Just say "No" to Paul Millsap

[JDubJazz]

It seems to me that the Jazz are preparing to go into the foreseeable future with Paul Millsap as the starting power forward. This is a bad idea.

I'm not saying Paul is a bad player. In fact, I think he is one of the best ROLE PLAYERS in the NBA. I do not, however, think that it translates to him being a viable and effective starter for the Jazz for the following reasons:

1. The Power Forward is the the primary scoring position for the Sloan/Jazz offense. I can't ever recall seeing Millsap run and effective pick and roll or a pick and pop. In fact, I can't ever recall the Jazz running a play specifically with Paul as the #1 scoring option. Does anyone on this board seriously think Paul is ready to become the Jazz's primary offensive focus? Yeah, me neither.

2. He's too short. I can think of only two power forwards in the modern NBA who have had similar size to Paul Millsap and who would be considered stars: Adrian Dantley and Charles Barkley. If anyone on this board thinks Millsap belongs in the same breath as those two guys, then I think that person is delusional. The fact is, Millsap will be at a physical disadvantage against nearly every player he goes up against.

Can Millsap be a good NBA player? Absolutely. Should he be a starter for a team that relies on the PF as the primary scoring option? No. Please, Jazz management, just let him walk or trade him if you can. No matter how "tough" you think he is, or how much of a "hard worker" he is, he's just too limited to be an effective starter for a contending team.

[babyjax13]

If we retain him and let Boozer go I am willing to bet that AK becomes our starting power forward (especially if he gains weight). I think people want Millsap because they are tired of Boozer's antics, not because they think he is a better player.

[majortripps69]

If we retain him and let Boozer go I am willing to bet that AK becomes our starting power forward (especially if he gains weight). I think people want Millsap because they are tired of Boozer's antics, not because they think he is a better player.

Two things.. AK will NEVER gain weight, it's just not in his physical makeup. They've been trying to get him to gain weight for years. The other is that we need a more physical, taller PF. Boozer is a good player, not the ideal size. We could really use a 6'9-6-'10" guy at the PF. Memo could move to PF if we could put a decent center alongside him, he would probably flourish at the PF. AK can play the position, he just never will have the size and Millsap, while a good player, is too small to be a starting PF in this league.

[QuantumMacgyver]

In response to your first point I have to ask if you watched the last playoff game against the Lakers. Paul Millsap had something like 11 un-answered points and was THE reason we were even able to keep that game interesting and avoid a complete blow-out against one of the strongest frontcourts in the NBA.

He recorded 19 straight double-doubles in rebounds and, yes, points. He may not have had the offensive toolsets in his third year that boozer has in his sixth but he has intangibles that Boozer never will.

Consider this, Boozer averaged less than 3 points and 2 rebounds more than Millsap did this last year. Now think of a how many easy baskets the Drew Goodens of the league put up on Boozer over Millsap... probably more than 3 points right?

You do have a good point with the jazz system running through our PF but the Jazz systems have always relied on strong team defense as well. Something that has been missing since the departure of Raja Bell and again with Fisher. Milsap is better at the pick and roll than Boozer is at any type of D. Unless you count unreliabili-D.

If need be the Jazz can run Okur as their PF on offense. Which is where he belongs anyway. That answers the offensive issues with Millsap and the Jazz's PF oriented offense.

[JDubJazz]

I agree that alongside a real center, Memo, not Millsap could be the answer at PF. If we are going to run Okur out there as the PF though, there is no reason to re-sign Millsap or Boozer. Instead we need to concentrate on either developing Koufos to play full-time Center or getting a center who's willing to bang inside and bother the other teams' layup drills against us.

Comparing Boozer's stats last year to Millsap's is futile because Boozer wasn't ever healthy after the knee injury. Compare Boozer's stas to start the season before the injury to Millsap's best, and Boozer still wins by a mile. I'm not advocating Boozer (which is why I specifically left any mention of him out of the original post), but if we think we can just plug in Millsap as a replacement with the same results, we are fooling ourselves.

[d-will8]

I agree that Millsap is nowhere near as good as Boozer, that he'll probably never be good enough offensively to be a focal point and that it's unlikely that he'll ever be the starting power forward on a championship team (unless he's playing with a dominant center). That being said, I still think we should keep him, assuming Boozer's leaving and we can get him for 8-9 million dollars a year or less.
I think we have to keep either Boozer or Millsap, but not both. Unless we can get value in a trade for Boozer or KOC suddenly starts shaking things up, we basically have two options going forward. Either we continue to build around Deron and Boozer and make some trades to get a defensive center and some more shooters to seriously contend now or we let Boozer go and enter into a semi-rebuilding process. If we kept Memo, AK, Millsap, Brewer, Koufos, Miles, Price and whoever we draft this year alongside Deron, we'd still be competitive in the short term, our young guys would continue to improve and we'd have two extremely promising chips to bring in another star to compliment Deron: the Knicks' 2010 pick and AK's expiring contract a few years down the road.
I think we're kidding ourselves if we're under the pretension that anybody on this team right now besides Deron and (maybe) Boozer is good enough to be anything more than a role player on a championship team, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be willing to pay to keep Millsap, who will continue to improve and could already be a great role player on a team contending for a championship.

[carrottop12]

Koufos for the win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This kid is the future of our PF position, nobody else. He's considerably better at his age then either Boozer or Millsap were, and he's bigger than both of them.

I am investing every bit of hope I have for the Jazz's future in the front court on this kid.

[jazzfan1971]

I don't mind paying him 8mil a year myself. 5 yr 40 mil seems doable to me. If he gets an offer much more than that I say we have to part ways.

That's about 2/3 what Boozer makes.

[Neon Black]

Unless you count unreliabili-D.

Ha ha ha ha wtf. I am sending that in to Laffy Taffy immediately.

[Neon Black]

Koufos for the win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are not alone on the Koufos Bandwagon. I second everything you said, and add that he looks like a vulture.

[JDubJazz]

I don't mind paying him 8mil a year myself. 5 yr 40 mil seems doable to me. If he gets an offer much more than that I say we have to part ways.

That's about 2/3 what Boozer makes.

I do have a problem giving a backup 8mil per year. The's no way he can eve be worth that contract as a backup, because he just won't see the court enough.

[StocktonShorts]

Did I miss all the games this year where Koufos played well enough to deserve all the praise he gets? I'm not saying he can't be a good player, I just don't understand all the hype from Jazz fans.

[carrottop12]

I wouldn't give him more then a 3 year contract honestly, and if there is an option I'd make it a team option.

5 years is a very long time to be locked into a contract with a player who you just don't know what is going to come out of it.

[qman]

I don't mind paying him 8mil a year myself. 5 yr 40 mil seems doable to me. If he gets an offer much more than that I say we have to part ways.

That's about 2/3 what Boozer makes.

I do have a problem giving a backup 8mil per year. The's no way he can eve be worth that contract as a backup, because he just won't see the court enough.

I have a huge problem with 8-9 million for a backup. You should only pay for size or stars. Millsap is neither. A 4-5 millions a year contract would be great however. 8-9 Mil is starter money and Millsap is not a starter.

[jazzfan1971]

He plays starter minutes even when Boozer is 100%

[stevebozell]

I agree with the premise of the original post...and couldnt disagree more with JF1971's ridiculous amount of 8 mil for a backup.

One other thing I would want to add is that I wonder if Pauls gritty and hustle play would continue, once he gets his money. Dont forget, he's been working for relative pennies since he's been in the league, trying to get his big deal.....would any of you be surprised if he suddenly didnt play quite as hard, or play when he gets an injury like he has so far in his career? Not to say that I know for sure, but I wouldnt be surprised, thats how alot of players are.

Being that he relies solely on hustle and effort because of his physical limitations, I think that this risk isnt worth it, especially for a team that has already made a few bad contractual decisions.

[jampod5]

Did I miss all the games this year where Koufos played well enough to deserve all the praise he gets? I'm not saying he can't be a good player, I just don't understand all the hype from Jazz fans.

i agree. i would much rather see Fez on the court than Koufos

[dr0welf]

Millsap at 8M > Boozer at 12.7M+ (since he believes he can make more then what he is opting out of).

To get a TRUE picture of the two, let's compare them side by side, same year vs same year, same quantity of games played vs same quantity of games played. The data will show us their true affect on the Jazz.

In Boozers 3rd year he averaged in 34.7 minutes 9 RPG (2.8 OFF), 2.8 APG, .5 BPG, 2.69 TO, 17.8 PPG
Millsap in comparison played 30.1 MPG got 8.6 RPG (3.3 OFF), 1.8 APG, 1 BPG, 1.7 TO, 13.5 PPG

To be fair though, Millsap has played in exactly as many games (240) in 3 years as Boozer (240) did in 4 years.

So comparing Boozers 4th year his 31.1 MPG, 8.6 RPG (2.2 Off), 2.7 APG, .2 BPG, 2.09 TO, 16.3 PPG

Millsap is down PPG 4.3 or 2.8 depending on what season you look at.
- He gets 1 or .9 less assists, that swings the points to 6.3 (-2 pts) or 4.6 (-1.8 pts).
- He gets .5 or 1.1 more offense rebounds, swings points to 5.3 (+1 pt) or 2.4 (+2.2 pts)
- He gets 1 to .4 less TO's, swings points to 3.3 (+2 pts) or 1.6 (+.8 pts)
- He gets .5 to .8 more Blocks per game. 2.3 (+1 pt) or 0 (+1.6 pts)

So looking at every stat that affects points in a game the stats show:
3rd season (Boozer)vs 3rd season (Millsap):
Boozer plays 4.6 more MPG and swings the game 2.3 points in the Jazz favor over Millsap

4th season (Boozer)vs 3rd season (Millsap):
Boozer plays 1 more minute per game and the game is = in points affecting the game.

Honestly, I would take Millsap over Boozer in a heartbeat. Especially paying Millsap 4Mil + less per year. And to say Millsap is just a Role Player is not a fair assesment and can only be based off opinion and not true production. Data doesn't lie and truely paints an honest picture.

*Also note, the Jazz have plenty of scorers on the team so I don't think less scoring from the PF position will effect them that much anyways. Someone will make up the points easy enough. But I do think the added defense we see with Millsap and less turnovers with Millsap will affect them more in the positive.

[Shocker00]

Millsap cant gaurd the bigger power forwards in the league because he is too small. Millsap makes a nice bench player but he just is not tall enough to play PF. In the playoffs he gave up like 70% shooting to Gasol and Odom as they just post up and shot over him. I think we should get rid of Boozer and get Bosh as that would give us more height along the frontline. If you look back at the last 10 championsthe one thing you notice is that they all have a shot blocker on thier team. I think we should go after Tyson Chandler for that reason.

[stevebozell]

This idea that Milsap is a good defender is bogus...David Locke has pointed out this fact with the hard numbers time and time again.

The question isnt necessarily Milsap vs. Boozer, nor the per year average.

Boozer at 12.7 for 1 year is by FAR better than Milsap at 8 mil for 5 years. In fact, the problem with Milsap at that high salary is the length of the deal. If you could sign him to a 1 or 2 year deal, as a stop gap between Boozer and the next PF we get then that would be fine. But handcuffing yourself with him for 5 or 6 years at that dollar amount is at a slightly smaller scale repeating the same mistake as we made with AK. That amount of 8 mil would be a huge albatross when trying to get the legitimate PF down the road.