http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=15033Boozer Wants to Stay Put
The Utah Jazz have been the center of trade speculation for much of the past year, owing primarily to the summer's free agency of Paul Millsap and the apparent dilemma having both him and Carlos Boozer on the team. Many feel Millsap is ready to start, making Boozer superfluous. The Jazz, of course, matched Portland's offer to Millsap and kept Boozer when he didn't choose to opt out of his contract, and with both of them still on the roster we have hangover trade talks. The fact is, however, that the team is really better with both of them in place. Boozer is the team's second-leading scorer at 19.0 points per game and leading rebounder with 10.6 per contest. Millsap has been solid as a reserve, averaging 10.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. The two have even been effective when on the court at the same time. Boozer, for one, thinks the Jazz should keep him and continue to make their playoff push now that they're finally healthy.
"If I was them, I wouldn't make a trade," Boozer told Ross Siler of the Salt Lake City Tribune. "But I'm not them. I think, I mean, you keep this group together. We're getting healthy, guys are getting better, we're rolling, we've won four out of our last five, which is great. "Hopefully, we're going to win another four out of our next five. We can be good. We can beat anybody on any given night. That's what I would do. But Kevin, Greg, they've got to make their decisions."
The Jazz have certainly been good of late, beating Dallas and Cleveland over a stretch of four wins in five games before losing a tight game in Denver on Sunday. The next five look promising, too, as they take on the Spurs, but then see several struggling teams in a row with New Jersey, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento and Dallas on the horizon. It's not hard to see them winning four of the next five, a run that could easily put them in fifth place in the West. We're going to continue to hear trade rumors about Boozer and the Jazz, but the best move may, indeed, be the one Boozer suggests: no move at all.
