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KOC had a terrible off-season

Those who became Jazz fans in 2006 will find this laughable, but in alot of ways I think losing Wes Matthews will be similar to losing Shandon Anderson. Yes, I know Anderson (with an assist from Dan Fagen) left on his own volition but I think from a basketball-standpoint the result will be similar in that it really crippled us theh following year in 1999-00 and to some degree in 2000-01 but longterm it was actually beneficial.

Losing Wes will hurt is this year and possibly next, but once his salaries reach $6.5, $6.9 and $7.2 I think we'll be glad he's not on the payroll.
 
KOC had TWO terrible off-seasons in a row. Memo, 2 years, $21 million? He was coming off of a careeer year only because Boozer was hurt and his numbers were inflated. Disappeared for part of last season. Then this last offseason....no sense beating a dead horse.
 
vslice02 said:
Those who became Jazz fans in 2006 will find this laughable, but in alot of ways I think losing Wes Matthews will be similar to losing Shandon Anderson. Yes, I know Anderson (with an assist from Dan Fagen) left on his own volition but I think from a basketball-standpoint the result will be similar in that it really crippled us theh following year in 1999-00 and to some degree in 2000-01 but longterm it was actually beneficial.

Losing Wes will hurt is this year and possibly next, but once his salaries reach $6.5, $6.9 and $7.2 I think we'll be glad he's not on the payroll.
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Stop with ludicrous Anderson comparisons. Wes is producing now in his second season more than Anderson has EVER produced in his career. And it is not even close.
 
Not saying Anderson was good as Wes (although it was different a era of basketball - it's alot easier to put up good offensive numbers now), just saying after 98-99 Anderson was a young, athletic, and talented hard-nosed defender who was rapidly improving his 3pt-shot and looked to be a major part of the franchise's future. Losing him really hurt short-term. For the remainder of the Stockton/Malone tenure - Sloan would mention losing Shandon Anderson as an example where no matter how tough it is to lose a talented player for nothing - players and coaches have to put those things past them and come to work and do their job. Some roster moves can look bleak at the time but 2-3 years down the road they look drastically different.
 
vslice02 said:
Not saying Anderson was good as Wes (although it was different a era of basketball - it's alot easier to put up good offensive numbers now), just saying after 98-99 Anderson was a young, athletic, and talented hard-nosed defender who was rapidly improving his 3pt-shot and looked to be a major part of the franchise's future. Losing him really hurt short-term. For the remainder of the Stockton/Malone tenure - Sloan would mention losing Shandon Anderson as an example where no matter how tough it is to lose a talented player for nothing - players and coaches have to put those things past them and come to work and do their job. Some roster moves can look bleak at the time but 2-3 years down the road they look drastically different.
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Anderson was never much better than when he played for Utah. After 3 years in Utah as a solid back-up, he had his best season in Houston, where he put up 12 ppg as a starter. Wes is already as a starter putting up 20 ppg, while shooting great from the floor and 3, and playing outstanding difference, in just his second year. We just lost a young all star caliber player, because we underrated him, and comparing that loss to Anderson's loss, whose career year is significantly worse than Wes' sophomore season simply does not make any sense. I mean if Deron Williams bolts, by the same logic will you compare him to Howard Eisley's loss?
 
I think Shandon was another one of those guys like Bryon Russel, who looked better in the Jazz system, but could'nt quite pull it off anywhere else. But with Wes you could see that he had the skills and drive to succeed anywhere.The one thing that Wes brought was consistency. I was arguing with Miles homers in the other thread, who, in an attempt to defend Miles, were suggesting that Wes was also not consistent last year. Not at all true.Wes was smart enough to know when he was not hot and did'nt try to shoot himself back into the game.

But having said all that, I still maintain that he is'nt the game changer for the Jazz. I think since we are struggling a bit with consistency at the wings now, we are desperate for any improvement and Wes suddenly seems much more valuable than he actually is.
His current stats could end up being fool's gold in the playoffs for the Blazers.
Is he more consistent and a little bit better than some of our wings? Yes. I'd rather have him than Miles or Hayward at this point. But is he the missing wing that we need to be championship-contenders? Not at all. By saving 3 mil/yr in salary with Bell, we are actually saving almost 6 mil every year, if you consider the LT. I am not sure Wes is worth spending another 6 mil/yr more.
 
And if Brandon Roy were playing Mathews averages would be more like 12-13 ppg, 45% shooting.
He does a lot of things decently but is'nt great at anything. That, is a sign of a very good role player, not a game changer at SG.
 
Borat said:
We just lost a young all star caliber player, because we underrated him
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I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about Wesley Matthews. And if we were, and you think Wes Matthews is an "all star caliber player" well...good for you I guess?
 
vslice02 said:
Those who became Jazz fans in 2006 will find this laughable, but in alot of ways I think losing Wes Matthews will be similar to losing Shandon Anderson. Yes, I know Anderson (with an assist from Dan Fagen) left on his own volition but I think from a basketball-standpoint the result will be similar in that it really crippled us theh following year in 1999-00 and to some degree in 2000-01 but longterm it was actually beneficial.

Losing Wes will hurt is this year and possibly next, but once his salaries reach $6.5, $6.9 and $7.2 I think we'll be glad he's not on the payroll.
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$7.2 whole millions? Wow that's expensive! Considering the Jazz are losing over $27 mm in the next two years in AK and Memo, I'm sure Wes Matthews 7.2 would have bankrupt the Millers for sure. Consider the Jazz in 2012:

Deron - 17.7
AJ - 15
Millsap - 7.2
Wes 6.5

That's a solid 1-4 for under $47 million. They'd have oodles left to fill up the roster with 4-5 million dollar guys. They could sign another potential all star such as David Lee if they wanted to. 2010 FA had excellent players that nobody could afford. Last season saw deals like Brandon Bass had for $4 million, JJ Barea 1.8mm, Al Harrington 5.7mm, Luis Scola signed for less than $8, Grant Hill's 1 year deal was 3.3, blocking and rebounding of Darko for 4.2, 3 pt leader Matt Bonner @ 3mm, Udonis Haslem for 3.5, Kwame Brown for the minimum, Shannon Brown for not much more, Drew Gooden for 5.7 Matt Barnes could have been bought by a serious contender.

Add a roster like:

Darko - 4.2
Backups
Bass - 4
Barea - 1.8
Haslem - 3.5
S. Brown - 2.2
Bonner - 3

You're solid through 10 for $65 million. Matthews contract would not have hurt the Jazz one bit.
 
The current CBA expires in 2011 so you have no idea how many "oodles" the Jazz will be able to spend in 2012 because you have no idea what the new CBA is going to be. If you do, then please let the basketball world in on it.

But just for kicks, let's say the current salary cap/luxury tax figures are the same in 2012. With their current committed salaries the Jazz would be $1.2 million over the cap. If you add in Matthews' 2012 figures they would be $5 million under the tax with only 6 players under contract - $5 million to spend to fill 6 roster spots. Now that's all foolish speculation because the new CBA will bear little resemblence to the current one, but the Jazz have alot of money tied up in DWill, Jefferson and Millsap. They didn't want to dole out a ton more over 5 years for a player they weren't sure how much better he would get. Matthews may prove them wrong, but IMO it's still too early to declare the move a failure. Then again, this is Jazzfanz so we all must overreact instantaneously whenver the Jazz are "struggling."

Also, Haslem gave the Heat a hometown discount to play in his homestate and on a contender so he signed for 5 yrs $20 million. Heaven help you if you think the 4 year $20 million deal signed by Darko was solid.
 
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