Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Gordie Chiesa on the Utah Jazz and the NBA, Lauri Markkanen's standout season, Reaction to NBA on Christmas Day + more
Transcript
- 0:17Speaker 1: He's out.
- 0:18Speaker 2: Let's get the latest on the Utah Jazz with former
- 0:21Speaker 2: Jazz assistant coach Gordy Chiasa. He's forgotten more about the
- 0:24Speaker 2: NBA than any of us will ever know.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Let's not get crazy.
- 0:27Speaker 2: Come for the hoops talk. Stay for his list of
- 0:30Speaker 2: the day, My list today, here's o C with basketball.
- 0:34Speaker 2: So on Gordy Chiasa on the Sean o'connells Show.
- 0:40Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show.
- 0:41Speaker 3: Our number three begins with Gordy Chia's up, brought to
- 0:44Speaker 3: you by our friends over at Aladdin Industries, your Utah
- 0:46Speaker 3: v Lux dealer, Gerty welcome, How are you, sir?
- 0:51Speaker 4: I'm doing fine, Sean, thank you?
- 0:54Speaker 1: Did the Christmas Day games deliver for you?
- 0:58Speaker 4: Outrageous answers? Absolutely, unequivocally yes, it was a first thing.
- 1:03Speaker 4: Let's talk about quickly, Nikol Hokch how Billie was he
- 1:07Speaker 4: on Christmas Day? As far as his performance, it was
- 1:10Speaker 4: one for the ages, and we always talk about him
- 1:14Speaker 4: how great he is, but just shows you that every
- 1:18Speaker 4: day he every time he plays, he could get a
- 1:20Speaker 4: triple double on any single moment. So if for listeners
- 1:24Speaker 4: quickly on Chrism's Day fifty six points, fifteen rebounds, fifteen assists,
- 1:30Speaker 4: including an NBA record for eighteen points in overtime. He's
- 1:34Speaker 4: the first played history of NBA basketball ever go the
- 1:38Speaker 4: fifty five point game, fifteen rebound game, and a fifteen
- 1:42Speaker 4: assist game in history. There's nothing like it.
- 1:47Speaker 3: For those who are not watching a lot of Jokich
- 1:49Speaker 3: or Nuggets basketball. He is currently averaging just under thirty
- 1:54Speaker 3: points twenty nine point nineties. He's fifth in scoring right
- 1:56Speaker 3: now in the NBA. He's first in re bounds per game.
- 2:00Speaker 3: When he's first in assists per game. A big man
- 2:04Speaker 3: who is first in assists per game, it's ridiculous.
- 2:08Speaker 4: Also, by the way, he can't jump, so Sean has
- 2:11Speaker 4: to compliment in a good way. So a lot of
- 2:13Speaker 4: times people say, Sean, I've coached guys that can jump
- 2:17Speaker 4: unbelievable and get two rebounds, that I've coached guys that
- 2:20Speaker 4: can't jump get rebounds. And Jokic is the is the
- 2:24Speaker 4: brilliance of it of everything where he's really a non jumper,
- 2:28Speaker 4: but he's so tenacious but also so much timing that
- 2:33Speaker 4: he cabs out space. So he's messaged the artful art
- 2:36Speaker 4: forum of technique. So a lot of times. It's not
- 2:39Speaker 4: how high you jump, it's when you jump and have leverage.
- 2:43Speaker 3: Is this a guy that Gordy could end up being
- 2:46Speaker 3: on like the Mount Rushmore of greatest players in NBA
- 2:49Speaker 3: history if he continues this production for I don't know
- 2:52Speaker 3: how many more years it would require for you, but
- 2:56Speaker 3: he's ridiculous and you know he helps his team compete
- 2:59Speaker 3: at the very level.
- 3:00Speaker 1: He has won a championship.
- 3:01Speaker 3: I guess you would probably need multiple to be on
- 3:03Speaker 3: that Mount Rushmore.
- 3:05Speaker 1: But could he get there?
- 3:07Speaker 4: Yes, very much? And Mount Rushmore right now? And again
- 3:11Speaker 4: you get debate this just a wonderful debate. Is Wilt, Kareem,
- 3:16Speaker 4: Lebron and Michael those are four. Now Jokic could be
- 3:23Speaker 4: in that discussion. See what happens is that he looks different,
- 3:27Speaker 4: He looks funny. He's like your next door neighbor. He's
- 3:30Speaker 4: a kind of guy who wanted to go to the
- 3:32Speaker 4: bar with and have a quick column with him. All right,
- 3:34Speaker 4: and so he looked the part, but really he is
- 3:38Speaker 4: the part for people.
- 3:41Speaker 1: Kareem.
- 3:42Speaker 3: By the way, Jokic right now on pace to beat
- 3:47Speaker 3: Kareem scoring average, rebound average, and assist average by a
- 3:51Speaker 3: very very long shot.
- 3:52Speaker 1: As a career player.
- 3:53Speaker 3: So, uh, just just to put it in context, because
- 3:56Speaker 3: a lot of us didn't get to watch prime Kareem
- 3:59Speaker 3: Abdul Jabbar and and don't really have a good sense
- 4:02Speaker 3: of his place from like a you know, modern NBA standpoint.
- 4:06Speaker 3: But that's just that's just where you would have to
- 4:10Speaker 3: start considering Jokic because his numbers tell you that he
- 4:14Speaker 3: can outperform people like that very much.
- 4:17Speaker 4: And it Wilt Wilt Chamberlain. He he they couldn't guard
- 4:22Speaker 4: him anybody, and so they changed the rules to try
- 4:25Speaker 4: to stop them. And again, his numbers are astronomical. Also,
- 4:29Speaker 4: I know it's a different era, but he could he
- 4:31Speaker 4: could play in an era right now, because when you're
- 4:34Speaker 4: seven foot one, seventy five pounds with a rate of
- 4:38Speaker 4: thirty four inches thirty four inch waist and your hot,
- 4:41Speaker 4: your unbelievable athlete, you can play in this era.
- 4:44Speaker 3: Will anyone ever be more proficient rebounder over the course
- 4:47Speaker 3: of a career than will you think? No, never, twenty
- 4:53Speaker 3: twenty three rebounds a game. By the way, for all
- 4:55Speaker 3: of you out.
- 4:56Speaker 4: There, Yeah, it's it's crazy, these numbers. When I look
- 5:01Speaker 4: at it all the time, I can't believe I forget
- 5:04Speaker 4: how these numbers, how incredible they are, and that's the
- 5:08Speaker 4: beauty of a different eras shown where who's better this
- 5:11Speaker 4: guy or that guy? The answer is they're all great,
- 5:14Speaker 4: and Lebron's brilliants and Michael Jordan's brilliance and again I
- 5:17Speaker 4: left out you know Steph Curry, the world's greatest shooter,
- 5:20Speaker 4: Larry Bird, you know Kevin Durant, Luca Donches someday. I mean,
- 5:26Speaker 4: all these players are incredible shot makers, winners, They lead
- 5:31Speaker 4: their franchises. And that's why the beauty of sports. Hey,
- 5:34Speaker 4: who's better? Who's better Tom Brady, Joe Montana? Who's better
- 5:37Speaker 4: this guy? In the NFL? They're all great.
- 5:39Speaker 3: Yeah, the answer to who's better in some of those
- 5:42Speaker 3: is just yes, they're They're all better.
- 5:44Speaker 1: They're all amazing.
- 5:47Speaker 3: All right, Gordy, Uh let's talk about this Utah Jazz
- 5:49Speaker 3: team here for just a second. Uh No, no prime
- 5:54Speaker 3: time Christmas Day game because you got to elevate yourself
- 5:58Speaker 3: prominence wise, but building a little streak here. They got
- 6:01Speaker 3: a victory over the Pistons, They got a victory on
- 6:04Speaker 3: the road against the Spurs. What have you liked about
- 6:06Speaker 3: these last two performances.
- 6:09Speaker 4: The Jazz heart and courage very much. They played as
- 6:12Speaker 4: a unit. And the game on Friday night where the
- 6:16Speaker 4: County George refused to lose and they made that that
- 6:19Speaker 4: game winner with two point one seconds. That floater where
- 6:23Speaker 4: when he tried to drabbing to the basket, is that
- 6:26Speaker 4: you knew the shot was going to go in the
- 6:27Speaker 4: angle of it. And that how what happened before during
- 6:30Speaker 4: the game is that the Jazz kept on fighting back
- 6:34Speaker 4: and they were able to hold off and that was
- 6:35Speaker 4: a tremendous win at home against a really a good team.
- 6:39Speaker 4: And the next night, so they get to San Antonio.
- 6:41Speaker 4: I'm assuming that I've been on that trip many times.
- 6:44Speaker 4: Is that probably three o'clock in the morning to the
- 6:46Speaker 4: Alamo City. They knocked off the Spurs who went eighth
- 6:50Speaker 4: straight in a row. And it was I called a
- 6:53Speaker 4: signature of victory and that's in team building. Larry Markin
- 6:56Speaker 4: it was brilliant and again Chunty George was absolutely great
- 7:00Speaker 4: and then underrated was Walter Clayton had a Master Police
- 7:05Speaker 4: where he shot perfect for the night. He scored seventeen
- 7:09Speaker 4: points in twenty two minutes. He goes six to six
- 7:12Speaker 4: shooting for the game field of percent is two to
- 7:16Speaker 4: two from three and three to three from the siud
- 7:18Speaker 4: line for total seventeen points. So sewing, yes, please give
- 7:22Speaker 4: me the hot sauce.
- 7:25Speaker 3: I mean, it's a tired storyline at this point. But
- 7:27Speaker 3: this jazz team, they're too good to be tanking or
- 7:30Speaker 3: to to be tanking without trying to tank. And we
- 7:34Speaker 3: were told they weren't going to try to tank. So
- 7:36Speaker 3: what do you do if you're in the front office
- 7:38Speaker 3: right now?
- 7:43Speaker 4: Oh, yes, the answer is you try to win. I
- 7:45Speaker 4: know you again. I take the viewpoint of the players
- 7:50Speaker 4: the front office. Austin Ings has said the team is
- 7:53Speaker 4: trying to win. That's what he said publicly, and so
- 7:56Speaker 4: far it's a truism. The team is playing to win
- 8:01Speaker 4: because Larry Markin is heading to the All Star Game,
- 8:05Speaker 4: and Count George in his third year has been true tremendous.
- 8:08Speaker 4: So I would say keep the course, try to win
- 8:13Speaker 4: as many games as you can, and let nature take
- 8:15Speaker 4: its course whatever it happens.
- 8:21Speaker 3: Gordy, I know that your schedule has changed a little
- 8:24Speaker 3: bit today because of the passing of someone who's pretty
- 8:27Speaker 3: important in Utah jazz history. I wanted to give you
- 8:29Speaker 3: a little time and space to say whatever you need
- 8:32Speaker 3: to say.
- 8:33Speaker 4: No, thank you, joined alluding to Barbara Layden, the wife
- 8:38Speaker 4: of sixty two years of our beloved Frank Layden, the
- 8:41Speaker 4: former jazz president, general manager and head coach, passed away
- 8:45Speaker 4: on Christmas morning. And she was ninety two years young.
- 8:49Speaker 4: Emphasized young. And there's so many jazz fans that Barbara
- 8:54Speaker 4: and Frank Laydon, they were a team, there were partners.
- 8:59Speaker 4: And Frank passed away just for the listeners back in July,
- 9:04Speaker 4: and Barbara passed away I'm just mentioned a few days ago.
- 9:08Speaker 4: And so all our hearts and prayers are out to
- 9:10Speaker 4: the Leydon family. The Fernals tomorrow Tuesday at the Cathedral
- 9:14Speaker 4: downtown at eleven o'clock in the morning, and we're going
- 9:17Speaker 4: to be there and then we're going to honor Barbara
- 9:20Speaker 4: Laydon for her goodness for everyone here in Salt Lake
- 9:26Speaker 4: City and the Native and Yorker Brooklyn night. And ironically,
- 9:31Speaker 4: you know, Frank Layton met Barbara Layton at a bar
- 9:34Speaker 4: Shawn and Frole Rockaway Beach Queen's and the owner of
- 9:38Speaker 4: the ball was Al McGuire's father. Al McGuire was the
- 9:43Speaker 4: coach of Marquette for many many years, won nineteen seventy
- 9:47Speaker 4: seven NCAA championship for March Madness and Barbara and Frank
- 9:53Speaker 4: Layton met at Al McGuire's father's bar and Frole Rockaway Queens.
- 10:01Speaker 1: Or did Jase?
- 10:01Speaker 3: That is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell show,
- 10:04Speaker 3: talking all things NBA. How close should we be paying
- 10:08Speaker 3: attention to what's happening with the Clippers right now?
- 10:11Speaker 4: Yes, the answer is very much. They won four in
- 10:14Speaker 4: a row, they moved on from Chris Paul. Now I'm
- 10:17Speaker 4: not saying Chris Paul is the only reason why the
- 10:19Speaker 4: team was not successful, but they've now hit some stride,
- 10:23Speaker 4: led by Kawhi Leonard, who had a masterpiece of fifty
- 10:27Speaker 4: five points last night in a win. And they're talented,
- 10:33Speaker 4: so it was never a question of their ability. Their
- 10:38Speaker 4: defense was lacking, and now with Kawhi Leonard having really
- 10:44Speaker 4: a great game to catapult them. They won four in
- 10:47Speaker 4: a row, and the Jazz played them ironically on New
- 10:50Speaker 4: Year's Day, And so the Jazz goes Celtics Slarne at
- 10:53Speaker 4: a Delta Center. Then they leave and they played New
- 10:56Speaker 4: Year's Day against the Clippers. So we'll learn more about
- 11:01Speaker 4: the Clippers. They have talent, they're underperforming, but recently now
- 11:05Speaker 4: they're getting back in.
- 11:06Speaker 1: Groove this time of year.
- 11:10Speaker 3: Who else are you you zeroing in on as a
- 11:13Speaker 3: team that could I guess improve their standing from what
- 11:16Speaker 3: the first half of the season's looked like.
- 11:22Speaker 4: They're Raptors. Yeah, the Raptors in the East. They're nineteen
- 11:27Speaker 4: and fourteen. They're overachieving. And again I know they're in Canada,
- 11:31Speaker 4: so none of the things about yeah, Canada is for hockey, right, yeah,
- 11:34Speaker 4: it is. I agree with that, however, also in basketball,
- 11:37Speaker 4: and so the Raptors have done a very good job
- 11:41Speaker 4: as far as them winning. They're in they're in fourth
- 11:45Speaker 4: place in the in the East at nineteen and fourteen.
- 11:50Speaker 4: Their roster is young and now they're getting healthy and
- 11:53Speaker 4: I'm looking for them to see if they can catch
- 11:56Speaker 4: they can catch the Celts, the Knicks and the Pistons
- 11:59Speaker 4: and move up. So they're a fun story out in
- 12:01Speaker 4: the West right here. Underrated. Also now, Sean is the
- 12:04Speaker 4: Phoenix Suns. Yes, the Suns. They're right now in seven
- 12:08Speaker 4: plays eighteen and thirteen and they're playing with harmony and
- 12:12Speaker 4: that's against I can't explain chemistry. But all I know Sean.
- 12:16Speaker 4: The teams that don't have it, you can tell how
- 12:18Speaker 4: they don't move the ball and how they don't play
- 12:20Speaker 4: help to help with defense. Yes, teams that have it
- 12:24Speaker 4: to do that all the time. They share and care
- 12:27Speaker 4: whether they share the ball offensively and they care about
- 12:29Speaker 4: playing health defense. And that's both teams. I'm looking at
- 12:32Speaker 4: the Raptors in the East, I'm looking at the Suns
- 12:36Speaker 4: in the West. As far as their improvement.
- 12:40Speaker 3: Has o Globmo City taking the foot off the gas
- 12:42Speaker 3: pedal a little bit, at least for this regular season.
- 12:47Speaker 4: Yes, they're slightly lethargic again, slightly where they were so
- 12:52Speaker 4: dominated until recently. Whether the Spurs have beaten them three
- 12:56Speaker 4: and ohero right now this season, so it's good. It's
- 12:59Speaker 4: good for the NBA. Where the upcoming Spurs took it
- 13:02Speaker 4: right to the Thunder. The Thunder did not respond so far.
- 13:07Speaker 4: And so we'll see. Now the last time they play
- 13:09Speaker 4: will be the fourth time, and they have they're meeting
- 13:11Speaker 4: in the playoffs. How it all plays out, it's hard.
- 13:15Speaker 4: There's so many games in the NBA eighty two game marathon,
- 13:19Speaker 4: and there's just there's often ups and downs. Now the
- 13:23Speaker 4: better teams have lesser ups and downs and for shorter duration.
- 13:28Speaker 4: The lesser teams have it for a whole bunch of times.
- 13:32Speaker 4: But the sort of thunder right now, they're going to
- 13:34Speaker 4: respond because they have a tremendous organization and they play
- 13:38Speaker 4: as a unit, and I'm looking forward to see how
- 13:41Speaker 4: how it all plays out. Lakers Also, Lakers responded to
- 13:45Speaker 4: they were called out by the lack of defense, and
- 13:48Speaker 4: now the last game they got after it and Lebron
- 13:50Speaker 4: played brilliant, So Luca Dantage and they responded.
- 13:55Speaker 3: Cordie, I know it's unfair to ask anything outside of
- 13:58Speaker 3: the NBA since that's where a lot of your focuses,
- 14:00Speaker 3: but you know, you're a longtime coach. And Kyle Whittingham
- 14:05Speaker 3: made a big splash when he stepped down from the
- 14:08Speaker 3: University of Utah, and arguably an even bigger splash when
- 14:12Speaker 3: you know what it was like ten days later he
- 14:14Speaker 3: said I'm going to be the head coach at the
- 14:17Speaker 3: University of Michigan.
- 14:18Speaker 1: The timing on it was crazy.
- 14:19Speaker 3: Obviously, he's had such a huge impact in the local
- 14:22Speaker 3: community here.
- 14:23Speaker 1: It's weird to see him in Maze and Blue.
- 14:25Speaker 3: But I think most of us wish him a lot
- 14:27Speaker 3: of success, just if you can try to take me
- 14:30Speaker 3: inside the mentality of a coach who's maybe nearing the
- 14:33Speaker 3: end of his time as a coach, and certainly he
- 14:36Speaker 3: reached the end of his time as a coach at
- 14:39Speaker 3: the University of Utah. To then have an opportunity like
- 14:42Speaker 3: Michigan come up, it feels like it's an offer you
- 14:45Speaker 3: can't refuse, even if you wanted.
- 14:47Speaker 4: To agree one hundred percent. So at age sixty six,
- 14:52Speaker 4: he's very young as far as his personality, and he's
- 14:56Speaker 4: on a few coaches that we all know in any sport.
- 14:59Speaker 4: He's adapted with the times. However, he kept his core
- 15:03Speaker 4: values and that's hard to do. There's certain things that
- 15:06Speaker 4: are Utah football. They're known for and if I'm wrong,
- 15:10Speaker 4: correct me jump in here. Their execution and their line play,
- 15:15Speaker 4: both both lines, both offense and defense. Those guys always
- 15:19Speaker 4: competed for the last twenty one years. It's the most
- 15:22Speaker 4: amazing thing. So now he gets the opportunity to go
- 15:25Speaker 4: to Michigan after announcing his retirement. Again, the story line
- 15:30Speaker 4: whether it was forced or not, or what his other
- 15:33Speaker 4: things going on. Quote in the building, that's fast forwarded.
- 15:37Speaker 4: So now we go to Michigan, which is absolutely a
- 15:40Speaker 4: premiere program. He can recruit and he's going to get
- 15:44Speaker 4: guys there. Besides the lineman, he's going to get some
- 15:47Speaker 4: unbelievable receivers and that I know. The quarterback is really
- 15:50Speaker 4: there right now as far as the freshman first year,
- 15:54Speaker 4: he's going to do great there. And it's really Utah's loss,
- 15:57Speaker 4: and it's a Michigan's game. After the controversy had Michigan
- 16:02Speaker 4: with their former coach, they hired somebody that's really great
- 16:08Speaker 4: coach and he understand, he gets it, and more importantly,
- 16:11Speaker 4: he's stable, and that's a huge factor in college basketball
- 16:15Speaker 4: and also college football. Is just your head coach.
- 16:18Speaker 1: Stable, Gordy, what's your list today?
- 16:23Speaker 4: My list today's speaking of your stable, but also of scoring.
- 16:27Speaker 4: This list is the Utah Jazz List. The most individual
- 16:32Speaker 4: thirty plus point Korea games in New Orleans Utah Jazz
- 16:36Speaker 4: franchise history, the most ever career thirty point games, and
- 16:41Speaker 4: it has two guys on the list that play in
- 16:45Speaker 4: the Delta Center tomorrow night. Number fifteen all time, Kanta
- 16:50Speaker 4: George Seawan Already he's done it fourteen times, thirty games
- 16:54Speaker 4: thirty points in More only in his third season, number fourteen.
- 16:58Speaker 4: John Drew did sixteen times, number thirteen. Al Jefferson did
- 17:03Speaker 4: it eighteen times, twelfth all time. Boy On Brondanovitch did
- 17:08Speaker 4: it twenty times, number eleven in the list. Jordan Clarkson
- 17:11Speaker 4: did it twenty one times, tied for ninth. Gordon Hayward
- 17:16Speaker 4: and Leonard Truck Robinson did it twenty seven times, eighth
- 17:20Speaker 4: all time for most thirty point games. Darren Williams did
- 17:24Speaker 4: it thirty times, number seven. Carlos Boozer thirty two times,
- 17:29Speaker 4: number six all time. He's playing tomorrow night. Thank God
- 17:33Speaker 4: the Jazz will hope will never trade him. Larry markin
- 17:38Speaker 4: the filling Shopshooter, He's done it forty one times already
- 17:43Speaker 4: in only four seasons in Utah Jazz uniform. Forty one
- 17:48Speaker 4: times thirty points some more five all time. That's really amazing, Sean.
- 17:52Speaker 1: I never would have thought one.
- 17:53Speaker 3: I never would have thought that he had done it
- 17:55Speaker 3: more than like Boozer, you know what I mean?
- 17:58Speaker 4: Yes, very much, And that's how good he is. See
- 18:01Speaker 4: what happens with Larry markining. He does it quietly. He
- 18:05Speaker 4: doesn't pound the checks. He just makes shots all the time,
- 18:09Speaker 4: and he's really he's underrated. Number five all time doctor Donkenstein,
- 18:14Speaker 4: Dell Griffith did it's sixty times. Number four, Domin Mitchell
- 18:18Speaker 4: eighty six times. Number three Pete Marrabage one hundred and
- 18:22Speaker 4: seventeen times. This number two all time thirty points some more,
- 18:27Speaker 4: ad Adrian Danley two hundred and fifty times. And the
- 18:33Speaker 4: number one player in JEFS history to score thirty points
- 18:36Speaker 4: some more, the Mailman cal Malone. He did it four
- 18:40Speaker 4: hundred and thirty five times. Thus, Sean, that's my list
- 18:44Speaker 4: of today of the greatest thirty point score thirty game
- 18:48Speaker 4: scores in JEFS history.
- 18:50Speaker 1: Not how I thought it would look, at least down
- 18:52Speaker 1: there in the middle. Thank you for that recording, Oh
- 18:55Speaker 1: very much, no thanks.
- 18:56Speaker 4: And add to that so cheante George. That guy's got game,
- 19:00Speaker 4: Harry Mark. And when he shoots the ball you think
- 19:02Speaker 4: why it's always going in read incredible stuff.
- 19:06Speaker 1: Gordy, you're the man. Let's talk again soon.
- 19:08Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks, peace out, Sean grdy Chieza