Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Gordie Chiesa on the Utah Jazz and NBA, What Jazz are missing w/Nurkic being out of lineup, Warriors and Spurs' win streaks + more

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Gordie Chiesa on the Utah Jazz and NBA, What Jazz are missing w/Nurkic being out of lineup, Warriors and Spurs' win streaks + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Peace out.
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  Speaker 2: Let's get the latest on the Utah Jazz with former
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  Speaker 2: Jazz assistant coach Gordy Chiesa. He's forgotten more about the
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  Speaker 2: NBA than any of us will ever know.
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  Speaker 3: It's like they're crazy.
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  Speaker 2: Come for the hoops talk. Stay for his list of
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  Speaker 2: the day.
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  Speaker 3: A list today.
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  Speaker 2: Here's OC with basketball savant Gordy Chiesa on the Sean
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  Speaker 2: O'Connell Show.
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  Speaker 4: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show. Gordy Chiesa brought
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  Speaker 4: to you by Aladdin Industries. We check in with our
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  Speaker 4: resident NBA guru. Gordy, welcome back to the show.
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  Speaker 3: How are you, sir?
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  Speaker 1: Sean, I am doing well, thanks.
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  Speaker 4: We've got a really interesting situation in the NBA right
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  Speaker 4: now where you've got some of the old heads, the
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  Speaker 4: Kevin Durants and Steph Currys, maintaining their unbelievable production and
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  Speaker 4: long past their physical primes. And at the same time,
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  Speaker 4: you've got guys like Victor Wimbinyama and Cooper Flagg and
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  Speaker 4: some of the elite young players really pushing their way
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  Speaker 4: into that main conversation. I guess Wimbinyama's already been there
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  Speaker 4: for a while. But how long can these old guys
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  Speaker 4: keep it up and stave off this youth revolution in
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  Speaker 4: the NBA?
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  Speaker 1: At least two more years, until they get to be
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  Speaker 1: age 40 or so. LeBron is the outlier. which is
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  Speaker 1: an amazing LeBron 24th season, but Steph Curry and Kevin Durant,
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  Speaker 1: think about it. They're more finesse players. So they're not
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  Speaker 1: really like muscle hustle, you know, in the lane type
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  Speaker 1: guys getting hit all the time. Their, their game is
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  Speaker 1: basically highly skilled jump shooting over the top, mid range
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  Speaker 1: turnaround jump shots by Kevin Durant. So there's less body
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  Speaker 1: plays by them, which gets a chance to be able to,
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  Speaker 1: to score the ball versus taking so many hits on
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  Speaker 1: your body. All right.
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  Speaker 4: I want to, I want to jump around a little bit,
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  Speaker 4: but let's focus on the jazz here for just a second.
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  Speaker 4: This team is now one and nine. They've got the
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  Speaker 4: heat tonight. And you know, when you're riding a long
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  Speaker 4: losing streak like this, and you're trying to figure out
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  Speaker 4: a way just to grab one, right? Are the Miami
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  Speaker 4: Heat a team where you can start that positive momentum?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, very much. They just lost eight in a row,
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  Speaker 1: and that's not fun at all for anybody involved in
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  Speaker 1: the organization, in particular also the fans. So how do
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  Speaker 1: you do it? The first thing, like tonight's game, just
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  Speaker 1: as a quick Sky report, the Heat are first in
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  Speaker 1: the NBA in pace of play, which means that When
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  Speaker 1: they get the ball on a rebound, Giannis is coming
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  Speaker 1: down the floor on a live dribble coming at you.
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  Speaker 1: So you can't feel sorry for yourself if you missed
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  Speaker 1: the shot a second before that. You've got to get
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  Speaker 1: back and try to build a wall against them. And
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  Speaker 1: that's a huge factor. So you've got to play defense
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  Speaker 1: because they're coming at you. From the Jazz point of view,
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  Speaker 1: it's that thing called turnovers. It affects so many professional sports,
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  Speaker 1: whether you're the NBA or the NFL. Who wins the
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  Speaker 1: turnover game? So the Jazz right now, still have not
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  Speaker 1: solved that dilemma in the last few years of turnovers.
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  Speaker 1: They're averaging 17.4 turnovers a game. So just take it
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  Speaker 1: in a four or five-point loss. You've given away 17
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  Speaker 1: times a chance to score the ball. And that's the
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  Speaker 1: margin of so many games. The Jazz lost two games
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  Speaker 1: this year in overtime. I'm sure looking back at it,
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  Speaker 1: they regret some of their turnovers. Most of them self-inflicted.
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  Speaker 1: So ball security and getting control of your body, offensive fouls,
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  Speaker 1: or setting those illegal screens. And the next point about
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  Speaker 1: for the Jazz point of view is that the Heat
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  Speaker 1: give up the most three-point shots in the NBA. So
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  Speaker 1: now the Jazz, unfortunately this year, they haven't shot straight
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  Speaker 1: from three-point range. Jazz only shooting 32% from threes. So
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  Speaker 1: to win tonight's game against a team that gives the
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  Speaker 1: most threes up, if you swing the ball on perimeter,
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  Speaker 1: if you get your feet set, that the shot hopefully
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  Speaker 1: will go in at a higher rate to try to
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  Speaker 1: knock out the Heat. So, yes, Sean, tonight's game for
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  Speaker 1: the Jazz is a winnable game. And I can look ahead.
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  Speaker 1: Jazz play back-to-back games at home, Delta Center, tonight Heat,
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  Speaker 1: tomorrow Magic also. They're both games that Jazz can win
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  Speaker 1: no matter who's out there. Jazz basketball, the fans, I
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  Speaker 1: know we're all fans indirectly, but you just can't keep
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  Speaker 1: saying that because so-and-so is not playing, it's out, that
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be good X amount of days from now.
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  Speaker 1: Every NBA team says the exact same words. So no
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  Speaker 1: matter who you have on your team playing tonight, you've
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  Speaker 1: got to try to get a win.
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  Speaker 4: When you mentioned that, no matter who was playing, how
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  Speaker 4: much of what we're seeing with the Utah Jazz and
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  Speaker 4: their struggles is based on the lack of availability, especially
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  Speaker 4: a big man of like a Yusuf Nurkic right now?
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  Speaker 4: Because we thought we all thought that this year would
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  Speaker 4: be the year where, all right, guys are back in
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  Speaker 4: the lineup. You're actually playing people and the wins will
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  Speaker 4: come with that. So far, they haven't.
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  Speaker 2: They haven't, yes.
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  Speaker 1: So they miss Jokic as far as his big body
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  Speaker 1: frame in the lane. He gets position rebounds and also
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  Speaker 1: is really in a depth passer. He's kind of a
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  Speaker 1: slickster in a good way, where his wraparound passes at
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  Speaker 1: the elbow. So they miss him. And then also with
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  Speaker 1: Jaron Jackson, who is a finesse scorer, mostly outside, somewhat inside.
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  Speaker 1: So they miss their scoring. So that's part of it.
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  Speaker 1: But you've got to overcome that. You just can't, you know,
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  Speaker 1: relying on that. And I'm sure the players know that,
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  Speaker 1: but they've got to perform. So, for example, so Kyle
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  Speaker 1: Filipowski gets more playing time. He's got to go against
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  Speaker 1: and try to neutralize Bam Adebato tonight. So you play against.
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  Speaker 1: And that you've got to be able to challenge Davion
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  Speaker 1: Mitchell if– Can't be George is out tonight. So if
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  Speaker 1: you're getting a chance to start Isaiah Collier, that you've
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  Speaker 1: got to, you know, body up and try to get after,
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  Speaker 1: be a junkyard dog against Davion Mitchell. As always, who
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  Speaker 1: you play against. And now Darren Peters is interesting. He's
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  Speaker 1: a guy that's getting a lot more playing time, and
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  Speaker 1: rightfully so. And he has done a good job as
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  Speaker 1: far as him showcasing his abilities of what he has.
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  Speaker 1: So Darren Peterson, the last four games, he's averaging 17
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  Speaker 1: points per game, which is really good. 5.3 assists, 44%
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  Speaker 1: from the field, 37.5 from threes, and 91.7 from the
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  Speaker 1: foul line. So the Jazz and the fans are seeing
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  Speaker 1: a glimpse of his talent level. So tonight, he's got
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  Speaker 1: to play against Andrew Wiggins tonight. Can he outplay? Can
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  Speaker 1: the young fella outplay the veteran Andrew Wiggins? And also, ironically,
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  Speaker 1: with Wiggins, they don't start him. They start, Sean, they
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  Speaker 1: start former Utes, Apello Lawson, who played for the Utes.
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  Speaker 1: He starts now to try to give Wiggins a mental
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  Speaker 1: health break because he's struggling from the field. They play
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  Speaker 1: him off the bench now. So can Darren Peterson outperform, out-talent, out-toughed,
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  Speaker 1: a parallel loss and my instincts tell me Sean yes
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  Speaker 1: he can.
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  Speaker 4: What does it actually look like for him to do
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  Speaker 4: that I mean yeah you want him to score more
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  Speaker 4: yeah you want him to have you know is it
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  Speaker 4: just is it fewer turnovers and more points like if
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  Speaker 4: I'm judging a rookie like Darren Peterson right now I
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  Speaker 4: need to not be so greedy I think what what
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  Speaker 4: do I need to look for with him and his
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  Speaker 4: production in an individual game like this and say all
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  Speaker 4: right yeah that was a great game.
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  Speaker 1: For him Yeah, by getting into paint and making gravity place.
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  Speaker 1: So a lot of times when you're young, you want
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  Speaker 1: to go over the top airborne, which is commendable. And
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  Speaker 1: that's what God gave you, these athletic skills. But in
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  Speaker 1: the NBA, you've got to be able to play on
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  Speaker 1: the ground, grabbing. So you penetrate. The help defense comes
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  Speaker 1: at you. You make your jump stop, make a pass
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  Speaker 1: out to the corner or short lob to the player
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  Speaker 1: on the baseline in a short corner spacing to make
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  Speaker 1: a play. Or you go up two feet and wiggle
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  Speaker 1: your body to try to score a point a basket
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  Speaker 1: over the top of the defense who's now on the
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  Speaker 1: side of you. So that's how it looks like. And
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  Speaker 1: then defensively, you've got to get in the passing lane
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  Speaker 1: to try to generate steals. A lot of times when
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  Speaker 1: you have a difficult time scoring defense, your defense has
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  Speaker 1: to pick up so you can score points off your
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  Speaker 1: own chaos defensively in transition to get easy buckets, whether
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  Speaker 1: it's a running layup, whether it's a pull-up jump shot,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's driving the ball to the basket, creating fouls,
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  Speaker 1: and just generally speaking, you play, your defense gets you
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  Speaker 1: into the flow mentally of being a shot maker, and
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  Speaker 1: that's what the Jazz have sometimes done, but it's been
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  Speaker 1: way too, unfortunately, inconsistent.
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  Speaker 4: Gordy Chiesa for another minute or two here on the
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  Speaker 4: Sean O'Connell Show. Our conversation with Gordy brought to you
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  Speaker 4: by Aladdin Industries. Gordy, Cooper Flagg has been caught eating
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  Speaker 4: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches during games.
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  Speaker 3: And, you know, he gets asked about it, of course.
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  Speaker 4: And it's a nice little pick-me-up, a little blood sugar spike, whatever.
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  Speaker 3: But he's also trying to put a bunch of weight on.
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  Speaker 3: Did you....
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  Speaker 4: Coach players that had to do this, that had to
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  Speaker 4: go through that kind of like rookie transition into getting
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  Speaker 4: some more mass on, and just how hard is it
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  Speaker 4: on these long-framed guys to add weight?
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  Speaker 1: Oh, very much. Pharrell Bailey. Pharrell Bailey. Even now to
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  Speaker 1: this day, Pharrell's probably, let me see, born in 19,
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  Speaker 1: maybe math right. Yeah, Pharrell is 65 years young right now,
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  Speaker 1: emphasize young. Pharrell had really a wonderful problem to have.
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  Speaker 1: He couldn't put weight on. I wish people could have
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  Speaker 1: the same problem he had, many people. And so Pharrell
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  Speaker 1: would eat like that very much during it, and despite that,
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  Speaker 1: he didn't put weight on. Sean's alluding to right now
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  Speaker 1: about Cooper Flagg, the young fellow from the Dallas Mavericks,
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  Speaker 1: where he loves in-game eating food. peanut butter and peanut
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  Speaker 1: butter and jelly sandwiches in game. And that's really been interesting.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, Sean, I'm also an advocate of peanut
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  Speaker 1: butter and jelly, but what I do, Sean, as a snack, Sean,
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  Speaker 1: I use peanut butter and bananas. That's my go-to, uh,
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  Speaker 1: go-to snack on whole wheat. What's yours, Sean?
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  Speaker 3: Uh, I'm a peanut butter and honey guy.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 4: I like my daughter likes when you slice the bananas
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  Speaker 4: and you put it on the peanut butter and honey.
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  Speaker 3: I like to take the honey, Gordy.
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  Speaker 4: You put a massive amount of honey on one of
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  Speaker 4: the slices of bread, and you got to leave it
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  Speaker 4: there so the honey soaks into the bread. And you
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  Speaker 4: get that weird like crystallization almost in the matrix. The
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  Speaker 4: air holes in the bread all fill up with honey,
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  Speaker 4: creates this awesome texture. That's one of my favorites.
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  Speaker 1: Sean, I love you. You should do advertising for honey.
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  Speaker 1: I like it how you did it. And for peanut butter,
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  Speaker 1: just for all the people out there, Sean and I
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  Speaker 1: are the shadows of peanut butter. It's that it's really,
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  Speaker 1: it gives you protein and it gives you fiber and
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  Speaker 1: it gives you essential vitamins. And also just from technically,
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  Speaker 1: it also offers a muscle repair and just generally heart health.
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  Speaker 1: So that's why it happens. And, you know, historically, The
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  Speaker 1: person that made it fashionable in the NBA was Kevin Garnett.
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  Speaker 1: He did it many years ago. He started it. It
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  Speaker 1: became almost like an NBA folklore. When Kevin played for
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  Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics and the Celts won the championship back
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  Speaker 1: in 2008, that's when it became almost like NBA folklore
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  Speaker 1: and tradition of eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, whether
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  Speaker 1: during the game, after the game, before the game, or afterwards.
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  Speaker 1: even better than that, on the team playing above sea level, 35,000
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  Speaker 1: feet after a victory. Gordy, what's the list today? All right,
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  Speaker 1: let's say Miami Heat, very proud franchise like the Utah Jazz.
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  Speaker 1: The Heat have won three NBA titles back in 2006, 2012, 2013. Originally,
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  Speaker 1: it was an expansion team back in 1988-89 season with
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  Speaker 1: their first year in the NBA, and their sidekick expansion
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  Speaker 1: cousin partner was a Charlotte Hornets. So just think about it.
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  Speaker 1: The state of Florida didn't have an NBA team until 1988.
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  Speaker 1: The Dolphins were there a long time ago. The 72
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  Speaker 1: Dolphins became folklore in the NFL when they're undefeated, the
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  Speaker 1: only undefeated team in the history of the NFL. There
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  Speaker 1: was no NBA team in Florida, which makes it so incredible.
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  Speaker 1: Hit the math of it. The expansion fee at that
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  Speaker 1: time for the Hornets and for the Heat was $ 32. 5 million.
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  Speaker 1: The next expansion, whether it's Seattle, whether it's Las Vegas,
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  Speaker 1: will be roughly $ 900 million for the privilege to be
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  Speaker 1: in the NBA. It's my top ten list of the
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  Speaker 1: greatest franchise players of Heat history. Number ten, Glenn Rice.
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  Speaker 1: All-star many times, six years, franchise offensive star. Number nine, all-time.
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  Speaker 1: Udonis Haslam played for the Heat 20 years ago. franchise-leading rebounder,
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  Speaker 1: three NBA titles. Number eight, he's playing tonight at Delta
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  Speaker 1: Center versus the Jazz, Bam Adebato, 10 years with the Heat,
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  Speaker 1: NBA all-star, all-defensive player, two final NBA appearances back in
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  Speaker 1: 2020 and 2023. Number seven, in the Hall of Fame,
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  Speaker 1: Tim Hardaway Sr., six years, five-time all-star, one of the
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  Speaker 1: greatest ever crossover dribble players in the history of the
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  Speaker 1: league as far as getting a separation. Number six, all-time.
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  Speaker 1: He played for the Lakers also for many years, but
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  Speaker 1: for the Heat, four years, Shaquille O'Neal. He was Dwayne
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  Speaker 1: Wade's trusted sidekick, one NBA title, interior force. Number five
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  Speaker 1: all time. He plays for the Warriors right now. He's hurt,
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  Speaker 1: but when he played for the Heat, he was a
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  Speaker 1: tremendous player. Five years plus, Jimmy Butler, all-star player. all-star player,
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  Speaker 1: led the Heat to two NBA final appearances back in
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  Speaker 1: 2020 and 2023, where he was absolutely spectacular. The fourth
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  Speaker 1: all-time greatest Heat, Chris Bosh, six years, two NBA titles, elite,
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  Speaker 1: Stretch forward. Number three, Alonzo Mourning, Hall of Famer, 11 years,
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  Speaker 1: one NBA title, two-time defensive player of the year. Number two, all-time.
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  Speaker 1: He's on many teams, all-time players. LeBron James with the Heat,
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  Speaker 1: four years, two titles, two MVP finals with the Heat.
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  Speaker 1: And the number one greatest player in history of Heat basketball.
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  Speaker 1: He's also a minority owner of the Utah Jazz, Dwayne Wade.
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  Speaker 1: He played for the Heat for 15 years, three titles,
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  Speaker 1: one MVP as far as finals, and he is the
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  Speaker 1: heart and soul of the franchise. So that's my top
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  Speaker 1: ten of the list, and there was one quick point
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  Speaker 1: about that. Oh, by the way, I left out purposely
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  Speaker 1: the person that put it all together and has been there,
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  Speaker 1: the sole person that's been there all those years since
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  Speaker 1: 1995 has been Pat Riley. He coached them. He's the
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  Speaker 1: team president. and everything revolves around him, and that's why
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  Speaker 1: they're really a solid franchise.
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  Speaker 4: Gordy, my elementary school love of the Knicks transported to
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: a middle school love of the Heat. I followed Pat Riley,
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: and my love of Patrick Ewing became love for Alonzo Mourning.
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  Speaker 4: So there was a brief and blessed time where I
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: claimed the Heat as my franchise.
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  Speaker 1: But also, Sean, probably, Sean, I know that you like
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: to travel a You and your loved ones, do you
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: realize that the owner of the Miami Heat who bought
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: the team in 1995 is Mickey Arison and his parent company, Sean,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: is Carnival Cruise Line?
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  Speaker 3: I didn't know that.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Sean, so every time somebody goes on Carnival Cruise Line
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: and has those wonderful buffet, they're helping Mickey Arison and
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the Heat.
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: Support the Heat or don't with your cruises.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right, Sean. Just saying, Sean, for you.
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  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: Just saying.
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  Speaker 3: Gordy, I appreciate you.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: I'm going to be in Dubai for some fights this weekend,
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  Speaker 4: so I won't get to talk to you on Thursday.
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  Speaker 3: But thanks for your time today.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Thanks, Sean. Peace out.