1- Probably not more than Kobe. T-Mac and Hit-N-Run though? Maybe. I don’t know if he’ll be hurt, or try to come in and impress by playing amazingly.

2- Truthfully, I’d say over the MLE is ridiculous… he still hasn’t proven he can start for a full season (fatigued last season, it seemed) or can avoid the foul trouble. They’ll probably match up to $8 or 9, maybe even 10. I’m not quite sure what OKC is thinking of offering… and NJ, Portland and other teams (Toronto if they can’t get Lee?) are probably thinking about it too.

3- Agreed. I voted, like most of the voters, for defensive big man. I hope you’re talking about the poll…

4- I don’t have a 4th of July tradition. Well other than eat & sleep. But when I lived in Nephi, they’d have a parade every 4th of July (more like parades) down Main Street and would throw candy to the sides. That was always fun. And the carnival they had in the night.
Trivia Answer: 194 or so, because that’s how many countries there are (depending where you look)

5- 5 days, and you’re already sick of Downbeat? Boooooo!
(Just kidding of course, enjoy the vacation!)

1. more hated than those three where? i don’t think tmac is hated really except in houston…some players would want to show up their old teams. boozer is more the convenient injury type, in my opinion.

2. agree with utesfan…over the MLE. but i think the jazz would not be completely insane to go up to 8/yr. anything over that, i don’t think the jazz should match. like utesfan said (this is what sucks about posting second, i just end up repeating what’s already been said), sap hasn’t proven himself as a full-time starter yet.

4. however many nations there are. repeating again…

5. boooo. repeating again…maybe you can appoint a temporary substitute downbeat manager.

Do want of you want to do the downbeat on Monday?

1. Probably “no” on both counts. I think people will be mostly be indifferent to him — I feel almost nothing for him myself. He wasn’t around long enough to get attached to, nor was he ever on the court enough, so if/when he leaves, my reaction will be a resounding “meh.”

2. I really love Millsap, but I wouldn’t pay him more than $8M at this point, until he proves himself. I think his numbers are actually a bit more replaceable than some may assume.

3. Silly website people. Although, I know how it is — if there’s no news, you can’t really put anything new there. I mean, I can’t remember the last time I changed the website layout for, say Utah State sports, or some other obscure sections of the DN site.

4. Just the usual barbecue/fireworks for me.

5. I’ll do it if moni doesn’t want it. But I’m excited for the Betrayal Skull Dude Fashion Show now.

1. let’s just say that they’ll be a lot of “Booooooooooooooos” in the delta center when/if he’s active to play vs. the jazz

2. without looking at other peoples’ contracts, i’d say that $8.5 – 9 million per season is about as high as I would go

3. haven’t checked it out yet

4. my tradition is not getting shot (I live in detroit), so that’s like every other day of the year, lol. Trivia: all nations have a 4th of july.

5. everyone is allowed to slack off on their blog (watch the tumble weeds go by at allthatjazzbasketball.blogspot.com )

Since Basketball John will be on holiday Monday let me give a couple of suggestions for the downbeat.

1a. I’m anxious to see how Artest will behave in the ESA as a Laker. I’ve seen him go pretty crazy here and we didn’t even heckle the Kings that much. He was pretty calm as a Rocket.

1b. As far as Artest the player on the Lakers, Initially it seems like they will be unstoppable, but historically Artest needs a lot of possessions. I wonder how he will fit in with Kobe and Gasol needing so many possessions. Defensively he will be great.

2. I hope Ronnie Price gets a new deal in Utah. I like him for one reason: He seems to care as much as the fans do about winning. In the Laker series I felt like Ronnie was playing how I felt. He went after everything, he wouldn’t take crap from Fisher and Kobe. He wasn’t playing for a contract or for recognition he was trying to save his team’s season. I loved his heart at the end of that series.