Misc. and more

Just a few thrown together thoughts on the Jazz and the rest of the basketball world

1. Filling out the roster

By my count the Jazz have 11 players with guaranteed contracts. (Williams, Price, Watson, Bell, Miles, Hayward, AK, Millsap, Al, Okur, Elson...did I miss anyone?) Which means we have 2 roster spots left. Who do they go to?

If Fesenko re-signs he gets a spot. That's a given. He doesn't need to "earn" his spot. Assuming he re-signs, who do we put at that last spot?

It's between Jeffers, Gaines, Thompson, Evans, and possibly one or two other guys the Jazz invited. Sorry Gaines, but the Watson signing did you in. I'd be surprised if Jeffers beats out Thompson. So between Thompson and Evans....

Thompson shows a lot of upside. He could even be Matthews 2.0. But would that rotation be too logjammed?

Evans could be a nice player, I've read he could bet Tayshaun Prince type of a player. But I'm afraid he'd have an even tougher time than Thompson getting playing time. 

As much as I like Evans, I'd pickup Thompson.  If Fes doesn't re-sign I'd take Evans as well. Your thoughts?

2. Harpring Exception

I read an interesting piece on Raptors HQ. (http://www.raptorshq.com/2010/9/14/1687438/pick-one-player-to-join-the-10-11)

The premise is they have to add one player to their 2010-2011 Raptors team. Any player in the league up to $10 million dollars, caveat on obvious picks like James, Bryant, etc (though their salaries are over 10 mil, not sure why that was included.)

Using the Harpring exception of $6.5 million as the max, who would you put on the Jazz? (Sans Durant and his 4.79 mil 2010 contract)

I've put little thought into my selection, I'm just opening this up. Someone like Marc Gasol or Brook Lopez might be a nice pickup at center, but I don't know. Haven't really thought it through. Please include your hypothetical pick under $6.5 mil in the comments section.

3. The International Series

 The recent FIBA tournament got me excited about the international basketball world. Golf has the Ryder Cup. The top US players against the top European players. I think a best out of 5 series between the top US basketball players and the top International players would be a fun event to watch. The competition would be fairly evenly matched. The US could put together some form of the Redeem Team, with the Internationals sending out the likes of Nash, Rubio, Ginobli, Fernandez, AK, Turkoglu, Scola, the Gasols, Nowtizki, Noah, Okur, Yao Ming, Yi JIanlin, Bogut, Bargnani, etc. Have the series every two years, alternating between an international venue and a US venue. It'll never happen, but I'd sure watch it.