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idiot said:
My recollections:

  • Biggest thing was how bad the culture was by the end of the year. The reporters all seemed to agree that there was plenty of blame to go around, but they weren't apt to assign blame to any one person or dynamic on the team. Nobody characterized the major issue as a Don vs Rudy thing, though all acknowledged that there was tension there. Sounds like there was probably plenty more than that to the problems.
  • They all seemed to agree that both Don and Rudy are simultaneously great individuals but likely bad teammates in differing ways (at least for this year's iteration of the Jazz). All seemed to agree that Don needed to do a lot better on defense and improve playmaking if he wants to take the next step up in his career. All seemed to agree that the organization had been catering too much to him in the broader sense.
  • Though they all agreed that the culture was broken, they acknowledged that it wasn't one of those things that could just be easily fixed. Nobody really knew how to fix it despite knowing that issues existed, and (unlike the Celtics) the organization just couldn't collectively turn it around.
  • Strangely little was said about much of the team or even Quin. I don't think they mentioned Ingles, Bogey, Whiteside, Clarkson (aside from perhaps the my turn-your turn phenomenon when he and Donovan shared the floor) and many others. I think the only mention of Butler was in terms of the current log jam of guards that will make it hard for him to find time unless they get rid of some of the guards on the team now. They did say that many in the organization don't really like Dok (probably as a player, but it was a little hard to tell if it went further).
  • They were most negative (in terms of contributions to team culture) about Gay, followed by the claim that they let House go because he was crazy, and then it sounded like they were a bit down on Royce as well (and therefore were not surprised to see him shipped off).
  • Conley's brush with being benched by Quin got mentioned. They wondered and were slightly more optimistic than a couple years ago (if the Jazz can't get rid of Conley's contract) whether he'll accept coming off the bench this time.
  • Walker Kessler got a few mentions, strangely enough, with both Andy and Tony seeming to be slightly optimistic. Andy also liked Bolmaro, but wasn't so high on Vanderbilt (for lack of offense).
  • Lindsey took quite a few hits in their discussion, particularly for messing up the marginal signings (including the "Dennis Lindsey special" of confounding bad choices by selling of draft picks to get rid of underperforming contracts).
  • Some talk of Will Hardy -- especially that he wowed the Jazz in the interview process, and that there's no way he can yet be making decisions about what to do with the team since there's still far too much roster change yet to happen
  • Said that many in the Jazz organization were strong Alex Jensen supporters throughout much of the hiring process. Seemed to say that Johnny Bryant had both supporters and detractors among the organization.
  • Argued somewhat about whether the Jazz are intending to trade Donovan. Unsurprisingly Tony was strongest on the side that they didn't intend to. Ended up with semi-agreement that the careful phrasing that trading Donovan is "not currently in the plans" (or something close to that) is probably the best way to describe the situation. All agreed that Donovan would go if a great offer came up.
  • Throughout the Donovan trade discussion, I think it's fair to claim that Tony sees his job more as reporting what he's told and not going much beyond that (probably even when he can see the writing on the wall). Andy (and Sarah to an extent) seem to have more interest in interpreting beyond the for-the-record comments. (My own perspective is that there's plenty to value from both approaches, especially as long as you're aware what each of them is doing. Andy will say out loud what seems to be happening more often, but he might occasionally overinterpret things. Tony won't stake strong claims often, but he's often the one that will be the best signal that something real is afoot when his tune changes (since you'll know that it's really the Jazz that are talking through him).)
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1. Why was the culture broken? Could it have anything to do with Snyder’s refusal to hold anybody accountable? Like… I dunno, benching Spida for refusing to play defense? Or giving certain players a green light to shoot every time they touched the ball while benching rookies for making 1 mistake?
2. The team having 0 chemistry showed in the first round. I’ve never seen a team less excited to be in the playoffs. They showed the least amount of intensity and energy of all the playoff teams. So the culture being broken proves that it was what we all suspected.
 
I only listened in for part of it, but thought it was interesting that Sarah made it seem like the Don and Royce relationship was not that big of a deal and that trading Royce wouldn't affect Donovan at all.

From Twitter it seems like they are pretty good friends, so that was a little surprising to me.
 
The funniest part was the Derrick Favors story. Apparently when Tony, who is friends with Derrick, called him to inform him of Dennis' resignation, remarked that he should call him to thank him for the contract. The implication being that Derrick himself knew that he wasn't deserving of that full MLE contract and was surprised/thankful to receive the gift from DL lmao.

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amedawg00 said:
The funniest part was the Derrick Favors story. Apparently when Tony, who is friends with Derrick, called him to inform him of Dennis' resignation, remarked that he should call him to thank him for the contract. The implication being that Derrick himself knew that he wasn't deserving of that full MLE contract and was surprised/thankful to receive the gift from DL lmao.

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When life hands you a gift... I like how they termed those deals the Dennis Lindsey Specials.
 
Plenty of swearing. Sarah was 3 sheets to the wind. I came away from it thinking Donovan has a 75% chance or more of being moved. Pretty much a consensus that there will also be fringe moves. Roster will continue to evolve. Kind of wish they had all been drunk with looser lips because they might have let some of the more juicy stuff slip.
 
Hearsky said:
They all acknowledged they had given up on the team in February because they knew the team was a mess in the locker room and that it was really hard to put on happy face for the rest of the season in their writings.
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Why do they need to put on a happy face? They’re reporters. They could have probably eased their stress by not feeling it’s their job to attempt to change the direction the river flows.
 
infection said:
Why do they need to put on a happy face? They’re reporters. They could have probably eased their stress by not feeling it’s their job to attempt to change the direction the river flows.
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I seem to recall Andy Larsen making a few very mild comments regarding the dysfunction and Jazz fans on twitter destroying him for it.
 
The Thriller said:
1. Why was the culture broken? Could it have anything to do with Snyder’s refusal to hold anybody accountable? Like… I dunno, benching Spida for refusing to play defense? Or giving certain players a green light to shoot every time they touched the ball while benching rookies for making 1 mistake?
2. The team having 0 chemistry showed in the first round. I’ve never seen a team less excited to be in the playoffs. They showed the least amount of intensity and energy of all the playoff teams. So the culture being broken proves that it was what we all suspected.
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They all mentioned that they felt the season was over after the blown lead to the Warriors in the regular season. How they all laughed it off when someone said the game was in the bag at the time the Jazz at a 17 point lead with 6 minutes to go.

Interesting watching this post game interview after that:
 
MT Steve said:
I seem to recall Andy Larsen making a few very mild comments regarding the dysfunction and Jazz fans on twitter destroying him for it.
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Jazz players and fans… “why is Andy so negative… blah blah”.
 
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