Tony Jones analyzes the Jazz's Cody Williams and Isaiah Collier picks

Tony Jones analyzes the Jazz's Cody Williams and Isaiah Collier picks

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's time to get the latest onthe Utah Jazz with our insider, Tony
Jones of the Athletic on the BillRiley Show. From breaking down games to
injury updates, your best inside onthe Utah Jazz and the NBA is right
here. Now here's Bill Riley withour Jazz insider and Georgetown's number one fan,
Tony Jones on Utah's number one sportstalk ESPN seven hundred. Tony Jones

(00:27):
covers the NBA, mostly the Jazz, but during the postseason other places too.
For The Athletic wrote about it lastnight as the Jazz had two picks
in the first round. They tookCody Williams, freshman out of freshman out
of Colorado in the ten pick,and then they took another Pac twelve player,
probably the two best young players ofthe PAC twelve last year, Isaiah
Callier, with the second pick.He's got an article up went up a

(00:49):
few hours ago at Theathletic dot Comwith Williams and Collier. The Jazz ecet
the NBA's first round. I'm notsure I agree with that headline, but
I do like sub of what theydid last night. Tony Jones one more
time on the Bill Riley Show.Welcome in, my brother. I'm really
sad man. I am too,and don't bring me down because the next

(01:12):
twenty four hours are gonna be reallytough for me. When you've done something
for thirty straight years and in oneplace for twenty straight years, it's a
long time. So don't, don't, don't get don't, don't. Don't
turn the fountain on on my eyesright now, because it's gonna be hard
enough for me to do this showtoday and tomorrow. Okay, I understand

(01:33):
what you're saying, but I'm gonnasay this anyway. I love you.
You know, you've been a reallygood personal friend to me, not only
you know, not only you knowprofessional colleague, and I appreciate everything you
know that you've done, you know, in terms of giving me a platform

(01:53):
and you know, just you know, helping me be me in this market.
So I don't care that you don'twant the fountain turns off. If
the fountain turns on, it turnson. I just want to tell you
how much I appreciate you. Well, thank you, because I love you
too, and I love our friendshipand I love that we can give each

(02:15):
other crap and have fun and justgo about our thing. And I just
I think, I just think theworld of you. From the time when
you were with the Trip and whenyou got this deal with the Athletic,
I thought it was just the bestthing because it gave you not just a
local platform, but it gave thepeople around the country a chance to see
what a talented and insightful writer youare. So all the professional stuff aside,

(02:38):
I just value our friendship so much, so thank you. I appreciate
that absolutely. All right, let'slet's get to business now, all right,
let's get to business. I likeCody Williams. I'm not a big
Isaiah Collier fan. You tell mewhat you think, so you know,
it's funny, I'm not a hugeIsaiah call your fan at at you know,

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ten or fifteen or where he wasslotted to go, but you know,
at twenty nine, like that's justa no brainer right there. He's
he's the best player on the boardat twenty nine, but not only best
player on the board at twenty nine, best player on twenty on the board
at twenty nine by a lot,And you know it's it's you know,

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I had to talk with the jazzlast night after the draft for a while,
and you know, one of thethings I said was like, you
know, one of the reasons,like I know, he's pissed off that
he went twenty nine, but youknow, one of the reasons why he
went twenty nine is because it wasself inflicted. It wasn't because like Dalton

(03:45):
connect went seventeen because he's twenty three, twenty four years old. You know,
there are other people like you know, there are other people that are
slipped in the draft over the years, you know, because of injury or
whatever, things that are out oftheir control. You know, Isaiah Callier
went twenty nine and slipped so farin the draft because he didn't defend well,
he didn't play especially well, andyou know, a lot of that

(04:10):
stuff is self inflicted. That beingsaid, that being said, he is
very, very talented. He's youknow, I said this on Twitter last
night. You don't find guys attwenty nine that can get downhill off the
dribble like Isaiah call you can.You know, he gives downhill. He's

(04:31):
a terrific passer. He's got anNBA body, he's got an NBA mindset.
You know, I think he thinkslike a pro rather than thinking like
a college guy. And I thinkthat that's going to help him get to
the NBA. In the style ofplaying the NBA, in the spacing and
the NBA is going to help him. He's going to have to commit to

(04:51):
playing defense because I thought he wasterrible defensively last year relative to what his
defensive tools a are. He's gonnahave to cut down the turnovers. He's
going to have to start to shootthe ball better, and you know,
and he's just gonna have to seethe game in real time, you know,

(05:13):
better than what he did last year. But you know, he was
a freshman. He was eighteen,nineteen years old. He's very very young.
And you know, the skills thatthe skill set that he has it
it will allow him to be anNBA player for a long time. If
he figures out the other stuff.Yeah, I will cut him a little

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bit of slack because that USC programwas so dysfunctional a year ago, and
I'm not sure how much coaching hegot. Plus, if he was looking
up to the guy playing in thebackcourt to him as an example of how
to play that boogie, Ellis isnot exactly the guy you want to look
toward as a mentor when it comesto being a good point guard. So
do the Jazz view him as apoint guard or combo scoring guard? Tony

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to to address your first point,this is why it's so important even if
you're a top five, top three, top one guy like Isaiah Caller was
to make the right decisions when itcomes to college. Because a he played
with Buggie Yellis and like you said, that's just you know, Billy Yellis

(06:27):
has never met a shot that hedidn't like, so you know that that
was a bad fit. Number Two, any until can't coach, and I
think we've all known that for along time. And you know, he
can recruit, he can't coach,he can't develop. So you you know,
for basically for Isaiah Callier from meand then Briannie James, they basically

(06:47):
wasted the season of their careers goingto USC. They should have gone somewhere
else. Okay, that being saidoff my soapbox. You know, the
Jazz view him as a point guard, and you know, but I don't
think that they're going to you know, take away what he does. Well,

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you know, I think you know, he can get downhill and he
can put pressure on the rim thathe can score. I do think that
he's instantly right now, as theJazz roster stands, I think he's instantly
the best passer on the roster.I don't know if that's you know,
a compliment to Caller or it's anindictment on the Jazz roster as a whole.

(07:35):
You know, but he's you know, he's a guy that that I
think adds something to to Utah's roster. You know, outside of Colin Sexton,
you know, there's not a guyon the roster that puts pressure on
the rim off the dribble like IsaiahCollier does. And you know, one
of the things I really like aboutKeyante George is that he's really cerebral.

(07:56):
H He you know, he playsthe game a step ahead. You know,
he's very very very skilled. Isaiahcall you as a bulldog and you
know he's going to get into thepaint. He's going to get two feet
in the paint. And I thinkthe Jazz need more of that. So,
you know, the one thing Ido like about you know what the
Jazz did in drafting Isaiah Callier isyou know, obviously he's best player available

(08:20):
at twenty nine. But the basketballfit is good as well, because I
think that Isaiah Callier brings something tothe table that the Jazz don't have overall
as roster. Tony Jones our guesthere the Bill Riley Show today, Are
you anticipating they drafted thirty two todayor move off that, Tony? I
am anticipating. So there are thereare a couple of scenarios. I think,

(08:46):
you know, they have a certainperson in mind that if that person
is on the board, I thinkthat they would take that person. If
that person is not on the boardat thirty two, I think that there's
another group that they would consider.But I also think that they were consider
trading down. So I think thatthere are a couple of scenarios in play.

(09:11):
But they're certainly excited about the spotthat they are in, and you
know, I think that they realizethat there's a lot of that there's a
lot of NBA level talents still availableand that will be available to them at
thirty two. If they drafted thirtytwo tony three rookies a year ago,

(09:35):
three rookies this year, does thatgive us some indication of what the plans
are Are they going to go intofull rebuild mode then at that point in
time, because that's a lot ofyoung players on a team and it's hard
to get markedly better and make bigjumps with that many young players on your
roster. If I were Jas sayingI would I would pay real close attention

(09:58):
to the next week because of that'sgonna tell us a lot in terms of
which way, uh the Jazz ais going to ultimately go heading into next
season. I would anticipate that theJazz uh try to bolst of their roster
and use the trade market and usethe free agency market, uh to to

(10:18):
try to bolst of the rock,to try to bolst the roster. I
I know that, you know,there are a lot of young guys on
the roster, even if they don'tuse the pick for some reason today.
But you know, at the sametime, I think that the Jazz want
this roster to be balanced, Soyou know, I think that they're going

(10:39):
to go and they're going to toexplore the trade market and explore the free
agency market, uh in terms offiguring out that they can bolst the roster
with some veterans. They they havethey have tried in the past a few
days uh, to to bolst ofthe roster. You know, they they
dip their toe and in the mckelbridges water. But we all know what

(11:05):
uh my Knicks paid for Mikel Bridges, and the Jazz just weren't going to
pay that. And you know,so this is this hasn't been for a
lack of trying, uh at thispoint, and I expect them to continue,
uh to explore options in that inthat way, Well, the fact
of the matter is though your Knicksand this Jazz team are in two different
places. The Knicks can win now. They feel like they're a piece away

(11:28):
from being a championship caliber team.The Jazz are not that. So it's
it's a lot easier to spend thatequity when you know what that piece is
that you need than with the Jazzgiving that much up being that far away.
Yes, but also if the Jazzhave, if the Jazz that figured
out a way to get Michel Bridges, there was some move, there was

(11:50):
some moves beyond that that I believewhat has accelerated the rebuild and maybe significantly
so. But that scenario is probablyno longer on the table because they didn't
get Bridges. Okay, Tony Joneswith us here. What when you say

(12:13):
they're going to try hard in thenext week, is that that big game
hunting they talked about, is thatsome big swings to try to improve that
roster? What's what's the next weekin your what what does what you just
said? You know, in theorynobody knows for sure, But in theory,
what does this look like over thenext seven to ten days, Tony,
Well, it's not necessarily big gamehunting. Like you know, I

(12:35):
don't think you know, they're goingto go in and trade for a superstar,
but you know, I think thatthere's some nice pieces that you know,
could be on the trade market thatare twenty four, twenty five,
twenty six, twenty seven years old. You know, they want to build
around Lowry marketing, and Mari istwenty seven, and you know, you

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the one thing with Lowry that Ithink people don't realize is that they say,
oh, well, he's twenty seven. You know, he might not
necessarily be on the age timeline.You know, the Jazz fully believe that
Lowry marketing, his style of playwill allow him to be much the same

(13:18):
player at thirty five or twenty seven. So they're not worried about the age.
They're not worried about that on thetimeline. I think it would be
different if this with Donovan Mitchell becauseyou know, as good as Donovan Mitchell
is, I don't know that he'sgoing to age that well because he's a
small smaller guard, and smaller guardsdon't typically age that well. Lowry's a

(13:41):
seven foot jump sture and or noteven a jumputer. He's a set shooter.
So you know, I think theJazz you know, fully believe that
he's going to his game is goingto age really well. So they're not
worried about you know, an agetimeline. So you know, I think

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you know, when you know,they look at the market over the next
you know, five six or sevendays, you know, I think that
they're going to look at you know, guys who have come into the league
at eighteen nineteen years old, havebeen in the league for four or five
or six years, but are stilltwenty four to twenty five years old,
and you know that are already veterans, but still young enough to grow as

(14:26):
players and growing to the system.Give me the pick you loved last night
for anybody, the one that youjust thought knocked it out of the ballpark.
There are a couple of them.I mean, I really loved what
the Lakers did with Dalton Connect.I can't believe that Philly passed on Connect
for for Jared McCain, considering thatPhilly is very much in a win now

(14:50):
situation and Dalton Connect is plug andplay. I hated Zach Edie to Memphis.
I can't can't believe that Menshi madehim a top ten pick, like
I can't believe that they did that. I really liked what the Jazz did
with Cody Williams Uh. I've longsaid that I thought, I think that

(15:13):
Cody Williams has one of the bestupsides in the draft. So I really
like what the Jazz did uh inthat pick. I really like what the
Spurs did with Stephan Castle. Ithink that he's going to be terrific.
I think he's a point guard versionof Josh Hart. I really really really

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liked what the Sons did with RyanDunn. I think Ryan Dunn is an
absolutely generational defender, and I thinkhe's a really uh good fit with Kevin
Durant and Devin Booker uh in termsof being a guy that can defend on
the wings. Uh. So youknow, I think that there are there.

(15:56):
There were a lot of places.You know, I really liked with
Sacher mental uh taking Devin Carter aswell. So I think that there are
a lot of places where you know, I like what team with different teams
did Riddle me this? Why didthe Spurs deal Dillingham? I'm just curious
they don't have a point guard?Now, he would seem to be a

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nice young piece. What why whyWhite deal Dillingham? Well, Stephan Castle
is a point guard and he looksat himself as a point guard. And
I believe that the Spurs believe he'sa point guard. If the if the
Utah Jazz had somehow figured out away to get Stephan Castle, the Utah
Jazz believed he was a point guard. Do you believe Do you believe he's

(16:44):
a point guard? I do.I think he's a point guard. He
ran Yukon's offense down the stretch lastyear, you know a lot of it.
It was it was about one HundredstanNewton, you know, for from
more most of the year. Butthey started splitting, the splitting duties and
bringing Newton off of down screens andflair screens, once the tournament started,

(17:11):
you know, Newton still handled theball and still ran the offense. But
but but Castle had a lot moreon ball duty. So I fully believe
that he can be a point guard, you know. So I really like
what Minnesota did. I'm not inlove with Rob Dillingham because I don't believe

(17:33):
that. I didn't believe. Idon't believe that he's going to be a
good defender at the NBA level,but you know, for what his weaknesses
are and what his strengths start,I believe that Minnesota was one of the
few teams that's just such a goodfit for what he can do as a

(17:56):
strength and hiding his weakness. Youknow, I think that he's going to
struggle mightily defending at the NBA level, but Minnesota is so good defensively that
you know they can hide that.And on the flip side, it was
really clear that, you know,the the Timberwolves needed, you know,

(18:18):
another guard who can who can attackthe rim and who can get your feet
in the paint. Outside of AnthonyEdwards and Rob Dialing and Rob Dillingham,
is is probably the best guard inthe draft at doing that. So I
thought that that was a great shrewdmove by Minnesota, and I think that
Dellingham is a heck of a fitwith the Timberwolves and your guest just to

(18:44):
go back around again, You're you'reyou're ink playing. If you're going one
way or another? Is the jazzstay at thirty two and take somebody today?
If that if that person's there,Yeah, if that person is there,
it's going to be a no branderfor them. But at that point
and is not there, then Ithink it becomes a little a lot more
of a conversation on what happens atthirty two, And I think that there

(19:07):
are more things in play, includingtrading down and snatching a few more assets
and you know, selecting, youknow, possibly selecting later in the second
round. That's Tony Jones. Heis the jazz beat writer for the Athletic.
He has long been a friend ofthis program and a friend of mine,
and he'll continue to do his thinghere on these airwaves. He and

(19:30):
I will just have to text andcall each other a little bit more often,
and maybe, just maybe, nowthat I have more time for lunches,
he can pay off that sushi.Bet. We'll see, I've got
to pay off a bet to you. I've got to pay off a bet
that Ben dallasit and I have topay off of bet to my good friend
Ryan Costeka. I owe him bennyhat. So I've made you know,

(19:55):
I've made so many bets that I'veforgotten, like a lot of people will
remember. Like, you know,I think people that come up. I
think people are like actually like tryingme at this point. Yeah, you
remember you made that bet to me? Like, I don't know if I
don't remember that now they're like,no, you did, you know,
Let's go get sushi or let's goget dinner. You know, I'm just
like, yeah, So, youknow, shout out to Eric Walton,

(20:17):
who who let me dry at FlemingSteakhouse. You know, Bill, I'm
sure you're not going to be asimportant as expensive a date, but now
that you had that cushy job,after I take you to lunch, maybe
you'd take me to lunch. Iwill be happy to do that. And
by the way, iow Eric WaltonNachosen beer. But he and I are
gonna be working pretty close to oneanother up on campus here soon, so

(20:41):
I'll be able to take him toNachosen beer pretty soon. My manor Eric
Walton is like cleaning up on onon on the bet circuit right now.
So I'm always happy to do it, whether I'm paying off a bet or
just being the beneficiary of winning abet. Hey, I meant what I
said earlier. I love you toDad. Thank you for all you have
done for me. Man. Thanksmo Man. I appreciate you so so

(21:03):
much, and thank you for foreverything over the years. I'll talk to
you soon. Tom Yes, SirTony Jones of the Athletic with us here
at the Bill Riley Show as webroadcast live from beer Bar today. I
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(21:45):
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