what the value is of second round picks, well, you get George Yang for him or or you can get off of George Yang for him or you can move up a couple of spots in the in the first round. What was the reaction in the Jazzosphere? As you could tell, indifferent. Indifferent. From what I saw, the biggest worry was taking away minutes from the young players because there are so many around that same position. Okay. All right. I I think we can stop having the take minutes discussion. I think we can put that on hold for a while. I’m totally with you. It’s not like you’re trying to develop one or two guys. There’s 10 guys that are going to be out there on the floor. You shouldn’t be playing all of them every night. You shouldn’t be playing them 30 minutes every night. Cody played too many minutes last year. He just played way too many minutes. He played too many minutes last year. He didn’t do it that all those minutes didn’t do him any favors. and removing competition from the roster. Any coach will tell you that doesn’t do development any favors either. So, if you can get George Salty Vet to come in and look down on these guys and say you got to beat George out, then there’s some value there. That was the whole issue with handing over the players to the young guys last year is you create entitlement and all these things that don’t necessarily create healthy habits uh to really productive basketball players. And you know what, George is a guy who has had to work to get everything he has. He’s had to overcome things, usually physically, but you know, he’s had to work to get every single thing he’s ever gotten. Just giving Keonte George the job didn’t work. Correct. The best thing that happened to Kee George was Isaiah Collier beating him out for the starting spot because now you send him into the off season hopefully with a little little juice to go do what it takes to take that back. And that’s what the entire season should be next year. The entire season should be right. Are you going to beat out the other young guy at your identical position? Cody, can you beat out Ace? Keonte, can you beat out Isaiah? Or Walt, can you beat out Keonte? Or who’s gonna beat out Bryce? Yeah. Flip and Taylor Hendris. You guys are fighting for money. See who’s going to win it. Yeah, right. That’s what the season should be about in my opinion. Not about gifting minutes or just giving minutes to the young guy. That’s all I’m saying. Can we put that argument to bed? George Niang or not George Niang? Yeah, George is just a Yeah, you know, Kyle Anderson’s the same thing. Yeah, if you can trade him, trade him. Oh, slow-mo. Yeah, almost forgot about him. Yeah. So, there’s three veterans. I think they’ll buy out. Kevin Love. It seems like it’s progressing in that direction, but you know, Ysef Nerkage, Kyle Anderson, George Nyang, obviously Lowry. Lowry is a different conversation, but you know, those are kind of the three second unit, third unit bench guys that uh Why have they not bought out Kevin Love yet? I think it depends on another team actually wanting him because, you know, you can go to the other you you I’m sure they’ve told Kevin Love, “Yeah, man. Go find it. You find a team that wants to sign you. You’re going to sign the $3.6 million and then we’ll just chop that off of what we owe you in the buy. We owe you $5 million in salary this year. We don’t want you to lose money. We’re not asking you to take a a discount.” And he says, “Well, I’m not going to give away money. It’s last year of my career. Second to last year of my career. Why would I just give away money to leave and maybe don’t get signed? So, it’s better to have a contract and not play. Yeah, but I would buy into that more if he were making $50 million, but he could still lose money. He could still stand to lose money. There’s no re there’s no reason right now for him to lose money. Well, I’m just saying just buy him out whole for the whole price. Just for the whole Yeah. Why are you even Because the Jazz can save money. Why Why not save 3.6 million if you could, you know, just to move I mean it I guess that’s what I’m getting at. Why not spend the extra 50 cents and move off him now? Because you just don’t have to. Now, that’s the thing. It’s just like it’s not hurting you now. You’re not paying him money right now. So, you’re pulling a Gloria Navarez. You’re saying I don’t I don’t have to give you anything. I don’t have to pay you out on anything. Right. When I have to pay you, I’ll pay you. And until then, I’m not going to. It’s why I don’t pay my mortgage until it’s three weeks overdue. You know, I don’t owe you the money. You got to have somebody show up at my house. Yeah. Right. Send me a letter. Have it come in one of those weird colored envelopes when they want me to know that something’s wrong. You sent me a white envelope. It’s not getting opened. No, that’s going right through the garbage. I’m firing that thing open. It’s getting open. So, we have not reached pink envelope territory yet with Kevin Love. Okay. So, I’m just wondering. No, like it’s and look, if I’m the Lakers or the Clippers or all these other teams that should be considering signing Kevin Love, and I’m talking about just like I have a 15th roster spot open. The Knicks I think have to I don’t think the Knicks even have enough players on the roster to open the season. If I’m the Knicks, I’m looking at like everywhere in the landscape. Who’s going to randomly get bought out? What happens? Maybe somebody good actually becomes available that we might be able to use, somebody we like more than Kevin Love. With all due respect to Kevin Love, he’s just he doesn’t play anymore. He’s not really that guy. And if on October 1st or 2nd, whenever one camp opens, if that guy has never been made available, you say, “All right, Kevin, we’ve got 3.6 million for you. Got to fill out the roster. You’re as good as anybody that’s available.” and the Jazz say great. Okay. All right. That that’s just what I imagine. That’s the that’s the theory. Okay. So, and it could happen sooner as teams just get a little, you know, anxious. Will he have to show up to camp? Yeah. If he’s still on the Jazz roster. I would love to meet Kevin Love. My first my first NBA interview was actually Kevin Love. So, was it really? Uhuh. It was an intern for lock and he said was somebody wasn’t there or Kevin had had a big game. He said, “Go stick a microphone in front of Kevin Love’s face.” He said, “Don’t say anything.” And I didn’t. I should have. I uh I don’t following the rules too well. I don’t remember mine. But uh yeah, cuz I remember getting hired by lock and getting the schedule when I was working and I was very excited because it was the Timberwolves and I was like, this is funny. I was like, their head coach is Kevin McCale. He’s a Hall of Famer. Oh boy. and not realizing like amongst Texas Tech bozos I know he has no ties to Texas Tech. He’s maybe the biggest bozo in sports of the last 25 years. Oh, I don’t think so. He’s up there. I mean, yeah. Truly incompetent. Like a a a truly incompetent Yeah. front office person and coach and color analyst and teammate by all reports. I know. But that biggest bozo the last 25 years. We’re We’re talking a lot of bozos. There are He would be in the conversation. Yeah. He’s like in the Joe Dumar’s and didn’t even like win a title. Joe Dumar’s at least put a Pistons team together to win a title, but can’t, you know, put one foot in front of the other. And I don’t I don’t know if male can either. Remember when uh the Rockets thought he could coach Dwight Howard and James Harden? That lasted for about 10 minutes. ruined the I mean he just carried the torch of the terrible Timberwolves for a long time. Well, because he broke the rules to sign Joe Smith if you were Joe Smith under the table. Yeah. And like Joe Smith was fine but Yeah. Not that great. You break the rules for Joe Smith. He was the number one pick. He had been not that year. No, you didn’t pay him going into the lockout because paying Anthony Bennett under the table. He was the number one pick. It’s like what? I don’t think that was Kevin. No, it wasn’t. But yeah, that’s the point. Like the reason Joe Smith was on a different team, right? Because he wasn’t the number one pick by the Timberwolves. He’s the number one pick by Milwaukee. I can’t remember where Joe Smith was the number one overall pick. I’m going to look that up now. You keep going. But yeah, they were paying a guy that they didn’t need to pay that way. I don’t think I think it was the number one pick by Minnesota. Golden State. Golden State. That’s right. So yeah, your second stop fallen angel paying a guy under the table because you’re an idiot. Good call. So, let’s see what his most productive year in Minnesota was. 13.7 points per game his first year there. It’s not great. Eight boards. Pay him under the table. His second year in Golden State, he averaged 18 points and eight and a half rebounds. I think he ended up with injuries and then derailed his career or whatever it was. But yeah, again, don’t pay that guy. He’s a a turpin. Yeah. But I was excited to talk to Kevin McCale. And a I never talked to Kevin McCale. I only put a microphone in front of the face of Kevin Love. And did you ask him why he was fat? I didn’t. No, I should have said there’s a log jam. It was specifically the word log jam that I think George Nang got caught up on. He did not like that term. Okay. I don’t know, Ben. Well, Kevin, I guess I just got to make every shot and play perfect defense. Kevin was pretty heavy at that point. Very. It wouldn’t surprise me if that were Yeah, very your line of questioning. Last I saw George, he was he looked like early Kevin. Early career Kevin Love. Oh, not so spelt. When was the last time you saw him? Last time he was here, I was at the game with Cleveland and I think he’s kind of joking about he’s like, “Yeah, I’m just only playing 12 minutes a game. It’s fine. They don’t need me to be in super shape.” You know what to disagree with you. Uh previous point you made, I don’t think you want that guy anywhere near uh uh Bryce Sensiba. Okay. Because you think he’s gonna I think Bryce needs to stay in shape. Stop by Banberry Donuts. Like any NBA player, I think he needs to stay in sprinkle. In tiptop shape. Yeah. No, I don’t want him stopping at the donut store. Who was it that notoriously loved fast food and still could Oh, it was AK. Yeah. Couldn’t put on weight at all. Couldn’t put on weight at all and would just inhale fast food and it didn’t work for him. I was in Park City randomly. Um, I don’t know if it was Sundance or what I was up there for. And I was just off Main Street by the the bus depot, you know, where the Uhhuh. And I don’t know why AK was there. He was in he used to drive this very recognizable black Cadillac when Cadillac kind of had redesigned all their cars. And he had this kind of looked like the Batmobile and he had his window down, but it was AK. And he drove right in front of us as we were like stopped. It was so it was very and I think he actually had a vanity plate that said AK-47, which is probably how I recognized him. and his window was down. He’s just like cruising in Park City and we were right next to his car and it was like, “AK, that’s awesome.” Uh, and he had McDonald’s rappers all over the floor of his car. Notorious. The entire car was filled with Yeah. Big Macs or fish. Michael Scott. Yeah, exactly. No. Anyone who saw him pull into the building, which I did know numerous times. This dude cannot put on a pound. Nope. Yeah. I wonder if he’s still thin. Yeah, we saw him. He came for the 50th anniversary. He looked great. You know, he he might have been a low-key smoker. Oh, well, Eastern, you know, Russian Eastern Smokes. Yeah, his son. Like I I was stalking him when he was back in town and uh pictured with his uh his son Fedor. Fedor Kolinko. I thought was a great name. Feed D O R. And his son is just like, “Yeah, European book in one hand, cigarette in the other, John Lennon glasses.” I’m I’m surprised AK wasn’t uh jamming Euro trans music. Shout out AK. I know you weren’t an AK guy, but fond memory of seeing him at the McDonald’s. You know, the funny thing, my interactions with AK were all really good. Everyone liked absolutely everyone liked him. All really good. And he was a fan favorite. My entire point is the fan favorite part has clouded people’s memory on just how good he was. Yeah. And the the contract didn’t help. He was fine, but he was also like kind of the flaw of that team. The fact that he couldn’t live up to that contract was the reason that team couldn’t get over the hump, right? He did win them a playoff series against the Rockets, though, with a prayer of a three falling out of bounds. He did, which is funny because that’s not what he was known for. No, he was three point or he was he was defense guy and he was not winning playoff series because of his defense. So, no, I’m not I’m not an AK hater. I just have to point out that he wasn’t You just try to keep everyone on track. Try and set the record straight on AK. Wasn’t awesome. He was fine. Yeah. Uh all right. Stay tuned. We’ll have more coming up next. We can talk some uh BYU quarterback race as that continues to be a story. Yep. Uh it’s the Jake Ben Show 975, the KSL Sports Zone. The sports you love, the teams you can’t live without. Sense urgency. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. It is a free ticket Friday. Let’s give away some more tickets. Ben, caller number 12 right now. 81575 zone. We’re hooking you up pair of tickets to go see Panta, the heaviest tour of the summer with Aean Amrath. Amarth Marth uh at Utah First Credit Union AM Theater on August 20th 801575 zone caller number 12. Also want to remind you about win ticket Wednesday. Your chance to win big every week on the KSL Sports Zone coming up next week. Win tickets to go see Chris Stapleton August 15th and 16th at the Utah First Credit Union Amphitheater. Don’t miss Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show coming to Utah for two very special nights. Get tickets now. livenation.com or listen to the KSL Sports Zone all day on Wednesday for your chance to win. Amean Amarth, the band per Wikipedia takes its name from the Cinderin name of Mount Doom, a volcano in JRR Tolken’s Middle Earth. This is right up your alley. That is right up my alley. So, yeah. All right. Well, that’s cool. Swedish. I like them better now. Swedish death metal. It’s gonna be loud. Opening. Are you going for Panta? I bet Panta absolutely rules to see live. Oh, I’m sure there’s a lot of energy. Yeah. Uh on the stable thing, I like it when these big uh acts play a couple of nights for sure. You know, if there’s ticket demand or whatever, give access. Why not? Wasn’t it Gar Brooks who played like five shows in two nights or something like that because ticket sales were the demand was so high? I went and saw Hoser last weekend while you were gone at the amphitheater and it was his second night. And you know, it was great his second night. There’s something about like I’ve been here for a day. I did this last night. I’m gonna be a little more relaxed, a little more comfortable at open up and I thought it was terrific. So, there’s going to be a decent vibe. Yeah, I’m with you. I wonder how uh how much the vibe changes from town to town. Honestly, I’m sure a lot if you’re willing to let it happen. If you just want to go in and do a show and say, “This is just the paycheck tonight. I’m just I’m not going to talk to the audience. I’m going to say hey, thanks for having us. That’s it. I’m just going to do our set and get off the get off the stage.” probably doesn’t have to be a whole lot different, but I’m sure if you want to nurture it, you could get a different feeling almost every night. I bet it depends on the type of music because I bet you a uh a fist show has the same vibe no matter where you are. But like a metal band, I would buy that that is more there are more people into that in certain parts of the country than others. Yeah. And so the vibe would be different. I um I saw what Michael Fronty on the Outer Banks last year and then my buddy saw him in Deer Valley later on that summer. He said the Outer Banks vibe was way better. Okay. Anyway, anywh who. Yeah. Uh Ben, there’s a quarterback race. Seems like uh it continued to be a big deal even though we have learned very little about it down at BYU. It seems like and and tell me if I’m wrong as I uh digest this that Hillstead is getting labeled as more capable playmaker at the moment and the bear the vibe around him has been how complex the BYU offense is and how the learning curve is so steep. Am I reading that about right following it from afar this week? I think you’re right. And I was listening to Hans and Scotty yesterday and I thought Hans just gave a good breakdown of just like if if you had to stop today, he thought Hillstead would be number one and he thought Barrett would be number two and that’s kind of where it would be. And I think it has to do with yeah prior experience, you know, understanding of the offense, how long you’ve been there. I think that certainly is helpful. But yes, I think you’re right. I think that’s probably about the read we’re getting. I mean, even hearing Robbie Bosow on with DJ and PK this morning, who’s uh admittedly he said he’s watched practice. He’s not necessarily with him every day, but he he mentioned moving the chains like 10 times in the interview, and I get that that is going to win the day, I would think, at least at the beginning of the year. I don’t know if that’s the right decision. Again, I I want my quarterback to sling it, but when you’re faced with a decision where you’re picking really among three uh quarterbacks and you don’t know what you’re going to get, I would bet they go with the guy who moves the chains. Yeah. I mean, which is the job in general, but kind of. I don’t know if BYU should be looking for Yeah. a specific skill set, you know, one guy like the guy who has the biggest arm specifically. Yeah. You need somebody who’s going to keep drives alive to allow your defense to shine. And it it it honestly gets back to the the Heaps v. Riley Nelson discussion all those years ago. I mean, it’s it’s the same type thing. And now Heaps didn’t turn out to be an all-American quarterback by any means, but Riley Nelson moved the chains. Yeah. It wasn’t pretty, but he came in and those ch he moved the chains and they won more. Jay Heaps turned the ball over and yeah, had way more potential throwing the ball, but it came with some big-time mistakes and lack of productivity as well. And eventually in that season, Riley Nelson won the day because he moved the chains and didn’t turn the ball over. So, I would guess that’s where they go in the in this uncertain world. Again, I don’t know if it’s the right decision and how quickly they’d move off it, but coming out of camp where you don’t really know anything else, you’re going to go with the safe pick. The hard part is, we’ve talked about this a little bit, is that, you know, you’re going to play two guys against Portland State at least, if not all three. You would think, you know, McKay’s going to start, probably plays the entire first half, rightfully so, and then the second half should be the backup, which I would think at this point is probably going to be bare. What if they bump and skid? Like, if they’re bad in the first half, what if they bump and skid? Uh, we’ve seen BYU and Utah do that against um opening opponents that are what is it? FCS. I mean, was it even Cam Rising last year who two years ago didn’t look great against Weaver State or was three years ago and they ended up winning the Pack 12? But yeah, you we have seen that. You’re right. We have seen that where especially the offense comes out um and struggles. Well, regardless, you’re not going to lose to Portland State even if the offense No, and that’s not what I’m suggesting. So, no, I’m just I’m I’m going in telling A-Rod if I’m Colani, it doesn’t matter. Bear gets the entire first half or excuse me, uh, uh, McKay Hilstead gets the entire first half because, yeah, he’s going to have some nerves. His first time really running the show. We got to figure it out. We got to let him work through some of those issues early on and this is the time to do it because, you know, you could actually lose a game to Stanford in the second week of the season if the offense is awful. You know, you could certainly lose to East Carolina if the uh if the offense is awful. So, he’s got to get a full half and then we want Bayer to have a full half, too. and you might still not have your, you know, internally your real decision made until after that game. Yeah. I mean, then you’re getting into divide the team territory, which again, going back to the Riley Nelson Jay Heaps era was was actually an issue. And not I mean, I don’t mean to get way out in front of everything, but it’s why these decisions and how you make them are so critical. And honestly, last year when they did pick Rzzoff and they announced it a week early, I thought that that was a pretty good decision. let everybody fall in line behind him and we saw what happened last year. Now that’s not always possible, right? You know, and maybe this is the case where it’s not possible. You’d seen Rhett play a few games, but going back to that year, remember the uncertainty of who was going to play? We were in the territory of well, they’ve got to play whoever’s going to help the run game, which was a crazy place. You know what? That might actually be the answer this year, right? Who’s going to set up LJ Martin? And the unsung hero in all of this. And by the way, I just I do think Jake Rzoff was really good last year. I I know with everything that’s happened this summer and you can kind of look back at his at his stats and pick him apart and the interceptions were high and there he was not a perfect quarterback. No, whatever. He won games. He was a really good quarterback. He, you know, he did move the chains, but also he had some huge clutch performances and made some big throws when he needed to and made the right decision way more often than not. So, I I don’t want to underell that, but the unsung hero of last year’s team, I think, for BYU was still how good the offensive line was, especially how bad it was two years ago when Katon Slovis couldn’t stay upright. And a lot of that’s changing this year. And even though they’ve named their tackles and feel like they’re figuring out what the interior offensive line’s going to look like, I don’t think it’s as settled. I don’t know if it’s going to be as good as it was last year. And that’s going to make everybody’s job harder. So, it’s it’s not just Hillstead or Bachmire. I think there’s more to that. What about the complex offense take? Because uh I saw people making this argument. I can’t remember who or I’d give credit, but um it took Katon Slovis never learned A-Rod’s offense like that. That never sunk in. It took Rhettzoff two years. Um, you know, you go back to kind of it took Zach Wilson a couple of years, you know, and maybe it takes some time just to understand what the coach is asking and how they do things at BYU, which certainly would lead you to think that Hillstead has the advantage. But if it’s that complex and the if the freshman’s that good, don’t you have to kind of ditch what you’re doing to have the better player? Does that make any sense? Dumb down your offense to play the better player. Yeah. Change change what you’re doing as a coach if the other player is the better player. Can’t figure it out because it’s just too much to put on his shoulders, but he’s better. Yes. This is what I’m getting at. Yeah. Design your redesign your offense to fit him. It shouldn’t, you know, the offense is too complex for this player. Shouldn’t really come into argument in my opinion. I think that’s fair. Who’s who’s better? and you’ve got to figure out what’s going to do what’s going to fit to make that player succeed as opposed to that player adapting to you. And I’m way oversimplifying this and I apologize for doing it. I’m sure some coach somewhere is yelling at the at the the radio, but I I think it depends on what’s your goal this year. I’ve just seen that I’ve seen that narrative a bunch now that the offense is so complex and that it’s impossible for a guy who showed up two weeks ago to be able to process this enough to be the starter. I think that depends on what your goal is with this year. If your goal is to get Bear acclimated and just say, “Yeah, you got to learn the entire offense.” And by the way, he could do that as a backup. He doesn’t necessarily have to do it on the field, though being on the field is better than being off the field. If the entire goal is to set him up to have success where you’re competing for a title next year, then just play him and don’t dumb down the offense. If your goal this year is to say, “Hey, we got to get as much offense as we can.” So, we’re going to cater it to fit his skill set, even if it lowers the overall ceiling next year because he’s not learning all the complexities of it, but it allows you to, you know, bolster your defense and special teams, etc., but he’s going to be able to move the the chain still, then dumb it down and compete for a title this year. Well, I think they’ve they they’re going to try and win this year. I think that’s the goal. I don’t think this is a development year in any way, shape, or form. Yeah. That’s the unfortunate part about it is you’ve got a quarterback down my offense. I wouldn’t dumb down my Well, let’s play A-Rod’s thoughts on uh on the freshman, but I would play McKay Hilstead. It wasn’t really about summer. It’s just what he was in high school and just how quickly he’s been able to learn. He’s very smart. Very, very smart. He’s up to speed. He needs reps as far as like chemistry with his teammates, but in terms of knowing what to do, he’s been dialed every play. All right. If that’s true, then that’s probably a good sign. He’s I mean you look the part he’s 6’2 235. I mean so I wonder I I wonder but the the Hillstead thing is the safe pick and I would guess that’s the direction that they at least the first half of the first game. Oh it’s going to be a story the whole year like we talked about before. I mean you can say oh we put this to bed after game number one. It’s not going to bed ever because if Bach Meyer ends up getting the job anytime he struggles, it’s going to be easy to say, “Oo, short leash. McKay Hilstead’s a safe bet back there.” Cuz I expect McKay Hilstead to look fine the first game. Oh, I I don’t know. He has what? Nine games at Utah State is something. But they’re playing Portland State. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like I know. But see, that chemistry thing is true. And that does apply to Hillstead as well. less so because he’s been there longer obviously, but your first game, the first half against Portland State, turn turn around, give the ball to LJ Martin or throw it to Chase Roberts and you should look okay. Not to oversimplify it, but Portland State is not a it’s not a competitive game of any sort. The offensive line should maul those guys. You should have 10 minutes in the pocket if you want to. All right, I know you guys have been short on nominees this week, but do we do we have Bozo? Do we We’ve got a couple of options for Bozo the week. We have to decide next if we want to uh give the award this week. Yeah, and we should. All right, stay tuned. Jake and Ben 975 D KSL Sports Zone. [Music] Don’t be shy without [Music] Jacob 975. [Music] the KSL Sports Zone. Uh, it’s Friday, so we’re doing Bozo of the week. Now, I don’t think you’ve really nominated anybody this week, right? But we do have a a couple of of candidates, minus a couple of clowns at WNBA games, which I haven’t really wanted to delve into, but certainly are candidates, and they all are candidates. Um, a late addition last night was Malik Beasley, who amid his gambling uh or apparent gambling on games issue uh has now been evicted from his high-rise apartment building in Detroit. This happened yesterday. Beasley’s landlord sued him twice this year uh for a total of $21,000. Again, we were talking about it’s crazy that Marke Morris didn’t have uh $250,000 to pay. Like the number or the amount of money that Malik Beasley is stiffing people on is shocking for a player who was in line to sign a threeyear $45 million extension or something like that this summer and uh and blew it because of the gambling investigation. Well, certainly sounds like a guy that might have a gambling problem. Yeah. I mean, you want an explanation of how he doesn’t have 21 grand to pay his rent. Well, that’s it. Yeah. He’s gambled all of his money away. Or he might be compromised to fix a game. Well, that’s how that happens. Yeah. You know, especially somebody who’s making millions of dollars as a salary. It’s one thing like the uh Arizona State scandal back in the what early 90s. Does that sound right? You’re talking about a guy the player that had nothing. Yeah. Zero. You know, was not making any money. So to put a little extra dough in his pocket, it wouldn’t be that out of or it would certainly be somewhat understandable of how that would happen. Well, Malik Beasley, what his uh I don’t know, probably lowest contract. I mean, he he’s making at least three to$4 million throughout his entire career, right? I mean, how does that guy fall into the lull of fixing games? It’s because he has to have every penny. He’s in big to something, you know, and I hope that’s not the case, but this certainly would be evidence to that. He uh he got he did get a $650,000 loan from Hzan or Hazen Sports Management Group, which was his marketing agency that he has now paid back. He’s also been sued by a barber and a dentist. Yeah. And uh this is a company that provides bridge loans to professional athletes. Yeah. That’s behavior from somebody who’s chasing it. Yep. So Beasley was one was one uh uh candidate for Bozo of the week, a nominee. Now, do we want to uh nominate this guy? What’s his name? I got to go back and and look at it. What is uh Moy Jaguar? Moy Jaguar. Let’s see. Where did it go? As a representative for all of the Texas Tech fans coming after you guys. Yeah, the Texas Tech fans were grumpy specifically with me, but Ben got roped into it, too. Absolutely. As did uh as did Steve Bartle. But Moy Jaguire said uh sent this tweet to me one morning said, “Good morning and a hearty f you to Ben and Jake.” So that I I feel like he woke up thinking about us. The first thing popped his head was like, “I’m going to be mad at these guys.” Still still mad. still in my feelings about somebody calling Texas Tech administration bozos. It’s pretty bozo behavior. You have all night to sleep on it, get over it, and you wake up still grumpy, still mad. And then I do think we should nominate this guy. No, no, no. Well, we can nominate him, but I do think we should nominate this Kaden Lopez guy because I do think that there is a salvageable message here. Uh Kaden Lopez, 18, appeared in court yesterday. This is the kid who threw the adult novelty onto the threw a green adult novelty item onto the floor during a Phoenix Mercury game and hit uh didn’t even make it onto the floor, but hit Sophie Cunningham with it. Uh he’s uh he’s facing assault and disorderly conduct charges. Now, an alltime bad mug shot. The reason I say we should nominate this guy, and I know that the item he threw is what is grabbing headlines, but people throwing stuff on the courts and throwing stuff in general is complete bozo behavior. It’s the fan last year, Rice Eckles, who threw the water bottle that hit the BYU cheerleader coach. That’s right. I forgot about that. Yeah, it’s horrible. Um, man, I know people who’ve gotten hit with pennies at uh at Jazz games. I remember the BYU fans when they started throwing things at the refs after a Gonzaga game. Why you can’t get a can of anything at any event ever. It’s got to be poured in a plastic cup because you can’t throw an empty plastic cup. Part of the reason Oh, well, I believe that like streakers or people that run onto the field should be severely beaten. I believe this guy should be making a made an example of too. Seriously, throwing stuff onto the field or the court, whatever. It’s dangerous. It is. It’s dangerous. I’m I’m glad he didn’t hurt anybody. And I’m not even joking about that. I’m not even joking. Yeah, I had forgotten all about that water bottle incident. That was terrible. Terrible. People who throw things down onto the field, court, whatever. Absolutely should be booked on assault and disorderly conduct. I don’t care what this bozo threw. Kyle Philipowski la two years ago that got tripped by a Wake Forest fan when they stormed the crowd after beating Duke, right? Like kind of a legit near injury and people said he flopped. But regardless, like it could happen at some point. throwing a beer at Ron Artest like again there’s a line between the field of play and the fans and even though it’s an invisible line it’s a really important one. So, I don’t Yeah, I I know the headlines is the silliness of all of this and I don’t know what the the some crypto thing is taking credit for it or something stupid, but if they arrested this g this guy, I believe he did it and I believe he should be uh prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law cuz no, it shouldn’t be tolerated. Bad court appearance. Filthy gray hoodie, long hair over his face, real dirt bag. And as long as people aren’t yelling, you know, things we consider to be way over the line. I’m actually pretty tolerant with fans yelling at players because you’re not crossing that line. There’s still that separation between you’re in the audience and we’re in the game. But as soon as that line’s crossed, I I think tolerance should be zero. And again, look no further than the malice at the Palace. If Bo hadn’t have thrown the beer, would that have never happens? It never happens. It never happens. But that bozo throws a beer and now all of a sudden it’s on. So anybody throwing stuff, I don’t care what it is, you’re a candidate for the bozo of the week as far as I’m concerned. During the game, court documents say Lopez threw the item toward the seats in front of him, hitting a man and the man’s 9-year-old knife. Yeah. Video footage reportedly shows Lopez taking out the item from his sweater, throwing it before leaving the area. Court documents say witness saw what occurred, and tackled Lopez to the ground as police arrived. Yeah, that guy’s 18. He should have been beaten up. He should have a black eye in that photo. He’s so bloody in your mug shot. It was a Chappelle situation. Yeah, guy stormed the uh stage and all of his elbows were betting the wrong way when we saw him next. So, yeah, I don’t think that stuff should should be tolerated. That’s pure bozo behavior as far as I know. We can make him the bozo of the week. I think we should. Okay. So, Kaden Lopez, you are the bozo of the week and may you not go to sporting events anymore. And uh just to clarify, it’s the bang bang bang. Come on, man. And I’ve got it all on record. Astronomer, Marker Morris, Bozo of the week. And now Kaden Lopez. And now Kad. You stink, Kaden. You stink. We don’t like you. Literally, probably. Yeah, he looks like it. He does look like he may have an odor, but you know, I’m I’m saying his personality in general. His behavior stinks. I do not approve. All right. Uh, Ben, it was a fun week for me. I bet I You know, I don’t Everyone asked, “Why is Jake coming back on Friday? Just take the week off.” I don’t mind coming back for a Friday show. Uh, I like I’ve done it before. No, I’m here. Dip your toes. You’re ready for next week. Why not? I’m ready for Shidor’s debut tonight. I’m carving out time, kicking everyone out of the house and watching the whole game. Hans and Scotty G are coming up next. We’ll talk to you on Monday. Ben 975V KSL Sports Zone.
Hour 2 of Jake & Ben on August 8, 2025
• Jake gives his thoughts on the Georges Niang trade & how he fits with the rest of this Utah Jazz roster.
• BYU Quarterback battle: Should they play it safe with McCae Hillstead or go with the raw prospect with more “upside”?
• Nominating our Bozo of the Week.
