I've been away from a PC for a bit, but I've been checking my cell phone every minute to see if there was any breaking news about Deron signing his deal. If there was, I was going to make a straight path to the nearest Kinko's (or whatever they're called now) and plop down the $12/hour charge to use their PC to get my fix and post something about it.
Now, here we are two days away from the Revue and from when Deron flies out to start practice/training for the Olympics. Deron has stated that he wants to get it done before then. And if for some reason we haven't heard anything by Friday, expect the topic to dominate the conversation at the Revue.
Deron had stated that he thought the deal would get done by last weekend. But from Deron's agent, we learn that Williams '"definitely has a preference'" as to the length of his contract. Is that the main sticking point?
I can't imagine the Jazz balking at a four-year deal with a player option or a full five-year deal. If that were the case, we would probably have an extension by now. I would guess then that Deron may be leaning towards the three-year deal with a player option. So the Jazz are probably trying to persuade him to add on that extra guaranteed year.
And if all of that is the case, then perhaps we can glean that Deron's not convinced that they're going to be able to keep Boozer, Okur, & others to have a contending team. Whatever the Jazz are offering, Deron doesn't seem to be buying yet.
It's no time to panic of course. They'll get the deal done. But we'll see how the Jazz close out this deal.