Arenas to Utah ?

[OutletPass]

Have Mercy...you can choose the SF bay area or Salt Lake City....and you do WHAT ?
Salt Lake City....sheeeeessh. Say it ain't so, Gil !



Jazz focus moves to Arenas

By Phil Miller
The Salt Lake Tribune

The NBA's free-agent sweepstakes is a lot like the basketball season itself, the Jazz are learning: Some you win, some you lose, and some go into overtime.
With Clippers guard Corey Maggette agreeing to sign a six-year contract from the Jazz this week, vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor turned his attention Monday to the other top priorities on the team's free-agent list. His success was decidedly mixed: Gilbert Arenas is listening, but Elton Brand cannot.
Arenas, who alongside Maggette would give the Jazz one of the most electric backcourts in the league, is still interested in Utah, his agent insisted. Despite a growing suspicion in Utah -- even voiced by Jazz owner Larry Miller over the weekend -- that the Warriors point guard does not want to play in Salt Lake City, "Gilbert has has made no such decision," agent Dan Fegan said. "Kevin made an impressive presentation, and [Arenas] is sincerely considering Utah."
But Brand, widely considered the Jazz's top target, especially once Karl Malone decided to depart, is no longer available. The Clippers last weekend increased their offer to the power forward to $78 million over six years, executive vice president Andy Roeser told the Los Angeles Times, surpassing the maximum $76 million, six-year deal that the Jazz are allowed to bid.
It also surpasses, by a whopping $63 million, the largest contract that Clippers owner Donald Sterling has ever authorized -- the five-year, $15 million deal extended to Eric Piatkowski in 1998.
Since the Clippers have the right to match any contract Brand accepts from another team, and since the team has signaled it is not interested in sign-and-trade offers, there is no way that the 6-foot-8 forward can leave L.A. this season. If Brand is interested in switching teams, his only option is to accept a one-year deal from the Clippers and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Which does the Jazz's rebuilding project little good. Forwards like Juwan Howard, P.J. Brown and Jermaine O'Neal already have chosen their destinations, leaving centers Brad Miller, Rasho Nesterovic and Michael Olowokandi, and forwards Walter McCarty, Lee Nailon Kenny Thomas among the few big men remaining in this year's free-agent pool. None has expressed strong interest in the Jazz, though Miller's agent said last week that O'Connor had contacted him several times.
The situation is more hopeful among the point guards, particularly if Arenas can be persuaded that the Jazz vacancy will allow him to blossom into the star that his Most Improved Player award suggests he can become. Fegan said that door is still open -- he intended to talk to O'Connor again Monday night or this morning -- and that the addition of Maggette will get Arenas' attention.
"Whenever you add a good player to the roster, it makes your offer even more attractive," Fegan said. "Maggette adds the type of talent that a point guard wants to play with."
Fegan would not comment on Larry Miller's supposition Sunday that "we may be getting used as a pawn" to drive up Arenas' price elsewhere, but he denied that the point guard already jad decided to return to Golden State.
In fact, he pointed out, Arenas has confounded predictions of his destination before. After graduating from high school in Van Nuys, Calif., Arenas was expected to sign with DePaul or Arizona State, but instead convinced Arizona coach Lute Olsen to accept him with the Wildcats. "Olsen told him, 'listen, you're probably not going to play here.' Gilbert picked No. 0 as his number because he was told, 'You're going to play zero minutes,' " Fegan said. "Gilbert has always taken up challenges. He's a competitive guy."
A relatively expensive one, too, according to reports around the league, though Fegan would not discuss the 21-year-old guard's price. He has been approached by Miami and Denver as well, each of which, like the Jazz, can offer substantially more than the Warriors' $4.8 million limit. But the Nuggets' interest may have cooled, now that point guard Andre Miller has accepted their offer.
If Arenas, who averaged 18.3 points per game last season, turns down the Jazz, O'Connor could turn to Speedy Claxton of San Antonio, Tyronn Lue of Washington or Jason Terry of Atlanta.
Free agents can sign contracts beginning tomorrow. In the case of restricted free agents like Maggette, the player's former team has 15 days after they formally receive the offer sheet to match the offer.

[MavsFanFinley]

Have Mercy...you can choose the SF bay area or Salt Lake City....and you do WHAT ?

I know, sickening, isn't OP?

Utah, if they do snag Arenas, is certainly going in the right direction after the departures of Malone and Stockton.

[Rhylan]

Whatchu guys talkin' about, there's purty mountains up there [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]