And rather than allowing swingman C.J. Miles to go to Oklahoma City last offseason, the Jazz curiously matched the offer sheet he signed with the Thunder — adding another $3.7 million for not only this past season but for at least the next two.

The Jazz also exercised their third-year option on reserve center Kyrylo Fesenko's rookie contract when they could have shaved a few hundred thousand by giving it to an unproven rookie, and they opted against selling last month's first-round draft pick.

The Lakers' pick later in the draft went for $3 million, but if the Jazz had sold theirs and brought in a cheaper, run-of-the-mill reserve point guard instead of rookie Eric Maynor, they surely would have been criticized for putting money ahead of winning.

How the Jazz can regain control of a runaway payroll:

One is to simply endure it for a year. And Jazz family ownership rep Greg Miller has vowed to pay the tax, if need be.

But he never said anything about paying $12 million or so in taxes, which could be the case if the team were to match an offer sheet that restricted free agent Paul Millsap could sign with another team and the sheet approached $10 million. And they've voted to do it.

Then again, there are other options. One would be to not match on Millsap, and explain away the promise by saying things changed when Boozer opted in.

Another would be if Millsap played next season for his qualifying offer of $1.03 million, then became an unrestricted free agent in 2010 — something he'd perhaps consider if he can't find the big bucks he's seeking,.

Or the Jazz could sign Millsap for midlevel-ish money — perhaps start him at $6 million — and slice and dice elsewhere as well.

They can try to trade Fesenko for a second-round pick, and keep second-round draft pick Goran Suton, a cheaper alternative

Or they can make a grander trade, which some NBA agents, and even some within the Jazz organization, are convinced is in the works.

Dealing Boozer is an avenue Utah is known to be exploring. Such a move could come as soon as this summer.

Detroit has had interest, and the Pistons — even after agreeing to deals with free agents Ben Gordon and Charlie Villavueva — could still be pushing for the Jazz to take shooting guard Rip Hamilton off their hands.

Trading Kirilenko isn't out of the question, either — though finding a taker won't be nearly as easy as if he had an expiring contract.

Utah and Houston spoke recently about the possibility of a deal that would have swapped injury-hampered Tracy McGrady for Kirilenko, but the Jazz weren't interested at the time.