Utah Jazz: Top brass mulling over what to do with Miles

TAYLORSVILLE — The Jazz are expected to wait until an end-of-the-week deadline before revealing whether or not they will match Oklahoma City's four-year, $15 million offer sheet signed last Friday by restricted free agent swingman C.J. Miles.

Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor had no comment Monday when asked about the matter, and neither Miles nor his agent has returned repeated phone calls.

But it's believed the Jazz are seriously weighing pros and cons of matching the offer, which include protecting their three-year investment in Miles vs. absorbing the impact of Oklahoma City's financial offer on their future-season team payrolls.

Miles was a second-round draft choice out of Dallas Skyline High School in 2005.

The 21-year-old has started 13 games each of the past two seasons, but he's never been able to establish a long-term role in the Jazz's regular rotation.

FLASH FORWARD: The NBA Development League's Jazz-affiliated Utah Flash announced as expected Monday that they will host the fifth annual D-League Showcase at Utah Valley University's McKay Center in Orem.

The four-day event will run from Jan. 5-8 and will bring together NBA scouts, general managers and front-office personnel to watch players from each of the minor league's 16 teams.

"This really is a big deal for us," said Flash owner Brandt Andersen, who estimated that economic impact on Utah County and the state of Utah will be between $750,000 and $1 million.

The NBA TV cable network has broadcast games from past Showcases and is expected to do so again in 2009.

Since its inception, 10 call-ups of players from the D-League to the NBA have come either during or immediately after the Showcase.

The event was started, D-League commissioner Dan Reed said during a news conference Monday at the Rocky Mountain Revue NBA summer league here, as a result of "feedback from NBA general managers who wanted to see every D-League player in the same place."

The D-League has produced 119 call-ups during its seven seasons of existence, and the Jazz had two of its rookies — Morris Almond and Kyrylo Fesenko — assigned to the expansion Flash for much of last season.

The Flash bid to host the rotating Showcase, which Andersen said he hopes will be a break-even venture at best.

JOHNSEN OUT: The Jazz's Revue team beat the Iranian Olympic Team on Monday without University of Utah product Britton Johnsen, who is out with a severe bruise in his left thigh.

The Jazz also lost Revue/Flash point guard Kevin Kruger to a sprained left ankle in Monday's game.

The Jazz had no timetable for either's return.

TICKET DEAL: The Jazz on Monday night announced that today is $5 ticket day at the Revue.

The reduced admission price includes all three games, plus a free ticket to a Salt Lake Bees minor-league baseball game.

Tickets for today can be purchased only at the Salt Lake Community College Lifetime Activities Center box office.

Usual Revue tickets cost $10.

Attendance at Revue games this year has been lagging significantly compared to past summers.

CHASE TRAGEDY: Point guard Brian Chase is not with Atlanta's Revue team after learning his brother died due to a gunshot wound, a Hawks team official said.

No other details were available.

The Virginia Tech product spent part of one season with the Jazz but never did play in a regular-season game.

Chase has a bullet lodged in his thigh, the result of an incident when he was growing up in Washington, D.C.