Sunday, July 20, 2008

CJ Signs With OKC



So, I guess we now understand why CJ Miles decided to forgo playing with the Utah Jazz in the Rocky Mountain Revue. CJ signed an offer sheet with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, worth $15 million over 4 years. The Jazz have until next Friday to decide whether or not to match and retain Miles.

The offer sheet seems like just enough to make you wonder what the Jazz will do. With a slew of wing players already stacked on the roster, I think the Jazz may decide to let CJ go. Morris Almond would then get an opportunity to pick up the available left-over minutes that CJ leaves behind.

At the same time, $3.8 million a season isn't a lot of money to be offering a talented, wing player. CJ could prove to be worth more than that amount if he's given consistent playing time. This becomes the problem though, because the Jazz can't match such a contract offer if they're not willing to give CJ the minutes. The Jazz (I believe) would have to make a contingency trade in order to free up time for CJ to see the floor. Is it likely the Jazz keep Miles? Possible...but, probably not.

Revue Notes...

I had an opportunity to watch the first night of the Rocky Mountain Revue at Salt Lake Community College on Friday night, and I almost wish I hadn't. The Jazz got slaughtered by the San Antonio Spurs rookie league team, 82-57.

Fes-suck-o

Fes was awful! He contributed 0 points and had 7 turnovers. He was in constant foul trouble. It was a nightmare performance for him. He even mentioned after the game that it was his worst performance that he's ever had. I'll give Fes a 1st-Game "jitters" pass since everyone can have a bad game, every once in a while. I just hope that he's able to improve over the course of next week during RMR action or else I might become quite worried. He did bounce back in game 2 on Saturday, providing the team with 9 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Twin Towers

Koufos and Fesenko started for the Jazz at the big positions. They looked like a modern day 7-foot, dual-threat combination (ala Sampson and Olajuwon). But unfortunately, it wasn't much of a threat to the opponent, since the Spurs absolutely destroyed us. Koufos was non-existent in game 1. He did, however, have a better performance in game 2 on Saturday night scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 boards.

Almond Consistency

Morris Almond can score the basketball and was the best player on the floor for the Jazz, chipping in 17 points. Unfortunately...

George "Freaking" Hill!

The best player on the floor for either team was little-known, 1st round Spurs selection George Hill from IUPUI. Hill was spectacular against the Jazz, abusing the Jazz from the PG position and posting 21 points. I'm afraid the Spurs may have made another fine, late-round selection. Remember Tony Parker? Hill looked the part of a future stud... 6'3", long arms, great athleticism and fantastic point guard skills and instincts. Rising Stock and I were wondering what Kevin O'Connor must have been thinking as George Hill was dominating the game, doing essentially whatever he wanted. It may not be Greene, Arthur or Jordan we passed on... but George Hill!

5 comments:

Orlando said...

Great update, Guru. Nice to have some presence at the Revue. i look forward to your updates.

CJ is a goner. Even though its really only a three-year deal (team option for the fourth) I can't see the Jazz matching.

Pasty Gangsta said...

Agree on Miles. Given our contract situation, I can't see us spending $4 million a year on a guy who's not going to get a lot of minutes.

As for Fes. . . come on buddy! We need you this year!

Orlando said...

How did Koufos look? All I've heard/read is that Fes looked terrible, but no word on the Greek from Canton.

Draft Guru said...

Koufos was non-existent in the game I saw. It's quite apparent though, that he has real skills and athleticism for a guy that's 7-feet. He just looks out-of-his-element right now. I think it'll take some time for him to catch up with the pro-game. Once he does though, he could be pretty good. Suffice to say that we have two big, athletic 7-footers who seem miles away from contributing anything meaningful to the Jazz. Koufos has better skills & Bball IQ than Fes, but Fes is bigger, stronger and more physical. Hopefully they each come around in due time.

Orlando said...

Obviously the jury is still out on both those guys. I am unsure if Fes will ever make it happen, however. He just seems like the proverbial bull in the china cabinet. Not sure if he will ever catch on.