SB Nation User Blog: basketballjohn

2008 Free Agency open thread

basketballjohn — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:05:37 -0000

Open thread to discuss free agency.

Chris Paul Signs for Three Years

basketballjohn — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:57:36 -0000

What might set a precedent for Deron William, Chris Paul signed a three year deal with a player option for a fourth that would pay him $68 Million.

So will that have an effect on Deron's contract? Maybe. I think their situations are a little different in the I think Deron might be thinking a little more long term because he has a family and likes the SLC. My guess still is that he signs for four with an option for the fifth.

Of course, as clarkpojo pointed out in his excellent post, a lot of Deron's decision might depend on the brass of the Jazz convincing Deron that they will do what it takes to build a championship team around him.

At the very least, we'll have Deron for the next four years with his remaining deal and a minimum of three on the new one.

Poll

How many years will Deron Williams sign for?

Apparently it takes only 20 years to become Director of Basketball Operations. I didn't know tha...

basketballjohn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:54:59 -0000

Apparently it takes only 20 years to become Director of Basketball Operations. I didn't know that the balls required surgeries. I guess they play 82 games+ as well.

But to become lead scout, it takes 30.

Jazz Promote Smith

This has international incident written all over it.

basketballjohn — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:27:28 -0000

via cache.daylife.com

Okay, who had the idea to schedule the Iranian National Team for the Revue?

Jazz fans already have a bad enough reputation of being bad fans. Do we really want to be known for starting a war in the middle east because of some unruly fans? Maybe we should just bring in the Israeli team?

Here's the official Revue schedule (pdf). Mark down July 21 on your calendar. When there's a strike on Iran, you'll know why.

In all seriousness, I'm sure everything will be fine. It will be cool to see Ahmadinejad calling plays from the sideline,

via patdollard.com

NBA.tv preview of Kosta Koufos. I love how they keep referring to Kosta as a European player, th...

basketballjohn — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:10:27 -0000

NBA.tv preview of Kosta Koufos. I love how they keep referring to Kosta as a European player, that he might head back to Europe, and that he's from Greece.

NBA.com: Report: Paul, Hornets Nearing Contract Extension

basketballjohn — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:19:29 -0000

NBA.com: Report: Paul, Hornets Nearing Contract Extension

Looks like Paul will get his deal first. That might set the tone for Deron's contract.

Jaycee Carroll at the Revue

basketballjohn — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:49:58 -0000

Jaycee Carroll at the Revue

According to KFAN, it looks like USU standout Jaycee Carroll will play with the Nets in summer league and be at the Revue. Should bring in a lot of USU/Wyoming fans.

Dunking on Locke

basketballjohn — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:52:45 -0000

UPDATE: In case you didn't hear it, live outside the SLC, or just want to hear us again, here's the link to the mp3 file from the blogger round table on Locke. The format next time should be a little more orderly.

I'll be on today at 4 p.m. MDT with David Locke. It's going to be a somewhat regular roundtable with other bloggers. The others that will be participating are My Utah Jazz, The Cowhide Globe, and someone from Jazzbots. I'll have the .mp3 link up when it's posted on thefansports.com.

2008 Rocky Mountain Revue, second thoughts on draft, and news

basketballjohn — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:31:03 -0000

via www.nba.com

Even the official Utah Jazz site doesn't have the teams mentioned for the Rocky Mountain Revue, but if you follow The Fan Sports pre-sale link, you can find the following teams,

Dallas Mavericks
Atlanta Hawks
San Antonio Spurs
New Jersey Nets
Golden State Warriors
FIBA National Team
D-League All-Stars

So we should be seeing such players as Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Goran Dragic, and Anthony Randolph in addition to our players. The Hawks didn't have any 2008 picks and the Mavs had just the one. I was hoping to have Chicago here again to see Rose, but that's not happening. I guess the teams could change between now and then, but this is pretty much it.

We're down one NBA team from last year, but they've added the FIBA team and Dl-League All-stars. So it's not the death of the RMR yet. But there aren't any big name players this year. Lopez is probablyt the biggest one. But we all go to see the Jazz team, right?

Should be a great Revue. For the Jazz we'll see Koufos, Fesenko, Almond, and maybe CJ Miles. He got QOd again. The brass was a little disappointed that he didn't play last year and so he may play just to please them. He didn't want to play because of the chance of injury. He and his agent also stated that there was a lot of interest from other teams, but I don't recall who those other teams were. If CJ wants to earn some brownie points with Sloan, he'll play. I wish the Jazz would just give him a guaranteed contract and be done with it. He's an obvious upgrade over Hapring, but Matt still has two long years on his deal.

And there will be outrage if I don't see Fess and Kosta on the floor at the same time.

More Kosta

Surprisingly, Kosta isn't the only Kosta in the league. Kosta Perovic is another 7-footer and hails from Croatia. Seems like if you want your kid to be 7 feet, you name him Kosta. And should his nickname be the Big K?

via upload.wikimedia.org

I like what I've read and heard about Kousos. He sounds like a gym rat that just wants to play ball. He doesn't have any distractions and will be a hard worker (Sloan's only requirement).

And I might have been a little hard on Ante Tomic in my draft recap. Part of it was that it was late, I was tired, and I was just trying to finish up. I still don't think we'll see him with the Jazz, but there's definitely potential there. He just doesn't seem like he'll ever be able to put on the weight that's necessary to play in the NBA. Too bad we probably won't be the first team to have the triple-towers. Maybe we'd see it in the Revue, but not likely.

Other news

Millsap had his team option picked up. Shocker. I know the Jazz would prefer to keep him on the cheap, and I see the advantages of the rookie scale, but it seems like there should be some option for the rookies to get some type of performance pay or bonus. You don't want to have to pay players based on hype in case they don't pan out, but having guys like Millsap and Williams playing for relative peanuts doesn't seem right. I'm sure something like that would open up all kinds of loopholes though. If they're good enough to stick around for a few years, then that second contract should make up for it.

Speaking of Williams, he and Boozer are in Vegas training for the Olympics. It would be great to be there right now. You have the Olympic practices going on along with the Vegas summer league. I don't know where you could get any more basketball right now.

And of course tomorrow is the first official day Williams could agree to a new deal. The length of the new deal is what seems to be the discussion right now. It could range from 3-5 years with a player option. Of course we'd all love to see Deron here for 5 years +. I'm guessing the length of the contract depends on how Deron sees the stability of the team. We know he loves the SLC. The team will have to assure him that they'll be doing what's necessary to keep and bring in players. It's kind of a catch-22 because having Deron here will help the Jazz in what has traditionally been free agent hell. But I'm sure Deron has to be convinced that the team can bring in FAs.

I'm predicting a 4-year deal with a player option for the fifth. He could set the tone for Chris Paul's similar deal.

Crazy month coming ahead.

Κώστας Κουφός

basketballjohn — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:25:05 -0000

Kosta Koufos - Your 2008 NIT MVP!

At first glance, this is just another same old, same old, typical stiff white center pick from the Jazz. Whiteness? Check. Tallness? Check 2. Stiffness? Wait a minute. From the few YouTube videos I just watched and from the quick research I've done, he has some athleticism.

Everyone seems to be disappointed because we didn't draft one of the more marquee centers in the draft. But none of those are going to be available at the 23rd pick. I don't know why people expected the Jazz to pick up an Olajuwon in the draft. We all know that we needed a defensive player in the middle, but with the available players, there wasn't anyone else out there that was any more of a sure thing. And we weren't going to get a player that was going to contribute next year anyway. The only way the Jazz fill their need in the draft is if Jason Hart goes Tonya Harding on Deron and we have a high pick. Either that or someone is dumb enough to give us a lottery pick in a couple years.

So you were probably disappointed if you expected this draft to fix our defensive hole. The only way the Jazz are going to get someone to help immediately is through a trade. That could be either through trading for someone or trading two for one to open up a roster spot for a free agent. That's another story though..

Back to the Greek, I mean American, I mean dual-citizen. Are we going to hear more in the local media about how everyone thinks he's Euro than we did about Brewer's broken wrist? I found this quote great from his Wikipedia page,

"Koufos holds dual citizenship of both the United States and Greece, but has chosen to play for the Greek national basketball team."

Because he was really was given an option to play for the US team.

I'm not saying he's going to be an All-Star or even a starter, but Kosta is no Ostertag or Borchardt as far as stiffness. He can put the ball on the floor, he can shoot beyond five feet, and he's only 19.

The Jazz might be the most boring team in the league when it comes to the draft. But you know that they're not drafting anyone with any hint of a questionable character. I mean, Koufos called Deron "Mr. Williams" for crying out loud when D-Will is all of five years older than Kosta. I don't think this will end up being a draft where we look back in a few years and say, "Man, they should have picked DeAndre Jordan." I just don't think there's that talent there.

One thing I am excited for is the Kosta/Fess era. Two seven footers roaming the streets of Orem? If there isn't a camera following them around for "reality" TV, maybe that genre is dying. Shouldn't someone from KJZZ be jumping all over this? Forget NBA potential. The comedy upside from these two should be through the roof. Does anyone know the relationship between Greece and the Ukraine?

This was a very-low risk pick for the Jazz. If he pans out, their geniuses. If not, big deal. He'll be playing in Europe and we'll be preparing for the #3 pick in the 2010 draft. Some projected him to be a lottery pick this year and would have had him in the top ten had he not come out until 2009.

I guess the other bigger part of this draft was the Heat drafting Beasley. It doesn't completely quell the Boozer rumors. But it you would have to think that if Beasely isn't traded today or soon, that having him there limits Boozer's options. What I think happens now is that Boozer will pick up his option and wait for the new CBA to go into effect. I believe they'll be able to make more money under the new CBA. LeBron and Wade signed three only three-year deals for that same reason.

Up next, Deron Williams signs for the max and the key to the city.

Some other notes
- We now have another country that just converted to Jazz fans. First came Russia. Then Turkey. Now Greece. Looks like Italy is next.
- ESPN screwed the viewers over again. They went to commercial break but didn't get back in time for the Jazz pick. They just flashed it on the ticker and then showed a highlight when they came back.
- KOC said they had trade offers, but didn't elaborate.
- We have a new KK.
- Ante Tomic. We'll never hear from him again.
- Tadija Dragicevic. Ditto.

Other blogs

My Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz
The Cowhide Globe and one more

Poll

SB Nation User Blog: basketballjohn

2008 Free Agency open thread

Chris Paul Signs for Three Years

How many years will Deron Williams sign for?

Apparently it takes only 20 years to become Director of Basketball Operations. I didn't know tha...

This has international incident written all over it.

NBA.tv preview of Kosta Koufos. I love how they keep referring to Kosta as a European player, th...

NBA.com: Report: Paul, Hornets Nearing Contract Extension

NBA.com: Report: Paul, Hornets Nearing Contract Extension

Jaycee Carroll at the Revue

Jaycee Carroll at the Revue

Dunking on Locke

2008 Rocky Mountain Revue, second thoughts on draft, and news

More Kosta

Other news

Κώστας Κουφός

Kosta Koufos - Your 2008 NIT MVP!

What will become of Kosta Koufos?