Could it be any other way with Carlos Boozer and the Jazz? Everything is so complicated, from late owner Larry Miller's combative stance on Boozer's injuries to Boozer's renewed sense of self-worth to the constant conflict between stardom and also-ran status. Boozer surprisingly picked up his 2009-10 team option Tuesday, putting Utah on the hook for $12.3 million.
Boozer is well worth the cash, so this development should be a clear win for Utah, right? Well, it's complicated. Boozer's commitment puts the status of back-up power forward Paul Millsap and starting center Mehmet Okur into question. By casting his lot with Utah for one more year, Boozer may very well have cast his buddies out.
Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.
Even in hard economic times, the top players like Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Kidd will leave teams and get their financial reward in other places. The squeeze will be on the lower-level free agents who must settle for minimum or various exceptions.
What hurts this class is that only seven teams really have major room under the salary cap to make something happen, and they usually aren't the NBA's biggest spenders. Unless the free agents stay with their current teams, only Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Atlanta, Portland, Toronto and Detroit have major room.
Although there has been plenty of dancing and unofficial talks the last few days, the real dealings can't start until 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
Here is a breakdown by position of the five most intriguing – and unrestricted – free agents.
The 2002 NBA Draft is filled with what ifs. What if Jason Williams had decided not to jump on that motorcycle? What if DaJuan Wagner had been physically able to withstand the rigors of the NBA? What if NBA scouts weren't so enamored with European prospects?
This is a draft of major successes -- Amare Stoudemire, Yao Ming, Carlos Boozer -- and abject failures -- Marcus Haislip, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Frank Williams. And the 2002 class will be best known for not being the 2003 class, perhaps the best in league history. Yao was perhaps the most mysterious No. 1 pick of all time. Few knew more than he was 7-foot-6 and from China.
And what followed Yao was a bunch of question marks, kids who left school too early and unknown international players. The result was an uneven draft that will go down more for its misses than hits.
Well, well, well. Utah has decided it won't go down without a fight. Behind a raucous (as usual) home crowd, the Jazz clawed their way back in Game 3 to put a win up on the board. Now with Game 4 tonight, the Jazz have an opportunity to prove our own Brett Pollakoff wrong and make this a series for real. The Jazz get Mehmet Okur back tonight (most likely) which is a big plus for them. For the Lakers, the question is not talent, nor execution, nor offense, nor defense. It's simply effort. If they don't want this game more than Utah does and play like it, no amount of talent and size is going to save them amongst the rabid Utah fans.
Say, since this is such a big game, why don't we get a liveblog going? Indeed, let us. Join us at 9PM EST for Lakers at Jazz, Game 4.
The Jazz did indeed beat the Lakers in Game 3 of their first round playoff match-up, and cut L.A.'s lead in the series to two games to one in the process. But just because Utah was able to squeak out a two-point victory at home basically at the buzzer, that doesn't mean that suddenly we now have a series on our hands.
Because we don't. Look a little more closely at how this one went down, and you'll see that so much had to go wrong for L.A. and right for Utah, that this game was the exception to the rule, and not the rule itself.
The Lakers came into Sunday's game with the Jazz as the prohibitive favorites, expected not only to win the game but to dominate the entire series. For the first 24 minutes on Sunday, that's exactly what happened: the Lakers held a 62-40 advantage heading into the half, with the Jazz looking like they were making a case for the league to adopt a mercy rule.
The Lakers eased up in the second half, allowing the Jazz to almost -- almost -- make a game of it, making up nine points in the third before playing to a draw in the fourth. The end result was still a lopsided 113-100 win that had the Staples Center crowd more concerned about free tacos (they didn't get any) than the final score, but still, the visitors proved (at least to themselves) that they can hang with the league's golden team for stretches at a time.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Improbable result of the night: the Jazz, stellar at home, lose badly to the sub-30 win Warriors in Salt Lake. Improbable assassin: C.J. Watson, a former D-League point guard, who blasted Deron Williams and friends to the tune of 38 points and nine assists.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
J.R. Smith took 14 field goal attempts for Denver last night. Thirteen of those came from behind the arc. He made eight, for a decent 57% shooting clip. But figure the three-pointer's bonus, and holy cow! that's 24 points on 14 shots. He added four FTs for a total of 28. Nuggets win, and remain in pole position for the No. 2 seed.
Deron Williams had 18/10 for the Jazz, and C.J. Miles had his best night in about six weeks with 19 points. It took Carlos Boozer 23 shots to get 15 points. That's a whole lotta misses.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Miami has two options this summer. The Heat can continue to be a legitimate one-man band, or it can get hooked up with some shady underground biotechnician and clone Dwyane Wade. Your choice, Heat.
Wade went ballistic (again) with 42 points on 34 FGAs and 13 FTAs. He added four rebounds, four assists, four steals and a block. And only one turnover. I mention turnovers quite frequently in Doing Lines, but just to be sure you grok my spit: one turnover in (effectively) 45 offensive possessions Wade is personally responsible for is ... unreal. Those 3.4 turnovers a game might look like a lot. But account for how much of the offense rests on his shoulders and ... yeah. B-E-A-S-T.
Utah forward Carlos Boozer has been back a month now, but apparently Jerry Sloan still isn't comfortable depending on the burly bruiser as he has in past years. The Salt Lake Tribune notes that despite Boozer's 14 points and 10 rebounds, Sloan relied on Paul Millsap for the entirety of Saturday's overtime period against Phoenix.
Boozer has been completely supportive of Millsap on the court and in the media. But in this latest stretch -- and especially after Saturday's game -- Boozer wants to make sure we all know he'd prefer to be on the court in the most important minutes.
Could it be any other way with Carlos Boozer and the Jazz? Everything is so complicated, from late owner Larry Miller's combative stance on Boozer's injuries to Boozer's renewed sense of self-worth to the constant conflict between stardom and also-ran status. Boozer surprisingly picked up his 2009-10 team option Tuesday, putting Utah on the hook for $12.3 million.
Not everyone is waiting for 2010 – the mother of all free agent summers – to try to improve their team by throwing big money at the seasoned veterans.
The Lakers came into Sunday's game with the Jazz as the prohibitive favorites, expected not only to win the game but to dominate the entire series. For the first 24 minutes on Sunday, that's exactly what happened: the Lakers held a 62-40 advantage heading into the half, with the Jazz looking like they were making a case for the league to adopt a mercy rule. 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
Utah forward 
