To CJ or not to CJ, that is the $15M Question

by Basketball John on Jul 25, 2008 9:35 AM MDT

I've gone back and forth on the CJ situation more times than Brett Favre has changed his mind about retiring.

On one hand, I've seen his flashes of brilliance when he can put up points, play good D, shoot the three, dunk on anyone, and show why he belongs in the league playing significant minutes.

But is that potential worth $15M?

First, the contract is believed to be a three-year deal worth $11M and a team option for a fourth. So the guaranteed portion would be $3.67M a year on average. That sounds like a lot for a third-stringer. Except for the fact that Miles shouldn't be a tird-stringer. He should be in the 8-9 man rotation. There's just been one roadblock, Matt Harpring.

You won't find many fans that think Matt should be getting minutes over CJ. Hapring basically has two shots, a baseline jumper and a free-throw line J. That's it. And he has to get those coming off screens. And we know that he can't guard anyone 1 on 1. His knees have crippled him to the point that Ostertag could blow by him at this point. Yet because of his toughness and being able to get in the head of a couple of players, he still has a job.

So tell me what looks like a better deal, Matt at $6M this year and $6.5M the next or CJ's deal?

Another question to ask is who gives you the better chance at winning a championship? I don't think either are the missing piece per se (they can't be missing as we have had them already). But I would say CJ gives us the advantage.

I don't know why the Jazz haven't made a commitment to CJ and signed him to a multi-year deal yet. I guess it's a two-way street. A lot of companies Google prospective employees now. Maybe they were a bit confused when they search on CJ and came across some photos they thought were from Miles moonlighting. (If you value your jobb, you won't do a Google image search on CJ Miles. At least without adding Jazz or Utah to the search).

So how the Jazz do it, I don't know, but they need to move Matt Harpring. His $12.5M left on his deal makes it a bit tough. But if Denver can trade Camby for being able to consider trading second round picks, the Jazz can find someone. Atlanta has room now, right?

And if that fails, I hear the Packers are looking for a backup quarterback.

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If there is any chance in hell

that the Jazz trade AK in the next year, I think you have to keep CJ. Don’t you?

The Utah Jazz. The Jazz... duh.
The best NBA team in Utah... no doubts about it!
Playing For Pride. Pirates, Utes, Panthers, and more...
Because, in the end, only one team can "win it all".

by UtesFan89 on Jul 25, 2008 10:04 AM MDT 0 recs

Absolutely.

by Basketball John on Jul 25, 2008 10:35 AM MDT up 0 recs

Trading Matt is the easy solution to all of this

With that said, who would take him? But you are right. I hadn’t really considered it, but I would love to see CJ take Matt’s minutes.

The more you try to erase me, the more that I appear.

by clarkpojo on Jul 25, 2008 10:48 AM MDT 0 recs

Sadly

I don’t think CJ will be sticking around much longer. A trade with Harpring would be ideal, but that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.

You never know though, Hart got traded, so miracles sometimes do happen.

by Vromanite on Jul 25, 2008 2:21 PM MDT 0 recs

He's staying.

Trade on the way?

The Utah Jazz. The Jazz... duh.
The best NBA team in Utah... no doubts about it!
Playing For Pride. Pirates, Utes, Panthers, and more...
Because, in the end, only one team can "win it all".

by UtesFan89 on Jul 25, 2008 4:11 PM MDT 0 recs

Could be. I'm creating a new thread for this.

by Basketball John on Jul 25, 2008 4:18 PM MDT up 0 recs

KOC said on the radio the other night...

...if they match they are required to keep him for a year. They can’t package him in a trade. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t trade one of the other guys or trade CJ after a year though…

by Ute Awe Man on Jul 25, 2008 4:20 PM MDT up 0 recs

I don't see

why they’d match and then trade CJ after a year, unless CJ totally loses it this year (but then trading might be stupid cuz you’ll get nothing).

AK (huge contract) & Harp (6 mil this year, 6.5 next) have big contracts and are blocking CJ. Could one of them be on the move?

The Utah Jazz. The Jazz... duh.
The best NBA team in Utah... no doubts about it!
Playing For Pride. Pirates, Utes, Panthers, and more...
Because, in the end, only one team can "win it all".

by UtesFan89 on Jul 25, 2008 4:28 PM MDT up 0 recs

Next Summer

I think the Jazz will stand pat this year and hope for
1) Contract year play from Boozer and Okur
2) Lots of pressure on all the 2’s to play solid D
3) AK playing up to potential, maybe playing for a trade
4) A championship
5) Unload all/some of the baggage next summer: Collins, Fes if he doesn’t shape up, one or two of the 2’s.

My point is I think they like what they have right now. I do too, but only if Boozer and AK are playing as hard as they can. Remember against the Rockets the year before this past one when Booze made Yao look like an exchange student at the school of post or be poster… Length didn’t matter ‘cause booze took him out 15 feet and shot faders over him and lefties around him… And then in game seven there was a loose ball getting tipped up and Boozer just willed himself up to grab it down in traffic and when he landed his elbows were out looking for trouble.

He can play like that. We just haven’t seen it for a long time. I hope he plays for a max money contract this year even if that means we lose him at the end of it.

My team is on the floor.
-Norman Dale

by MTN on Jul 25, 2008 11:23 PM MDT 0 recs