urso53

The Jazz are the fat kid in a candy store at this point with money and draft picks a plenty, would any of these work?


SCENARIO #1

Sign Kenyon Martin to a max contract
Sign Q. Rich to 6-7 million
Sign Osterfat for 5 million
Even though this goes against everything that I have said. In the end he is rarely injured. But then again you have to jump or hussell to get hurt. Regardless we need a big man and he is big.
Draft picks
#14 Araujo
Trade #16 + #21 for #7-10 pick and take Andre Iguadola.

SCENARIO #2

Sign Mehmet Okur to 6-7 million
Sign Manu Ginobli 8-10 million

Draft picks
Trade #14+#16--for #5-7 pick and take Andris Biedrins
#21-pick Araujo or Smardziski

SCENARIO #3

SIGN/TRADE FOR GOODEN FROM ORLANDO
If the magic get the first pick and go for Okafor I don't see them with 3 PF so give them one of our point guards, preferably Arroyo.
Sign Eric Dampier 10 million

Draft picks
Trade #14+#16 to the Bulls for Tyson Chandler
#21-pick Kirk Snyder

I could throw up some more but I would like to stay with what is somewhat plausible.

freakofnature

There's such a talent difference in the 5-10 range compared to Utah's picks. Although its two picks being traded, I still don't see anyone ahead of them biting.

Arclite

Normally that would be the case, but this draft is especially enigmatic. The odds of turning up a gem at #14 aren't much lower than at #7ish. Gooden/Chandler/Dampier would be a hell of an upgrade but Damp isn't worth $10m a year, he just had one good season in a PO year - very suspicious, much like Camby.

I don't see our FO signing K-Mart, they have their stupid notions about what a "jazzman" is, or whatever and so they look past some guys. Here would be my most likely scenario, knowing the Jazz:

Re-sign Tag for 3 yrs at 3m/per.
Re-sign Gira for 3 yrs at 3m~/per.
Re-sign Collins for 4 years at 3m~/per
Let Arroyo walk or S&T him.
Sign Etan Thomas for 5 years/$22 mill
Sign Mehmet Okur for 6 years/$42 mill
Draft picks: 14 - Jameer Nelson, 16 - trade for future pick, 21 - Al Jefferson.

That'd be a good offseason.. we might have to overpay for Mehmet a bit, but that's the case for just about every FA and we are desperate for some front court offense. Even if he's a defensive liability, he ain't much worse than JC on that end and he can put up points in a hurry.

This organization is notoriously high on Lopez, and Arroyo doesn't fit the Jazz scheme very well, talented as he is. I don't expect to see him in a Jazz uni next year.

urso53

I doubt that Ostertag would go from a 8 million per to 3 million per. Especially since there are so many teams that are in need of a big man, not to mention he has made some mention of going to dallas.
I agree with you in regards to K-Mart. The jazz were used as pawns last year with Brand and Maggette. They are not going to be the team that courts, proposes, has the bride to be accept (free agent), only to have the bride to be run off with one of the groomsmen a week before the wedding. Getting in with restricted free agents is a bad way to waste time because you tie up money and time that could be spent on someone willing to come.
Also, would drafting Nelson be wise. I like him he is a great player but, they will still have Lopez and Mo Williams unless you plan on one of them leaving to charlotte. Where the jazz were struggling was down low. To bring in Etan, Okur, and then draft a highschooler at #21 wouldn't be much of an upgrade at all

Arclite

Lopez has a huge injury history and Mo played most of his minutes at the two guard. I don't think you can rest your entire PG hopes on those two kids. If they don't sign a veteran or keep Arroyo, I expect them to draft a guy like Jameer.

If you don't think Thomas, Okur and Jefferson are much of an upgrade over Gugliotta, Ruffin and Collins then you're nuts. All Thomas does is score down low, he's a great offensive rebounder and a banger. I'd rather have him than Gooden. The only genuine post scorer I could see us having a shot at is Rahim, but I don't know how we'd get him exactly.

JazzMan

I think I can help them out there...

Arclite

Haha, well all the fans here always use that term. I don't mean to be rude to anyone here from Utah, but in general the fans here don't have a clue. They know almost zilch about most prospects and players, and if you ask them why they don't want someone like K-Mart or Mehmet Okur, they'll probably say "I don't know, he just doesn't seem like a Jazzman to me." And what they mean by that, exactly, is that "he isn't a clean cut white boi with no tatooes, who plays tough, borderline dirty, defense and talks about how great Utah is."..

Unfortunately they've been spoiled by Stockton, and now Harpring and Kirilenko (who wouldn't even say a bad word about satan or cockroaches)..

urso53

First off, Lopez played all 82 games this last season. I would hardly call that injury prone. Two knee problems that he obviously has healed from doesn't make him a cripple. In the jazz system point guards tend to look better than what they are (Eisley, vaughn, Arroyo). If the jazz want another point guard than that is just fine, it really doesn't matter. I will agree that Thomas would be great in utah. I used Gooden as an example of an offensive power forward whose potential could skyrocket under sloan.

Arclite

Gooden and Thomas have some of the same knocks - offensive black holes, limited bball IQ. I really wouldn't mind either of them because we need some low-post offense, and Jerry can usually bring out the "team" concept in players..

I realize Lopez played every game last year, but he's hurt his ACL three times which leads me to believe he has very weak ligaments in his knees.. I'm just saying that putting 48 minutes a game between Lopez and Mo isn't the best idea.. Lopez still makes some bad decisions, travels more than any player in the league, and is inconsistent. I think he'll be the starter eventually, but we need 3 PG's on this roster, imo.

urso53

From the sounds of it the jazz worked out three pg's today and the consensus was: Duhon is slow and more of a player than a point guard, Jameer Nelson is shorter than expected, and Telfair is 18 years old. Count up the negatives and Telfair would be the only option. According to Gordon Chiesa (sp) the jazz had all three here for exclusion rather than inclusion.