I've gone back and forth on the CJ situation more times than Brett Favre has changed his mind about retiring.
On one hand, I've seen his flashes of brilliance when he can put up points, play good D, shoot the three, dunk on anyone, and show why he belongs in the league playing significant minutes.
But is that potential worth $15M?
First, the contract is believed to be a three-year deal worth $11M and a team option for a fourth. So the guaranteed portion would be $3.67M a year on average. That sounds like a lot for a third-stringer. Except for the fact that Miles shouldn't be a tird-stringer. He should be in the 8-9 man rotation. There's just been one roadblock, Matt Harpring.
You won't find many fans that think Matt should be getting minutes over CJ. Hapring basically has two shots, a baseline jumper and a free-throw line J. That's it. And he has to get those coming off screens. And we know that he can't guard anyone 1 on 1. His knees have crippled him to the point that Ostertag could blow by him at this point. Yet because of his toughness and being able to get in the head of a couple of players, he still has a job.
So tell me what looks like a better deal, Matt at $6M this year and $6.5M the next or CJ's deal?
Another question to ask is who gives you the better chance at winning a championship? I don't think either are the missing piece per se (they can't be missing as we have had them already). But I would say CJ gives us the advantage.
I don't know why the Jazz haven't made a commitment to CJ and signed him to a multi-year deal yet. I guess it's a two-way street. A lot of companies Google prospective employees now. Maybe they were a bit confused when they search on CJ and came across some photos they thought were from Miles moonlighting. (If you value your jobb, you won't do a Google image search on CJ Miles. At least without adding Jazz or Utah to the search).
So how the Jazz do it, I don't know, but they need to move Matt Harpring. His $12.5M left on his deal makes it a bit tough. But if Denver can trade Camby for being able to consider trading second round picks, the Jazz can find someone. Atlanta has room now, right?
And if that fails, I hear the Packers are looking for a backup quarterback.