What's new

The biggest mistake in the history !!

This is incorrect and I don't know why it's being repeated on here over and over. The Jazz chose not to spend the money and went with Bell to be thrifty. They traded for AJ using a TPE and had the rights to match Portland's offer regardless of existing salary commitments.

Wes Matthews was given average NBA salary. I don't know why anyone would believe he's worth less than average after his first season play. It was obvious the guy would make it. Guys like CJ go for 3.4mm and guys like Wes Matthews go for $6mm or more.

And no, I won't get over it.

How much luxury tax do you think the Millers are willing to spend? Also remember if Roy was healthy Matthews would not be putting up the numbers he is. Hayward may still easily be as good or better than Matthews. Remember Matthews is 3 years ahead of him.
 
How much luxury tax do you think the Millers are willing to spend? Also remember if Roy was healthy Matthews would not be putting up the numbers he is. Hayward may still easily be as good or better than Matthews. Remember Matthews is 3 years ahead of him.

Luxury tax is not the point, and I was wrong anyway. Jazz didn't have bird rights like I thought. They only had the MLE. Hayward better than Matthews in 3 years? Kind of a long wait and a big gamble, and one I highly doubt.
 
Bell has more than decent talent for what they pay him. He's not a great scorer, but he gives a lot of effort in the games I've seen, more than A LOT of NBA players. There is more to the game than shooting, and I like Bell's intangibles. I'd rather have somebody scoring a low number of points , on efficient shooting, than shooting and missing a lot, and not bringing anything else to the table.
I agree, that it would have been great to have kept Matthews on the Jazz, but let's let it go.

Were we watching the same game last night? I didn't see any of this from Bell last night.
 
Luxury tax is not the point, and I was wrong anyway. Jazz didn't have bird rights like I thought. They only had the MLE. Hayward better than Matthews in 3 years? Kind of a long wait and a big gamble, and one I highly doubt.

For owners, luxury tax is a hell of a point, and they ultimately make the calls.
 
For owners, luxury tax is a hell of a point, and they ultimately make the calls.

This goes without saying. I addressed the specific myth that the Jazz could have only signed Wes Matthews or Al Jefferson. You can take the discussion whichever direction you want, but it won't change the fact that the organization was authorized under the CBA to sign both.
 
This goes without saying. I addressed the specific myth that the Jazz could have only signed Wes Matthews or Al Jefferson. You can take the discussion whichever direction you want, but it won't change the fact that the organization was authorized under the CBA to sign both.

Yes, they would've been allowed to do both. You can thank Larry for not trading AK and Gail for indiscriminately extending Memo.
 
Oh, so Matthews numbers are good only because Roy isn't playing ... well, he brings a lot more than just numbers, like great defense, hustle, clutch play, and making the 3 when you need it ... and I advocated matching from the start, and was quite vocal about it. And stand by what I said because obviously it makes me look good ...
 
Oh, so Matthews numbers are good only because Roy isn't playing ... well, he brings a lot more than just numbers, like great defense, hustle, clutch play, and making the 3 when you need it ... and I advocated matching from the start, and was quite vocal about it. And stand by what I said because obviously it makes me look good ...

Easy to say when its not your money :)
 
**Edit** The Jazz and Portland both had an MLE to spend on Matthews.**Edit**

Jazz chose not to spend the money and went with Bell to be thrifty. They traded for AJ using a TPE and had the rights to match Portland's offer regardless of existing salary commitments.

Wes Matthews was given average NBA salary. I don't know why anyone would believe he's worth less than average after his first season play. It was obvious the guy would make it. Guys like CJ go for 3.4mm and guys like Wes Matthews go for $6mm or more.

And no, I won't get over it.

I didn't mean they couldn't sign him because they didn't have the MLE.
It was a matter of looking at their total budget. Matching for Matthews AND using the TPE for AJ would have put the Millers, what, $10M into the luxury tax? Whether it's $10M or $8M - whatever - the Millers don't have Allen-type money to spend an extra $16M-$20M (double because of the tax) on salaries. What is their cash cow? Their auto dealerships. What has been hit hardest during the recession...well, outside of home values? The auto industry.

I hated to see Matthews go too. But when Greg and KOC looked at the team, what was the position of greatest need? Center. Memo coming off a horrific injury, season and possibly career in doubt, neither Fes nor Koufos had shown much, and Jarron was an UFA (not that we wanted him). Starters were set at PF (PM), PG (DW), SF (AK) and CJ could step in (they thought) at the 2.

The biggest mistake in Jazz history was a) giving AK a MAX deal and b) Larry vetoing any trade that would have gotten Utah out of his contract sooner. With no AK around, maybe the Jaz would have matched for Matthews. Unlikely, because the deal was so outrageous. I mean, Millsap was a stretch, but at least he had a solid history. Wesley had 1/2 season and a rather poor playoff performance.
 
I'm with you on all that Glass. Your idea has been repeated without any qualifiers and needed a little clarity. I don't want to see the Jazz franchise run into the ground financially, and wouldn't mind a step back for a couple of years to build up a pile of cash and draft prospects.

The auto industry has actually been declining for several years. The Millers probably haven't been feeling great about business since 2004 or earlier. I'm surprised they've spent as much as they have. As a side note, I'm sure Greg would get the blame for any collapse here as well.
 
IMO, extending Memo was worse than letting Wes walk, especially considering the circumstances.
 
Back
Top