Carlos Boozer has one year left on his deal for $12.65 million.

Richard Hamilton has four years remaining on his deal, which will pay him $11.6 million this season, and $12.65 million each year for the next three years after that.

(Salaries according to HoopsHype.com)

Even straight up, my thoughts on this deal are that it is a good deal for both teams. (Probably why it actually became a rumor in the first place.)

Detroit Pistons

For Detroit, the Pistons just picked up Ben Gordon as their shooting guard. It’s hard to believe that they would want their two highest paid players to both play the same position. Even with Allen Iverson able to play some point guard, the Pistons have already proven that their Rip really can’t play with another shoot-first guard. With Ben Gordon rather weak at the point (Rodney Stuckey rumored to be their favorite to play the position), it isn’t likely that they will play both Gordon and Rip at the same time. With the trade of Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson’s expiring contract, it appears that Detroit has already begun it’s youth movement. At 31, Rip Hamilton certainly doesn’t figure into that movement.

Whether Carlos Boozer figures into the long-term plans of the Pistons or not, the deal seems like a “can’t lose” for the Pistons. Knowing that the Pistons are likely more eager to make this trade, the Jazz might even try to weasel an extra first round draft pick out of them before they are willing to make this trade.

The Detroit Pistons starting lineup would likely be:

Rodney Stuckey, PG
Ben Gordon, SG
Tayshaun Prince, SF
Charlie Villanueva, PF
Carlos Boozer, C

Unless, of course, Prince comes off the bench and Villanueva and Boozer are moved to SF and PF respectively. Bother players would probably be more comfortable playing those positions, but they might not have that luxury. Kwame Brown would then likely be the center with Prince being the first man off the bench. (Antonio McDyess is rumored to be going elsewhere, and Rasheed Wallace has already agreed to sign with the Celtics.)

Utah Jazz

The Utah Jazz (with Korver, Boozer, and Okur all opting into their contracts) find themselves with three very good expiring contracts. Add Matt Harpring’s contract into that mix, and they certainly have a lot of good trade pieces that teams might want, especially if they are trying to cut costs in advance of 2010. Of course, the Jazz would have to really examine the contracts that they were taking back in return and deciding whether the players really fit into their plan of fitting pieces around Deron Williams in order to create a championship contender. It certainly doesn’t make any sense for them to take back expiring contracts or bad contracts for mediocre players in exchange for their current pieces.

My feeling is that Okur isn’t going anywhere. The things that he has said about his desire to remain with the Jazz, even if they can’t pay him the most, is exactly what the organization and the fans want to hear. In fact, I think the Jazz would be fools to not try to keep him if that’s his attitude.

Considering the Boozer is a 20-10 guy without breaking much of a sweat, I’d personally rather have a healthy Boozer over Okur and to have a shot-blocking center in place of Okur. Considering the fact that Boozer is not likely to play more than 60 games per year (because of injury) and considering the fact that shot-blocking centers are hard to come by in the NBA, the safer bet seems to be pursuing Okur rather than Boozer. Add to that the fact that Boozer is by no means a sure thing to stay in Utah, and that Okur staying is a much more likely thing, and you really have to believe that Okur over Boozer has to be the right choice.

I don’t think the Jazz can keep both Boozer and Okur because that leaves no defense in the lane. Unfortunately I don’t really see the Jazz picking up a shot-blocking center or power-forward either.

If the Jazz were to trade Carlos Boozer for Richard Hamilton, it would likely be with the assumption that they were going to replace Boozer with the much smaller Paul Millsap. Millsap is a workhorse, but I don’t see him really being able to replace what Boozer is capable of. Of course, Millsap would likely be healthier than Boozer, and 80 games of Millsap at a smaller price tag might well be better than 60 games of a higher-priced Boozer.

Of course, in addition to replacing Boozer with Millsap, the Jazz would also be getting Richard Hamilton.

In case people aren’t aware, Richard Hamilton is a tough player and a gym rat, constantly working on bettering himself — a player that Jerry Sloan would more than welcome on the roster. (Think the second coming of Jeff Hornacek.)

At 31, he’s probably at the peak of his career and on his way down the other side. For the kind of money that Jazz would be investing in Hamilton, this might be more than the Jazz would like to invest in a player. On the other hand, if there were a player that the Jazz would want to invest this kind of money in, I can’t think of a better player than Rip Hamilton for the Jerry Sloan system.

With the addition of Hamilton, the subtraction of Boozer, and the keeping of Paul Millsap, the Utah Jazz would probably be looking at a starting roster of:

Deron Williams, PG
Richard Hamilton, SG
Andrei Kirilenko, SF
Paul Millsap, PF
Mehmet Okur, C

The second string would probably look like:

Eric Maynor, PG
Ronnie Brewer, SG
Kyle Korver, SF
Andei Kirilenko, PF
Kosta Koufos, C

Also in the mix would be CJ Miles, Matt Harpring, and Kryrylo Fensenko, but I’m not sure any of these players are likely to get time over any of the players I listed above. The only exception to that might be whether or not they keep or sign a point guard better than their rookie Eric Maynor.

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.

PG – Deron Williams
SG – Ronnie Brewer
SF – C.J. Miles
PF – Carlos Boozer
C – Mehmet Okur

I actually really like this lineup from an offensive standpoint, but I don’t believe that this unit will be able to accomplish much on defense. Williams is not a bad defender, but he certainly isn’t spectacular. Boozer and Okur really aren’t very good defensively, although against certain opponents they can be effective enough. Miles is an unknown. Brewer obviously a very good, especially for how young he is. His steals numbers speak for themselves.

What this really means is that they will have to rotate very well and play very good team defense or they are not going to be able to win on the road. Considering how poorly they played on the road this past season, they are going to have a difficult time this season, especially in the post-season.

The second unit is going to be a little more fuzzy, but knowing Jerry Sloan, I would expect a second team of:

PG – Brevin Knight
SG – Kyle Korver
SF – Andrei Kirilenko
PF – Paul Millsap
C – Jarron Collins

Although Ronnie Price is a fan favorite, Sloan will probably prefer steady experience and fantastic assist-to-turnover ratio over Ronnie Price’s speed and much better shooting. With Korver, Kirilenko, and Millsap on the floor, a good distributor like Knight will be a great asset. If those three struggle shooting, though, expect a quick look to bring in Harping, Almond, or Price to improve the shooting of the second unit. Jazz fans tend to bad mouth Jarron Collins, but Collins is a great center for the price, and he plays excellent position defense on opposing centers.

As far as defense goes, the second unit is much tougher than the first unit. Knight is a very good defender with a large amount of steals per 48 minutes every year. Kirilenko is one of the best defenders in the leagues if he wants to be. And also is a very good defensive center. Millsap isn’t a bad defender, though he is a bit short against some of the large power forwards in the league. And Korver honestly isn’t a horrible defender, although he has been much maligned over his career.

The third unit would then be (not that they will get much time):

PG – Ronnie Price
SG – Matt Harpring
SF – Morris Almond
PF – (Andrei Kirilenko sliding over to play PF)
C – Kyrylo Fesenko or Kosta Koufos (depend on who Sloan thinks is the readiest at the moment)

Despite a very real possibility that there will be no available playing time for these players, you still have a really good team at this level.

Price is good, though at times a little out of control. Nobody can fault his timely shooting touch, though.

Harpring has lost a step, but he is still tough and a good team leader.

Almond can really shoot the ball — from everywhere on the court — and he is really working on his defense.

Two more big but inexperienced centers could get some time if Boozer or Okur get in early foul trouble. When you watch Fesenko, you hope that he can get some playing time because his height and energy could be a huge asset to the Jazz lineup. He was certainly worth the risk of picking him up in the second round and signing him to a contract, for potential alone. Hopefully the Jazz can develop Fesenko and Koufos because both of them could make for very good centers in the next couple of years.

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.

Here are the facts (involving C.J. Miles):

1. The Utah Jazz have plenty of money to play the annual amount of the Miles contract over the upcoming year. The big problem comes in year 2 when they are going to have to give extensions and raises to some almost all of their key guys.
2. The Utah Jazz have enough room on the roster for C.J. Miles (just barely).
3. C.J. Miles knows the Jazz system.
4. The Jazz, with the current lineup, might be good enough to win it all next year. They were very close this year.

Here are the Utah Jazz salaries (as near as we can guess) for 2009-2010:

Andrei Kirilenko – $16.5 million
Deron Williams – ~$15 million
Matt Harpring – $6.5 million
Kyle Korver – $5.2 million
C.J. Miles – ~$3 million
Ronnie Brewer – $2.7 million
Kosta Koufos – $1.2 million
Morris Almond – $1.1 million
Kryrylo Fesenko – $0.8 million

For approximately $52 million (I had to guess on the new contracts for Williams and Miles)

FYI, the salary cap for that year will probably be right around $60 million, leaving just $8 million to spend to stay under the cap.

If you haven’t noticed, you still aren’t paying Boozer, Okur, Jarron Collins, Brevin Knight, Ronnie Price, and Paul Millsap, all of whom are free agents or can opt-out after this year.

You will probably have to pay Carlos Boozer near the $15 million that you offered Deron Williams. Okur and Millsap might well command $10 million salaries based on what Andris Biedrins and Monta Ellis got from Golden State.

And that doesn’t count trying to keep Collins, Knight, and Price who luckily would come in at much more pedestrian $2 million per year each.

What are the Jazz planning?

I’m really not sure, but the numbers certainly don’t add up after this year.

Perhaps they are trying for one last hurrah before the team has to go its separate ways for salary cap reasons. They certainly could let Boozer, Okur, and Millsap depart after next season and be just fine. They aren’t under any sort of contract to keep them (as long as Boozer and Okur opt-out of their contracts, as they are expected to do). If they let them all go and move Kirilenko to the 4, they would have Williams at the 1, Brewer/Korver/Miles/Harpring/Almond (at the 2 and 3), Kirilenko at the 4, and Koufos/Fesenko at the 5. Certainly not a championship-caliber team, but with Williams at the helm, it is certainly one that could win a lot of games. By re-signing Jaron Collins for a couple of million per year, they have someone to sub at center and power forward (and a similar argument could be made to keep Price and/or Knight on to back up Williams at PG), without surpassing the Salary Cap.

Perhaps they are planning on trading some of their salaries after next year. Matt Harpring’s expiring $6.5 million would definitely be tradeable, but would probably involve receiving other long-term salaries in return unless they can work some deals involving draft picks (like the Nuggets did for Marcus Camby this year). A more likely scenario would be that Harpring’s salary is used to grab some good player that took the mid-level exception from a championship caliber team, but now the team wants to get involved in the Lebron/Wade/Bosh sweepstakes and has to cut salary fast.

Perhaps they think they can find a taker for Andrei Kirilenko’s whopping contract. Since they would likely have to take back contracts in return, however, that doesn’t seem like it would help the situation out unless the trade happened this year instead of next — and involved $16 million in expiring contracts. Kirilenko is a great defensive player and an energy guy that almost every team needs (but just not necessarily for the nearly $50 million and three years left on his contract).

Perhaps Larry H. Miller is willing to venture into Luxury Tax territory and re-sign most of these guys, if they are competing for championships year after year. Larry has certainly mentioned in the past that he would be willing to do that for a championship-caliber team.

Maybe the Jazz wanted C.J.’s contract to be possibly involved in a trade later on. Rather than giving him away for nothing, they can use his rather manageable contract packaged within another trade to make the numbers match, if they need to. Just because they signed him, doesn’t mean that they can never trade him. They just have to wait a period of time before his contract becomes tradeable, and that would happen sometime before the trade deadline.

In case you haven’t heard, the Utah Jazz have traded Jason Hart to the Clippers for veteran point guard Brevin Knight, much to the delight of many Jazz fans. (Well, the Jason Hart leaving, at any rate. Most Jazz fans don’t know much about Brevin Knight unless they play Fantasy Basketball.)

With three point guards, the third point guard doesn’t usually get much playing time unless they can play some at the 2 or unless one of the other two point guards get injured. In some ways, a third point guard is more of a luxury item than a need — an insurance policy against something bad rather than a real asset to a team.

Jason Hart’s numbers are likely to improve dramatically in a move back to the Clippers. Ronnie Price was picked by Sloan to back up the little time that Deron Williams left for the the other point guards, and Jason Hart wasn’t likely going to crack that lineup.

In Brevin Knight, the Utah Jazz get one of the best deals for Fantasy players that you can get.

Um, er…

Actually, they get a nice steady backup who never turns the ball over while still getting a very high level of assists, usually in the top 10 in the league even though sometimes he doesn’t get much time. He is good enough that he frequently replaces slumping starting point guards because he just doesn’t make mistakes — ever.

In fact, year after year as Brevin Knight became a free agent and the Jazz did NOT pick him up, I had to question the Jazz brass. He is the PERFECT backup point guard, and he usually comes at a very reasonable price.

The Jazz aren’t necessarily looking to get older, so I’m not sure where Brevin figures in the Jazz’s long-term plans, but I think this is the perfect trade. I just wish the Jazz had pulled it off a few years earlier.

Perhaps they want a guy who can run an offense very effectively just in case Deron Williams comes back from the Olympics and ends up not being able to play the full season (as many guys who play professionally in the off-season do more often than not).

In Brevin Knight, they get just that.

Well, everybody has their ideas on who the Jazz might select with that pick, so we’ll take a look at what the Utah Jazz need and might be able to get.

Apparently lots of people think the Utah Jazz need a big center.

Let’s see if we agree.

Point Guard: Deron Williams, backups Ronnie Price, Jason Hart
Shooting Guard: Ronnie Brewer, backups Kyle Korver, Morris Almond
Small Forward: Andrei Kirilenko, backups Matt Harpring, CJ Miles (free agent)
Power Forward: Carlos Boozer, backups Paul Millsap
Center: Mehmet Okur, backups Jarron Collins, Kyrylo Fesenko

After Boozer and Okur, you’ve got three “bigs”: Millsap (small for a power forward), Collins (a perennial backup), and Fesenko (up and down his rookie year in the D-league).

Alright.

I agree.

But can you really get a center worth taking with the twenty-third pick in the NBA Draft.

Normally, you can’t. Centers go much faster than people think they will because of the old adages “you can’t teach size” and “if you are going to make an error, err big”.

This year people think that the Jazz not only have a chance at a center, but will end up with one.

Let’s take a look at some of the centers who the Jazz might have a chance at…

Kevin Love – C – UCLA

Predicted in almost every draft to go in the lottery, but the Jazz might always be able to trade up to get him. Here is the information from CollegeHoopsNet on him.

Kosta Koufos – C – Ohio State

Koufos is all over the place in mock drafts, from near the top of the draft all the way down to where the Jazz pick. Some scouts are high on him. Others are not. I tend to think that someone will draft “big” because it is safe, and he won’t fall anywhere near where the Jazz are picking. Here is the information from CollegeHoopsNet on him.

DeAndre Jordan – PF/C – Texas A&M

Like Love, Jordan is predicted to be a lottery pick in most drafts, and won’t be available for the Utah Jazz unless they move up. Here is the information from CollegeHoopsNet on him.

Ante Tomic – C – KK Zagreb

Likely to be available for the Jazz, but he is essentially the same as Okur and Fesenko. He likely doesn’t fill the need of a really big guy down low, taking up paint and preventing other big men from getting easy hoops. Here is the information from CollegeHoopsNet on him.

Robin Lopez – C – Stanford

Nobody knows how good he good be because he played in the shadow of his brother Brook at Stanford. All indications are that he would be a pretty good pick for the Jazz here if he is available. According to most drafts, Robin is likely to be available for the Jazz at the 23rd pick. I’m a bit skeptical because lots of centers get nabbed up much earlier than mock drafts predict. Here is the information from CollegeHoopsNet on him.

Roy Hibbert – C – Georgetown

Just about everybody has the Jazz picking Roy Hibbert. If he is available here (and most drafts say that he will be), he would be a good center to pick up with the 23rd pick. He is probably the biggest center in the draft with any kind of prowess at all. Like I said with Lopez, I kind of doubt that so many teams will pick a smaller player when there is a center available (even though all of the mock drafts are telling you that they will). Here is the information from CollegeHoopsNet on him.

Joey Dorsey – PF/C – Memphis
DeVon Hardin – PF/C – California

These players are both predicted to go into the second round, and it is doubtful that the Jazz would reach down so far to nab one of them. If all of the other better centers have already been taken, they would probably be more likely to trade into the second round to take one of them rather than use their first round pick on either of them. Second round picks offer more flexibility as well as far as contracts go.