We all know that Utah needs to move Boozer if they wanna keep Millsap.

Ideally they'd take back nothing in return to avoid huge luxury tax payments.

I don't see Orlando helping out taking back contracts to help Utah, since they're close to the tax or over it.

So, we get Oklahoma City involved.

Utah deal Boozer to us - dude can play freakin' C for all I care. He comes off the books after the season and he's a low post threat.

Sure he'd be undersized but I think the benefits outweigh that negative right now.

Oklahoma City get Kwame Brown, Jason Maxiell and Walter Sharpe. As expiring contracts Kwame and Sharpe don't really matter to them, but we have to deal people to get Boozer.

We have to move Maxiell to match dollars, even though this leaves us very thin up front. OKC could try and use Maxiell as a banger/bodyguard for Durant and their other young guns.

Utah get... NOTHING! We could send them a pick or something but they get free of the tax and get to keep Millsap so IMO that's enough incentive to do the deal.

This is possible because OKC have $10 mil in cap space.

We would not have any back-ups at PF and C (unless JJ and DJ can handle some minutes at PF) but with a starting unit of Boozer, Powder, Prince, Rip and Stuckey and with Gordon, Bynum, AA and the trio of rookies we'd have a lot of offensive potential.

Plus we could renounce Boozer after the season and buy a C.

Or we could deal Rip for Brand ...

please explain to me why would OKC give up their capspace for Kwame, Sharpe and Maxiell? remember OKC GM Presti is the guy who got 2 first round picks for taking on Kurt Thomas 8 mil contract...

They do the deal because:

a) they're not using their cap space on anyone else.

Kwame is a vet that may have started to actually be worth something and he's a big man. His presence gives them options up front. Sharpe is a waste of space and is expiring. No big deal there.

b) Maxiell still has some value in the right role and on the right team. I think they could use him as a bodyguard for their young guns.

This deal might require Utah giving a future 1st to Oklahoma for saving them millions of tax dollars but I think for OKC the whole deal is a kind of "give us a pick or cash and we'll help"

The only guy OKC might worry about is Maxiell, simply because of his contract.

I think the question, at this point, is how desperate are the Jazz to clear Boozer? They would have to be as desperate as the Nuggets were last season to move Camby. I imagine they would have had better offers than NOTHING prior to this, but maybe the Millsap offer forces their hand now.
Larry Miller is rolling in his grave.

In answer to my own question, Utah apparently is not as desperate as you might think.
A big reason the deal didn't go down with the Blazers and Bulls is because Utah insisted on getting Tyrus Thomas back.
Maybe they really want a 6'9" guy who averaged 10 and 6 with 2 blocks and made less than $5 million.
Sure, they could take Max and end up with 2 inches shorter and half the stats, but they're not likely to.
Meanwhile, why would OKC want Max when they have the taller, more productive version? Remember we gave up DJ White? He's the one I'm referring to.
There's something about the OKC roster that's not right. They lost a ton of games and yet their only major hole seems to be SG. They fixed that drafting Harden, not they're just short of depth.
Would they be willing to trade Nick Collison and the rights to Ibaka if they got Boozer and Utah got Max? Does that even work?

According to their GM (quoted on several occasions), they are content to hold onto their cap space and let their young guys develop, then throw their hat in the ring next year.

Westbrook
Harden/Durant/Sefolosha/Weaver
Durant/Green/Sefolosha
Green/Collison/White
Collison/Krstic/Mullens

That's some serious depth and that's just their young guys. I think Collison is 28 and everyone else listed there 25 or under.

If that team could lure a guy like Bosh or Amare next year, they'd be set. If they were anywhere but OKC, they'd be what everyone was talking about right now.

^They got Shaun Livingston as pg too, remember him?

That team will contend in 2~3 years time. Once their core gets a little more experience and a center who can rebound and defend(Maybe BJ?), they'll be hard to stop.

Is Livingston able to come back from his horrendous injury? I know they were going to give him a shot, but I didn't know how it went. If he can come back healthy, that would be huge for them.

I don't think Mullens is the guy for them at C in 2 years. He'll take quite a few years to develop and could be a good backup by then, but they'll need something in between.

If anything he's trying. He's still really young(came outta highschool) and I think he signed a 3 year contract? for like 8 mil? I don't remember the terms on it, but it's a pretty good situation for the Thunder.

but imagine them getting a low post 20/10 player. Team would be sickkkkk

edit: thanks for that jeth

A 3 year contract for 8 years? I'm guessing one of those "years" was supposed to be million $.

I still can't figure out how the Thunder lost so many games last season. Are they going to be the new version of the Hawks teams that had 3 guys scoring 20 per game and yet they were horrible? (Think Abdur-Rahim era)

They used 19 starting lineups and were ridiculously young. Think of the Blazers 2 seasons ago, losing a ton of games with a ton of talent on the roster.

Westbrook (Rookie)
Weaver (Rookie)
White (Rookie)
Durant (2nd year)
Green (2nd year)
Sefolosha (3rd year)
Petro (4th year)
Swift (4th year)
Livingston (4th year)
Collison (5th year)
Krstic (5th year)


That's 11 guys, with an average of 1.9 seasons going into last year.