Jazz hot to shop for big name or 2

This will be the summer the Jazz have been waiting for, the summer they can shop until they drop and spend like most other NBA teams cannot.

With Karl Malone's four-year, $66.5 million contract finally off the books and John Stockton's nearly $8 million annual salary erased with retirement, it will be the summer they are finally under the league-imposed payroll salary cap, the summer they can pursue free agents with cash in hand and do so with the wide eyes of a candy-store kid.

"I don't think we can afford to squander an opportunity like that," Jazz owner Larry H. Miller said. "We have to make the most of it while we've got it. Because there's still not a lot of teams that have that luxury, or that room."

With that charge in mind, Jazz basketball operations vice president Kevin O'Connor vows to be "aggressive" in his offseason endeavors as the franchise transitions out of the 18-season-long Stockton-to-Malone era.

Aggressive, however, is not meant to imply stupid.

"We'll certainly be aggressive in going after free agents," O'Connor said. "But we are going to go after free agents who are going to make a difference."

Not aging ones who are signed simply to plug a hole, not younger ones who are available but merely are the best of what's left from a picked-through market.

Rather, quality free agents — the sort who, preferably in due but not-too-long course, can help rebuild the Jazz back to a team that does not get bounced out of the playoff after just one series year after year, as has happened the past three straight years.

" 'Aggressive,' " O'Connor said, "is going to be trying to sign free agents that can make a difference to the Utah Jazz — and we'll use whatever means we have to get those guys — as long as they're people worth the money."

Based on estimated team payroll already committed for next season (see accompanying graphic), and not including whatever it might cost to try to re-sign Malone if he decides he wants to finish his career in Utah, the Jazz should have slightly more than $19 million to spend.

With the cost of a maximum-money free agent who has played fewer than seven seasons pegged to be about $10.5 million, or one-fourth of whatever the salary-cap figure winds up to be — early estimates are that it could fall from $42 million to $43 million — the Jazz should have plenty of cash to go after at least one big name.

Jazz officials are not permitted by league rules to publicly discuss prospective free agents who are still under contract to their current teams.