Meet
Mehmet Okur… CJ Miles… AK….
Posted by: Patrick on June 14th, 2011
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.With all the trade talk, the upcoming draft, and everything that has been going on, there are many things that are still very quiet. No one seems to be talking about Okur, Miles, or AK. Believe it or not, it seems that some GMs are firing up and getting a lot of trading going on. Buisness cannot be buisness as usual since there is an upcoming lock out looming, and no one knows how long it will last. Its been rumored that many trades that GMs hold off on, expiring contracts for cap space, etc may be moved to the front burner and we may see trades looming for weeks following the upcoming draft, until the lockout begins.
I decided to then look up and see what was going on with our team. No news on Okur, if he was returning, retiring, on the trade block, or who knows. I found out that if there is a lock out next season, he is talking about playing for Turkey.. Hmmmm, the brain got to thinking. Is there a way to get out from his 10 + mill contract for next season. While exploring the various stories, and tranlating many since he has been busy overseas, I came across some other interesting stories.
http://www.eurobasket.com/Turkey/basketball.asp?NewsID=214628 Playing for turkey.
Many people are talking about a trade involving AL. I was like what, are you off your rocker. The more I looked, the more I saw people talking about the probability of one. I wondered why. I came across this article that was pretty interesting talking about how the team performs with him on the floor vs off the floor. There were some vary interesting findings. The findings ran paralell to some things Locke pointed out toward the end of the season about offensive efficiency and lack of team defense. Just to add to it, CJ Miles was mentioned right with him for poor efficiency. Anyhow I will let you look at that post and decide for yourself.
http://www.lakersnation.com/2011-mock-draft-2-0-picks-1-30/2011/06/07/ Rumor started me thinking.
http://www.slcdunk.com/2011/6/1/2185178/what-is-and-what-should-have-never-been Al trade, and reasons why?
There isnt alot obout CJ. The concern about CJ is his sinking percentages and inconsistancy. The following story says they are waiting until the deadline to decide whether to pick up his last season. There are several options with CJ, they can sign him for his final season and keep him. Sign and trade him. Let this contract lapse and sign him for an extention, or let it lapse and extend and trade him. Or just let the contract lapse, and him walk away. My guess is that they are seeing what kind of trade bait he may be, if there is a market for him, or if he adds to a deal in progress, and what finances in the future appear they may be like.
http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1191/player?r=1 Waiting on CJ’s contract.
AK is trying to prove himself. Currently he is dubbed as completely healed and he plans to play over the great pond to show off that he is healed. His situation is very interesting. I am guessing everything will depend upon the lock out, how long it runs, and what ties he makes playing over there. This team is pretty gutted and other than his wifes buisness and the kids school friends, he could move anywhere.. So the only real ties to Utah, will be tested while he plays acrossed the water. If CJ and Millsap are traded away then is there enough to keep AK playing in a Jazz uniform, especially for much less than other teams will cough up?
http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/628/andrei-kirilenko Kirilenko
With the upcoming lock out luming in the near future, and all the stuff going on, I wonder how many teams will wait for the new CBA, starting trades etc now, or what will happen. But then that makes you wonder what the players without contracts will do. Do they take a season off? Do they try their luck overseas for a yr or until the lock out ends? What will happen? I hope Harris keeps his promis to keep in touch with team mates and get them together for workouts and such. It would be a good start to get people on board with what ever the Jazz are going to be doing next season, rather than prior to a last minute season start up.
Well, please feel free to add your thoughts on any of the above. Share links with news you have found or post questions you may have. Lets find the answers together. Maybe this will be a welcome break to all the who’s picked 3rd, or trade that pick for this one talk.
Replies: 9
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9 Responses
Okur playing for Turkey could increase his trade value, so even if we cannot find a way out from his contract, we should make sure he is able to play there. It will at very least get him into playing shape and show us what to expect. At best gets some value for his expiring contract which KOC will be able to use in the future.
Here is a link to one of the stories popping up. It talks about how there will be an increase of trades and or signings prior to the end of the month due to a probable lock out at the end of the month. It states many reasons, the main ones are trying to have things set up and decided prior to a short time frame of a new CBA and the start of next season. Could you imagine trying to scramble and put a team together in weeks, rather than a summer. So watch what KOC has got going, we may be a little more settled by the end of the month than some of us thought we would be going into the lock out.
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/06/12/eurocamp-day-2/
Here is a link to the supposed 5 best free agents per position. These do not cover restricted free agents. If you look at cost and age, you will see pickings are slim. There are a few restricted free agents we could try for, and we do have a few options to clearing out some money, but with the uncertainty of the CBA and a possible hard cap, can we do much?
Maybe we can interest someone in Bell, Miles, Okur, and Tomic for some draft picks.. Cavs? They have more than they can use. I am sure your asking, “but if Okur is healed why trade him”, because he will never start for us again. 10 mil backup is brutal..
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/730185-2011-nba-mock-draft-full-first-round-draft-with-3-blockbuster-trades-mixed-in#/articles/732745-nba-free-agents-2011-the-5-best-unrestricted-free-agents-at-every-position
I read a trade idea last night that made you think. It talked about AL to Cleveland for the 4th pick and their Trade exception. Its a big trade exception which would allow us to bring in a talented player, maybe a DeAndre Jordan or Marc Gasol and still clear cap space. The article went on to describe how Al is hurting the team being unefficient on offense, and a liability on Defense. I believe the link is up above. But it made it to where we could land both Kanter and Knight. If you tweaked it you may be able to send Miles or Bell over and get Sessions. Allowing for other options.. Portland is still looking for a PG.
I believe the rules are that deals can be made up until the expiring of the CBA -June 30. So once July 1 is here there are no more deals until a new CBA is reached. Okur cannot play in Turkey as long as he is still under contract with the NBA. AK a UFA can do whatever he pleases. There is projected a lot of trade activity during draft week and form 23-30.
Great post Patrick. I’m very interested in the situation with AK. How much does he really want to stay here? The Jazz should test that. I personally would like to see him come back……but for the right price. If history is an indicator of future performance, we’d basically be paying him for 60 games a year. But when he’s in games our offense is better and he creates a difficult match-up for teams on the defensive end.
The real question is….what’s the max amount of $$ we pay for him????
@LK yup. it sucks, but thats life. gotta start trading our crappy guys, get some picks??? or some younger guys
LK, thanks for the extra info.
Shane, I would say 4 mil a yr would be fair. I know other people will offer more, but I think its fair. It would be good to see it done before the end of the month, but I guess time will tell.
@ Patrick: I was thinking that same range, but its tough to know without even having an idea of what the salary structure for the league will be next year.
For some reason I like to give AK the benefit of the doubt and think he’ll play with Utah for bargain basement pricing for the next couple years….seeing as how we paid him so much money before. Wishful thinking I’m sure – he’ll get offered a sizeable payday somewhere….
thanks for the updates Patrick. Its hard to find news especially about Jazz players in the offseason.
I imagine we won’t know much about our team until after the lockout which is really going to be hard. I imagine if we do make trades on draft day it won’t be huge but I could be wrong.
Looked at some of Larry Coon’s remarks on Hoopsworld yesterday. The kids drafted next week will be under the rules of the CBA that will expire a week later. But they cannot sign until July 1 . Which there will be no new CBA so they have to wait until the new on is signed. So with their NBA rights owned they could still sign a contract overseas.UFA – RFA don’t become offical until July 1. UFA can do whatever they want. RFA being restricted cannot. Agents, Players, and teams cannot do business as usual. Larry said the main hangup is revenue sharing. Players do not get pain until a new deal is signed. So if the lockout goes the whole year players like Okur who are on their last year under contract will get ziltch..
Sorry. I meant PAID instead of pain. They will get pain. Darn Aurther.