You seemed to imply that the Blazers would just blame KP if the Matthews signing falls flat, you said if they did that it would be ridiculous. Who else said this and where should I ask? Travis Outlaw made 5 years 35 million and he can barely guard a chair. Matthews may be overpaid, but the market was pretty well set by the rest of the league with all of the money being thrown around out there. I think the Blazers may have given him too many years and probably 2 million too much per year, but if he can play as well as Jazz fans seem to think he can, and as well as Jerry Sloan seemed to think he can by making him a starter then he won't be grossly overpaid. Also saying that the Jazz never intended to match doesn't seem to hold water, if Jefferson had not been made available with a TPE I'm sure they would have thought long and hard about it.
More confirmation: MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—The Minnesota Timberwolves have agreed to send power forward Al Jefferson(notes) to the Utah Jazz for two future first-round draft picks and a salary-cap trade exception, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been officially announced. Looks like the Blazers will get Matthews. If the Jazz want to match the offer, it will cost them 9 mil for salary and an addtional 6 million in taxes . . . meaning Matthews will cost the Jazz 15 million this year. Happy we got Matthews (speak like a small mrkt team but carry a big mrkt wallet). But I think Utah got better replacing Boozer with Jefferson (did they actually get better defensively by adding Jefferson?). Blazers need a big trade to valut them up in the west above Utah and Denver.
Indeed I do. What, exactly, does Roy do all game long? Isolate at the top of the key and attack the rim or take a mid range jump shot that he creates for himself or setup other guys for outside jumpers. Can Mathews even do a remote approximation of the same? No, he can't.
Boozer was beast last year. He was routinely grabbing 14+ boards and scoring over 20 ppg. AL Jefferson doesn't have the jumper Boozer has either. Having Al will help them, but he's not going to give them the production of Booz.
Yeah, I think it's clear that you misunderstood Pinwheel. Getting Matthews would actually mean that KP's plan would have worked. "Not working out" implies to me that they weren't able to get their targets.
"Not working out" implies to me that the player they signed ended up not being a good fit for the team. Who cares if you can sign a player while overpaying them. Besides, that has nothing to do with the original point. The original point was blaming KP for any of the moves made after the draft was completed would be a joke, and Public defender is the one that brought that idea up. Then you came along and said I was the only one to imply the Blazers would blame KP for any moves made when Public Defender clearly is the one who brought it up.
So, does Jefferson replace Boozer in the starting lineup as a PF or does he replace Okur as the starting five?
This only helps Utah if Jefferson is: A) Healthy B) Willing to listen to Sloan. Something tells me that Sloan is going to rip his hair out trying to get Jefferson to play defense.
Interesting fact: With their trade of Al Jefferson, the Wolves no longer have a player on their roster that will make at least $5 million for the 10-11 season. Most other teams have at least one player who makes eight-figures annually. The Raptors and Thunder are the only other teams that do not currently have an eight-figure earner. The highest paid player on Minnesota is Michael Beasley, who will earn $4.962 million in 10-11. Martell Webster and Darko Milicic are ranked second and third on the roster in terms of annual salary and will make $4.8 million and $4.325 million respectively If Wes Matthews was on the wolves, he would be the highest paid player.
Off topic: Will the Wolves win more or less games this coming season? Ridnour/Flynn/Sessions? Martell?/Brewer? Johnson/Haward Love/Beasley Darko/Pekovic All of that mess in the triangle ... really?
LMA vs. Al Jefferson LMA vs. Okafor LMA vs. Boozer Quick perusal shows LMA gets owned less by Al Jeff than by Boozer. By a lot. Okafor's in the middle.
