JJ & Alex are joined by Jake Scott & Ben Anderson for the Utah Jazz Roundtable to get you ready for the 2025 Jazz season
• How do the Utah Jazz stack up against the rest of the Western Conference?
• Why did the Utah Jazz not extend Walker Kessler?
• Jazz Players to keep an eye on.
You’re locked into JJ and Alex on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. Oh, I wish that half the Jazz were like 6’9. I wish most of them were 6’9. Although it’s a long team now. Probably the biggest team they’ve ever had. If you roll out a starting lineup there, you could you could make an extremely long lineup with these guys that they’ve got. If you put Keonte at the point guard, what you got? Ace Bailey, Taylor Hendris, Lowry Markin, and then Walker Kesler. That’s an interesting starting seven footers. It’s a lot of length. I love I love the word interesting. That’s an interesting group. Okay. All right. But then they could also go very small, too, I guess, and uh and try to figure some things out. The the smaller lineups. I’m interested to see what lineups are going to look like with this jazz team. Welcome into our Jazz round table. We’re here at JCWs here in South Jordan. Jake Scott, Ben Anderson. You can hear them every day, of course, Jake and Ben. and they break down the Jazz probably better than anybody in this whole dang market. So, uh we have them along for our round table as JJ and I uh get wise to what’s going on with this 2025 2026 Jazz team. We’ve been having philosophical discussions about rosters, all the things across the board that could make this team at least uh Jake, I think you put it best, which is I just want to see something interesting on a nightly basis that we can sink our teeth into. not something that you say, “Hey, this team better get to the playoffs.” Uh, or this team better make some crazy inroads that are unreasonable expectations. What is a reasonable expectation? Because just being interesting is a little bit less quantifiable, uh, with a team like this. I don’t know what you’re expect. I’m not saying win total. I’m saying what is something that could be a marker though for you to be able to look at and say that is what you’re looking for on a for a good year for this team. You know, when you’re a paleontologist, as you guys both are, and you go out and you’re digging in the Where do they take the desert? Where? Wherever they’re anywhere. And they’re like, “Oh, there’s a bone here.” And they kind of chip away and they’re like, “What bone is this?” They chip away like, “What animal is this?” Like, “What area is this?” I want to know what species this is by the end of the season, which means I want to know who are the four pillar players, you know? Uh, is it Lowry? Is it Walker? Is it Ace? Is it Walt? Or is it Keiante? Or is it Bryce? Or is it Taylor? And four is a low number, but really that’s how most teams are. Most teams don’t have six core players. You can’t pay that many. No, you can’t. So, who are your four guys going to be? And then, yeah, you fill in the ancillary pieces and you hope guys stick around and don’t get priced out of your uh, you know, cap roll, but or your cap sheet. But that’s what I would like to see, you know, as they are trying to dig out whatever creature this is. Can they get a sense of of what the skeleton looks like, of what the system actually looks like and and who it’s going to be worth building around? Because if you go out and you add another top five pick next year, it’s got to be your last top five pick. It’s got to be the last year you do that. And I do think that’s where they’re headed, but I think this has got to be the last season. And you may even spend money next summer if you have an idea of who those four guys are, plus AJ Debaso or Darren Peterson or Cambooz or whoever it is. Plus, go get some free agents. And the spending money part you’re talking about, that’s why they did not get the extension deal done with Walker Kesler because they want that financial freedom next summer when they have a better idea of who they are and what they have ideally. And you will not know that until after the 2026 NBA draft. I I like Ben and your Jeremiah answer because I was going to say it’s not possible to quantify like I I don’t think you can answer because honestly guys and if the Jazz tried the whole season like they played their guys they coached to win and they did that from game one to game 82. I think they’re winning north of 30 games. Mhm. I really do. best case. But I but they’re not they’re not going to do that because they aren’t going to lose their pick. So they can stay till they’re blue in the face. Uh you know, we’re we’re done with the tank. I don’t think so. So they’re they’re therefore you have to throw the win total out the win. Like you can’t look at it. It’s fake. It’s not real. I mean, if they tried I honestly think that How hard was it to What was their win total last year? 17. 17. How hard was it to only win 17 games? That’s bad. How many hoops did they have to jump into or jump through? How many fourth quarters did they have to boot? They needed a Washington Wizards buzzer beater in the last game of the regular season to secure the worst record in the league. It was something to behold. I mean, I if they actually tried the whole season, I think they get to 30 wins. I don’t want to say easy, but to emphasize my point, yeah, I think they get to 30 wins. They get to 22 very easily had they just played other guys. Yes. In a couple of those games, you know, you lose to Charlotte, you or or you know, you lose to Atlanta in the crazy halfcourt buzzer beater game from Trey Young. You there there are just enough of those out there. So if they go out and win 40 games, then maybe I’ll jump on board and say, “Hey, they’re on their way.” But as far as like did they take a step forward? I don’t think I honestly I don’t think we’re still Supreme Court deal. You’ll know it when you see it. Yeah, for sure. Vegas has their overunder win total this year preseason at 18 and a half. It’s the lowest total since the 1415 Philadelphia 76ers to start season in that’s aggressive. That’s the expectations in Vegas with Vegas. Whatever. Take that. Take with that whatever you want. That’s just a guy in looking at the win total from last year seeing that they they were 17 last year. The expectations are still not great. This is probably still the worst team in the league. Yeah, I think that Well, I I mean, I hate gambling lines because they’re not predicting anything. No, they’re not. They’re trying to get people to put money down. That line is the public looking at the worst record in the league last year. So, would you put money down on the Jazz getting the over? I again, I I certainly not a gambler, but yeah, they’re going to hammer the over big time. There you go. Unless Unless honestly they’re throwing it in the tank at the very beginning of the season, which they’re not going to do. So, how many games do they have to lose to secure that eight that top eight pick? I don’t think you want to win more than about 27 games. Uh, so I think that’s plenty of of space to go over 17 and a half or whatever the number was that you It’s such a weird thing to have to worry about. But it’s it’s so stupid. The league is so this experience I think has taught me that that this league it’s just broken. Never incentivized%. The good news is for this year though, the way that uh fans got absolutely the rug pulled out from under him uh with the lottery stuff last year and then being able to get Ace Bailey at number five. I think people look at it and go don’t you don’t need to be the worst worse worst worse. You don’t need to be the worst worst worst and and you know everybody sees and they go well AJ Debonsa it because you look at it you go well that has nothing to do with Peterson. It actually has nothing to do with so there’s a lot of talent in this draft. There is there is I think it would be it’s it’s hard not to get excited, you know, because what they do is they go and they just have on there the projected the projected worst team in the league is the Utah Jazz. The projected number one pick is AJ Deansa. So, it’s hard to look at those projections way early obviously and to see those two logos next to each other like AJ Deans with the BYU logo next to him and then the Jazz next to it and you go, “Oo, that looks really nice.” Because that guy’s bonafideed, right? And so you look and you and you say, “Okay, look where the talent is and see what you’ve got and uh and see where you can go from there.” All right. I Well, think about this. As long as we just mentioned Ha Debonsa, get rid of the draft and get rid of the rookie salary structure. And then if you’re the Jazz and you want to go spend a boatload of money on a rookie and take a chance that it’s, you know, cuz the Lakers can’t sign every superst rookie if you keep the salary cap. And why would you go to a veteran team where you’re not going to play or all sorts of things? You never know the calculus. That’s a great thought though, too. You could actually make it to where you go, yeah, you can do this. You cannot dip into your luxury. Yeah. Yeah. If you’re going to pick, if you’re going to sign, you can only sign these guys if you’re under the cap. Yeah. And it’s a basically a bidding war. If Ryan’s pick, go out and make it happen with AJ Demon. But you have to get crappy players to get a bunch of guys on expiring contracts. That’s the problem. You’re still getting teams that are saying, “Well, we’ll just take on all the bad contracts to clear all our money at the end of the season.” But you still could win. I mean, you could still win with those crappy contracts, even though you’re still playing simply salary strategy. Let’s look at the rest of the Western Conference and see where this uh and I and and the much lauded Northwest division. Uh I where the champs reside. I was going to say I but but I I do look around and go, man, the West is is really it’s and maybe it’s because the East has their best players or some of their best players injured across the board and might not and will probably not come back during the rest of the season, but this is a tough west. What does the rest of the league look like in the Western Conference uh that the Jazz are going to be matched up against? And who got better? And I think everybody’s kind of got, you know, another year that they’re penciling in for an MVP season uh from Nicola Joic. And I think that they are wondering what the next version of uh of this of this Denver Nuggets team is going to look like. But at the same time, you have a lot of teams in the West that have improved that are further along in that development. So, who impresses you in the West and who’s going to be really really hard to kind of get through this year that we maybe haven’t seen as being contenders in years past. The argument for the Jazz only winning 17 and a half games is that they have to play 62 games against the West. Yeah. Uh, and the rest of those teams, Washington, Charlotte, Brooklyn, get to play each other in the East three to four times each, and the Jazz only play them twice. Because outside of the Sacramento Kings, I don’t know if there’s a true disaster in the Western Conference, and there are teams that are going to lose their seasons to injury. Uh, maybe the Memphis Grizzlies are already on that front. They they keep racking up injuries in the offseason, but yeah, I mean, Oklahoma City should compete for 70 wins. Denver should be around 60 wins. Houston’s scary again. Houston’s good. Fred Vanble’s going to, you know, that loss is going to keep them from competing for a title unless they make a trade, but they have all the pieces to make a trade if they want. Um, the Clippers are going to be the Clippers are going to be a regular season juggernaut. The Warriors are going to be a regular season juggernaut. There just a lot of teams that are going to win a lot of games and we haven’t talked about Victor Wimyama if he makes the jump and and you know, uh, there is a ton of talent in the West where no night is easy and this is the first time anyone’s talked this long without saying LeBron James, Luca Donic, you know, and that’s a good team. The Lakers could miss the playoffs. That’s how good the West Well, and it almost feels like when you say LeBron, it feels like a a a detriment to your team more than it does, you know, an ad. Now, that’s not to say that he’s still not phenomenally good. It just is a weird dynamic. Like, what a weird dynamic, by the way. That could become a distraction. What is like JJ Reic trying to babysit those two guys or trying to like play favorites? Cuz they do. You have to play favorites at those guys, don’t you? Like, you have to kind of That’s what you have to do with Jake and I right now. Oh, no. Trust me, if I I’m going to love watching LeBron stand there and watch Luca Donuch play basketball. It’s honestly the thing I’m looking to forward to the most about this NBA season. His last season in the corner watching stand there going, “I’m open. I’m open.” While Luca dribbles it, it’s it’s really going to be hilarious. They’ll have a couple 40point games and people go, “He’s still got it.” I uh I The West is way better than the East. But I’m I’m kind of I think it’s Denver and Oklahoma City and everybody else. The Clippers are so old. They are. They are so old. It’s hard to trust. Why now? Why would it all of a sudden come together, right? And the Warriors are so old and I don’t think that’s happening. The Lakers, we forget. Uh I I joke with Ben about this uh when it happened, but you guys know who their big free agent signing this year this off season. you know who who they brought aboard and is really going to sign figure uh solve their big man problem when DeAndre Aiden right I mean they’re they’re a game changer I don’t believe that’s why I can’t believe in the Lakers I don’t believe in the Lakers for one second feels like it’s going to blow up Ben and I are a little torn on the Rockets I think the Rock I think the Rockets are a little bit better I think than Ben does feel free to they’re going to win over 50 games but Van Bleet being gone makes it from where they are like they could be contending I think to kind of being on the outside knocking on. Yeah, but the Vanley was the point guard, but he was not the point guard. Shenon is the point guard. He’s the one who makes them work. And Kevin Durant is an upgrade over Jaylen Green for this year, of course. Yeah. Uh which I think will make a difference. But I mean, they get they’ve got to get somebody else besides KD that can score some points in tough situations, which was what Fred Van Vleet was. So, how far away are the Spurs? I mean, like they should be closer than they are. huge. The names are huge. But does it does it pay off yet? They get interesting if midway through the year they decide they need Lowry marketing, you know, if they say, “Hey, there’s not a better fit next to Victor Wimbeyama than another sevenfooter who, you know, can stand on the perimeter and create space for him.” And their guard stuff is weird. It’s going to be weird. I I really like they’re built terribly. They are. I don’t like their I don’t like their construction. Did Did Buford is he still there? Is he on Peyote? is did did Papovic start sniffing glue at the end because they don’t make any sense. He had other issues. I was going to say unfortunately that doesn’t make they don’t make any sense. How Dearon Fox is still on the team is absolutely beyond me. They gave him extension. He’s locked into a big long deal. I I I thought it was going to be they thought it was going to be some like oh this is novel. He’s going to push those young kids. Oh, his wife’s from San Antonio. He wanted to be there. It felt like a good match. Clutch placed him there. But then they draft a kid that plays. They did. Yeah, Clutch absolutely were like, “We get an inside man next to Wimby. Let’s see how that works.” Uh, so that was a big part of that. They will clear out at some point. I think Darren Fox, but if Darren Fox doesn’t fit particularly well and doesn’t look good, he makes a ton of money and that gets hard. And look, the NBA is really unforgiving right now with bad contracts. If you get laced into the wrong guy who other teams don’t want, De’Arren Fox will single-handedly derail Victor Wimbeyama’s championship hopes because he’s one of the highest paid players in the NBA and certainly one of the highest paid players on the roster. I don’t think you can have bad fits with your top two highest paid players. And the Spurs can’t possibly screw this up, right? I mean, you have a Sure. Well, yeah. Yeah, we’re just talking about the Jets. I know we’re talking about the Mariners. Talking about the Mariners. Yeah. How dare you? I do think the Spurs are probably in that playin situation. 910 and then we’ll see what happens in the playoff. Dylan Harper, did he look pretty good in the season or is Yeah, he’s he’s great. Yeah, he’s going to be a good player. He’s still small. I don’t I don’t No, he’s like 66. He’s big. Dear Fox is little and Steph Castle can’t shoot at all. They’ve got to figure out that back court weird dynam. But also, you’re resetting it with a rookie. You know, you got to understand those guys aren’t ready to win for two or three years. Uh there’s always a rookie or not every year, but a lot of years where you get this just like phenom of a name at least and and a lot of the the hype that goes to it. And the Mavericks, of course, uh got all the hype with uh with just all those amazing moves that Nico Harrison made uh that made it possible to get uh to get Cooper flag. What do the Mavs look like this year? I don’t know. I don’t Well, the Mavs wait and see until Kyrie Irving comes back, right? How much does he play? When does he come in? Is he end? Anthony Davis is still Is he before the All-Star break? Is he going to be back or is that even after? No, I think probably in that range. Probably around February if he comes back. But you talk about you talk about the expectations on a rookie. Well, Cooper Flag doesn’t have to be Superman because the Mavericks already have a lot of veteran talent on that team. We were still in wait and see mode on Kyrie. But kind of in a similar situation is that Lakers, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Spurs, kind of that 6 through 10 mix is kind of where I see them at. Um I don’t think they’re going to I don’t think their ceiling is any higher than that this year, but with Anthony Davis and with Cooper Flag and some of the pieces they have, they’re going to win 40 mid 40s, maybe upper 40s as far as wins go. uh other teams that I that I like I just think it’s interesting to see what they’re going to end up doing, but the Pelicans are are a weird team that I still haven’t been able to figure out. Playoffs. Uh that’s rough for that organization. What about uh the Grizzlies? What do they what happens with those guys going forward here after they fired Taylor Jenkins and now another team in that range of you know are what direction they go in. Last year was weird. Everything that happened to them. I mean, they went all they were what, a two seed what, three years ago. Mhm. And to see where they’re at now, it’s kind of like, who are they? What who is Jaw now? Is Jaws still a superstar in this league or where where does he fit in all this? I don’t even think he’s the best player on that team. No, Jiren Jackson Jr. is the best player. Yeah. So, I I don’t know who they are on that. I don’t know. I don’t know. Uh Memphis, he drives the fastest on the team. He sure does. Memphis is terrible on the Not to the hoop. Yeah. Not to the hoop. their ownership is a mess. I If you look at how the Taylor Jenkins thing ended, um if you look at how coaching situations have worked in that franchise for a while, it is not healthy. So, I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m ever a believer in Memphis. Minnesota’s a team we’ve we’ve undertalked about. I still wouldn’t put them with OKC or Denver. I just I really like Denver’s offseason. Denver had the best offseason in the West. Yeah. Yeah, I mean they so were the the the were in the in the West finals. Back toback years they’ve been in the conference finals. Most slept on back-to-back conference finals team in a while. They were six seed last year and only won 49 games for a while there. They were in the playing situation. Could you see that happening again? And if so, we all know what happens next year. The Jazz get their pick regardless. I don’t think they’ll be better than that. They’ll be They just don’t have a point guard and Mike Connley is so old. Oh yeah. Are they still gonna Does that How old does that team get this year? I know they have Ants obviously a superstar, but Goar went to the full fully shorn. He did. It’s not what you want to see. Uh I do think Mike’s probably borderline unplayable unfortunately. Rob Dillingham, who they traded up to get the eighth pick two years ago, is just not that level of player. He’s good, he’s just not that level of player. Um and they lost to Kill Alexander Walker, which is a sneaky big loss. He handled a lot. He handled a lot. He was a a superb defensive player. He could handle some of the point guard stuff. He was their point guard. He learned how to shoot. I think Mike starts. Um, yeah, it’s it’s not ideal. They’ve still got Joe on the roster. I’m just throwing that out there because that’s a team outside of Anth is kind of aging, kind of fragile. Feels like some I mean, there’s so many good teams in the West. We talked about all those teams that 6 to 10 range. What if one of those teams You just named all those old guys, but they are still the fifth uh they’re still the fifth oldest team in the West. They’re also one of the most expensive teams in the league. Oh, yeah. For sure. Uh they they you know a it’s going to be Anthony Edwards playing point guard and then maybe they just put you know whoever next to him Shannon or whoever. Maybe that’s just enough and such a freak and he’s so great that maybe that’s just enough for them to get the top six. All right, we’ll take another break here. We’ll come back and uh we are at JCWs here in South Jordan. Wherever the JCWs is near you, go check it out. Get yourself some grub because they have the best burgers on the planet. They have awesome sides. They have sneaky stuff. Look, the cheese fries are unbelievable. uh Allah the uh the old you know you put those things it’s the it’s the real cheese too it’s not the fake cheese stuff they put the real cheese on there love those things man plus the you anything you want man over the top shakes all of it JCWs hooks it up and they’ve hooked us up today we appreciate them uh hosting us for our jazz round table all this uh portion of the show also brought to you by the good folks at trajewealth t r a janealth.com for all your trusted local needs in retirement tradewealth.com we’ll come back more to go on our jazz round table we’ll uh got a couple more segments ments of getting you ready for this jazz season that kicks off officially that tips officially tomorrow. Stay with us. 975 the KSL sports. Ladies and gentlemen, the biggest thing you’re locked into JJ and Alex with the insight and analysis on the teams you can’t live without. This is 975, the KSL Sports Zone. Wrinkle in the background. I know the cowbell’s underrated in this uh version of the I think this is the actual real one they’re doing this year, right? This was like the Oh, no. The new one has like they added a guitar. Yeah, it’s like an electric guitar. Tash was like, “Hey, let me play with this a little bit.” Adds adds a synthetized guitar and then Yeah. Know his brother his brother Dave Tesh not allowed. They got to they got to fix that rift. Uh, we were just talking about the shops at Southtown now that the Jazz and uh and the and the Mammoth have taken that place over and with the Jazz announcing their new uh their new practice facility there and and it it did it made me start to think of elite elite food court uh alltime food court uh places mainstays. Cinnabon. Yeah. Orange Julius. New York slice. Yeah. New York’s best slice. Sparrows. What’s an elite What’s an elite food court item? I mean, it’s got to be like the pretzel place, the Auntie Annies or whatever it is. I got to be I’m a hot dog on a stick guy. Oh yeah. I think they should put JCWs there. Put it in the Put it in the Why not put it in there? Let’s go. Elite Mall food. I just I want you guys to ruminate on it. Think about it. Elite mall foods. I bet you the the chef at uh Coach Tony for the Jazz at the the building out there is probably the best the best food out there. He’s probably like, he’s probably hating the fact that these guys have they’re like I would Chef Tony, I really want that, but I’m going over to Orange Julius real quick. No, come on, kid. Uh we are at JCWs for our Jazz Round Table. Uh where you don’t have to question whether or not it’s elite. We already know that it is. So, come take a look. Get a burger. Best burger in the state of Utah. We’ve stood by that for a long time, JJ. Like, we we love those here, man. Get the shakes going. Whatever you need. Uh, by the way, we have some Jazz tickets to give away for tomorrow’s matchup. The home opener at Delta Center. Jazz Clippers, uh, facing off tomorrow to kick the season off. Game number one of the NBA season, uh, already underway. We’ve already got teams playing tonight, but we also, of course, are going to see this Jazz team start off their season officially, and you’ve got a chance to win tickets to that game tomorrow night. 801575 zone. That’s 801575 zone. 801575-9663. and you can get yourself a family fourpack of tickets to go see the Jazz and the Clippers kick off the NBA season. Uh, all right, let’s uh let’s talk a little bit about Walker Kesler because this is a guy we’ve focused on so many other people on this on this roster. Year three was amazing for Walker and now the question is what does the future look like for a guy like Walker Kesler? Is he somebody that you Austin made it sound like there’s not a soul on planet Earth that’s not safe if the deal is good enough that I won’t trade? However, where does Walker Kessler sit on the list of guys who are important to have on this roster going forward? And what does year four have to look like for Walker to be able to keep making those uh endroads? I I will just say I’ve been told behind the scenes that Walker is a piece of the future and they are going to pay him and they were going to just wait till next year because it made financial sense. Jeremiah, as you said, you know, he’ll have a $14.5 million capold, which basically means, you know, a a space taken up in the salary cap next year in the summer, but that’s better than the 25 or more he would have gotten had he signed with the team this year. So, the Jazz will sign him to that $25 million plus deal next summer, but he only cost $14 million at the beginning of the year, three times what his salary is this season. That’s just a little tool the NBA. Those are the and those are the games they play in the offseason. And everyone goes, “Walker, what do you think about not getting extended?” Well, I’ll talk about it this one time. And I, you know, I just I hope that uh, you know, they see my value in the future. It’s all a game that we play off the court to make sure guys get paid what they want and and what they think they’re worth and the team ends up paying them what they think they’re worth. And you, in the meantime, you get a guy who’s going to play his butt off probably this year. Logically, that all makes sense. Makes sense for the team to do that. But we’re talking about a human being here. And we’ve talked earlier in the show about keeping players happy, wanting to be in Utah. Walker loves being here. I’ve sat in our KSL studio. I get a chance to sit down with him every year with UCCCU and he wants to be here, loves to be here. He’s really embraced being here, but when you do these kind of things, these players have egos and they’re sensitive. Is is there is there any situation here where Walker is so upset with what happened? Because remember what happened to Gordon Hayward? Remember they lowballed him on the uh the contract situation? That’s why he left. And there was some bitterness that lingered from that. And he’s a competitor. he never let go of that. Does Walker do the same thing? Is there any worry or threat that Walker could be so frustrated that this didn’t get done now despite the logic of the whole situation that he ends up leaving? Uh there absolutely and the fact that he said at at media day, what was the phrasing he used? Uh Ben, but you’re frustrated. Yeah. I mean, he didn’t know the logic of it. He didn’t say, “Oh, I understand why they’re doing this. We’ll get it done.” But the problem is, and and this comes to negotiating max extensions on rookie deals because it’s still not the full max. So, you’re kind of still betting on potential and you don’t have to pay so significantly financially. And so, where it gets difficult is when you have uh someone on their rookie deal who you do not think is a max player. And obviously, the Jazz don’t think because Paulo gets a max contract. No matter what Jaylen Williams Gordon Hayward thought he was a Max guy. The Jazz the guy the Jazz told him uh that uh that he was not. He got his feelings hurt by that. The the to answer your question Jeremiah is he going to be good enough that you even care? You know what I mean? Like if if he’s just what does he need to be at his position? just a a guy, kind of a rotational guy or a replaceable guy, then you don’t really care that he’s unhappy here and that they jerked him around. The thing is Gordon Hayward turned out to be really good. He did turn out to be that Max guy and it did come back to come back to haunt him. But there’s no way that Kesler looks at the situation and goes, “Oh, I understand that flexibility argument perfectly. Sure. I mean, cuz there’s just too much risk. he could get injured tomorrow and all of a sudden that’s all off the table. So it it’s delicate and if and then he goes to restricted free agency and then the market could dictate it and that’s not what he wants. He wanted the he wanted it now. So I’m sure he is frustrated. But if he turns if he turns out to be super good like Gordon Hayward appeared uh at a time then it might be a little ticklish. But the the problem is is that he’s just not a max guy. It’d be so easy if you could you could just be like oh yeah we’ll max him out. I don’t think anybody can make that argument that he’s a max guy. You’re not going to pay a set. His agent probably would, but well, in 2025, you can’t make that kind of investment in a shot blocking, right? But all the guys you named, he’s none of those guys. And and those are the guys who you’re like, “Oh, obviously you extend those guys, but he’s not those guys.” And you go, “Well, then obviously he falls in the category of wait and see.” Because out of his uh three seasons so far, two have been pretty good. The one in the middle, not so much. And so what do you get year four? Well, what what do they get year four? Like what what what does he build on from last year that you’re looking at and you go, “No, there’s not going to be some fourth year fall off. It’s it it’s a guy who’s continued to get better.” I I would hope that’s going to be the the case for him, right? Well, his preseason debut, his only preseason game, he was fabulous and nearly had the triple double. It was 14 points and 12 rebounds or whatever and eight assists would be a careerhigh. Uh if he can continue to pass the ball, that will be extremely helpful. The Jazz are a terrible passing team. Uh and he’s a part of the reason why. you know, Lowry is a part of the reason why the Jazz are not a good passing team. If he can learn something from Ysef Nerk and, you know, open up not just, you know, making crazy passes, but I mean, just knowing how to execute a triple handoff, which will make Ace Bailey’s life so much easier, would make him really valuable. Those types of things will help. Uh, he’s got to make free throws, which I’m going to steal from Jake. That’s been his most important thing that he has not been able to do. Doesn’t matter now because the Jazz aren’t winning games, but if you’re trying to win games late and teams can foul you and you’re going to choke away points, uh, that’s really difficult. It’s difficult to keep you on the floor. And in fact, you shouldn’t keep you shouldn’t pay a guy who you can’t keep on the floor late. So the what there’s a lot of logic to what the Jazz are doing and not paying Walker. It was absolutely the right move. Uh but no, and I mean Walker’s probably the second best player on the team. He should be. I think he’s the second best player on the team. Here’s what I was going to say because I started thinking about it and I I I look a lot of things. We’ll do our thing where we break it down as as media members and we’ll kind of look at it as people who try to be a little bit more analytical about it. And then I try to look at it through the eyes of my 16-year-old who will ask me like, “Is this team going to be any good?” Or in in his case, he goes, “Dude, that was a fun game.” He’ll go to games and go, “That was a fun game last night.” Are there is this going to be a fun team? More fun than last year. It they’ll run a lot. I mean, if you want a big part of that. Yeah. Right. If you want upbeat, I mean, they’re going to run a lot. They’ll entertain it. It will lead to another bad defensive team. I mean, if that’s really what you’re hold I mean, cuz that’s what that’s part of the problem. Remember when uh Ty Corbin said, “Oh, we are going to have the best defensive team that we’ve seen in some time and all he did was slow it down to a snail’s pace.” Uh I think they’ll be fun to watch. Well, it depends. I mean, it if Ace really turns out to be kind of electric, I mean, that that will help. I think fans are really fascinated, interested in Ace Bailey because he’s the guy you tanked for, and it’s possible you came away with an elite player at number five in the draft. We want to see that play out. We want to see him grow. We want to see him progress. We want to see him make incredible plays. Like we talked about earlier, he has the ability to go on the perimeter, take one dribble, and gather and get to the rim. There’s very few people in the world that can do that. And he’s one of them. That’s what you pay to watch. You pay to watch freaks. You pay to watch guys that do incredible things on a night in and night out basis. They had the Jazz have not had a guy like that since Donovan Mitchell left, right? And you could even argue with some of what Donovan Mitchell was doing, he stopped doing the year before he left, right? He just wasn’t as dynamic and sensational. This is a kid that can be dynamic and sensational. He could be the face of your franchise. You want to get invested in him. Fans want to get invested right from the get- go, and that’s what they’re going to be interested in. If he’s if he doesn’t capture their imagination early, that can fade a little bit, but I think fans really want to find out. They’re curious, who is Ace Bailey? How good is he going to be? Give me the freak show. says JJ. I want to see the freaks come out. Well, I you know, we don’t watch we we don’t watch a bunch of 61 guys in the NBA, do we? Right. I don’t sign up to watch church ball. I want to I want to see the greatest players in the world do incredible things. And these this these are the best athletes that we of all the teams. There’s only 450 players in the world that can be in this league. It’s the most exclusive league in the world. You want to see greatness and the Jazz need to find a guy that that fits that mode. We’ll see if they did. We’ll see if they do. All right, we’ll take another break. We’ll come back and we’ll wrap up our round table next. We’re here at JCWs. We’ve got uh a couple more things to uh to hit on before we get back and then we’ll uh we’ll get you wrapped up uh with these guys and we’ll get you ready for hockey as well. Stay with us. More going on here at the JCWs in South Jordan. Alex Kiri, Jeremiah Jensen, Jake and Ben uh right here 975 BKSL Sports Zone. Your home for the best coverage of the Jazz Utes and Cougars is right here on the zone. This is JJ and Alex on 975 the KSL Sports Zone. All right, final segment of the hour here as we get you ready for the Jazz and the Clippers tomorrow tipping off the Jazz’s 2025 2026 season. Thanks for being with us on our Jazz round table today. Uh one of the great sponsors of the program is the good folks at the Doug Smith dealerships in American Fork, Spanish Fork, and in Lynon. We appreciate uh all of their support on our programs across uh across our uh our wide range of coverage. So, thanks for being patient with us and uh nobody knows cars like Doug. Hey, guess what? Uh final time for us to be able to jam about some stuff. Uh we were talking about things. It’s difficult. I’m never I don’t want to do the projection of wins or anything like that. 22. I’ll do it for you. Uh but JJ, what do you have? Well, I had a thought and I mean obviously they’re not going to win a lot more a lot of more games than that. I think we’re all on the same page there. But what I wanted to ask is who is going to be the player on the roster this year that surprises that takes the next step. Walker Kesler was that player last year. Okay. Who’s the player now? It’s not going to be the next step because he’s not had a first step, but it’ll be Wall Clayton. Well, Clayton is going to be the Jazz starting point guard by the end of the season there. What is it about his game because he’s not particularly big. I mean, he’s one of these, but he he’s bigger than Keiante and Isaiah. He’s taller than both of them. Is he 6’5 then? Is he No, but those guys are also also only 6’1. You know, they’re listed at whatever 63, 6’4. Did you see that? Did you see that? I think Colin Ston his newly listed height when he went to his new team. They were like, I 5’11 and 3/4 or whatever was 6 foot even. You know, after uh it it’s it’s interesting how how that works. I thought the NBA was really more strict on that. I thought it was a leaguewide thing that they were like, “Don’t fake the heights.” You know what I mean? Like that’s not good for anybody for us to be faking these heights. Uh for me, I I like that pick. I because I don’t know anything about Wal Clayton Jr. except for what we saw from him at Florida and then the preseason, right? And so this is a guy who has been in big situations, but the Jazz have had guys come in national championship uh teams who’ve shot the lights out in the NCAA tournament who get, you know, popular during that time in the national eyes and and sometimes it doesn’t work out. But I I like the idea of somebody else coming in. Although it does make more complicated that the whole point guard situation that we’re already looking at going, what happens with that group? So, uh JJ, who’s the person who’s going to make a make a leap for you this year? There was three guys I thought about, but I’m not going to be that guy. I’m just going to pick one, and it’s Bryce Sensib. He’s shown the ability to score. Uh can he score double figures at whatever role he’s asked to do? Is he coming off the bench? I don’t think he’s going to start, but can he be that guy that averages 15 points off the bench? I I’m curious to see if he can take that next step and prove that he can score at a high level against NBA competition night in and night out and be a member of that rotation. Oh, look at Brad Marshon crying on TV coming back after 16 seasons of being at the Bruins uh getting emotional on the ice when he came back home. They did they’ve stopped the whole uh start of this game at TD Garden as it’s his first time coming back. And man, to see tears in the eyes of uh those tough hockey players, man, that’s an interesting thing. Uh Jake, who’s your guy? Uh, my guy definitely is is Bryce Tense Bob and I have talked a lot about him and so I I’m not going to bore everybody by echoing all the things Jeremiah just said because I think he’s he’s on the money. But if Taylor Hendricks can really guard, he might be the other one that I was kind of thinking of. I was debating cuz his offense is still going to be behind. I think if you’re expecting him to be like a like a 14 or 16 point in I mean that’s just not going to be it. But defensively, can he take can he go guard the other team’s best player one through four? I don’t know. Ben, do you see him doing a lot of five work? I don’t think so. But I could see him, man. He is soy. Can he be switchy? Putting him on Shingon. So some of those fives, if teams want to go small, Taylor is kind of the kryptonite for that. That’s the way to Royce O’Neal yourself to a really big role on the team. So that’s the other that’s the other candidate I would throw out there. I thought of Taylor Hendricks, but I I just to not uh just to put a different name out there, maybe not the guy who’s going to make the biggest like he’s he’s going to have the biggest turnaround, but a guy who needs a like a year that makes him feel like, hey, I’m a pro basketball player and I’m getting better and and because he has the ability to be a great defender, maybe he did put on some more weight, maybe he’s getting there a little bit more. Cody Williams, I think, takes a personal step forward this year. I think uh with this Jazz team, which I think it’ll be big. It’ll be important for him. I don’t know if he’s going to be the guy that people are going to look at and go, he changed uh his entire dynamic for this team, but I think that uh he needs he needs some wins so that people stop talking about how big of a failure it was year one. I think uh which was not the case. I think just people I agree. He’s got to prove to everybody that he he was worth the pick at number 10. He’s got to pick a lane. You don’t have to be a superstar at 10. You need to prove that you were worth that pick. Okay. So, what’s the best version of him then, Ben? What do you think? I do think he’s a three and I think he’s a defensive specialist. Uh, who can three and he’s got to figure out what role it is going to be offensively. Can he hit threes? Is he a guy who just gets out in transition? Is he a guy who maybe doesn’t shoot the ball a whole lot but can be a good distributor cuz I think there is some passing there. Um, and you know, there are guys who can’t shoot who have carved out roles in the NBA by being able to pass. I think of like a Kyle Anderson. So, maybe that’s a good role, you know, that’s in the locker room with him. like can you learn from Kyle Anderson who’s not ever been an offensive dynamo but really knows the game well I my understanding is you know talking to coaches that Cody really has it between the ears. So can he pick up on some of those things that make you valuable and look not everyone can shoot. You can’t have a lineup full of guys who who touch the ball and shoot and maybe Cody can be a guy who has value without touching it. Who’s got the athleticism? You know it’s there. It’s just everything else has got to come together for him. Okay. You can’t say Ace Bailey. Who’s going to be a fan favorite though? somebody who goes, “Oh man, he’s really taken to this to this crowd this jun.” Okay, so Walt fits in that that look what he did in in March Madness. What he did at Florida, he’s a dog and he’s that kind of guy that that that very aggressive, hardworking, you know, guy that Jazz fans love that’s just goes hard all the time. Hendrickx might get some crazy dunks, which people will love. You know, George’s easy name cuz people already love George. There’s there’s only two outcomes. black and white for Yousef Nerkage. Either he’s the most hated player on the team by the end of the season and he gets punched by a teammate or he becomes a fan favorite because he’s really fun to watch. He is an offensive dynamo. He’s fun to watch and he’s enormous. He’s the second heaviest player in the league and he does things that very few people in the world can do. He doesn’t play any defense and that’s that’s going to be frustrating for Jazz fans, but he’s fun to watch with the uh with the ball in his hands. Okay guys, thanks for coming down today. Thanks for making your extending your days. Excited about the year. Thanks for feeding us. disappointed you guys didn’t bring uh some diamonds to me after uh being at Bison today, but uh well, they’re attached to our body in various ways. Very various pierces. I love seeing I love it. Uh thanks guys. We appreciate it. Really, it’s just it’s extending these days sometimes is not the funnest and it’s the time of year you guys are going to get ramped up uh with more and more on your plate starting tomorrow. We appreciate it again and we appreciate JCWs, the burger boys. JCWs.com you can go find all the locations including all the ones near you. Uh, and JCWs the host. If you want an awesome meal, bring the family, man. Bring them all down. It’s a It’s a family favorite. It’s a hit with the kids, especially JCWs. We appreciate them. Uh, Leanne, Stone, Brandt, all doing awesome job down here as part of our street team. And then, of course, Christian as far as hitting the buttons back in Salt Lake as well. We’ll be back. More to go around the corner. 975D KSL Sports Zone.
