Jake & Ben: Full Show | How different will Utah’s Offense Look This Season? | Taylor Hendricks Ma…

Jake & Ben Full Show from July 29, 2025

Hour 1

• Kyle Whittingham opened up about Utah’s Offense looking a lot different this year than it has in recent years. 

• Top 3 Stories of the Day: Details on a shooting at the NFL Offices in New York, Taylor Hendricks returning to 5 on 5 play, BYU QB Battle thoughts

• NBA Player Marcus Morris facing felony charges because of a bad check. 

Hour 2

• Jake Shapiro from Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan in Denver joined to talk about Coach Prime & The Colorado Buffaloes. Also, quick notes from Denver Broncos training camp & thoughts on the Nuggets. 

• Jake loves his salacious celebrity stories. Today he’s focused on Katy Perry’s rebound after her split from Orlando Bloom. 

• What starts as a WNBA story about a wig falling off turns into an interesting question. Are there any toupees in the NBA? 

And now it’s 10:00 a.m. Let’s just get down to it and it’s time for your sports picks. Strap yourselves in, folks. From two guys who have covered the teams you’re passionate about for years. We are professionals. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jake Scott, Ben Anderson, how’s it going over there, Ben? I’m doing great. How are you? Uh, I’m good. The the gal from the Ozarks is gonna play Madonna apparently. Yeah, she’s ahead to audition for her, right? That’s a That’s a good cast right there. I could see that. Why are we making a Madonna movie? I Well, I don’t know. Did she live an interesting life? Yeah, I probably probably I don’t I don’t know. They’re making uh all sorts of You’re not a hasb been singer if you don’t have a a biopic about you. Yeah, but Madonna’s 66. Like, shouldn’t she have a third act still in front of her? What are we talking about? No. Shar’s still out there going, right? You make a biopic, you might as well put me in the ground picking up on DJ and PK’s bit of every show’s one closer to death. Um, okay. I hear you. I mean, Elton had one though, and his career is ending. No, it’s it’s over. He played his he did his last tour or whatever. I think you can get him off the couch for like a million bucks still, but yeah, he did like the he did that crossover with Was it Britney? Who did he do Casha? Who did he do a crossover with? I can’t remember who it was. Anyways, neither here nor there. But, uh, I don’t know. Uh, I guess Freddy Mercury’s been long gone. Yeah, Jim Morrison was pretty dead when uh The Doors happened. Yeah. Although the rest of the band wasn’t. Bob Dylan’s still alive. He just had his biopic come out. Oh man, last time I saw Bob, which was a few years ago, it was not great. Well, not inspiring hope as to his long-term health. Was with Dua Lia Elton John. Elton on the other hand, I saw him on his last tour and yeah, maybe he wasn’t bouncing around the stage, but he was still creaming that piano. You know what I mean? El John’s 78, so he’s got 12 years on Madonna. So, I just think it’s a little premature. All right. Well, Madonna, but that’s not a bad as far as casting goes. That’s all I’m saying. That’s all I’m getting at, Ben. Yeah, the material girl uh girl. Yeah. Married to Shawn Penn, right? Madonna, wasn’t she? I think she’s been married to several people, including Dennis Rodman, right, for a minute. Yeah, but one of those people was definitely Sean Penn, I think. Okay, do a biopic on him and his career. Well, he ended El Chapo’s strange. That was a strange twist to that story. Who’s going to interview him? I like that Madonna’s exes have the the golden ticket to go anywhere in the world. Rodman can go talk to uh Kim Jong-un. Oh, that’s a good point. John Penn can talk to El Chapo. Guy Richie can probably talk to somebody. I don’t know. Yeah. Who else is Madonna dated? Michael Jackson. Well, dated or married. Carlos Leyon. I don’t know who that is. That sounds more current. 95 to 97. Oh. Oh, yeah. He’s got a one-on-one with Putin. I’m pretty sure pretty sure she’s dating somebody very young, right? Yeah, I think you’re right. I think she’s trying to tour or something. She does not look like herself. No, she’s jumped the shark a little bit, which I get it. The goalpost move a lot, but uh she’s seems like she’s jumped the goalpost even. Aging naturally is is fine. You should. Yeah, I’m I’m fine with that whole thing. Uh all right, Ben, you doing? Julia Garner is really having a moment. Speaking of the Ozarks woman, is she? How so? She’s in Fantastic 4 right now. She’s in the new movie. I think she plays the teacher in the movie Weapons that’s coming out. That’s supposed to be magnificent. So, uh, sounds like she’s Yeah, absolutely. Now it’s Now she’s Madonna, so good for her. Well, she was good in Ozarks. I I mean, I don’t care about the Fantastic Four, but Do you ever watch Inventing Anna? Yes, that was weird. That was weird. Yeah, same girl. She’s got a lot of range. She does. She’s got a lot of range, Ben. Yeah. Uh, but you good? You good? Doing all right. You’re you’re dressed all in black for some reason. Yeah. I don’t know. Didn’t mean to. You went Johnny Cash on it today. I didn’t even know your notice your watch is black. It’s gold. Shoes black. Pants black on black on black. It’s kind of cloudy. Yeah. Hold up my $18 Casio. What’s going on? Honestly, were you in a gloomy mood this morning? Actually, it was a little gloomy outside. I like the clouds. Anyways, neither here nor there. You’re leaning in. Yeah, sure. You know, don’t be surprised if uh if you get stopped on the street and somebody goes, “Is everything okay?” All right. Is everything okay? Do you need a hug? You look like a guy who needs a hug. Uh all right, Ben. Uh camp’s open this week. We’re going to talk a little youth. DJ and PK played this clip on their show. And uh let’s uh let’s lead off with this. What uh one of the big stories, I mean, locally, we talked about it yesterday. What is the offense at Utah going to look like? The other big story is who’s going to play quarterback at BYU? Yeah. Well, Kyle Whittingham with CBS Sports addressed one of those, the one he’s Nothing with nothing to do with BYU. He’s not throwing out his hot McKay Hilstead take or something. Uh talking about the Utah offense. So, let’s uh let’s lead off with that. We will look definitely a lot different than we have. You know, the past jeez 15, 10, 15 years, we’ve been a lot of double tight, you know, 12 personnel. Uh, and we’re going to be moving more to a spread attack and and RPO and and, uh, we got a dynamic quarterback. We love our quarterback, Devin Dampier. Rushed for over 1,000 yards last year, threw for over 2500 yards. And so, he’s he’s a guy that can is a true dual threat. uh great leader and uh if spring ball is any indication of what we’re going to see, he’s going to be very exciting this fall. Going to look a lot different, Ben. They’ve been doing it the same way for the last 10 or 11 years. Um going to look a lot different. What does that mean? Read read into that for me. What is he talking about? Zero throwing the ball. Absolutely no willingness to throw the ball. Um, look, it, you know, Utah at their best, I would argue, over the last couple of years was largely driven by good quarterback play, pretty elite tight end play, which I think really helped. You know, you talk about 12 personnel and the way they use their tight ends certainly figured into some of that really more though over the last four or five years with Brandt Keithy and with Dalton Concade and how effective they were and then Cam Rising be being as effective as he was. So, I think there will be some who ru the idea that some of that will go away, though obviously you still use your tight ends in the spread, but I just think it’s going to be a heavy ground attack. And I it’s kind of boring. It’s not that exciting. It ends up with some truly treacherous uh possessions because you just can’t move the ball and everyone says you got to move the ball. You got to get the ball down the field. You can’t just sit there and try and run at the defense over and over. But the idea is over time it it breaks through. And I thought in our conversation last week, and I will let you talk, uh, in our conversation last week, you’re on a roll, Bartle uh, mentioned that he thought that Wayan Parker, the running back, reminds him if of any former Utah running back of John White IVth. And as we said, when Utah had John White IVth, their entire offensive model was just run at them until they get tired, essentially. Hence, John White Ha had to have averaged half of his yards in the fourth quarter. Here is the key difference, though, and I’m actually glad you brought that up because it it kind of illustrates the question that I have because you say they’re going to run a lot more. Who was the offensive coordinator when John White IV had his best year? Who was it? Sir Norm Chow. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What kind of offense did Norm Sir Nororm run? Pro style. Yeah, he’s a pro style guy. He was at BYU. He was at USC. Uh hence him getting on campus at Utah and saying, “We need different quarterbacks immediately. We need more and different.” Yes, he brought the fullback back, for example. There were more tight ends. It was a prostyle what he ran at USC offense that they ran the ball an incredible amount. You are correct about that. The difference is what they’re doing this year is not going to be that. Not even close. In fact, about as opposite from that as you can possibly get. The the guy who’s had a bad summer is Fred Whittingham because his position group is going to disappear. Yeah. because they’re going to run a full spread. The idea is the thing about a spread option offense is it is a math equation. It’s almost like yeah, it’s almost like uh spreading the floor in basketball. It’s very similar. You’re just trying to generate two ones. You’re getting people out of the way and you’re trying to figure out how to get the math to work in your favor. And that decision is whether you keep it or pitch it or or hand it off or whatever. That’s the that’s the whole Yeah. kitten kaboodleoodle. So, will they run it more attempts wise this year than last year? Yes, they will. But it will look way different. Way different. And I think that’s why Coach Whit is illustrating that so almost dramatically, you know, because it’s not just uh well, we ran the ball 55% of the time last year and we’re going to dial that up to 65. Yeah. That’s not what he’s talking about. And what I still want to see is the pace. Is it going to be we’re going to run as many plays as humanly possible on offense? Because that that will that has the potential to upset the Utah equation. The whole protect the defense mantra that is on the dang wall up at that practice facility. That’s what puts that in danger. And I wonder how that’s going to be married. Let’s uh let’s play the quot. Yeah, I want to play it again. I want to hear it again. We will look definitely a lot different than we have. You know, the past jeez 15 10 15 years we’ve been a lot of double tight, you know, 12 personnel. Uh and we’re going to be moving more to a spread attack and and RPO and and uh we got a dynamic quarterback. We love our quarterback. Devin Dampier rushed for over 1,000 yards last year, threw for over 2500 yards. And so he’s he’s a guy that can is a true dual threat. uh great leader and uh if spring ball is any indication of what we’re going to see, he’s going to be very exciting this fall. I certainly am curious about the total passing yards. Uh 2500 would eclipse Cam Rising’s second year at Utah. Uh it would not eclipse his third year at Utah uh in 2022 when he had 3,000 yards. But certainly Cam never ran the ball like that. Well, like that. Uh no, he did not. But his second year that his second year he didn’t play any of the non-conference, right? So he was three games short his second year. So you the stats would probably have been he would have been up over 2500. I mean he was seven yards short. It probably would have been similar. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I think you’re going to see I think you’re going to see a lot of short passes. I mean you want to talk about the passing game. I don’t know how much pop the top off the defense is going to be a thing. Well, RPO doesn’t really allow anyone to get down the field. No, it does not. and can’t take the top off anything and the way the offensive line is forced to play, you can’t hold the ball. So, you know, it’s going to look different. Do you have feelings on the RPO? Uh I you know what I I uh I don’t want to sound like a geyser, but it it’s a little gimmicky and the way the way it requires the the offensive lines to play, I think is unproductive. And that’s something we could talk about. I mean, the Utah has its best offensive line ever. If you if you uh listen to Coach Wit, and this is not an offense that’s really go let the O lineman eat. That’s No, it’s not designed to emphasize the the O line. It’s a zone blocking kind of RPO, stand up and don’t move kind of not really a road greater go get it done type of norm chow kind of thing. So, you hope it doesn’t negate what should be an advantage. for the University of Utah. So, it’s the the fit of the offense is is critical and the way that Whit put it there. I I think I mean he doesn’t get dramatic. Obviously, that’s probably as dramatic as he can get, but he’s probably sitting there watching them put it in and he’s like, “Whoa, like whoa, that’s different. This is going to be this is going to be different.” And what happens when the offense stops protecting the defense? How does that go as far as dynamic goes? Because Dave Christensen tried to do something some things different when he was the Can we find his as long as we’re talking about him? Can we find his bit or he’s yelling at uh yelling at Troy Troy Calhoun? Probably. Have you heard that, Christian? You know what I’m talking about. Uh anyway, uh do you remember that game where Utah blew a lead against Arizona State at Arizona State where in protest Dave Christensen refused to throw it refused for like a quarter and a half? I think you’re going to see that unbelievable like unbeliev tantrum like that. I think you’re also going to see a lot of procedural penalties because that’s what happens with the RPO, right? Everybody kind of has to be in sync. Well, the O line timing perspective, the O line who gets too far downfield a lot. Yeah, a lot. It’s really difficult. That’s the hard part about it. You do have to have not just a special quarterback, which I believe Deon Dampier can be a special quarterback and had if not a special season last year, certainly special games and special moments last year. Uh, so transferring in, I do believe they have a quarterback who should be able to do what they’re doing. He’s he did it last year. He’s doing it at a higher level now, but he did it last year and should be better at it conceivably in his second season. But yeah, everybody has to be working together and yeah, if we know if there’s one thing that Whit is going to hate, it’s either short drives or procedural penalties or you know, anything of the like, anything of the sort. So, I will be curious with patience with this. Well, heaven forbid you fumble if you fumble the fumble likelihood in an RPO, for example, is pretty high. a five-yard penalty on first down and the drive is essentially over before it starts in a non- big play offense. Not that not that you can’t generate big plays with the RPO. You certainly can, but not designed to make up that type of ground easily. So, when you stop protecting the defense, how does that go over internally? And well, honestly, what’s Morgan’s opinion on that? Yeah, because that’s very relevant. I mean, Coach Whit brought up Morgan in every single interview. Mhm. So, what’s his opinion on protect the defense and this balance with what’s going to happen offensively? Flyboy. Uh, for those that don’t know, he was the head coach at Wyoming. Dave Christensen. Dave Christensen. And they lost the game against Air Force. Air Force. It’s funny, this actually plays into the Yeah. to the T because Dave’s whole thing was go fast, go hard and Air Force couldn’t keep up defensively so they faked an injury which happens which you see all the time. It is kind of dirty pool but Dave was frustrated by it. Dave was not happy. Can we play the whole clip? Do you have the whole thing? Uh maybe we’ll try and find it. But Dave’s daughter or wife, I can’t remember which it was. I think it was his daughter yelling at him like just stop it. Come back. So funny. Oh man. But yeah, that lunatic was at Utah for a year. I do think you have to take it didn’t go well a big picture approach to it. You cannot go small sample size frustration with inevitably drives getting blown up because the RPO has malfunctioned. Yeah. Which it does. Like we said, it’s a lot of difficult timing. It’s not necessarily going to emphasize every strength Utah has on offense, which is we talked about how good their offensive line could be. There are probably going to be times when Wit would prefer you just draw it up to hand the ball off to Wayan Parker or whoever the, you know, RB1 is going to be and go pick up three yards when they need it and they run RPO and it doesn’t work and which just says like why are we over complicating this? But over a long enough period of time with a big enough sample size, it should even out and should be beneficial if it’s being run well. But I think Whit could lack that patience. Top three stories of the day at kslports.com is coming up next. It is the Jake and Ben show on a Tuesday. Tuesday. Tuesday. 975D KSL Sports Zone. It’s time to break down the biggest stories of the day. This is the top three stories of the day on KSLsports.com 975 KSL Sports Zone. Jake and Ben want to remind you you can win big every Wednesday on the KSL Sports Zone with Win Ticket Wednesday. this week. Uh coming up tomorrow, got tickets to see Eric Church and the Free the Machine Tour October 23rd at the Delta Center. Find your tickets on SeatGeek and listen to the KSL Sports Zone all day on Wednesday for your chance to win. All right, time for the top three stores of the day. KSLports.com sponsored by Jbrooks Jewelers. Cherish your love with Jbrooks Jewelers. Explore their expertly crafted engagement rings made from the finest materials. J Brooks Jewelers. All right, Christian, where uh where should we start today? Number one, a scary situation in uh New York yesterday as there was a shooting at the NFL headquarters building. Ben, I’ll read right here from the report from ESPN. A gunman who killed four people at a Manhattan office building before killing himself was trying to target the headquarters of the NFL, but took the wrong elevator. This is according to Mayor Eric Adams of New York. uh investigators believe, and I’m not going to use this Bozo’s name, uh was trying to uh get to the NFL offices after shooting several people Monday in the building’s lobby, but accidentally entered the wrong set of elevator banks. Um four people, including offduty New York City police officer at Draw Islam, were killed. Uh the shooter played high school football, long history of mental illness, which he is accrediting or apparently in his uh final note credited to CTE and said study my brain essentially which it becomes a huge I mean the reason he was targeting the NFL. CTE has been a huge story and it seems to come in waves and es and flows a little bit as far as how we talk about it with the NFL and we’ll get some high-profile concussions all to a tag of AIOA and then it kind of goes away and the next one comes and we see an ugly fencing injury on the you know on the field and it gets talked about. This is I guess the latest and most unfortunate chapter so far in that process. Um, with all due resp I I have many things to say about CTE and the behavior of the NFL in particular in regards to sub subject. I’ I’ve talked about it at great length, but uh I don’t think we it’s appropriate to talk about it today, frankly, because that’s just what this type of this guy wants by committing murder. Yeah, I’m not going to give it to him. We can talk about it some other time, but I don’t that frankly is not relevant. Okay. It doesn’t excuse this this kind of thing. It just doesn’t it’s not it’s not relevant. I don’t I don’t care. We can talk about it down the line. I’d be more than happy to. But this sort of thing being prevalent in our society, it’s these wing nuts who want to get their message out so badly. They do these horrible things. And I’m not going to, you know, CT is very serious. Don’t get me wrong. Very serious. And I’m again more than happy to have a conversation about it at some other time. But I’m not going to give this guy’s due. It’s not Nope. You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to go into office buildings and shoot people. You don’t. Sorry. I I’m sorry that you have CT. You know I If you do, that’s if you do or whatever. I’m sorry, but you know what? You don’t get to walk into buildings and shoot people. You don’t. End of story. Agreed. And again, we can talk about it some other time, but not today. Um, it gets filed in these CTE conversations. Certainly, we will see if he actually had CTE. We don’t know if they’ll even be able to study. I have no idea what how he ended his life, but um you know there is a history of generally violence towards oneself when it comes to CTE, not generally others that we’ve seen in the NFL, whether it’s Junior Sea or some of these other horrendous stories, but I’m with I I think that’s totally fair. I think what you’re saying is fair. Yeah. Can we stop walking into buildings and shooting people? Yeah. Right. Is that too much to ask? Correct. So anyway, let’s move on. Uh, number two, Taylor Hendris apparently making progress as he rehabs from his uh broken shin last year. So, the NBA Players Association or the National Basketball Players Association, not the NBA PA. Um, hosts these summits, these getaways. Um, this one’s hosted by the Sanctuary, which you’ve seen kind of famous ones. Uh, which one that’s held in New York. Wasn’t there one in Santa Barbara for a long time? One in Santa Barbara. Yeah. It’s this company that has trainers. They invite team trainers out. Isaiah Wright, who you would know from the Jazz, was there uh this year. And they go and a bunch of NBA players get together. It’s a way to stay in shape. They also, I think, try new things with some technology, hyperbaric chamber type of stuff that’s, you know, well monitored. Obviously, it’s not it’s not a testing lab for these guys. Wait a minute. Who was the Didn’t Antonio Brown freeze his foot off? Uh, I think Antonio Brown did. I don’t think it was at the sanctuary. Um, no, no, no. But Antonio Brown was doing what? The the free what do they call that? Chamber. Yeah. Yeah. He had it on his foot. Like nearly lost his foot because he burned it so badly. Frostbite. Yeah. But the this this summit they do this the the sanctuary and you know uh it’s for Hoodie Melo if you remember that meme coming out and uh Jordan Clarkson’s been there. If you’re a jazz fan historically it’s just a way for these guys to go and play together. And most importantly to this topic, Bryce Sensiba and Taylor Hendricks were there on this trip and it’s the first time we have seen Taylor Hendrickx playing both threeon-ree and five on- five basketball. Obviously, he was not cleared to play in summer league, but he is playing with this group. And I would assume it’s not full intensity, but it’s full contact. I mean, you’ve got other full NBA players out here and everyone’s really playing. So, that’s a very good sign for his approach considering that injury occurred in late October and it’s late July and he’s already back on the floor. Um, people know the reason why NBA players do this sort of thing or the the run in Miami or there’s stuff all over as you were alluding to, right? Because you’ve got to play a little bit. Yeah, of course. You’ve got to play. You’ve got to stay in shape. You’ve got to get better. You got to work at the stuff you got to work at, but you can’t just go down to the sports mall, right? Because you’re going to get hurt because Thor Bailey playing at Westminster Park is not a thing anymore. Yeah. Because NBA players are worried about getting hurt. And there’s a code in the NBA, right, that only Kelly Oolen is allowed to go outside of where you don’t slide under me. You don’t and and if you’re playing with amateurs, they’re not doing it on purpose, but all of a sudden they’re not athletic enough, they’re not quick enough, so they’re going to value. So the people that play at these are very high level high school, they’re college, and then mix in with with NBA guys. And there’s kind of a I don’t know if it’s a call list or whatever because some of these are more formal than others. Obviously, this one’s quite formal, but like yeah, I it’s in Andal Lucia. It’s it’s not easy to get to. I think the one in Miami I think you have to get on like the the one in New York is one of the most famous buildings in New York that like famously Madonna tries to get an apartment in and they’re like, “Yeah, you’re not special enough to get here.” But whoever has this place and has built this gym has access to let these NBA players in. Neither here nor there. So these can be really cool opportunity. This is how players get better in the offseason. Yeah, this sort of stuff. And Taylor himself needs to play. We’ve talked about it a zillion times on this show. He’s got to get more skilled. He’s got to work. He’s got to hone his craft. It’s pretty crazy to think that Taylor Hendricks has still only played 43 games in his career. Yeah. I mean, the Jazz brought him along extremely slowly as a rookie. He played almost entirely in the G-League until the trade deadline and then they brought him up. And once they brought him up, he played the second half of the season, then he got hurt right away. Yep. So, yeah, he’s he’s going to be starting over near square one. The advantage is he’s so much bigger physically now. You can see it in the videos, uh, than he was coming into the NBA, and that will be a plus for him, but I imagine this is going to take a while. Yeah, I think he’ll be in the rotation day one. I think he’s going to be back. I don’t expect him to start. Well, big, strong, and athletic is pretty useful. Last time I checked in the NBA, good combo. And then if he can put some skill to it, then you’re talking about something special. Yep. And that was always the point with him. And it sucks. That was always That’s the worst storyline about last year. Yep. Was him a major setback was him being hurt. Absolutely. All right. What’s next? Number three. BYU officially opens camp tomorrow. When do you think they’ll name a starting quarterback? The day after game one. I’m I’m really eager to see who’s worked on their smile in the offseason because that’s what we’re going to find out day one. Like who was really working on, you know, that showing their pearly whites? Um yeah, they’re g What do you mean when are they going to announce who won the quarterback? I don’t know. I guess Colani did did officially do it the week before last year, right? They did. So maybe that’s another situation. Brand uh Brandon Dilman, the uh Skyline Eagle, was on with DJ and PK this morning and he’s he’s feeling hillstead. I think that’s where everyone’s leaning right now and I understand why everyone’s leaning that direction. I always fear the dual quarterback option and the idea that you haven’t been able to separate the two out and it does sometimes just take players to get on the field and it could be particularly appropriate for BYU this year unfortunately because Hillstead has played and Bachmire has not played. So you may not actually know how some of these guys look until they are taking live snaps in an actual game. And so maybe Hillstead plays well or looks more experienced and seasoned than Bachmeire, but Bachmier’s upside is higher. Physically, he’s better. So, maybe he gets to play the second half against Portland State and then you end up with this bleeding into week two. And I think that’s always the danger there, but I could see it being very realistic realistically happening. I don’t expect BYU’s day one starter to finish the season. Ben, you’re you’re talking as if we didn’t live through Riley Nelson and Jake Heaps. There there’s no putting it to bed in week two. It’s going to be weak all year. Yeah. Because the the I’ve seen it a zillion times. The star Froch doesn’t get the job. the average. No, I shouldn’t say that because I don’t know that about Hillstead, but the the guy that’s a little bit more senior, but you’re not really sure of the conversation is always there until the frost replaces the upper classman or in this case the I guess Hillstead’s still what a true sophom or not a red shirt red shirt sophomore. So it’s not like uh he’s uh he’s a senior and then you know what happens Ben? The freshman struggles. Yeah. And then for the rest of the year, you’re going, “Well, maybe we should go back to the other guy.” Yeah. And then that hits the team at some point and then it’s really bad news. But I don’t think it’s going anywhere. We’ve seen this tale as old as time, Ben. So yeah, I mean, offensive coordinators like Brandon Dolman want to go with the more experienced guy, the safer pick, because they still want to win ball games, but then the pressure just mounts about the frost. So, when do they succumb to that uh pressure? Depends on how good Hillstead is. It may depend on how good Stanford or East Carolina is, which is week two and week three. Portland State again, Jake Scott could start and BYU is going to win that game. But if Stanford or be or East Carolina can put up a fight against you and you have the wrong quarterback, you could potentially drop one of those games. I wouldn’t bet on it, but you could potentially lose one of those games. So yeah, the question then becomes like, do you have the guts to start Bear Bachmeire in that situation? Man, the only I’m trying to think of examples of quarterbacks that got mid-season opportunities and then just took the job and no controversy from here on out. Alex Smith is definitely one. Would you count Cam Rising once he finally got on the field? Yeah, I’d throw Cam Rising in there. I was thinking of Brandon Domen himself cuz Lavel did everything he possibly could not to play Brandon Domen. And then Brandon finally played and it’s like, “Wow, this guy’s got something.” And next thing you know, he’s playing for the ners, but most of the time it’s wobbly. Who was the quarterback that um Coach Whit was just dying to bench Travis Wilson for? Guy started uh against UCLA at the Rose Bowl until he got hurt. You remember who I’m talking about? Transferend Kendall Thompson. Okay. Yeah. Kendall Thompson hitch in his throat. Man, they tried to bench Travis Wilson throughout his entire career at Utah. And we’ve seen it, we’ve certainly seen it at BYU, too. I mean, Riley Nelson is certainly the first one that comes to mind, but back before John Beck got the job permanently, one off seasonason, he and man, it eventually was Jason Beck who was John’s backup, but he batt with Matt Barry to get that uh that starting job. I mean, it just the the quarterback decision is so important, yet we’ve seen it go so many different ways. But the safe thing to do is go with Hillstead and then try out Bach Meyer and see if what you’ve got exactly what you laid out. That’s the safe thing to do. But it always is controversial to pretend like it would go away week two is not going to happen. It’s just really difficult to commit to once you make that switch that that has to be the rest of the way. It’s difficult to do because inevitably, like you said, the freshman is going to struggle unless Hillstead is Alex Smith. Yeah, sure. Maybe steps in. Really doubt. But well, his problem is he’s 5’10 and he’s 180 pounds. But Ty Demer was short, too. I mean, correct. So was Drew Brees and uh and uh Rusty Wilson and Rusty Wilson. You’re right. There have been short people who have played quarterback in the NFL. Cameron, I think wasn’t that tall. He’s over six feet tall. I mean, Zach Wilson’s not very big either, but compared to Hillstead, I suspect quite large. I I’m worried about his size two. I understand. And the problem with Hillstead is he plays like he’s 6’3, right? He sits in the pocket and wants to take hits or will run into somebody thinking he is bigger than he is. He runs which A-Rod will like. But Bachm is what 6’2 220. He’s a he’s a big man. That’s his advantage. But can he sling it? I mean that’s Yeah. Right. That that will that will ultimately And the problem with the freshman is the speed is so much faster than it is in high school. You unless you’re Johnny football like it’s an incredible adjustment. And I don’t think BYU’s schedule is particularly the murderers row of the Big 12 this year, but it’s good football teams regardless. I mean, even if you’re not a big believer in Colorado, which yesterday, yeah, West Virginia may not be great. Arizona’s not probably going to be very good, but you know, Utah’s okay. I bet Utah’s going to be fine this year. So yeah, if that’s where you are mid-season and you don’t know if you have the quarterback or not or you’re throwing the freshman out there. I mean, no, that’s the danger of all this cuz twohour long highlight tape of Kyle Whittingham and Morgan Scally torturing opposing freshman quarterbacks. Just one of the worst things you can do historically against Utah and Utah’s not the only team that will take advantage of them. BYU’s got a really good team. Really, what could possibly be the wrench in all of this is Jay Keeps V. Riley Nelson. That’s what That’s what throws it all off. That’s the the crazy part about going into this year for BYU cuz they should have a really good team. Yep. And now it’s Well, this guy’s not great. Maybe go with the Froch. The Froch isn’t great. So, do you go back to the Delicate stuff, buddy? No, it would be a huge advantage if one of them is so obviously and I and and we don’t even need to limit this to just Bach Meyer and and Hillstead. But if if a quarterback steps up and is obviously the guy by week two of camp and can run with it, that would be most beneficial. All right, more straight ahead. Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Whether it’s the Jazz, you cougars or Aggies, these guys have got you covered. Time to eat fellas. You’re locked on to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson. 1 2 3 on 975B KSL Sports Zone. You can nominate the esports volunteer you know for the Hercules Hero of the Week. Submit your nomination at kslports.com/contest and listen every Thursday afternoon to JJ and Alex for the winner. Help us celebrate the efforts of those volunteers making an impact with the Hercules Hero of the Week sponsored by Hercules First Federal Credit Union. Uh Christian has booked us a Broncos uh guest at 11:05. Trying to get inside info for his fantasy team. Our friend Jake Shapiro, he’s an analyst for Denver Sports 1043. He’s going to jump on with us. We’ll uh ask him about the Buffs and Dion and Christian. Christian though during the breaks like, “Hey, if you guys want to throw in a couple of Broncos questions, I’m sure he’ll he’ll be eager to answer them and I’ll be happy to listen.” So, yesterday you’re you’re talking about nominating the Hercules Hero of the Week. We were talking about nominating a bozo of the week. Yes. Um and there’s an update to the story and we teased it briefly that it was uh Marcus Morris Senior. There had to be an update coming. Um, Marcus Morris Senior was arrested in Florida and put in handcuffs over what was apparently a debt of not a super high level, but at least $1,200, which turns this into a felony, where he was apparently writing bad checks at a casino. Okay. Okay. And this is I’m I’m trying to gather this, but he wrote he stiffed a casino in Vegas specifically, which is the wrong people to stiff. He got arrested, uh, put in handcuffs. Today, he went to court assuming that this was just going to be nothing and was denied bond. Whoa. Wow. Really? Now, this is a multi multi-millionaire, so you would understand why they might change some of the bond rules. You know, if you put a bond on me for $500,000, I’m not going to be able to get it. But to deny Bond for a bad check would at least imply there’s more to this story than just a single, “Yeah, he owes a hotel or a casino, you know, $1,800 and can’t get out of it.” Morris, who was wearing handcuffs in a jails jumpsuit, according to TMZ.com, did not speak during the proceedings. His brother, Marcus Morris, was in the courtroom offering support. He’s got another hearing slated for August. I don’t think he’s going to be in jail until August, I would hope. I mean, I know that’s two days away. Uh, man, I gota I gotta tell you, if I’m out there writing bad checks, it’s it’s not like you’re shafting um I don’t know the maybe you wrote a check for the babysitter or something like that and it bounced. You know what I mean? Like your your little league check bounced. You don’t do that to a casino. I bet they gave him a marker and I bet they I bet they he wrote a check to cover the marker. Do you want to explain what a marker is? It’s a loan the casino gives you. Uh Yonyi Noi, his agent says, “Just so everyone or his lawyer, just so everyone understands, this is there’s zero fraud here or whatever crap outlets have said regarding fake checks or whatever the hell this is due to an outstanding marker with a casino. Apparently, if you have over $1,200, they can issue a warrant for your arrest. Absolute insanity, I guess.” Yes. But also, why are you what? Why are you taking out loans from this casino? These markers, you’re a multi multi-millionaire. Maybe not anymore. Appar maybe not. But that’s an even bigger bozo situation because Marcus Morris, let’s look at your career earnings. It can’t have been small. No, he’s been in the league what, 10, 11 years. And the NBA is the best paid league right now. If you’ve been in the league at any point, you’re getting rich. And if you’re in there for a decade, you’re really getting rich because the veteran minimum, even if that’s what you’re signing, is nearly $4 million a year right now. But you know, we’re talking about pro athletes. We are. I get it. Uh career earnings of $108 million. Apparently though, hasn’t made much money since 03 or 20 2023 2024. Uh even though he’s making $17 million. I guess he got bought out and then got another couple of contracts on 10 days with the Cavs. So, he’s still making $18 million. He’s fine. Don’t know what to tell you. Should be except for that the account didn’t have that amount of money in it when he wrote the check. And of course casinos are going to push it to the to the limit as far as they could go. Of course they are. Especially with somebody high-profile. Yeah, you bet. That’s the thing with casinos. Duh. They’re they’re more than happy to lend you money if you’re a big big gambler. More than happy. But then when you lose, you got to turn around and you got to pay the piper. That’s how it works. Anyways, first bozo of the week. If you write a bad check to Steve Win, he’s coming after you. Marcus Morris Senior. Do we know what uh hotel it was? Um, I don’t have that info, unfortunately. I would love to see that really matters. That’s probably why this is being handled legally and not personally. Yeah. All I’m saying is stiff a casino. Well, yeah. If you’re going to stiff a casino, I guess stiff the MGM and not like I don’t even know what privately held casinos there are down there anymore. The lawyers told the judge that Morris was in the process of paying off his debts in Nevada and releasing him would help expedite that. The judge though denied the motion for bond and said she would only release him to Nevada authorities for extradition or if the warrants that were issued for his arrest were withdrawn. That’s what it is. It’s extradition. That’s why he’s denied bond because they got to send him to Nevada and he’s got to appear before a judge there. I don’t want to fly from Florida to Nevada in handcuffs. I’m sure they’re going to let him out once he gets there. Great. That makes it a lot better. You know, that would kind of I mean, a lot of for a lot of reasons this would suck for him, but wouldn’t that suck for him when Okay, you appear before a judge, postponed. Okay, I gotta get out of here and then you’re standing in Nevada with nowhere to go. Like I I started I started in Florida. How am I How am I in Nevada? I think that’s the plot. Am I in Reno? Yeah. Class D felony. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know where the court would be. Carson City. Maybe it’s in Las Vegas itself. That’s probably it. Um, didn’t Joic end was it Marcus’ or was it Markeff’s? I just Googled it. It was Markee. It was Markeff. Nicl Joic. Remember Markeff tried to tough Jokic. And I know Joic looks like a doofus, but he is 6’1 and 280 pounds and he shoved Maris in the back and Maris hurt his back so badly that he’s really never returned to the NBA and it kind of somehow ended Marcus’ career as well. Shoved is not what happened. I mean, he like cracked him in the back. It was a It was a really dirty play. Is a filthy player. Just a really dirty play. Shove implies like, “Oh, you.” All right, stay tuned. Uh, we’re talking the latest with the Denver Broncos with Jake Shapiro. Coming up next, 975 DKSL Sports Zone. The sports you love. The teams you can’t live without. Get a sense of urgency. This is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Jacob Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Let’s talk a little uh Colorado sports, right? We got to talk about the Buffs. Talk a little Dion. And yes, Christian, we can ask about the Broncos. Uh he is an analyst for Denver Sports 104.3. He’s Jake Shapi uh Shapiro with us here on Jake and Ben. What’s going on, Jake? Hey guys, it’s a lovely day out here at Broncos Park. I’m actually actively watching Broncos practice right now. I know we’re talking buffs, but a lot of football here in the Mile High City. It is football season. I think that’s what everyone’s excited about. Uh what were what was the we know the result now of Dion’s press conference yesterday. What was the expectation leading up to it? You know, I know the speculation was that maybe he was stepping away from coaching, and I think everyone’s glad that that’s not the case, but after the fallout, I guess what the expectation was versus what we learned. Where is the state of Colorado football, and how are fans feeling about it? Yeah, I mean, I would have been truly stunned if he had stepped down yesterday. I don’t think that was really ever in the cards. My question was, uh, was this illness going to be something that lasted into the season where he was going to need someone to help him through, whether it be an interm, whether it be, you know, situations we’ve seen in the past where, you know, coach coaches from the booth and there’s someone on the sidelines. So, that was more of my main question. Um, because he hasn’t been around in Boulder. He hasn’t been in Boulder in months. And, uh, I think it’s more of just happiness that their coach is back in Boulder. and um the bust of a very uh experienced group of coaches around him. So, I don’t think that there was necessarily all that much missed in a period where you can’t even do that much in college, but Prime needed to be there starting yesterday and he was there and uh obviously he’s overcome a great deal of challenges and I think we’re all happy to see that he’s come out on the other side still with a smile. I thought it was hilarious that he warned everybody there was going to be a honey bucket uh around where he was, you know, don’t be surprised if you see uh how is the relationship between Dion Sanders and you know Colorado and the fans and all that. And I asked because you know it it’s such a shock to the system, right? comes in and it’s this celebrity and and Deion Sanders, I mean, one of the more infamous people in sports history and it’s a couple of years and obviously success that the program hasn’t seen in a long time. I guess where is where are the fans as far as expectations and their relationship with uh with Deion Sanders? Yeah, I would say for the most part the fan base, you know, 90% largely, you know, a large part of the fan base is very happy that Deion Sanders is the head coach of the University of Colorado. Um, is thrilled that he seems to be taking the buffs in the right direction. You know, the Buffs have only been in full seasons to two bowl games since the mid 2000s. It was last year with Dion and the Almo Bowl. It was 2016 and then you have to go all the way back to like 2007. They haven’t actually won a bowl game since 2004. And we’re talking about a program that has now two highs and winners. It has a national championship. It is one of the most distinguished programs in college athletics. So, uh, this is a sleeping giant in a lot of ways. And, uh, you know, Dion seems to be taking this in the right direction. So, I would say a lot of the fan base um really loves him, but there is a certain segment of the fan base that I think is uh a little disappointed with the onfield results to this point and wanted more. We all know they’re coming from a lot. Uh, but I think given the talent of that team last year and it being year two, I think there is a little bit of a sense of disappointment that they could have accomplished more and now he’s the fourth highest paid coach in college football and he’s talking about championships again and how they’re better even though they lost their Heisman candidate and I think there’s going to be some expectation on this team. Uh, the father-son relationship can be strange. I’ve seen it firsthand. Uh we’ve seen it with sports across all all uh levels. Do you expect a change in Dion now that his kids aren’t there on the team and certainly not the stars or at least the faces of the team? Uh yeah, I I do expect some sense of change. I I believe I I don’t want to call it grieving because no one has uh has faced that fate, but um there is I think a little sense of grief or or sadness that he is no longer doing this as like a family, right? like this is now his job. And granted, there are figures around him. Uh his sister works for the University of Colorado. There there are people around him that still make this a familial thing, but it’s not like his son’s the starting quarterback anymore and his other son’s the starting safety. So, I think there is a a certain sense of of change within the program. Um but there are also players that have been with him that are still there that have been there since Jackson State that he looks at like his sons or like his kids’ best friends. So I I do think there is still a lot of emotion and a lot of care towards what is going on both at the University of Colorado as a whole and then individually with certain players there. Um I don’t think these are the disposable assets, but maybe they quite seem to be from the outside because of the transfer portal. I do think those players do exist at Colorado, but I don’t think that that is true of everybody. What do you think happened to Shador in the draft? Well, I think that he tried to purposely bomb some of his interviews, if you’d ask me. Um, in order to secure a destination and unfortunately for him, it went so poorly that he couldn’t convince anyone to take him. I think he was playing a game of fire with a game of fire and he got burned. Like, you know, you see this all the time. You just saw it with who the Jazz drafted, right? that they were, you know, playing a game of fire and a game of chicken with if that kid was going to come to Utah or not. And he clearly wanted to go maybe to Brooklyn and, you know, it doesn’t end up necessarily the way you want it to work because the draft is out of the players control. So, um, it’s fascinating that Shador ended up in Cleveland. It’s fascinating that today the the Browns owner Jimmy Hlam saying it was the GM’s click, not the owner’s clip. uh they still don’t seem to have a clear um number one for who’s leading that quarterback competition. So, it could very easily be Shador as the starting quarterback. He’s a really talented guy. Trust me, I’ve seen him play a lot. Um his passing accuracy is great, but he’s maybe not as athletic as people think and obviously has the issues with the sacks. So, I personally don’t know that he’s going to be a really good NFL quarterback. and never quite had that hope or expectation, but in my eyes, he was the second best quarterback, if not the the best quarterback in college football last year, and generally that gets you taken in the top five. What’s a good season for Colorado this year? I would say maybe eight wins would be a good season. Um, you’re only taking a slight step back without the Heisman winner and a quarterback that’s in the NFL now, right? Um, you know, they’re over under I think by our by our friends down south in Vegas has it at six and a half. So you’d be exceeding that by one and a half games. They’ve got a pretty easy start to the schedule, but they’ve got a really rough schedule if you look deeper into it and how the fall kind of plays out. So I would say eight wins would be a good season. I think people would be happy with seven wins and perhaps even six honestly because again like I talked about the Buffs don’t go bowling all that often. So that there’s something to be said for just getting to Bulls consistently. They haven’t been the Bulls in back-to-back years again since the mid 2000s. Well, speaking of that, do you think the Buffs will have a little extra juice for the Cougars when they play? I think they open up conference play with each other, right? Yeah, that’s going to be the game that tells me everything I need to know about the Buffs, honestly. Um, if they’re going to be able to come out and punch BYU in the mouth, that’s going to say a lot. BYU is such a good football team, and I know they’ve lost their quarterback that a lot of people had hopes for, but you still look around the rest of that football team. It’s going to be a really good team. Um, and I do think that when you get embarrassed in a game like that, no matter if the teams turn over a bit, let’s say, you know, 60% 70% of those rosters are still the same, a lot of people are going to feel certain ways and the coaching staffs are going to feel certain ways about that game. Um, it’s just a matter of if Colorado can actually accomplish it with the talent they have. And I wonder because BYU is a lot stronger inside the uh inside the hashes, right? And and Colorado’s got some advantages outside the hashes, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t get the ball out there. Uh, we can hear the cheers behind you. I imagine those are for seventh round pick Caleb Loner out of the University of Utah at Broncos practice. You know, there are a lot of big people. Football players are big and I can’t actually see over them and what has happened right now with those cheers. Uh, but I am looking at Bo Knicks is about 100 yards from me and they’re doing some punt return drills right now here at Dove Valley at Broncos Park. Um, and it’s uh the team is, you know, buzzing because a hund00 million dollars were given to Courtland Sutton yesterday and he’s one of the better receivers in team history and uh, you know, they don’t have to worry about that drama going into the season and now there’s a couple other pieces of business they’ve got to wrap up here before uh, the preseason begins. What does progress look like for Bo uh, Bo Nicks? What does he have to do to show that uh, he’s going to be even better? Because I I say that because of what a great season he had last year. Yeah, I think for Bo, and he was really good in the red zone, he was good in winning time. I think it’s just about getting off the fast starts in games. He struggled with that a little bit, especially early on in the season, which is to be expected out of a rookie quarterback, but being that consistent guy throughout the course of a game, not having to turn it on late, not not in the red zone, but just a consistency factor, I think, with Bo is going to be big this year, as well as the additional weapons the Broncos have gotten. You know, Evan Ingram was one of the best tight ends in football two years ago. He was hurt last year. Can he add an element to the Broncos offense? Um, the Broncos had one of the worst running back situations in football last year. JK Dobbins is always hurt, but when he’s healthy, he’s one of the better backs in football. He’s here now, as is R.J. Harvey, who we all saw in the Big 12 last year, uh, was a decent back for UCS. So, can Bo successfully incorporate some of these elements into the Broncos offense, I think, is going to be interesting because this defense is really, really good. So, Bo doesn’t need to be Patrick Mahome. Bo just needs to be a very good game manager, which he’s always proven already proven to be. So, if he can rise that level even more of taking it from game managing to making great plays, which we saw a little bit sporadically throughout the course of the end of the season, I think the Broncos are going to be a really good football team if that’s the case. Is there a hope that they could actually win the AFC West or is there a hope that they’re a wild card team? Guys, all the talk around Denver right now is are they actually sneakily the winners of the AFC West? Um, you got to remember the last time a team won the AFC West that wasn’t the Kansas City Chiefs was the Denver Broncos. That happened when Pton Manning was the quarterback. So, it’s been quite a while. But, uh, that is kind of the feeling here in Denver. Uh, maybe it’s fans getting ahead of themselves and fans feeling a certain way just because of uh, you know, they’re fans of this team. But that’s that’s the feeling here is that this could be actually sneakily the winners of the AFC West. Um, personally personally, I don’t believe that. Personally, I don’t believe that. So, switching to the nuggets for a second, Jake, I I am I love salacious stuff and I love to read into things. So, my question to you is what is Nicola Joic’s agent doing hanging out on a on a yacht with LeBron and Maverick Carter? What’s going on? Is number 23 coming to Denver? No, I think it’s pretty clear what’s going on. Uh Milos, who’s Nicole’s agent, is one of the most powerful agents in Europe. He owns a basketball club. He represents many many European players including Yonas Valentunis who’s on the Nuggets. Um I believe and this is not sourced this is not reported but I believe just connecting the dots the European basketball league that Maverick Carter and LeBron James by proxy are trying to start that this is them courting European agents so that they’ll have stars once they launch this league. And I’ve heard that this league could launch as soon as fall of next year. it would look a lot more like if basketball was on F1 schedule where they kind of go from city to city over the course of a uh a couple months. So that to me is one of the biggest things going on in basketball in the NBA that’s not being talked about. The NBA’s trying to launch a European league and then if you look at Maverick Carter, they’re trying to launch a separate league that would possibly take away some NBA stars and put them uh in Europe or on a traveling circuit. Wow. Uh, I think the Nuggets are going to win the championship next year. Uh, talk me off the cliff. Talk talk me back from that. I have cleared out my June, so I’m clearly on the cliff, too. Um, I think that this is a really good team. I think they fixed a lot of their issues. Um, if you look at the history of repeating champions not getting past the second round, that’s kind of proof that OKC is going to struggle. But in talking you off this cliff and giving you the the most likely scenario, Oklahoma City is a unique team because they’re really deep and they have a lot of players who didn’t even play all that much last year. They’re going to come back with a hunger to make impact on that lineup. They’re not going to be like the regular, you know, reigning champions that maybe just don’t have that much to prove, but have the target on their back. Guys like Nicole Topic, who hasn’t even played in the NBA, guys like Isaiah Joe, who’s going to be playing for his next contract, have a lot to prove for that team. So, the Thunder are going to be really, really good again. And that’s clearly the best team in the West. The moves the Rockets made solved all of their issues as well. They get another big to go with Stephen Adams and Alpine Sangun and Clint Capella who are all very good players. On top of that, they get Kevin Durant to finally be their on ball late game closer. And he is still an elite playmaker and shot generator towards the end of contest. And on top of that, he’s going to be more engaged on defense like he was early in the season last year with the Suns. So, those don’t bear out in the metrics. So, I think the the Rockets are going to be very good. And then the Minnesota Timberwolves, who I haven’t even talked about yet, have been in the West uh Western Conference Finals two years in a row. And then they have completely gotten the Nuggets number, right? The Nuggets haven’t beaten them, I think, uh, since game five of the second round in 2024. So, you’ve got a lot of teams just in that group that are very good. I’m not worried about the Lakers. I’m not really worried about the Clippers, although I like some of their moves. I’m not worried about the Warriors. I’m not worried about the Suns, the Kings. Like, there are plenty of teams out in the West, the Nuggets are going to be far better than me. But there are a group of teams, especially in the West, that have separated themselves that are going to be tough. And then if you look across the East, I think most likely the probable scenario is the Cleveland Cavaliers are coming out of the East. And that’s a really tough match up for the Denver Nuggets. Um, I don’t know if I’m quite to the Nuggets as the favorite. maybe I could be talked into it. I do however though feel like they’ve had a great off season and have made some terrific moves to make their team better and that probably has a lot to do with moving on from Calvin Booth. So my question to you is just how crazy did it get with the front office and Michael Malone and what what are what are your thoughts now postmortem of Calvin Booth? Uh, you had the coach self-sabotaging players on the roster to make the GM look bad. That’s how bad it got, right? Like you had the coach actively putting players in bad situations where they would look poorly to make the GM look bad. Um, I think Calvin Booth’s ultimate flaw is he was very insular and he struggled with communication both internally in the organization and externally outside to the NBA world. Uh and it ended up with the Nuggets who have the best player in the world and he’s been the best player in the world for quite some time um having an inadequate roster and he was really stuck to his guns on this developing players so they can be cheap cost effective role players. Well, Golden State tried that. They called it two timelines. They called it a little differently and we’ve seen that blown up in their face. So, I think it was uh really misguided to see what the Bronc or or what the Nuggets did um the last couple years because, you know, frankly, their ownership can be cheap. And I think Calvin Booth was carrying out a lot of what the ownership wanted to do, but he ultimately did a couple things that I know ownership didn’t want to do, like dumping Reggie Jackson for three second round picks. And he also had to give multiple second round picks to move up a couple spots in the draft to take Don Holmes. Um I think he was a poor trade negotiator as well looking at that. But in the same time, he also got the biggest business done, which was keeping Nicole Yokic here, keeping Jamal Murray here, getting Aaron Gordon on an extension. So, I think it’s a mixed bag. Ultimately, I would side with the negative. And that negative got the best coach the Denver Nuggets have ever had fired. Um, that’s not to say David Adelman can’t be a great coach. Um, but he is working against who was the best coach in Denver Nuggets history just before him. Well, Jake, we appreciate you jumping on, especially since you’re covering camp doing two things at once. Uh but yeah, thank you very much. Thanks guys. Talk soon. Thanks Jake. Thanks Jake. Uh you ignored that they also had the biggest offseason move of moving on from Russell Westbrook. Yeah, that was a good thing. That’s a He’s a huge detriment and I I’m a Russ fan. Like I’m un I will I will miss Russell Westbrook. I love the chaos that he brings to the NBA. I would never want him on a basketball team I was rooting for because he’s so disruptive in a negative way. and as many goods as there can be, there are going to be twice as many bad uh decisions that he makes. So, he’s just he’s so flawed. And to get him off of a team and then get the toxicity out of the building with, you know, bringing Adelman in and the new front office, I think is a positive. And you just added depth to the best player in the world. So, Jake was pretty defensive of of uh old Mike Malone there, which okay, I got it. He he fell on team Malone and all that, and I can certainly see why, but you heard what he said right there. Mike was self-sabotaging. Self-sabotaging. That guy has to go. Yeah, that’s worse than Russ. That’s That guy has to go. You wonder why like, oh well, why not just fire Calvin Booth and and keep Mike Malone? Not if he’s self-sabotage. Absolutely not. Right. He’s taken too much power. He’s starting. He’s gone rogue. When you start doing that, you’ve gone rogue. You have to get rid of that person. No question about it. There were there was a big report about Donovan and Rudy that came out in the athletic, you know, I think the the unvable that was the that was the headline. But there was a comment from an anonymous source in Jazzland that Donovan was purposely throwing passes that Rudy wasn’t going to be able to handle. Yeah. To prove a point. And if you start getting there, things have to change. I mean, for for people out there that think, you know, the Jazz blew it up too early and should have kept Donovan and Rudy and and whatever, when that stuff happens, you have to change it. That that that is a sign of a way more significant problem. Probably that Mike Malone’s ego can’t fit through the door. That’s probably part of it. But self-sabotaging a team, that’s crazy. You got to go. You got to go. In fact, there’s an argument you should never be an NBA head coach again. I wouldn’t hire him, you know. Yeah. You bring those people in and you create toxic environments and it’s inevitable because of your ego. It’s really hard for me to hire you. Really hard for me to think that you’re you’re going to get the best out of us. And look, over and over and over again, quote unquote genius coaches. What do they always have? Great players. Y he’s the best player in the world. He’s better than Sheay. Shay’s great, you know. But why why does uh Dana look like a great coach? He’s got great players. Why did Pop look like a great coach? He had great players. She’s like, “Yeah, Adelman’s gonna look like a great coach, too, because he has a great player.” It’s that simple. The Simpsons, as always, have the answer. And we refer to this moment all the time. Mr. Burns telling Daryl Strawberry, “You Strawberry, go hit a home run.” You, Strawberry, hit a home run. Okay, Skip. [Music] [Applause] I told him to do that. That’s coaches. That’s managers. That’s coaches. And I’m not saying that it’s it’s quite that stark, but yeah. What are we talking about? Bill Jackson, greatest coach in NBA history. Well, we have Jordan and Pippen on the same team. And then Kobe and Shaq and then Kobe and Gazol. Yeah, you’re probably going to win a lot of basketball games. Just not being a bozo does not mean that you’re a great coach. Well, actually, how do you undo that? You become toxic. How do you ruin te? How do you how do the how do the Detroit Pistons win the 2004 NBA championship? Not because they were more talented than the Lakers. It’s because the Lakers were so toxic at that point. They wouldn’t play together. They should have won that title. You know, Carl didn’t hurt his knee. They probably win that title. Even without Carl, they should have won that title. But they’re so toxic that no one’s playing together. No one’s looking out for each other. And they get beat by a lesser team. They were toxic last year and they still took the the Thunder to seven games. So, you get Joic out there, you get him happy, you get Jamal Murray happy, you have Aaron Gordon happy, you have players like Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook off the roster and you’re going to play better. So, I’m buying the Nuggets. Stay tuned. More Jake and Ben coming up next. 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Who’s got it better than us? Your home for the best sports coverage in Utah. You’re listening to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 KSL Sports Zone. Jacob Ben 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Uh Kenny Jay’s Barbecue will be live with Hansen Scotty coming up tomorrow from noon to 3. Check out the catering menu at kennyjsbcq.com. That’s kennyjsbq.com for your next event. Speaking of hands, did you see the uh the loveydovey tweet that he sent out with his wife Amanda? I did. Um I have never seen Hance Olson wear sunglasses in my entire 20 years knowing him and he’s wearing sunglasses in in fact I’ve played golf with him a bunch of times and he talks about how he doesn’t wear sunglasses. I couldn’t believe that Hance was uh wearing sunglasses. Anywh who people change Jake I guess. Speaking of love, Ben, and we don’t need to spend the entire uh segment on this, but it is a story we followed on the show, and that is the uh breakup of Katy Perry and Orlando Blue. Oh, yeah. There’s a new uh a new man. There’s a there’s a new twist that I I felt like we need to cover. Now, if you haven’t been following this story as closely, Katy Perry went to space kind of and Orlando Bloom called said it really embarrassed him and so they broke up. Yeah. Got the ick from my fiance going to space. Then there was the battle over who was going to go to the Jeff Bezos wedding because Katy Perry went to space with the the bride. Uhhuh. And Orlando Bloom won that one where he was photographed canoodling with Sydney Sweeney. Sure. And so we brought up at the time got her own problems right now. We we brought up at the time uh like move on relationships, right? like like bouncebacks and how it’s it’s sending a message to the the the former spouse or whatever we want to call it in this situation as much as it is for you, right? You know, you’re like, well, you’re going to canoodle with the world’s most popular popular actress at the moment, right? Yeah. Well, Katy Perry now has gotten revenge, Ben. She was caught, not caught, caught, photographed going out on a date with none other than the former Cana Can Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Yeah. Who has been separated from his aranged wife since 2023. But that’s got to be sending a message back to old Legololis, right? Legololis. Uh, sure. Uh, what what was moved on? What was his character in uh in Pirates of the Caribbean? Will Turner. Oh, who cares? He was the boring part Bill. Yeah, that was his dad, I think. Boring. Anyways, he was the boring part of that movie. He’s the boring part in uh Legalolis, too. He’s not the more interesting character there. No, but the elves are bland. Uh I But I love the character Le Legalolis. Why? I don’t know. I just always liked him in the books. He’s too clean. Well, anyway, I think this is an interesting message to send back old Legalolis’s way. Um, how’s Trudeau being celebrated post PM run? I have no idea. Where he kind of collapsed. I don’t live in Canada. He was a little bit of a gold boy and then had quite the collapse but didn’t lose all the the power for his party. Have you seen the rumor that he could be Fidel Castro’s son? I have heard that. Love that rumor. Uh, yeah, that’s a funny one. So, yeah, that’s kind of funny to me. Castro’s kid. Castro’s kid. The Canadian one. Uh, but yeah, there you go. There. That’s a good that’s a good bounceback. I think that probably outdoes Sydney Sweeney, right? I don’t know. Former Canadian prime minister. I guess it depends on I don’t know. Orlando Bloom’s politics. Like if he was like secretly like hardcore MAGA guy and you get back at him by Trudeau is very funny to me. But there’s also the part of where like behind the scenes Orlando Bloom’s like super hardcore like social justice lefty guy. He is a Hollywood person. And then you’re like, “Oh, you thought you thought you were left? Watch this. Wait till you meet my new boyfriend.” His dad’s Fidel Castro. His dad is communist. Okay, that’s funny. So either or or you know what the the way this works the why Trudeau is such a funny character here is because even if Orlando Bloom was like yeah I’m not really a politics guy dating the most or one of the most political or high-profile political figures is also a sign that you’re not that. So going politician is very funny from Katy Perry. So I continue to like this story. However, and I told you to go see uh the movie Edington. I thought it was hilarious. Katy Perry even catches a stray in that movie. So, I wonder if this is just going to be bad news for Trudeau. Listen, this all started with Okay, I don’t think Trudeau repairs Katy Perry’s cred. No. No. No. Because listen, the the the thing that Amazon does with the weird shaped rocket Uhhuh. is not the same thing that Neil Armstrong did. Correct. You did not orbit the moon. This all started because you came back and kissed the ground and demanded to be called a hero. I’ve done it. It’s not that. No, William Shatner did that. He’s like 95. Yeah. You know what I mean? No, literally Tom Hanks did it when they are filming Apollo 13. like they take you up and they drop the plane and it’s weightless for a little bit and it’s very similar. You get technically by definition I guess the space kind of cuz you’re in the last layer of the whatever. Yeah. But what you’re doing and the person spacew walking not the same. I was on the same not the same. So you can’t come back down and go well I’m an American hero. That’s where this all started. I don’t blame Orlando Bloom for being embarrassed. I’d be embarrassed, too. You basically went on an oversized roller coaster and you you came back acting like you were General Patton. Christian, what’s the better get back? Justin Trudeau or Sydney Sweeney. Sweenie is controversial right now, too. Depends on who your audience is. Like if if you’re just trying to get the other person to be jealous. Yeah, that’s it. I’d probably go congressperson or politician, I guess. Now, see, I might go like cuz we talked about this in an unrelated story, but Sydney Sweeney is like the pinup model, right? Yes. That should make her like the number one get back relationship possible. And that’s why I worded it like that. Like, if Orlando Bloom wants kids in the youth to think he’s cool again, then oh yeah, Sydney Sweeny’s great. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t think Orlando Bloom carries much cache right now. I think he’s pretty out of it because a those movies came out 20 years ago. Hasn’t done anything since. Yeah. As did Pirates. Yeah. Like those movies are 15 at best years old. I think the latest Pirates that came out might have been 15 years ago and maybe longer. So he’s relatively irrelevant. Well, she’s currently on a like tour that is super struggling. So I don’t think she’s real relevant either. But Orlando Bloom is 21 years older than Sweeney. Trudeau is only 13 years older than than Katy Perry. Can I float a different theory to you? Okay. Do you remember who Katy Perry dated before Orlando Bloom? Well, her ex-husband is that Russell Brand. Russell Brand. And you know what Russell Brand has done? You know what his turn has been post sexual assault allegations? He’s gone hardcore redpilled. He’s cancel culture guy. his whole identity is like the world is coming for you. You know, the cabal is coming for you. Maybe she’s skipped Orlando entirely and she’s tried to make Russell Brand jealous by going far left with Trudeau. And maybe it’s an entire ploy to get back together with Russell Brand. I got to tell you, catch his attention. I don’t know if I trust her taste in men. I think she it might be her problem. I don’t know if she has the best taste in men. I’m not even kidding. one of the smartest, most accomplished people that I know. And I’m talking about accomplished. I could give you her resume. Uh, and thank goodness now she has a a stylist that is like really really good. She had the worst taste in there. This is a personal person. This is a personal person I know. Like one of the smartest people, like good-looking gal, although I’m not trying to go down that like a total catch. A total catch. And she dated the worst guy, dude. Like a guy with thug life tattooed on his knuckles. Well, that’s cool. I would do that. And this is like 19. No, this is like 2000. 2001. I said thug life on his knuckles. What do you mean? Where do you find these bozos? Anyway, bad tasting, man. I don’t know. Maybe this is a Katy Perry problem. Yeah. Yeah. Orlando Legalist doesn’t seem like a real great guy. I don’t know. Maybe he’s fine. I don’t know. He doesn’t have any major issues. I don’t think he has any controversy at all. I think that might be his problem. He’s pretty boring. Dweeb. Nerd. Yeah, nerd. Well, certainly if you’re not marrying him, you don’t want to be dating him. Marry a nerd. That’s fine. That makes total sense, right? Life settles down. Things are easy. Consistency day after day. But maybe Katy Perry’s still not done, you know, walking in space. Well, Orlando is obviously a hack because he was in two major franchises that were successful not because of him and then hasn’t done anything after. Really hasn’t. He’s probably got a trillion dollars. Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he’s just living high on that Katy Perry. Marcus Morris situation. I don’t know. He played he played two bit parts in two movie franchises. Huge parts. How much could he have actually made? Oh, I bet you by the end of those Pirates movies making 15 million a movie at least. I would hope it doesn’t go as far as it once did. Inflation estimated net worth of 40 million. That’s it. Geez. Chump change. Katy Perry. What’s Katie’s net worth? Well, I’m sure Legololis didn’t get points off the movie, so he probably just got he probably got paid about 10 cents for the first movie in both franchises and then made money off the sequels. Katie Perry’s projected net worth is between 300 and 400 million because she was sick of a broke boy. She gets royalties off her music. Orlando Bloom. Orlando Bloom. Orlando Bloom’s initial salary for Lord of the Rings was 175,000 for all three films. Bingo. But what about the Disney money? He didn’t get more for Pirates was close to 12. Okay. $12 million. All right. He made a hundred grand a movie for all three Lord of the Rings movies. Trudeau. No. No. No. 175,000 for the entire trilogy. For the entire thing. That’s $30,000. This took like they didn’t they shoot them consecutively? They did. Yeah. So, I mean, that’s like a year’s worth for 175 grand, which is it’s, you know, we we know people who make that. No. Yeah. I mean, it’s fine, but it’s not the millions of dollars you were just talking about. No, but it’s like a good mid-level job now. Yeah. Yeah. He didn’t go hungry. But you’re talking about he’s No, I I was surprised. I’m surprised. I’m surprised he’s not done better. Well, he was a huge bozo before those movies and apparently been a huge bozo after Trudeau worth about 96 million. So, still compared to Katie little broke boy, but double Orlando. He’s he’s not the true communist his father was. Well, how did he get his money from his father if his father was a true communist? Oh, the Castro. Yeah. Well, Castro was a true communist. That’s why he had all the money. That’s why he had so much money. Stay tuned. We wrap up the show next. 975 DKSL Sports Zone. What’s up? Whether it’s the Jazz, Utes, Cougars, or Aggies, these guys have got you covered. Time to eat, fellas. You’re locked on to Jake Scott and Ben Anderson 2 on 975 KSL Sports Zone. [Music] My guy’s got style with his scarf. Oh my [Music] to the basketball courts. They may be engaging their kids beyond these years to make Jacob Ben 975D KSL Sports Zone. Listen, do you have a product that you’re passionate about and would like to have it endorsed by the Jake and Ben show? It’s very simple. All you have to do is text JB to 57500 and our sales staff will take care of the rest. JB to 57500. Uh and uh I’m sure we’ll be passionate about your product, too. So, let’s make it happen. Come hang out, meet you. Uh your biz. Ben, did you see this uh the latest controversy from the WNBA? I did not. Uh some gal’s I guess wig or extensions or something fell off. Okay. And then she ran back to the locker room to fix it. But a fan was kicked out for making fun of the player. Okay. Uh first of all, whether it’s fingernails or wigs, the WNBA needs to get its fashion accessories under control. Under control. Okay. I don’t know what the rules are. I I can’t believe there’s not a rule against long fingernails. There absolutely should be. That’s like a That’s like a safety thing. Sure. I don’t know. I know wigs are more complicated. I I know you can’t wear a hat in the NBA. Sure. You can’t wear Yeah. Uh there’s I mean your headband can only be so thick. Could you wear a tube? Probably. I’m sure players have You think a piece? Yeah. I bet there are current NBA players that have a hairpiece that have a tube. I would not painted his head with shoe polish. I know. But that’s that’s different because the shoe polish. Yes. Melted, but it’s not going to come flying up like a tube might. There’s got to be a rule against that. I doubt there is. I will I will do my best to ask. Will you because I love the question. Can you wear a toupe in the NBA? There was a meme going around. I I think it was disproven of a very popular NBA player getting a toupe put on and and his head his face was covered, but you could kind of tell who it is. Was it LeBron? It was allegedly Devin Booker and it was kind of disproven. Wait, hold on. I’m I’m It was another guy who looked like Deon Booker. Yeah. Like he covers his eyes and his nose and his mouth, but from the side features and his eyebrows kind of it’s like Oh, that looks like Devin Booker. Oh, I’m I just Let me look into it. Oh, I don’t think that does look like Devin Booker actually. I don’t know who that is. Maybe. Um I will say that certainly NBA players have not always had their own hair. I would imagine that’d be a big risk to go tube though for the reason that the the wig falling off. Agreed. Agreed. But it feels like some guys have gone to like dreads really quickly in a summer, right? When like you can’t grow dreads in a summer. Okay. Like I think there have been it’s a dread has been Yes, there has been no at least at least extensions. Like are you telling me what uh Jay Crowder is rocking might be a tube? No. I think Jay has had them his whole life, right? Some guys grow them out their whole life. Some guys come back to practice and they have longer hair. Well, I mean, Jimmy Butler’s straightened hair was obviously not his hair that he wore in his his day one e that was just media day. But that was just media day. But yeah, I I am sure guys have worn hair pieces of one sort or another. But uh then the other the other Wait, Michael Malone, you talked about when got plugged during co He did. Yes, he did. Came back with hair. Uh no, I Hey, I I guess no judging. I just This has a This has like a competitive uh impact though. You know what I mean? But I got to say my other thing with this story is listen, if someone’s making fun of somebody from the crowd to the floor, get over it. You don’t need to throw the person out. I guess if they’re using really inappropriate language. Okay. Yes. Because obviously hair can have racial implications. It can I but I don’t know. Yeah. I don’t know what when they just said and say in the story making fun. Come on. I mean the WNBA wants to be taken seriously as a league. Well, you know what that means? Dealing with fans who are sometimes huge bozos. I do think fans get kicked out of NBA games a lot more often than people realize. Luca gets fans kicked out seemingly everywhere he goes. Well, Rusty did. I I don’t know about Well, Rusty deservedly here. Luca has gotten lots of fans. Not banned, but he gets them kicked out of games pretty often. LeBron’s done it. Yeah, LeBron Yeah, people do it. The Jazz, you know, Jazz have had players recently do it, you know, on the road guy people get kicked out. I know. And I You know what? I don’t often agree with that, honestly. Uh I think that’s fair. So, I mean, go it depends on what it like. Yes, you should be able to have a work environment where uh you are not called horrible things. I I agree with that. But being sensitive about being made fun of or cheered against or something like that. Come on. I think maybe Steve Nash was wearing a wig, like Andre Agassi style. Yeah, could be. I guess Pete Maravic, he had that big mop. Is there a theory out there about Steve Nash or are you just uh um are you just shooting from the hill? Famous hair. And I kind of wonder sometimes guys when when you fall in love with your hair and it starts to thin a little bit if that was part of the issue. He’s changing a wig at halftime. Get back to it. I cannot believe that story about Andre Agassi is true. No, I can believe it. But it is true. But it is it is wild. Yeah. If Agassi was rocking the mullet uh hairpiece for as long as he did, he’s not the only guy. Hair’s a great way to set yourself apart. Hey, Andre Agassi is the ultimate of my point that you outgrow a gimmick. Yeah. Or don’t get famous for a gimmick. Good for him for doing it. Good for him for ditching it. Yeah. because he could have been like him, 70 years old, still got the long hair in the back. He did conveniently ditch it though. Like he didn’t ditch it until his career was basically over. And then when he made his comeback, he came back as Yeah, he still won another major as a baldy. No, he won way more majors. But you remember that point in his career, his career was over. I mean, he came back and turned into one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He won way more than one major. I think he won several, but that the the Brook Shields period of time he was basically out. That’s that was those were his crack years. Read his book. It’s in his book. Was it crack? Yeah. I thought it was something different, but wasn’t good. What? Like PCP or something? Other other toxins? I don’t think he was a meth guy. I thought that’s what it was. Oh, I’m gonna Google it now. Um, Agassi only won one title wearing a wig. 92. Yeah. The Wimbledon. Uhuh. With the piece and then he came back and bald and was awesome. Yeah. It’s one of the great stories in sports, honestly. Uh, the wig like No, the redemption story. The Andre Agassi, you know, I guess what was his absolutely second act of his career. Yeah. No question. But yeah, someone’s wearing a wig. Guys are rocking wigs. There’s not tupes in the NBA. I’m not buying. They’re not. They definitely are. Uh, coming up next, Holen and Scotty G. Stay tuned. We’ll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks, Christian.