Front Office Perspective: Try to Win or try to Save?

Why’d you have to bring that back up.
I might have to un-rec this as a result… ;)

That trade was freakin retarded and everyone in the NBA except Laker fans hates Memphis to this day for trading Gasol for jack squat.

I agree wtih you 100%. I’m probably going to take alot of heat for this but I’ve been a New York Yankee fan since I was old enough to swing a bat. If there is one thing the Yankees are hated for it’s the amount of money they spend to grab stars. That being said, they are an organization who has made a reputation for being able to spend big bugs to make a great core and supporting cast for their team. (whether you hate them or like them, you have to at least give them that).

That being said, I HATE when franchises are more concerned with the amount of money they are spending vs. pocketing, instead of focusing on staying competitve. Granted, the NBA is a business and I understand during a recession that paying for a Lux tax which is millions of dollars is hard to swallow. However, they didn’t get under the Lux Tax and they didn’t really get anying in return that made the deals even somewhat appealing. Maybe we’ll get lucky with that 2011 draft pick and be able to draft another superstar for D-will but I doubt it.

It frustrates me because I can understand both points of view. The Maynor/Harpring trade I can swallow because of how much money it saved. Ronnie Brewer for protected pick that doesn’t even get us under the tax and takes one of our better defenders away is frustrating.

I really hope, REALLY hope, the F.O. has a plan for all of this that is more than just trying to save money or they may have starte down a slippery slope that causes problems with D-Will and the other players around him. Not only that, the fans deserve something more then watching a team that could be pushed over the edge into a championship contender slip back to being medicore.

when it comes to ‘saving money’. Very poor move, if you ask me. (from a bball pov and from a financial move)

And bottom line is this: I actually think having the draft pick and a little smaller payroll is going to be more beneficial to making that big move

The Jazz are already holding expirings in Korver’s $6m and Boozer’s $12m this season. Is that extra $3-4m (where Brewer’s next contract would have started) going to make a huge difference? I can’t say for sure, but will the Jazz really want to pay someone more than $18m a season? I say no, especially with our state regarding the cap.

The Jazz and draft picks, on the other hand, are a whole other mess. Sure, we lucked into the Knicks pick, but aside from that, we owe Minny one 1st rounder soon, we also owe Philly one 2nd rounder (Fes trade). We haven’t been great with using these ‘assets’. After all, we still have Ante Tomic as an ‘asset’ that no team seems to want. Furthermore, I see the Jazz moving backwards in regards to these picks. Brewer was a lotto pick. We’re not getting a lotto pick in return. So we’re effectively traded down. That’s not even a sideways move.

This is what I was trying to get at.

We’ve seen this before as Jazz fans with how Stockton and Malone played for years with “barely making the playoff” talent. We don’t need to re-create the fail wheel for a decade again. The Jazz are winning now, sitting on our hands would be one thing. Actively getting rid of talent (on the other hand) is the opposite of what the Jazz need to be doing.

D-Will sees Dallas going out and making trades to try to get better NOW. He sees Utah doing the opposite. In 3 yrs when Jason Kidd retires and D-Will is a free agent don’t you think Cuban at al aren’t going to make Deron at least look at Dallas?

What’s keeping Deron in Utah? Management that wants to trade away starters for draft picks in the 16-22 range?

Larry saved the UTAH Jazz. I know this and am grateful for it. He was passionate about the Jazz beyond money. I would only wish for the current ownership to sell the team if they continue to focus on bean counting, instead of banner counting. (and only wish for the team to be sold to another group that would keep the team in utah at that)

The Jazz have never been more successful than they were under Larry’s ownership. He was willing to take risks and balanced loyalty with progress (mostly). He didn’t ask for Sloan to be canned some seasons when the Jazz underperformed at the start of seasons — he didn’t ask the team to make trades just to make trades either. He did, on the other hand, really get into the Jazz as more than an owner. He wanted to win and bit the financial bullet at times, in order to put out the best product available. (AK’s contract comes to mind)

What have we seen, since Greg took over? I haven’t been overwhelmed with Greg’s “commitment to winning” so far. Maybe what he’s done is good enough for you. That’s cool.

He has big shoes to fill.

Moreover, I think it’s the advisers Miller has more than just Greg himself. (I named names, btw, look them up). Those guys coupled with Greg’s lack of overt ‘passion’ for the Jazz hurts the team. Suggesting that having a franchise owned by a guy who wasn’t nuts for that franchise is a good thing is silly. How many casino owners do well, if they aren’t really passionate about their business? How many car dealerships stand out, if their owner doesn’t care for cars?

Hopefully Greg will develop Jazz fever. For the sake of the players and fans.

We didn’t trade Brewer for first round pick, we traded 30 games of Brewer for a first round pick. It is not a “latteral” or less move, it was a good move.

Of course DWill acted upset. Brewer was his friend. But people are over reacting to think this means he is leaving Utah. Anyone remember when Karl Malone swore he was leaving if they let Ike Austin go (right before they let Ike Austin go)?

You can’t expect these guys to go old man Karl Malone on the Lakers at this stage of their careers. This was D-Will’s first ‘real’ contract as his Rookie deal finished. These are the players the league has right now. (Shaq turned down $100 from the lakers for $120 back in the day — the lakers had to get rid of more players in order to do it)

I’m not satisfied that we have quality swingmen. AK is the only guy I really love out of the bunch. He’s a playoff vet who has played well in the clutch before. He’s the type of guy good teams have. I haven’t been sold on Kover or CJ this year. (Korver, mainly because he’s missed a lot of time — CJ, well, for all his twitter talk about getting better, he really hasn’t) Wes is a great idea.

We all love him, but we don’t actually know what his true potential is. We know that Brewer’s game was hurting this year because there was no real floor spacing for him to exploit (because Memo, Korver, DWill were all injured at points of the season). We don’t know what Wes is going to end up being. He could be better than Brewer over-all, or he could just end up being Shandon Anderson on the Knicks. It’s too soon to tell.

We’re always going to be a long shot to win the title when they team has no way to counter the two teams ahead of us in the standings (LAL, DEN). It would have been nice to see the Jazz make a move that’s a basketball move for once.

As for Martin — I don’t think it had to be a Brewer for Martin type of trade. If we know anything about our team, we can’t field a “just offense” lineup and then a “just defense” lineup. We need balance — if you have Martin on the floor, you’re always going to need to pair him up with a Kirilenko, Brewer or Matthews. There were ways to get Martin. (Sac would not have said ‘no’ to a Boozer and Korver deal for Martin and junk) These were just not ways that our front office wanted to try.