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Ryan Smith: I mean, I think we brought in Austin (Ainge) a couple of weeks ago. He came out for the press conference from Boston and didn’t leave—he has not gone back home to pack up or anything. He has been heads down. A couple of weeks ago he said, 'If we can walk out of this draft with Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton, that’s exactly what we want to do.' And the team executed on exactly what they wanted."
“When I said this before the deal was signed—that this is ridiculous and it's going to hurt players in the end—no one wanted to listen. Everybody wanted to act like the PA was making a great deal. The PA made a bullsh*t deal, as the PA has done for years now. Every year the pot gets bigger, the business gets better, and the players get screwed more. That's just how this business works.”
Ryan Smith: Justin Zanik's role with the team will not change
Andy Larsen: Finally, Ryan Smith was asked about Justin Zanik's role with the Jazz: "Justin's the GM in the organization. His role hasn't changed at all. If you think about the skill set that Austin has, and JZ's skill set, they actually work really well."
Andy Larsen: Smith, on why Austin Ainge was the guy: "Really it came to a conversation with me and Ashley and some of the folks in our group — who would you go get? What would you do? And I kept coming back to Austin. The challenge was, I had no clue how Austin felt."
Sarah Todd: Ryan Smith says that Austin Ainge will have final say and will give recommendations to Smith. So, that's a lot more clear than the last time the Jazz hired an Ainge
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Now he’s bringing that experience to the NBA. Not since Mark Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks in 2000 has an NBA owner been so poised for disruption. “I don’t let anyone else determine what our success looks like,” Smith insists. “I’m new to this, so I’m going to see it a little different.” But unlike the bomb-throwing Cuban, as Cuban himself points out, Smith has spent nearly two decades running a company. He will disrupt, but from the inside out.
Jazz owner Ryan Smith: 'Utah should be one of the most lucrative places to play'
Now he’s determined to create an NBA franchise in sync with all this growth. “Utah,” he pronounces, “should be one of the most lucrative places to play.” The Jazz have the second-best record in the league over the past 25 seasons, but they haven’t won a title. Nationally, the area is still perceived as a backwater by many. Smith is convinced that if he can make Utah a more appealing place not just to be a player but a wife, a sponsor, a fan, and a Jazz employee, his team can’t help but prosper. “You can’t make everybody happy all the time,” he says, “but you can have a plan for each. My punch list is long.”
At some point, the conversation shifted to using the Jazz as a means for change. “A year and a half ago,” Ashley admits, “we weren’t that aware of the lack of inclusion everywhere. Our eyes have become wide open.” With an NBA franchise, the Smiths agreed, they could have a greater impact than with any other company. In the months since, that sense of mission has helped insulate them from critics who can’t understand why their favorite team won’t stick to basketball. “I don’t care about the haters,” Ashley says. “I don’t care about the negative feedback. Because we’re so clear on the stewardship and what it means to us and what we want to do.” She takes a deep breath, then exhales with a smile. “My gosh,” she says, “it’s freeing.”
And not for the Smiths. “Look, we want to get rid of all the sucky experiences in the world,” Ryan says. “Systemic racism is a horrible experience. Lack of equity is a horrible experience. When we took over, I was pretty direct that we were going to be actively anti-racist. And active means not passive. It means we’re actively going to do something.”
If you guys get the number one pick, would you even listen to offers from others?” Ryan Smith: “Well, I have Danny Ainge running the franchise. He had the number one pick and moved back to get Jayson Tatum—which no one saw coming. So if anyone's open to it, it’s him.”
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Dwyane Wade on Utah Jazz: 'It's a slow build'
Getting a chance to understand and know the vision of the team, I think it’s having success because we’re in a reload of losing Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, and coach Quin (Snyder). We brought in a new coach in Will Hardy, Danny Ainge, and Ryan as a new governor. Everything is new, and you have to have patience. You have to be patient in your rebuild. I think that’s what the Jazz have been doing while trying to build a culture and put together an organization that practices a championship mindset from the top and eventually trickles down to the players. It’s a slow burn. It’s a slow build. But you’ve got to be in this for the long haul. You don’t just walk into this and win championships and be successful. I think we’re all seeing that together. We’ve got a great leader in Ryan, a great leader in Danny, and a great leader in Will.
A.J. Dybantsa, the nation's No. 1 high school basketball prospect, announced his decision to play for Brigham Young University. The 17-year-old secured an NIL financial package reportedly worth $4 million to $7 million. Dybantsa's representatives and Ryan Smith said the billionaire had no financial role in the blockbuster deal even though he met with the principals. Either way, his fingerprints show up in the Dybantsa deal, along with many other recent big developments in Utah sports.
Smith's desire for Dybantsa to choose BYU is evident. He met twice with the teen's father, Ace Dybantsa, and financial adviser, Leonard Armato. Armato said one meeting, at Smith's office in Provo, Utah, lasted about an hour -- a significant amount of time for someone as busy as Smith, who has developed an image as the transformational engineer upgrading the state's sports profile. And if there's one place where Smith is unabashed about making his mark, it's at BYU. "If they need my help, I'm going to help them," Smith told ESPN months before Dybantsa committed to the Cougars. "I owe everything to BYU and I'm not going to say no. And they know that."
When the Smiths bought the Jazz and created Smith Entertainment Group, the learning curve was steep. He had grown up rooting for the team, but now he had to engage with and learn the franchise's inner workings. And he had to make it competitive. Part of his initial meetings with employees was changing their small-market mindset. It meant securing bigger sponsorships, negotiating better television deals, introducing innovations. He started making inroads with other owners. He said then-Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban "was awesome" helping integrate Smith into the league. Cuban told ESPN by email that he advised Smith to "have fun. To be himself. Not to be shy and to realize that the best teams communicate often with their fans." He talks a lot with Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who shared Smith's background in tech.
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