RealGM

Jazz Send:
Andrei Kirilenko

Cleveland Sends:
Ben Wallace
1st Round Draft Pick

Why for Jazz:
Wallace brings a shorter contract. The Jazz still would have to pay luxury tax for 1 year, but would have wallace off the books after that. The Jazz also have good talent at 2/3 where Harpring, Brewer, Miles and Korver all can play the SF. Wallace would bring an interior presence the Jazz desperately need. Wallace is a shot blocker/rebounder/defender who is happy with his role. The Jazz also get a first round draft pick.

Why for Cleveland:
AK is a significant upgrade from Wallace. The Cavs would then be able to start Illgauskas, AK (at PF), and LeBron. The trade improves the Cavs offensively, and they don't lose much defensively (they may even improve in many aspects). AK is a player that could help LeBron in many ways, and keep him around for another contract. The first round draft pick would likely be in the lower half of the first round.

Would the Jazz get this desperate? It actually might improve the team in the short-term and long-term by freeing $18M from the final year of AK's contract. Considering Boozer would likely get a $5M increase, this would adjust for the increase of his contract for over three years?

LHM said that he has absolutely no intentions of paying the luxury tax. That kind of puts a stop on it right there. If you are going to do a salary dump there are better out there.

We're going to have to make some very, very tough decisions next year," he said. "I do not intend us to be a luxury-tax payer, but only because we have to have an economically stable franchise regardless of anything else.

Not to sound like a stickler, but "I do not intend" isn't quite the same as "has absolutely no intentions". It may be a little unfair to judge your position based on wording, but being as it is a message board, it's all we've got.

If it comes down to winning, Larry has always said he'll open his pockets. If that means one or more of the Jazz players have to go (memo, ak, boozer, millsap, korver, brewer), the obvious choice in terms of money for performance is kirilenko.

Best case scenario, jazz get an expiring contract or a draft pick in return. But if nothing comes from it, I truly believe that Larry will open his wallet for one season if it means keeping the others around for 5 more seasons. It just makes business sense, and since this is a business, I would expect him to act this way...but again, best case scenario is an expiring contract.

The Jazz can do better than Ben freaking Wallace and a very late 1st rounder. At the very least, they would insist on getting Szczerbiak instead of Wallace. Utah would save $1.4M instantly and Wally would come off the books next summer. They could then explore trading Wally for a big man.

wed rather send you wally, just because were short on big men.

would you guys fo wally for ak straight up?

There aremt enough *s for me to say **** no. To both trades.

haha i cant stop laughin at liquidfires avatar