Boozer to Jazz! Can Rockets make TE deal with Cavs?

LOL, that's a thought. Both teams negotiating with us, one to get us to not trade with the other team, the other team to get us to do the deal so they can keep their man.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1836318

So much for verbal understandings.


Carlos Boozer and the Utah Jazz have agreed on a six-year, $68 million offer sheet Thursday, ESPN's David Aldridge reports, sending a crushing blow to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who made Boozer an unrestricted free agent with the belief he would re-sign with the team for its mid-level exception.


Earlier Thursday, ESPN Insider Chad Ford reported that the Jazz had cancelled a planned visit by the Nets' Kenyon Martin because the team was preparing to make Boozer the offer to which he has now agreed.


"We just decided in was in both of our interest to go in a different direction," O'Connor told Ford about the Martin cancellation.


The huge offer, coming after Boozer drew interest from half a dozen teams once he hit the free agent market, proves the Cavaliers made a significant mistake in relinquishing their contractual rights to Boozer for the upcoming season.


Boozer, recently named to the U.S. Olympic team, was under contract for next season at $695,000, but Cleveland did not pick up its option on Boozer for the 2004-05 season after, the club said, Boozer had committed to re-signing with the Cavs for the team's full mid-level exception -- somewhere around six years and $40 million.


Now Cleveland almost certainly cannot retain Boozer. While the Cavs have the right to match the Utah offer, they are only about $4 million under the current cap and would have to trade and/or renounce the rights to a number of players to clear enough room to sign Boozer.


According to sources, the Jazz began serious negotiations with Boozer around July 4th and finished the deal last night, capping a huge offseason for the Jazz.


Earlier this week, Utah agreed to terms on an offer sheet with Pistons restricted free agent center Mehmet Okur for six years and $50 million. Okur, Boozer (15.5 points and 11.7 rebounds a game last year) and star forward Andrei Kirilenko will give the Jazz one of the conference's most potent young frontcourts. The Jazz have also re-signed both of their starting guards from last season, Carlos Arroyo and Gordan Giricek. And Utah drafted promising rookie guard Kirk Snyder and forward Kris Humphries in the first round last month.


With the Jazz out of the Martin sweepstakes, the Nets' forward moved on to a visit with the Hawks on Friday after Wednesday's meeting with the Nuggets. A source in Denver claims that the team has not made Martin an offer.

 

Cleveland don't have his Bird right plus the relation between is ruined. I don't think Paxon will try to match this deal

 

Exactly. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I don't think anyone here could say no to that kind of cash. Boozer probably apologized to Paxson repeatedly.

 

You mean signed an Offer Sheet, because they can't "sign" him to anything else. The Cavs have 14 days or so to counter the offer Sheet or loase him. And they will do what they have to to keep him with Lebron, so this could be a coup for the Rockets if the Cavs feel obliged to use the TE to keep Boozer.

 

Damn, damn, damn the Jazz.

1. Arroyo
2. Harpring
3. AK47
4. Boozer
5. Okur

And Sloan as coach.

Back to the playoffs.

Really, truly, re-alignment should have put the Texas teams in a SE Conference, pitted against the NE. Only the Clippers and the Warriors stand no chance of the playoffs (if Seattle makes a wise trade or two).

Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Lakers, Suns, Jazz, Nuggets, Mavs, Spurs, Rockets, Wolves, Hornets, Grizzlies.

Okay, now some realism. Knock out Seattle. Maybe Portland. And the Hornets, who won't cut it in the West.

Gonna be a dogfight in the West to make the playoffs.

Y

 

Paxson should take a lot of the blame in Cleveland here for letting him loose. Why would a player want to take the exception now when he can be signed to a fat contract after next season? The answer...so he can get that fat contract now (from the Jazz). Cleveland should've never let him become a free agent in the first place.

It is wrong for them to tell Cleveland one thing and then go sign elsewhere, but it is called "FREE AGENCY". That means no matter what I've said, I can still go anywhere I want.

 

i seriously doubt the Cavs will match. i mean...they had enough trouble giving him 5 mil a year...what makes you think they'll give him 11+ mil a year?

 

even if we trade the TE to them, the jazz can up the offer until the cavs can't. utah has a lot more cap space and they will eventually out bid cleveland.


the cavs might be willing to put up a fight and make the trade with us for capspace. however if the plan now is to cut the losses and try to put a team together for next year then we are still a prime trading partner because we can offer one of our 3 PF's as a replacement.


why would the cavs decide to let him go without trying to find more cap space? because if they do get rid of contracts for capspace and utah outbids them again they just lost another 2 or 3 players for nothing. its a risk that they may not want to take.

 

if boozer (who i'm a big fan of from going to duke to helping my fantasy teams) really backs out on the deal, that's pretty terrible. i'm not saying i can't understand why he would do it, because 27 million dollars is 27 million dollars, but that would be damn dirty of him to do (though i guess that makes him perfect for utah).


though lets not exactly make paxson out to be a martyr here. true, he was letting boozer out of his low contract to sign a bigger one, but he was still letting him out to lock him into six years of another low contract. boozer could have easily waited a year and gotten a contract similar to this at the end of it and made more than the 6 yr MLE even with that beginning minimum contract year.


so if it's true and boozer does go to utah, he's a low class person and paxson played with fire and got burned.

guess it'll make the transition to hating him as a part of the jazz a little easier.


damn, utah loses malone and stockton, plays a team that they paid about 20M for, still finishes at .500 and then uses all the cap room to retool decently. i'm telling you, they are evil.

 

Boozer was NOT a restricted FA. Cleveland did not pick-up his option in time. That is what ESPNEWS is reporting. On right now. Cleveland lost him with no compensation !!

 

We MUST make a deal with the Cavs now. We must!

Trade exception for Battie (4.8 mio.)

Weatherspoon, Gaines, Griffin (7.8 mio.) for Ollie, Wagner, Diop (8 mio.)

I think that would allow them to sign Boozer.

 

Ugh.

Boozer was a 2nd round pick. Boozer's "problem" is that the Cavs do not have Bird Rights, which he would have if he played for 3 years. Yao was a first round pick. The first 3 years are guaranteed. Even if we made the ultimate gaff, and didn't exercise the year 4 team option, we would be able to give Yao a max contract next offseason no matter our cap situation.

 

They don't have his FULL Bird rights, they still can match but can't go over the cap. You're right about the relationship possibly being ruined now.

 

In 6 years, no one will remember that Carlos Boozer cheated the Cavs. Obviously, he couldn't care less about integrity.

We should get in on this.

Tony Battie and their 2005 draft pick for the TE?

They would also have to follow up and send either Wagner, Ollie, Newble or Diop to Charlotte or any other team under the cap.

Then they could probably match this. Only Tony Battie and Illgauskas make more than the rookie scale on their team. Everyone else is in rookie scale territory. Once you take Battie and Wagner, for example, away, they're a good amount under the cap I believe?


Battie for the TE is a fair trade. However, since they have no time, we can pressure them into giving us a pick or Wagner, whom we would turn around trade for another piece as well.

 

Why not press for Illgauskas

His contract comes off the books after next season, btw.

If I'm a Cav's fan, I'd be howling so loud, you'd be able to hear me in SLC.

And yes, the Jazz just got tough. Real tough.

Howard verses Boozer?

 

that utah jazz got a pretty nice team now. The rockets need to make some additoinal moves.

 

Boozer. No contest. Boozer is the better guy, one of the few BF's who actually play inside, like Elton Brand.

 

How can the ESPN article claim that the Cavs made Boozer an UNrestricted free agent and, in the same article, also claim that the Cavs have the right to match the Utah offer?

Which is it? Restricted or not?