Interesting analysis from Ross Siler in the Salt Lake Tribune
This is just my interpretation of what was said Saturday, but Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor made three comments that suggested the team was inclined to match the four-year, $32 million offer sheet Paul Millsap signed with Portland.
O’Connor has vowed to match any offer to Millsap that isn’t in the realm of the “really outrageous.” His comments Saturday seemed to suggest that an $8 million a year offer by the Trail Blazers doesn’t fit that definition.
First of all, talking about following through on the pledge to match, O’Connor mentioned “it might be a little different” if Millsap had been offered $11 million or $12 million a season.
Utah were prepared for the different type of offers that could have been made to Paul Millsap
He also said the Jazz had evaluated in advance every possible signing bonus scenario for an offer between $6 million and $10 million. The fact that Portland’s offer contains $10.3 million in upfront money wasn’t something for which the Jazz were totally unprepared.
A good comparison
O’Connor also cited the average value for a five-year contract starting at the midlevel exception of $5.854 million.
With annual raises, the average value of such a deal is $6.8 million, suggesting that Millsap didn’t come in much above the midlevel, at least in O’Connor’s opinion. The Blazers also could have added a fifth year to their offer as an additional deterrent but didn’t.
Only $8 million a season for a player who put up 16 + 10 as a starter, and posted the most consecutive double doubles since KG in 2005, and is a good defender? That’s a bargain. Oh, and he’s 24 years old and one of the hardest workers in the league.
Paul Millsap is going to be hugely underpaid relative to his talent + age on this contract. It would be painful for Utah to have to pass up on this deal.
The Financials
I had a look at how much Utah’s payroll would be should they match the Millsap offer, and fail to move Boozer in a salary dump. I reckoned their payroll would be over $99 million next season.
This is going to be a difficult decision, and if Utah matches it, it will lead to other hard decisions.
