If sources are too be believed (not my sources of course), Miami, or more specifically Riley, doesn't want any part of Beasley.  And the biggest reason the Heat (Riley) doesn't want Beasley is because of his personality and other character issues.  Now they supposedly want a point guard to go along with Wade.  One of the names that pops up is OJ Mayo (speaking of OJ, way to go Trent!)

Ute Awe Man pointed out to me in an IM conversation though, how can Riley use character issues as a concern for not taking Beasley and then turn around and take Mayo?  So now when he doesn't take Beasley, he has some excuse.

And why wouldn't he want to take him?  Apparently they want to take a run at Boozer next season.  That's the only conceivable reason they would pass up on the Kansas State PF.

So with their apparent run on Booze,  Miami has created a bit of fear with Jazz fans that we're going to lose Carlos and not get anything back.  And after his lackluster playoff performance, fans are ready to get rid of him.  Heck, there were some that wanted to trade him this year while his value was high.

Sorry, buy he's not going anywhere, at least not until the end of the season.  Here are a few scenarios that could happen (or that some want to happen).

1. Trade Boozer for the #2 pick.  Miami gets Boozer early and Utah can draft a replacement.  The Jazz don't lose Boozer for nothing.  This isn't happening though for a few reasons.  First, Miami is in no hurry to contend.  They can wait out the season and get Booze next season without giving up a high draft pick.  Second, the Jazz value stability above all else.  They're not about to mix things up when they have a chance at a title.  And that brings me to my last point.  If they get Beasley, they set themselves back at least 3-5 years for a championship.  They're not winning with him in the next 3 years.
2. Count on this.  Boozer will opt out next year.  It will either be  to sign with another team or to re-sign with the Jazz for more money.    I believe the Jazz can offer him the most though.
3. Miami trades the #2 pick to the Clippers for Elton Brand.  That would quiet the rumors pretty quick.
4. Or, they could up and trade him to some other team between now and the trading deadline next year.  This is probably even less likely than trading him for the #2.
5. If Boozer opts out and ups and leaves for another team, take a look at the list of available free agents next year.  Gooden and Brand stand out.  And if Boozer is gone, the Jazz will throw a ton of cash at Brand and a substantial amount to Gooden.

So what's going to happen?  We can't trust Miami.  And while Boozer has stated that there was no "wink, wink" deal with the Cavs to re-sign, you can't think that Cleveland would have let him out of his contract without some assurance that he was going to come back.  Regardless of your opinion on that, even with a statement from Booze that he wants to stay and wants to play with Deron (although he left LeBron), I don't think any fan would sleep soundly knowing that he would stay.

So all we have to go on is past experience with the Jazz.  So here's what's going to happen.  Boozer will play through the season and the brass will deal with his leaving at the end of the season.  They'll offer him a reasonable contract, probably not max, and it will be up to Carlos.

The Jazz aren't that far away from a Finals appearance.  If you're looking for a trade to happen, it will probably be one that sends one of our two guards and the expiring contract of Collins for a big man.

We'll see how things play out in the draft tomorrow where there could be a ton of trades.  But don't expect the Jazz to do any trading unless they're trading away a pick.

Look for a trade thread tomorrow at noon (MDT).

The Utah Jazz are the only team that can boast that they are sending two players to Beijing in August to play for the USA Olympic team.  Of course AK will be suiting up for the the Russians, so that brings the total to three.  Is there another team with more?

I don't think that fans have to be worried about this wearing out Deron and Boozer for the season.  If anything, they should be working out anyway over the summer.  It may not be to this extent, but they're both young.  I think it should make for a smooth transition into training camp. 

I wonder how it is going from playing with the top basketball players in the nation (possibly the world) to going back to playing with just "regular" NBA players.  It's not like you're playing just one All-Star game with no sets and nobody caring until the final three minutes. You're practicing with these guys for a month and playing for almost a month.  Is Deron going to cuss out Memo because he didn't catch an oop that was at the top of the backboard?  "Come on Memo, Howard would have had that!"  If I were other members on the Jazz, I would be practicing right now too.  Because Deron and Boozer are going to be coming back from Beijing already in stride.

And a poll question that I thought about while writing this.  Obviously, every Jazz fan would prefer to have an NBA championship over an Olympic gold.  But if you were a player, which would you prefer if you could only have one?  Stockton & Malone have the gold, but not the ring.  I guess it might be seen as more of an accomplishment winning an NBA title as you don't have the same talent around you.  But the Olympics might be considered the only true "World Championship" as it involves every country (including qualifying).  So would you rather have never won an NBA title but won the gold, or would you rather have the ring and have some other country win the Olympic gold?

This weekend is crazy and I don't have time for much of a recap.  Here's a few thoughts though.

• Boozer's back.
• Deron has got be be one of the toughest guys in the league.
• When Memo's shot is on, it has a little less arc on it.
• Laker's didn't get a big game from anyone not named Kobe.
• The refs did their best to keep it as close as it was.  As soon as the Jazz would push it to 9+, out came the whistles.

Thanks to CB Jack at My Utah Jazz for pointing this out.  This video is Boozer and Deron getting interviewed.  First, watch Steve Brown behind them get snubbed by both.  I'm sure they had to get back to the locker room though.

But the best part is at the end when Deron is heading back.  A fan pinches Deron's towel as he's walking away and pulls it off of him.  Pretty Smooth.  Hover your mouse over the video to see the list of others.

Make sure to check out the game thread .  Great stuff going on in there.  Sign up and start chatting.  It's the best way to do a game if you're watching from home.

Other recaps,

• MUJ, One , two , and three
• The Utah Jazz
• Ross Siler

Stop me if you've heard this one before.  The Jazz have one poor quarter.  Boozer does jack on either end.  The Jazz get down double digits.  The backups lead a comeback in the final quarter, only to fall short.

Second verse, same as the first.

Utah is known for their strict liquor laws. It's all watered down. But maybe the legislators need to call a special session to up the alcohol content, because our Booze is weak. See what I did there?

One of our team captains continued his two-month long crapfest. He's the reason we got in the hole early. He picked up two amazingly stupid fouls in the first and was in trouble the whole game. He ended up with only 10 points and 5 boards in just 24 minutes. And it took him 3-11 to score that. Here's a tip. If your guy goes by you or is in front of you for a rebound, get your forearm out of his back. Maybe the league is calling those more now, but you have to adjust to that. I'm still not ready to give up on Boozer, but if this is one of those situations where he comes out after the series and says he's been hurt or some other excuse, I'll be ticked.

And sorry Booze, the AND-1 mantle was passed to Millsap for now. Millsap had three or four such opportunities as he came in to pick up the slack. He shot 7-13 from the field and grabbed 10 boards and finished with 17 points. He did have a blown layup in the fourth that would have cut the lead to 4, but without Paul, the Jazz aren't anywhere near that close.

Williams didn't play well in the first half. And then he realized, "Man, I'm going to have to carry this team again." Unfortunately, his 22 points in the second half weren't enough to bring the Jazz back. He finally started realizing that he could take Fisher any time he wanted to. The highlight of the game came after Boozer got a quick rebound and got it to Williams for the break. Deron was going full speed and didn't stop until he took off from the bottom of the free-throw arc and slammed down a ferocious dunk. Watch the video in the FanShots (coming soon).

You'll look at the box score and think that Kobe lit up Brewer. But Ronnie played excellent defense on #24 all night. The now reigning MVP made tough shot after tough shot. He had a couple of shots that were at ridiculous angles and he was able to kiss them off the glass.

We're still getting karmic payback from Fisher. He would squelch any Jazz run with a huge three-point shot. He was 4-5 from downtown and finished with 22 points. If you're at the game Friday, please, please give him applause. We need to reverse something.

As far as the overall play of the Jazz, they took 101 shots compared to LA's 68. How is that even possible? How can you take 23 more shots and still lose? Well, there's two ways. One is to shoot only 44%. The other is to allow the Lakers to shoot 57%. And the Jazz didn't even play that poorly on D. The Lakers just shot lights out.

But the biggest reason has to be the free-throw discrepancy. LA attempted 43 FTs compared to Utah's 16. For those without calculators, I'll do the math. That's 27 more attempts. And it wasn't even so much the number of attempts as it was the timing of the fouls. Just when the Jazz were getting going, out would come the whistles against the Jazz in successive LA possessions. A classic example of this was when Fisher was running with Memo on a fast break. Memo ducked under the basket and away from Fisher and still got the foul. And when the Lakers were struggling, the refs would bail them out. And I don't know how much contact Deron has to get for a foul to be called. He gets hammered on almost every drive. Doesn't the free throw distance have to be some sort of statistical anomaly?

But despite all that, the Jazz still had a chance to win. It's going to take four good quarters to beat these guys. The Jazz outscored the Lakers by 5 in the final three quarters. The 15 point first quarter deficit was too much, especially on the road.

At the risk of sounding like a first-round Houston fan, the Jazz can still win the next two at home and make this a series again. When you think in terms of winning 4 out of 5, that sounds pretty impossible. But if you think in terms of taking care of business at home, and finding a way to get one on the road, it's not as imposing. But a game 7 in LA, against the NBA's MVP, against a marquee franchise doesn't sound appealing.

Other notes,

• On Deron's dunk, we didn't see a replay until after the game. had that been Kobe, we would have seen it going into and coming back from every commercial break.

• Matt Hapring should never set foot on an NBA court again. I'm with Biased now on this. You have to play CJ. There is no way he could be any worse.

• In both comebacks, there hasn't been that little extra to get us over the hump to tie the game late.

• Andrei, Korver, and Memo played well tonight. Usually when get 40 points from those three, you win the game.