Well, the team has had a quite offseason so far, as far as acquiring talent goes. Aside from the loss of Derek Fisher, the biggest team news has been C.J. Miles not playing in the Rocky Mountain Revue.
Here’s a summary of the Jazz’s roster and salaries for the upcoming season. I’m making the assumption, for now, that Miles, Araujo, and Dee Brown all return. Although it’s possible that Miles may be on his way out, and the team will definitely make a couple trades before November.
–
Morris Almond (SG, $1,005,960)
Rafael Araujo (C, free agent, guessing about $2,000,000)
Carlos Boozer (PF, $11,593,816)
Ronnie Brewer (SG, $1,715,040)
Dee Brown (PG, free agent, guessing about $750,000)
Jarron Collins (C, $2,350,000)
Kyrylo Fesenko (C, unsigned, guessing about $450,000)
Gordan Giricek (SG, $4,000,000)
Matt Harpring (SF, $6,000,000)
Andrei Kirilenko (SF, $13,709,375)
C.J. Miles (SG, free agent, guessing about $3,000,000)
Paul Millsap (PF, $687,456)
Mehmet Okur (C, $8,500,000)
Deron Williams (PG, $4,010,640)
Total: $61,022,287
NBA Salary Cap: $55,630,000
Luxury Threshold: $67,870,000
Wow, I appreciate Paul Millsap, Deron Williams, and Mehmet Okur…Andrei Kirilenko will be making over $17 million in a couple years.
–
A position-by-position breakdown:
Point guards: 2
Shooting guards: 4
Small forwards: 2
Power forwards: 2
Centers: 4
Total: 14 players
–
The Jazz consistently have 3 point guards on the roster, and they’re overloaded at shooting guard at center. On the other hand, Fesenko is going to be spending the season with the D-League affiliation, and Okur and Collins can both shift over to power forward.
The biggest position of need is shooting guard — not by quantity, but quality. The Rocky Mountain Revue will hopefully show if either Brewer or Almond can step up this season. From what I’ve read about Almond, he’s still working to pick up the system.
The Jazz continue to go after Morris Peterson, although the decision appears to be about money and the situation doesn’t look overwhelmingly promising.
If the Jazz give in and sign Peterson to the full mid-level exception, the team still has a small exception that could be used on a shotblocking big man.
Thoughts on the State of the Utah Jazz? They need to fill a hole in leadership left by Derek Fisher, not to mention meet the high expectations of contending for the NBA championship.
La287 is a contributing writer for UtahJazzBlog.net — while also maintaining Daily Basketball, a round-up of the latest NBA and NCAA sporting news.
July 13th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
So they just announced that Morris Peterson will be a Hornet next year. I’m not sure what kind of message the Jazz are sending by letting him go. And when I say “let him go,” you have to imagine that the Jazz could have out-muscled the Hornets if they really wanted to. They are a much more promising team, with a 2 guard starting job to offer. So what does all this mean? Is something brewing? Do they have their eye on someone else? Or were they just too conservative in typical Jazz-like fashion. Personally I think a 4 year deal would have been too long for MoPete. I would like to see Brewer and Almond get their shot some day. Also, I wonder if the Jazz are worried about the back-up point guard situation more than the off guard now that Fish is gone. I could see the season self-destruct quickest if DWill goes down than just about anything at this point. That has to be a major concern. Dee Brown is probably going to be a good reserve, but it’s a little too early to be turning the keys over to him at this point. Peace of mind at the point guard might have been the reason that MoPete got away.
July 13th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
The Jazz definitely need a better backup PG than Dee Brown (also, there is no way he is worth $2 million. The minimum salary for a second year player next year is $687,456; the Jazz shouldn’t pay him more than $750,000 next year). He’s a PG only because he’s undersized and has no jumpshot. He had no idea how to run a half-court offense in college and was terrible at managing the Jazz’s half-court offense last year. Sure, he’s energetic and can run with anyone, but he is far, far away from being an effective backup PG.
It’s too bad that the Jazz couldn’t package Giri and Collins in a sign-and-trade for Mo Peterson. That would have left a good salary for someone like Steve Blake or maybe Earl Watson (in a trade, obviously; possibly Matt Harpring?) to come to Utah and play behind D-Will.
While Peterson would have been a nice, safe addition, I am intrigued by the possibilities that Miles, Brewer, and Almond hold. The Jazz started the season 13-4 last year with either Miles or Brewer starting at the 2-guard, and those wins included 2 Ws over Phoenix, 1 over San Antonio and another over Detroit. Not too shabby. It would be great for all three of them to know, coming into the season, that they had a legitimate chance to start at the 2. They wouldn’t get demoted and replaced by a wily veteran who shot 38% from the field last year [38%!!!!! That’s terrible, even for someone as undersized as Fisher; Early Boykins was even able to shoot 42% from the field]. I doubt that Sloan would be very happy about this (he would probably start Giri, even though he is far less talented than the other 3), though.
The Jazz need to do something, though. It was pure happenstance that the Jazz made it to the WC Finals last year–if 2 plays go differently in the 4th Q in Houston, the Jazz would have been eliminated in the 1st round; if Dallas beat Golden State, they would have beaten the Jazz in 5 or 6 games. This team has the potential to do great things, but it certainly isn’t a sure thing. As of right now, the Spurs, Suns, Mavs, and Nuggets (AI, Melo, and Camby will be unbelievable IF they can mesh; that’s a big if, though) arguably are in a better position than the Jazz, and with Adelman as the new Rockets coach, I don’t expect them to digress (T-Mac is a great candidate for MVP next year, I think). Plus, the Blazers and Sonics, two teams that gave the Jazz fits last year, are improved (although I think that it will take the Sonics a couple of years to really be good), Memphis will possibly have a very athletic and imposing starting 5 (Conley, Miller, Rudy Gay, Gasol, and Darko), and the Lakers will be much better with Fisher at the helm (rather than the nightmarish combo of Smush and Farmar) and a healthy Lamar Odom. The Western Conference will be really tough next year; I hope that the Jazz are ready for it.
July 13th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Who should the Jazz go after at point guard, shooting guard, and center? The needs can’t really be met in free agency, I’m guessing they’ll try to sign some underrated players and try a make a couple trades.
The pickings are looking pretty slim after the latest news…For a while there, it looked like Mo-Pete was a Jazzman.
July 19th, 2007 at 11:06 am
rharsr… You sound a little bit harsh on Dee Brown, obviously he is much better than you think or know, because not only was he a former college player of the year, but more importtantly Coach Sloan played him in the playoffs. Maybe it was a bit out of necessity, but still he trusted him enough… a rookie… a 2nd round rookie in the playoffs under coach Sloan is pretty dang rare. Like Paul Millsap rare. I trust Sloan, and apparently he trusts Dee Brown. Also are you serious about the nuggets being better than the Jazz!? Honestly i don’t even have to try to argue on that one, you are wrong, flat out. Same thing with Tracy “it’s on me” McGrady for MVP next year. I’m sorry but in a league with Nash, James, Nowitski, Arenas, KG, Kobe, and even D-Will, McGrady doesn’t have a chance.
Seriously… where did you come from!?