The Utah Jazz look like one of the front-runners to land Morris Peterson. According to the SL Trib, the Jazz were on the phone with him within a few minutes of the free-agency period. There haven’t been any contract offers yet, but according to reports, Peterson would love to play for the Jazz. He also considers the Jazz ‘”a piece away from being in the NBA Finals next year.”‘

If Peterson did indeed sign with the Jazz, there would be some major repercussions. First, Giricek would almost certainly have to be on his way out. He’s the odd-man out of the group that would include Mo-Pete, Brewer, CJ Miles, Almond, and Derek Fisher. He would become a starter, but although he can play the small forward, AK currently inhabits that position. So that would mean Fisher would have to be the backup PG (which he should be), but also Dee Brown would be the third option. Would that push him to sign somewhere else where he could be at least the main backup? The starting five would likely be Williams and Peterson in the backcourt and AK, Okur, and Boozer up front.

The second team would be Fisher and Brewer/Miles/Almond/(whoever is in best with Sloan) and Millsap, Harpring, and Collins (if not traded). And it looks like they will re-sign Araujo. That’s not too bad.

The best part of the Peterson signing would be his defense. No longer would would shooting guards get a guaranteed 50 a night.

Also, does having Williams & to a point Boozer bring the Jazz some street cred? In the pre-2005 days, it was near impossible to bring free agents in to Utah. Heck, we couldn’t even bring in Ron Seikly via a trade. I don’t mean anything racial, but does having Williams/Boozer open up the door to other black players being more willing to come to Utah?

And the most important question is would Millsap keep #24 if Peterson comes to Utah? Usually the veterans play the current players for their number. Maybe Peterson doesn’t care about what number he wears. But if he does take 24, how many pissed off Millsap-jersey owners would there be? It looks like the only safe jersey purchases now right now are #5 & #8.