Houston in talks with Kyrylo Fesenko.

[Twin Towers]

Yeah OK I got your point - either, Option 1: pay, say $8 mil for 4 years (+$2 of tax this year) = $10m total including tax .. or fight over the sharks next year when he's in free agency ($12m for 4 years seems reasonable). But.. then you'll have to fight with the sharks.. if that's your cup of tea.

I guess all this guess work would go away once (if..) Houston does sign him to an offer sheet... then we'll REALLY know what the Jazz are thinking...

Ya I think that is reasonable for next year depending on who has money next summer. I think the Jazz value the cap flexibility more than Fesenko as a player. I think the Jazz front office likes him but Sloan does not. I think the Jazz want him but only as limited player off the bench. And since we already have Okur, Millsap & Jefferson for at least 2 more years our rotation is already set (if Okur is healthy). And Elson will provide some help too so the Jazz don't want to pay him a couple Million a year when he might not even play. The Okur status is very questionable. Whether or not Fesenko is with us this coming year we will need to sign another back up Center.

 

[NUMBERICA]

FWIW, the Rockets only have about $1.3 million left of their MLE (after signing Brad Miller). They MIGHT have their bi-annual exception but that's in the $2 million range. This is good news.

 

[InGameStrategy]

Yeah OK I got your point - either, Option 1: pay, say $8 mil for 4 years (+$2 of tax this year) = $10m total including tax .. or fight over the sharks next year when he's in free agency ($12m for 4 years seems reasonable). But.. then you'll have to fight with the sharks.. if that's your cup of tea.

I guess all this guess work would go away once (if..) Houston does sign him to an offer sheet... then we'll REALLY know what the Jazz are thinking...

I still think that the Jazz would quite possibly save money by offering Fes a multiyear deal now at $2 million or so. The problem comes if he has any significant improvement and his price tag goes up to $5 million plus--a reasonable salary for an established backup--as early as next year. It's better to give Utah a 2 to 4 years to find a replacement for him--such as Tomic, although he's more of a scoring 4--than to be in the same place next year with only a slow, overpriced, aging Eurobig (Okur) backing up Jefferson and Millsap. Also, I'm not sure if the Jazz would have to use part of their MLE next year when he's a UFA instead of being able to match or name the price this year.

 

[Twin Towers]

I still think that the Jazz would quite possibly save money by offering Fes a multiyear deal now at $2 million or so. The problem comes if he has any significant improvement and his price tag goes up to $5 million plus--a reasonable salary for an established backup--as early as next year. It's better to give Utah a 2 to 4 years to find a replacement for him--such as Tomic, although he's more of a scoring 4--than to be in the same place next year with only a slow, overpriced, aging Eurobig (Okur) backing up Jefferson and Millsap. Also, I'm not sure if the Jazz would have to use part of their MLE next year when he's a UFA instead of being able to match or name the price this year.

I think the Jazz could possibly save money too by signing him long term. 2 Million a year. But I think the Jazz care more about the luxury tax and think is value won't go up next summer. I honestly don't think it will only because he won't get playing time. He will play behind Elson and Okur (when healthy). And only get playing time in the beginning of the year. Next summer I think they will sign him long term. But Fesenko might just leave because the Jazz didn't sign him long term. Big risk in my opinion but I don't think Sloan likes him so that is why we are doing this.

 

[InGameStrategy]

I think the Jazz could possibly save money too by signing him long term. 2 Million a year. But I think the Jazz care more about the luxury tax and think is value won't go up next summer. I honestly don't think it will only because he won't get playing time. He will play behind Elson and Okur (when healthy). And only get playing time in the beginning of the year. Next summer I think they will sign him long term. But Fesenko might just leave because the Jazz didn't sign him long term. Big risk in my opinion but I don't think Sloan likes him so that is why we are doing this.

If true, it's only adding to the theory that Sloan doesn't develop players well.

At times, especially against some matchups, Fesenko was more effective than Okur. Fes helped to mask Boozer's deficiency better than Matador Memo did. Fes was rarely used down the stretch because Sloan evidently liked Okur's 3-point shooting (which didn't always compensate for his defense). But the outside shot is more replaceable than inside D.

Barring someone who might end up with a prison sentence or who really messes up chemistry in the locker room or practice, the #1 criterion for evaluating a player should be what they do on the court. Fes doesn't pay a lot of attention in the huddle, but he is possibly the best matchup against the Twin Towers of Tinseltown that Utah has (depending on how Jefferson pans out defensively; AJ would likely take the other one anyway). I'm not convinced that Francisco Dutchman will be able to do the same.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Also, I'm not sure if the Jazz would have to use part of their MLE next year when he's a UFA instead of being able to match or name the price this year.

Fesenko has been on the Jazz for three years so the Jazz own his Bird Rights. They could technically give him a $10 million per year deal right now if they wanted to (which of course would be retarded). That's why 2nd round picks are given three year deals (usually with a team option in the third year), so that if they pan out, the team not only has their agency rights, but their Bird Rights as well (in case a team over the cap offered a deal larger than the MLE in the first year of the new contract, the original team would not be able to match the offer without Bird Rights [which occur when a player is on a single team continuously for three years, meaning not having been trade or cut at any point in that time]). It's in a situation like this that the Jazz were able to heist Boozer from Cleveland as they not only lost their right of first refusal by not picking up their option on him, even if Cleveland still had ROFR, the Jazz spent over the MLE and Cleveland would not have been able to match. Boozer only screwed Cleveland as much as they were trying to screw him (and break NBA laws in the process). Also similarly, if Chicago wanted to spend over the MLE on Matthews, the Jazz would not have been able to match even if they wanted to.

Anyway, I personally think the Jazz should sign Fesenko to a 3-year, $6 million deal at $2 million even every year.

 

[Ben10]

Also similarly, if Chicago wanted to spend over the MLE on Matthews, the Jazz would not have been able to match even if they wanted to.

This is not true do to the Arenas rule. No team could have offered Matthews more than the MLE because he was only a first year player.

 

[NUMBERICA]

This is not true do to the Arenas rule. No team could have offered Matthews more than the MLE because he was only a first year player.

...? I'm going to have to check on that, but that may be true.

Edit: Well I'll be damned. Tip of the hat to you.

 

[GVC]

Also, that first round pick ended up being Omri Casspi.

Casspi + Greene + Jackson for Artest + Singletary + Ewing, Jr.

Sacramento did pretty well on that trade.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Also, that first round pick ended up being Omri Casspi.

Casspi + Greene + Jackson for Artest + Singletary + Ewing, Jr.

Sacramento did pretty well on that trade.

True, but I don't think the Rockets came out poorly, either. Donte Greene and whoever the Rockets would've drafted at their slot probably would've just been some more rotation players that the Rockets almost seem to have too many of as it is.

 

[sirkickyass]

So Donte Greene has no value? There are more than a few Sacramento Kings fans who would disagree.

Sure. There were also more than a few Jazz fans that thought Koufos had value. Two years ago Greene was among the very worst at his postion. Last season he was merely significantly below average. I notice that you don't dispute that virtually every GM in the league would have done the deal.

As to Casspi, he turned into a pretty good late first-rounder. But the reality is that from the perspective of the Rockets they were trading a late first-rounder, not Omri Casspi. Its hard to kill them for trading a pick that turned into a steal down the road. It's not like they traded a lottery position.

The point is this: Morey is a good GM and he generally doesn't screw up. The stuff being mentioned is picking nits. If he's interested in Fes that's only a positive indicator.

 

[Sneakers]

I just think it's funny that Houston is giving Fesenko a "presentation", as if he's Lebron ****ing James or something.