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Mr. Greed strikes once more
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- It is time to stop guessing whether Carlos Boozer will opt out of the final season of his contract with the Utah Jazz.
Carlos Boozer
Boozer
Paul Millsap
Millsap
For the first time, Boozer said unequivocally Wednesday night that he will indeed opt out of his contract at the end of the season, foregoing a guaranteed $12.66 million to become an unrestricted free agent.
"I'm opting out. No matter what, I'm going to get a raise regardless," Boozer told ESPN.com. "I am going to opt out, I don't see why I wouldn't, I think it's a very good business decision for me and my family, but I'd also like to see what happens with the Jazz and stay here."
Boozer's statement can only come as welcome news to teammate Paul Millsap, who posted his 13th consecutive double-double in place of Boozer on Wednesday night as Utah came back from an early 22-point deficit to defeat the New Jersey Nets 103-92.
Millsap was the catalyst in a huge fourth-quarter surge for the Jazz as they outscored the Nets 40-23 in the period, Millsap contributing half of his 18 points and half of his 12 rebounds over the final 12 minutes.
With Boozer sidelined the past 15 games by a knee injury (he sounded as though he had a setback Wednesday, experiencing pain after a workout, and planned to have an MRI Thursday) Millsap has unquestionably established himself as the NBA player providing the most bang for the buck.
In a locker room where Andrei Kirilenko is making $15.1 million, Boozer $11.6, Mehmet Okur $8.5 million and Deron Williams $5.07 million -- with a max extension kicking in next season -- Millsap is the lowest-paid player on the team with a salary of $797,581, a result of his signing a three-year deal when he was a rookie, with the third year at the team's option.
Millsap will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, with Utah holding the rights to match any offer. But a big question mark is whether there will be any money to pay Millsap and still keep the Jazz beneath the luxury-tax threshold, which owner Larry Miller has vowed publicly he will never exceed.
Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor told ESPN.com that Miller hasn't been quite so absolute regarding the luxury tax in internal conversations, but the issue could become moot if the Jazz allow Boozer to leave as a free agent, which would allow them to pay Millsap something resembling his fair market value.
Possibly complicating matters to a certain degree is the fact that Millsap reiterated his commitment to being represented by his uncle, Brendrick Simmons, who received a briefing from players' union officials Wednesday on the different scenarios Millsap may face this summer.
Paramount among the concerns of Millsap's camp is whether any team with significant cap space will be willing to tender an offer sheet to Millsap, with the expectation around the league being that Utah will match anything that is not egregiously unreasonable -- especially if the Jazz are far enough under the tax threshold to pay Millsap his fair market value.
Some would argue that Millsap is a $5-6 million player, while others would argue that any player brawnish and brutish enough to ac ulate such an impressive streak of double-figure statistical totals is probably worth closer to $10 million annually than $5 million.
Utah will have even more flexibility with Millsap and others if Okur exercises an early termination contract and walks away from the final season of his contract, forsaking $9 million, although Okur and his agent both told ESPN.com that they will wait until the end of the season to assess the NBA landscape and see how many teams have significant cap space to make a play for a player of Okur's caliber. Currently, Atlanta, Memphis, Portland, Miami, Detroit and Oklahoma City are among the teams positioned to have the most cap flecibility.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has been uncharacteristically effusive in his praise for Millsap during Boozer's absence, and O'Connor told ESPN.com on Wednesday: "We intend to keep Paul Millsap. I don't know how much more succinct I can be."
Upon hearing that remark, Millsap replied: "Bit of a relief, knowing your team wants you. I would love to be here, great system, playing with one of the best point guards in the league, it can't get no better."
When he hears of Boozer's plans to opt out, it may get even better. That'll mean the money will be there to pay Millsap and keep Miller under the luxury tax, although it would come at the cost of letting Boozer -- their leading scorer and rebounder -- walk away with Utah getting nothing in return.
Nothing, that is, except for the chance to have the financial flexibility to lock up a rebounding machine who has shown over the past 13 games -- especially in Boston on Monday night when Millsap scored 32 points as Kevin Garnett, according to one Jazz player, kept calling over to teammate Kendrick Perkins: "You take him, Perk."
But if what Boozer was saying Wednesday night comes to fruition, or of the Jazz can find a taker for Kirilenko in a trade -- there's going to be nobody taking Millsap. The Jazz will keep him.
ESPN.com NBA Insider Chris Sheridan has been cov
u mad?
the guy is everything that is wrong with pro sports
haha he is just doing what Lebron will be doing soon. gettin a raise
Lebron would be taking a $30,000,000 paycut
Dolla Dolla Bills ya'll
Well, the Jazz aren't going to be among the elite teams with or without Boozer, and with Millsap showing what he can do I actually think it's a good move for the Franchise. Boozer on the other hand could end up being frustrated. There are not many teams out there who can afford a max contract in the upcoming off-season and some might want to keep their cap space for 2010. He might end up with the Thunder or the Grizzlies or the most likely scenario imho ending up elsewhere via a sign and trade for some talent + expiring contracts. Nevertheless, the chances he will end up on a winning team are heavily reduced with this decision.
He would rather get paid than play on a winner. He lied his way out of Cleveland with a chance to play with Lebron so he could get paid in Utah while they rebuilt into nothing more than a decent team.
Hate on the Cavs all you want, if they had Boozer and James they would be a very very tough team. But Boozer lied. He is s . He is proof that some players don't care about winning, only getting paid. They don't care if you spend $150 on tickets in hopes of seeing your team win, they only care about their share of the proceeds. You might be upset that your team lost, but guys like Boozer don't care, they only care about one thing
Very true but actually I like the Cavs the way they are (well despite Varejao of course) and I don't think they would be better than now. They might have reached their full potential earlier, but overall I think this Cavs team is better than one with Boozer.
Get the out Boozer and don't let the door hit you on the way, ya soft ing loser.
I hope the Euro league offers him so he can get the out of America
Certainly better defensively, but we could use a guy who can score down low and off the pick-and-roll like Boozer can.
I don't know if it's all about the money to Boozer. I think there's a part of him that chafes at being the second banana on a team. He didn't want that role in Cleveland, and he doesn't appear to want it in Utah behind Deron Williams. Obviously he (and CeCe) want to be paid, but he wants to be The Man, too, and he couldn't be the man in Cleveland or Utah.
Then again, Utah can still sign him for more than anyone else, so maybe he'll stay- if they want him to, that is.
doubt any american team is going to fork out any big contracts untill 2010...im sure most of the owners have there pockets drained also during these hard economic times....
That's why the timing is so odd to me. Damn near every team is thinking 2010 in their budget considerations. Plenty of teams are going to go after Lebron, Bosh, etc, and there's going to be some disapointed team out there with cap space to burn. Why not be the guy to capitalize on that when they've got money to burn? Maybe he thinks he'll be "The Big Name" in the '09 free agent market, I guess. I just think there will be more money to be had from more teams in a position to spend big when they don't win the Lebron Sweepstakes.
The 2010 offseason has a name (which I refer to use because I will not be sold into the media hype)
But, 2009 will be..... The Summer of Boozer!
It will be the equivalent of going to a Rolling Stones concert and having the Jonas Brothers open up for them
Let the trade talks begin.....
Booze is a disappointment, I didn't like him at Duke, and when he disappeared against L.A in the playoffs I lost respect for him. Every team needs a legit post presence so teams will be calling.
BooZe gets lost in trees, whereas Milsap moves the trees out of the way. When it's time to get dirty I want someone who moves trees, plus he wears terrible blazers in conferences after games, such a cornball.
I've really tried to avoid the Boozer topics, because I'm too furious, but I can't help it. As a Jazz fan, looking back on the whole Carlos Boozer experience: I could rip his spine out of his back and beat his brains in with it, no qualms at all. He's the biggest piece of , coward, in the entire history of the NBA.
Take every thing Darko says about the refs in this video and apply it to Boozer and his ed up wife and you'll know how I feel.
That had to be ty to watch as a Jazz fan, the results that came from him going up against Pau and Lamar. If that isn't telling, I don't know what is. His little one legged fade away J's aren't going to cut in the crunch. Two feet from the rim he was playing like a little Biznotch, getting his thrown, scoring way under the norm.
It was horrible. Horrible enough that I can't figure out why they didn't try to trade him in the off-season before all the animosity and compe ion between him and Millsap blew-up this season. In that series, Boozer had one of the worst individual performances I've ever seen from a supposed "super-star" pro athlete.
Jazz fans don't deserve this. You don't make a stupid statement like that when you're paired with such an elite PG and you expect to get paid when you're watching most of the reg season games on the bench.
On a positive note however, Millsap is a beast 33 points vs boston
I'm not going to lie, I was shocked to say the least. I vivdly remember telling myself that if he gives them anything, anything, they could steal this from them. He shows up one game, then plays like the rest of the time. I just stopped watching after I seen the look on his face early on, disgusting really.
I wasn't impressed with him at Duke, although he was very efficient there. To be honest most undersized bigs aren't that impressive for me, but hey that's just me.
X10000000000 Not only is he a soft when he's on the court, but every day I open the sltrib website to read about Boozer sitting yet another game and that mother er then has the audacity to say, "I'm getting a raise, regardless." YOU BOOZER! YOU!
There is also however one other flaw to boozer's decision. No way in he puts anything close to the numbers he's putting up now in a non-sloan system. Deron basically just makes boozer look good when in all honestly i don't think he is. I think Mansap is a better defender anyways.
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