I’ve had to take some time off of blogging about the Utah Jazz.
In the time that I’ve taken off, the Jazz have gone from being a .500 team and a perennial loser on the road to being a winner more often than not — at home and on the road. Heck, so far in 2010 they’ve been one of the top teams in the NBA.
I haven’t heard this trade rumor come up, but in the wake of the knowledge that Portland is willing to throw a lot of up front money at Paul Millsap, in a front-loaded contract, even though most people agree that Millsap is too small to be a starting Power Forward in the league, it makes me wonder if the Jazz should pursue an alternative course of action.
Since everybody else is getting into the trade rumor arena, I figured it was time for me to throw my hat over the wall.
The Jazz could easily trade Carlos Boozer and CJ Miles (or Matt Harpring) to the New York Knicks for David Lee (via sign-and-trade) and Jared Jeffries.
The 30 GMs were surveyed. If you are a Utah Jazz fan, you might be a little surprised by the results, although you probably shouldn’t be.
Let’s take a look at some of what the GMs thought (all answered anonymously and reported on NBA.com):
After a very tame off-season for the Utah Jazz, Jazz fans are anxiously waiting to see what the season will bring. The Jazz re-signed C.J. Miles and traded little used Jason Hart for savvy veteran Brevin Knight. They also signed Ohio State Center Kosta Koufos.
Not much.
Not that we expected much change for a team who was really good last year, losing to the Lakers in a series that they probably should have been able to win.
So what should we expect this year.
After a week of hard consideration, the Utah Jazz have decided to match the offer sheet offered up by Oklahoma City to steal away C.J. Miles.
The main reason that they said they chose to match the offer sheet was that they had invested 3 years in him and they figured that he was now at the point where he knew the system and could start making a valuable contribution.
Jazz fans and sportswriters are likely scratching their heads at this decision. They invested a lot in BYU product Rafael Araujo, but they let him go.
There has got to be a little more to this story than just “return on investment”.
Let’s take a look at things a little bit closer.
