Utah Jazz: Wesley Matthews, agent talking to Blazers

HE WROTE IT: The New York Post's Fred Kerber, after Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer decided to sign with Chicago, leaving suitor New Jersey — which he never did meet with, despite repeated attempts — unhappy and largely empty-handed:

"The last minute scramble to get (Nets) coach Avery Johnson across the table from Boozer down in Florida (Boozer was in Miami, Johnson was with the summer league team in Orlando) became an exercise in futility.

"Boozer had been the next free-agent power forward in their pecking order after (Chris) Bosh and Amare Stoudemire.

"So that brought them to Boozer who, when the Nets visited Utah in January after their season was truly DOA, pretty much claimed he would rather dip his head in a vat of acid than consider New Jersey."

Contributing: Jody Genessy

e-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com