Utah Jazz: Woe is me

[Fez Hammersticks]

They do have issues now, thanks to player contracts that will cost them huge NBA luxury-tax charges if they match the $32 million offer sheet forward Paul Millsap signed with Portland.

Temporary or not, it is a big problem, thanks to a convergence of factors -- all stemming from the Jazz's good intentions of building a team and keeping the core players together in a world of free agency. So who's at fault? With everybody blaming somebody, the only responsible thing for me to do is assign the proper

The Blazers: Nobody knows how pure the Blazers' motives are, whether they structured their offer to Millsap to keep the Jazz from matching it, or just to punish them for doing so.

Maybe they really do envision a role for a Millsap on a team that already features LaMarcus Aldridge at power forward, but Portland needs a point guard or a small forward much more than Millsap. Blame quotient: 34 percent.

Criticizing them for a $32 million deal -- including a scheduled $10.3 payment next week -- seems silly, except for this qualifier: Would playing in Portland really advance Millsap's career?

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[Wheels]

says the team that pulled Boozer from under Cleveland's noses.

 

[Ed O]

Haha... yes, the Blazers should be worried about advancing Millsap's career.

Why try to acquire a good young player when he could be so much more effective on another team, playing against them?

Ed O.

 

[Idog1976]

says the team that pulled Boozer from under Cleveland's noses.

Word. Exactly why I feel zero sympathy for the Jazz.

 

[BLAZINGGIANTS]

Ridiculously stupid article.

The people of Utah (generally speaking) have a weird sense of entitlement and lack of accepting ownership. The give a little blame to their GM, and the rest from outside of the organization. Uh, had Utah presented a reasonable offer to Millsap, it would have never come to this. Portland was interested, so they made an offer. If Portland is going to make an offer, did you really expect them to make a simple contract offer, one that Utah won't even think twice about matching?

Their holier-than-thou attitude reminds of a group of individuals I encountered in high school (Hint: this group makes up a majority of those in Utah).

Accept responsibility for your own issues.

 

[Ed O]

Uh, had Utah presented a reasonable offer to Millsap, it would have never come to this. Portland was interested, so they made an offer. If Portland is going to make an offer, did you really expect them to make a simple contract offer, one that Utah won't even think twice about matching?

I think this is a very good point... if Utah had presented a "vanilla" 4 year, $32m deal, I bet Millsap would have signed and the Jazz would not have had to worry about these liquidity issues.

Ed O.

 

[Wheels]

Ridiculously stupid article.

The people of Utah (generally speaking) have a weird sense of entitlement and lack of accepting ownership. The give a little blame to their GM, and the rest from outside of the organization. Uh, had Utah presented a reasonable offer to Millsap, it would have never come to this. Portland was interested, so they made an offer. If Portland is going to make an offer, did you really expect them to make a simple contract offer, one that Utah won't even think twice about matching?

Their holier-than-thou attitude reminds of a group of individuals I encountered in high school (Hint: this group makes up a majority of those in Utah).

Accept responsibility for your own issues.

Vegans?

 

[RickyRubio]

LoL pooooor Jazz. I feel sooooo bad for them.

 

[ironcrotch]

Word. Exactly why I feel zero sympathy for the Jazz.

Plus the overpaying of Okur and AK didn't help either.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Says the team that also made a front loaded offer a few years back for Maggette and Jason Terry.

Fuck the Jazz. I hate their whole organization. Even Ron Boone, who i used to have respect for, was trying to make the argument that the Blazers were playing dirty here with the jazz because we have a history of it (Using the Miles scenario as his example) Supposedly to him it is obvious that Portland was bullying Utah into a trade so they could Hinrich. Because there was no way we really wanted a PF.

 

[OddEnormous]

Congratulations Salt Lake City and the Utah Jazz organization, you somehow managed to make me hate you even more.

 

[PapaG]

Criticizing them for a $32 million deal -- including a scheduled $10.3 payment next week -- seems silly, except for this qualifier: Would playing in Portland really advance Millsap's career?

Hell yeah. He'll be the starting PF on a title contender once LMA isn't extended and is used as trade bait at next year's deadline. I'd say that's an advancement for Millsap.

 

[Ed O]

I think this is a very good point... if Utah had presented a "vanilla" 4 year, $32m deal, I bet Millsap would have signed and the Jazz would not have had to worry about these liquidity issues.

OK. So I commented before reading the column. The "advancing Millsap's career" part is a potential criticism of Millsap's camp, rather than the Blazers. I still don't think it's a very good point, but it's not insane, at least

Ed O.

 

[Minstrel]

OK. So I commented before reading the column. The "advancing Millsap's career" part is a potential criticism of Millsap's camp, rather than the Blazers. I still don't think it's a very good point, but it's not insane, at least

Really? I think that makes it worse. This writer knows what's better for Millsap than Millsap does? That's about the silliest thing ever. "The criticism that Millsap deserves is that he's not defending his own self-interests, as defined by me, a writer."

I know he's explicitly talking about Millsap's agents, but they do his bidding. If he didn't want to play in Portland, he wouldn't sign.

 

[B-Roy]

Really? I think that makes it worse. This writer knows what's better for Millsap than Millsap does? That's about the silliest thing ever. "The criticism that Millsap deserves is that he's not defending his own self-interests, as defined by me, a writer."

I know he's explicitly talking about Millsap's agents, but they do his bidding. If he didn't want to play in Portland, he wouldn't sign.

Money talks. Even if he hated the idea of playing for Portland, there's no way he would turn that money down.

 

[Minstrel]

Money talks. Even if he hated the idea of playing for Portland, there's no way he would turn that money down.

Yes, which is fine. My point is, he's looking out for his best interests as he defines them. Which makes a columnist criticism of him not doing so, based on what he thinks Millsap should be concerned about, rather silly to me.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Can you imagine if the situation were reversed?

The Portland media would put maybe 5% blame on the Jazz (just to look "even-handed"), then start clog-dancing on KP's face. Meanwhile, the SLC media would be singing the praises of the Jazz for a smart move.

 

[STOMP]

says the team that pulled Boozer from under Cleveland's noses.

Unless I'm somehow reading this wrong this isn't the team issuing a statement, it's from a newspaper columnist... a Utah Canzano.

Are the team officials publicly whining in quotes this writer didn't use to support his view? He seems to just be writing from the perspective of rooting for things to go their way. This approach has it's appeal in every market. Portland has their homers too.

STOMP

 

[BlazersBlood]

Can you imagine if the situation were reversed?

The Portland media would put maybe 5% blame on the Jazz (just to look "even-handed"), then start clog-dancing on KP's face. Meanwhile, the SLC media would be singing the praises of the Jazz for a smart move.

I was thinking the same thing. The local writers would be grilling KP for not making a reasonable offer to the present and future PF of a playoff caliber team. But then again, one of the team's beat writers voted Brandon Roy 3rd team while leading the Blazers to being tied for the 2nd best record in the west while Deron got a 2nd team vote for doing more with less and finishing with a worse record.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Vegans?

Those are in college.

 

[Ed O]

Really? I think that makes it worse. This writer knows what's better for Millsap than Millsap does? That's about the silliest thing ever. "The criticism that Millsap deserves is that he's not defending his own self-interests, as defined by me, a writer."

I know he's explicitly talking about Millsap's agents, but they do his bidding. If he didn't want to play in Portland, he wouldn't sign.

Players pay agents for more than just talking on telephones for them or for helping ensure paperwork is in order. Agents have a responsibility to communicate with a player and inform him of his options... and provide insight and opinion based on their experience in the business.

A young player, naturally, cannot have much experience in negotiations or a plan formed through experience in terms of an NBA career. An agent should help fill those gaps through education and advice.

The writer's opinion is that the agents might have failed Millsap by looking too short-term. If there are dangers in terms of using agents, one would be that an agent is always looking for too much money for the player (missing out on opportunities) and another would be that they're too short-sighted. Both of these are based on the facts that (a) agents get percentages of salary, and (b) agents can be replaced at any time, so deferring a bigger payday might never pay off for the agents.

I'm not sure that I agree with the writer, but at least he is criticizing someone who is in paid to think of Millsap's long-term development. When I read it as a criticism or the Blazers, I thought it was simply nonsensical.

Ed O.

 

[alex42083]

I like how he lists Hedo as No. 2 to blame at 22 percent. Poor Utah.. can't say I feel sorry for them.