Tim Bontemps joins Roundball Roundup 🎙️ | UTAH JAZZ

Tim Bontemps joins Roundball Roundup 🎙️ | UTAH JAZZ

On the road with the Utah Jazz, JP Chunga on Round Ball Roundup, joined by ESPN senior writer Tim Bontemps of the Hoop Collective as well. That’s right. A fan in the Utah Jazz and the fans of this podcast as well. Appreciate that. Uh what’s it like doing that podcast weekly with two people jazz fans are very familiar with it? Yeah. No, it’s a lot of fun. Uh Tim and Brian are two of my best friends. We have a lot of fun doing it. Um, it’s been cool to see it uh the audience grow uh over time and and really develop into uh you know a thing that has become gotten a real following in the league which has been great and uh it’s certainly not boring and there’s a lot going on all the time and uh you know it makes for plenty of fodder today included. So, um, yeah, it’s a it’s a very it’s a very, uh, uh, it’s a very rich sport to cover from a a content standpoint. There’s always things going on and it’s never ever boring. And the podcast has its own content machine as well. Favorite true favorite Ban McMahon misprononunciation. I couldn’t even tell you. There’s way too many. There’s way, way, way too many. There’s one every pod. So, quarter of the way through the NBA season. From a Tim Bond’s perspective, what is the biggest storyline for the Utah Jazz? Uh, I mean, it’s just the overall development of the young players coupled with, uh, are they going to keep their pick? I think it’s really those two things. Like, the Jazz have gotten off to a nice start, picked up some nice wins, a really nice win over the Rockets the other day. Um, that said, right now the Jazz are ninth in the lottery standings and it’s a top a protected pick and uh, you know, I don’t think the Jazz are going to be a playoff team this year. Though again, in the West, I wouldn’t rule it out because the bottom of the West is not the strongest. Um, but I think the hope is to get one more highlevel talent and what’s a very deep draft. So, we’ll see if the Jazz keep their pick and then let’s see if Kante George continue to develop the way he has and face Ace Bailey can continue to develop uh and and get better as the season goes on. If uh you know some of the other depth pieces on the team, Bryce Sensah and uh Kyle Filipowski and Isaiah Collier and um Walter Clayton can all continue to stay take steps forward. Can Lowry Markin stay healthy and continue to play really well? like you know this summer the Jazz set the roster up to a place where it was going to be about letting these young guys play and grow and develop under Will Hardy and uh I think they’ve so far followed through on that and we’ll see where it lands them in the standings but I I think overall seeing those young players continue to get better and grow is the the single most important thing and where that pick lands is the second. When you think about Will Hardy as a coach, the record sticks to him. And I think about the team that they’ll face on Thursday in Jordy Fernandez, who’s also a really good NBA head coach despite the record. What is the perspective around the league about Will as a leader of a program? I I I mean, Will’s got 100% Q rating, I would say, in the league and is seen as a a super high level coach and one of the better coaches, if not one of the best coaches in the league. And I I don’t I don’t think anybody really thinks at all about his record. Um you know, it’s obvious that when he got here, the team was starting a rebuild. There’s a reason why uh they haven’t won more games. It’s because they’re trying to get as many highle players through the draft as they can. There’s a reason why I think he’s already gotten two different contract extensions. Like he’s he’s an incredibly highly valued coach in the league and I think will be in Utah as long as they want to have him. is going to be one of the guys that people look at as one of the better, if not the best coaches in the league for a long time. Are you surprised by the little jump that we’ve seen from Keonte George at the start of the season? Not really. I mean, I mean, obviously a little surprised to see him do some of what he’s doing, but again, like he’s a third-year guard and it takes guards a while, especially young guards to get going. Um, we’ve seen a lot of young guards struggle early in the career and then uh come on as they get more experience. Darren Fox, Mike Connley. Um, you know, you can go down the list with a lot of guys. Tyresese Maxi, uh, was a bit player his first couple years in the league. Then he really took off. Um, you know, Keant is a really explosive athlete and an exciting player. He’s got a lot of, uh, different skills on offense. He’s getting to the line more. His shot is better. Like, he’s playing for a really good coach and knows how to develop talent. So, um, yeah, like individual things I’m surprised about, but like if you’d said Kante George is going to take a big leap in his third year, like I think it’s a reasonable thing to have thought could happen, but again, doesn’t mean it will happen. And it’s a credit to him and a credit to the Jazz that he’s been able to take a step forward cuz you have a potential starting guard for a long time. That will really help. When you look at the Eastern Conference, which you’re mainly looking at here on the East Coast, Detroit leading and from a Jazz perspective, that’s the best team that they’ve played from the Eastern Conference so far. Little muddled below that, but where does it stack up in the Eastern Conference? I have absolutely no idea. I was talking to executive today. I think it’s the most wide openen conference in the history of the sport. Like, you could pick six or seven teams and say they could win the title or win the conference, not the title. And I could probably understand the argument. Um, it’s it’s very wide open. Everybody’s pretty good. Everybody has a lot of flaws. Um, whether it’s Detroit or New York or Cleveland or even Boston who has beat all three of those teams in the last week and a half. Um, Miami have has a funky team and is very good. Um, has gotten off to a great start. We’ll see what happens with Giannis and Milwaukee. Um, Atlanta and Orlando are really interesting. like there’s just a lot of teams that are pretty good um that aren’t great and they’re all bunched up and I think whether it comes down to matchups or health or both I I think the playoffs could be really wide open see if teams make moves between now in the deadline and while I think the Thunder are so much better than everybody in the league and as a result so much better than everybody in the west um there’s a very rapid drop off in the west after six or seven and it goes way down really fast and in the East. I think it’s a much longer group of okay, like pretty good to okay teams from like 1 to 10. Uh that’s I think going to potentially make for some really interesting action in the spring when the playoffs come around. And it it could be, like I said, as truly unpredictable as he’s ever seen to see who’s going to come out of it in the end. Does that adjust team building when you look at conferences? because the West clearly has that front runner in OKC, but the East, if you make one move, you could maybe jump into a different tier. Uh, yes and no. I mean, if I if I got a job running a team, my goal would be to try to win a title. So, whether the Thunder in the East or West, they still exist, right? And they’re going to exist for a long time. So, to me, the northstar would be how do you try to take down the Thunder either way? Um, but yeah, I mean, look, certainly the East is wide open. So, to to your question, could it cause somebody to make a move to take a leap forward because there’s more of an opportunity than they expected? Yeah, sure. I think that’s possible. Um, for me, it wouldn’t change much, but for plenty of teams, it easily could because, you know, to make it to the finals is not an insignificant thing. And I certainly didn’t think Indiana was going to push the Thunder to seven games last year. And if Tyresese Albertton hadn’t gotten hurt, who knows what happens in game seven. So, um, if you get into a best of seven series, you never know what’s going to happen. And it’s certainly a a as good a chance to get there this year out of the East as there’s ever been in any conference in a long time. I would say I think of Orlando, which goes to get Desmond Bane to try and make one of those moves to jump into the top contenders category at least in their conference. and early returns have been, you know, mixed, especially now when you’re looking at what Patlo can do as their lead player. Where’s Orlando after that trade? Uh, I mean, Orlando’s in an interesting spot. They got off to a very slow start. They have since played much better. They’re now playing better for a second straight year with Paulo on the bench with an injury, which is interesting. Um, we’ll see what happens when he gets back on the court, but Desim’s a really good player. Their most important player remains Jaylen Suggs. when he plays they’re really really good. Um when he doesn’t play they struggle and he’s dealt with a lot of injury issues. Um but hopefully he can stay healthy and uh look again the east is wide open and they have between Fran Vagnero Desmond Bane and Jaylen Suggs they have as good a forsome as any team in the east. So if their guys are healthy and they’re ready to go in the spring they continue to integrate Dez offensively. He’s had 37 each of the last two games. We’ll see what happens in tonight’s game against the Spurs uh on Wednesday night. But um it’s been a great been a been a great few weeks for them and certainly there’s a reason they came into the season as one of the favorites in the East and if they if they stay healthy I think they’re going to be right there and I think they’ll think they could beat anybody in a sevename series in the spring if they are here with the Jazz as they have that Nets Knicks double header looking at New York the Knicks they’re a team that is near the top of the Eastern Conference Where do they stand? Uh, it’s a great question. I mean, they stand in a in a pretty uncertain place at the moment. They’ve had a lot of injuries. They just lost to Boston last night. Um, they’re playing Charlotte tonight, second night of a backto-back at the Garden down the street. Um, you know, they have a lot of talent. Their top six or seven are really good. Uh, but they have some injury questions with Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart. Uh, OJ Anobi’s out right now. They have some fit stuff they’ve got to sort out. They’ve obviously got a new coach and Mike Brown they’re trying to get used to. Um, so the Knicks might have the highest ceiling of any of these teams in the East if they get it all figured out. Uh, it’s probably them in Cleveland from that standpoint, but they have to actually figure it out. And there’s a lot left to figure out. And it’s the same thing with the Cavs. There’s a a whole ton for the Cavs to figure out and get healthy. And, you know, I think if you’re betting if you’re betting on one team, you probably still would pick one of those two teams to get out of the East. Uh but again, the East is so wide open. Those teams are flawed enough that there’s a whole bunch behind him that could make the same argument, which is why the field is probably the best bet you could make rather than picking any single team. What’s been the change with Mike Brown? Uh I mean, he wants to have the ball move a lot more, uh which they’ve been doing. They’ve been playing their bench a little bit more than they did under Tom Thibido. Um but those are probably the two main things. More ball movement, getting Jaylen Brunson off the ball a little bit more. um getting Muel Bridges OG and Obi and those guys a little more involved. Um but look, at the end of the day, a lot of it is the same. Like they’ve got the same six or seven guys at the top and when they’re healthy, they’re going to play and the ball’s still going to be in Jaylen Brunson’s hand when it matters and he’s still one of the best players in the league. People care about Jordan Clarkson who are listening to the podcast because of his time with the Jazz. It’s been up and down as it can be for a bench player, but what can he give them? Uh I’m very curious to see what he can give them. I am skeptical he’s going to be able to give them a lot at this stage of his career. Um he’s obviously had a great run with the Jazz the past several years and is a great guy. Um and when he gets hot obviously he can make a bunch of shots and can maybe win you a game or two that way which look if the Knicks go on a deep playoff run he probably will win them a game or two just by hitting a bunch of shots. Um I’m not certain he also won’t lose him a game or two with some other deficiencies in his game. But like you said, that’s he’s a scorer off the bench. Like that’s kind of what you come to expect, right? Like if he was a better defender or a more consistent offensive player or whatever, he’d probably be a starter. He’d probably be five or 10 years younger, right? Um so he’s a good fit in the locker room, good guy, solid scorer, gives the Knicks some pop off the bench that they didn’t always have last year. And again, if they have they get to the conference finals or finals and he wins them two playoff games, they’ll be very happy and it’ll be money well spent. Finally, is there a better league pass market between Mike Breen having Ian Eagle in the market, Ryan Rico? Is there better league pass market than New York? No. No. It’s amazing. Uh between between the Knicks, the Knicks and Nets have long had the two best local broadcasts in the league. uh in part because they’ve had unbelievable talent like you said like Mike Green and Clyde Frasier doing Nick’s games and then uh Frank Deg Grace who’s now running NBC’s coverage of uh the the NBA this year uh he’s been the yes game producer for the last 25 years and he developed you know didn’t develop Iron Eagle but worked with Iron Eagle developed Ryan Rico uh developed Sarah Kust who’s a tremendous analyst Richard Jefferson, Mark Jackson, um Noah, Noah, right? Noah Eagle’s now there. Uh Michael Grady, who is now Yep. all over the place doing playbyplay. He hired him to do sidelines and some playbyplay for them. Like Frank has had an instrumental role in developing a ton of the most prominent voices in NBA media. Uh so yeah, like between those two teams, it’s been it’s an awesome experience to sit and watch them every night. And uh I’m it’s it’s it’s been a fun place to be a basketball fan for many many years as a result. Hoop Collective and ESPN. He is Tim Bonteps on Round Ball Roundup. Tim, thanks so much. Thanks man. for you having me.

UtahJazz.com’s JP Chunga caught up with Tim Bontemps (ESPN, The Hoop Collective) to discuss the Jazz on their back-to-back in New York.

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