The Utah Jazz | as seen by Basketball John

Not much in the way of the Jazz going on right now. And with training camp still a few weeks away, I thought I would bring back up this story about the Carlos Boozer signing a few years ago. Why? Because when I read that we were also pursuing Kenyon Martin. I totally forgot about that. How much would that have crippled the Jazz? Pun intended. I imagine he would have got deal similar Boozers. Ouch. The basketball deities were smiling on the Jazz that year.

Anyway, back to Boozer signing. First of all, the Jazz could have had him in the 2002 draft. And I remember it being known that Boozer had expressed interest in playing for them although I can’t find any sources. Anyway, the Jazz went on to pick The Fallen Arches.

But Boozer coming to the Jazz was meant to be. The whole controversy stemmed from Boozer allegedly giving a verbal agreement that he would re-sign with the Cavs once they made him a restricted free agent. They would be able to sign Carlos on the cheap and Boozer would have his long-term deal and not have to worry about security. This is where it turns into a he-said, they-said, your momma-said situation where Boozer was vilified by the Cavs for reneging on his promise to sign with them, and instead, signing with the Utah Jazz. How could he stab the blind owner in the back? Equal opportunity I guess. But of course, if this was the case, it would resemble the whole “I can’t believe we killed the future of our franchise by agreeing to a secret deal with freakin’ Joe Smith” scandal where the TWolves lost 5 first round picks for an under the table agreement. Boozer was able to get an about an additional $30 million by signing with the Jazz. Now in my big head I can’t imagine the difference between $40 & $70 million, but it must be like me getting a $2 raise. I guess he wanted to make sure that not only his great-great-great-great grandchildren and all of their progeny are take care of for their whole lives, but also their dogs and their puppies’ puppies as well.

The biggest reason I think he left besides the money? He was told that he was going to be the #3 option behind James and Z. Not even James could save the Cavs then. In Utah, he could be the go-to guy. And thanks to some of his injuries, we were able to land Deron Williams.

So in the end, it’s just as Captain Jack Sparrow said:

The Cavs offer a deal to Boozer, just like they promised
The Jazz go after a power forward, just like they promised
Boozer signs with the Cavs, just like he promised

So they’re all men of their word, really
Except for Boozer who in fact, signed with the Jazz

So we can thank our lucky rich owners that we ended up with K-Mart Boozer. And if you want some more tidbits on Booze, head on over to utahjazz.com. But don’t try it if you’re using Firefox. You must use IE. First of all, is it really necessary to have to hover over each of his mugs to be able to see the answers? Don’t try to scroll over them. I don’t know who’s dumber, the person that designed it this way or me double-clicking, hovering, and highlighting looking for hidden text for a half an hour. I finally just had to look at the code to find the answers.

Anyway, training camp is upon us. Coming up on BBJ, player previews and other junk on the way. Anyone want to sponsor me on a trip to Boise?

Technorati tags: utah jazz, nba, carlos boozer, cleveland cavaliers