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Utah Jazz sign Koufos, work on deal for Williams

keep williams of course thats a no brainer trade hart and collins let cj miles walk away to another ream and match the offer to dee brown and make him the 3 pg behind williams and price have booz at pf millsap behind him tomic behind millsap okur at the center fesenko behind okur and koufos behind fesenko brewer at the sg than alomnd behind brewer and pirce behind almond kirilenko at the sf than korver behind him and harpring behind him send dragicevic back to europe for a couple of years

D-Will, no matter who you play with, you will make them a better player, that is what great athletes do. If you loose Booz, you should have enough confidence that you will make whomever you play with great. Michael had Pippen, but would that have even mattered, look what happened after Jordan left... Seriously, sign on for the long haul for a team/franchise/city/state/and fans who will support you through thick or thin (hopefully translating to wins :) and get to work...

Oh, bring home the Gold!!

Last thing and this is for the Cougs...GO UTES!

You don't have to check back on Dee Brown. He just signed an offer sheet with the Wizards.

Hopefully the Jazz get Deron signed as son as possible. I can see where he is coming from as far as trying to keep a good team in place. Hopefully Fez and Koufos can develope into a defencive precence in the middle.

while you can get something for him. He is counting down the days 'till he can get out of here. He desires brighter lights and a bigger stage, but doesn't want to work for it.

@ Great Athlete:

Fans who support you through thick or thin? Hope you didn't jump on the trade Booz train. Many Jazz fans didn't and don't support him. Face it, the fans are very fickle.

I have thought about this and the only way that the Jazz will succeed and stay competitive while keeping key players is to get rid of AK's contract, 50 million over three years is a lot that could go to locking up Booz/Memo and the rest of the guys while still having money left over to get some others. They would need to take a bad contract for a year to do this, but if you could get the Knicks or some other team to take him more power to the Jazz and winning

The key question in all of this is "what happens to the ownership of the Jazz" if something happens to Larry Miller? Is there any transition structure in place? Will there be a mess like the one at Atlanta, OKC or with the Cleveland Browns? Who will be the new owners and will they be committed to winning (or even staying in SLC)? Maybe Miller should create a structure similar to the one in Greenbay?

The Jazz will be pushing the luxury tax in a year or two. Both LA and Boston were in the luxury tax. That is what it takes to win at this time. It is no guarantee as NY, Dallas and Denver indicate but you have to be both "smart" and spend to win. So far in free agency SA is stronger, NO is stronger, Houston maybe stronger, LA may be a little weaker but won't stay that way.

D Will deserves a contract just a little bit better than C Paul's. The Jazz have to be very careful about not over paying as they have in the past with AK as the lux tax will bite them hard later.

The Jazz are looking like they could be a completely different team in a year and a half. They need to dump Andre', keep booz and bring in a solid three like a Pippen. If they haven't put themselves in the finals after the three year extension that Williams will probably sign I'm afaid that Williams will move to a different team.

So why are the Jazz willing to pay koufos more money then they are paying paul milsap who has proved himself already? Makes no sense to me.

Because Millsap was a second round draft pick when the Jazz gave him a contract. They're required to pay Koufos more as a first round pick. There is no doubt when Paul's contract is over he'll be making several million per year and much more than Koufos.

The terms of rookie contracts are dictated by where a person is drafted. Milsap is in his third year of his rookie contract based on his draft slot of 47th. This was a 2-year contract with a 3rd year team option, which the Jazz obviously picked up; probably the best bargain in the NBA. Koufos was drafted 23rd.

People keep on saying, bring in someone like Pippen and Trade AK. First of all, you cant just bring in someone like Pippen who was voted to NBA all century team. Pippen was a great player playing with the best player of all time. Also there are only a team or two who would be able to afford AK's contract. The only 2 teams I can think of are the Clippers and Memphis and I dont see either of those teams taking AK off our hands. The Jazz needed to trade for Ray Allen when he was with Seattle. He is a very good defender and has the best outside shot in the NBA. Oh well, The Celtics got him.

Koufos was drafted in the 1st round and Millsap was a 2nd rounder.

@ Not sure:

The salary difference between Koufos and Millsap is likely all dictated by place in the draft. Koufos was a first-rounder, albeit a low first-round pick. Millsap was a second-round pick and the contract he's got right now was the one negotiated before his rookie season. He wasn't a proven commodity at that point. Obviously Koufos isn't either, but so much is dictated in these rookie contracts by where you're drafted. Also, and this may or may not have any impact, but Koufos may have been able to bargain a bit with the fact that he was willing to go play in Greece for a multi-million dollar contract. Hopefully the Jazz will have enough cap space to give Millsap the money he deserves next year. Trading AK would help, if someone will take on that contract.

First of all, I am one who really likes Boozer because he is a top5 PF, a great low-post offensive player and if we lost him, that would hurt. But also understanding he has a home in Miami and the lower altitude is better for his child's health, and he is likely to opt out and cost too much money to sign, I would suggest a Sign-and-Trade deal with Charlotte for Restricted Free-Agent Emeka Okafor. Okafor is a double-double guy who is a decent scorer and a very good post defensive player and he should come in around the same amount Boozer was getting paid the past few years. There are injury concerns, but I like the possibilities with this trade.

How much did they sign Koufos' nose for?

what is the amount they are paying millsap? who is worth a bunch !

To everyone:

Is the Emeka Okafor trade really possible as described above? I would trade Booz for Okafor in an instant. I love Booz, but if he gonna leave let's get something for him. I hope he stays, but why all the talk if there ain't nothing there?

Adjusted for 48 minutes Fes gets just as many rebounds as Booz. He also blocks shots. However, Fes only gets 1/4 of the points. I wonder if Koufos can play PF? He has an outside shot and was a guard and maybe can dribble a little.

Booz is a top 5 PF (not perfect) but very hard to replace and expensive to resign. Can the Jazz get enough extra points from SF and SG if Booz is replaced by someone who only gets 10 points from PF?

The Clips are renouncing a bunch of contracts for cap purposes. Appearently they are then going to try to resign them at a lower rate. Can the Jazz do that with AK's (or other's) contract if they have trouble with the cap or as a re-signing move for Booz etc?

Someone who understands those rules please explain.