Shaggy
Well-Known Member
Lol. that picture of Wes rubbing up against Roy is pretty fitting. Nice find.
Jazz notify Wesley Matthews they will NOT match
- Thread starter Marty McFly
- Start date
Lol. that picture of Wes rubbing up against Roy is pretty fitting. Nice find.
For those pissing and moaning that the Jazz didn't make an offer, what offer do you thing Wesley would have taken without even looking at other teams? He even says that if the Jazz would have made an offer it would be fair and he might have taken it.
This to me screams that regardless of what Utah offered he and his agent would have run to every team in the league and said, "This is what Utah is offering me. Can you do better?"
No way he would have re-upped with Utah until he was shot down by every team in the league.
Utah would have been stupid to tender an offer because it would give Wes' camp bargaining power. As it happens Porty was dumb enough to offer way more than what he was worth. The Jazz dodged a bullet on this one.
Good luck Wesley. Don't let the door hit you on the *** on the way out. Enjoy the pine. Your *** is going to see a lot of it.
Stock2Malone
New Member
At the very least, if Utah had made an offer the Blazers may not have gone as high and the Jazz could have matched at that point. Perhaps.
TheMulletMutilator
Member
And then we would still have been overpaying for a guy who I thought was a 3 and 9 guy max.
Jazz4ever
Well-Known Member
You don't get it though, if KOC can make a division rival grossly overpay and kill their flexibility to sign future free agents we win in the long run. Portland will be able to retain their own players through Bird rights, but will have a hard time improving through free agents unless they can do sign and trades.
Hedda Gambler
Well-Known Member
We can take him back at the deadline for AK`s expiring. By then Portland will already have paid the full sign-off fee + the first year salary and then the man would become affordable.
I don't blame the Jazz for not matching this crazy offer, but I'm going to miss Wesley, who has been my favorite player this year. I hope this all works out for him and he has a long and productive NBA career. And I hope we re-sign him someday.
sigh
sigh
richgates
Well-Known Member
I understand why Wesley might have felt slighted by the Jazz, but any reasonable person knows that unless the Jazz had offered him the full MLE he would have turned it down until he had at least entertained offers from other teams. His agent is in the business to make his client as much money as he can. I don't blame Wes at all for wanting to get paid, and wish him well. The Jazz played this perfectly and now Portland has a very expensive bench player.
Jazz Traveler
Well-Known Member
What Jazzgal said. Very sorry to see him go.
Ya know, this is another reason we should have made him an offer. I think it's clear that Portland was bluffing. If we made a reasonable offer in 4 mill / yr range to begin with, then Portland may not have made any offer and just let it go because they might've figured the Jazz had set their ceiling and they didn't really want or need Matthews, they just wanted to screw the Jazz. In not making an offer, everyone gets screwed: Matthews, the Jazz, and Portland. Making an offer was the one option to prevent this.
And with Shandon Anderson, it was a different scenario. He actually wanted to leave the Jazz unlike Matthews.
And with Shandon Anderson, it was a different scenario. He actually wanted to leave the Jazz unlike Matthews.
billyshelby
Well-Known Member
Now you're worried about Portland? If they want to screw themselves, even with our players, I'll drive the bus. It's like you're wishing for some magical place where all players sign fair contracts and play with the teams they're "supposed" to.
I wish we'd kept Matthews but at the end of the day, we don't know that a lesser offer means he wouldn't have "shopped around", as we say in sales. If indeed his agent was gonna stand firm that he get the full MLE, a lesser offer wouldn't have kept him. When he says he "might" have signed for less, we don't know how much less (not much i'd gather). I'm gonna miss him, he'd become one of my fav. Jazzmen, but like many agents had told the Jazz, that offer Portland made was ridiculous. And I don't believe for a second that the Blazers thought the Jazz WOULDN'T match...they're still probably in a bit of shock right now. Of course they like Wes, but I'm sure their emotions are a little mixed right now.
As an aside, Portland just recently traded Martell Webster, the guy they took in '05 after the trade was made that got us Dwill. How much better is Wesley than Webster? I actually think they're somewhat similar players.
Wes may struggle. The pressure of the money, a new system, and role have changed many a player.
Never sign a player to a long big deal based on one year. This could really come back to hurt the Portland franchise.
Never sign a player to a long big deal based on one year. This could really come back to hurt the Portland franchise.
anyone know where this ranks in a list of highest value contracts ever given to an undrafted player?
i figure it has to be top-ten. the only one i could think of higher is Ben Wallace, $60 million for 4 years. i assume Brad Miller had a bigger contract than Wes at some point in his career. who else?
i figure it has to be top-ten. the only one i could think of higher is Ben Wallace, $60 million for 4 years. i assume Brad Miller had a bigger contract than Wes at some point in his career. who else?
I'm sorry to see him go as well. I thought how he progressed this past season was amazing and un-expected. That said, his performance in game three of the lakers series, really bothered me. It could have been an aberration, but who knows.