Fresh off an appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” and before boarding a plane to Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine, Ryan Smith peeled back the curtain just a bit on how the Utah Jazz intend to use the No. 2 overall pick in June.
Not “who” the Jazz would draft, but how the process will play out.
On Monday, Utah Jazz and Utah Mammoth co-owners Ryan and Ashley Smith spoke about the upcoming draft, professional hockey in Utah and the power of live sports as part of the Atlantic Across America Utah event, presented in partnership with the Deseret News. Atlantic staff writer and Deseret Voices podcast host McKay Coppins led the discussion at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City
Before taking the stage with Coppins, Smith appeared remotely on Pat McAfee’s show on ESPN, where the host floated the possibility of the Jazz trading up to take BYU product AJ Dybantsa, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick.
Coppins posed the same question. And while Smith didn’t address Dybantsa directly, he shed plenty of light on the organization’s approach to the draft and how he views Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge and CEO Danny Ainge.
“I think the next 40 days you’re going to see some madness in the NBA,” Smith said. “And, you know, it might or might not be with us, and maybe the best thing that Danny sees and Austin see is just the path of just to go and let’s draft the best player available.”
Here’s more from what Smith told Coppins:
On trades and NBA front offices
“Timing is really important in these things. And the days of having someone on the opposite side of the front office who’s not smart are long gone.”
On the Ainges and the draft
“Austin and Danny have also been known to do some pretty crazy stuff on draft night. Like when they traded the No. 1 (pick) back to No. 3 and took Jayson Tatum (in 2017).”
On Danny Ainge
“And I will tell you this, Danny has a chip missing and that’s, he doesn’t care what anybody else thinks, including myself. And that’s what we want. We want someone who’s not afraid to make moves regardless if they’re unpopular or popular at this time.”
On Austin Ainge
“We know that Austin is an absolute star in this league, and we are so fortunate to have (the Ainges) instead of me running basketball decisions in the draft.”
On his role
“Danny has made a living with owners who are overinvolved. Our job is to put the right people in place to be the sounding board, and what’s crazy is they always come to us because they want a different perspective, but at the same time they definitely are going to do everything in their power to improve our team to a championship.”
Best fit or best player?
“I know that (the Ainges) don’t draft just based on fit. Always take the best player available, we’ll figure out how to make them fit.”