Or they can go big and still remain fast and athletic with Hood, Hayward, Exum or Alec with two of the bigs. Maybe 3 of the bigs with Jeremy at the 3.
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Or they can go big and still remain fast and athletic with Hood, Hayward, Exum or Alec with two of the bigs. Maybe 3 of the bigs with Jeremy at the 3.
Tomic and Neto?
They still have the money for Tomic even after the recent spending.
[QUOTE]"We’re happy for Marvin," Utah General Manager Dennis Lindsey said. "He’s been a great person and a great player for us. We talked, and I told him that sometimes things come full circle. Maybe one day he can be in a Jazz uniform for us again."[/QUOTE]
I'm happy too! He'll be welcome backfor the vet minimum at the end of the bench.
[QUOTE]The offer from Charlotte was an appealing one. Williams played his college basketball at North Carolina, and the owner of the Hornets, Michael Jordan, is a Tar Heel alum.
Williams gives the Hornets the stretch power forward they lost when Josh McRoberts left for the Miami Heat. Williams isn’t as athletic as McRoberts. But he makes shots and is a locker-room presence.
Without Williams, Enes Kanter is now the undisputed starter at power forward. The Jazz could bring in free agent help, but have said they are committed to the overall team youth movement.[/QUOTE]
I'd call Tomic a young vet. This appears to be the time to bring him over. He's been one of the top players in Europe the past couple years. Can trade him if they don't like him.
[QUOTE]"Marvin really helped us out," Lindsey said. "We repositioned to him to power forward and I think that helped him out some. He deserves this contract, and I’m very happy for him."
Tony Jones[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]The Jazz are one of a handful of teams with the space to take on salaries, and the franchise has shown a willingness to facilitate deals in exchange for assets. Last season, Utah took on more than $20 million in contracts from the Golden State Warriors, picking up a trio of draft picks in the process.
How much room does Utah have? Even if the Jazz match the offer sheet for Gordon Hayward, which appears all but certain, the Jazz will still have about $8.5 million in cap space — and up to around $12 million depending on what the team does with the non-guaranteed contracts of John Lucas, Ian Clark, Erik Murphy and Malcolm Thomas.[/QUOTE]
After Summer League any of them could be gone. Looks like Malcolm played pretty well in game one and Marvin leaving gives him an opportunity. I'd imagine they're looking at a 15 man roster ideally with some flexibility now that they have a D-league team.
[QUOTE]Even with the window for a deal with Houston seemingly closed for now, there remain other possibilities. And Lindsey has said he is willing to listen to offers.
The Bulls could find themselves in a similar situation as Houston thought it was in should Carmelo Anthony choose Chicago over New York.
The Jazz could also help facilitate a sign-and-trade elsewhere.
James’ announcement will also open up the rest of the market.
With James off the market, teams with money to spend will starting looking at Plans B and C.
The Jazz made a pair of signings Friday, though ones that were expected. The team officially inked deals with first-round draft picks Dante Exum and Rodney Hood. The two newest Jazzmen were to make their summer league debuts Friday night in Las Vegas.
And the Jazz on Thursday renounced free agents Brandon Rush and Richard Jefferson, officially clearing enough cap space to take on forward Steve Novak in a trade with Toronto.[/QUOTE]
So did Jefferson ask for it first? Or he signed after they made the choice?
[QUOTE]Jefferson averaged 10 points and 2.7 rebounds a game last year, as the team’s starting small forward. Rush played in 38 games, averaging 2 points a game off the bench.
[email]afalk@sltrib.com[/email][/QUOTE]
Maybe Rush even with mostly a new coaching staff?
[QUOTE]When that topic came up in Sunday's interview, Exum listed a few names people have suggested for him, including D, DX and X-Man.
The birthday boy
[QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Jazz center Rudy Gobert got a technical foul Saturday night after slamming the ball on the court in frustration. He said it was
[QUOTE]Gordon Hayward is not a max-money NBA player.
Oh, sure, he's a nice all-around athlete, one who can help a team in many ways — scoring, rebounding, assists and defense. And at 6-foot-8, he can play either the shooting guard or small forward positions.
What's more, he's a wonderful, thoughtful and classy young man who's good in the locker room and in the community and one who, thankfully, doesn't ever cause problems or make any trouble in either of those places.
But a max-money player? One who will be a huge difference-maker on the court, display tremendous leadership and turn his team into a title contender?
Nope, not right now. And probably not ever.
But that didn't prevent him from getting a max-money offer sheet from the Charlotte Hornets. And it didn't keep the Utah Jazz from matching that offer — $63 million over the next four years — and re-signing the restricted free agent on Saturday.
After all, the Jazz said all along that they were gonna match whatever offer came Hayward's way once the free-agent signing period got going. It was only a matter of time before somebody — in this case, Charlotte, where former Jazz big man Al Jefferson now resides — decided Hayward was their guy.
"He's 24 years old and he has the talent, the character and the work ethic to be an All-Star player," Hornets head coach Steve Clifford told reporters last week.
Or not their guy, as it turns out.
Instead, he'll stay in Utah for the forseeable future. Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey, who had until late tonight to make the move or allow Hayward to walk away, apparently looks at the former Butler University star as one of those indispensable cornerstone pieces in the franchise's rebuilding project, along with young big man Derrick Favors, who received a hefty contract extension from the team last season.
Speaking of a contract extension, the Jazz could've signed Hayward to one last season — and saved themselves a pile of money.
Hayward reportedly was asking for a new deal in the $13 million-a-year range, but Utah reportedly wouldn't budge off its offer of $12 million a year, so they decided to table discussions until after the 2013-14 season ended.[/QUOTE]
12 million would have been too much. They made the right choice there. Almost 16 mill with the trade kicker now is the wrong choice.
[QUOTE]In doing so, the Jazz took a chance that another team wouldn't come calling with a big-money offer for Hayward's services. In essence, though, the Jazz gambled and lost.
Now, instead of locking him up for $13 million a year over the next four years, they'll be dishing out $15.75 million a year instead.
Sure enough, though, that strategy backfired, costing the team $11 million ($63 million instead of $52 million for four years), and might go down as the first major misstep in Lindsey's short but purposeful tenure as the Jazz general manager.[/QUOTE]
His biggest misstep is matching.
[QUOTE]Then again, four years from now, if Hayward can progress as a player and steadily improve on his performance, perhaps experts around the league will laud Lindsey's foresight in keeping the 6-8 swingman around.
But for that to happen, Hayward will have to play a whole lot better than he did last season.
Oh, sure, he averaged career highs in points (16.2 per game), assists (5.2), rebounds (5.1) and steals (1.4) in 2013-14, when he led a lousy 25-57 Jazz team in scoring and minutes played. He was the first Jazz player to average 16/5/5 per game since the late, great Pete Maravich.
But Hayward's shooting percentages took a nosedive, dropping from 43.5 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from 3-point range in 2012-13 to 41.3 percent from the field and 30.4 percent — a startling 11.1 percent decline — from beyond the arc in 2013-14.
Some folks are quick to point out that the added pressure of playing for his next contract may have had a negative impact on Hayward's shooting last season.
Fact is, though, that his shooting numbers have declined every year he's been in the league.
And now he'll have the added pressure of trying to play up to that max-money contract and prove that he deserves it.
His agent, Mark Bartelstein, confirmed his client's deal on Saturday.
"Charlotte put a great presentation in front of him, as far as (owner) Michael Jordan and (general manager) Rich Cho and Steve Clifford; I mean they really just made a terrific impression," Bartelstein told USA Today Sports. "And you know, it's great to know the Jazz think so highly of Gordon that they want to match it. So I think it's a win-win, you know?
"Charlotte made an incredible impression on him, and that's why he signed with them, and it's always great to know that your team values you that they would match an offer like that. (Hayward is) very thankful to Charlotte … and that won't be forgotten. For the Jazz, I think they made a strong statement about how they feel about Gordon and now he'll come and play his heart out for them as he always has."
"I think it's certainly a gigantic statement of how the Jazz value Gordon," Bartelstein told The Associated Press. "It's always a wonderful thing when your own organization values you so much that they'd match a contract like this. I think it makes a great statement to Gordon about how they feel about him and value him."
Or, in this case, overvalue him.
Heck, it's not like he's been a bust since he got here. Hayward, the ninth overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft, has averaged 12 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game over his first four NBA seasons.
And if they hadn't re-signed Hayward, who would the Jazz have gone after instead? It's not like Utah is a hot spot for big-name free agents to land. Maybe they felt like he was the best player they could hope to get.
Again, he's a nice player, a guy who'd be a solid, complimentary second- or third-best player on a lot of NBA teams.
But a max-money player?
No way.
Hopefully, over the next four years, Gordon Hayward will prove me wrong.
EMAIL: [email]rhollis@desnews.com[/email]
Related Stories[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]The Hornets view Williams as a potential replacement for power forward Josh McRoberts, who previously agreed to a contract with Miami. Williams is also versatile enough to play small forward.
McRoberts' departure left the Hornets extremely thin at power forward and in need of some veteran help. Charlotte's only two power forwards on the roster were Cody Zeller, who is entering his second season, and Noah Vonleh, the ninth overall pick in this year's draft.
Coach Steve Clifford said Friday the loss of McRoberts was a "big hit" for Charlotte, calling him a valuable "connector" for the team.
"Not many guys of his size make the game easy for his teammates the way he does" Clifford said. "Not just offensively, but defensively, too. But I've said to his (now former) teammates that's what this league is about. We have other good players and we're still in the process of adding other players to our roster.
"What it will mean is, particularly on offensive part of the floor, we'll have to do things in a different way. No question he was a big part of what we did. Doesn't mean we have to take a step back, but we have to change."[/QUOTE]
Marvin is no McRoberts or Hayward. Getting paid more than McRoberts.
[QUOTE]Williams' addition should be popular among area Tar Heel fans.
Williams played college basketball at North Carolina, the same school as Hornets owner Michael Jordan, and helped the Tar Heels to a national championship as a freshman in 2005. He was the second overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft.
Also Saturday, the Hornets announced they had acquired guard Scotty Hopson and cash considerations from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for center Brendan Haywood, finalizing a draft-night deal. The Cavaliers received the draft rights to forward Dwight Powell, the 45th overall pick.
The 6-foot-7 Hopson missed the entire 2013-14 season due to a stress fracture in his left foot.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Both players, the general manager said, will have key seats at the "decision-making table" as Utah shapes its future.
"We
[QUOTE]Malcolm Thomas impressed with his game around the basket, he ended up being the Jazz
Emiliano Carchia: Jazz rookie Dante Exum is in Australia extended squad for FIBA World Cup in #Spain2014 Twitter @sportando
[QUOTE]CHRIS ROBERTS, guard, 6
Hood shooting 5-6 from 3 so far today.
7-9 from 3 now. Good to see him rebound from the 1-10 he shot the other game.