Ummmm he was load managed... I’m not saying we should let him walk but build the roster with the understanding there is a 40% chance he sits some playoff games and will miss 25 games a year... pay him accordingly.
I'd lower both of those 2 mil.
Exactly this. I have zero animosity towards him, but the gamble did not pay off.
We won’t replace him with a player of similar quality. I haven’t looked closely at the cap situation, but we are a little ****ed it would seem. There will need to be some wizardry by new management.
And **** our trainers/medical staff for letting this happen a second year in a row.
You have to have a few veterans willing to come off the bench. Ingles and Royce should be coming off the bench and not starting. Jazz need to get rid of regular season guys like Niang, Oni and the aging Favors. Keep Hughes and Udoka. Tell Forrest he needs to work on his jump shot and if he comes back next year with a jump shot then keep him if not then he goes. All the others Brantley, Morgan, Big E, Thomas, Niang, Oni can go.
You make a trade with someone else to replace Mike, and of course it doesn’t make the team better next year. But I’m not sure next year is what we should be planning for.
I’m sure it’s been mentioned elsewhere, but Mike has missed ~ONE-THIRD of his regular season AND playoff games with the Jazz because of hamstring issues.
The problem with running it back is all the other teams are trying or are improving. You have to sure up the bench with athletic guys who are not undersized. Players who can make shots when things break down. I just don't understand why some of the other players have not been given a chance to play during the regular season. Put Brantley or Hughes in with some of the starters or bench players to see how he does. You cannot evaluate guys during scrub time. I know Udoka was hurt most of the season but when he was deemed healthy why not play him some of Favors minutes. You could rest Favors and get him some help. We have a rotation of about 7 guys and the rest are either unproven draft picks/g-leaguers or Niang and Oni who both have shown they are scrub guys in the playoffs. People forget that Bryon Russell was the 12 man and close to be cut when someone went down and Jerry gave him a shot. You never know what will happen when a guy gets an opportunity.
With Mike we are in between a rock and a hard place though. We need to retain him or else we have zero chance of having him when it counts... if we retain him we have a 60% chance of having him when it counts. We just have to bring him back with the right terms.
It sounds like a player like Caruso, Bane, or Maledon would be real useful. It’s too bad these blue-chippers would never be available for the Jazz.
