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Utah Jazz Media Day (live stream)

Handlogten's Heros said:
If you weren't trading him then the absolute focus should have been to get him on a 5 year deal at the most reasonable number possible. Breaking off talks early to preserve cap space is an... interesting strategy.
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I'm surprised that AA didn't trot out that old chestnut: "We did this for the best interests of the team."
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
So weird. They are doing a similar evaluation the Warriors are on JK. "We don't want to pay you like anything close to a star" and then "We need a star return in trade".

Pick a lane.

Its different a little as Walker has more trade value imo. The Lakers offered a couple firsts at one point. Should have taken it if you weren't willing to prioritize an extension. Making no decision will appear to be a "flexibility" play but it actually is more likely to paint us into a corner imo.
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I think the Warriors have fumbled the JK situation (and are just doing him wrong)....but at least they are in a position to play hardball. He's played poorly and he has no market. Kessler played well and many teams will have space to make a move. And as as always, got to remember these are human beings. I don't think Hayward leaves if the Jazz didn't try to squeeze him years earlier. The "As long as I play for this team" type of comments just make me feel like Kessler is already looking for a way out.

And who knows, he could have asked for something completely ridiculous. But given the history and noise around the situation I think the Jazz are just trying to hardball and I don't think is the time to do it.
 
KqWIN said:
My biggest takeaway from media day is that I don’t think the Jazz see Walker Kessler as a big part of their future.
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Yeah I noticed that too..

I kinda get it. Kessler will never be a star in this league due to his offensive shortcomings. I'm a fan but in honesty there hasn't been a lot to cheer for the past few seasons. Even if he reaches his peak is Kessler a top 10 center? Add in the fact most teams have financial flexibility issues and I can see why they are waiting on an extension considering they seem to be miles apart at this point. With RFA the current team holds all the cards.

My only concern is they did hold Kessler back a bit last season limiting his minutes while actively trying to lose. I can't imagine the Kessler team is all too happy about that.

They've already gotten themselves into a pickle with the Lauri contract so it makes sense on the Jazz's part to just wait it out especially if they aren't all in on Walker Kessler.
 
KqWIN said:
I think the Warriors have fumbled the JK situation (and are just doing him wrong)....but at least they are in a position to play hardball. He's played poorly and he has no market. Kessler played well and many teams will have space to make a move. And as as always, got to remember these are human beings. I don't think Hayward leaves if the Jazz didn't try to squeeze him years earlier. The "As long as I play for this team" type of comments just make me feel like Kessler is already looking for a way out.

And who knows, he could have asked for something completely ridiculous. But given the history and noise around the situation I think the Jazz are just trying to hardball and I don't think is the time to do it.
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The Jazz have a habit of being late in realizing changes to the landscape. I think they are making a lot of erroneous assumptions about how to navigate the changing market in the era of the 2nd apron after totally whiffing on that point with Lauri and overpaying him.

There is a space between throwing the whole bag at a borderline all-star and insulting an above average starter with repeated low-ball offers.
 
It's still hard to be too critical of the front office when we don't know what Kessler was asking for. I think the majority of us were good if we could get the deal done at $25M, but if he was asking for $30M+ then I think there would have been concerns that the FO was making a mistake as well.

J

Thread 'Kessler's extension'

Walker Kessler is eligible to begin extension talks this summer. Everybody loves Walker. I know that ideally we would like him to sign the extension for $300,000 per year but in reality he could be asking for a bit more. At what price point should the Jazz rather say "We can't do it. Good luck!" and let him become a free agent in the summer of 2027 or trade him?
 
HeatCheck said:
Yeah I noticed that too..

I kinda get it. Kessler will never be a star in this league due to his offensive shortcomings. I'm a fan but in honesty there hasn't been a lot to cheer for the past few seasons. Even if he reaches his peak is Kessler a top 10 center? Add in the fact most teams have financial flexibility issues and I can see why they are waiting on an extension considering they seem to be miles apart at this point. With RFA the current team holds all the cards.

My only concern is they did hold Kessler back a bit last season limiting his minutes while actively trying to lose. I can't imagine the Kessler team is all too happy about that.

They've already gotten themselves into a pickle with the Lauri contract so it makes sense on the Jazz's part to just wait it out especially if they aren't all in on Walker Kessler.
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With Kessler, there may be some debate about what a rim-protecting, rim-running center is worth. The Jazz moved on from Gobert in large part because Ainge didn't think that type of player should be maxed or near-maxed. Jarrett Allen might be one comparable, and his second contract has been at $20M/year for 5 years. He now has an extension at an average of $30M/year that will kick in a year from now. Myles Turner is at $25M/year as a big that can space the floor as well as defend the rim.

The new apron rules really punish teams for overpaying their 4th and 5th best players.
 
FWIW, I think 25M was the magic number on this deal. If either side was not willing to go to 25M then they were not being reasonable.
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
With Kessler, there may be some debate about what a rim-protecting, rim-running center is worth. The Jazz moved on from Gobert in large part because Ainge didn't think that type of player should be maxed or near-maxed. Jarrett Allen might be one comparable, and his second contract has been at $20M/year for 5 years. He now has an extension at an average of $30M/year that will kick in a year from now. Myles Turner is at $25M/year as a big that can space the floor as well as defend the rim.

The new apron rules really punish teams for overpaying their 4th and 5th best players.
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I doubt there are any hardlines but the difference between 25 and 30 won't be a big issues and even at 30 you can make it cap friendly by having it descend. Over 5 years you have a lot of options. When the wiz, hornets, Lakers, or any other team offer him 35-40+ with 3+1 language the asset goes "Poof"! New cap, old cap etc. the issue is not how you pay your 4th or 5th best player... its if they are good enough to justify the salary.

If the Jazz are at 20 and Walker is at 30 and they can't figure that out... its a failure all the way around. One side likely bears the brunt of the decision. 5/135M where you start it north of 30M and work your way down over 5 years will provide excess value when you really need it.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
FWIW, I think 25M was the magic number on this deal. If either side was not willing to go to 25M then they were not being reasonable.
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Anywhere from 22-28M is the "deal zone" figure you could do 25M with incentives and get it locked up. Like 25M with 1M incentive for 70 games played and another 1M for all defensive team type of thing.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
I doubt there are any hardlines but the difference between 25 and 30 won't be a big issues and even at 30 you can make it cap friendly by having it descend. Over 5 years you have a lot of options. When the wiz, hornets, Lakers, or any other team offer him 35-40+ with 3+1 language the asset goes "Poof"! New cap, old cap etc. the issue is not how you pay your 4th or 5th best player... its if they are good enough to justify the salary.

If the Jazz are at 20 and Walker is at 30 and they can't figure that out... its a failure all the way around. One side likely bears the brunt of the decision. 5/135M where you start it north of 30M and work your way down over 5 years will provide excess value when you really need it.
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What's the deadline to ink an extension?
 
NUMBERICA said:
The Jazz have a habit of being late in realizing changes to the landscape. I think they are making a lot of erroneous assumptions about how to navigate the changing market in the era of the 2nd apron after totally whiffing on that point with Lauri and overpaying him.

There is a space between throwing the whole bag at a borderline all-star and insulting an above average starter with repeated low-ball offers.
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this is one of the areas I think some teams full of professionals have been really bad. It will end up being a big theme of the pod we do tomorrow. Its not quite the obvious Hayward landscape where the cap was going to go up like 50% or some nonsense so you almost couldn't sign a bad contract... but this year's frozen market is not going to be repeated next year. This isn't like the new normal.
 
I'm in Colorado, so I watched last night more stoned than Cy on a Sunday morning. Many thoughts - going to rewatch and live-type my thoughts after work, and based on how much they were cracking me up last night, ya'll in for a treat.
 
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