General Manager Dennis Lindsey met with a group of writers after Thursday's trade deadline passed without any movement on the part of the Jazz. We'll have a full story up at sltrib.com shortly, but wanted to share a few quick thoughts from Lindsey first.
The first-year GM was clear that the Jazz felt they were operating from a position of power, with eight expiring contracts set to come off the books this summer. The Jazz wanted to retain that flexibility, although Lindsey acknowledged the risk of losing both Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap without a guarantee of return.
While Lindsey joked that the Jazz said "no" to 30 different trades, he declined to put an actual number on it. He said the Jazz were "very" popular in trade talks, but that they didn't feel any of the offers met a high Jazz standard.
The Utah Jazz remain in the playoff picture and were engaged in trade talks
involving Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, but multiple sources say that general
manager Dennis Lindsey expressed a willingness to take a step back next season
to get a better pick in the strong 2014 NBA Draft.
The Jazz casually discussed a Millsap for Eric Bledsoe trade, but are
comfortable letting both he and Jefferson depart via free agency without
compensation.
The Jazz could have dealt Millsap for a high first round pick in 2012, but
would have been required to take back a bad contract.
Everyone still think the Jazz should have dealt Millsap if they had to take back a bad contract to do so? Looks like they could be tanking which seems to be what everyone wants these days.
Bledsoe was about the only rumor I heard about that sounded interesting at all(for Millsap anyway. Getting rid of Jefferson would be good no matter what.) and he's still unproven as a starter in the league. I knew he wasn't getting dealt til they sign Chris Paul though. He'll ba available after that though if they Jazz still like him they should have a few young pieces and cap space to get him still.
Sounds like they tried to get Lilliard and other than him I don't see anybody else that would have made sense and it doesn't sound like Portland was looking to deal the pick even though they liked Millsap. Wouldn't make much sense with LA there.