Keith Smith from Spotrac joined Jake & Ben to talk about Lauri Markkanen trade rumors and what the national perspective looks like. Also, Keith breaks down the remaining free agents and what teams are looking to do.
so welcome in our next guest you can read him at spot Trak and uh find him on the front office show find him on Twitter at Keith Smith NBA Keith what do you do you call it spot track do you call it spot rack what is it what am I talking about here I’m on the website every day yeah if I had a dollar every time someone ask me I probably could just retire um it’s take the word spot and the word track and smush them together spot track spot track spot track okay that’s very good to know cuz I yeah I mean I was using it uh I mean I do I use it every day and every time I write an article involving a contract I look at your work so I appreciate all the work you do because it really truly makes my life a lot easier uh let’s talk low marinin uh he is the name that is most circulating uh in NBA circles right now as far as availability and uh and and as far as a real needle needle mover who could still be moved this off season what’s the latest you’ve heard with with Lowry is it just the same four teams that seem to be knocking on the Jazz’s door hoping to get the former All-Star out of Salt Lake City yeah it seems to be the same teams that are interested I’ve heard you know maybe the Miami Heat are having some interest but that you know anytime any kind of player of any like known value just put the heat in the Lakers on the list because they’re going to ask because that’s just how the NBA works but uh yeah other than that you know I’ve heard the Spurs and the Warriors um you know people are starting I think I think speculation now getting a little reckless because I’ve seen you know some people say well why would the Pelicans go for him why wouldn’t you know all these other teams so I think it’s more just we’re starting to get to all right nothing’s happened so now let’s start looking but I I also have been told that the Jazz are very open to hey if we don’t get the right offer we’re not moving them we have no reason to move them and they can still do the renegotiation and extension that can happen in roughly a month from now um and then from there it would turn into all right well where where are we kind of going with this moving forward uh with with lry market and then that that’s where I think Utah is keeping all their options open and all their flexibility open with him and other players on the roster Keith can you give us some insight into Danny Ang’s reputation among uh NF not NFL NBA Executives because we we obviously work here with close alongside the Utah Jazz but you can give kind of national perspective on how he’s perceived yeah having covered him uh for a long time in Boston when I used to cover the Celtics um one of the articles I wrote once was what is it like to really talk trade with Danny a one of the things that came up was you got kind of mixed opinion where some people are like you feel like you’re done and then there’s always like one more thing he wants to get get out of you in a trade and then other people said I enjoy it because he’ll tell you straight out not interested in anything you have to offer like not for this player at least um so he’s very upfront as far as that goes but it seems like there he drives a hard bargain he not that he needs to win trades I think that gets a little misconstrued I think what it more is is he wants to make sure that uh for years it was the Celtics and now with the Jazz he wants to make sure that they they come out in a really good place where it fits whatever Direction he’s moving in I think one of his best skills is he is not married to anything until the team is fully like all in one way like right now I’ve seen a lot of like well if the Jazz did X Y and Z they could chase a playoff spot Danny a isn’t interested in chasing playoff spots he wants to win and if he thinks the best way to win at some point is to take major steps backwards first collect even more draft Capital go into this you know these next couple of drafts with you know great talent coming in and have a lot of bites at that Apple he’s going to go that direction even if that means some shortterm pain uh in the in the uh you know in that you know incoming years here uh before they start building it back up what’s the value this summer of being the last team standing because you know Detroit still has some money and is figuring out their final moves and there’s a couple teams that have some flexibility but the Jazz have over 35 million a lot of that will be held on to an ear Mark just to to give to Lowry if they get to August 6th and and renegotiate and extend him but the is there value to being the last team with cap flexibility this year yeah absolutely because what we’re seeing now is I no disrespect man to any of the players that are still on the market as free agents but a lot of those guys are outside of Demar D Ro in they’re more are they exception kind of guys they are guys who you’re going to sign for the mle or you’re going to sign them to a minimum type deal and those kind of things so what teams have shifted into really over the last day or so is let’s start looking at trades and what what the Jazz benefit is is let’s just say Brandon Ingram was going to be traded from the Pelicans but the Pelicans are like and I don’t really want the contracts back that they have to send us uh Danny a can you know hold a hand up and say hey we we’re here like the statue of Statue of Liberty bring us you’re tired you’re hungry you’re poor your back contracts just send a draft pick with them well and I guess that’s that’s yeah that’s the whole analogy summed up in one nice sentence I like that but looking at the Jazz philosophically they have made three draft picks in each of the past two drafts and the perception is that the 2025 and then the 2026 drafts upcoming might be two of the deeper ones in recent memory so what do you think philosophically the Jazz should be looking at here should they be looking at hopefully one two three of these six pan out what what do you think they should be looking at yeah I think what you’re trying to do right now is it’s just a volume play of let’s just keep trying to get get good players in here and eventually one or two of them were really pop I’m I’m still pretty high on all the guys they picked last year I think tonay George did quite a bit to show that he can be a real player uh in the NBA and then I think um I still like Taylor Hendricks a lot I’m based in Orlando so I get to see him play a lot at UCF and I I just I think he’s going to be a good player eventually and I’m super high on their draft their draft was one of my favorites of any team I love Cody Williams He I had him as a top 10 guy so I think they did really well to get him there Isaiah ker was a kid who was in the mix for the number one pick that’s something Danny a is very known for got very known for in Boston was taking guys who were former um high-end recruits and maybe due to a weird situation in college didn’t fully pan out then he got them and got a lot of success with those kinds of players over the years and then getting Kyle filipowski in the second round is a massive win so all around yeah I think they’re doing pretty good with that now what you would like to do excuse me is maybe add a little bit more um draft Capital to put yourself in position to in 2025 Cooper flag’s the name like I think everybody knows because he’s been kind of putting front of us for a long time but you’ve guys you’ve got guys like Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper and VJ edcom who’s playing in the qualifiers for the Bahamas right now for the Olympics and really playing well those guys are all going to come in next year and those guys are going to be great and then the year after that you got cam Boozer and AJ Deans um you’ve got a lot of talent flowing in I think the Jazz wouldn’t mind being near the top of the draft board each of the next couple Seasons Keith what what do you think is next in NBA for free agency outside of the Jazz I mean you’ve mentioned dear de R rozan is kind of the last true free agent needle mover maybe tus Jones is is somebody who could help the right team but are we mostly done is is free agency wrapped up before the Fourth of July I know today’s the 5ifth but there wasn’t a lot of action yesterday either yeah I I think we’re getting close on the free agent part of it so I think the next thing is going to be trades because there’s a lot of guys out there in trade we we talked through some of them obviously with the Jazz but Brandon Ingram is still been heavily mentioned out there Bruce Brown in Toronto is somebody who’s known to be available we’ve got um uh there there’s just you know those guys we still don’t have full clarity on exactly what’s going on with Darius Garland in Cleveland it seems like that’s kind of gone away with the whole if Mitchell extends he wants out that that’s now seemingly not coming back around so I’m guessing maybe that that uh storyline either they got past it or was overblown to begin with so yeah we’re in a spot where right now we’re looking towards the trademark okay with a handful of guys there’s still a lot of good free agents that can help teams but they’re more like all right we need a wing for our bench go get player act they’re going to be targeted types ass signing versus the true Blockbusters that those are all basically done at this point what team or teams do you think won in free agency so far I think Oklahoma City go dud really really well I think when you combine um if if you put the Alex Caruso uh acquisition in there I think that was big and then getting Isaiah hartenstein is huge what that does is that gives them an ability to play different ways uh last year they were pretty much married to we’re going to play small ball around a perimeter based five now this year if they want to against Denver or against Minnesota and some of the bigger teams they can put hartenstein out there and still play homr and it’s funny because I I got push back from some people that were like well what made them so special was hom Gren at the five well he can still do that they they they didn’t lose that ability nothing says hardenstein has to play you know 40 minutes a night this isn’t New York anymore he doesn’t have to play that much under tibs he can actually rest once in a while so I thought they did really really well I think um Orlando getting contavious C well Pope was a huge get for them just kind of gives them another shooter on the wing that backourt defense with him and Jaylen Suggs is going to be really really good Philly is hard to overlook New York that they both improved with getting Bridges and then getting uh Paul George even if you know for New York they paid a heavy price to get him but for right now moving forward they they they uh you know close the gap at least a little bit on Boston at the top of the East Keith terrific stuff as always again we appreciate your work at spa track terrific stuff we’ll continue to read you throughout free agency and Beyond thanks for jumping on I appreciate you nailed the pronunciation well done that took me a couple tries but I got there Keith Smith though that’s an easy one I can nail that name every time thanks Keith thank thank you so much I appreciate you having me
