
Now that the second round of the playoffs is upon us, it's time to start thinking about next year. Let the Atlantas and Houstons of the world fight and scrap to make NBA history. The Jazz can just sit back, relax, throw on some jean shorts, browse Craigslist for a good massuese, and plan for the future. We are living large. Anyway, I know Kevin O'Conner has a lot on his plate, so I'm volunteering to help out. Here's the first edition of "Crotty Kid's Guide to the Jazz' 2009 Offseason." Feel free to forward this link to KevinOConner@utahjazz.com.
As any good MBA student can tell you, before you do anything in life you absolutely have to

Thou Shalt Not Pay the Luxury TaxEven though the Millers have said that they would go over the tax "if a championship were imminent," let's not kid ourselves. Greg Miller would rather watch two dudes kissing for a couple of hours in his daddy's theater than get burned by the luxury tax. You can bet that the Jazz top guns have been instructed to do everything possible to get under the tax for next year.
Now comes the math. The luxury tax for 2009 was $71.15 million, while the Jazz were comfortably below that level at $65.6 million. But, with Deron's extension kicking in next year, the Jazz' 2010 payroll slightly exceeds the $71 million level if all of the player options are exercised. And that's with only nine players signed. What does it all mean? As it stands, we are paying the luxury tax next year. And there's not much the Jazz can do about it.

3 comments:
Crotty... That FIU business degree is working wonders for you. Keep up the savy, sound advice. This is why I think Boozer is gone-zo. Strike $12.7 mil off the books. I'm looking forward to Vol. 2.
If it were up to the Jazz, I would completely agree: Boozer's gone. But it's Boozer's choice whether or not he wants 12.7 million. My guess is he does.
Thanks for this post, quite helpful material.
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