From the Deseret News: article here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705316530/Miles-warned-Millsap-about-wait.html?pg=1 I live in the SLC area (pdx native though and proud Blazer fan!) and the local vibe/consensus seems to be that the Jazz played a little too much hardball with Millsap and it's gonna be tough to keep him now. I think he may just be a Blazer by this weekend...
That was probably printed before Utah got their luxury tax kicker back. That made it not so painful to match.
Good news! Now everyone is going to think KP is a God again! It is fun being on the other side of an ass fucking, isn't it? We are fucking Utah just like Memphis fucked us! I love this game!
John Lund was on Wheels at work about an hour ago, and everyone he talked to in the Jazz organization (owners, GM, coaches) said they were going to match Portland's offer for Millsap. They will still have several months to move Boozer and minimize their luxury tax impact. They will still need to find a team with cap space to get involved, but from Lund's comments they didn't like Portland "bullying" them. By matching the offer, they are back in control. It's a risk, as they might not find a taker for Boozer and his contract, but at least they won't lose Millsap. And, the LT impact is only for this season as Boozer is an expriring contract. The Jazz are in pretty good shape financially. And, while they don't want to pay $11 - $12 milliuon in LT, they are one of the few teams that can afford to do so. All indications from the Jazz are that they will match and retain Millsap. BNM
He said they have given the indication (more like hinted) that they are willing to match. I doubt they told him straight up that Millsap would be matched.
The good news just keeps on coming huh. That'd suck if Utah decided they can afford to pay the tax for one year, and let it be.
What they don't like bullying???? I just don't think there has been enough bullying. Time to send an email threatening a lawsuit if they match.
When team's go into luxury tax territory (over the salary cap by a certain amount) they are penalized dollar for dollar, and the money goes into a fund. That fund is split up so the teams under the cap get like 1/3 of it divided up between them, the NBA itself gets a piece, and then the remainder is split up amongst all the NBA teams. I believe that Utah got about 6 million from that, but the exact number escapes me currently.
Utah could have offered Millsap at any point after July 1st to a much more agreeable (for them) contract. They didn't, and suddenly they feel that Portland "bullied" them because Portland is doing all they can to get Millsap as an RFA?
And yet you manage to repeat yourself about ten billion times in various threads. Yes, we get it. You are convinced they will match. When they do, we shall hail you as the new Nostrodamus. Now you don't have to say it ANY MORE. I wonder why they are holding out. Just to freeze up our cap space for the full seven days as a "fuck you back" kind of thing? Because they don't have to pay the luxury tax for a while, so it's not like they have to trade Boozer first...
I think it's a no-brainer that Utah will match. The thing I don't like is that we were far too conservative in our offer, imo. We should have thrown all the money we had at the guy.
I'm sorry, but that's bull-shit. I guarantee you that Utah had already accounted for this money (at least approximately), prior to receiving the check(s) late last week. They may not have known "exactly" how much they were going to get back, but they certainly knew a ball-park figure and had probably already forecasted for that amount to be in their budget for other operational expenses down the line. It's not like they got the check(s) as a complete surprise and, in turn, are now treating the money like it's a bonus.
So here is this hacks blame breakdown represented in his percentages; Utah's '04 spending spree; 8% Carlos Boozer opting in; 6% Hedon't spurning Blazers; 22% Portland Trail Blazers; 34% Utah GM Kevin O'connor; 14% Paul Millsaps Agents; 16% So Utah is only responsible for 28% of the blame in Millsap getting a contact offer that is disvantagious to Utah. He puts as much blame on Boozer/Hedon't as he does the Jazz, and even more blame on the Blazers. Absurd. If this deal is so bad for the Jazz then they should have signed him to an extension last year. They did not want to do that. They wanted to gamble and see if they could get him on the cheap. They lost the gamble. they get 100% of the blame. You can't blame Boozer, Hedon't, Millsap's management or Portland for Utah's poor handling of their negotiations. Only Utah could talk to Millsap last season and they elected to have him shop his services. Boo fucking hoo!
