Jazz extend qualifying offers to Miles, Brown

The Jazz on Friday extended qualifying offers to C.J. Miles and Dee Brown, making both restricted free agents when the NBA's summer free-agency shooting period opens late tonight.

The moves mean Utah retains the right to match any offer sheet from another team Miles or Brown should sign and that the Jazz are willing to have both back.

But it does not mean it's a sure thing that both, or even one, will indeed return for the 2007-08 season.

Case in point: Mo Williams. The Jazz's 2003 second-round draft choice became a restricted free agent after one NBA season, and Utah surprisingly opted not to match the offer sheet he signed with Milwaukee in the summer of 2004. Williams went on to have three successful seasons with the Bucks and now will be one of the top free-agent point guards available in this year's market.

"We use that as a lesson," Jazz basketball boss Kevin O'Connor said Friday, "to say, 'Hey, that's something we want to revisit.' "

Miles and Brown — second-round selections in the NBA's 2005 and 2006 drafts, respectively — now have the option to accept Utah's qualifying offer, which in Miles' case means at least $830,261 for next season and in Brown's case means at least $687,456.

Or they can shop their services throughout the league.

O'Connor emphasized he doesn't have a problem with the two seeking the best deal they can get.

"We respect the fact they've earned the restricted free agent right," he said. "And if somebody offers one of them $8 million or $9 million ... it's a one-in-a-lifetime situation. Go take it."

Miles, a still-developing shooting guard, was drafted straight out of his Dallas high school. Brown, a starter on the University of Illinois' 2005 NCAA runner-up team, was Utah's No. 3 point guard last season behind ex-Illini teammate Deron Williams and starting shooting guard Derek Fisher.

The Jazz's other free agent, BYU product and No. 3 center Rafael Araujo, will be unrestricted when the market opens.

Araujo was not eligible for a qualifying offer because he is a pre-2004 first-round draft choice who didn't have the fourth-year option on his contract exercised after the Jazz acquired him in a 2006 trade with Toronto.

Paul Millsap, the Jazz's second 2006 second-round pick, remains under contract after being signed prior to his rookie season to a two-year deal with a team option for a third season.