Utah Jazz Fan GM (Over)-Analysis

WRITTEN BY PETER J. NOVAK | August 10, 2012

New General Manager Jazz Fan Orientation

“The King is Dead, Long Live the King”

Thank you for all your hard work Kevin O’Connor, now please take your red stapler and the rest of your belongings and move your stuff to the office in the basement.  Welcome aboard Dennis Lindsey, are you all settled in yet?  Have you gone through the office supply catalog and picked out your calendar, your pen caddy and your new Utah Jazz business cards?  Good.  Time to get to work.

By now Mr. Lindsey, as the brand spanking new General Manager of the Utah Jazz (at least in title), you’ve made the rounds in the Jazz offices, you’ve shaken everybody’s hand, you’ve kissed all their babies, you’ve schmoozed the media (a job well done I might add), you’ve met with the information technology department and received a tutorial on your 1990’s Windows 3.0 based computer, and you’ve filled out all of your human resource forms.  You should be all locked in and ready to transform the Utah Jazz into the championship contender the fan base is confident you will deliver.

However, Mr. Lindsey before you are set completely loose, please take a moment of your time and try to understand the desires of the Utah Jazz fan base.  We all know that Gail and Greg Miller will keep you for life so long as you work hard at your job but please just humor us a bit and consider our needs as the loyal fans of Utah’s only professional sports franchise.  After this brief orientation we will leave you alone to do your work and only return to raise our voices again when you do something really dumb…or if you do something really smart…or when you don’t do anything at all…or when you do something that should have been done before…or when you order Café Rio for lunch… or…well…you get the idea.

So without further adieu, here are your first five assignments from your loyal Jazz fan base:

#1 Acquire a Future Point Guard:  Jazz fans love our point guards.  We’ve been spoiled.  For 28 out of the past 31 NBA seasons the Jazz have been guided by either Rickey Green, John Stockton or Deron Williams.  All of these point guards have had all-star caliber careers and one of which is the greatest pure point guard of all time (Off-Topic :  by adding the word “pure” it takes Magic Johnson out of the conversation).  Since Deron Williams was traded, the Jazz have yet to fill the void.  We thought Devin Harris might be that guy.  He had an all-star year previously for the Nets, but he was not the right fit in Utah.  O’Connor has brought back Mo Williams to try to fill the spot, but Mo is coming off the worse season of his career.  A season in which Mo was not a starter not to mention that he will be turning 30 later this year.

The Jazz need a young point guard to groom with our Core Four (Off-Topic:  “Core Four” is our catchy/corny little nickname we’ve come up with to refer to Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward, Enes Kanter and Alec Burks.  Off-Off-Topic:  if you trade one of those four guys you may have some crazy Jazz fan threaten to cut you with a knife).  The average age of the Core Four is 21 years old.  Regardless of how well Mo Williams plays next year, he will be long retired once the Core Four hits its prime.

There are some people who may argue that an elite point guard is no longer needed to win in the NBA.  LeBron James didn’t have one last year.  Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant never played with one.  Regardless, the Jazz fans need one.  It is kind of our thing.  We like to see unselfish guard play set up the rest of our team.  So we beg of you, please trade for a point guard we can peg our future to.  Or please sign one.  Or at the very least please be seen in college arenas this year scouting out top college point guard prospects.

#2 Trade Paul Millsap or Al Jefferson or Both:  This suggestion may help you with #1 above, but we as fans are ready to transition to the Derrick Favors era.  It is time.  You said in your introductory press conference that Derrick Favors “made six or seven plays in the San Antonio series that we were shaking our knees  that there’s very few guys that can make those types of plays” (Off-Topic:  Jazz fans will not forget that quote, we will hold it over your head forever).  A player of that ability needs to start and he needs to play the bulk of every game he is a part of.  However, as long as Millsap and Jefferson are on the team, Favors will differ to their veteran presence and not demand more.  That is just part of his good southern values, something I am sure you know all about.  While it is noble for Favors to defer to the veterans in front of him, it is holding back his development long-term.  He needs court time and he needs to be given more touches on offense.  Until that happens we won’t know if Favors is the next Dwight Howard or the next Emeka Okafor.

Now do not get me wrong, Jazz fans love Millsap.  O’Connor stole him in the second round from the same university where we drafted our all time best player, Karl Malone.  Furthermore, Jazz fans respect Jefferson.  We may not all be so fond of his game, but he is a good guy and gives maximum effort.  However, with both of these guys playing their final year in their contracts, there is a good chance that one or both of them walk away next off-season and leave the Jazz without anything to show for it.  So please, get on the phone and make some calls.  Go get us our future point guard or get us some future draft picks.

#3 Don’t Re-Sign Josh Howard:  For the love of all that is holy, do not re-sign Josh Howard.  He was terrible last year.  Furthermore, his history of knee injuries crept up once again and put him on the sideline for a big chunk of last season.  The Jazz have depth at small forward now.  Marvin Williams is a serviceable starter.  DeMarre Carroll plays with hustle that Jazz fans truly appreciate.  Gordon Hayward and Paul Millsap (if you keep him) can all log minutes at small forward.  The Jazz are four deep at small forward right now, there is no point adding a fifth.

I understand that one of the modus operandi of the Spurs was investing in veteran reclamation projects.  What you guys did with Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson last year was amazing.  You must know however, that if you re-sign Josh Howard, Coach Corbin will play him heavy minutes, all to the detriment of the development of the Core Four.  So please repeat with me “I WILL NOT RE-SIGN JOSH HOWARD”.  Thank you!

#4 Find and Name a Team Captain: Last season Corbin went the whole year without naming a team captain.  I would hazard a guess that Corbin did not think that any of the players on his roster would command the respect as the team leader over the rest of the crew.  He may have been right.

As Gandhi once said “…a rudderless ship, [is] bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.”  While the Jazz may have bonded together and earned a playoff spot, the lack of leadership played a role in our embarrassing 4-0 first round playoff sweep to the Spurs.  It was in the midst of that series that Jefferson, our alleged best player, was quoted as saying that the Spurs were unbeatable.  It is times like that that team leadership is needed the most to stay the course and bring everyone back on board.

That being said the Jazz may have their leader this year in Mo Williams.  Or perhaps Gordon Hayward takes another step in his development and becomes more assertive in a leadership role.  Either option may or may not pan out, but until this team has a confident take charge leader like Stockton and Malone or Duncan, Ginobili and Parker, we will be lucky to escape the first round of the playoffs.

#5 Put on a Smile: Lastly, Jazz fans are excited to have you here.  We love your Spurs pedigree.  We hate the Spurs organization, but only because they are so good a beating us.  It is laudable what the Spurs have accomplished as a small market organization.  Jazz fans respect that.  We understand that part of what has made the Spurs so successful is the cohesiveness of the organization and their ability to keep their business in house.  We understand that as our General Manager you will keep many secrets from us until the very last minute.  We are ok with that that is part of your job.  However, please at least make us believe that you enjoy your job and all of the duties that come with it, even speaking with the media.  Following the Utah Jazz as fans is an outlet for us, a form of entertainment and it should be fun.  It is fun!  Are you having fun yet?

FROM @kslsports

Courtesy of KSL5Sports 

2012 NBA Summer League Game Schedule:

All Times listed are PACIFIC

Friday July 13
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- Atlanta vs. Washington
3 PM -- Houston vs. Toronto
5 PM -- Golden State vs. LA Lakers
7 PM -- Sacramento vs. Charlotte

Saturday July 14
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- Memphis vs. New York
3 PM -- Golden State vs. Denver
5 PM -- LA Lakers vs. Sacramento
7 PM -- Houston vs. Washington

Sunday July 15
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- New York vs. Phoenix
3 PM -- Denver vs. Dallas
5 PM -- San Antonio vs. Atlanta
7 PM -- Washington vs. NBA D-League

• Thomas & Mack
3:30 PM -- Toronto vs. Miami
5:30 PM -- Cleveland vs. Charlotte
7:30 PM -- New Orleans vs. Portland

Monday July 16
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- Atlanta vs. Boston
3 PM -- Dallas vs. Toronto
5 PM -- Cleveland vs. NBA D-League
7 PM -- LA Clippers vs. Minnesota

• Thomas & Mack
3:30 PM -- Houston vs. Sacramento
5:30 PM -- LA Lakers vs. Miami
7:30 PM -- Milwaukee vs. New Orleans

Tuesday July 17
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- Denver vs. New York
3 PM -- Washington vs. Memphis
5 PM -- Portland vs. Houston
7 PM -- Chicago vs. Boston

• Thomas & Mack
3:30 PM -- San Antonio vs. LA Lakers
5:30 PM -- Cleveland vs. Phoenix
7:30 PM -- Minnesota vs. Charlotte

Wednesday July 18
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- Milwaukee vs. Washington
3 PM -- Chicago vs. Houston
5 PM -- Atlanta vs. Dallas
7 PM -- San Antonio vs. LA Clippers

• Thomas & Mack
3:30 PM -- Sacramento vs. Toronto
5:30 PM -- New Orleans vs. Phoenix
7:30 PM -- Golden State vs. Miami

Thursday July 19
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- New York vs. Toronto
3 PM -- Portland vs. Atlanta
5 PM -- Cleveland vs. Minnesota
7 PM -- NBA D-League vs. Milwaukee

• Thomas & Mack
3:30 PM -- Boston vs. Sacramento
5:30 PM -- LA Clippers vs. LA Lakers
7:30 PM -- Charlotte vs. Denver

Friday July 20
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- New York vs. Cleveland
3 PM -- Denver vs. Portland
5 PM -- Miami vs. San Antonio
7 PM -- NBA D-League vs. Phoenix

• Thomas & Mack
3:30 PM -- Memphis vs. Charlotte
5:30 PM -- Chicago vs. Golden State
7:30 PM -- Dallas vs. New Orleans

Saturday July 21
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- Portland vs. Miami
3 PM -- Dallas vs. San Antonio
5 PM -- NBA D-League vs. Minnesota
7 PM -- Memphis vs. Phoenix

• Thomas & Mack
3:30 PM -- Golden State vs. New Orleans
5:30 PM -- Chicago vs. LA Clippers
7:30 PM -- Milwaukee vs. Boston

Sunday July 22
• COX Pavilion
1 PM -- Chicago vs. Milwaukee
3 PM -- Boston vs. LA Clippers
5 PM -- Memphis vs. Minnesota

• SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
• All Times listed are PACIFIC

Utah Jazz Fan GM (Over)-Analysis
WRITTEN BY PETER J. NOVAK | 26 June 2012
“Houston, we’ve had a problem” – Captain Jim Novell

The NBA draft is two days away and rumors are flying fast and furious. In somewhat of an odd twist, all ofthe rumors seem to be emanating out of Houston as the Rockets attempt to acquire every single 2012 first rounddraft pick. So far they have acquired three mid-first round draft selections (14, 16 & 18) but are continuing to shoparound in order to upgrade those picks into higher draft commodities. Once the dust is settled they hope to havethe pieces necessary to enable them to acquire a super-star player, ideally Dwight Howard (Houston is reportedlyinterested in lesser all-stars as well).

At this point, Utah Jazz fans are just sitting back wishing for rumors that their team is seriously engagedin a draft pick or talent acquisition trade. Not unexpectedly, things are quiet from the Jazz camp, other than somesemi-believable rumors that Kevin O’Connor is looking for a draft pick to use to acquire Damian Lillard, the local pointguard out of Weber State and likely top-10 draft pick (Chad Ford reported today that the Trailblazers are consideringtrading the #6 pick to Utah for Paul Millsap).

Ever since Mehmet Okur was traded to the Nets last year, Jazz fans have been clamoring for O’Connorto use the $10.8m “traded player exception” (the “TPE”) generated from that trade, to upgrade the roster. The timemay be perfect for O’Connor to play his TPE card as the financial flexibility that comes with such an asset would bea valuable commodity to help Houston facilitate its talent acquisition endeavors. While the Jazz do not necessarilywant to assist one of their Western Conference rivals acquire top of the line talent, there may be a few scenarioswhere doing so will help the Jazz improve significantly, without having to give up a bunch of core roster players inreturn.
What is the TPE?

The TPE is a function of the collective bargaining agreement and can be used as an exception to thestandard salary matching requirements necessary in all NBA trades. When a team executes a trade in the NBA withanother team and takes back less salary in return, the difference in salary given versus salary received creates aTPE. The Jazz did this when they dealt Memo to the Nets and did not receive any return players/salaries. The netresult was a $10.8m TPE that now allows the Jazz to take back a single or multiple players, either simultaneously orin separate transactions, who have a salary that is less than $10.8m plus $100,000. The Jazz have one year fromthe Memo trade to use this exception or they lose it. If you are interested in more details about what a TPE is andwhat a team can and cannot do with it, read ESPN salary cap expert Larry Coon’s explanation of it here: http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q82.

The TPE is an especially appealing tool for teams that have made financial commitments to players thatthey now want to unload without taking back any salary commitments in return. This is where the Jazz’s TPE maycome into play, as it would be a useful conduit in any trade that Houston makes for Dwight Howard or another NBAstar.
What is Houston really up to?

As it stands now the Rockets have about $50m in committed salaries/cap holds for the upcoming season,which is about $8m below the projected cap. Step 1 of their currently reported goal is to parlay picks 14, 16 and18 plus a combination of current players, to get them additional picks in the top 10 that would be more appealing tothe Magic. As of right now it seems likely that Houston could use Kyle Lowry to acquire a top ten pick from eitherToronto at #8 (who is looking for a successor to Jose Calderon), or to Portland at #6 (who according to Chad Fordis considering trading its pick to Houston for Lowry). The second trade component that Houston is dealing with isrumored to be Sacramento at #5, who would be taking picks #14 and #16 and Samuel Dalembert in return for the 5thpick. The ultimate sum of its initial trades would leave Houston with picks #5 and #8 (or #7 or #6) and about $12.5mmore in cap room bringing them to about $20.5m in cap space.

Step 2 of Houston’s plan is to lure or trade for a second star player to entice Dwight to consider staying inHouston long-term. Specifically, according to Bill Ingram of Hoopsworld, Houston would use the Dwight trade as thechip that convinces Deron Williams to sign with Houston and thus convinces Dwight to sign a long-term extensionwith Houston (http://www.hoopsworld.com/rockets-targeting-dwight-howard-deron-williams). At first blush this appearsto be a long shot and both Dwight and DWill have already claimed they don’t have interest in Houston. However, ifDWill’s and Dwight’s real goal is to play together and compete for a title, Houston may be one of the only teams thathas the assets needed to acquire both guys and create the necessary cap space to get it done.

So how can the Jazz help Houston get Dwight and more importantly, what is in it for Utah?
Now with the table set, here is where we get into how the Jazz may get involved in facilitating a tradebetween Houston and Orlando. There are two different types of trades that the Jazz and other parties might haveinterest in. The first would be a “salary dump trade” with Houston alone, while the second would be a 3-way tradethat would use some of Utah’s assets to entice Orlando to deal Dwight to Houston.

Trade Scenario One:Houston trades Kevin Martin (1yr $12.4m) and Luis Scola (3yrs $9.4m, $10.2m, $11m) toUtah for Paul Millsap (1yr $8m) and a future 2nd round pick (Jazz must use TPE to acquire $9.4m Luis Scolacontract)

Houston’s Motivation. With this trade (technically it would be two separate trades) Houston is able toclear an additional $13.2m off of its salary cap and coupled with the previous trades, would bring its cap spaceto about $33.7m. This by itself would be enough that Houston could trade the draft picks it acquires to Orlandoand not require any additional salary or players be sent to Orlando. Houston would likely include additional youngassets including Patrick Patterson and/or Markieff Morris. Houston could also take back one or two of Orlando’s badcontracts (Hedo Turkoglu (2yrs $11.8m, $12m non-guaranteed?) in order to facilitate a trade.

That would mean Houston’s total package for Dwight would be something like picks #5, #8, #18 in the 2012draft (and additional future 1st rounders either its own, or the one acquired from Dallas via Los Angeles) along withPatterson and Morris. This alone would seem to me to trump any offer the Nets try to put together surrounding BrookLopez and future first round picks. It would arguably be better than an Andrew Bynum offer as well assuming thatpicks #5 and #8 pan out for Orlando. Houston would then have both Dwight and Millsap to entice DWill to comeaboard.

Utah’s Motivation. In the above scenario Utah gives up fan favorite Paul Millsap and financial flexibilityand in return gets a very comparable, but older player in Luis Scola. While the remaining $30m owed to Scola isless than ideal it is a fair market rate for a player of his production. Additionally, the Jazz acquire a shooting guard inKevin Martin who would be a valuable starter and scorer on this team for the upcoming season and who they couldhopefully convince to re-sign at a more affordable price thereafter. By getting two rotation players for the price of onethe Jazz have successfully used its TPE in this scenario to supplement its roster heading into the upcoming season.

Trade Scenario Two:
This next trade gets a little bit confusing, so I have attached the ESPN trade machine configuration showingwhich players are traded where:http://t.co/glAgQnp

Houston acquires Dwight Howard (1yr $19.5m) and Hedo Turkoglu (2yrs $11.8m, $12m non-guaranteed)Orlando acquires Al Jefferson (1yr $15m), Kyle Lowry ($5.75m, $6.2m team option) and picks #5, #18 and afuture 1st round pick from HoustonUtah acquires Kevin Martin (1yr $12.4m), Luis Scola (3yrs $9.4m, $10.2m, $11m), JJ Redick (1yr $6.2mnon-guaranteed); and Patrick Patterson (3yrs $2m, $3.1m, $4.3m qualifying offer). (Utah must use TPE toacquire $9.4m Luis Scola contract) Houston’s Motivation. This trade assumes that Houston does not trade Lowry to Toronto for #8 andinstead uses Lowry to get Orlando to buy into this deal. Houston is able to acquire Dwight and would just be a fewmillion shy of enough cap space to offer Deron Williams a max contract. The team would still have RFA rights toCourtney Lee and the ability to sign and trade Goran Dragic to fill out the rest of its lineup.

Orlando’s Motivation. Orlando uses this trade to replace Dwight with Jefferson who would take over hisrole as the primary low post scoring option on the team. Lowry is a big upgrade over Jameer Nelson at this pointin his career and would supply some needed youth to the Orlando backcourt. With the #5 pick, Orlando could drafta wing like Harrison Barnes or Michael Kidd Gilchrist to give the team a potential star wing to run with Lowry. Thistrade keeps Orlando competitive in the short-term (if that is their true goal) and in the long-term they eliminate millionsof dollars of long-term salary obligations.

Utah’s Motivation. Utah uses this trade to acquire a low post scorer and shooter from the shooting guardposition as analyzed in the trade above. Utah also acquires Redick, who is a decent shooter from the bench andPatrick Patterson, who may be a good 6th man power forward to replace Millsap if the team lets him walk after the season. In order to improve its backcourt the team does have to take on some large salary obligations to Martin andRedick, but both contract are expiring and the team could choose after the season which if either player fits into theteam long-term.

Are there better uses for the Jazz’s TPE?
While the Houston scenarios above present some interesting trade supplemental pieces to improve theteams depth, O’Connor will certainly be looking to see if there is a better use for the team’s TPE. There are a fewother teams that are reportedly interested in shedding salary and may be willing to unload overpriced contracts intothe Jazz’s TPE and entice us to take on such salary obligations by offering draft pick compensation. Most of thesetransactions would appear to be from teams later on in the draft like

Dallas (pick #17 and Shawn Marion 2yrs $17m)or Atlanta (pick #23 and Marvin Williams 2yrs $17m).
In any event if the Jazz are to going to use the TPE before it expires in December, it will likely be to enableanother team to clear cap space for moves they are trying to do either on draft day or when free agency commencesin July. The above examples with Houston are the types of deals I think would be available to the Jazz if they are infact willing to act as a conduit to other teams.