Quick on Daron Williams

[mojomarc]

Jazz fan here, we're signing Deron to a maximum contract this summer...No one has a chance at getting him. He loves it here.

For your sake I hope you're right. For our sake, I don't really care all that much because I think Bayless, Roy and Rudy can be just as good a three guard rotation as DWill, Roy and Rudy 2-3 years from now, and will be a lot less expensive.

[fivas14]

Jazz fan here, we're signing Deron to a maximum contract this summer...No one has a chance at getting him. He loves it here.

Tell the truth. Nobody loves it in Utah.

I do.

Deron stays here 12 months of the year.

[mojomarc]

Tell the truth. Nobody loves it in Utah.

I do.

Deron stays here 12 months of the year.

I'd love Utah a lot more if they wouldn't hire Mormons as bartenders. Every time I tried to order a cocktail I had to explain the recipe because they had never heard of it. It's kind of like hiring a kosher chef to judge your pig roasting competition.

Great skiing, though, and it sure is easy to find your way around with that grid system they have there.

[fivas14]

Tell the truth. Nobody loves it in Utah.

I do.

Deron stays here 12 months of the year.

I'd love Utah a lot more if they wouldn't hire Mormons as bartenders. Every time I tried to order a cocktail I had to explain the recipe because they had never heard of it. It's kind of like hiring a kosher chef to judge your pig roasting competition.

Great skiing, though, and it sure is easy to find your way around with that grid system they have there.

Mormons aren't bartenders.


anyways, next year the northwest is GOING TO BE CRAZY.

[Red Robot]

Quick is such a terrible excuse for a journalist.

[BlackMamba]

i'm pretty sure he will resign with jazz, but if not i think the blazers have a pretty big chance of getting him via a direct signing or a sign and trade.

[PhilDaAgony77]

D Williams may love it in Utah, but most players love winning championships even more. I wouldn't be surprised to see him stay in Utah, but if the situation presents itself, we all know that Portland has the right $$$ and the right team situation to bring most any player to the team.

[fivas14]

D Williams may love it in Utah, but most players love winning championships even more. I wouldn't be surprised to see him stay in Utah, but if the situation presents itself, we all know that Portland has the right $$$ and the right team situation to bring most any player to the team.

Big time free agents don't go to small market teams.

[Dakotah612]

Portland has the core to potentially be a dynasty. Portland is a small market, yes, but it's still a lot bigger than SLC (metro population wise, Portland doubles SLC).

[mojomarc]

Mormons aren't bartenders.

Not true--I've asked each bartender that I've had in SLC (and I've been traveling down there for business for more than a decade, and almost all of them were Mormons. None of them drank, though, so they were true to their religion that way.

[d-train]

Here's a few basic realities Jason Quick should be aware of but probably isn't because he is incompetent:

1) Jazz will pay Williams the maximum money allowed by the CBA and will do everything they can to make sure he stays with the Jazz.

2) Jazz will do everything they can to keep Williams with the Jazz even if that makes Williams unhappy.

3) Williams will be a RFA in 2009/10 and it is impossible for a team to take Williams away from the Jazz via RFA because the Jazz will match any offer sheet Williams accepts.

4) Williams would never accept a RFA offer sheet from a team other than the Jazz because the CBA guarantees such an offer sheet will be a pay cut to Williams.

5) The Jazz will make Williams a minimum QO, which is about $6.6 million if he doesn't sign an extension of his contract, and probably a maximum QO as well, which would be 6 years and approximately $129 million. The maximum other teams can offer Williams is 5 years $96.8 million, which if Williams accepted would be matched by the Jazz and would obligate him to play for the Jazz at a $5 million pay cut.

6) If the Jazz do make Williams a QO because he for some reason doesn't want a $129 million extension, the only alternative for Williams to get out of Utah before 2012 is to accept the minimum QO and play the 09/10 season for $6.6 million. That is $10 million dollars Williams will lose and never recover but it will allow him to be an UFA in 2010/11.

7) In the unlikely event that Williams is an UFA in 2010/11, the most the Blazers can offer Williams is the MLE. Basically, Williams will never become a Blazer.

[Spykes]

2) Jazz will do everything they can to keep Williams with the Jazz even if that makes Williams unhappy.

Wait... What?

[mojomarc]

If DWill doesn't want to be in Utah, the Jazz will simply sign him to a max contract and then trade him for some return. I guarantee he won't walk for nothing even if he wants nothing at all to do with Larry Miller.

[BlackMamba]

i don't get the whole small market thing...

[Effigy]

I think it would make sense for Deron to wait a year and see what happens with Boozer. He can't make more money next year whether he signs or not, and can actually sign a bigger, longer contract if he waits a year, so why not? All I know is that it will be one uncomfortable year in Utah if he doesn't sign and never underestimate Larry Miller's temper and ability to do something dumb.

[fivas14]

I listened to the interview and he seemed to know something. He was carefull in his wording and didn't actually come out and say we were after Williams. BUT, he did say that Paul will sign the extension and is going nowhere, Williams on the other hand is unhappy and may not sign the extension if he doesnt think Utah will get him some help....if Boozer leaves, what does that team really have?

Anyway , not that I am counting on this coming true, but I listened to his comments at least 5 times to make sure I get it right, and this time I think he might have something(we have the pieces to make a sign and trade work, and isnt that what Pritchard said a while back was a possibility?)

Just read this.

Deron is not unhappy, lol. Where are you getting your info from?

[fivas14]

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... n_in_utah/

Deron is one of those players that is untouchable. If he EVER leaves Utah it'll be to go to a big market team.

[Butter]

Mormons aren't bartenders.

Not true--I've asked each bartender that I've had in SLC (and I've been traveling down there for business for more than a decade, and almost all of them were Mormons. None of them drank, though, so they were true to their religion that way.

Mojo, what the heck man. I just moved to Cali from Utah. I probably know a bunch of those Mormon bartenders. Dude, you gotta PM about this.

Ok, back on topic. I just spent a long time in Utah as a Blazers fan among fanatic Jaz z fans. Larry Miller, the Jazz's owner gets so emotional about his team. He gets very emotionally attached to his players. This guy literally cries on the radio at the drop of a hat. To compound his personal attachments, it has been historically difficult to get any FA's to come to/and stay in Utah. Look at the history. they've been consistently rejected for years. Even their resent acquisitions have come with an asterisk. Derek Fisher flat out asked to be let go. Carlos Boozer jumped at the first paycheck that allowed him to sneak out of town. Memo Okur, who was buried on the Pistons bench, jumped on a chance to get starters minutes. And their one organic star, AK-47, was grossly over payed to keep him from jumping ship.

Bottom line, IMHO, if 'ol Larry has any chance to keep one of the NBA's newest treasures, he'll break the bank. Even though he's a notorious tight wad.

The ONLY WAY the Blazers would have any chance to get a hold of Deron is he were to tell the Jazz he's not coming back. While Larry is a cheapskate, he's also very opportunistic. IF IF IF, Bayless proves to be a legit star/prospect, the Blazers could create a trade package of Bayless, Webster (who torched the Jazz in one quarter) and Lafrentz, there MIGHT, MIGHT, MIGHT be a .000001% chance that its not out of the question.

[Voodoo]

i don't get the whole small market thing...

Big time stars like Kobe, Shaq, LeBron, Dwayne Wade etc will always want to go to a bigger city, one that has a higher population of people in it. There are two reasons for this, one endorsements and the other is ego. The endorsement part just means the player can earn more money just by being in commercials promoting whatever product. This is a big part of it, people are just more familiar with the big name stars from the big town teams, take D-Wade for example.

Wade does T-Mobile commercials here in the States and I am sure he makes millions of dollars being in these commercials. If he didn't play for Miami which is a very very large town he probably wouldn't have had as much of a chance being selected to be in their commercials. But T-Mobile knows he gets lots and lots of national exposure being on the Heat so they selected him, especially at the time he was one of the bigger stars in a bigger town. The other is simply just ego and attention, the bigger the city your in the more people that will be very familiar with their name. They kind of go hand in hand really.

That does not just go for the people living in that town, but historically the bigger town teams players are always known nationally and in some case internationally. Just think of all your friends that aren't into the NBA and try and think of all the players they would know, they would list off Kobe, Shaq, LeBron, Jordan, Dwayne Wade, and so on. You will notice that all these players play (or played in MJ's case) for very very large cities. The only somewhat exception is LeBron in Cleavland as that is not a majorly huge city like L.A. or NYC, but he is just so good and has always had so much hype around him that everyone at least in the US knows who the guy is. Anyway hope this helps .

[ForeignBlazer]

I can understand Deron becoming unhappy when players like Okur and AK47 disappear in big games and Boozer isn't the most loyal of players.

But for any hope to see Deron in a Blazer jersey next summer, he would have to tell the Jazz front office that he doesn't want to resign and stay, he wants to join a team that can contend and pay him the max money and that would only happen in a sign and trade because the Jazz won't accept losing him for nothing and when it comes to a sign and trade, don't expect the Jazz not to demand the best player on the other team as part of the deal.

When all is said and done, I expect Deron to stay in Utah because the CBA gives all the power to the team in this situation and there isn't anything a player can do, weather that is fair or not is upto one's own opinion.