Upper Bowl Jazz Fan

Turns out Carlos Boozer is worth something to the Jazz

// January 13th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Trade Rumors, Trades

It was interesting to hear what Kevin O’Conner said, this week, about the Jazz and their tax situation.  He was clear and precise in stating that the Jazz’ first priority was to win games.  And that the luxury tax was not a concern for the organization.

Then the Dallas Mavericks made an offer to the Utah Jazz for Carlos Boozer.  In return, the Mavs would give the Jazz Shawne Williams, Kris Humphries, and Drew Gooden.  For Dallas, the reasoning was that the Jazz would waive Gooden before his contract became guaranteed so the Jazz would end up saving $2.5 million after releasing Gooden.  Reportedly, the Mavs had also offered cash to the Jazz as the icing on the trade cake.

The Jazz would have none of it.

I find it ironic that the Jazz were the team that drafted Kris Humphries and he was pretty terrible for the Jazz.  Nonetheless, the Mavs were prepared to package up their crap in return for an All-Star 20/10 Power Forward.  Ha!  As, reported, the Jazz weren’t even tempted.

I suspect that the Jazz have had a dozen other offers like this.  As fans, we hear about so few of the actual trades that are proposed but not accepted by one side or the other.  Sure, you can hear NBA rumors anywhere and everywhere but so many of them have so little merit.

This proposed trade from the Mavericks happened to come to light after it was shot down but it almost seems like that it’s conditions were made public to do 3 things: 1) Send a message to the other teams in the league that these terrible trades will not be entertained. 2) Prove to fans that the Jazz organization is committed to winning (at least, with the pieces that are available). 3) To keep Carlos Boozer playing like every game is a job interview.

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Utah Jazz Trade Scenarios

// January 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // Trades

During the last few days the Jazz have come up in various rumors around the league as a possible team to initiate a trade.  Greg Miller’s post about the Jazz and what management has been up to as well as the financial situation of the team still being over the luxury tax has quite a lot to do with the trade rumors.  The NBA community has been throwing ideas back and forth about trades.  Some ideas have been quasi-plausible and some have been downright unrealistic.  Here are a few that I’ve heard:

Trade scenarios posed from around the interwebs:

• Boozer, Okur, Miles for Butler, Jamison, Blatche — If you’re Utah, I think you do this trade in a heartbeat but I don’t think the Wiz give up Blatche.  They do seem to be at the cusp of breaking up the team but I don’t see it.
• Jason Richardson + cash to Utah Jazz for AK. — I don’t think either team pulls the trigger.  The Suns could have had him a couple years ago when the AK/Marion trade was on the table.  I don’t believe Sloan would want JRich especially since he’s a 2 and we have plenty of people at that position.
• Prince and Ben Wallace for Boozer. — I wouldn’t mind having Prince on the team (or even Ben Wallace) with the defense that would come but Prince and AK are pretty much the same and I can’t see Joe Dumars giving up so many defensive players. (continued…)

Trade scenarios posed from various NBA writers:

• Boozer for Dampier and Gooden. — Dampier’s contract isn’t guaranteed next year and Gooden’s isn’t guaranteed for the rest of the season (only for 3 more days) so this would be mostly a salary dump
• 3 team trade: Wizards get Carlos Boozer and Shaq; Utah gets Caron Butler and Mike James’ expiring contract; Cavs get Jamison, Haywood and Kyle Korver’s expiring contract. — 3 team trades are nice in principle but generally very hard to carry out but this would not be too shabby for all the teams involved.
• Martin/Thomas to Utah for Andrei Kirilenko, Kyle Korver’s expiring contract, $3 million, and the rights to New York’s unprotected first-round pick in 2010. — I would love to see Kevin Martin’s offense here in Utah but he is known for being a liability on defense and bad defenders should be what the Jazz want most to avoid.  Also, as much as I don’t want to admit, dreams of a top 3 pick w/ NY’s pick next summer are dying as the Knicks are constantly improving.  If they continue to do so, using that pick in a trade loses it’s value every day.
• Murphy, Dunleavy and Travis Diener to Utah for Andrei Kirilenko, Kosta Koufos and Kyle Korver’s expiring contract. — This trade isn’t at all realistic but would go down in history as the most white guys involved in a trade. (continued…)

At this point I declare that the Jazz will not be able to trade Kirilenko’s contract this year unless they include NY’s pick next year AND the Knicks start to tank.  It’s seeming very unlikely.  Here are my suggestions to trade possibilities:

• Boozer for Antawn Jamison.  The trade can go straight across with their salaries being almost identical.  Boozer’s and Jamison’s game is nearly identical as both have decent postup games and can shoot the long jumper.  Jamison has a decent 3 pt game which the Jazz could utilize since we rank in the bottom third in 3 point shooting.  Jamison isn’t a great defender which makes him pretty much even with Boozer.
• Kevin Martin + some other King for Boozer.  Again, I like Martin’s upside on offense and wouldn’t be exciting for his defense but I think it could be beneficial for both.
• Boozer for Rip Hamilton.  I don’t necessarily love this trade but I think it could work.  Rip’s game is to constantly cut until he’s lost his man and find’s an open jumper.  This almost describes Jerry Sloan’s offense.  However, Rip’s contract is cumbersome and his production has declined over the past season or two.
• Korver and the rights to Peter Fehse for Marc Gasol.  Hey, you never know what Chris Wallace and Lionel Hollins will go for.  They got rid of another Gasol for garbage and the rights to a player who hadn’t come to the NBA yet.  I can always dream…

We’ve got less than 6 weeks till the trade deadline.  Usually the Jazz sit still in these situations but with being into the luxury tax it seems unlikely that the Jazz will continue without making a move.

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2009 – 2010 Utah Jazz Salaries

// December 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Utah Jazz Salaries

*Deron Williams has a Player Option in 2012/13 meaning he can opt out before that season if he so chooses.

*Ronnie Brewer will be a Restricted Free Agent at the end of the ’09-10 season

*CJ Miles has a Team Option after the 2010-11 season as does Kosta Koufos.  Side note: I can guarantee the Jazz will drop Koufos and most likely Miles then.

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