As for Ibaka, he’s still sooooo young and really raw. He has had a couple of nice games in Orlando so far this summer but he doesn’t really know how to play. He has accumulated 15 fouls in 2 games and only 8 rebounds. I think he’s probably 3 years away from coming over unless Sam Presti gets desperate.

I hear that a certain center by the name of Serge Ibaka is doing pretty well in summer leagues for OKC…so maybe they own’t need Milsap afterall, but then, dominating summer league doesn’t always correlate with dominating in the NBA…..for whatever reason =[

What you mentioned are valid points, however since the Jazz are already over the Luxury Tax limit (I believe) if any team, basically OKC here, structures the contract for milsap so that the first year is in the 12 mil neighborhood but structures it as a declining contract (think noc), then jazz’ll be taking a VERY sizable hit resigning milsap.

I don’t have the exact payroll figures for the Jazz handy but i’m assuming around 12 mil for milsap + 12 mil luxury tax + 6 mil or so from being already over the tax = OUCH! Factor in that the Jazz just got dominated by the Lakers last yr in the playoffs and needs to get real lucky this year to sneak into the WCF/finals (think the Magic this year –> KG injured, nice matchup against the cavs). There is no way that the Jazz would ran up a $100 mil effective payroll (factoring in luxury tax penalty, of course) just to make the playoffs. To give some perspective, even the Lakers, who are fresh off winning a championship, and the Magic won’t go into the $100 mil effective payroll territory to retain all of their core so why would the Jazz whose current core only made the WCF once because they got a break in that GSW were a total mismatch against the Mavs shell out $100 mil!???

In conclusion, if OKC comes with a front loaded offer and the Jazz goes through with their promise of matching then either AK-47 or Boozer will get unloaded sometime before trade deadline with the objective being to shed as much salary as possible. When the owner says they’ll pay the Luxury Tax, that doesn’t mean going waaay overboard to the tune of 30 mil over the luxury tax limit, it means exactly what it means, paying a moderate amount of luxury tax to retain the core and obviously right now, neither boozer nor ak-47 and maybe even Okur (though i highly doubt that) are considered part of the core and might get moved for pennies on the dollar simply to ease some bleeding on the part of the Ownership.

Now….

a trade i would get on board for, Noc for Boozer straight up —> Kings get more cap next summer and get rid of Noc’s not K-9 (woof!) horrible but still horribly long contract and Jazz gets more cap relief than would from a K-9/Boozer trade and also gets a useful swingman who would actually be able to contribute, either off the bench in a Harpring-like role or take over SF so that AK can come off the bench and be more effective with the 2nd unit similar to Odom with the Lakers last year.

First post, hope it’s not too long hahaha

I think the key to this whole thing is the Jazz being a playoff team. They SHOULD make the playoffs but if they didn’t, that tax hit would be even worse for them without the playoff revenue coming in.

Millsap should have just taken the qualifying offer and gone unrestricted next summer. When will free agents learn?

Meanwhile, the Jazz hang on to Boozer and his juicy contract. They pay the tax this year and it hurts. Hot Dogs and parking cost more. But, they keep Boozer’s expiring contract as trade bait and they have NY 2009 first rounder so things look bright despite the inevitable tax hit.

Aykis16 :

@anon
K-9 for Jeffries, money, and a 2nd rounder is not good value. Simply letting K-9 walk would be more valuable.

I agree. Jared Jeffries is the worst player in the NBA.

But I completely agree with what you’ve stated here otherwise. Good comment.