Wow, if there is a time to use our TE, this is it! BOOZER!!!! (ESPN Insider)

Here's Chad Ford's piece on Boozer that appears today on ESPN.com:


"Tuesday, we wrote that free-agent spending was out of control, and that was before Rafer Alston and Hedo Turkoglu agreed to big, multi-year offers with the Raptors and Magic.

What's really amazing is that all of these big deals have been offered and there's still a number of teams with major cap room to spend.

The Hawks still have all $20 million to blow. The Bobcats haven't spent a penny of their $17 million. The Nuggets and Jazz both still have between $15 and $16 million. The Spurs and Clippers have around $14 million each.

If Kobe Bryant re-signs with the Lakers and Kenyon Martin re-ups with the Nets, both very likely at this point, where is all that money going to go?

Emanuel Ginobili will get a big chunk of either the Nuggets' or Spurs' dough. The Clippers likely will use their money on Kobe or to match the Suns' six-year, $50 million offer to Quentin Richardson.

After that, there's only one guy left who's worth major cash -- Carlos Boozer. If I'm Cavs GM Jim Paxson, I'm sweating bullets right now.

Carlos BoozerCarlos Boozer could receive an offer that's too good to refuse.Paxson made a very unusual move last week when he didn't pick up the team's option for Boozer's third year. Boozer was set to make the minimum and, according to sources, had his agent, Rob Pelinka, approach the Cavs with a proposal: Don't pick up the option, and in return Boozer would re-sign with the Cavs for the mid-level exception.

The Cavs complied, and Boozer became a restricted free agent, but because the team holds only Boozer's early Bird rights (which teams get after having a player under contract for two years) and is in a tight cap situation, the mid-level is the most they can offer him. Had the Cavs picked up Boozer's option, they would've owned his full Bird rights next summer, when he also would have been a restricted free agent, and would've been able to match any offer he received.

By almost every account, the sides have a deal in place that will pay Boozer around $5 million next season, a nice bump from the $695,000 he earned last season.

However, when Pelinka and Boozer cut the verbal, non-binding agreement with the Cavs, they couldn't have accounted for how the market would play out. As it turns out, several teams, including the Jazz, Nuggets and Bobcats, are very interested in Boozer and are capable of paying him much, much more than the mid-level.

The Jazz, in particular, are dangerous. They need a tough, rebounding power forward to put on the floor with Mehmet Okur, and Boozer would be the perfect fit. Given Boozer's production last season, a contract starting at between $7 million and $8 million a year isn't out of the question given the market. In fact, he could be worth more considering his position and production (15.5 ppg, 11.4 rpg) last season.

Would Boozer, if confronted with an offer sheet for considerably more than the mid-level, waver on his commitment to the Cavs? That's the million-dollar question. Pelinka didn't return several phone calls Wednesday. He has remained quiet through the process with his two biggest free agents, Boozer and Bryant.

So we called another prominent agent, laid out the facts, and asked him what he would do if Boozer was his client and wanted to renege on the handshake deal with the Cavs. For all of you who think agents are more crooked than Owen Wilson's nose, you better sit down for this.

"I'd resign immediately if a client wanted to renege on a deal, even a verbal one," the agent told Insider. "I still believe integrity in this business matters. If you agree on a deal, you have to live with, no matter what else happens. I personally believe that Boozer and his agent miscalculated a bit here. But I also understand what they did. Players want security. The Cavs can offer that. It just means he has to take less money to get it now. It's a tradeoff."

There is evidence to suggest Boozer would even entertain offers from other teams. Sources claim both the Jazz and Nuggets have contracted Boozer and were told he'd entertain leaving the Cavs. Both teams are mulling whether to make Boozer a big offer. Boozer, has said publicly several times that he wants to return to Cleveland, but as the money gets bigger, so does the temptation to change course.

What happens to the Cavs if he bolts? One of two things. Either Paxson loses his job or the Cavs are quick on their feet and try to make a deal that gets them far enough under the cap to match the offer for Boozer. Assuming the cap is set at $45 million cap, Cleveland already is about $2 million under. They could attempt to trade a player or two, like a combination of Tony Battie and Dajuan Wagner or Zydrunas Ilgauskas to a team with enough cap room to absorb their contracts. That's not easy, but it's not impossible either."


Apparently, Boozer can just walk away and the Cavs would be left in the dry. Now, it's time to do some deal with the Cavs using our TE. Give the Cavs some compensation, and we get Boozer. To the Cavs, it's better than having Boozer to go to the Jazz for nothing.

This is crazy!

 

My bad. OK, if I were CD, is there anyway I can find benefits from this mess?

 

This is just in



ESPN.com news services
Utah Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor told ESPN Insider Chad Ford that the Jazz and Kenyon Martin mutally agreed to cancel his free agent visit to Utah on Thursday.

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

While O'Connor wouldn't divulge the other direction the team was heading, two league sources told Insider that the Jazz were talking with Cavs forward Carlos Boozer and were strongly considering making him a large contract offer believed to be for six years, worth as much as $68 million.

Boozer, who is a restricted free agent, was let out of the last year of his contract by the Cavs with an understanding that he'd re-sign with the team for the mid-level exception. Because of the Cavs cap situation, they are unable to offer or match any contract that exceeds the mid-level exception.

Martin visited the Nuggets on Wednesday and has a visit scheduled with the Hawks on Friday. A source in Denver claims that the team has not made Martin an offer.


6 years 68 millions? Wow!!!

 

Carlos Boozer can either get 6 years 41 millions from the Cavs (MLE) to play with LeBron, or 6 years 68 millions from the Jazz to play for Jerry Sloan.

It's a $27 millions question, folks! This is getting interesting. What would YOU do?