This is an update for a previous Utah post since Boozer, Okur and Korver all decided not to use their ETO’s, and stayed with Utah as a result. How do those decisions effect the Jazz?
Utah Jazz Payroll
Alright, let’s start off by looking at who is currently on the Jazz’ books for next season.
Here are the contracts over five million dollars
- Andrei Kirilenko – $16.45 million
- Deron Williams – $13.76 million
- Carlos Boozer – $12.32 million
- Memo Okur – $9 million
- Kyle Korver – $5.34 million
That totals $56.87 million for five players.
Carlos Boozer, Memo Okur, and Kyle Korver are all expiring contracts. Kirilenko has two seasons left on his deal, and Deron Williams has five years left on his contract.
Now let’s have a look at the rest of their contracts
- CJ Miles – $3.7 million
- Ronnie Brewer – $2.72 million
- Kosta Koufos – $1.21 million
- Kyrylo Fesenko – $870k
These four contracts add up to $8.5 million.
That brings the Jazz’ total up to $65.37 million for nine players.
Other costs
- First Round Draft Pick – The Jazz have signed Eric Maynor to a rookie scale contract, with a starting salary of $1.318 million.
- Partially Guaranteed Contract – Matt Harpring – $6.5 million – Matt Harpring is a curious case because he has a partially guaranteed contract, but I’ve failed to get any definitive information on his contract. I have read that only $2.5 million of his contract is guaranteed, but the rest I believe comes down to how many games he’s played either during the life of his contract or next season. It’s confusing and I’m uncertain about it, so for now, until I can find better information, I’m putting him down for the full amount.
- Open Roster Spots — The Jazz are currently down for 11 bodies on their roster. They’ll need a minimum of two more, who’ll likely be veterans who’ll come at a cost of $1.65 million.
That amounts to $9.47 million in additional costs
That leaves Utah with a base salary of $74.84 million.
The Cap + Luxury Tax
The salary cap is set at $57.7 million.
The luxury tax threshold is set at $69.9 million.
Jazz vs Cap + Tax
The Jazz are well over the salary cap. So they’ll have the MLE at their disposal this summer.
The Jazz are about $4.94 million above the luxury tax threshold.
Free Agency
The Jazz still have one key free agent – Paul Millsap – and he’s likely to command a pay check of around $10 million next season. that would take the Jazz salaries up to $85 million, and their overall payroll up to $100 million once you account for the luxury tax payments.
I would be amazed if Utah paid out all that money. I think they’ll run with the guys they got and just add some minimum contract players, while waiting for Kirilenko’s dreadful contract to expire.
Final Note
I talked in more detail about ways Utah could possibly reduce their payroll this offseason in the previous post on Utah’s cap concerns. For more on that information, click here.
If Utah prefers to pay Millsap long term money over Boozer, the Jazz should consider trading Carlos Boozer to the Detroit Pistons.
The Jazz could take back no contracts and gain good contract flexibility. Or perhaps take back someone like a Maxiell, a good backup big man who can take over Millsap’s old role. Or they could ask for a future first round draft pick. It’s hard to see them getting more than that without Boozer agreeing to an extension first — Pistons run the risk of Boozer being a one year rental, they’ll be hesitant to give up much in return.
The Jazz could also inquire about Rip or Tayshaun. They’d likely be refused but it’s worth asking. If Utah was willing to include Ronnie Brewer in the Boozer deal, then I think there’s a good chance they could get one of those wings. However, that wouldn’t give Utah the cap flexibility they require. Maybe they could try adding Harpring or Korver too, but Joe D would likely decline that option.
I’m surprised Utah seem so dead set on resigning Millsap considering the massive luxury tax hit they’re going to suffer. Trading Boozer saves some money (around $3 million, $6 million after the luxury tax is accounted for), but not a huge dollop, they can’t save that without trading him to a team below the cap.
Dave,
I was just thinking the exact same thing, after reading the report that the Jazz would now be looking to trade Carlos Boozer.
If the Pistons were to keep Rip Hamilton and re-sign Antonio McDyess:
G’s: Stuckey, Hamilton & Gordon
G-F’s: Prince, Afflalo, Daye & Summers
Bigs: Boozer, McDyess, Villanueva, Brown & Sharpe
Extras: Bynum & Jerebko
how bad would this line-up actually be?
Especially, if they then bring in Bill Laimbeer as their new head coach.
From a financial/contract situation would they still be in a relatively good position to get involved in next summer’s Free Agent Bonanza?
Khandor,
My favourite plan for the Pistons this summer was to sign Carlos Boozer and Marcin Gortat in free agency. Beef up the interior in a major way, while retaining their perimeter stars.
If they acquired Boozer in a trade, I’d like them to still use that plan.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the Pistons cap situation and how much they can spend this summer and next.
Pistons Cap In 2009
Players — Hamilton, Prince, Stuckey, Maxiell, Brown, Bynum, Daye, Afflalo, Sharpe — plus the guaranteed portion of Oberto’s contract, add up to around $40 million. So they have $17-18 million in cap space.
Boozer would take up $12.3 million of that space, leaving the Pistons with a figure around the MLE to offer to a second free agent.
Pistons Cap In 2010
Players — Rip, Tayshaun, Maxiell, Stuckey, Daye, Afflalo — add up to around $34 million. So they’d have $23-26 million in cap space.
Add Boozer to the mix and that figure splits in half, leaving $11-14 million, less if Boozer gets a pay raise. If the Pistons spent the remainder of their 2009 cap space, the figure splits again and the Pistons would be down to $5-7 million in cap space in 2010.
Of course, if they treated Boozer as a one year rental and limited the rest of their spending, they could have the full amount available to them next summer. And if they moved Rip or Tayshaun for an expiring deal, Detroit could create enough cap room to sign two max contracts that summer ($35-36 million), which would give them one heck of a core to build around.
One Year Rental
A few weeks ago I was thinking that the Pistons should trade for Shaquille O’Neal. That would allow the Pistons to remain a playoff squad in the East, and give them their cap space in a summer with far better and far more options in free agency.