Posted on May 1, 2013 by Romoholic
It’s going to be a summer of change for the Utah Jazz for sure, but what does that really mean?
Most experts agree that Paul Milsap and Al Jefferson will be moving on to new teams. I would be surprised to see Earl Watson back, but Jamal Tinsley is probably about 50-50. I think the Jazz would be open to bringing Mo Williams back on a one or two year deal if the price is right, but it won’t be anywhere near the 8.5 million he made last season, Probably much less than half that.Than we have Randy Foye, Kevin Murphy, Demarre Carroll and Jerel McNeal. I don’t see anyway the Jazz even look at Murphy or McNeal, but I can’t see anyway the don’t return Carroll or Foye.
DC is a cheap, energy player off the bench that comes in and changes the energy of the game. He is a must have guy at the price point he will be at. Foye just destroyed the all time Jazz record for 3 pointers in a season. They need him, but they need him to play the 3 point specialist role instead of a starter. Much like Mo, he will have to be willing to make a bit less than he was paid last season.
Marvin Williams has a player option for the upcoming season. He said he hasn't decided what he is going to do yet, but if you even remotely believe he won’t exercise his option, I have some awesome financial investments I’d like to talk to you about.
You still have the Core Four of Hayward, Burks, Favors and Kanter. I can see Jeremy Evans getting more minutes this coming season as well. It’s impossible to predict what the Jazz will look like record wise, until we see what off season moves they make, but I really can’t foresee them being much worse than they were last season. There is going to be some growing pains with the young guy, but the team is going to be finally turned over to them and we will see where that takes us. It’s going to be an exciting season, and I believe a less successful one than last year, at least record wise, but I think it’s going to be an incredibly fun team to watch.
So there is potential 8 players moving on from the 2012-13 squad. How do you replace that amount of players and still put a competitive team for the next season? First off I really doubt they lose 8 players. I probably see them losing 4. Replacing 4 players is a lot more doable.
They are going to be looking for a PG for sure. The guys out there are Jarret Jack, Chris Paul, Jeff Teague and a few other high level players. Some the Jazz will have a shot at getting, others not so much, but I believe they will get a PG this off season that they envision being the starter for the foreseeable future.
They will assuredly be looking for another big, if Milsap and Jefferson move on. Kanter and Favors will be the starters, but they are very shallow after that. There aren't as many of those guys to be had as PGs but they are out there, and they won’t be looking for starting caliber bigs. Just guys to back up the young guns.
Between the available free agents and whatever they happen to snag in the draft, The 2013-14 Jazz will be a much changed team, but not so much that they are going to be in full on rebuilding mode.
We as Jazz fans are going to get what we have been asking for for the last year and a half. Lets see how right we were.
http://www.utahjazznation.com/2013/05/2013-off-season-for-the-utah-jazz/