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I’m getting nervous
Posted by: Ben Hoeksel on July 12th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.I won’t lie guys. I’m getting nervous. First Boozer to Chicago, followed by KK. Now the JailBlazers are offering about 2 times too much towards our rookie stud Wes Matthews. Evidentally the Jazz fruit is in season and ripe for the picking. I’m waiting for next year when Portland offers Kosta Koufus a 5 year max offer (note to KOC: don’t match).
So yeah, I’m nervous on a few fronts. We’ve got a lot of questions to answer. First, and perhaps scariest: who’s our number two scorer? You are going to give me nightmares if you say Paul Millsap. Is he capable of 20/10 on a given night? Well yes, of course. Is he capable of such on a nightly basis? Me says no. So, who does that leave? CJ? AK? Yikes…
Next, this Al Jefferson business. While I do like Al as a player, we have to realize his contract alone would put us back in luxury tax territory without even discussing what to do with Wes Matthews or Fez. Do we then not use the trade exception in the Harpring deal? What then did we gain from that deal? I’m on the fence on this one. It’s easy to love the idea of it when we don’t write the checks.
What’s really had me nervous, though, is filling out the rest of our roster. With Boozer and Korver gone, there’s two slots we need to fill without a lot of money to do it with, barring luxury tax territory. Are we going to raid the D-League again for a Gaines/Jeffers type player, or are we going to get some real talent and push the luxury bill up higher? Of course, only 2 slots is on the assumption we actually resign both Gaines and Jeffers.
The one thing I’m glad to admit I was wrong on was the supposed inactivity of the Utah Jazz front office. I was all over them the last few weeks about their perceived inactivity while great talent was going to other teams around the league. We’re starting to find out they’ve been anything but inactive and have been in discussions with players like Randy Foye, Anthony Tooliver, Anthony Morrow, Al Harrington, Al Jefferson, Ronnie Brewer, etc. So, they’ve been busy. No worries there.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the rest of the summer plays out. Let me be the first to cast my vote for signing a big this summer. Even if it’s just Augustine, we need one.
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One Response
First, your comments about Paul Millsap are unfounded. When boozer was out for the 19 game stretch, paul averaged 18 pts and 10 rebounds are so. He is very capable, but hasn’t gotten nearly the minutes one would need because he backed up boozer.
AJ was a great pick up. He will fill the void of boozer easily, but he’s also 6-10, and listed as a center.
I see us starting AJ at C and PM at PF. This is a nice part of our line up. I’m sure we will play AJ at the PF as well.
Deals aren’t easy to get done, especially this year. This year is the year of crazy spending. Players are seeing inflated worth because teams are trying not to get left holding the you-didn’t-get-lebron-either-so-you-are-screwed-too bag. Then there is this little thing called the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that has to be refreshed next year. The assumption is that teams wont be able to pay as much, so players are trying to make out contracts under the existing CBA.
There are a lot of factors. I’m just glad we picked up AJ.