Our Jazz

Two good national articles on the Jazz as we head toward this year's playoffs -- one by Booner's favorite, Steve Aschburner (nicely sketched above), and another that's the first in a multi-part Greg Miller series on ESPN.com. Next up in the latter: how Larry's son uses Twitter.

Jazzland

It's been a rough ten days in Jazzland.

• Our boys continue to suck on the road and in the second half of back-to-back games. Could the despised shootaround be the problem? The NY Times thinks so, and reports on research that finds an extra couple of hours of sleep for NBA teams is much better than getting them out of bed in the morning for a half-hearted practice. I agree. The shootaround makes no sense. 82 games a year is brutal, not to mention the travel that goes along with it. You're going to spend all that money on chartered planes, trainers, healthy diets, and weight rooms and then mandate that your players get five hours of sleep a night every time they go on the road? Unfortunately this is likely an example of something Jerry will never change. . . he's old school, even when the evidence indicates it's probably hurting his team's record.
• Greg Miller is getting active on Twitter and his blog. Here are his thoughts today on the Jazz. In general he has some good things to say. The short summary is, "We are over the cap and not that good, and we need to do something about it. Just because we aren't making trades doesn't mean we aren't pursuing them and you might just see us pull one off soon." He is a bit loose with his language, writing things like, "I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet," as if in a year or two he might be. But overall it's refreshing to see an owner communicating honestly and transparently about his team.
  
• In an extremely unfortunate development, the Jazz are four games better than the Knicks right now. Although it's unlikely, there's an outside chance our own pick could be better than their pick at the end of the year. Let us pray for the selfishness and ridiculousness that has plauged that organization lasts one more season.
  

Kevin O'Connor's Folly

As the news of Paul Millsap's recent contract negotiations slowly leaks out, one thing is becoming clear: Kevin O'Connor screwed up. O'Connor is generally a smart GM and has put together decent, winning teams over the years. Most of hig big moves -- signing Boozer at a discounted rate, trading up for the pick to get Williams, etc. -- are the right ones. But this was a misstep.

O'Connor, like most Jazz fans, was surely overjoyed when Detroit and Oklahoma City dropped out of the running for Millsap's services. It was a bit of a lucky break, but it really only made up for the unlucky break we got when Boozer opted in for next year. There were still threats on the horizon, namely Portland. But Kevin got overconfident. Everyone in the NBA, even in this down economic year, knew roughly what Millsap's value was: $8-10 million over four years. If the Jazz brass had gone to Paul's representatives seven days ago with a $36 million contract, he would have signed. They've said as much.

Instead O'Connor lowballed them at $7.5 million a year and literally dared them to get a better offer sheet. Which they promptly did. Was Portland's decision a stupid one? Probably. But just like on the golf course when you have to assume your opponent is going to make his next putt even if he's fifty feet away, in the NBA you have to think that other teams are going to come after your top talent. Whining to the press afterwards about how dumb the Blazers are doesn't change the situation.

Now the Jazz are stuck between a tall dog and a fire hydrant. They've -- thank goodness -- told Boozer he's no longer welcome. But now they need to come up with $11 million in the next week to resign Millsap. Although no one in the mainstream media has speculated about this, you have to wonder if the Miller family even has that kind of liquidity. It ain't like car dealerships are a lucrative business right now, and the Jazz are out of season and not providing any cash flow. They may have to go to a bank. . . and let's just say credit is tight. Then there's the millions more in luxury tax we'll owe.

But to let Millsap walk at what is a pretty decent contract over time would be a real tragedy. Let's hope O'Connor doesn't follow a big mistake with an even bigger one.

Mr. Millsap

Paul Millsap. . . Jazz Nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

It is true that our ability to retain our best power forward took a big hit yesterday. However, it may be that all is not lost quite yet. If one believes the rumors printed in the Deseret News -- and I always do -- the new master plan is apparently to move Boozer as quickly as possible and try to sign Millsap for $10 million/year or less. This plan makes a ton of sense, since Millsap actually plays hard and is worth having on the team long-term, whereas Boozer doesn't/isn't.

The main problem is reality, and specifically salary cap reality. No matter what happens it looks like the Jazz are going to be in luxury tax land next year; it's now just a matter of how deep they go. If Greg Miller is anything like his old man, he's not going to want to wade out of the shallow end of that pool.

One thought: if the Jazz could move Boozer quickly for another (25% lower) expiring contract, they could give themselves a little bit of breathing room to resign Paul. They would still be over the cap this year, but would be in good shape next year in terms of players and contracts and could potentially work something out with Okur. As others have pointed out on TCG, Boozer at $12 million in a contract year is not a terrible thing, so other teams will probably be receptive.

One question: is it possible to structure a prorated contract with Millsap that is still $50 million over five years but doesn't kick in hard until next season? I.e. $3 million this year and then close to $12 million the next four?

One BIG problem: A lot of other teams are talking to Millsap already. No doubt he will get a qualifiying offer sheet from Oklahoma City or Detriot shortly, which will tie our hands even more. On the bright side, Millsap's uncle is representing him so anything is possible. Players without real agents (like John Stockton, represented by himself, or Ricky Davis, represented by Master P) tend not to do so well in the free agency process.

Jazz Owner Has Spoken

Greg Miller, the acting CEO of the Larry H. Miller Group, took to the mass media (KSL) to talk about all things Jazz. It's commendable to see him in the public eye in order to talk about our beloved franchise. To be frank, it truly sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Here are a few "sound" points I found to be intriguing:

On Boozer: "I do have concerns about Carlos' defense and I have some concerns about his ability to lead the team."

Regarding the Miller Group Automotive side: "If the Jazz were a Toyota dealership, they would be our fourth largest Toyota dealership in terms of revenue... But we have to make sure the automotive side does well."

What worries him most about the team: "The thing that I'm most worried about is our toughness."

Luxury Tax: "If we had to spend all the money and all the players with their options decided to come back... that would obviously put us in a luxury tax situation. If that were the case, we would be willing to go into the luxury tax realm."

On Memo: "We'd love to have Memo here as well..."

Regarding Paul Millsap: "We would love to keep Paul on the team. We feel his development has been marvelous over the years. We think he has a great future ahead of him... we would not rule out paying luxury tax money to keep him."

Would you ever sell the team in the future?
"The Utah Jazz will remain in Salt Lake City until or unless they become a burden to the rest of the organization."

KUTV believes that Kyle Korver will opt out of his contract. If that's the case... See ya later KK! It's been nice knowing you. Thanks for freeing up the spending money for us. However... I wouldn't be surprised if the Jazz re-signed Korver again this summer, knowing how much the Jazz organization AND this community (most specifically... the fair ladies of SLC) love him SO much. I'd break down laughing, if that were to actually happen.

The New Guy

Editor's Note: Last night's game against the Suns was so frustrating to watch, with so many missed free throws and layups at such a critical juncture in the season, that I'm pretending it didn't happen.

This past Sunday, Utah's second most popular daily newspaper ran a lovely feature story on new Jazz owner Greg Miller (apparently Gail Miller, Larry's widow and Greg's mom, technically owns the team, but for all intents and purposes he's running the show).   

A few intersting tidbits:

• Miller the Son prefers suave leather jackets to beat-up green polo shirts.  Nice!  Score one for the new kid.  
• According to Webster University Professor Patrick Rishe, professional sports teams are often handed down from generation to generation.  Rishe went on to describe the Steinbrenner family as "kind of cantankerous."  I couldn't find anything online about this, but I'm pretty sure Dr. Rishe won Webster's campuswide "Master of the Obvious" award last year, narrowly beating out Ron Boone (who was deemed such a great fit that he was considered despite having no connection to Webster).
• Greg Miller said in the interview that he's committed to keeping the Jazz in Utah as long as they're profitable.  This is what's technically known in the PR business as "a TON of wiggle room."  Perhaps I'm getting nostalgic for the old days already, but I preferred LHM's "The Jazz will stay in Utah as long as I'm alive," answer to that question.  Score one for the old man.  
• In a nice sidebar piece, Greg listed his favorite movies as "Brokeback Mountain" and "that one with that chick from Saved by the Bell where she dances around a lot on the pole". . . OK fine, that part isn't true.    

On a more serious note, does Greg plan to try to resign every Jazz free agent this summer?  Is he willing to go over the salary cap under any circumstances?  Will he rename the Salt Lake Bees the Salt Lake Buzz and finally return us to the double-z glory days of the late 90s?  

No real clues, unfortunately.