Something tells me the Jazz want Milsap back in the worst way and will not cooperate with the Blazers in any way, shape or form to move him to Portland. This is an act of war by the Blazers against the Jazz. But if the Jazz decide they don't want to match the offer and have cool heads about this, maybe something could be worked out. My guess is Boozer gets traded in the next 7 days and the Jazz will match the Milsap offer.
Bynum would vaporize both Aldridge and Milsap. When healthy, he feasts on smaller/weaker players. Milsap is 6'8 for pete's sake. Sure there aren't many true centers left but the only thing that matters is playoff matchups. SA, LA, Orlando, Cleveland, and Boston would be a serious problem if Portland tried to put Aldridge at the 5. Why is everyone assuming that Portland will get rid of Pryzbilla? Milsap and Aldridge are the only legit 4's on the team now with Frye gone.
He does not have twice the upside of Scola, but yes, Milsap is a good looking young player. It is all for naught, as the offer is not enough to keep the Jazz from matching. What this does is guarantee a Boozer deal
The Jazz might be forced to trade Boozer and hope to make room for Millsap. ( cap wise ) Trading Boozer to the Magic for the TE might just do the trick. A straight up trade wont work but with the help of a third team, the trade could be done.
I don't know about anyone else but this deal seems to be: 1. Portland got cap room and are denying to use it in the worst way possible. Like the money is burning in Pritchard's pocket. The Blazers are stacked at every position and the only weakness they have is arguably at point guard. Attempting to sign a ball handler like Turkoglu makes a lot of sense and even trying to sign Odom would have made some sense too. But now that Turkoglu is heading to Toronto, it's as if Portland feels compelled to just spend their cap room because they have it (and that, IMO, is unwise spending). 2. Portland's attempt to just accumulate talent for the sake of having the ability to. Of course it's every team's dream to be 2-3 deep at every position but how can Millsap fit into this team? Don't get me wrong; I love Millsap. He can easily be a 20-10 guy if given the minutes. He played damn well when Boozer was out last season. But this is just a bad fit for both parties. Where are all the minutes going to come from? Unless they trade Pryzbilla (which seems likely, right Matt?), Nate's going to have a hell of a time divvying up the minutes. Naysayers might say that it's a good problem to have but players need consistent minutes to be the most effective. 3. That by frontloading Millsap's contract with a signing bonus, Pritchard just basically gave Utah the middle finger. I understand business is business but moves like these are the ones that will have karmic repercussions.
Fixed. And I also forgot to add one tidbit: If you're going to give Millsap 36 million dollars with a frontloaded contract, why in God's name can't you reach to an agreement to the two biggest pillars of your team (Roy and Aldridge)? Roy's asking for max money and you can't even give him that? Prickchard's a real piece of work.
I agree with steddino. Hedo was a much better fit for Portland with all their borderline wing players... especially since he had the ability to handle the ball. With Aldridge being a bonafide 4, it's pretty stupid to offer Millsap this contract unless they expect Utah to match it. Sounds like Pritchard is panicking.
Are the Jazz above the LT? 4yrs for 36 M shouldn't be hard for them to match if they are below the LT.
They have about $72 million on the books right now without Millsap's contract. Anything that they sign Millsap to would be pretty much double what the Jazz will have to pay. So if they are going to match Portland's approx. 9 mil a year offer, they end up paying that same approx. 9 mil in tax if they don't unload boozer at all. This is, of course, not including Okur's re-signing at a 1.5 mil pay increase from 9 mil to about 2 years for 21 mil.
1 The Jazz are already above the luxury tax WITHOUT Milsap at $74MM. The luxury tax threshhold is$70MM. 2 Supposedly this contract from the Blazers is front-loaded with a signing bonus that makes it $12 million in the first year, which means it would cost the Jazz $24 million in 09/10. They already have on the books: AK47 at $16MM, D-Will at $14MM, Boozer at $13MM and Okur at $9MM. These 4 guys by themselves total $52MM. The key is trading Boozer, hopefully for a trade exception or something like that. The problem is now that the Magic have signed Brandon Bass, they have no need too make the rumored trade for Boozer using their trade exception. The Jazz look like they are in a world of trouble. I guess Pritchard was waiting for the Magic to take themselves out of the Boozer sweepstakes before formalizing the agreement with Milsap. Did he just Pritch-slap the Jazz?
Thanks.It's going to cost them a lot.Millsap will probably be matched,and Boozer will be moved IMO. They can't afford to get weaker.
Seem like A. Boozer gets moved, Millsap stays in Utah - blockbuster trade for Boozer, action. B. Millsap goes to Portland, Boozer stays in Utah - Pryzbilla + Fernandez for Battier? Action. A lot of potential action going on... This could get really interesting.
I think they are. Does anyone else know of another team besides the Magic (now out of the picture) who might want Boozer AND also have a big trade exception (or is way below the cap)? The Jazz have to get salary relief when moving Boozer in order to keep Milsap without paying a gigantic luxury tax. (Before the Shaq trade, the Cavs might have sent Ben Wallace to the Jazz for Boozer, but we all know why that didn't happen. Wallace was/is basically nothing more than a $14MM trade exception).
Brooksball, aldridge will be good at center as a backup. What pritchard is trying to do is create a situation where they always have a post presence on the floor. Oden will start with aldridge, when one goes out, milsap comes in. It gives them a 3 man rotation at the 4/5 slot and they will always have a 7ft er on the floor. Aldridge played a lot of center last yr his 2nd yr because oden was out and pryz got hurt. I think this does put into motion the rockets getting pryz. Mildap is too good to play only 20 mins orrr so. I wish the rockets wouldve gotten frye for the money he got and still get pryzbilla.
Chicago. Bulls have been looking for a low post scorer since trading Elton Brand away. Lots of rumors of a trade on the table: Boozer to Chicago w/Tyrus Thomas & Kirk Hinrich going back to Jazz. Jazz would then match Portland's offer for Millsap. Interestingly enough, a third team mentioned in this trade is the Blazers. Hinrich would go to Portland and Rudy Fernandez would go to Chicago. If Fernandez is included in this trade scenario, Portland finds another way to stymie the Rockets.
I like the way you think. Fernandez and Batum are the sort of players we should pursue, to emulate Adelman's Sacramento team. Euros/Argentines who play team ball, who pass, cut, etc etc.
The Jazz could match Milsap and then revisit the Chicago-Utah-Portland deal. This could be Pritchard's way of forcing Utah to give up more in the trade (a pick?) to pursuade Chicago to trade Hinrich to Portland.
