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The Downbeat #1847: The No-Trade Deadline

The Utah Jazz appear to be poised to stand pat this deadline.

By Mychal Lowman
Quin Snyder doesn't want a trade.
Quin Snyder doesn't want a trade.
Jeff Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Trade rumors are flying right now and currently it looks like the Utah Jazz are trying to move Trey Burke.

BUT, and it's a big but, it looks like it's just for assets.  Who knows if the 3 year NBA pro has a chance to be traded.  The Utah Jazz's sometimes mouthpiece, sometimes propaganda, sometimes writer quickly went to put out the reported fire of any trade rumor with Utah.

Now let's be fair, the Utah Jazz are not sharing trade secrets with their play by play man.  But any organization would be wise to control their communication with the public whatever those channels are.  Some people are whispering down their chain that it's hard to make trades to BUILD value in their players.  Some people are whispering in other channels such as 3rd party reporters to let them know that certain players ARE available and the Utah Jazz are open for business.  Then general management will use themselves in communications to quell rumors so they don't look like bad guys when trades are made.  Why?  So that when they are asked why they traded a player it gives the appearance that they were patient and they received an offer that "They just couldn't turn down."  That gives the fan, you at home, a great show and confidence that the organization is doing the right thing no matter what.  It gives you trust.  That is your "Managing Expectations" lesson for the day.

All in all, the Jazz are definitely making calls today and tomorrow because if you don't ask you never know what you might get in return.  Just ask Detroit who probably thinks they hit the lottery in what probably began as a prank call to Orlando and resulted in Tobias Harris.

Yahoo Sports had a VERY interesting piece on the Utah Jazz's trade deadline options by Bobby Marks.  It included this nugget:

Utah will be the test study of how the new salary cap will affect teams.

The Jazz could have close to $28 million in cap space, but will already have 14 players, including their first-round pick, on the roster.

League rules stipulate Utah will need to reach a salary floor of $80 million.

How the Jazz use the available cap space on one or two players could be the trend for teams this summer.

Notice the big kicker. The Utah Jazz must reach a salary floor of $80 million dollars.  Currently right now they have 12 players on their roster for next season with a total amount of $57 million dollars.  That's $23 million they must spend to reach the salary floor.  THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY.  To put this in perspective, remember when the Jazz were spending into the luxury tax a few seasons ago and it was such a big deal?  Remember how the Utah Jazz said it was a commitment to the fans to spend that time of money to have such a competitive team?  The salary floor is $5 Million dollars more than what the Jazz were spending in that luxury tax year. So how are they going to reach it?  Well they could spend WAY TOO MUCH MONEY in free agency on a barely above replacement player.  Keep in mind that most teams are going to be falling into that same extra money next season so competition for contracts is going to be high, or the Jazz can absorb some of these terrible contracts that teams are trying to offload for assets and with the hope of getting a really great player.  The latter is the most obvious choice.

But when does that happen?  The Utah Jazz have to do it either now or before/during the draft.  My guess is Utah makes a move at the draft so as to not mess with their rhythm going into the rest of this season.  It's still possible Utah goes for a trade now, but I think Utah would much rather not have to spend so much practice time integrating a new player into the lineup now.  Why?  Because it takes away from one of their core competencies which is development.  That development time then has to be shuffled to a new addition.  Easier to integrate in the offseason and not sacrifice vital development time.

Who doesn't love a good crying Jordan meme?

Recently ESPN investigated the issue to see if creating a Michael Jordan meme could get you sued.

The Associated Press could pursue legal action if it believes its copyright of the image has been violated. "We own the rights in our photo, which was taken in 2009," Associated Press spokesman Paul Colford said. "We could enforce those rights depending on the use and other factors, as is the case with all AP photos."

Likewise, Jordan spokesperson Estee Portnoy recently implied that the basketball icon's camp is keeping a close eye on the usage of the meme. "We haven't seen anyone using it to promote their commercial interests, which is something that we're monitoring," Portnoy wrote in an email to the Chicago Tribune.

...

In other words, if you are creatively modifying the work -- whether by adding witty text or photoshopping it onto another image -- you are almost certainly not violating copyright law.

"It's very situational and contextual," Hobbs said. "The Michael Jordan meme is legal because it's a transformative use of the original material."

Here's the kicker: Not only are you not violating copyright law in such instances, but your work has now become copyrighted as well.*

*Bold added

Yes, photoshop fiends, not only can you meme the crap out of Michael Jordan's crying face, but you are now protected by copyright law.  It's a good time to be alive people.

Our own Peter Novak had this to report this trade deadline:

Honestly, I don't see the Jazz doing anything crazy this trade deadline.  It looks like it's going to be a quiet deadline for us.  Which isn't the worst thing in the world.  After all, the Utah Jazz are just one year removed from trading a prior #3 lottery pick to an in division rival. We can have a year off from this madness.

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