Here’s What Danny Ainge And Ryan Smith Had To Say About Biggest Questions Facing Utah Jazz
Oct 18, 2022, 12:01 PM | Updated: 12:04 pm
Danny Ainge and Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
(Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – On the eve of the start of the 2022-23 season for the Utah Jazz, owner Ryan Smith and CEO Danny Ainge spoke to the media about the franchise.
Here are some key questions that were answered by Jazz management.
Streaming
One of the biggest questions surrounding the Utah Jazz is access to their broadcasts. Many fans are able to watch the games if they have a cable provider but for those that have gone to streaming services, only have one option and that’s Fubo TV.
“Streaming is super important, it’s the future and we all know that,” Smith said. “The most disruptive thing we can do is basically stop cable. You’ve got built-in channel conflict. What I can tell you is that we are making a lot of progress. We will have more streaming options next year. I think long-term where this goes, we are looking at this from a fan experience standpoint. I think we should get a better experience. We are all hands on deck on it but it’s not as simple as I would like it to be.”
#TakeNote
The franchise was surprised on Tuesday morning when their #TakeNote hashtag was used by Apple CEO Tim Cook. That caught Ryan Smith by surprise and is looking into that move.
“That was weird,” Smith said. “I saw that when you all did. Gotta look into it.”
Ryan Smith confirmed the Jazz were caught off guard by the loss of the #takenote hashtag.
Sounds like Twitter dropped the ball.
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) October 18, 2022
Team Goals
When asked about goals for the season, Ainge left the team-specific goals to head coach Will Hardy. However, Ainge talked about his expectations for the franchise from his point of view.
“My expectation is for us to compete at a very high level, night in and night out,” Ainge said. “I’m really anxious to see the people, the players that have a commitment that we could really want to invest in going forward.”
Moving forward, Smith said that building through the draft is very important.
“We have to build through the draft…we have to,” Smith stated.
Ryan Smith making it clear why the @utahjazz blew up the roster this summer:
"We have to build through the draft… we have to."
Tune in now! https://t.co/LszktjPLP9
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 18, 2022
Victor Wembanyama
Although the Jazz front office has not commented on this specifically, but a big reason why certain teams are in a rebuild is because of 2023 NBA Draft prospect Victor Wembanyama from France. The 7’4 big man is projected to be a generational talent in the NBA. Wembanyama and his Paris-based team faced the G League Ignite in a pair of exhibition games in the United States earlier this month. Ainge hasn’t had a chance to see Wembanyama in person, yet.
“I was going to go but my father passed away and we had a funeral in California, so it took my trip away,” Ainge said. “I will try to get out to see him in person soon. Very impressive on TV.”
The Jazz begin the 2022-23 season at home against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, October 19 at 7 p.m. MT. The game can be seen on AT&T SportsNet and heard on the KSL Sports Zone.
