FULL SHOW: Ryan Smith talks NHL, Utah Jazz & RSL | Celtics made game 1 win over Mavs look easy | …
the noon hour is here check it out and you’re locked on to Utah’s highest rated most listened to sports radio station it’s my station it’s my station this is H sson and Scotty G on 975 the KSL Sports Z [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] H olon Scott Gerard 975 the KSL Sports Zone high noon on a Friday hope you’re all having a great day we’re not wasting any time joining us now right out of the gate he is the owner of the Utah Jazz Royale Salt Lake and the new NHL team here in Utah it is Ryan Smith kind enough to join us Ryan how are you hey Ryan good guys how are you doing fantastic I just uh sitting back and watching the the Boston Danny Angel last night and I was kind of rubbing my hands together thinking man we got some great postseason we got NHL that’s jumping on the scene we got Major League Baseball all kinds of excitement it’s just it’s a great time of year for sports brother it is it is it’s that time um first congrats on 10 years guys like that’s oh thank you we appreciate that 10 years is is nothing to shake a stick at right like that’s a long it’s a long journey together it’s a long journey and and you know it is kind of like a marriage Ryan you know you you sit here on air you pour your heart out to each other and then I get home and I’m so tired of talking my wife’s like you talk to Scotty more than you talk to me and I’m like that’s all right I don’t hug Scotty like this so it’s different it’s cool yeah it’s an exciting time there’s a lot cooking do you feel like and and look I know that you guys were so excited about this NHL Franchise but the enormity of what you’re trying to do in such a short amount of time putting this whole thing together and being ready to go in September or October um do you feel like you guys are drinking from a fire hose right now because I you know I’m close I worked with Jim Olen and Chris Barney I’m still close with those guys and anytime I’ll chat with them they’re like oh we got this we’re working on and this and this and this and it’s just like holy smokes like your summmer just got blown up this year yeah it’s it’s for sure I mean we’re a hundred days out around there and I think um look I’ve done some gnarly stuff in my career um professionally and like we’ve hit some crazy we’ve had some crazy moments whether it’s going public or um you know acquiring companies or doing stuff like that this is about as aggressive and crazy as anything that has come across my plate and I think you mentioned Chris and Jim and the team um like they’re just doing a Herculean effort right now is everyone coming together and saying hey what can we do we know these opportunities don’t come along I know there’s three other cities right now who are begging for a hockey team um and these are big cities these are basketball markets and um you know they chose Utah and so the answer is you just all join together as a community and you you just try to get it done in the best you can knowing that you know it’s not going to be perfect and we don’t want it to be perfect we actually want it to be authentic and we’re we’re building a community around hockey and everyone has a chance to kind of get in on the ground floor and we’re definitely seeing that um you’ve seen a bunch of people probably heading over to the arena and looking at tickets and I had someone call up yesterday um he’s like I’ve never been a jazz fan never done the NBA and I was like well why did why are you doing hockey and are you a fan he’s like look I’ve been to a couple playoff games but this is a chance for me and my family to rally and say this is what we’re going all in on and starting and I I was like a wow that’s pretty cool and so we’re seeing that we’re seeing that a lot i’ I probably had 40 or 50 different conversations with people who live up in Park City who have moved here spend the winters here wanting to get involved in our community and this is a way that they’re they’re tying themselves to it so it’s it’s a pretty neat moment and I know the players are excited coaches and everyone else is excited they’ve all been out here and they’re going to do Camp up in Park City um there’s a lot going on so it’s it’s pretty exciting so I’m curious where you came up with the idea to let utans pick the name um of the team and and how how is it going is it going the way you expected it to go and and where did you come up with that um I think people I I think it’s probably you know these these things you know you don’t get to start a brand from scratch very often right and and I think this is definitely we we we said I think we said in the press conference we said this is a Community Asset and if you think about the prior conversation about people coming in and wanting to be a part of it they voting on it it’s it’s not something it’s not about Ryan Smith or my family our ownership group as much as it truly is about the community and so we want the community to be able to take part in in naming it and you know we’re not going to run design by by 500,000 people because that would be a disaster but like I think I think it’s really working um as far as the Outreach and and getting people invested and and wanting to provide ideas and you know we’ve come up with six names and um it’s amazing I I didn’t think it would go nationally the way it has uh because you know I’m getting I got a text text last night from someone in the hockey industry and the only thing is said this is what I voted for for you but this is it um we’ve got our NBA people who are also chiming and by the way and this is what I get all the time by the way you know it’s the YY or the outlaw or or Mammoth like you’re crazy if you don’t do that and so but what I really like is I think there’s a lot of people are like I don’t I don’t care what it is I’m just all in and I’m excited and that’s that’s neat and so we’ll get down to the end and figure out you know how it all goes and you know we’ve gotten this far and so I think it’s fun and and by the way like there was no way in any scenario that well I mean we we close on the transaction next week so naming and all that needs to come long after that and The Season’s obviously already started from the apparel sto and all of that started long ago so really no way to do that for this year and that that was yeah definitely pointed out to us by the NHL early on and so um it’s kind of we we we first of all to your question H we we have the ability to do this which is which is unique you know a lot of times you don’t have that ability I mean I think that um you know I wasn’t part of the Jazz process when they moved over but I don’t know how much went into rebranding or renaming or how all that went what is more difficult for you and and you do a tremendous job and I know you take a lot of pride in marketing and branding and and are fascinated by all that process what’s more difficult or what is what is you what have you found to be more difficult rebranding an NHL team from the ground up having a clean slate and just starting from scratch or working the Jazz and trying to reimage the Jazz with the new jerseys that you released earlier in the week and trying to Rebrand the Jazz yeah so it’s not like Ryan sitting there in Adobe trying to come up with new sches you know we have a full of we have a great team um here and we’ve got a great you know we got great resources outside of here um definitely the chance to be able to start fresh with a with a new team and and kind of start building that history is a lot a lot better and there’s nothing there’s nothing um wrong with our with our Jazz history at all like our Jazz history is incredible I’ve been a huge part of it you’ve got people in the fan base who are part of different portions of it you know I think if you if you think about you know the younger kids that they don’t they don’t know the the last stance age of the Jazz um you got a lot of people who are growing up who are now making decisions we had Darren Williams in The Practice Facility yesterday and that that’s that’s their guy and so I think I think that era is is is kind of it’s interesting watching that play out um what I would say is um the Jazz Brand’s definitely a trickier one than probably many in the NBA you know if you look at if you look at Boston or Chicago or um San Antonio you know these are these are very different than coming from New Orleans having a name the as you know I I’ll never forget my first uh my first uh I don’t know what it was my first preseason games one of the GMS from the the Pelicans came up and said hey can we can we have that name back I was like um I didn’t know what to say I was like well we’re coming in that hot I was like I’ll tell you what you you guys have the Saints that’s probably more appropriate here why don’t we just do a swap because you’re in the the same ownership group and we can talk about draft picks later right no that’s not that’s not happening so they haven’t asked again and I love the Jazz I love everything that we’re about I think that our new release that we we’ come up with has has been something that we’ve been looking at for a long time and you know trying to find something that we authentically own in Utah and Mountain basketball is just it it’s what we are there’s there’s Beach basketball you go to La Miami like we authentically can own Mountain basketball and I think it’s a box that we can color in for a long long time and we’re excited about that the purple is something that’s tricky but you know it’s what a lot of people want they know it’s as and the purple in the mountains makes it better I think the blue coming back also provides a lot of nostalgia for a lot of people in that D will Boozer era so I thought the team did an incredibly good job at rolling that out and you know kind of touched all the different Pockets or genres of our fan base because they aren’t just one fan base they’re they’re very different genres of of folks when they think of the Jazz and that’s awesome like that’s a lot of teams would would would die for that kind of um loyalty and fan base and and I think it’s something that um the team did a great job with so when you’re looking at uh the Utah NHL logo and I saw the colors released the black and the in the powder blue and you know you talk about the entities that you’ve purchased with RSL do you do you try with logoing or coloring or scheme or do you try to intertwine them at all Ryan or do you just leave each entity separate with its its branding and interests well historically if I was trying I hadn’t done a good job at it and that was probably on me I mean we haven’t had a we haven’t had a a a Pittsburgh a Pittsburgh City where everyone’s yellow and black um although there’s power in that um but but it’s hard like I actually really enjoy the the design and everything that RSL and the Royals I mean there’s kind of a yellow theme that times up all together one’s yellow and blue one’s Y and that that clar or that red whatever um you know the the the name of it the way the way come up is and and you know I think that with with hockey because we have a clean slate we we definitely wanted to have its own identity but there’s a lot of people working on saying hey if there was a bin diagram like what’s the overlap you know where where Utah kind of there’s there’s Easter eggs and stuff buried through without I think that would be really unique and once again we have a chance to be able to do that from the beginning which is really an amazing op opportunity Ryan Smith joining us 975 the ekl Sports Zone owner of the Jazz roal Sal Lake as well as the uh new NHL hockey team here in Utah Ryan when you look at this offseason for the Utah Jazz obviously there’s a lot of question marks in terms of is this team going to take a Next Step how aggressive Danny a said big game hunting in the uh in the postseason press conference uh but uh you know when you go big game hunting you know sometimes there’s big game available and sometimes there’s not uh what obviously you want to be aggressive you want to see this team improve what what are the odds or what are the chances you guys are going to be able to land something that you feel like and take your team to a next step and and maybe push for a playoff spot next season yeah I mean you’re watching you know it’s hard to it’s hard to not watch last night in the game and see Danny’s hands all over everything that’s that’s been done in in Boston and just those pieces that really matter and um you know you don’t from my perspective it’s you know in my position you know you you really don’t bring Danny a in and not let Danny a do Danny a things so I I try to stay at I mean I’m in I’m involved in all of the details around the team but when it comes to basketball personnel and how we do it I mean I have my desire you know I’m a competitive guy I want to I want to win and I want to win now and want to win always and want to you know have that goal for you know our franchise to be able to do something we haven’t done which is win a championship and you know that’s it’s really really important to me and I’m going to be doing this for 30 years that’s at least what I told Ashley I said hey this is a 30y year 30-year calling right and so uh we’re doing it for 30 years and so um we got a our goals to win a championship and so you know we’re super fortunate to have Danny um he’s he’s the goat in my mind if you look at you know I think there’s there’s three people who have a winning percentage and playing coaching and being a GM um and all of NBA history and he chose to be here in Utah and so he’s got Justin there who’s back and Incredibly um the an amazing story with Jay-Z back at at the hand and I’m just here to support him and so um you know my my job is to always put the best people around and kind of get out of the way and be a partner and so if there’s someone available or people available that’s going to help us improve and get closer to that um Danny and Justin are not going to not see it I mean a lot of the calls are coming through Utah um obviously because of where we sit and um and I think think that you know I think that people want to play for Will and and that’s that’s apparent um and I think we got a lot of young Talent so lining all that up given there’s a Marketplace which is a unique thing like in Tech you can just go out and get whoever you want at any time and there’s really no rules and you can go globally I think I think soccer is a little bit you know more that way as well um hockey as we jump into it is very much like probably what the NBA was in the 90s and this this new NBA with short contracts um you know most teams are you know with a lack of free agency are are looking to make deals with either picks or other things and so that’s really what it takes right now and JC and Danny are way better at explaining that than we are but if you just look out um that’s kind of the trend that’s going with the CBA and especially the new CBA um it’s very different um getting into hockey as we’re kind of going into this hockey you know first off season coming up I mean it’s almost back in the John and Carl days where you know you’ve got 19 and 20 21 year old kids 22 and they’re and they’re signing seven to eighty year deals which is pretty pretty incredible and so you know that’s a that’s a different shift than where we’re at in the NBA right now how hard is that for you as a you know first and foremost you’re a fan I mean you’re you’re a jazz fan you grew up as a jazz fan and and I got to and if I were you and you know and I I Dro those resources on this team I’m like you know what I want this I want it now and I want this and do this now and I want it this way and and I want to be competitive and and screw patience let’s go and uh and I got to imagine that’s got to be difficult for you in your background in is aggressive as you’ve been in other areas of your business to be like right Danny I I understand the steps you’re taking and and and let’s take this step by step and do it the right way I mean is that I mean just from a personal standpoint how difficult is that for you well I think it’s difficult when you know I’m sitting I’m sitting there I’m going to go to every game I’m GNA sit in the locker room on every loss and win and you’re going to walk through it like we we know what it we know what it’s like um but at the end of the day there’s 25 teams in the league who finish unhappy and or there’s there’s 29 teams in the league who finish unhappy and one who finishes happy and that was the first thing Mark hen told me I remember when they beat us in the playoffs he came in and said hey look I’ve I’ve been doing this for 20s something years and I’ve only finished happy once you know and um so I guess it depends on how you look at it for me personally I just trust Danny more than I trust myself it’s all there is to it like I’ve known him forever we hang out every day like I trust I I have incredible trust in and and that and he’s super collaborative and I trust our team and that’s that’s you know I’m gonna I’m gonna go for it and and there’s different strategies I mean you’re looking around the league you’ve got other people who come in you know Charlotte who’s probably um taking a different approach than what I would say um you know maybe uh Phoenix has and you know those are everyone the beauty of this is you can kind of do it however you want um I also believe just like with players like it’s so easy to compare players and say oh this you know this person’s just like Luca well Luca’s unique I mean you get in trouble when you do that because you know there really isn’t anyone like Luca right and so once you get to be in that spot you’re kind of carving your own path here and so you know we can say hey this is like the Celtics or this is like this team or this is like that and what I’m learning you know from a lot of listening from these guys is actually it’s not like that um it’s about like Utah and what is Utah what are we going to be in Utah you know it’s tough to compare 20 years ago it’s tough to compare because everything’s different everything in free agency is different everything in contract’s different everything in the Cap’s different um everything in the draft’s different you know the the League’s completely innovating and you know so I think I think my thought is is you know trust the people you got around you and and work together and try to go build to that ultimate goal and don’t shy away from it there’s no shortcuts um and you’re presented with shortcuts all the time and so I think that that’s that’s where you need wisdom well you’ve got another draft coming up in the NHL and I got to imagine it’s the same with Bill Armstrong I got to imagine right I mean cuz you know basketball you played it you play it you know everybody around it youve invested in it but with the hockey there’s probably a lot of you it’s like okay I I’m gonna go ahead and push this over to you because this is a massive draft with lots of assets and an opportunity for Utah NHL to advance and speak on speak about leaning on somebody that’s got to be all it’s about coming up in this draft yeah I mean it’s you nailed it um like it’s it’s Unique because we we come back on the 26 here uh I think we’re we in New York for for NHL meetings and then come back right into the NBA draft day one day two and then directly down to um the spere in Vegas for the NHL draft and that’s in a 4-day period which is pretty crazy if you think about it so we’ll be having multiple Draft parties at the arena for everyone and uh but I think it’s exciting and and you know I hope I hope you know our our our community gets accustomed to you know we got the six pit in the in the tail draft and you know I’m hoping everyone is doing their research and got their bingo cards out and saying hey who who are who are the folks that are in there but there’s going to be a long education process here in Sal Lake that that’s incredible though I mean it’s incredible opportunity so um you know the teams are are eerily similar and you know there does have to be a lot of trust in Bill and and Coach bear bear just got back from you know the World Cup um with Team Canada um you know assisting John Cooper from Tampa Bay and um wow it’s exciting these guys are fired up it’s I I don’t think people understand where hockey’s at right now quite yet and I think I’m super excited for our community to see that I mean what’s happening in the NHL um what they’re experiencing in the playoffs it’s been it’s been incredible and um there’s a lot of there’s a lot of momentum around the NHL right now Ryan Smith joining us 975 the ekl Sports Zone when it comes to the new facility that you’re going to build uh down in where where H and I are right now broadcasting live we’re down here in Sandy and uh in this location um again learning about the sport learning about what needs to happen a lot of that with facilities as well are you just essentially saying hey look I don’t know what I don’t know what it needs to look like but I do want it to be state-of-the-art just go out and build me something special what’s that process like for you when you’re learning about this Sport and learning what it takes to be successful but also needing to provide the facilities necessary for that to happen it’s part of this deal where you know the practice component is very different um you know our players definitely live by they will live by where they practice that’s the lab unique to a little bit of the MBA and I actually think it should be definitely considered um the hockey practice in NHL practice facilities are very much Community oriented places so you know it’s not it’s not going to be a thing where you walk into the Jazz practice facility and and Lowry and JC and Colin and keante are playing on the court next to you that’s incredibly common if you’re going to go play wreck or Junior Hockey that you’ve got NHL players right there next to you on the ice with two sheets back to back and so what were doing is really starting the initial phases of an infrastructure to build ice sheets where um this becomes something in the community I mean people are playing playing hockey and using ice time trying to get ice time at 5:00 am and at 1 in the morning right now in this state and the ability to kind of set up a hub and say Hey you know when the team’s on the road you’re on the you’re on on the ice and this is the beauty where you know the players locker rooms next to it has Junior locker rooms so Junior Hockey is a big big component um and probably the way to explain it to people is it’s the equivalent of having like the junior Jazz Hub with courts right next to the jazz or inside the Jazz practice facility wow and this is an incredible incredible opportunity that people will realize as we as we start to do this um because the demands here we’re the youngest State um you know Sports is is something that kind of ties everything together here and and people actually want to get out and do stuff here and families and siblings and and it’s uh it’s actually going to be this moment where you know you’re skating there and when you’re not skating you’re just sitting there watching practice I walked into Chicago Blackhawks facility I’m looking at their ice and there’s a whole restaurant everyone just sitting there watching people skate and hanging out and work parties can go rent it out it’s it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen and and part of me is like you know why aren’t we why aren’t we making that more inclusive on the basketball side as well you know we’re kind of parked off and and privacy is a component but you know building a culture of hey we’re we’re truly about the community and and and kind of creating something new and so I’m excited I’m excited to to kind of bring that new thought in community aspect to to our state Ryan last thing for me and just quickly before we let you go how how incredible is it for you to watch what’s happening with BYU basketball and I know a lot of people think that you’re probably a massive part but how much do you get involved as we see kind of the growth and the building and what BYU basketball is becoming and and I’m getting a little bit worried Ryan because I do call the football games and it’s like wow wow I mean the basketball has taken over every storyline but what does that mean to you well so KY I mean it’s incredible that he chose BYU because you know he would definitely after we’ve seen the movement in the NBA would definitely be in a in a head coaching job um yeah and I think there’s a lot of questions on how involved I get I mean also I think there’s probably a lot of misconceptions around you know why I involved and you know in 1978 or 1980 my I lived in I was born in Eugene Oregon I was actually born in the same hospital as da and we’re both there in Eugene and my father was a professor at University of Oregon you know they lived in you know my my siblings were born in Pennsylvania in State College Penn State and then he moved to Oregon and Oregan had you know what ended up being this this business professor ship that two Nobel Prize winners came out it was a little bit of the mecca then but it was also probably the The Grateful Dead Capital at that point as well so it was a very different culture to go so to go from U ofo to BYU to say it was probably a culture shock was is is an understatement but my parents probably similar to KY they decided to that this is probably best for the kids and the family right now and they took a bet on I’m going to BYU and so you know all five of us kind of came out here and I was having this conversation with someone yesterday where um you know as I as I kind of go through my childhood you know I grew up kind of roaming those Halls of BYU and being there and and The more I’ve gotten older The more I’ve realized that as life happened you know my parents split up I think my dad took a year off to kind of be with us kids because we were at a different phase of life and it very critical one and and BYU kind of supported him through that and you know you fast forward you know 10 years after that and my dad gets stage four throat cancer and BYU supports them all the way through that include kind of working from home resting keeping everything there and you know we end up starting qual tricks to together and it was really in that moment where I was kind of just spending time with my dad and then you know I wasn’t the type that would go to BYU it was probably I never viewed myself as a BYU like student type kid whatever that was but the profile wasn’t me especially growing up and then as I went on my mission I came back and said you know I want to go to BYU and that was you you know and I had to go to I went to UVU first but I wanted to go to BYU and I had no college experience nor qualified to get in and had to go prove myself and I got there and then met my wife and and started qual tricks and kind of the rest his history so me supporting BYU is very very um not about sports it’s about you know they’ve supported my family when we were going through our craziest times like probably no employer I’ve ever seen and it would be really weird for me to be in the spot I’m in and not support them especially and this is probably a call out to anyone listening who’s an alumni of any university university and Academia including Athletics they all need their alumni right now more than they’ve ever ever ever needed this sorting out this world not only on the academic side and everything that’s going on and the disruption that’s happening in their space but sorting out the sport side and everything else um if you’re an alumni of the U like and call Taylor Randall right now and just say I want to help like especially if you’re like me where when I needed that school they helped me and they they all need everyone if you’re at Weaver I just I mean we had we’re working out a kid today from Weaver and you know I saw the whole Weber team there and I sent a text to one of my friends Justin nilson if you remember played a UVU play to Weaver and I said dude your crew’s here go support your your Weaver they need you right and it’s it’s everyone needs to do that in this moment and and it’s because there was especially if there if if if you needed them at some point well now’s the time that they all need you yeah and so that’s probably a little PSA for everyone but I I think I I encourage it I love when my youth friends are 100% in on the youths it makes our state better especially here like we need everything to thrive and and it it doesn’t take much there’s there’s powers of numbers and so um that’s that’s my that’s my reasoning for why I I try to help and so BYU knows that they’ve got my help if I if I can be helpful and there’s a lot I can’t be helpful on but if I can be helpful I will and um that’s how it should be everywhere in this state whether it’s UVU whether it’s and and I’m helpful to UVU as well I mean my my family we just did the engineering my dad just did the engineering building down there um you know I remember my mom were working there growing up um and so that’s a big part of my life as well and so um that’s that’s how I think through that’s how I think about it well Ryan we’ve kept you way too long man we appreciate it thanks for carving out some time for us we know you’re incredibly busy but uh good luck with the rest of the summer let us know what we can do to help I know it’s crazy for you and your staff I do know you have the best group of people out there I’ve known those guys for decades and they’re they’re good dudes man thanks for sharing stories too Ryan the stories were great anytime guys hey congrats on congrats on 10 years I’m serious like that’s that’s incredible especially in a world where with media there’s so much disruption going on and and everything’s changing I mean we’re seeing in the NBA I’m on the media committee um and it’s a it’s a new world and so for you guys to be able to get 10 years under your belt and hopefully go a lot longer is is is pretty special you’re doing something right well I got to tell you this NH thing is kind of reigniting that passion Ryan so thanks for bringing the NHL cuz Scotty and I have gone all in we’ve watched as much postseason and talk to as many insiders like we we are we are bot I cannot wait until the the mammoth drop Puck hey look at that hey hey I literally I literally like I I should be sharing this but my uh because my daughter doesn’t know but the other day I we’re just driving the car she seven and she she goes when does spicy tuna get here and I was like this is awesome I was like we’ve officially arrived she’s like I just like him I was like I didn’t even know you were she remembered it from the presc I was like that is so cool so so the one thing I would say if we look at our October in the state of Utah in downtown Salt Lake I I’m not joking I’m going to pull this up right now because I think a lot of times you can say stuff and and people understand it but sometimes just visually seeing it we’re Learners that way as well um to understand what it actually means for our downtown on the second there’s a concert on the third there’s a concert on the fourth it’s NBA preseason on the 5ifth it’s UFC Hans you better be there bringing the fighting crew I’ll I’ll figure something I’ll figure something out for you there um on the on the sixth it’s NHL pre-season on the seventh it’s NBA preseason on the eighth it’s NHL on the ninth we’re blank on the 10th it’s NHL on the 11th it’s a concert on the 12th it’s NHL on the 13th there’s a concert on the 14th it’s blank on the 15th there’s NBA preseason and on the 16th there’s NHL wow wow so I I hope like the the gravity of what’s coming in and the excitement um is it should be around that in curating that experience and trying to say Hey how do we how do we accommodate in in our city that type of flow oh man I love it I love it because I was just in Miami and the Panthers were in the postseason I went to a Queens Reich concert because you know Ryan Queens Reich Queens Reich uh you know you got you got to catch a little bit of Queens re and then you got the Panthers that were playing and you got uh the heat that had just wrapped up their postseason and it I see your vision and I love it man I can’t wait for October to get here oh my goodness that is that is crazy we love it thanks Ryan we appreciate it thanks Ryan bye there he is wow that slate that’s nuts does that not just energize you but is that not what we’ve always wanted here in youah the dream so he just he just went UFC to NHL to NBA to concerts and by the way it’s not just uh it’s not Queens Reich no you look at the the concerts they’re bringing in you know it’s it’s the Jonas Brothers and no it’s way better than the Jonas Brothers hey but the Jonas brothers are kicking off Stadium of Fire there you go that’s what it’s all about that’s the last time I went to Stadium fire was the Jonas Brothers with my my young girls but they’re back hands and hands and Scotty 975 the KSL Sports Zone by the way we’re live here at Tim D Mazda Southtown off the 106 South exit on autal Drive come on by hang out we’ll talk to Jake more about that throughout the show today but let’s get it going folks what a great way to start the show Ryan Smith uh if you missed that conversation we’re going to reference a lot of that throughout the show today crazy crazy crazy Insight info cannot thank him enough uh for coming on with us uh we’ll break it down more next 975 the KSL Sports Z 3 2 1 it’s the 10th Annual top 60 and 60 get your college football fix every day at 1:30 as the Zone counts you down to the start of the 2024 season by listing off the top 60 players in the state of Utah as voted on by the local media and you the fans we’ll also hear from the coaches as they talk about the players that will impact their season the most it’s the top 60 and 60 weekdays at 1:30 presented by five-star painting on your home of the best college football coverage in Utah 975 the KSL Sports Z show every moment of every show is available in podcast for by searching Hansen Scotty on your favorite podcasting platform or online at KSL sports.com this is H Olsen and Scotty G on 975 the KSL Sports sub hands in Scotty 975 the ekl Sports Zone man thanks to Ryan Smith for joining us fun conversation with him I’m still kind of reeling from that conversation you know when you have a conversation like that with a person like him that is so ingrained into the World of Sports and of course that’s our occupation so you listen and you want to absorb and take it all in but at the same time you’re thinking of the most poignant questions that you can ask him moving forward but some of the things that really stood out to me I’m glad you asked him about the practice facility because the image that he painted that image that he painted what the what he sees these facilities being where you know you’re bellied up to a bar or you’re bellied up to a counter with some great food and some youth hockey and then there’s your NHL guys and the NHL experience I never had seen it he said that’s the way the Blackhawks do it and he said that that’s kind of his vision and how incredible is that have I don’t know if you’ve been into the RSL indoor facility but I’ve been in there a couple times um taking in different sites and they’ve got a restaurant in there it’s kind of a it’s it’s more than a a vending station it’s it’s kind of it’s got a sit down area and and it’s interactive and kids can interact with uh the you know the steps up of soccer and see what it’s all about and I understand his vision for that with hockey and I love that because I think his vision is that we get youth hockey going yep and that hockey becomes more of a staple of this community and and let me tell you I think this community is ready for that I do too and you know look we grew up uh both of us in the middle of North Idaho where hockey wasn’t even on our radar like there was no I don’t know about Weezer but there were no ey sheets available and and like I said I’ve never put on a set of skates in my life there’s just no ice there’s no ice I never never was never was exposed to it and I think most people our age here in Utah were never exposed to it and now it’s starting to become a little bit more prevalent there’s a more facilities I think the Olympics provided some facilities 20 years ago and now that’s going to continue to improve to a point where we might be able to generate some some really good interest from a youth youth hockey standpoint the other thing that stood out to me and you had mentioned in it going into the the question about logoing and and and branding and building a brand and he was talking about how great it is that he gets to start from the the the ground level with this NHL team but if you think about it he was handed a jazz brand but this is a guy that thinks with with more depth he thinks deeper than oh just the Jazz logo he thinks well how can I brand this to make it ours cuz how much is jazz really ours well it’s ours because we’ve owned it for for many many years but how much is it brought home and when he was when you asked that question and he was talking about that I was like I can see the conflict yeah I can see why you want to start to implement the mountains and when he said we’re Mountain basketball it’s like that’s exactly what we are we’re Mountain basketball yeah LA’s Beach basketball Miami’s Beach basketball but we are the basketball in the mountains and I can see that concept and that branding and that idea now you see the mountains are involved in his in his New Jersey set and his new branding and they they have been for some time but it seems like he’s really implementing that more but but imagine that like like he said okay you give me the bows well that’s easy it’s iconic Spurs that’s easy you give me the Celtics it’s iconic but with the Jazz it’s like well how do we make that ours after having it been ours for that many years yeah and I can appreciate his passion and his vision and then also some of the difficulties of that yeah does that make sense Scotty 100% so if 100 if I were to give you a professional organization here in the state that had 30 years of tradition of being the I’m trying to think of something let’s just say that the the Utah uh the the Utah lions or I don’t know something that isn’t really Utah built or oriented or and you’ve but the lies I mean you got some different branding there but there’s there’s no lines here you know like all of the things that come with the Jazz but but then you’re like no I want it I just bought this brand I want to make it Utah yeah so when people put on their their gear and they’re going to a jazz game in Miami people looking it like oh yeah the mountain basketball because because that’s always been in that’s always been a topic people always like what does Jazz have to do with Utah yeah well that’s what we bought what does Lakers have to do with Los Angeles yeah and you know they they just own that logoing and then won a bunch of championships and it’s like that’s where it stood and that’s see I that’s how I feel about the Jazz that’s why we keep going back to the colors of the Western Conference Championship Jazz because th those are the ones those are the ones that influenced us the most when they win that’s what becomes our coloring y hen Scotty 975 the ekl Sports Zone what you may have Miss coming up next this is this is DJ and PK time to welcome Big T thorough Bailey back to the show Taylor Hendricks has really had an interesting position right you’re talking the ninth pick in the draft and with that comes a lot there’s a long way to go to match the player I’m about to say but ask for a best case scenario to comp for him given his size his athletic ability Scotty Pitman I don’t think there’s really a great comparison between those two right now there’s some similari there some things that Kaylor Hendricks can get to to be that type of player I actually think that he can be a better Defender than Scotty I think he can I think he has a potential to be a better Defender than Scotty Pippen was it remains to be seen But I see the potential in it I would reserve the comparisons with Scotty Pippen right now give him a couple years catch DJ and PK mornings from 6:00 to 10 presented by Murdoch Hyundai Utah’s number one Hyundai dealer for 16 years in a row on 975 the KSL Sports Zone you’re locked on to H Suson and Scotty CH that’s right on 975 the KSL Sports [Music] [Music] up H Olson Scott Gerard 975 the KSL Sport Zone big thanks to Ryan Smith who joined us first segment of the show it’s available for you on our podcasting platforms all you have to do is search hands and Scotty and you can hear that interview in its entirety so much great info there we’ll reference a bunch of throughout the show today also we got a pack show for you we got Andy Bailey who’s going to be joining us talking about NBA finals and we’ve got Kevin moski is going to come on and talk about the NHL and some of the NHL finals and and what we got going on there too John Kimble’s going to join US oursl president it’s kind of one of those crazy days so buckle up and hang out with us yeah no doubt uh what you may have missed right here on the Zone it was not fun last night h no it wasn’t absolutely miserable for your NBA Finals opener and my issue is what are they going to do with porzingis and porzingis is hitting like that on the perimeter how much does that actually change things I knew he’d make a difference I just didn’t understand didn’t think it’d be that big of a difference yeah so I didn’t realize that his his perimeter or his stretch ability would affect so many things for Jaylen Brown it affects so many things for Tatum not that it opened up the scoring for Tatum because what were we threw almost the first quarter and Tatum didn’t have a point but where you’re focus on Tatum if he’s hitting those shots I think this could be it just it just looked wide open although you know that Luke is going to respond yes it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Dallas comes back and wins game two they’re going to respond um so we’ll get into that with Andy the other thing I was interested in and this going to be a long conversation for another day Adam Silver just uttered the words expansion so we we haven’t seen expansion in the NBA since 2004 and I’m all about expansion but the thing that you and I got to talk about is how much does that water down talent because you would think that there’d be enough talent to go around to to keep some competitiveness but when you’re talking about adding another 35 talent and maybe stripping a talent or two do we get two water down but you know well I think and and I’m sure that you feel the same way way I think Vegas is going to be driving this expansion topic them and Seattle those are going to be your two teams yeah yep 975 DSL Sports Zone looking for the latest on the Jazz Utes cougars and Aggies we’ve got you covered this is H sson and Scotty G on 975 ESP Sports Z [Music] roll on board we going to ride Till There ain’t no more to go taking it slow Lord don’t you know have me time with a game one of the NBA Finals goes down last night if you didn’t see it 10789 the Boston Celtics end up brutalizing the Dallas Mavericks beating them from pretty much every angle there was one push it was temporary Luca donic hitting backto back threes and I think they got to within seven or eight they cut it down to single digits and then Boston just extends and it felt like every time Dallas would throw a punch Boston had some type of guard and had some type of combo to throw back it was actually pretty tough to watch and I’m hoping that that’s not the way this Finals series goes but in order to break it down one of my favorites in the business National NBA writer for Bleacher Report that’s Andy Bailey hanging out with Andy how you doing I’m doing well how are you well I think I’m doing okay uh but I’m a little bit worried about this series after game one I I guess maybe we could say that about every series but watching The Way Boston plays with porzingis on the court against Dallas makes me worried that this might be a short series I think that’s a totally valid worry um I I can speak for myself specifically but I think the media and fans at large may have overthought this series to some degree um Boston came in with historic team numbers I you know they they had the fifth best point differential in NBA history and every team that finished ahead of them won the championship and then there was a lot of talk about them underwhelming in the first three rounds uh in the Eastern Conference side of the playoffs but they were 12- two and they they did that without their second best player in porzingis so you know I again I’m speaking for myself I actually right after the Western Conference Finals ended I I put up a prediction piece on Bleacher Report where I picked the Mavs in seven and then a week later we did a staff round table and I switched my prediction it it changed in a week the more I thought about it the more I thought um Boston is just stacked they’re deep they play a really smart brand of basketball and I’m just not sure Dallas have has enough weapons to keep Pace now I I say all that you know Dallas lost a game by 22 in the OKC Series um but I think blowouts in general are a lot more common now than they were in the past so we could get a different result on uh Sunday and suddenly all of our you know takes about last night’s games game looks look could look foolish but um I I think last night more or less went kind of how we should have expected man I my reasoning so I I had Dallas going into this series and and I know you were just talking about your your your seven but this this was my line of thinking you go through the Clippers to open up postseason you just mentioned the okay Thunder you beat the Timberwolves in five games and I thought oh they’re battle tested and they’ve gone against pretty much they’ve gone against dual Superstars and they’ve gone against uh exceptional bigs and I felt like they were just tested and and ready and then I L I looked at the Boston Celtics and you know they take on a Miami Heat team that doesn’t have Jimmy Butler and a Cleveland team that was missing a couple of their Superstars down the line and even finish it off with a sweep against Indie when they lost one of their Stars so in I think in game four but I just thought that they were B tested but Andy is this playing against Dallas I mean are they maybe a little more fatigued having to push so much harder to get to where they’re where they’re currently at yeah I think that’s got to be part of it I I think there are two classic um sort of NBA axioms truism whatever at play here there’s rest versus rust and Boston was able to cruise through the East you just mentioned all the guys that were missing during that run and I think there could be some drawbacks to that they weren’t as battle tested as Dallas was but they also didn’t have to expend as much uh you know metal and physical energy they were able to hold porzingis out for a couple more games than I think maybe uh they needed to like I I think he could have played halfway through the Indiana series but they hadn’t really had to break a sweat to that point so they got him a little bit of extra rest got his calf I I think probably close to 100% by the finals and I think for them rest and all that time off they earned between the sweep and the start of the finals really helped and then the other thing that I think is at play in this series and this is what made it so difficult for me to predict and why I had two different predictions published online um th this looked like the classic best player versus best team scenario I I don’t think there’s any question Luke is the best player in this series and B is just far deeper and far better balanced um than Dallas’s roster is and uh to go back to your question um the the Mavericks teammates did a great job uh through those first three rounds of the playoffs especially in the first two when Luca was kind of struggling to hit his shots but he does have to carry a bigger load than anybody on the Celtics does and he he came into the playoffs a little bit banged up um Dallas says he’s still a little bit banged up and having to carry the load that he did through the first three rounds is probably playing a bit of a factor now too Andy Bailey the best in the business getting us uh set for game number two in the NBA Finals uh so I’m really curious just from your perspective I I guess I’m going to take this in a different direction I mean we could stay with the match ups I’m going to take this in a little bit bit different direction we just had Ryan Smith on and he spent 30 minutes with Scotty and I going over the new NHL team and and talking about the Utah Jazz Andy and and we talked about Danny a and and this Boston Celtic team you when you think about the way this Celtics team is built and you just mentioned it the best team versus best individual how replicable is it what Danny a did in Boston how rep replicable is that here in Utah um it takes a fair bit of luck is the first thing I’ll say uh Danny a deserves a ton of credit for the way that he built the Celtics um they also got the number three pick in back-to-back years I think one of those years was the year Marco folz was taken number one I think that was the Tatum draft so if you know if Tatum goes number one if if you know the sixer scouting department is a little bit more with it than they were then they’re not in the situation they’re in right now um but the way that he built was smart there’s no doubt about it they got high draft picks um they found switchable wings with those picks which I think is important I mean obviously there are going to be times where it looks like you know such and such is going to be a superstar guard or a superstar Center but I think the most malleable position to build around is is a wing um especially in today’s game so they got two of those guys that were easy to build around um they made moves that didn’t work out I mean obviously Gordon Hayward there’s some bad luck for the Celtics but of course eventually that turns out right for them too because who knows how Tatum and brown would have developed had Gordon been healthy and um played out his contract there in Boston so there are there are Strokes of luck all along the way and that’s not just true of Danny H I mean that’s NBA team building in general you got to get lucky but he did do some Phil opical things that I think are smart I think it helps to bottom out and get high D draft picks I think it helps to um build a positionist roster uh I think Boston in a lot of ways is that now obviously they they have the ability to sort of shape shift and play Big when they want to um so he he deserves credit for doing that too and Brad Brad Stevens comes in at some point and kind of finishes the vision of course but um I guess the answer to your question is it replicable I think it is I just I think it’s really difficult especially if you’re in a smaller market like Utah the NBA is unique in American team sports and that I I think Market matters more in the NBA than in any other sport uh it’s just the reality it’s you you’re working at a built-in disadvantage when you’re Utah or Denver or Oklahoma City or or whatever the case may be but it can be done and I and I think a lot of the stuff that a has done to this point with Utah makes sense I I think the Mitchell and go air trades makes sense even though both of those guys went on to be on good teams and successful situations later um it just wasn’t working with them together in Utah and I think they’re building a pretty strong Foundation now there’s a real tricky moment therein um you know do they bottom out some way or another and try and get a high pick in this Cooper flag draft coming out um or do they just kind of stay where they’re at that’s kind of a tough thing to do when you have Lorry marketing on the roster so they’re they’re a weird moment but I think generally speaking they’re heading in the right direction and it is replicable it’s just you can’t guarantee it anywhere you you brought up a sore spot for me and in just the market and the maybe the uh the preconceived notions of this Market the ideas of it and the NHL is about to kick up you know this upcoming season and I think it’s going to be a perfect fit I think it’s a perfect fit with the players and free agency and I I think it’s going to be a much better fit but Andy what can we do in this state to kick the notion of it being a non-free agent destination what what is there even possible we can do when we were talking with Ryan Smith you know he said well I want people to understand we’re Mountain basketball and there’s something unique and beautiful to be in Mountain basketball I thought that was really well said but what is it that’s holding us back and what do we got to do to to try to shake some of that stigma well this is probably not the answer you’re looking for but I don’t think there’s anything that you specifically can do I think Utah is a beautiful place the mountains are awesome and there’s a lot of American players that come through Utah and end up loving it and and we’ll vouch for it to other players around the league but there is and it’s not just Utah I mean it’s a decades long builtin part of the NBA that the glamour markets are desirable like the Los Angeles Lakers and uh wasn’t this way for a while but I think now the New York Knicks are going to be kind of a hot spot again and you know Florida has sun and beaches and and whatever um it’s just it’s always going to be a difficult thing I think with basketball I don’t I don’t know specifically what it is about basketball players as opposed to other athletes that might make it more difficult um especially again because there have been a lot of players who’ve passed through and said actually it’s it’s not the uh play it’s made out to be we love it there our families love it there I know there’s multiple examples of that and you probably have names when I when I mention things like that um I I think ultimately Utah is just going to have to they’re going to have to strike gold in the draft or through trades um and they’ve they’ve done that before I mean they’ve developed star players who they drafted and they’ve gotten really close to winning the title I mean what’s interesting about this discussion is if if if I were to run some kind of a search and say which team has the best combined winning percentage of the last 30 or 40 years I I I can almost guarantee Utah’s in the top five um maybe even top 10 so they’ve been able to uh rise above whatever this stigma is um but it’s just an unfortunate reality of the NBA and and it probably applies to 20 to 25 teams there’s just there’s always going to be this built-in Advantage for a team like the Lakers and the the opposite of what I just said about the Jazz being successful for so long uh even with the built-in Advantage the Lakers have been generally pretty poorly Run for the last 10 to 15 years basically since Kobe retired and they they have the one title with LeBron but that was just because he wanted to be in La So speaking of the Lakers um what if you were to give odds do you think Dan Hurley becomes the head coach and if so to me I think that’s you I look I know that there’s not a great reputation of college coaches going to the NBA and having success I think Dan Hurley bucks that Trend I think he would be a phenomenal NBA head coach just with his style and the way he relates to players and and the presence that he brings into a locker room so number one do you think it happens and number two if it does do you think he can be the guy that brings the Lakers together in a really dysfunctional situation at least on the outside looking in looks a little dysfunctional I think he does get the job I’m sure La is putting together a pretty enticing offer for him and I saw some audio that that from him I think was fairly recent it came out right before this surprising report came out that he said if the right situation came along he would like to make the jump um to the NBA and so I I think they’re going to make it happen and I too think he might be able to Buck the trend I think there’s more Brad Stevens there uh than John Calipari like I I think he can make it work I think he can relate to players I think um to win back-to-back titles in today’s college uh Athletics environment is just extremely impressive to me I mean you you pretty much have to remake your team on the fly every year in the NCAA tournament now and then there’s there’s just so much Randomness and variance in the NCAA tournament so he’s obviously a very very good coach a smart offensive mind a good player developer and I I think he’s going to help them a lot and I also think I don’t necessarily think JJ reick would have done a bad job um but the leap from player to coach that the the few guys that have done it within a few years of retiring that might have I you know I haven’t dug into this but I imagine that has every bit as bad a track record is the college to Pros jump I you know Derek Fischer comes to mind Steve Nash comes to mind Jason kid really struggled the first couple years that he coached um so that would have been tough and I think that I think reic would have been just a scapegoat within a couple years so I that that situation never made a ton of sense to me other than the fact that he was a big name like I wouldn’t have been surprised if they went that way uh I would have been surprised if it was just a smashing success right off the bat and not because of redic more because of the roster that he was potentially going to be settled with saw a room that rumor that was floated and it I don’t know if it came from the Lakers and Scotty I saw you retweeted that lar marinan was one of their biggest marks for the Los Angeles Lakers what do you think the Lakers are after and do you think Lowry really would be a a a target for them I could absolutely see him being a target for both the Lakers and any number of other teams um I I think if Utah were to make him available there are several contenders that could beat whatever La can offer um he he’s just a plug-and-play guy who I I think would Elevate so many different teams but we’re going back to the tricky situation that we talked about earlier um marinan is like a fringe all NBA type player right now and those are those are really hard to get no matter where your NBA team is located so there there is some value in Bott bottoming out for one year playing the young guys that are on the roster and then hoping that you you get a shot at Ace Bailey or Cooper flag or whoever at the top of this next draft and maybe that person is the kind of transformative talent that that can give you a Boston type rebuild um but you can also try to bottom out and wind up with the number five pick and now you’ve got a bunch of young guys and know Lori Lori marinan um so I’m I’m very non-committal on this question when it comes to the Jazz I think I would lean towards keeping marketing unless they’re just absolutely Blown Away by somebody’s offer and they they have to do it but I I think getting somebody as good as marketing especially when I can’t imagine anybody in the Jazz front office thought he would be this good um you know I’m sure they had high hopes for him when they made the Mitchell trade but for him to be an All-Star in his first season with the Jazz and to be one of the best you know for bacing for us and to be one of the most unique scorers in the league I mean a lot of people know him for his shooting but marinan is always near the top of the leaderboard and dunks too he’s just Ultra efficient streamlined offensive game so I I think I would rather have that guy and try to build you know with with mid to late lottery picks and uh trades I think maybe you got to be a little bit smarter in terms of draft scouting and stuff like that it’s it’s maybe a slightly trickier path but I think I would lean go on that way Andy always a pleasure thanks for your time and look forward to catching up again here soon enjoy uh what should be a fun offseason with uh plenty of story lines to say the least thanks Andy thanks for having me guys there you go Andy Bailey right here on 975 the KSL Sports Zone ladies and gentlemen may I present this is JJ and Alex yeah nine and three for Utah seems like it’s still be I mean it’s an improvement from last year but it’s not a big 12 championship it’s not a playoff appearance which would be a massive disappoint it’s your first year in the Big 12 and it’s crazy this is not fair but Utah is Big 12 Championship or bust playoff orust with this group what if Cam Rising gets hurt then we are having a different conversation and if we didn’t learn that lesson last year then I don’t know what to tell you You’ seen the difference with Utah with Cam Rising you’ve seen the difference without right one one one wins Pack 12 championships and goes to Rose BS the other one can’t beat Northwestern in a bowl game catch JJ and Alex afternoons from 3: to 6 presented by G2G bars on 975 the KSL Sports Zone number one miss any part of the show every moment of every show is available in podcast form by searching Hans and Scotty on your favorite podcasting platform or online at KSL sports.com this is H Olsen and Scotty G on 975 the kosl Sports Zone H Olson Scott Gerard 975 the KSL Sports Zone happy Friday everybody the weekend is here let’s do it time for the good the bad the ugly but before we do that you know what time it is it is the 60 and 60 as we continue to count you down to the start of the college football season hands today we go to number 58 this is the top 60 and 60 60 as the Zone counts you down to the start of the 2024 college football season and now it’s time for today’s selection as voted on by the local sports media and you the fans our first youth makes the list of 60 as we focus on a player who worked his way back into the lineup coming off a mission and is now expected to make a bigger contribution in 2024 for the youth’s defense as they transition to the Big 12 at number 58 from the University of Utah 6′ 226 lb linebacker sonone Fu University of Utah head coach Kyle Winningham C Fu looking for him to be a guy that is in the mix this year he was been a in a backup role in the last couple seasons but he is ready to have uh a breakout year and we’re hoping that he really adds to what we’re doing defensively this is the top 60 and 60 presented by five-star painting on 975 the KSL Sports Zone C fut fotu coming in hands at number 58 you teased it yesterday he’s felt like that was a good spot for him I did and and exactly like the player that was mentioned yesterday for Utah State I I think both are in very similar roles and very similar situations but Sony really had to step in where you had Logan funo go down and you had Lander Barton go down and you had so many injuries and he stepped in and he stepped in cold and played in 11 games and ended up with pass breakups and some tfls and some big moments and big plays you know you’re you’re loaded across that line yeah so we can be honest about that where you’ve got Lander Barton Logan fono Karan Reed and you know you got one or two other guys that you can plug and play but as we saw last year you got to have the depth and SE only fotu is is that guy he’s gonna get reps and you hope it’s not out of necessity you hope it’s out of design and EV and and opportunity yes so that’s my hope for SE Fu but really great football player so coming in at number 58 the first you off off the board as we wrap up the week and we will kick off number 57 on Monday a Bingham high school kid too I like the fact that he’s love local guys I love the Lo local guy and he is not a he hasn’t bumped around a lot he hasn’t moved around a lot no all right time for the good the bad the ugly all brought to you by RGS exteriors Lloyd let’s kick it off it’s time to saddle up and talk about the winners and the losers this is The Good The Bad and The ugly now here’s the good well we talked about this yesterday hand scary situation in Kansas City but looks like things are going in the right direction Kans City chief vice president Rick Buck holder gave a positive update on BJ Thompson saying the defensive end now is alert awake and coming through quite well and headed in the right direction yesterday he suffered seizures went into cardiac arrest while in a special teams meeting at the Chiefs practice yesterday um Burk holder uh and then Kansas City’s vice president sports medicine and performance said that uh Harrison bucker left the meeting to alert the team’s Personnel of the situation he said Thompson was initially treated by athletic trainers and then uh then the hospital and then the ambulance arrived um was transported to the hospital was sedated uh was on a ventilator overnight but now as since regained Consciousness that’s good news they do not have a diagnosis but they do feel like he’s heading in the right direction at least alert awake and responsible well that’s amazing that he’s alert and awake because as of about 8:30 9:00 this morning he was still unconscious when I was looking through some of the notes he was still in a kind of a medically induced coma so to hear that they brought him out of the coma and that he’s alert and awake after suffering a cardiac arrest event it tells you how important it is to have the right people around oh yeah oh yeah if there was if there wasn’t somebody close in that moment he’s gone yeah at a very young age I can’t remember was he 24 he was a 2023 draft Pi yeah 24 25 years old around there he was the fifth round pick in 2023 if if I’m not mistaken yeah and BJ Thompson given another chance at life now that he’s conscious now that he’s alert you know what the first thing you do when you open your eyes you know what it’d be what are my chances yeah yeah I got to get back on this field I got get back out on the field when can I get back to practice I’m telling you it’d be the first thought in my mind that’s crazy that you have to think that way but you do I obliterated my hand yeah in my rookie year and took an x-ray and the X-ray showed double breaks on either end of the hand and the first thing I thought was uh football what does this mean yeah I guarantee he’s coming out of of this cardiac rest and he’s thinking okay uh Hamlin did it yeah why why can’t I do it he’s back on a football field yep but these events are so scary yeah all right there’s your good let’s get to the bad now the bad I feel bad that some of these NFL athletes have to answer for their family’s misdeeds yeah do you think it’s even Fair no not at all that Patrick Mahomes has to talk about his Dopey brother or his crazy wife or his dad who can’t drive without being drunk all the time what do you think is it fair National media even grabs these stories and attaches it to them uh you know that’s a that’s a that’s a fair question I do think I think it’s fair because it impacts these guys’ lives right like if something’s going on in somebody’s life it could impact their ability to play the game and be focused on a game by- game basis so you’re like hey you know what your dad’s screw up how is that affecting you on the field how’s that affecting your performance you know what do you say about that okay so let’s just bring it back local let’s say that it was Lowry markkanen’s Dad I know that it would be in Finland but let’s just say it’s here and and his dad gets arrested for some pretty serious violations how much do jazz fans want to know about that how much does that impact him and what he’s doing because yeah I mean that’s a it’s a pretty severe personal situation that he would go through I just always think it’s interesting sequan Barkley who is one of the biggest things in the NFL and he’s really trying to find his stri again his dad was pulled over in a 2019 Corvette it was an unregistered vehicle and then they found an unregistered weapon that was fully loaded in the car and that happened in New York you always that’s a problem you always say it if you’re going to do it do it in the right State yes in New York a fully loaded unregistered weapon in an unregistered Corvette leads to Big Time charges yep in New York so it’s a big story that’s going on in New York I I even hesitate to bring it up but the reason I do bring it up is because saquin is extremely close to his dad alab has been like the the center of his Focus he talks about him being his biggest fan and about him being the biggest support and so and we’ll see about what what this transition is going to mean for him you know he’s with the Philadelphia Eagles they put him on a three-year nearly $40 million deal this offseason so he is already going through a transition and now his dad is staring down jail time yeah and could be in New York it could be significant jail time a loaded unregistered yep you get pulled over here in Utah with a loaded undressed it’s not good yep but it’s not being pulled over in New York yep I mean look I have a family member an extended family member who is a big-time Hunter young kid he was in his early 20s and he was going to go down and see some family um actually a girl that he was dating at the time and uh he’s a big hunter and he and he was driving to California and he had a gun in his vehicle that he used to hunt got pulled over and they found the gun and he had to go through all kinds of Hell to get himself out of the state in what state was it California you know and it’s just like look you know in Utah you drive around you got to you know it’s a registered gun it’s in his name you know everything’s fine but in California it’s like all hell breaks loose and it’s just like you got to be smarter you can’t allow yourself to go across certain state lines that just have certain rules where they’re just like no we don’t put up with that here yeah and if if you don’t like those weapon rules don’t live there go there don’t live there yeah you know that would be my suggestion to alabay Barkley yeah you know what New York’s rules are man yeah one of saquon’s teammates went to to prison I don’t know if he was teammates at I I don’t I don’t think Sequon was was on that team was he with I don’t think soxo yeah but you know come on man you know yeah you you just got to be smart in fact that should be part of giants orientation like oh yeah hey this is what happened to one of our guys look a TB shoots himself in Texas and everybody’s like oh that sucks for you man you PLO does it in New York he goes to prison for three years that’s rough times hands in Scotty 975 the KSL Sports Zone there you go good the bad the ugly coming up next another edition of whole world news we’re live here at timd Mazda Southtown zero% financing on V on the uh 50 and the 90 zero for 72 months we’ll talk more about that coming up next right here on the Zone hey bro you hear us every day with our crazy opinions hey what you doing well now it’s time to hear from you hey great show download the KSL Sports app and fire off your thoughts with a call-in tab on the bottom of your screen your show is fantastic it’s the one that captivates me the most you can tell PK to stop singing let Jake and Ben know what you really think of the Jazz tell Hans and Scotty about your favorite barbecue spot or what color of tie JJ should be wearing on TV the best entries will be played on the air download the KSL Sports app now and hit the call-in button to let your voice be heard I think you guys do an incredible job this is 975 the KSL Sports Zone this is whole world news on 975 the KSL Sports Z we’ Got the Whole World in our You Got the Whole World in our hands we got the whole world in our hands we got the world in our hands we got the world in our hands hands and SC 975 the KSL Sports Zone John Kimble president of Ray ala lake is going to join us coming up next right now though it’s another edition of whole world news my friend all right I need some help with this all right Scotty some real help and I know typically we go non sports but this is sports related so this’s this girl that works for the Golf Channel her name is Lauren wiro all right and she steps up to a African-American man with the Mike and she misidentifies him and you’re going to hear this misidentification here in just a minute but I got to know like whose fault is this is this her misidentifying is this the Golf Channel misidentifying this is Lauren wiro walking up and starting an interview with a guy that is that is not who she thinks it is oh boy Vince Young playing this week he is down with Bor six seasons in the NFL arguably one of the best n doublea quarterbacks of all time in Texas picked up golf about four years ago what’s the biggest shift you make going from the ultimate team sport to now the ultimate individual sport now I apologize you have the wrong person um I’m Edward SS over City level so which I’m football coach um but uh the thing is the great thing about golf is I’m not only competing against myself but I’m competing against everybody else this is your first program ever played and what’s the best part of being out here well being out here is a great thing and uh have an opportunity to play with some professional golfers is a intimidating thing but also a great thing good luck this weekend I appreciate it oh boy okay so you can hear from the booth he throws it down to her he says Vince Young but then she says something about you played an NAA and uh you know longtime Pro six years how does that he doesn’t even look like Vince Young no no nope he does not now he was related to football but apparently he’s a no-name coach nobody’s even heard of him at that point you’ve misidentified him you ask him the question do you address the misidentification cuz she said nothing and left dead air and then he was like anyways but anyway I am a football coach and uh the game is unique because it’s not team it’s individual great job by him by not embarrassing her it’s like lady what’s going on with you uh this is this is more than just her this is a producer this is somebody that’s like a cameraman needs to help her out like like there there there’s multiple failures on this she’s going to be the face of the screw up and ultimately it does you know rest with her but but yeah this that that’s a bad deal just so everybody understands like the Hansen Scotty show is comprised of a total of three people yes me Scott and Lloyd and you know we we pretty much battle this show out every single day y the Golf Channel when you’re talking about interviewing BigTime golfers and you’re talking about a lot of working parts with TV when You’ got visual as well as audio there’s a big team there’s a bus of people that are in charge of getting things right and so I can’t imagine that the bulk of this blame would be on her but I haven’t seen anybody step up nope I haven’t seen anybody and nor will they either I know like if if it’s you retweet the video and say hey I was the guy that threw it down to her I misidentified it as Vince Young but she was getting fed information from our production crew cuz she had some stats she’s like six years of Pro and he’s like yeah that’s remember the lady that ran into Jordan Clarkson was like hey are you excited for this Jazz team oh and it was Jordan Clarkson yeah you know and and Jordan had some fun with it and and she that was her and then she had some fun with it you know yeah that was her that you know she was going up to fans on the street and asking him out and just happened to stumble on Jordan Parks but it’s not you know but but that was just weird luck of the draw there you know she just happened to run into Jordan freaking Clarkson on the street when she was doing a man on the street segment yeah so that’s a little bit different but this one is really really ugly uh it’s a bad deal that makes me nervous man yeah that’s all right here on 975 the ekl Sports Zone you’re locked on to H susen and Scotty CH that’s right on 975 the KSL Sports [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] sleep on never met a you’re running H than a boiling J job it’s a damn good time City to City I’m running my location to R the nation Beast H Olson Scott Gerard 975 the KSL Sports Zone it has been a day of newsmakers today here on the Zone big thanks to Ryan Smith who joined us in our first segment of the show if you missed it go to uh KSL sports.com or go to our podcast casting feed you can just search H and Scotty and get that entire 35 minute interview talking about all kinds of great things not only owner of the Jazz the new NHL team at raay Salt Lake and joining us now he is the president of the first place ryal Salt Lake John Kimbell joining us now John that has a nice ring to it first place you guys are killing it lately oh that sounds fun it’s uh it’s fun to win right oh yeah how are you guys we’re we’re doing great man we’re just so happy for you you know we’re happy for the organization we’re extremely happy for you and it’s been fun to watch this team dominate the way they have and as Scotty mentioned first place this late in Major League Soccer year it’s the first time since going back to geez what it 2013 that it was this late in the season you’re sitting in the Western Conference first place yeah no it’s it’s been a minute and it’s been a lot of a lot of work and I I I’ll tell you I got to get a lot of credit to Kurt Schmidt um our ownership group uh Jason CH Tony Beltran I mean there’s been a lot of hard work in building this team and getting these players on this team and then we just have phenomenal leaders in our organization like our head coach and then the players you know Chicho and all the people that are stepping up uh it’s it’s fun to watch but it’s also really rewarding because I’ve seen all the hard work uh that’s been done to get here from player acquisition to development what do you attribute this run you’re on to right now you I I’ll I mean I attribute a lot of it to Pablo uh and then also like I said Kurt Schmidt and the work that they’ve done in the in the front office there um theyve put a lot of protocol calls in place as you know uh Pablo was was asked to dismiss his assistant coaches this last year and for him to you know go to a place where he had to really kind of humble himself and and take a look at what we were trying to put together and bring on these new coaches that have done such a phenomenal job in building the protocol and all the work that needed to be done and then you know Kurt and Jason and Tony you know the way they’ve been picking these players and making sure that uh you know it’s really important to have a solid locker room and to have really good mentors in that locker room for our young players um they’ve just done a really masterful job now The Season’s half over there’s a long ways to go I I try not to get too high or too low but I really see amazing things happening with this team just because of all that hard work and how they’ve come together it feels a lot like the caderie and the fight that we had in 2009 but I just think these athletes are just they’re they’re exceptional and they’re they’re doing really good work so John Ryan Smith just sat on with us for about 30 minutes at noon to start this show and man we we went through it with NHL and I know he’s busy with the Jazz and but he takes so much pride in in this team and this uh this ownership group and now the the new leadership and you just mentioned a couple of RSL Legends you know you got Tony but let’s talk more specifically about Jason and Ryan Smith giving you everything that you need to to get these guys back and to be able to build the brand that you want to build I want to know more specifically what Jason Christ responsibilities are with this team and and just how much credit he deserves for what we’re currently seeing because he is RSL in my opinion when I think RSL I still think Jason ches yeah you know I I had the opportunity to work with Jason in the past and and what I saw in him as a human being was just a lot of hard work a lot lot of discipline organization uh and and just leading by example and I think those were some of the tools that that we needed on this uh soccer op side to really bring things together and to help the coach put together the team uh that we’ve been able to put together and and Kurt Schmid is just you know he’s so smart when it comes to the soccer World and and looking at players and scouting and we’ve just got a really solid team out there but Jason I think has just brought some amazing experience and like I said some discipline and some organization to you know the protocols the meetings the you know how things are held the connection and communication with the coaches and then again I have to go back to our ownership and how they’ve leaned in you know my direct boss Scott CCE has done a phenomenal job working with us as an organization and and it’s amazing to see the Blitzer group and how with that uh relationship with other teams around the world how we’re pulling and working together to try to bring the best players here Ryan’s support here as well is phenomenal and you know like I said I think it it it the planet’s of the line for right now and I and I think with the work that’s being done uh we’re going to have a really good team for a while when you were able to acquire Chicho I know that that caused a lot of uh Ruffles or that you know that made some waves so that was a Big Time signing but has this even exceeded your expectations on that day you were able to bring him in you know you just never know with a player it’s it’s hard to tell and this is the one thing about professional sports that that a lot of people aren’t aware of is just how that person will fit in the locker room it’s one thing to have them perform on a field but how do they fit in the locker room how do they work with the other players what kind of leader are they what kind of example do they put out in practice I mean we’ve had players in the past that we’ve had to get rid of because the locker room you know was a negative uh scenario and Chicho is just such a leader and such a solid Captain for our team and and leads by hard work and then he’s just amazingly talented as well um but you know he’s one of those guys that’s willing to pass the ball at the last second to somebody else to have them score because that’s the opportunity for the club and we’re just such a threat across the board that you know all of our players are scoring and and that’s what the league is saying about us is Chicho is that factor but we’re so deep and wide when it comes to our bench that you know you got you can’t just pay attention to Chicho you got to cover you know Gomez you got to cover jul you got to cover everybody otherwise somebody else is going to put it in the back of the net well that’s what’s incredible it’s Gomez and Luna you just go down the list and the scoring is incredible but you know the other thing that I’ve always known RSL for was it’s it’s keeping it was it it’s you’re talking about one of the best all time and Nick Rond and what he was able to do for so many years and on the defensive side of things it’s so critical so important especially where you guys are currently ranked and what you’re doing talk a little bit about that John I mean how secure and and how good you feel about inet and uh give us some of the depth of inet you know it’s amazing we we just have some again coaches that are phenomenal uh that are helping our goalkeepers but you know I got to give a shout out to Zach because Zach McMath is just an amazing leader he had a couple of games and made a couple mistakes and at the end of the game he he came up to our marketing guy and he said I want to do the postgame interview I want to be accountable I hold myself accountable to this team and I’m going to own up to the mistakes that I made and I just thought you know who does that in professional sports who steps up to the microphone and takes accountability for mistakes that they make it’s just such an amazing example in professional sports and for athletes that are coming up to have a leader in a veteran like that and then his backup Gavin beavers is just phenomenal and he’s up and coming and he’s playing well and he’s strong and he’s healthy and he’s you know he’s he’s now uh you know been called up and and it’s just amazing to see how these guys are working together and understand their roles as veterans and I mean I think at one point in a a game I think it was our last game we had two or three teenagers out on the out on the field for us so we’re bringing up that next generation of athletes and we have homegrown athletes that we’re investing in and getting time to which is what they need they need to be out on the field to actually get that experience and then again that’s where that depth comes from so that we can sit Chicho and still be a threat got a 13g game unbeaten streak you got to go all the way back to March um eight wins five draws and some of those have been blowout wins some of those have been come from behind uh you know efforts it just seems like it doesn’t matter what your situation you’re in right now you guys have found a way to get it done in some way shape or form um and again I know that you’re all about giving the credit to the players and the coaches but it just feels like this team has this kind of weird Swagger to him right now where it’s like okay we’re down 03 we’ll find a way to reel off three in a row or you know what we’re up one nothing we’ll get that 2030 lead to make sure that we shut the door on this thing and nobody’s ever going to come back on us like this team has just got a little bit of swagger to it and how much fun have you had watching that all come together right now yeah it’s amazing and you know I I I have to be honest back back in 2009 when I was at the club originally I just always had this feeling that we were going to win and it didn’t even matter what the score was at halftime that our club our boys would find a way to win and I have that same that same aura that same Mantra is here now where these guys just don’t give up on each other and one of the things that that I don’t like about sometimes the game of soccer is when people or teams get up and then they sit back and they let people just take 15 shots on goal and it’s just been awesome for me to watch uh where not only are we not sitting back we’re stepping on people’s throats and we’re just you know we’re just going to go until the very last second of the game and if we can score another goal we’re going to put it in the back of the net and I think we’re sending a message that we are a team that is a threat we’re a team that you don’t want to play we’re a team that if you make mistakes we’re going to we’re going to you know jump down your throat and it’s just fun to watch I mean the crowds have been just out of their minds Blown Away with what’s happening out on the field and it’s just really really exciting soccer so John I go back to just uh you know some of the the major sports accomplishments in the state and RSL with their Championship is definitely up top and I I know that you remember that well and you’ve been a part of this organization for for so many years and and so you understand what it takes to get there for Championship level soccer and sometimes it takes what’s around you and I look at lafc or or I look at Minnesota United or LA Galaxy that’s that’s always up there just speaking specifically in the west um let alone starting to get into the East where you’re having to deal with what what I consider the greatest soccer player of all time but what is the strength of major soccer right now as as far as feeling like okay we’re poised I mean we’re we’re top of the West and we can do this thing but when we’re talking about Championship level soccer how far away do you think RSL is or do you think they’re far away at all from being able to really start to to talk about you know postseason competition and something even bigger and better well H you’ve been you know certainly a part of winning teams in your life and you you know that feeling when it just feels like you’re going downhill in the sense that it’s easier that you’re playing together that you got each other’s backs that your intention is to win and to dominate and and that’s where I think our team is right now but like I said I’m very careful to to not get too high or too low um but this is the type of Club this is the type of team that can take it all the way to the end and that’s our intention we want Hardware we want to bring another national championship trophy to the state of Utah we’re very confident that that we can do that and like I said when you know that you’ve done all the work and that you’ve done the preparation and that you’re consistent in your training and your efforts that that is something that you can expect to do that’s exactly what this team is doing uh with each other on the practice field every single day with the coaching staff all the work that’s going in what we’re hoping to accomplish in the F in the future to back up what we what we’re doing it just all the work is there so the expectation is certainly there for us to win a championship H you and I have known John for a long time um we go back with you for a while uh in various uh various situations and you know I hope people can get that competitive vibe from you as you talk that that you don’t want to take a back you’re not taking a backseat to anybody in this league you’re not taking a backseat to any team to any staff to any front office you guys feel like you’re the best and you feel like you’re going to go out there and exert your will on everybody is that who you’ve always been John and is that uh why you know you love what you’ve done because I’ve known you as a sales manager as a GM as a guy like and and whatever you do you’re like you know what we’re winning and we’re winning big is that just part of your DNA as a person you know I think for me you know personally my driver is I I’ve never felt like I’m enough and I feel like I can always learn more and that we can always grow and then I also know you know by by you know also being part of winning organizations and winning teams that like I said earlier if you do the work then you can have that expectation and and I think you know we we’ve consistently and in working with you guys you know we we always wanted to do the work and did the work and had those expectations but you know I don’t know that anything’s worth working for if you don’t have the expectation of succeeding and excelling and so that’s what I’ve always had the pressure on myself is to try to Excel and to be enough and and it’s just a driver for me because I I don’t know that I’ll ever get there if we win when we win you know the MLS Cup I want us to go on and win other trophies I want Chicho to be number one in the league I want I want to dominate and if and when Messi comes here I’d love to have him come and then I’d love to just stomp his team right into the ground in front of our own crowd that’s that’s the John Kimble we know love right there that’s the John Kimble and and why do I hear a little bit Larry Go’s kind of leaking I I saw the picture of you and and Larry just recently and it’s like man you you played for a coach that didn’t know how to lose and and I don’t know if a lot of what you talk or how you talk comes from him but it’s funny to listen to to to you talk and then think about him and and what he did in the world of rugby oh yeah no he’s such an amazing mentor to me and was at that my time of life where I was just soaking up as much as I can I mean this is a guy that in his career won 419 games and lost 10 and had 20 national championships and I’ll never forget we were playing a team in California and I think we were up 65 to nothing and I came to the coach I came to Larry and I said you know Larry are we going to substitute anybody you want to put anybody else in and he said no we are going to step on these guys throats I want them to remember who you are wow and I said let’s I think we won that game 82 to nothing and we sent a message that if you play Highland Rugby you’re going to get pounded into the ground and so again it was all based on doing all the work that led to championships that’s what our club is doing now that’s what ourl is committed to and with that work comes that expectations of the hardware and I’m I’m excited to see where we go from here so this is uh you always know when uh when you come on with us you know you’re going to get a dumb question here and there uh so this is this is going to be the dumb question uh in terms of of acquisition in terms of of of adding is there things that you would like to do before the end of the season is this who you are is there other things that can be done to adjust in terms of maybe uh just adding to or is this is this is this what you’ve got for the rest of the season you know I think that uh Scotty goes to the work and that’s what Kurt and his team is working on uh they’re looking at how do we back things up how do we ensure I mean you can never control injuries and different things that might happen so if those were things were to have happen we have opportunity to go out and get additional players and that’s what I really love about our ownership our ownership wants to win but they want to be very intelligent about how they do it they want to make sure that player fits in the locker room they want to make sure that it’s additive to what we’re trying to accomplish are they at the age I mean like I said we’re a very young team that’s why we’re going to be good for a long time and can we bring somebody in that sits in that locker room fit fits into our system that will help us you know from this point forward and if we find somebody that will do that you know our ownership is ready to pull the trigger but it it really takes a lot of dynamic pieces to fit before going to make that commitment that’s got to be something you’ve got to be nervous about too because you’ve got such a good thing going right now and I talk to basketball coaches all the time and and football coaches when it comes to recruiting and they say look Talent is obviously number one you got to go out and find great talent but number two if the talent is there but it’s not a cultural fit and it doesn’t work well in your locker room that dude could be the uh you know the second coming of Joe mon but it it’ll all fall apart if if if it wrecks your locker room and it wrecks your culture so I got to imagine that’s a fine line to walk because you’ve got such a great thing going and and you know there there’s probably a desire there to be like oh we’re just if we just added this one little teeny piece will be definitely Unstoppable but if that piece doesn’t fit then it could all come crumbling down so that’s got to be an interesting line to walk for you guys H it it is a critical part of bringing people onto a team and specifically in Utah we we know we’re a unique Market we know we’re a little bit different if there’s a kid that wants to be in Vegas or in New York or in La then that’s where they should go but there’s a lot of people that want to be here that they love our culture they love our people they love the mountains the outdoor family lifestyle that we have here and if you find that right mix then they are so excited to be here they want to be a part of the club and and it really is a factor that I think a lot of just the Casual fan just doesn’t realize that that is almost as as important is the talent I mean I’m thinking specifically of a very very talented player that we had in the past that was an absolute you know cancer in our locker room and uh when those things happen it can it can tear things apart so it really is to your point Scotty it’s a really important part of getting things right with a club yeah yeah you’re not the first person I’ve heard say that in terms of great player but but uh but can do more damage than good for sure well John we’re so thrilled for you we’re thrilled for the organization uh we can’t wait to continue to watch this thing continue to grow and develop and uh hopefully you hold on to that first place and get it rolling right into the playoffs but thanks for your time as always we’ll do it again here very soon you guys are awesome thanks so much thanks John got it president of roale Salt Lake it is John 9975 DSL Sports Zone 3 2 1 it’s the 10th Annual top 60 in 60 get your college football fixed every day at 1:30 as the Zone counts you down to the start of the 2024 season by listing off the top 60 players in the state of Utah as voted on by the local media and you the fans you’ll also hear from the coaches as they talk about the players that will impact their season the most it’s the top 60 and 60 weekdays at 1:30 presented by five star painting on your home of the best college football coverage in Utah 975 the KSL Sports Z as you cougars and Aggies we’ve got you covered this is H Olsen and Scotty G on 975 the sports up [Music] trous habit made it nearly 70 days losing we without speed eating sunflower seeds drinking lots of carrot juice and soaking but it’s not i’ have these wonderful drinks some kind of sentous treat not Zu weat a big warm and Aug of Mee H ol and Scott jard 975 the KSL Sports Zone starting to wrap up the show Kevin McClosky set to join us currently the Utah outliers general manager it’s a tier 2 Junior a hockey team under 20 team uh we’ll chat with him get his land thoughts on the landscape and you know we talked a little bit about Junior Hockey with Ryan Smith and and uh what an NHL team can mean to Junior Hockey here in the state of Utah because he seems to be on the Forefront of that and and how valuable having an NHL team would be to the state of Utah in terms of developing growth and and the next generation of hockey player here in the state of Utah something you and I never had when we were youngers yeah no access no opportunity and what you need is you need to give that opportunity because that’s what generates interest y you know I didn’t really played Little League baseball and Lloyd did and you know even Lloyd playing baseball through high school gave him opportunities for insights and interest into baseball that I just don’t have yeah so when you can generate that with youth hockey it makes a gigantic difference well he is the general manager of the Utah outliers Kevin McClosky kind to join us Kevin how are you hey Kevin Scotty Hans how are you guys today we’re doing well we appreciate you coming on and we want to get your thoughts because Ryan Smith joined us in our first segment and he talked about the new practice facility and how important that’s going to be not only for his team but the development of Junior Hockey here in the state of Utah kind of give us the landscape the landscape of what Junior Hockey is like and what this NHL team uh and this facility and and some of the opportunities that Ryan Smith and this group are offering how that’s going to help grow the sport here in the state of Utah well it’s funny I was at the press conference and I was I was introduced to Ryan briefly and I said Ryan thank you for bringing hockey out of the darkness and into the light so we’ve labored here Paul Taylor and myself and and Rich 12 where we’ve had our our Junior Team here OG and Mustangs have a team in our league and uh and um you know primarily in Big Market areas it’s hard to fit in when you’re fighting against the Jazz and the University of Utah of course of BYU So I listened to the segment with Ryan and he he made an interesting point and that was that uh in comparing it to the NBA the new practice rink down in Sandy there um the NHL players will be practicing they’ll go off the ice so clean the ice and then the kids come out and they’re literally and and he you know alluded that that doesn’t happen in the NBA so the new practice facility here and I believe it’s going to be a two sheet facility and and um shoot we’re building one in Park City now if they want to avoid some mistakes have them call me but uh anyway it’s um it’s a unique sport in the fact that it’s very um open to the fans you know you look at Vegas every practice they that they um they have is open to the public they’ll have five six 700 people at their practices some days and you know on a Saturday when the kids are out of school so it’s really fantastic in that way so but it will certainly ignite the youth Community here you look at what’s happened in Vegas and Seattle and my partner was out of Dallas and he got to Dallas a year or two after the um North Stars moved down to Dallas and it exploded so kids are going to know what the stick and Puck is and there’ll be an alternative to you know to either basketball or soccer or football and uh kids you’re going to get excited about it so we’re very excited that um it’s going to grow this fort at the Grassroots level well Kevin I’m curious just from your personal perspective what were your thoughts when you saw Utah landed an NHL team well I was number one I was not surprised okay and I was not surprised it was going to happen this year so I’ve got a lot of friends that are in the game and and still currently in the game and management and not that they had inside information or anything because I don’t think that was the case but when I saw that U you know Ryan and Ashley had sent a letter to the NHL and that letter got published hey we would like expansion here in Salt Lake City we would welcome the NHL to coming here and and about the fourth or fifth paragraph in that release that was put on nhl.com was by the way we have a building albeit not perfect it would suffice until you know we get our new building build or in this case now the renovation is going forward the following day at the allstar Break um Marty uh shoot I can’t think of his last name head of the NHL players Association was pretty tur in a response to what do you think of the Phoenix situation and I understand why because the players get 50 cents on the dollar right and there’s a lot of dollars being left on the table playing in mullet in such a small Arena and I think that the nhlpa had just had enough there was no on the horizon with the new building other than a land auction uh in June sometime so I was not surprised that the NHL came here as quickly as it did and there was a precedent set back in Atlanta I don’t know 12 or 13 years ago that they could move a team that quickly when Atlanta the Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg very very quickly so um in listening to Ryan and I’m not sure which one you guys was it Han you said it’s like drinking from a firehose and Ryan kind of agreed it is but it can be done and and I think this organ organization here is well suited to do it in in the fact that they’ve got their infrastructure built what do you think of this roster that this team that this city is inheriting and uh you know they were on that playoff bubble until a lot of the relocation news came out and I think it affected them poorly throughout part of the season and and then they responded near the end of the year and started playing a lot better but uh how quickly could we see a I don’t want to say a Stanley Cup contending team but a you know a playoff contending team how about a playoff contending that’s a great question and I was talking to Matt McConnell who a good friend of mine who’s their TV guy who lives down in Phoenix and and uh and they were in the hunt and and prominently in the hunt until they took an Eastern trip that started off in Florida went to Tampa went to Carolina and moved their way up the east coast and they went over and they literally fell off the balcony on that road trip so it was really before the relocation talk had started and stuff like that shortly thereafter then you get the relocation talk and then you got you know guys sitting around a room having a coffee going oh gez what’s going to happen now what’s the unknown so they had kind of tumbled a little bit prior to the relocation talk with that Eastern Road Trip um and they did start to you know pull it together at the end of the year when I think that uh you know they realize hey Salt Lake City is in the United States it’s a great area and uh and this could really be a good thing so as far as the roster listen they’re they’re young um I you know I think if they sore up their defense the goal tending will be better with a better defense in front of them and uh you know certainly Bill Armstrong’s a a bright individual he’s been around this game a long time and he’s got two or three guys he needs to resign but if he can add judiciously um I think a better defense would make this team a contender certainly a playoff Contender deep into the season this coming season so Scotty and I have really jumped into this NHL world and we’re trying to understand it watched a lot of postseason excited to sure get get this um get this championship series underway coming up tomorrow but when you’re watching the game Kevin what are you what are you watching when you’re watching and calling and and trying to understand the game what are you watching for specifically maybe a away from away from the puck that draws your interest and maybe gives you some some Tail Signs on what’s going to happen in a game so so really simply it’s interesting you know and I’m obviously in this industry on a daily basis okay so and I evaluate kids and you know as a matter of fact we drafted uh Mario deay an assistant coach we drafted his son Thomas is a 2007 birth year for our team for this year and uh so we’ve watched film on them we’ve talked to him and stuff like that but in sitting as a on the couch tomorrow night I’ll really look at at number one goaling is going to be major obviously uh you’ve got to keep the puck out of the net and and how well a team is defending and how how quickly they exit the Zone the less time the the puck is in your Zone you know obviously that’s a good thing because you want to keep it outside you want to play in the other teams into the ey so I was looking to see how a team looks like with their with their when you retrieve the pock when the other teams put it in you retrieve it you exit the Zone how cleanly how crisply are you creating turnovers or is the opposition creating turnovers and I think if you take care of your own end of the ice then uh the game will will turn you’ll be certainly very competitive in the game probably end up with a positive result all right let’s let you look inside the crystal mentioned Conor McDavid or the high octane offense oh yeah yeah I like the defensive into the ice the boring side of it that’s win championships right that dude’s no joke for sure so give me look inside the crystal ball we don’t necessarily hold you to it but we obviously respect your uh your opinion how do you think this goes who wins and how long how long’s this series going to go so I think right off the bat Florida’s got the better goalie okay Sergey bosi has been around a long time he’s 35 years old he’s had a fantastic season he had a great run last year in the playoffs Al he had a couple of hiccups if you look at um if you look at Stuart Skinner the goalie in Edmonton okay in the second series against Vancouver they he they were one and one in the series but he kind of got lit up both games he got pulled in the third game he didn’t even start games four and five they went to Calvin rard who won game four lost game five it came back to Skinner and he’s been lights out since then so goal tending is a really really big deal and I think the depth of Florida uh particularly on the back end and the defensive end of the ice I I got a note here that um in Florida’s three series coo off from Tampa Bay who Leed the league in scoring Pastor neck is’s the leading scoring in Boston Zab Jack and cder from New York they’re top two scorers five on five forget the special teams five on five Florida held all four of those top scores scoreless in their whole series they given up a five on five goal against the top guys so I think for those reasons I think it’s going to be a long or a short series for Conor McDavid and Leon dry Sidle and the fact that I think Florida can just shut them down um their offensive pressure that they put on the they’ll put on the Edmonton defense I think is going to be very uh very challenging for the Edmonton Defenders to deal with as well well we certainly appreciate your time let’s do this again this has been a fun conversation thanks for hanging out with us enjoy your weekend enjoy the series and we’ll uh we’ll talk again here very soon we’ll come back and see what happens after games one and two you got it if I’m correct by the way the prediction I got Florida and five Florida and five love it Kevin appreciate your time man this that one I think there’s a lot of people that are very proedit because of Conor MCD yeah yeah he’s a fantastic player that is for darn sure no there’s no doubt he’s been a joy to watch that’s Kevin McClosky right here on 975 the EK KSL Sports Zone great great conversation with him uh we will take a break we’ll wrap things up next get you ready for JJ and Alex straight ahead right here on the Zone this is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson there will be some hipster who looks back who was like remember how ugly SL cool those jerseys were I got to go get myself one I mean that’s what the purple jersey is everybody hated iters hated it and Carl both complained about it the reason to this day that the Jersey that’s swinging into the rafters is the note for those guys is because they hated the purple so much but the hipsters fell in love with the purple 10 years after they moved away from the purple and now all of a sudden we’re back to the purple and everybody forgets like oh we hated that thing forever remember when they had the copper black and stuff like that I guarantee some hipster is going to dredge that up in 10 minutes and everybody hated it whatever here Jake Scott and Ben Anderson every day from 10: to no on 975 the KSL Sports s
Hour 1
• Utah Jazz, NHL & RSL owner Ryan Smith
• Takeaways from 30 minute conversation with Ryan Smith
• What You May Have Missed
Hour 2
• Bleacher Report NBA writer Andy Bailey
• #58 – 60 in 60 – Sione Fotu – Utah LB
• Whole World News
Hour 3
• RSL President John Kimball
• Utah Outliers & former professional hockey player Kevin McCloskey
