What do you guys think of trading for Matt Harpring? The Jazz want to move Kirilenko back to his natural spot at the 3, and they are in serious need of some front court help. I think they'd be very open to a Howard-Harpring swap. Their contracts are similar (Jazz are under the cap anyway), and Juwan is the type of disciplined/hard working type of player that Sloan likes. Meanwhile, Harpring's a very good rebounder, a tough defender, and a good shooter. He would allow us to bring JJ's all round game off the bench to back up the 2/3 and I think he would be the perfect third scorer/role player for this team. JVG was very complimetary of Matt before we played the Jazz early in the season The downside? Harpring missed more than half of last season with an injury, and one should always be careful of a player who had career years with the Jazz. They just seem to bomb out anywhere else. And he kind of looks like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Even so, I think he'd be a great role player for us. Thoughts?
Because Harpring is 4 years younger and we have, as it stands right now, a bench that has no scoring ability outside of Taylor.
The Jazz wouldn't mind ship Harpring, since they are loaded at the 2/3 spot. However, there is no chance they will do it to get Howard. Harpring is the kind of blue-colored hard nosed hustler, scorer and defender whom many teams want to trade for. Howard? A washed-up soft dude whom teams are trying to trade (including Orlando, and now, us).
we already have 4 players that can play sf under contract: JJ, Boki, Paghette, Gaines. I do't think it is wise to add one more before we can move a couple of them somewhere else through trades. On the other hand, we only have 3.5 big bodies: Yao, Howard, MoT, and Spoon. If Jazz agrees to take MoT for Harpring, I would be willing to go through the trouble of extra roster moves. But I don't think they will bite.
I would do Mo T for Harpring and Arroyo in a second. I'd give Utah the TE for free ( future draft picks) as sweetener. Then they can use that to get whoever they want (they don't have a lot of tradeable assets right now, and not many players come to Utah willingly as free agents). Harpring shoots un-freaking-believeable. He'd light it up, and plays very solid D. A perfect JVG guy, a smart, smart team player. JVG has already said some very nice things about Juwon. I think he's a keeper here. Mo T is the guy we must eliminate. It's worth a call, anyway. Yao/Collie Howard/Spoon Harpring/JJ Tmac/JJ B.Barry/C.Arroyo That team would shoot like 70%.
It's funny because the reason WE got the TE was because of Utah... But to be technical, I don't think the TE would serve any purpose for Utah as they are under the cap. I think you have to be over the cap to be able to use it.. or something like that.
Howard for Harpring doesn't seem very far fetched to me. The Jazz need a PF and Howard is a proven low post scorer and rebounder. Sure, his contract is none too appealing but if it means playing their best player (AK-47) at the position he wishes to play and they cannot get a better offer--why not?
Because they prefer not to waste their money and won't be contending anyway. That's the kind of trade a contender would make. They'll keep Harpring, a good player and a commodity, on the bench before they take on a bad contract for a player that won't help them very much.
