listened to Tony Jones on Checketts's show today; somewhat different emphasis there, despite acknowledging the real (and juicier) rift between Quin and DL:
- Tony was pretty firm that the more important rift than the QS/DL one was the Ryan Smith/DL one (though didn't provide details about the substance of the breakdown, whether basketball personnel/philosophy, management style, or whatever else).
-Tony seems to be preparing Jazz fans for the eventual Ainge regime (not necessarily that he'll take over DL's role directly, though didn't rule that out, but that his impact on Smith is likely to be heavy, whatever his title ends up being).
-both Tony and Checketts quickly dismissed any possibility that Battier is in play for a role with the Jazz -- they've both been told rather directly apparently that that's not something Battier is after
- Spence particularly, though Tony seemed to concur somewhat, suggested strongly that this whole shakeup is really all about Smith -- his desire to be heavily involved as an owner, his fondness for the spotlight, etc. To me this signals that we as fans should prepare for a possibly tumultuous road ahead, with likely a lot less emphasis on long-term continuity. Hope Smith ends up pulling it off successfully.
