Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Sarah Todd on the Utah Jazz, Darryn Peterson's debut in the Summer League, Lakers trading for Walker Kessler + more

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Sarah Todd on the Utah Jazz, Darryn Peterson's debut in the Summer League, Lakers trading for Walker Kessler + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us now to talk a little Utah Jazz basketball,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Little NBA. Sarah Todd, NBA Insider at NBA Sarah on Twitter,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: which is the coolest handle you can find.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Sarah, Welcome back to the show.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: How are you not too bad? I'm looking forward to
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: the next couple of weeks, so for some more Summer
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: league action.
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  Speaker 1: Let's start there with Summer League and obviously number two
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  Speaker 1: overall pick Darren Peterson had a huge game, twenty eight points,
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  Speaker 1: a couple of blocks. Cody Williams looked good, some back
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  Speaker 1: spasms taking other important players out. But with Darren Peterson,
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  Speaker 1: that debut, unofficial debut, I guess put that debut in
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  Speaker 1: a Jazz uniform.
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  Speaker 2: Could it have gone any better?
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  Speaker 3: Probably not. I mean he had a few turnovers and
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  Speaker 3: so maybe back could have gone better for anyone who's
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: thinking about his you know, potential as a point guard.
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  Speaker 3: But it's Summer League. It's literally his first game that
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: he's played in since like March, and so I just
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  Speaker 3: anybody that knows anything probably doesn't care at all about
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  Speaker 3: the turnovers, turnovers, fells, those types of things. You don't
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  Speaker 3: really pay attention to those in Summer League. His debut
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  Speaker 3: really could not have gone too much better, because it
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  Speaker 3: wasn't just about twenty eight points. It wasn't just about
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  Speaker 3: the fact that he shot efficiently. It was like he
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  Speaker 3: wasn't forcing anything. All of the things that you've seen
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  Speaker 3: from him through through college, even back when he was
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  Speaker 3: playing in high school, all the things that you thought,
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  Speaker 3: you know, those were the things that if he brings
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  Speaker 3: him to an NBA court, that they'll make him great,
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  Speaker 3: none of them changed. And he just he looked so
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  Speaker 3: ready and so cool and collected, and like everything just
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  Speaker 3: seemed easy for him. He came onto a Summer League
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  Speaker 3: court looking like he like they should shut him down
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  Speaker 3: right now because he's just an NBA player. That's how
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  Speaker 3: it felt.
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  Speaker 2: Is that what they'll do.
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  Speaker 3: I think that they're going to play him today, and
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  Speaker 3: I would I would be absolutely shocked if they didn't
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  Speaker 3: play him in the first game in Vegas, right because
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  Speaker 3: that's like a marquee game. It's the it's the primetime game,
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  Speaker 3: the first night of Summer League against the Washington Wizards,
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  Speaker 3: and aj De Bonsa and the Wizards are definitely going
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  Speaker 3: to be wanting to show off to Bonsa. So I
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  Speaker 3: think that they'll play Darren in the first game there
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  Speaker 3: would not shock me at all. If the Jazz were
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  Speaker 3: to shut down, you know, Cody Williams after today, would
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  Speaker 3: not shock me at all. If they were to shut
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  Speaker 3: down all of Ace, Cody and Darren after the first
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  Speaker 3: game in Vegas. Maybe they let him to play in
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  Speaker 3: the second game, but you know, if history tells us,
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  Speaker 3: think that's kind of what happened last year, right, Like
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  Speaker 3: they had their third year player last year in Bryce.
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  Speaker 3: He played in the first game in in Salt Lake,
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  Speaker 3: and then he didn't play in Vegas, and then their
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  Speaker 3: prize rookies they shut him down after the second game
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  Speaker 3: in Vegas. And so that's that's kind of what I
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  Speaker 3: would expect if I was justin.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm going to go with any
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  Speaker 1: of my expectations as a Jazz follower anymore, because part
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  Speaker 1: of my expectation, a lot of what was talked about
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  Speaker 1: was that, you know, as you're rounding out of the
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  Speaker 1: tanking era and you get this number two.
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  Speaker 2: Pick, and it was going to be a j or
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  Speaker 2: was going to be Darren.
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  Speaker 1: Okay with Darren, and that's great, And what we're going
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  Speaker 1: to do is we're going to add Darren to a
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  Speaker 1: sizable front court that includes Jared Jackson Junior, who you
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: acquired in the trade Lowry Marketen who were not going
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: to pretend he's hurt all the time and hopefully he's
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: not hurt all the time anymore, and a hopefully fully
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: recovered Walker Kessler and now that's not a reality, Walker
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: is a Laker. You've got some picks coming up, some
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  Speaker 1: pick swaps coming up because of it. But it feels
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  Speaker 1: like maybe some of the best laid plans didn't go
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  Speaker 1: the way that a lot of jazz fans thought they would.
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  Speaker 3: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe this is something that the front office always considered
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  Speaker 1: to be a strong possibility that this twenty six twenty
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  Speaker 1: seven campaign would not include Walker Kessler or a similarly
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  Speaker 1: talented young center. But to me, it feels like a
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  Speaker 1: departure from what we thought the plan was.
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  Speaker 2: Is it a significant departure.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's certainly a departure, But I think
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  Speaker 3: it's a departure for a reason. Right, Like we if
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  Speaker 3: we think back to, you know, a couple of years
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  Speaker 3: ago for Lowry market at signing hangs extension, Right, Like
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  Speaker 3: everything in the front office is saying publicly and even
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  Speaker 3: privately they're saying even more right, like that we love
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  Speaker 3: Lowry markten, we want him to be a part of
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  Speaker 3: the future. It's going to have it like, but nobody's
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  Speaker 3: off the table, right like, we're going to listen to offers.
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  Speaker 3: That's the job, right Like they have to. And so
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  Speaker 3: if an offer had come in for Lowry that they thought, well,
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  Speaker 3: that actually might be better for sustained success, right, like
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  Speaker 3: that might be better for us down the road. That
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  Speaker 3: is an offer that we can't really pass up. Then
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  Speaker 3: we're probably looking at a Jazz team that doesn't have
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  Speaker 3: learning Markanon on it. That would have been a departure
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  Speaker 3: from the plan. And at the Walker Kessler situation, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: the plan was to have Walker Kesler on the roster.
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  Speaker 3: But I don't think that many people were expecting for
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  Speaker 3: the Lakers to like empty out their draft coffers for
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  Speaker 3: Walker Kessler. I don't think that they were The Jazz
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  Speaker 3: were expecting like, not only can we trade Walker Kestler
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  Speaker 3: basically get the rights to four first round picks, but
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  Speaker 3: we can also not have to take back any contracts
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  Speaker 3: and just have room in the cap space and we
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  Speaker 3: get a trade exception. Like it was such a it's
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  Speaker 3: such just such a good deal, and so yeah, that's
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  Speaker 3: a departure from the plan, but it's a departure because
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  Speaker 3: they listened to the offers and they got something they
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  Speaker 3: felt like they couldn't pass up on.
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  Speaker 1: Does it change the timeline significantly at all? Because timeline
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  Speaker 1: for me is important with this Utah Jazz team because
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  Speaker 1: you've asked for patients for you know, half a decade
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  Speaker 1: now with no reward for your fan base. And while
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  Speaker 1: this fan base is incredibly loyal, there's a limit to
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  Speaker 1: all of it, right, So does it significantly change the timeline?
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  Speaker 1: Is Walker Kessler an important enough piece to this whole
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  Speaker 1: thing that now you are not a play in team
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  Speaker 1: or a borderline playoff team without somebody like him? If
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  Speaker 1: you're going to start Nurkic instead, is that going to
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  Speaker 1: be a big enough change that now you have to
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  Speaker 1: pitch patients one more time to a fan base that's
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  Speaker 1: pretty frustrated by it.
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  Speaker 3: No, I don't think so. I think, you know, if
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  Speaker 3: it changes anything, it just changed. It doesn't change the
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  Speaker 3: timeline changes kind of how the Jazz are going to
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  Speaker 3: operate through the timeline. I think the Jazz are still
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  Speaker 3: going to try to win as much as they can
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  Speaker 3: this year. I think that, you know, for the purposes
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  Speaker 3: of whether or not this is a successful season for
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  Speaker 3: the Jazz, that's probably like do they can they make
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  Speaker 3: the play and can they make the playoffs? Like that
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  Speaker 3: that feels important this season, like this should be a
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  Speaker 3: team that is able to kind of break through and
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  Speaker 3: be a winning team this year. And so I think
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  Speaker 3: that that still holds true. I don't think that even
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  Speaker 3: with Walker Kessler, if you look at the roster as
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  Speaker 3: constructed right now, that that's a team that anyone is thinking, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: that's a title contender. And so the timeline was never
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  Speaker 3: under the assumption that the Jazz are going to be
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  Speaker 3: actually competing for a ring this year. It was that
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  Speaker 3: they're on the way up, right, And so I think
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  Speaker 3: that that still stands. And now that trajectory, like the
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  Speaker 3: ramp up towards being an actual title contender, just includes
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  Speaker 3: that you're going to have to probably get a better
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  Speaker 3: room protector at some point over the next couple of years.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that's totally fine, Like that's not ideal, right,
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  Speaker 3: but they were going to have to make changes to
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  Speaker 3: this roster anyways, and now that's one of the changes
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  Speaker 3: that they're going to have to think about as they
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  Speaker 3: start to see, like who operates well, what groupings pair
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  Speaker 3: together when they're on the floor, what the rotations might
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  Speaker 3: look like Like. This is going to be a season
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  Speaker 3: where it's important that the Jazz win, but also it's
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  Speaker 3: just really important to learn what they actually have because
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  Speaker 3: Will Hardy hasn't been unleashed enough, none of the players
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  Speaker 3: have really been unleashed enough to know what it really
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  Speaker 3: looks like when they're trying to play, like at a
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  Speaker 3: high competitive level in the NBAKA.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Why is headed back to Toronto? Lebron might be going
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: back to Cleveland. Can we get Rudy Gobaar back in
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  Speaker 1: Utah for that riot protection?
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  Speaker 3: I think that's going to be a little out of
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  Speaker 3: the price range. But also when we're talking about timelines, right,
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  Speaker 3: like you're probably going to want someone that's a little
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  Speaker 3: bit younger. Also, I don't know if that would be
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  Speaker 3: a great reunion. I'm sure sure about that.
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  Speaker 1: That's why I'm not the in the personnel department for
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  Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz. Sarah Todd is our guest here talk
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  Speaker 1: at All Things NBA on the Sean O'Connell Show. So
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  Speaker 1: getting back to what we saw from Darren Peterson in
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  Speaker 1: his first Summer League game, and you know, like Aj Debonsa,
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  Speaker 1: Cam Boozer, they were kind of in that conversation. We
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  Speaker 1: don't overreact, We're not supposed to overreact to anything we're seeing.
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  Speaker 1: But there's a chance that we get DP and Cam
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  Speaker 1: Boozer tonight Jazz Grizzlies Summer League five o'clock Huntsman Center
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  Speaker 1: on ESPN, and you know, you get to see a
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  Speaker 1: little what you have and a little what you did
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  Speaker 1: not get. And obviously Cam Boozer has a high ceiling
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  Speaker 1: as well as does Aj Debonsa. How closely are you
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  Speaker 1: going to be watching Jazz Grizzlies and that aspect of
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  Speaker 1: the matchup.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, a little bit. I think importantly, you always have
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  Speaker 3: to take a grain of salt with how people play
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  Speaker 3: in Summer League, Like, you know, it's important to think
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  Speaker 3: back and realize that, you know, Cody Williams has looked
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  Speaker 3: really good in Summer League against a lot of what
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  Speaker 3: he's been able to do hasn't really translated to the
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  Speaker 3: NBA court.
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  Speaker 2: Yet.
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  Speaker 3: It's important to think about the fact that Keyante George
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  Speaker 3: looked incredible in Las Vegas, had a game with like
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  Speaker 3: thirty three his rookie season, and it took him a
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  Speaker 3: couple of years to kind of materialize some of that
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  Speaker 3: on an NBA court, And so and there are so
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  Speaker 3: so many guys. I mean, the annals of the NBA
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  Speaker 3: is filled with guys who just look incredible in summer
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  Speaker 3: league and don't materialize at all, Right, and so it
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  Speaker 3: all has to be taken with a great assault. It's
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  Speaker 3: why I like, I always urge people not to look
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  Speaker 3: at the points, not to look at the scores. You know,
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: it's you can even not look at the at the
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  Speaker 3: box score at all. And just how does it feel
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  Speaker 3: when the guys out they're out there on the court.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that that's that's what's special. And that's
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  Speaker 3: what stands out about Darren Peterson is that it looked
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  Speaker 3: like light work. It looked easy. It didn't look like
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  Speaker 3: he was forcing anything. And so that that's why it
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  Speaker 3: feels like it'll translate better. Of course, we're all going
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: to be watching those matchups, right, We're all going to
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: be watching about what it looks. I mean, I was
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: watching Kingston Swimmings he was the eighth pick. Right, I'll
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: be watching camp Boozer, and you know, we're going to
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  Speaker 3: be thinking about those guys a lot over the next
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  Speaker 3: few years, depending on how they perform in their rookie
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: seasons a year after that, because you're going to be
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  Speaker 3: thinking like, oh, did we take the right guy? You know,
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  Speaker 3: did the Jazz should they have taken you know, Cam
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  Speaker 3: Boozer or even like Caleb Wilson. You're going to go
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: down like, oh, he was right there. But you know,
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: if I was a Jazz fan right now, I'd be thinking,
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: you know, we did exactly the right thing. He took
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: the right guy, the best player available in the moment
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  Speaker 3: my opinion, took literally the number one player in the
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: draft available and you just got him at number two,
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: And so it all looks good right now. Of course
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: we're going to be watching everyone else so closely. That's
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: that's what all every hoops junking in the world does,
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: is want to compare everything till end of time.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: We've seen some crazy moves, including the Walker Kessler trade.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Jalen Brown got traded. Go why like we already references
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: headed back to Toronto. Lebron's going to have a new home.
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  Speaker 1: Based on what we have seen in the off season.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a new contender anywhere because of roster reconstruction?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think Miami is interesting, right, Like, does
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: that does Joannison Bam and everyone else that Miami's trying
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: to pull together? Does that make that interesting? Are the
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Lakers better or worse?
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  Speaker 1: Now?
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  Speaker 3: Like, that's that's something that's interesting. The same thing can
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: be said for the Celtics the Sixers. There's a lot
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: of a lot of big moves. But I think too,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: I think the most interesting thing about them is that
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: among all of the big moves, the biggest thing that
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: you're wondering is like, hmm, does that make that seem
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: better or worse? It doesn't really stand out as it.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Oh that gives them a huge jump? And the only
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: outlayer in that is probably Toronto because you know, Kawhi
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: showed up there one time and took him to a
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: one year run to a title, and so showing up again,
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: I mean, he just he's a talent lifter, and so
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  Speaker 3: I think that's probably the biggest outlayer. I think all
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: of the other moves you're wondering, does that make them
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: better or worse?
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: USA? Belgium? Who you got?
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: Oh Man, I probably lose a lot of friends. If
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: I say what I think is gonna happen, Sara, I'm
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: gonna plead the fifth.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: You've said enough, Sarah Todd, dare.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I'll say, I'm I'm going for Egypt later tonight. Okay,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: that's what I'm gonna say.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: All right, Thank you so much for joining us on
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: the show today. Enjoy Summer League. We'll chat again, Sue.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: All right, thanks a lotto. See have Hey, don't don't
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: think that I haven't noticed that this is also not
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: a Friday show. I'm still waiting for my chance.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: We will.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: We will call you on Friday, specifically to let you
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: air some grievances.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: All right, Yeah, we're not even talking about us. We'll
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: just call me on Friday. I've got some things to say,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: all right.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: I like that. That's what That's what the grievances are for.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: We'll do it. Thanks Sarah. All right, talk soon, Sarah
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Todd at NBA Sarah Desnews, NBA and Jazz Insider