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Hollinger thinks the Okur extension is "genius"

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r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t

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He reviews a bunch of contracts and extensions signed last summer (Aldridge, Rondo, Ginobili, Nash, etc), and then writes:

After Day 1 of 2010 free agency -- a day in which Amir Johnson and Rudy Gay agreed to deals worth roughly $115 million -- now how do those moves look?

They seem genius, no? The lesson from the first 24 hours of free agency is that it's not just the superstars who are defining this market -- with too much cash chasing too little talent, teams are throwing themselves at whatever Hakim Warrick or Steve Blake they can get their mitts on, consequences be damned.

Wise GMs like the five above looked ahead, saw the landscape and did their work early, even if they endured some criticism for it at the time. (As did a sixth, Utah's Kevin O'Connor, who had the foresight to extend Mehmet Okur but couldn't look far enough into his crystal ball to see a devastating Achilles injury).
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https://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-freeagency-100701/seller-market
 
r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t said:
He reviews a bunch of contracts and extensions signed last summer (Aldridge, Rondo, Ginobili, Nash, etc), and then writes:



https://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-freeagency-100701/seller-market
Click to expand...

Given the kind of contracts that are being given out this summer, and without knowing his achilles was about to snap, you can argue that the Jazz got him at a bargain price. I didn't agree with when it happened, and obviously don't now, but he probably could have gotten a huge offer from somebody this summer.
 
What really pissed me off was he came out and said he would give us a hometown discount for 7-8 mil a year but KOC preceeds to give him 11 mil a year. Why?
 
Memo's extension itself was a steal. A 6-11 guy who can play center fairly effectively is worth $9.9M and $10.8M. If they had let him go into free agency this summer (and he hadn't gotten injured), they might have had to pay more or lost him.

The main problems with Memo are:
(1) He's on the same roster with Deron, Boozer, AK and Millsap. If you ask me, AK is the one who isn't performing up to the level of his salary, so more of the problem lies there. If AK's salary were more appropriate for what he brings, the Jazz aren't in luxury tax land and Memo's deal doesn't stand out so much.
(2) He's not going to protect the basket, but then neither is Boozer. But consider this: if Memo did everything he already does AND played great interior defense, you'd have to pay him $15M, not $10M.
(3) He got hurt, which wasn't known at the time of the extension.
 
Nice post of an interesting article. Did KOC really forsee the FA madness or were there just no alternatives for the jazz?

In other jazz topics he breaks down the available FA money and where players going and makes a good case for Boozer getting max money. There is just too many teams with cap space. If the jazz are not willing to sign boozer to max years, max dollars --they'd better start looking for Plan B.
 
I was very against the Okur extension, and I am still against it. I have to admit though, with the contracts being given out this summer, KOC did make a steal with Okur's contract.
 
dwill#1 said:
Yeah it was in the D news or Salt Lake Trib promise
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Mehmet Okur
Barring late agreement on a contract extension by Tuesday, Okur is expected to opt out, even if the decision is primarily based on gaining leverage to continue talks about re-signing with the Jazz.
"That's one of the things that should be on their plate," O'Connor said about players opting out with the intent of re-signing.
So far, extension talks with Okur and others are believed to have not gotten very far, with the Jazz said to be overly cautious and concerned that making a commitment to one player will hurt them in figuring out what to do with the other three.
"I wouldn't take anything out of the equation," O'Connor said about agreeing to an extension with Okur or another player by Tuesday.
Although Okur commented to his Web site earlier this summer about taking $3 million to $5 million less in a new contract to stay in Utah, the Jazz are said to have possibly misread the extent of that hometown discount
Okur, who averaged 17.0 points and 7.7 rebounds and was the NBA's sixth-best three-point shooter at 44.6 percent, would not even be one of the NBA's 20 highest-paid centers next season at $9 million.
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https://webcache.googleusercontent....ur+hometown+discount&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Question: Is that one of the reasons you continue to say that you want to finish your career in Utah?

Memo: My family and I love Salt Lake City. As they say it is a perfect place to raise a family. From our neighbors, to the people of Salt Lake City, to my teammates, to the staff to the Miller family we alwasy saw love and felt warmness. Salt Lake City is our second home. However NBA is a business. I know this and my family has learned this. In the end some of the decisions made will be business decisions first. As Mehmet Okur I am ready to make some sacrifices to stay here. I will not be changing teams if there is a difference of $ 3-5 million in the total worth of the new contract. I belive my managers and I have let our feelings be known by the Jazz management. Whatever is in the best interest of the Jazz and my family and I let that happen.
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https://www.memo13.com/index.asp?id=17152

looks like that discount was way, way more than $3-5 million, based on what happened yesterday (and forgetting his injury, duh).
 
And he never said "I volunteer to play for $7-8 million per year." He said that if the difference in the entire contract offer was $3 to $5 million, he wouldn't move. In the end, there was no other contract offer because he didn't opt out.
 
Still don't like the extension as I don't think he is worth it. He is not what we need so I would be fine if he walked. And he never set any figure for what he would sign for nor would anyone with a brain or an agent. He did say something about giving us a discount if he opted out which obviously he didn't do. Either way I am sure he thinks he did give us a discount.
 
gomretat said:
Either way I am sure he thinks he did give us a discount.
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he signed for $22 million, right? that is just two more than Darko Milicic! and now, with the ACL injury, he might be done for good at the end of this contract. so, you can be dammed sure he thinks he gave us a discount.
 
If he's such a bargin he'll be easy to trade right?
Other teams will be dying to pick him up right?

*snicker*
 
r_u_s_t_b_u_c_k_e_t said:
he signed for $22 million, right? that is just two more than Darko Milicic! and now, with the ACL injury, he might be done for good at the end of this contract. so, you can be dammed sure he thinks he gave us a discount.
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I am sure he knows the difference between 2 years and 4 years
 
So basically what he meant was he would sign with Utah for 2y/20M as opposed to Memphis or something for 2y/24M. Not 7-8M per season.
 
2 more years at 9.5 and 11 is hardly catastrophic from a Cap standpoint. Yeah, it Memo only hobbles back a shell of himself it hurts us. But as long as he gets back to some semblance of his former self by the end of next year, Memo as an 11 million dollar expiring is not a terrible chip to have. Like AK, he'll be a deadline guy that could attract interest from contending teams. There's a difference between being overpaid and worthless. Eddy Curry is worthless. Memo is far from worthless.
 
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