David Locke: The Utah Jazz may not have to hold a fire sale like many assume to ‘Capture the Flagg’
DJ PK we’re joined Now by David lock his weekly appearance brought to you by the Murdoch Auto team David good morning my goodness gracious it must be another great week coming to an end because I get to talk to David James and Patrick kenahan and that makes me happy and they’ve had their football dose with Big 12 media days and they’re feeling that they can see the light at the end of the tunnel it’s not a train and they’re in good moods and it’s awesome yes it is is and I got a basketball Junkie Jones filled for me this week that I’m going to go to Vegas to get more um so yeah we’re good we were just debating that do you go to Vegas and if you do do you broadcast games do you go merely to see people talk to people and gather information what is your plan so I never go to Vegas I uh like abhor going to Vegas and I’m going to Vegas so yeah I’m going to just watch just I feel like we have enough players that are playing that matter that I want to go see two more games um and I’m GNA see try to see a bunch of people and talk to people around the league um you know in all honesty we have a few less people coming through our town right now with our where our team stands and we did a few years back so some of my people I’ve known for 25 30 years in League or that I’m close with if I want to see them I probably got to go to Vegas to see them well I think that if you’re ever going to go to Vegas this is the time because the number of players that could be on the roster is no no not the time of year no no no I meant and from the basketball perspective yeah no I just felt like and I haven’t gone in long time um but I just did feel like the combination of the amount of players we have that might be playing that matter um interaction with people around the league interaction with our own people I thought I thought there was a real value to building some more relationships being down there and so how much are the tickets uh the team has been nice enough to take care of the tickets for me I’m taking care of my own travel I’m paying my own way down there though like so not cheap it’s not nope well fly a legion man drive it I could have might have been I I had you know all those things sound great until you have very specific time Windows you’re trying to travel right like I’m specifically get trying to get down there for Monday night’s game and I’m trying to specifically get out after Wednesday’s game so yeah gotcha C curious the impression that uh players made on you during the Salt Lake summer league and we might as well start with Keon who scored a bunch of points but lighting up a bunch of people in the summer league weren’t going to be in the NBA may or may not be telling what did you think so Philly’s two guys aren’t terrible though like um and Scotty PB Junior’s not terrible terrible like those were actually about as high level of he wasn’t beating Frankie Ferrari right like last year Frankie Ferrari was I think playing for Memphis um you know uh dowen and Council and they put GG Jackson on him a little bit and Scotty Pippen Jr those are all potential rotation players in the NBA so I thought it was good um I thought he had a he looked like the best player on the floor and he should like I thought that was really good that he he was clearly the best player out there and that’s that’s what he should have looked like after the amount of time he had on the NBA floor last year and those experiences um and then I think he’s learning how he’s able to score and you know one thing that was obvious in the first kind of 45 games last year is he just shot from everywhere at you know at any mo like he was just all over the court with his shots and actually if you think about great players they’re not they have their spots on the floor they get to their spots they take certain shots and you’re beginning to see him figure out what those are and one of the things I really liked late in game three was you know he had kind of got into this like I’m going to drive duck my shoulder into you probably draw contact and a foul or I’m GNA throw in that like seven foot Banker a little floater and then the rim actually opened up for him twice and he went all the way to the rack once right-handed once left-handed and that said to me that he was actually making decisions he hadn’t predetermined things he was actually reading the floor and making a decision that’s a nice step I was thought Keon was good I thought that was encouraging his Ball’s got to go in right like I mean we’re the biggest story on him coming up next year is going to be that you know he was a 39% field goal percentage guy 33% from the three I think is what it turned out to be or 34 that he’s in he’s in a danger zone there like the guys who have done that in their rookie years in the NBA was put into some really you know unforgiving circumstances without guys around him and so I think can wait and see but if we’re 41 games into the season he’s shooting 39% again we got a problem I’m interested to see which guys can play with each other as far as being in the rotation together in the back court because you look at Collier and it looks like it might be something there but then you also got seon you got George and Clarkson is still on the team who do you see is good for the other guy to be on the floor together you see what I’m saying there yeah I do and I’m actually really on this because last year I think I said multiple times you can’t play Colin ston and Jordan Clarkson together and then the Jazz did and it actually worked a little bit so I’m I mean I think you have to have floor spacing right so you cannot have two non-shooters on the floor at the same time in the NBA so if Walker’s on the floor everybody a to has to shoot U and frankly if John Collins on the floor everybody a to has to shoot John’s better shooter but you still everyone’s got to be able to shoot so that’s kind of my level right now but otherwise the way we’re playing with handoffs and pin downs and some you know a lot of pick and roll and drive and kick like I’m beginning to think more people can play together than than I previously thought like you know if sexon and Clarkson I think are like mere images of each other or you know they’re actually not they’re just they’re the exact same like they play the same way I actually think you know if you’re got an open floor and got multiple drive and kick guys and that’s fine so I I’m a little bit more believing that guys can play together in in almost any circumstance than I used to I thought Collier looked really comfortable out there and I thought he got into the pain a lot and PK immediately said yeah it’s like an Andre Miller thing uh how much of that did you see how much of that do you buy how much are you in waitand see mode well I really liked Isaiah caller coming out of draft because when I watched draft players in a that had some deficiencies there were only like four or five guys who did something super Elite so Reed Shepard shot it better than anyone else Ryan Dunn out of Virginia got into people and defended better than anyone else um Coler crossover Shake was as good as anyone I’ve seen in the league like that first step that move was anybody in the draft like it was right up there of the best if you gave me you know the list of the five or 10 best single skills I saw out of any player um it would be it was up there and so I’m not that did not surprise me at all now what did surprise me was the two pull-up jump shots because I didn’t think I saw that at USC um he does not have a floater game yet so everything is going to be to the rim in contact and that’s going to be a hard way to live in the NBA the layup is a hard shot in our league um because guys are really tall and really big and so I think he’ll have to figure that out of what again kind of the where I talked Keon making a decision you know ke is making some decision about N9 feet out to figure out what he’s going to do like Coler is going to have to learn how to make that decision that’s where I think I do think K is probably ready he probably played 12 or 14 minutes a night G League might be really important for him to actually learn where to make decisions and how to make decisions maybe not if there aren’t enough Rim Defenders to actually bother him he just turns out he can go to the rim every time then it wouldn’t it won’t be as useful um but if there is decision making if the League’s got enough Rim Defenders that he have to make that decision I think would be good for him he’s never had to make that decision before because he always can just beat somebody and then get to the rim I thought his passing Vision was great one of my most there were two plays I loved out of him on the third night one was a left hand left side Drive where he kicked it one pass removed and what I mean by that is instead of making the obvious pass to the corner he actually lifted it up so that the natural play would have been you go to the corner and the corner rotates to the guy up top and the defense is kind of ready for that and he beat you know he passed it one more removed which is the not natural pass to make it means the defense is now even F the other one was he called filipowski up for a pick told him which side to set it on drove with his left hand in the lane flared it back to filipowski for the three and it was really clear that he had that set up from the very second he had the ball in his hands and he called for filipowski and that’s what he wanted and that showed me a great understanding of the game so I was yeah no I thought there was a lot to like out of Isaiah CER um I don’t know if I’d said it with you guys but I thought it was ironic I said when people had asked me about him in the draft I was like I really really like him it’s hard to get the three-point shots that hit the glass and no Rim out of your mind when he do because he does this like he takes this three that he misses so badly that it literally hits the glass and no rim on the far side and it sounded kind of funny when I said it and then he promptly did it during summer league so he does have it’s not I think it’s that he takes a set shot and the his shooting window closes on him faster than he thinks and then he’s got to change the arc on the shot and it just goes wild yeah but isn’t that better then because you don’t want it clanging off the rim and you can get a long rebound and the other team can get out there you go I love it I love it you you have always been the eternal optimist I mean you really you are you are Mr happy so it’s gonna come off allow your defense to get set up so I think the guy’s just smart player you know I’m with you I mean he did like I’m not gonna lie to you like I’m watching him in college I actually literally had this experience I was watching his college tape I can’t it’s like the second game I was watching from and I mean I was just warming up and liking him more and more by the minute and I think the the first game I watched was a cow game I later on texted Mark Madson about it he was like we could not stop him we could not keep him out of pain and I was like no you really couldn’t like it was really awesome it’s an overtime game and then I was watched another one and I was like it might have been col I’m assuming it was against Colorado though I don’t think he played one of those games and I was like really warming up and then all of a sudden he took this three and it hits the glass no Rim misses by like five feet as though like a hurricane came through the building and I you know it was like it did it like totally just Zapped me like oh no it’s not all perfect well it’s not all perfect like he went 29th great we’ll figure it out yeah yeah from that perspective still the opportunity to make some moves here uh with the trades that that can happen and we’ll see what happens there uh that the top of the draft next year how enticing is it not to win it’s really enticing because these guys are good but it’s also a 14% chance but that’s better than a 9% chance right like I mean the League’s done seemingly a good job in that like you only have a 14% chance like it’s not that beneficial um but and there’s only three teams who get a 14% chance and I think the next gets 12.5 and then 10 and then so forth and so on the the one thing is that there does seem to be like a tank Brigade like like there is there’s a lot of tanking possibly or rebuilding or you know it just happens maybe it’s happened to happen that the that the teams that are really really good are so good that the Brooklyn the Portlands the Utah the I don’t you know Charlotte just seems to be stuck in mud um Washington is clearly you know Washington and Brooklyn are clearly in you know Washington and and Brooklyn are clearly like in the Cooper flag game Utah and Portland both feel like they’re like a move away from the Cooper flag game Detroit Charlotte there’s a third team here I’m forgetting on the Eastern Conference um you know are kind of added some pieces but not quite enough and so they’re right in the Cooper flag game no then then I think there’s Atlanta is like Atlanta and Chicago one of them is gonna make the play play in by accident Toronto yeah Toronto and Toronto I think it’s kind of in that same group of like you mean they still have RJ Barrett and they still have Emanuel quickly but do kind of wonder what they’re doing yeah so there’s like seven eight nine teams playing for three spots that’s that’s a little that’s a little tough not playing not playing not playing yeah right right ganking I mean I you know I don’t know what to call it right I mean it’s an interesting like Okay so let’s say we as our Rost let’s just be totally honest about where we are so we have our roster as it sits right now and if we rolled out our like I mean you just got to ask yourself like what’s really the value if if we played our roster all out right now I think we’re if San Antonio’s better and Houston’s better then we’re 12th in the west well they were 12th in the west last year I mean Houston’s already well San Antonio just gonna jump us now we’re 13th in the west What About Memphis if they get job Memphis is going to jump us too I I already assumed Memphis so 14 it’s a GI we’re even we go after it we’re 14 right like so then okay well if we go after if we play all of our best minutes and you know and I do agree with Will Hardy like if you don’t play your best players you’re sending some really weird messaging but we got a bunch of players that are like right on the edge and so is it really more valueable to play John Collins minutes at Center than Walker kler minutes at Center is it really more valuable to play Jordan Clarkson minutes and Bryce Sensa minutes is it really more valuable to play right like it’s just s like you know I don’t know who the next play like it just gets really complicated in what the right thing to do is in all these moments when well maybe you have like the upside of what you’re shooting for seems really really hard you know now do you go trade for Brandon Ingram and then you’ve got two Bonafide 20 point a game scores you’re probably pretty good then like I don’t know how good but probably pretty good I think those decisions need to be made by the front office not by the coach I get why it’s a weird weird decision when Will’s saying it cuz will is speaking for himself but if the decision’s made in the offseason to go young you can trade the veterans and then it gets really clear what will needs to do and he doesn’t have to send any weird right messages if if Clarkson and Collins have been moved to better teams yeah no I think that’s a great Point like Will Hardy has to play the players that give you the best chance to win and the players that deserve it like if you go to training camp last year and this was Will point at the time like it was not there was not a lot of Doubt of whether Kelly elck and John Collins and everybody else was better than Taylor Hendrick when during training camp like it was not close Taylor wasn’t ready you couldn’t just roll out Taylor hendris because he was the ninth pick of the draft to start the year look at John Collins Kelly Lin like yeah sorry guys like you’re done you do that you’ve lost your locker room you’re not doing anything you want and you’re not even and your play Young Players aren’t going to develop any because no one’s engaged so it is you are correct like the front office has to be really careful where they put their head coach whatever they do go all in is that the best way to go yeah I just think that sounds really good on our end and then how you do that doesn’t in practicality is not as like so let’s say you’re going all in tank yeah or all in development we’ll call it all in development yeah so that means you’re trading Jordan Clarkson and John Collins that’s what it would mean to me let’s assume that that’s what’s done let’s assume those but like how well you pick up the phone don’t I mean I don’t mean to be a jerk here but like we traded Kelly Alin Simone fonio and O aaji at last trade deadline and we traded Mike Conley Jared Vanderbilt Malik Beasley and others at the previous T if we’d had an offer for Jordan Clarkson Don’t you think we would have done it not necessarily you’re saying a good offer an acceptable offer maybe you need to lower your standard oh so we’re just like so we’re but you’re also you got to bring well I guess we we definitely have to and the teams are trading’s actually become more difficult cuz all this first apron second apron stuff is actually making more difficult um but okay so but you also got to bring back 12 million yeah so what are you bringing back you gota bring back 14 million in case of Jordan John Collins you gotta bring back like 26 mil like what are you bringing back somebody you can wave in a draft pick but they wanted so you’re sending Jordan Clarks into the clippers for Russell Westbrook who’s actually not making enough money but the concept waving Russell Westbrook a second time so he’ll be a two-time TR man yes and and then you’re taking and you’re taking a second round draft pick right and that I think they wanted a first round draft pick and they couldn’t get it at the trade deadline but for all the reasons you Jordan’s not getting any younger and the first and SEC second apron aren’t very forgiving now maybe when the new TV deal kicks in but that’s a ways down the road and Jordan’s getting older so are you going to get a first round pick for him I just don’t know that that window is going to be open right and so then the next question gets into okay well wait a sec what happens if we do the same thing we’ve been doing which was we play the first first 35 40 games Jordan’s really good you draft e nth or 10th yeah you’re going to draft e8th ninth or 10th because Jordan Clarkson’s gonna going to help win you some games that you wouldn’t win if you didn’t have him but Jordan plays well and Milwaukee’s a piece short Milwaukee gives up a future first to add Jordan scoring because Chris Middleton’s hurt and they’re trying to make a run and keep Giannis happy and so you get a first for Jordan and then it’s worth it it’s worth it on the other end if you get the players you’re looking for or get the results you’re looking for May it’s not worth it individually on that particular deal right but it’s just well I mean on the other end you’re like you know what are you doing it for 14% 14% compared to a 9% chance like what’s the Delta yeah I I think it’s more than that I mean they’re talking about this draft in particular is you five potential Stars deep so it’s more than that right but if you’re in the top if you’re in the bottom three you still have an over 50% chance of being out of the top four understood man if it was a guarantee then you would do it and there would be no questions about it well it used to be and so you just did it I mean I just I just think it’s a it’s it’s just really difficult complicated and when we all sit here and say well you just got to go all in either way like I’m just not sure that either of those Robert Frost roads are actually as available as we’re making them sound right but what are the results the other way well shouldn’t Portland be doing the same thing like shouldn’t Portland be trading DeAndre Eon and Jeremy Grant right now they never should have traded for Aon in the first place right okay right but but the but they can’t I mean they like they’re in a little bit of a similar circumstance right like they’re like like shouldn’t Washington move Kyle kosma by now well the only thing you say with Portland is that they were a 21- win team and if the Jazz were a 21- win team they would have had a better pick now you still have to have the the luck and the odds but where the Jazz were the odds moving up weren’t very good all right so we might disagree on this one and this one’s not going to make me any friends um and probably not the most intelligent question I should ask but we’ll go with it anyway Vegas line comes out tomorrow I’ll pretend what do you think our over under win total is with our roster constructed as it is right now 25 I was gonna say 30 I was gonna say 30 then we don’t need to trade anyone unless they’re impeding development of the younger guys okay well that’s right but like if if our if if our win total is 25 to 30 we’re in the bottom three we’re there we’re in we’re in as good a position as we can be for Ace Bailey and Cooper flag like we don’t need to do anything else we’re all in ready break yeah I mean I think it’s 32.5 probably but that’s my kind of thought coup and Mark at the forwards I like it may you have a long winter what do you think the odds are of going the other way and uh going to New Orleans and getting to second piece and saying okay they’re going to make a run at uh 45 wins maybe 50 wins I mean it’s an interesting like let’s say New Orleans just decides we want off from Brandon Ingram which I don’t think they’re going to do but let’s just say right and the package becomes John Collins and John Collins Jordan Clarkson and a first do you have to do it I like it but I you know I mean it increases your it increases your value of your roster a great deal right and if you want can you depending on how do do you think there’d be value if you decided to move Ingram in a year or two right I mean I’ve always been on this side of the issue you know if I’m being fully transparent I’ve been in on Zack LaVine I’ve been in on any of these guys cuz I think they lead you to make your next trade better like if the you know it’s hard to tell what big game hunting actually is right now like I have you know Mel Bridges is not the biggest game in the world and you’re got five first round traffics and didn’t want any players so maybe it’s just assets and maybe trading players to get big game hunting isn’t actually the way to do it anymore but it does feel like if you had decide that Trey Young with someone you wanted and you had somebody else and you wanted made it you and you had some roster players on it you could make it’d be easier for you to get Trey young if you had some pieces of your puzzle David we will stop right there for now I I think what’s like or not I think what’s important here on this conversation and we’re trying to do it and I thought we did it fairly well is it’s just like I keep hearing people say we have no plan like no there’s clearly a plan but it’s it’s not like you’re not an isolated business in which you just get to execute everything you want to execute you’re in the midst of an ecosystem where other people have to play along and there are rules and things of that nature which are making it so that it’s it’s not as easy to execute as you probably you know would like it to be right like I mean I think it’s really interesting to look at the teams that we think are tanking and then look at the players on their roster it’s like well it doesn’t make sense entirely that Detroit just signed Tobias Harris and it doesn’t make sense that Washington still has Kyle kman it doesn’t make sense that Portland still has Jeremy Grant DeAndre Eon and it might not make sense to the Jazz fans with yourself John Collins and Jordan Clarkson that’s why these teams are at the bottom they’re not making sense it’s a talking head stong stop making sense there’s nothing better than Friday mornings with DJ and PK well there’s a few things but hey now hey now Vegas allar Vegas Vegas at 120 degrees that’s better can’t wait I can’t wait all right David we appreciate the time thanks for joining us we’ll talk to you again next week all right talk to you later bye DJ and PK it’s 975 The Zone Shan J will join us national college football rider for CBS Sports 9 o’clock last takeown on Big 12 media day I talked to him when we were there how many national media people were there because the Pack 12 who they are the Pack 12 shared a week I’d say 20 did you recognize all that I didn’t recognize all of them but I recognized many of them I was going to say all the people you know there’s obviously always people getting jobs and you haven’t met him yet but you know who Dennis dods is I mean I don’t know all I didn’t recognize all the people I know but I saw several of them so you’re making a point and I’m you’re you’re accurate in making that point djpk it’s 975 The Zone stay with us this is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson
David Locke joined DJ & PK to talk about the Utah Jazz, Summer League lessons learned and what the franchise may do with their roster moving forward.
