Locke: 4 ways to improve the Jazz

[Fido]

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=20655027&nid=30 ... an-improve

Draft Night
The Jazz have the 47th pick of the draft.

Some teams may not want to add the money on the salary cap that a draft pick demands- Dallas at 17, Orlando at 19, Denver at 20, Atlanta at 23, Memphis at 25 and Indiana at 26. Other teams have multiple picks and may be willing to move one, Houston at 14 and 16, Boston at 21 and 22.

The Jazz still have the rights to the Warriors first round pick next year (protected 1-6) and therefore, could be more willing to trade next year's 1st round pick for a pick in this year's draft if they have a player they like.

Growth from within

Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors were far better at the end of this year than they were a year ago. Can Alec Burks and Enes Kanter do the same in 2012-13 season?

Trades and Free Agency

As the Jazz scour free agency and investigate trades they have a looming advantage they have to be careful not to negate. The luxury taxes of the new collective bargaining agreement become more punitive starting in the 2013-14 off-season.

At this point no franchise in the NBA is better positioned to embark on this new era than the Utah Jazz. The Jazz only have four players under contract going into the 13-14 season, Hayward, Favors, Burks and Kanter.

Yet, this off-season the Jazz are positioned well to sign a Tier 2 free agent if they desire.

As the Jazz stand today they have nine players under contract and options to pick up with Jamaal Tinsley and DeMarre Carroll. Those 11 players total nearly $52 million in salary. The salary cap for the last season was $58 million. Under the new CBA the cap next year will be at least $58.004 or higher.

The new CBA has a non-tax payer exception which every non tax team can use to sign players. The 2012-13 expectation is $5 million.

This is important because the Jazz if they released the rights their free agents and amnestied the contract of Raja Bell have more cap space than the exception allowing them to offer more money than most teams for a mid-level free agent.

Interesting thought. If you could go this route, which "tier 2" free agent would you go after?

[Jajwanda]

I've heard Millsapp/Harris for Gasol. I like that trade. Gasol is a great bridge between Kanters/Favors.

I'd say Jefferson gets dealt for a wing.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

As much as I hate that greasy haired tower... I'd love to have him on our team. I would almost die seeing Millsap in a Laker jersey though...

I guess it depends on what a tier 2 FA is... I mean, I'd sign AK with that money in a heartbeat if he fits into that category.

[Jajwanda]

Frankly I think Millsap is as good at the pure PF position as Gasol is. Gasol's value for you would come as a C with the athletic Favors and the versatile Kanter feeding off of his post play. Millsap is a wonderful fit for Bynum.

Also if D. Harris were used an off the ball PG what do you guys think of him?

[red4hf]

Gasol is better than Millsap, much better...... It would be kind of interesting to see him play with Favors......

[Jajwanda]

Overall yes, he is not at PF though. Gasol needs to play C with a banger that's athletic and can play off the ball like Favors. That's when he's at his best.

Next to Bynum as a pure PF he's not as impressive.

[StocktonShorts]

I like that deal. Harris was often an off-the-ball PG this year. I think he'd do okay next to Kobe.

[Inigo Montoya]

Unless KOC get a good trade offer he can't pass on during the year or gets lucky on a trade leading into the draft, I would expect that the Jazz will have a similar roster this coming season. The big changes will come in the end of next season, when the new CBA rules come into play and the Jazz have a lot of cap space.

[Jefff]

Locke forgot the big trade exception we got from Memo trade.

Gasol would be a great addiction, and Harris-Bell-Millsap are interesting for LA.

Gasol-Kanter
Favors- Evans
Carroll-Hayward
Hayward-Burks
Watson-Tinsley


That still leave us with some cap space, the trade exception, the mid-level exception, an Al Jefferson trade, and the 17th pick in the 2nd round to fill the roster.

[Fido]

If you go that route, Gasol better be what you need because he kills your cap space next off season.

[Inigo Montoya]

Gasol is a good player but I don't see why the Jazz need him at this point. He is 31, he will greatly reduce the franchise's cap flexibility, and for what? To maybe make it to the 2nd round (which is what he did the past 2 seasons with Kobe, Bynum and Odom)?

He's got 2 years on his contract for 19M and 19.2 M. That's too much for a guy that will MAYBE advance you by one round. And then you either let him walk, or resign him (and he won't be that cheap). By the time the Jazz will be really good, he will no longer be all that good and productive and his contract will hold the Jazz back. And you don't know when he will show up and when he will disappear. Phil Jackson and freaking Kobe Bryant were not able to engage him, motivate him and make him play with fire the past 2 seasons. Is that who you want on your team? Is he worth that much? Let him spend the twilight of his career in a middle of the road team, which I'm assuming we all hope the Jazz won't become.

[The59Sound]

Gasol's a great player and better than all of our current bigs (at their present stage of development), but he doesn't make a lot of sense for us. His contract is a cyanide pill, as was described above, and he's not going to be transformative for the team.

[Jefff]

if Gasol had a reasonable contract, or if he was on the best side of his career he would'nt be available for Utah......

still he's a tremendous player, and i think has enough left in the tank, and willing to prove it after some harsh comments in LA.

He's an all star, great bball iq, some defense, good passer, 7 footer who can also spread the floor, tons of experience at best levels.... yeah, kills cap space for ONE more year, we can live with that.

[Inigo Montoya]

That's TWO more years, not one. He is signed for 19M in 2012-2013 and 19.2M in 2013-2014. So whatever the Jazz were planning on doing with their cap space by the end of next season (2012-2013) when they have only four players under contract - that won't work anymore. In the meanwhile, you still need to find minutes to develop Favors and Kanter, and by the end of his current contract, Gasol will be 33. And then what? You sign him for another contract?

And what did he give you in this two-year rental? Are you going for a championship next season or the one after that? No, not yet. So at best, he advances you by one round. Maybe the Jazz still don't make it out of the first round. So why pay him so much money just to take away minutes from the young players without a prospect for serious improvement? Yes, the dude is good, the dude is legit, but the combination of his age, contract, position (PF\C) and the players the Jazz have in his position make him not suitable for the Jazz's short term and long term plan.

If he comes to Utah, he's the best player on the roster. When he was the best player on a roster (Memphis), the most his team achieved was a 0-12 record in the playoffs. This year the Jazz managed to get swept just fine without him

[hornacek4three]

if we trade harris we better find a point guard fast. I know he was bad at times but I'm not going a whole season with just Watson and Tinsley. That might put an end to me...I love Tinsley as a backup but that might leaving me wanting for the days of Raul Lopez.

[Amish Mafioso]

Locke forgot the big trade exception we got from Memo trade.

Yeah, he did a really poor job of explaining the situation, and he left out the TPE completely. When he talks about the non-payer exception and how amnestying Raja + cap space gives us more than the exception, he leaves out the extremely relevant detail that Utah would have to renounce the Memo TPE as well as the MLE in order to claim any cap space. So Utah has to choose one or the other. They can't use cap space and then turn around and use their exceptions.

If a team is below the cap, then their Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level (either the Taxpayer or Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level, whichever applies to the team) and/or trade exceptions are added to their team salary, and the league treats the team as though they are over the cap1. This is to prevent a loophole, in a manner similar to free agent amounts (see question number 38). A team can't act like it's under the cap and sign free agents using cap room, and then use their Disabled Player, Bi-Annual, Mid-Level and/or trade exceptions. Consequently, the exceptions are added to their team salary (putting the team over the cap) if the team is under the cap and adding the exceptions puts them over the cap. If a team is already over the cap, then the exceptions are not added to their team salary. There would be no point in doing so, since there is no cap room for signing free agents.

So being under the cap does not necessarily mean a team has room to sign free agents. For example, assume the cap is $58 million, and a team has $51.5 million committed to salaries. They also have a Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level exception for $5 million and a trade exception for $5.5 million. Even though their salaries put them $6.5 million under the cap, their exceptions also count toward their team salary, increasing their total to $62 million, or $4 million over the cap. So the team actually has no cap room to sign free agents, and instead must use its exceptions to sign players.

Teams have the option to renounce their exceptions in order to reclaim their cap room. So in the example above, if the team renounced their Traded Player and Mid-Level exceptions, then the $10.5 million is taken off their team salary, which then totals $51.5 million, leaving them with $6.5 million of cap room which then can be used to sign free agent(s).

http://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q26

[Fido]

Yes, you are correct that they would have to renounce their TPE (which expires in December) in order to do this. If they did go that route it would mean there isn't anyone out there they could pick up who they want for a trade exception this offseason. Since it expires in December anyhow if you didn't have anything you wanted to use it for it would just go away anyhow. Again it is not necessarily a likely scenario but is demonstrating how being in the position they are they have options to pursue that other teams don't.

[Amish Mafioso]

Yes, you are correct that they would have to renounce their TPE (which expires in December) in order to do this. If they did go that route it would mean there isn't anyone out there they could pick up who they want for a trade exception this offseason. Since it expires in December anyhow if you didn't have anything you wanted to use it for it would just go away anyhow. Again it is not necessarily a likely scenario but is demonstrating how being in the position they are they have options to pursue that other teams don't.

They'd have to renounce the MLE as well. That's 5 million in addition to the 11 million TPE.

I guess I could see them trying to take a gamble on someone like Nash, but I think it would have to be a player that has the potential to make a serious impact.