Your position has changed quite a bit, Borat. That's fine, and I'm not trying to mock, ridicule, or criticize you for re-evaluating. Quite the contrary, actually. Your post indicates that you have actually given the situation more thought, and have considered most of the information available to you, rather than selectively emphasizing only that "evidence" and argument which might serve to "prove" a conclusion which you may have reached just because you "wanted to."
It's kind of ironic that your post is made to Harcher, who initially opposed your original stance, but then quickly abandoned his position and then embraced your (former) view of the matter, based on a statement of Matthews that was both misrepresented (in the thread title) and inherently suspect, given the circumstances.
KOC had options (such as Bell) and he knew it. KOC had personally stated, long before the free agency started, that it was a "top priority" for the Jazz to sign Matthews. If he made any "mistakes" it may have been that. Matthews himself cited such statements as the reason he was surprised the Jazz didn't match any offer he could extract from the Blazers, however "unreasonable."
But KOC wouldn't say it was a "top priority" and then refuse to even consider talking to Wes when free agency began. No doubt he verbally threw out certain numbers the Jazz would entertain for Wes's agent to consider and was rebuffed by being told that nothing less than the max would do. KOC knew he could always match "the max" whether Wes wanted him to, or not. He therefore had no incentive whatsoever to offer the max, and many "disincentives" for doing it. In the meantime, KOC had no choice but to start looking at such alternatives to Wes as Bell. Even so, the last thing KOC wanted to do was to drive Wes away from the Jazz to Portland. On the other hand, there was no way he could stop Wes from signing with Portland if that's what Wes wanted to do.
