Polling time again - Do we match for Matthews?

we have to match this. Matthews will be very good for a while and he will get cheaper every year (if understand the terms of the deal correctly). Make the FO eat the contract since they dropped the ball on this. He provides the best answer for a big need on this team.

I guess you have to match it since we need shooting guards. Ronnie Brewer is your only other option.

So the Portland owner gets cancer and decided to take it all out on the Jazz every year…. Sigh….

Morrow signing happened before the Matthews offer. So the Jazz had no way of knowing what was gonna happen. Can’t blame them.

There isn’t anybody else (available) who can defend perimeter players as well as he can. Isn’t Raja Bell a free agent? But he’s old now. Keep Matthews around.

KOC looks like a real idiot. I am still giving him the benefit of the doubt that maybe he has something up his sleeve. It better be something amazing. A European or something.

It sucks for them and takes them out of their comfort zone (by quite a long way, as they were hoping to only have to pay him $3.5MM max), but there isn’t anyone else out there who can match the production that Matthews gives on both facets of the game.

It really pains him to see all the other coaches around the league be glorified for giving lottery teams better records and winning coach of the year. His plan this year is to surround Jerry with D-leaguers and bounce back next year. Then his HOF coach can get the coach of the year award. KOC has been trying hard to make Jerry fail for years, but SLoan is just too good at his job. Now, KOC is getting desperate. If he makes us suck this year, and go big when AK comes off the books, Jerry will finally be coach of the year. It is genius really…

If you match, you’re not signing another FA apart from Fes and training camp invites to fill the roster. You make it much more difficult to use any trade exceptions (already a tough task) because it may put you close to the luxury tax again. You have less money to play with when Andrei’s contract comes off the books. The team takes a step backward for 2010-11. But in five years it may look like a bargain if Matthews continues to improve.

If you don’t match, your starting shooting guard, a popular and productive player, is gone. You have to scramble to sign inferior FA talent (even if it’s Ronnie Brewer). You’ll still probably have to sign training camp invites to fill the roster. It will still be difficult to use any trade exceptions because teams know you’re desperate. You play a whole season starting either Brewer, Hayward or someone worse. The team probably takes a bigger step backward for 2010-11. But you do have more money to play with when Andrei’s contract expires.

Here are the salient questions: How much better is Wesley Matthews going to get? Given that big free agents signing in SLC are rare, how good a player are you expecting to acquire with the money you save if you don’t match (and will that player be sufficiently better than Matthews at this price)? How willing are you to suffer though a bad season next year (and how bad is “bad”)? How willing are you to go into the tax again (by matching, using trade exceptions)?

I still don’t know.

This sucks. $9 million for him. I know it’s only one year at $9 mill, but I think we let him go. Damn KOC. What the hell are you thinking!? Didn’t you learn from last year??

I just read up on the contract. I just got more frustrated!

Are the front office on vacation? Couldn’t they see this coming?? Man, I am very, very frustrated!

Call Portland’s bluff. Say F-you Portland. Let them pay their backup 9 mil. Where is Stern in all this? Shouldn’t he nullify this kind of insanity and call it tampering? No way this deal is in Portland’s best interest. So I say protest the move by letting it go. Save our money.

And fire KOC. I’ve made up my mind about that too.

Finding guys like Wesley are a lot harder than a lot of people assume. Just because he was an undrafted rookie doesn’t mean replacing him will be even remotely easy.

OJ was also an undrafted rookie swingman … do you want him starting? Ronnie Brewer was a hard working guy who turned out really well. Isn’t he a downgrade from Wesley? Kirk Snyder had more upside. How did he work out?

As I look at the other options the Jazz really have, they are either:

1) get someone not as good as a FA to replace Wesley in the starting lineup

2) use a TE to try to get someone good, but even more expensive (ex. Rip Hamilton), whose contract will screw things up for the future

I can’t see any option better than matching it, eating the front-loaded contract this season and then enjoying the production and reasonable contract for years 2-5.

by a starting SG, putting up 10-14 PPG, playing tough, strong, good defense, working hard, hustling, being an all-around good teammate and making $5 million per year (that’s what years 2-5 will be like).

To those who think the FO could have avoided this, I ask you how? The reports say that Wesley’s agent told the Jazz on day one they were seeking a full MLE. Since Wesley is a RFA the Jazz would be fools to pay that one day one of negotiations because they know they can always get him at that price (he’s restricted). So they did the intelligent thing and said go find a team that’s willing to pay you that much and then come talk to us. Well Wesley found a team and now the Jazz have a chance to match. But there is nothing the FO could have done to avoid this.

All they could have done is offer Wesley something less than the MLE in a show of good faith earlier on. But unless Wesley is intensely loyal to the Jazz (which, in spite of earlier comments, he clearly isn’t) or a fool, he would have still shopped around and come across the same Blazers offer we are facing today.

As for the contract. Don’t match. Wesley is extremely likable, he’s fearless, and has a winning attitude. He’s an above average defender and shoots decent enough…but he is not Bruce Bowen. He had a decent game against Kobe in the regular season, but in the postseason he was clearly trying to keep his head above water against Carmelo and Kobe. I was extremely proud of his efforts but that mostly stemmed from his undrafted rookie status and not the results on the court. It sucks to see such a rare and great find go to a division rival, but if they are willing to overpay this much for a bench player we need to let them hurt themselves. They can choke on their offer.

Unless they have a trade lined up and plan on Matthews being the primary 2-3 reserve. But I’m not sure I have the confidence that such a thing is happening.

Peace out, all.

Koof will have an awesome year this year. The Jazz will piddle around to resign him. Portland will front load an offer for him next year and we will be in the same boat.

What’s the saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” or is it this?

The question that needs to be polled is this: What did Utah do to piss Paul Allen off so much???

- if there is one thing we all have learnt in the past few days it’s that the players are now treating FM more as a business decision. The player will make the right decision for THEM, whether its’ the money, stability or playing with their friends and pissing their hometown off.
- I’d hate to play poker against KOC. Or be negotiating with him.
- If we came out on day 1 and offered a max allowed deal to Wes I bet some of you on here would have been screaming bloody murder. He’s a good piece, a GREAT piece even, but man… NEVER show your hand. Especially in a Seller’s Market.
- Don’t hate Wes for finding out his market value. And right now Market Value is stupid.
- I’d LOVE to know what Portland’s got planned. Moving Fernandez? Maybe Roy’s knees are more shot then they are letting on and they are getting Wes as insurance?
- How much of a good sign is it that teams covet our pieces? Not the Boozers, but the wes Matthews? Says a lot for Jerry/The system.
- And on that, as has been said it’s interesting to think if it’s the players that flourish in the system, or the system makes players flourish. I personally think Wes is the former.

My choice? Bite the bullet and pay the cash. Keep a valuable piece that will only become more valuable (and look cheap) as the 5 years goes on. We still get a LOT of cash at the end of 2011 to play with and if Paul and Wes keep developing we get 2 bargain starters to build alongside DWill.

well, @Gordon_Hayward is definitely fake. Too bad he’s not funny.

/threadjack

Who else are they going to spend the MLE on? Roger Mason? Al Harrington? Shannon Brown? Yeah, not bloody likely.

At this point, they pretty much have to match.

Kevin O’Connor always the reactor. Very disappointing.

it’s funny the way two fanbases view this move.

Blazer fans: Hey, this kid is a solid player. After the first year it’s an pretty cheap deal. And it’s ain’t my money!

Jazz fans: Man, that is an outrageous amount of money for a 2nd year role player. Is he worth it? Can we afford it? Is Kevin O’Connor on vacation?

I know I’m late to the party. I just got home and saw the offer glaring at me. I guess anytime you can pay a guy 9 million for 10 minutes of work a night you’ve got to do it right?

i voted pay him . . . but now i’m saying no way. i am a huge wes fan but this is just paul allen #$ around. wes is AWESOME . . . but i’m sorry he is not worth it. and i love you guys that say keep him — but many of you had said let boozer walk and were thinking rationally and stats to back it up etc.. . . but this is not rational . . . at $8m year avg. wes is just not worth it. so we tank another 5-8 games max because we don’t have him. we still win more than 40 next year and rebuild next with the with the new CBA.

frickin frack i #$$#$ Paul Allen bah!

Even if he had made Wes an offer first, Portland could have exceeded it with a counter offer.

Offer the full mid-level with bonus performance incentives for all-star or all defensive teams, etc. that would be comparable or even better than Portland. And tell him he can start here and be the man or go to Portland and ride second fiddle to Roy.

I think he’d stay. And if he didn’t he wouldn’t be the player I thought he was anyway.

Hey folks. We sign Redick yet? Oh…

LeBron James had a TV special on ESPN and announced he was quitting the NBA to play AA Baseball. And that he didn’t assault that girl in Colorado. And that he didn’t get his Coach sacked. And that his back was OK and he’d play for the Dream Team.
(Did I miss anything else that he hasn’t ripped off another Superstar yet?)

Given that the Jazz have a limited amount of space between their present obligations and the luxury tax threshold, I have a couple questions that bear upon the decision of whether to match Wes’ offer.

1) How much are we willing to pay for a center?
As the recent poll on this site indicated, we generally consider center to be the team’s greatest need. If that’s really the case, perhaps we should see if we could use the MLE to get a big man instead. That would potentially provide better value and might also allow Memo to slide over to the 4 occasionally instead of forcing Sap to slide over to the 5.

2) What kind of contract is Fes going to sign?
Wes is not our only restricted free agent. Even though we have Fes’ bird rights, whatever money we pay him (assuming we match HIS offer) is going to count when the luxury tax is calculated.

3) How much of a difference will Wes make for us?
Like most of you, I think highly of Matthews and would love to have him on the floor. However, I am not positive that it’s worth going into tax territory to sign him when we might be able to sign someone like Ronnie B for less money. I know Wes is better, but how much better? When it’s not my money, it’s easy enough to ask for us to keep Wes… but if the difference between the two is one playoff seed is it worth it? Two seeds? At what point is Wes worth the full MLE, especially on a frontloaded deal?

I look forward to hearing what you guys think.

Here’s his take:

Matthews does remind me of a caution I once offered about Damien Wilkins in Seattle. When an undrafted free agent plays well as a rookie, it’s often less a sign that he’s truly a great player and more a reminder that talent is out there to find. I can see Utah or some other team giving Matthews too long a contract and regretting it after finding out he’s not substantially better than replacement level.

Seems like he almost foresaw this situation.

Use our trade exceptions to trade for CP3 + Okafor or Peja (their pick), and throw in Ronnie P.

Then play CP3 and Deron together, and we’re set!
Who needs Matthews then?

/complete sarcasm

This contract has us all confused too. Most Blazer fans I talk to are pretty divided over this offer. On one hand it’s too much money, and on the other Matthews is a very nice player. I just don’t know about it either. Me I just don’t know. I think you guys should ( and will ) match. I’m not gonna get too heated one way or the other until it shakes out.

My big caution with him is I just don’t he’s gonna be nearly as good playing for us. The Sloan system covers up his weaknesses. Nate Mcmillan wants his players to either stand in the corner and wait for 3’s, take your man in ISO on ther block, take him off the dribble to get penetration, or set a screen and take the jumper after the defense gets sucked over to the ball handler.

Portland does not get much off the ball movement or the awesome screens you guys set. Matthews seems to flourish with off the ball movement, cutting hard to the rim, and catching and finishing. I fear in Portland he will be reduced to a 3pt threat and defender. I don’t know if that’s worth this contract….perhaps this guy

just loves trying to screw Utah.

By now you’ve probably heard that Portland has decided to try their hand at being feminine hygiene products again this off season.

As a Blazer fan I must say that is really, really funny. – Elgin