Utah Jazz

[jeter08]

Jazz needs a good shooting guard ala jeff hornacek 2 rech the finals

[FF]

I salute the Jazz' FO for being sensitive to Fisher's needs. They have shown that for them its not all about money. They do give importance to their players needs. Bravo Jazz :thumbsupsmiley:

 

Fisher brought real life to the Jazz and this town

By Kurt Kragthorpe

Tribune Columnist

 

 

From his first day in town until the last, Derek Fisher always spoke about real life.

Actually, he did a lot more than just talk about it.

Fisher's decision to walk away from his basketball contract and the accompanying $21 million says everything about the man and his priorities, an example that led Jazz vice president Kevin O'Connor to suggest that Monday's news conference deserved an atmosphere of celebration.

Except it was difficult for anyone to feel that way at the moment. As he leaves the Jazz and moves his family in the interest of providing accessible medical treatment to his daughter Tatum, Fisher will be missed in this community in so many ways.

In his year as a Utahn, Fisher showed us how to care about family, about teammates, about professionalism, about others. Everybody will always remember him for Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals, when he arrived from New York after a long, emotional day of dealing with Tatum's initial treatment and helped the Jazz salvage an overtime victory over Golden State.

Personally, I'll never forget two other days.

When he was introduced last July after being traded from the Warriors, Fisher's opening remarks were an expression of hope for the family of a missing child in Salt Lake City, even mentioning her name. Who else would do that? Right then and there, it was clear there was something different about Fisher.

The morning after his legendary appearance in the third quarter of that playoff game, Fisher stood on the Jazz's practice court and fielded questions for a half-hour, willingly discussing everything he and his family had gone through. I wanted to know what had driven him to even think about playing basketball that night, and his answer was profoundly insightful.

"That's what I do," he said. "It's not who I am, but it's what I do."

Fisher's response said everything: It was OK to care about your job. It was OK to care about sports, even games played by others. But none of that should truly define any of us.

Fisher's action Monday captured him. He knew he had to make a decision about his family's future right now, "because of how much is at stake on our side of things and and in terms of the team going forward," he said.

Label it Fisher's last assist for the Jazz, enabling the team to proceed accordingly in the free-agency period.

As for alternatives that could have kept him in a Jazz uniform, he said, "Trust me; I've gone through it a million times. It just didn't quite come together."

He would not, for example, have his wife and four children living elsewhere during the season, just so he could remain with teammates he described as "the best group . . . I've ever played with."

It's true that Fisher has already earned more money than he needs and has already won three NBA championships, and circumstances may well allow him to keep playing for another team. It's also true that he gave the Jazz the most productive season they could expect from him at age 32, and now they're free from owing him all that remaining money.

That's the cold, factual side of all of this. The heartwarming, faith-building aspect is that Fisher is potentially sacrificing his professional career for his family, and owner Larry Miller, the Jazz and the NBA are accommodating him. The next time I'm prepared to accuse the team and the league of not caring about their players as people, I'll remember this day.

I'll never forget Derek Fisher, I know that. In less than a year in this town, he made a lifetime's worth of impact on me. I'm guessing I'm not the only one.

[FF]

with morris almond on board ... the jazz now have almond, brewer , giricek and cj miles at the two. and mo pete looks likely to join the jazz as this year's veteran shooting guard experiment. ( shades of chris morris . john starks , calbert cheaney , and gordan giricek who have tried and failed to fill the hole ... literally and figuratively ... for utah . )

 

hope mo pete does better.

 

 

This from ESPN :

 

NBA free agent Morris Peterson said the Utah Jazz remind him of his college team, Michigan State, which won the 2000 national championship.

 

"The way we played there, there were a lot of plays coming off screens. It's the same-style offense," he said of Utah.

 

Peterson traveled here to talk to Jazz management about joining the team. Owner Larry H. Miller has described him as one of the best players available this summer.

 

"I think they have a great team, and may be one piece away from a championship or making it to the [NBA] Finals," Peterson told the Deseret Morning News.

 

"From watching them in the playoffs, especially with the loss of Derek Fisher, they need a guy who can come in and play some defense and make 3-pointers," he said.

 

Utah is releasing Fisher so he can find medical care for a daughter who has cancer in her left eye.

 

Peterson, who turns 30 in August, averaged 8.9 points last season at Toronto.

[FF]

with morris almond on board ... the jazz now have almond, brewer , giricek and cj miles at the two. and mo pete looks likely to join the jazz as this year's veteran shooting guard experiment. ( shades of chris morris . john starks , calbert cheaney , and gordan giricek who have tried and failed to fill the hole ... literally and figuratively ... for utah . )

 

hope mo pete does better.

This from ESPN :

 

NBA free agent Morris Peterson said the Utah Jazz remind him of his college team, Michigan State, which won the 2000 national championship.

 

"The way we played there, there were a lot of plays coming off screens. It's the same-style offense," he said of Utah.

 

Peterson traveled here to talk to Jazz management about joining the team. Owner Larry H. Miller has described him as one of the best players available this summer.

 

"I think they have a great team, and may be one piece away from a championship or making it to the [NBA] Finals," Peterson told the Deseret Morning News.

 

"From watching them in the playoffs, especially with the loss of Derek Fisher, they need a guy who can come in and play some defense and make 3-pointers," he said.

 

Utah is releasing Fisher so he can find medical care for a daughter who has cancer in her left eye.

 

Peterson, who turns 30 in August, averaged 8.9 points last season at Toronto.

 

 

despite being portrayed as frontrunners for mo peterson ... looks like the jazz are still unsure whether they want to pay the price of having the 30 year vet .

 

this from the deseret news :

 

The almighty dollar could ultimately determine whether or not former Toronto Raptors swingman Morris Peterson plays in Utah.

So Jazz coach Jerry Sloan seemed to suggest Wednesday, the first full day this summer that NBA free agents are permitted to sign new contracts.

"I don't have any idea," Sloan said when asked if he expects to soon see Peterson in a Jazz uniform.

"I never know just from sitting and talking with a player, and him asking questions, what his thoughts are — because I don't get involved in the money part of it," added Sloan, who leaves such negotiations to basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor. "Everybody tells you they'd like to play — until it comes down to the money part."

Peterson and his agent are thought to be seeking full midlevel team payroll salary cap exception money and terms — a five-year contract starting at $5.356 million next season and worth about $32 million in total.

The Jazz are believed to want to pay less than that, in part so they can address other needs with the rest of their midlevel money.

"So, from my standpoint, everything is fine," said Sloan, who along with O'Connor met with Peterson last Monday. "But there are other people involved."

Sloan did have high praise for the Michigan State product who has spent all seven of his NBA seasons in Toronto. But he also offered some caution regarding Peterson, who is expected to also visit New Orleans before making up his mind.

"He's a player that can shoot the ball some. He seems to have a little bit of toughness. He seems to understand an offense," Sloan said.

"But you never know," the Jazz coach added. "You get a guy in here, and you have no idea how he's gonna do until he's here."

[FF]

mo peterson ends up with the new orleans hornets and the jazz get .... jason hart . as an nba fan ... j.h. must have been one of the league's biggest mystery men . here's jason's wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Hart. and it ain't so bad jazz fans ... the dude's got some nice basketball creds to his name ...

[FF]

after jason hart ... jazz sign up ronnie price.

 

this from sports illustrated .com ...

 

The Utah Jazz and former Utah Valley State guard Ronnie Price have agreed to a contract.

 

Price will sign with the Jazz if he passes a physical. Financial details were not disclosed by the team Thursday.

 

Price played two seasons with the Sacramento Kings, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He averaged 2.9 points and one rebound in 87 games.

 

Price had a career high against the Jazz last November, scoring 16 points in one of his six double-digit games of the season.

 

I wonder if the two signings were some sort of messages to cj miles ( sat out the RM Revue ) and dee brown .

 

with price and hart in place ... the jazz are now three deep in the point position .

[FF]

ronnie price highlights ( courtesy of the deseret news )

 

 

Ronnie Price

guard

6-2, 190 pounds

Age: 24

Alma mater: Utah Valley State

NBA experience: 2 years with the Sacramento Kings

 

Career highlights

 

• Played in 87 games for the Kings over two seasons, averaging 2.9 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.7 assists in 8.2 minutes per game.

 

• Played in 58 games last season, averaging 3.3 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 9.7 minutes per game.

 

• Scored a career-high 16 points against the Jazz on Nov. 22, 2006.

 

• Averaged 24.3 points per game as a senior at UVSC, second in Division I basketball

[lukesky1976]

what's with AK47 the past season?

[FF]

what's with AK47 the past season?

 

luke.... the dude's still in russia. nba watchers say he's on the trading block. we'll update you with more news when he flies back in.

[FF]

here's the jazz sked for the coming season ...http://www.nba.com/jazz/schedule/results_2007.html

[FF]

luke.... the dude's still in russia. nba watchers say he's on the trading block. we'll update you with more news when he flies back in.

 

 

and the news is ... ( in case you haven't heard is ) ... AK47 wants out of the jazz . to read more click http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-28-7...-s-Staying.html

[orionpax]

AK 47 says he wont return to Utah and he doesnt deserve that much money... hehehe

[launchpad]

if he gets traded to the suns his on my fanstasy list! damn! amare and AK47 what a tandem i dont think there will be much guys getting easy baskets and nash and AK47 hahaha

[FF]

if he gets traded to the suns his on my fanstasy list! damn! amare and AK47 what a tandem i dont think there will be much guys getting easy baskets and nash and AK47 hahaha

 

marion for kirilenko is a good trade. for more on ak47's saga click http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-28-8...-Kirilenko.html

[howard_the_duck]

AK47 is one big BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZER

[tanis]

Uy meron na palang thread ang Utah Jazz ko.

Nice!!

[FF]

Uy meron na palang thread ang Utah Jazz ko.

Nice!!

 

welcome tanis ! just backread and you'll note that we've been here for quite some time. among the many fans ( joke ! at best there's five or six of us ) are spongebobby , lyssahot , myself and some other mtc people who find time to post when the season swings around.

[michael88]

oo nga marion for AK is a good trade. both are unhappy with their teams.

[boy anis]

lugi ang jazz pagnangyari un dahil sa sweldo plang eh mas malaki sweldo ni marion kaysa kay ak47. ngayon makakahinga ng malalim na ang suns ang jazz naman baka ma taxhan naman ng malaki bwahahaha :thumbsupsmiley:

[kanski]

lugi ang jazz pagnangyari un dahil sa sweldo plang eh mas malaki sweldo ni marion kaysa kay ak47. ngayon makakahinga ng malalim na ang suns ang jazz naman baka ma taxhan naman ng malaki bwahahaha :thumbsupsmiley:

 

 

If the swap pushes through, the Jazz will be getting the better player (albeit just barely) so they should get the raw end of having to pay more.

[FF]

lugi ang jazz pagnangyari un dahil sa sweldo plang eh mas malaki sweldo ni marion kaysa kay ak47. ngayon makakahinga ng malalim na ang suns ang jazz naman baka ma taxhan naman ng malaki bwahahaha :thumbsupsmiley:

 

if you're talking about cap space , shawn marion's contract expires at the end of 2008 while kirilenko's contract runs for three more years after this season. so taking on kirilenko really means more problems luxury taxwise for the suns. with that said , the jazz should really trade ak47 ( not unless andrei changes his heart and his game. he should realize that with okur , boozer and williams there simply aren't enough shots to go around. ) to a team in need of andrei's skills. problem is that a lot of teams will definitely lowball the jazz.

Edited September 25, 2007 by FF

[boy anis]

Point well taken but right now the most sensible trade might be the nets and jazz.Right now i think they are looking at AK and jefferson.Both sides will be fairly compensated since the nets need some inside presence and the jazz need a good scorer aside from boozer and williams. what do you think guys?... :thumbsupsmiley:

 

 

If the swap pushes through, the Jazz will be getting the better player (albeit just barely) so they should get the raw end of having to pay more.

 

 

if you're talking about cap space , shawn marion's contract expires at the end of 2008 while kirilenko's contract runs for three more years after this season. so taking on kirilenko really means more problems luxury taxwise for the suns. with that said , the jazz should really trade ak47 ( not unless andrei changes his heart and his game. he should realize that with okur , boozer and williams there simply aren't enough shots to go around. ) to a team in need of andrei's skills. problem is that a lot of teams will definitely lowball the jazz.

[FF]

Point well taken but right now the most sensible trade might be the nets and jazz.Right now i think they are looking at AK and jefferson.Both sides will be fairly compensated since the nets need some inside presence and the jazz need a good scorer aside from boozer and williams. what do you think guys?... :thumbsupsmiley:

 

it's really hard to get fair value for kirilenko. though the numbers may match ... ak47 has a freakish combination of skills ( check out his euroleague stats to see and believe ). but the problem is for andrei to shine is that he has to have a lot of touches which i don't see happening specially with dwill ( the man just admitted he didn't pass the rock that much to andrei last season).

 

so the jazz have to bite the bullet and deal the guy. any team would be lucky to have andrei.

[FF]

Marion for Kirilenko ? here's bill simmons from ESPN Page 2 :

 

1.Marion's agent must be the same guy who convinced David Caruso to leave "NYPD Blue." At some point on his next team, Shawn Marion is going to feel like an idiot for pushing to get traded AWAY from Steve Nash and Mike D'Antoni. That's a mortal lock. Playing for the Suns makes Marion seem better than he actually is. Watch what happens if he gets traded.

 

2. Kirilenko is the only attainable player who represents close to full value for Marion (maybe 85-90 percent). Playing with Nash in a freewheeling style that takes advantage of his considerable skills, he's a mortal lock to turn his career around. Hell, anyone who watched the Warriors-Jazz series last spring knows that Kirilenko is trapped on the wrong team -- he's playing for the wrong coach in the wrong system, and any time the pace changes (like in that Warriors series), he becomes a different player. He's also three years younger than Marion and saves the Suns $3 million this season (money they could spend on a veteran buyout guy this winter). The only drawback other than the fact that he's coming off an atrocious (but explainable) season is Kirilenko's contract, which lasts until 2011 and carries a whopping $34 million price tag over the final two seasons. For a team that's terrified of the luxury tax like the Suns, those are some frightening numbers on paper.

 

3. Every other trade option could potentially k*ll Phoenix's title hopes. Perusing ESPN's Trade Machine, only seven teams could even pull off a realistic offer for Marion: Utah (for Kirilenko), Los Angeles Lakers (for Lamar Odom and a small contract to make the numbers work), Detroit (for Rasheed Wallace and a small contract), Washington (for Antawn Jamison and his expiring deal), Memphis (for Mike Miller, one more young guy and Stro Swift's expiring deal), Houston (for Shane Battier and expiring contracts) and New York (for a package of young players and expiring contracts highlighted by David Lee). You could rule out the last four destinations because Suns fans would freak if Marion was traded for 60-70 cents on the dollar, especially on the heels of the Kurt Thomas trade. I don't see Detroit's going over the luxury tax for a Sheed/Marion swap. The Odom deal would save money and solve chemistry issues, only another problem would be created because Odom has so much trouble staying on the floor -- he's missed 146 games in the past six seasons and played more than 64 games exactly twice.

 

Really, the only logical move for the Suns is Kirilenko. He solves their chemistry issues, replaces Marion's rebounding/shot-blocking/defense and gives them a ton of flexibility with lineups. (With the way AK47 protects the rim, Phoenix could even play him at center in a breakneck, "smallball deluxe" lineup that would have Don Nelson drooling in envy.) I'm in the minority here, but I think Kirilenko would make the All-Star team every February playing with Nash. For some reason, it reminds me of the "Basic Instinct" producers' finally casting Sharon Stone to be in an erotic thriller in 1991. She went 10 years without the right script, then it happened and she immediately became a mega-star. I feel the same way about Kirilenko. He's been trapped doing the wrong movies for the past five years.

 

Over everything else, I hope the Kirilenko-Marion swap happens for one reason: Steve Nash deserves to play in one NBA Finals before the end of his prime, but it won't happen with an unhappy Marion, just like Utah won't make the finals with an unhappy Kirilenko. Rarely does a straight-up deal make this much sense on paper, although Utah should throw in something extra to account for the slight upgrade (as well as the fact that Phoenix gets stuck with those last two years of Kirilenko's deal). I hope this trade happens in some form. For everyone's sake. Even for you, Shawn Marion, the guy who won't know how good he has it until it's too late.

 

(Of course, this is the NBA, so the trade probably won't happen. Alas !

Edited September 27, 2007 by FF

[tanis]

thanks for the welcome FF.

 

my take on the AK saga: I hope he stays put. Due to the way Okur plays and Boozer defends, AK is the perfect complimentary player for the Jazz frontcourt. Close second is Millsap.

 

Deron floated the idea of playing AK as PF, Boozer at C (his natural position while playing for Duke) and sliding Okur to SF. It could work. And many of the jazzfanz have already suggested this idea as early as last season.

 

Another option would be having AK in the second unit ala Ginobili. He will be the focal point of offense with Harp/Millsap, Collins, Brewer, Hart/Price/Almond and/or Fess.

 

By the way .. has anybody followed Fess, his quotable quotes, stories and his play in RMR? Great dude! Hopefully the second coming of Millsap.