Utah Jazz: Millsap, not Boozer, may be Detroit's free-agent target

Starting power forward Carlos Boozer has until the end of the month to let the Jazz know whether or not he'll opt of the final year of his current contract.

His backup, Paul Millsap, becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the month as well — though the Jazz have vowed to do whatever it takes to retain him, including matching whatever offer sheet he may sign from another team.

That being the case, rumors abound regarding both — including a recent New York Post report that Boozer has told others he'll play next in either Detroit, which has salary space to absorb him, or New Jersey, which would have to pull off a sign-and-trade to acquire him, and other reports suggesting the Pistons may now be more interested in Millsap than Boozer.

What follows are excerpts from some of the reports and opinions that, in light of the situation surrounding the two, have popped up on the Web so far this month:

ESPN.com's Chad Ford, in an on-line chat: "If Boozer opts out, you can take it to the bank that he thinks he has a deal somewhere. The Pistons are the only team with the room to sign him who are interested."

DraftExpress.com's Jonathan Givony: "Detroit is currently slated to be around $20 million underneath the cap, but could shed another $5 million or so by unloading the contracts of Amir Johnson and their first-round draft pick (No. 15 overall). ... With the money Detroit frees up, they could go after their top two free agent targets, rumored to be Millsap and (Chicago's) Ben Gordon."

The (Newark) Star-Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro: "A number of you are still talking about Boozer, a development that inspires this response from the rest of us, along with some people in the (Nets) organization: Huh? "We assume (Boozer's agent, Rob) Pelinka floated this (the Jersey talk) in case he needs a Plan B if the Detroit connection doesn't happen for them. And he undoubtedly has heard what we're hearing: The Pistons are now giving as much (if not more) consideration to Millsap, to the tune of $8-9 (million) per year, which is an ample jump from the ($797,000) he was paid last season …

"And if Detroit has cooled on Boozer, he's going to have to scramble to find anything like the ($60 million over five years) he's looking for — or thinks he deserves.

"Can't see it. Not in Jersey, perhaps not anywhere.

"We asked (Nets basketball boss Rod) Thorn point-blank whether he's spoken to his good friend Kevin O'Connor (the Jazz's general manager) in Utah lately (yes, he understood we were hinting about sign-and-trade scenarios), and his reply was a terse, 'nope, not a single conversation.'