Utah Jazz Insider Ben Anderson Believes Goal Is To Try To Get Cooper Flagg
you know what’s coming your daily deep dive into everything you T Jazz it’s time all season long and even in the off seon it’s Jazz Del with JJ and Alex on your exclusive home of Utah Jazz basketball 975 the KSL Sports Zone basketball give me give me give me the ball because I’m going to D it basketball give me give me give me the ball because I’m going to D itask all right everybody Welcome Back JJ and Alex 975 the KSL Sport Zone Alex cury Jeremiah Jensen we are at the Ultimate Sports bash you knew this was going to happen JJ I’ll tell you what what uh people start getting off work maybe a little bit early start rounding their kids up to come to the Ultimate Sports bash and it’s been awesome uh at all the big names we’ve had on our show already we got more coming up yeah look at and if you’re if you’re looking for something to do on a Friday night just come down here to The schwortz Bash it’s coming on it’s going on tomorrow as well so it is going on tomorrow and awesome panels like we just yeah uh coach wit got off the stage as soon as coach Whit was done then it went uh then you had uh Britain cvy and jiren Hall they came on our show we had a bunch of kids get autographs with jiren and Britain I know my my favorite was they ended up getting pictures with us I was like no no no no I think you’re you don’t want us in that picture please no so it’s a it’s one of these things that uh it’s been a fun thing so for us so far I I I hate to be cynical about it but there’s a couple hundred bucks in the pocket of each of these players that come right I hope so I would I would assume that they’re getting them here and I hope so and getting them paid because I I would I I I certainly I’m not saying like your jiren Halls yeah they professional athletes I I love that we’re in a day and age where these these college athletes can benefit from their talent and what they what they the entertainment that they give us each and every Saturday during the our program brought to you by G2G bars all natural ingredients and no preservatives make the G2G bar perfect for anybody who needs a quick tasty nutritious boost and uh we’re going to jump into the cut right here and we’re going to talk with our own Ben Anderson of course who we’ve been able to chat with quite a bit this weekend it’s all been football based so we’re going to jump in to the basketball side of things let’s get to the cut right now it’s time for the biggest story of the day this is what made the cut with JJ and Alex a 975 the Kos C Sports Zone oo for an incredible selection of Kia Subaru Chevy Jeep Dodge or Ram visit Doug Smith dealerships in American Fork and Spanish Fork they bring you the cut this hour great service starts with noow and nobody knows like Doug and Doug Smith dealerships Ben Anderson joining us on the show Ben we’ve been able to hang out and talk about uh football this week and uh chill out in veg well chill out’s not the word in Vegas but uh we hung out and talked a lot of basketball or a lot of football let’s talk some basketball what were your takeaways from the summer league uh and what takeaways do you normally want to get out of a summer league I I generally try to not draw too much I mean I think you can tell some guys quickly if they’re going to be a disaster if they just don’t belong at all and you see that sometimes uh there are some guys who struggled really badly early on in their careers uh and and went on to be okay and there are guys like Trey Burke who you know really struggled his first uh summer his first summer league how Netto was drafted that same year came in his first game he just looked much better and truthfully I mean I think that kind of followed them throughout their NBA career so it’s not always indicative of what they’re going to turn into uh but I think you do certainly like it when guys play a little bit better so if you’re a jazz fan I think you can feel pretty good about how Isaiah Ker’s played so far compared to I guess how he played at USC and maybe some of the expectations for him yeah let’s start with Keon George uh two games out of the three now he’s done so we saw what we needed to see from him uh 30 points in those two games what what are your thoughts on what Keon showed in summer league what’s the Improvement uh what What’s what do you see was different uh I thought it was tough for him because you know what what could he have done to show us something we didn’t know you know we we know he can score 30 he’s done it in an NBA game so did he have to score 50 if he did we would say well okay he’s too good for the summer league which is what we took away of these last two games that we saw in play is oh yeah he’s just way better than everybody else out there so we didn’t really learn a whole lot and then it’s like well he has five turnovers it’s like okay were his teammates in the wrong place was it just him dribbling into the wrong areas because those were issues for him late in last season so that didn’t really get addressed he shot really poorly his first game was that just first game Jitters he shot really well his third game but we’ve seen him kind of have those ups and downs normally so I thought the hard part for Keon was it was a bit of a lose lose situation and uh he he did everything he wanted him to do and he got shut down he didn’t get hurt so I guess maybe that’s the biggest Victory but you did want to see him dominate scoring and he did so good and I don’t think it necessarily UPS the expectation or changes any expectations for him going into next year uh other than he did exactly what he was supposed to and now doesn’t doesn’t have to play Las Vegas uh the other thing that we found out today of course is that Johnny juang gets a gets a fouryear 12 million deal with the Jazz that’s a that’s an investment on a guy who they’ve already really wanted to see that development on how far has Johnny’s development come and what does that mean for the role he might play going forward with this Jazz team yeah it’s kind of funny if we remember Johnny’s story after 2021 he’s probably the best player on the team that goes to the final four at UCLA P he declared he would have been a first round draft pick he decides to go back to school UCLA falls apart he has a bad year and he goes undrafted I mean it was a it was a disastrous turn for a guy who should have been a first round pick and now you look at what he did last year where yeah it was only eight points a game and a couple couple of rebounds and an assist but his last 17 games he’s really in the rotation he shoots 43% from the three-point line on four attempts per game that’s an NBA player uh and I went back and read some of the stories I’d written about him throughout the year and it was just kind of you you see this growth of like oh it’s interesting Johnny Jing’s gonna be in the rotation and Justin zanic said that after the trade deadline and everyone kind of rolled their eyes at like you didn’t trade Kelly o lenck and oi abaji to give Johnny juing a look you wanted to see Taylor Hendricks and price senso and then two weeks later it was like Bryce has or excuse me uh Johnny juang has a career night and then two weeks later it was how many teams are going to try and Chase Johnny juang in the offseason so he really did establish himself throughout the year uh and really late as an NBA player so to get him at12 million a three million uh a year average I would be surprised if all of four of those years are guaranteed in fact the last two might not even be guaranteed but we obviously haven’t seen the details yet I think that’s a pretty good deal and I think that’s a worthwhile investment on a younger player with good size who does the one thing you have to do right now to be a good player in the NBA and that shoot the ball and if it wasn’t working out they could have easily bailed on him they see something that they feel like they can do a little bit more long term yeah I like the deal I think it’s Team friendly I think it’s great for Johnny so I look forward to that uh Walker Kesler also done in summer league I think we were all shocked that he was actually in summer league uh what are your thoughts on what he showed in summer league yeah I mean I I thought it was nice to see him rebound the ball well and kind of do some things even though he didn’t score and still stay engaged he was only what two of seven in his last game uh but still was out there trying to get rebounds trying to help the team and I thought he did and game one was hard he had to play against Zach Edy and and I I know people are going to say oh he’s not as good as Zack Edy and the truth he might not be he might not be as good as Zach who was a number nine overall pick and has pretty big expectations on his shoulders but certainly nobody’s going to be able to guard Zack oneon-one especially when you don’t have anyone around you who has any idea as a guard or a wing how to help on a player of that size that won’t always be the case in the NBA you’ll get smarter players faster players coming over to help rotate and you know box out put a body on him all the things you need to do to be successful against a player that big so while he wasn’t fabulous in that game I think he still had five blocks so he still does a lot of the Walker Kessler things uh you can look at the numbers last year that he had he’s still one of the best Rim protectors in the NBA it’s something the Jazz desperately need so there’s value there I think it’s going to be about whether the Buy in com back and the energy comes back and I think the fact that he did show up for summer league was a good sign and a step in the right direction I thought it was me he’s obviously got value around the league uh there’s there was there’s rumors out there that teams have been calling the Jazz and making offers we heard about the Knicks um being in in discussions what do you make of all that and does it say a lot that the Jazz turned down a lot of those offers and he’s still on the roster yeah I’ll be curious you know if we find out what those offers actually were and how heavily protected did some of these first round picks apparently were were offered for him uh Danny a and Justin xanic showed that they were willing to move on from oai abaji a year early and bet that he doesn’t pan out versus waiting a year too long and maybe they will do that same thing with Walker Kesler it’s still a lot of time left in summer you know I think we feel like oh there’s that initial Rush of free agent signings and Deals and that’s it NBA season doesn’t start till October so we got a long time for the Jazz to sit they don’t have to trade Walker but if someone gets closer to the season and they don’t end up getting a big man that they want maybe they say hey we need a we need a walker Kesler type so they go and they make that type of trade I wouldn’t rule that out still potentially happening uh but the Jazz don’t need to feel anxious in making any moves for something like that especially for a first round pick that you know won’t materialize for a couple of years if not next year you know there’s no rush to get that done you can always hold on to Walker and I don’t think he’s going to lose a lot of value throughout this year because if he had the season he had last year which I thought was pretty poor and it’s still getting first round picks offered for him I can’t imagine he gets worse this season well it seems the more that we uh keep trying to put those Lowry Mark in rumors to bed the more that they just kind of keep popping up periodically and is that something that you know I feel like a guy like Lowry Markin doesn’t get shaken by much but like you know your name being in the in the in the in the uh American Press as much as it is about trades and trade rumors and things how much of that actually is is a legitimate kind of Rumble typically per your experience and what what is it if just like a bunch of people saying well Larry marinin is one of the better guys out there and the Jazz need to get better somehow so maybe they they’re willing to deal him is that which one of those is more true yeah I I think it’s a difficult situation because the Jazz can’t do anything with him until August 7th or August 6 they can’t even sign him to his contract extension so that’s really difficult to just basically have him sitting out there in the wind and they just legally can’t do anything because it has to be three years after he signed his last deal before he can get in extension so I’m sure they’ve told him exactly how much money they can offer him I’m sure his agents know what that would look like uh but there’s nothing they can do until we get to that August 68th which is quickly approaching but wh while that’s happening I’m sure every other team in the NBA has called and tried to see what his availability was I did think it was telling that the three teams that we really heard involved were Golden State Sacramento San Antonio there was a week where it was felt like it was at a fever pitch and then a couple of days later all three of those teams made separate moves either by adding Harrison Barnes or demard de rzan or Shake Milton like going out and signing players for somewhat significant money Kyle Anderson to the Golden State Warriors I I really think they called The Jazz they said this is our best offer and the Jazz said you’re not close and they moved on and that could still change but I thought it was a little bit too coincidental to have those be the three teams that emerged and then they make three of the kind of later Moves In free agency to add depth and and eat up a lot of salar so I really kind of think they just realized oh we that’s too steep of a price we can’t get into the Lowry marketing business so after watching Cooper flag play against Team USA should the Jazz go all in on 2025 and uh and put their name in the Hat there um he was pretty impressive yeah and look if I were to say hey last year the Jazz traded Kelly o linck uh and Simone fono guys who they could have resigned this off season and could have kept depth there and then they haven’t done a single thing to replace them other than draft young players the only thing they’ve done in free agency is resign Johnny juing and add Drew Eubanks who’s a third level Center like it’s pretty clear what the Jazz are doing and they’re saving all their money to sign Lowry marinin they’re not putting more veterans on this team so they’re not trying to get better the Jazz are absolutely going for Cooper flag it’s just that is what is happening every sign they have made every move they’ve made over the last six months says exactly that they are still deconstructing this roster they’re now getting bottom they didn’t want to just have a fire sale and give away everybody they wanted to get future first round draft picks for their veteran players and they sat on them until they could get them and they’re positioning themselves to have a high pick in this draft and I think they’re going to be and I know a lot of jazz fans probably don’t want to hear that but they’ve shown an ability to drop a lot of games in session uh late in seasons and I would suspect it just starts a little bit before the trade deadline this year and they’re going to be one of the five or six worst teams in the NBA and they’re going to have a an ability to hopefully move up in the lottery or just get one of the other guys that follows and this is this is one of those drafts where it’s not just Victor wanyama at the top and a couple of good names there’s a lot of expected franchise changing pieces that you then team with Lowry Markin you spend some money in free agency next summer and and you move forward uh what’s funny about that is we’re I was I just pulled up the Pistons record this year I can’t remember how many they had lost in a row Ben do you remember off top year was it 27 yeah 28 29 well they were 14 and 68 and they ended up with the fifth overall pick in the draft so you know uh I’m sure ad I’m sure there you go I’m sure Adam Silver was laughing his himself to sleep at night when you know you have teams that are that bad not even getting close in the in the lottery and so that’s why they do it though so teams don’t just go full on into the tank mode but there is that anticipation to just be like the way you play the game is you just have to be one of those bottom four and give yourself the best chance to be in that conversation I I just don’t know I I I don’t know for for fans what’s the thing that that ends up being exciting then to to kind to watch with this team and what are some of the developmental things that they should actually have their eyes open for yeah I mean I think I think one of the reasons Jazz fans have had hard over a hard time over the last two years is that it’s just kind of been they’ve been doing two things they’ve got all these young players that fans want to see but they keep playing these veterans you know they had to play mik Conley well you can’t just bench mik Conley you can’t just bench Kelly oen you can’t just bench Malik Beasley and Jared Vanderbilt this was two years ago uh this year Simone fono had some value and he showed it you got a 302 overall pick for him a borderline first rounder and so I guess in a sense you know if you say he helps you win too many games maybe he it’s possible he did uh he also got you this pick that’s Kyle filipowski and we’ll see if he turns into anything but it’s hard to not play veterans when they’re on your roster and then as we were just talking the Jazz didn’t bring in those veterans you know they didn’t replace those guys so even if you hold on to Jordan Clarkson and Colin seon and low Markin and there’s just not a lot of depth pieces that you have to play and you can just throw Taylor Hendricks out there and you could throw Bryce Sensa out there and of course konay George is going to be a maor major part of the conversation and Walker Kesler now Cody Williams Isaiah Collier Kyle filipowski per perhaps maybe Johnny juang and and you just let those guys play a lot and lose a lot and and that ideally gets you that top draft pick so I do think what fans will enjoy though is a little bit of a clearer direction of hey you are going to see the young players you’re not waiting 40 games to see Taylor Hendrick or Bryce sensah like you had to uh last year here Ben Anderson KSL sports.com can read his by line he’s the best jazz Insider in the market and you course hear him with uh Jake Scott as it’s the Jake and Ben portion of our programming during the day 10 to noon right here on the DSL Sport Zone Ben get out of here enjoy your weekend man thanks for taking some extra time for us thanks thanks guys we’ll see you there you go Ben Anderson everybody hey we’re going to take a break when we come back we just keep playing the hits here man we just keep getting guys rolling through this time former University of Utah white out Kenneth Scott going to join us next so stay right here with us more to go 975 ekl Sports Zone
JJ & Alex are joined by KSL Sports Zone Utah Jazz Insider Ben Anderson to discuss the offseason and Summer League for the Jazz. The moves that the Jazz have been making — or not making — lead to the belief that the Jazz are firmly trying to be bad enough to land Cooper Flagg in the 2025 NBA Draft.
