I've been wondering, do you like the Matthews signing? I haven't really seen you comment on it either way and was hoping you could weigh in on the subject, you being the board expert and all. Thanks in advance.
I would think that all the Paul Allen haters/KP cry babies would love this deal... PA now has to eat an extra $9 million of his (not yours) hard earned money this week, on a guy who you think sucks. I've never understood why fans, even the alleged ones, get caught up in salaries. Isn't this one of the big advantages to having a filthy rich owner? As for Matthews himself, I'm hoping for the best... the other option I guess is to bitch and moan about it and reference useless stats that don't mean shit. I'll go ahead and trust our proven and talented scouting department.
+1. I saw many Jazz fans clamoring for the team to match on Matthews this week. I'd rather be on this side of the spectrum (having an owner that has the ability to overspend to get what the team wants) than the other side.
How so? We were over the cap anyway, and even if we give up in 2012, and attempt to trade Matthews (see: Hedo out of Toronto), there's probably a buyer out there. We're in only a nominally worse position for trades/signings than we were a week ago, given that we wanted Wesley anyway.
Good that means no injuries. And it means others will step up. Depth is good. But right now I see Bayless getting most of his minutes as the bU PG. Which leaves Wes with about 24 minutes as the bu 2/3. Now some games Dante will get minutes at the 3 and some nights at the 4. Either way we filled a weakness. Of course that is if we stand pat (and let Rudy go) Rookies may not play for a while. Too bad for them. Aside from getting a fantasy PG (Not holding out hope) I like this 9 man rotation.
I wonder: can Wesley handle the rock well? I watched 1992 Game 2 vs Utah, and remembered that Ainge was our backup combo guard (PG/SG) even though he was pretty obviously a SG at heart. It worked out okay... though this goes against the man crush I have on Armon Johnson.
We'll see, especially if he doesn't play much. And if (once) the new CBA kicks in, who knows how bad that contract could be?
It's bad this year, and gets better later. By the time the new CBA is in effect (after who knows how long in lockout), he's on the small end of his contract.
By the way, I'm not necessarily saying that Matthews will be bad/untradeable/etc. Just answering RamblinRod's question of why we as fans should care about contracts.
Its always valid concern, but we are only talking a couple million. And that is if we stay around the magical line. But I just don't see that happening with Batum and Greg coming up for raises.
In terms of money we actually have to pay yes, but the cap hit still increases each year. YEAR ------ base salary ---- bonus ------- cap hit 2010-11 --- 4,626,581 --- 1,138,419 --- 5,765,000 2011-12 --- 4,996,707 --- 1,138,419 --- 6,135,126 2012-13 --- 5,366,834 --- 1,138,419 --- 6,505,253 2013-14 --- 5,736,960 --- 1,138,419 --- 6,875,379 2014-15 --- 6,107,087 --- 1,138,419 --- 7,245,506 We pay all of the bonus within the first week.
touche. It's basically irrelevant, since we have a rich owner, are over the cap (and only going further over), and have a rich owner. Might as well strap in or get off the bus now; we've got this group of blokes for a while. After this summer, this is pretty much the army we'll go to war with for the next five years. Did I mention our rich owner?
I hear what you're saying, but we weren't really going to be a major player in free agency this year or in the near future for that matter. I think the only way we really get over the hump from here is by cashing in on some of our assests and pulling off a big trade.
I would like to conduct an interview with Rudy and see what he has to say about this signing. I am sure he is thrilled we have added another piece to the puzzle! That happens to play his position.
Matthews' comments are a bit misleading in this article. He said he would of signed for less, yet right out of the gates his agent was asking for the Full MLE. It's kind of disappointing to hear him talk about Utah's FO as if they didn't make an effort to sign him, when in reality his agent wanted more than he was worth. So Utah told him to go get the Full MLE and they'd consider matching it. Wes Matthews had Fesenko and Carlos Boozer manning the paint against the 2 favorites of the West coming into the year, while Cunningham had this guy named Marcus Camby next to him. Another point I want to throw out there for you Kobe/Melo debaters. Utah doesn't keep 1 guy on prime scorers the whole game actually. C.J. Miles saw equal time on defense against them, and he was the one that guarded Melo in the Denver series when he wasn't in foul trouble. Wes Matthews is actually a good man to man defender and provides energy. The one flaw I see Matthews possibly having an issue in Portland is that he got a lot of easy baskets finishing on the break from great passing of Deron Williams. I just don't see him getting those kudo baskets in Portland, and he does have some trouble finishing I noticed. So playing in a more halfcourt oriented team, his defense should improve while I could see his finishing in the paint decrease.
