‘New guy in Salt Lake?’

The Jazz are young and learning. That’s good. The future is bright, despite a horrendous December schedule and record. Plus, 2007 is not over yet. But, fortunately when the ball drops in Time Square and the fireworks go off, the Jazz can count on a near .500 record, a little above or a little below, depending on how they perform against the up and coming Blazers.

The Jazz have Gira and Korver switching places essentially for a probable 2010 Knicks draft pick. How good a deal Kevin made will depend on how well, or how poorly, the Knicks progress in the next 2 years. Will Jimmy and his merry band decide to finally can Isiah, get a better General Manager and Coach or will he fiddle around, like the Emperor Nero, while New York burns? We’ll just have to wait a couple of years. Will we miss out on a ‘Magic Johnson’, again, or just another run of the mill first rounder? I suspect James Dolan will finally fire his chief and bring in some competency. The team will probably improve and the draft pick will be inconsequential.
It was too bad we couldn’t have given Philly a protected Jazz pick, because the Jazz should continue to improve and the Knicks may just get worse (is that possible?).

(Please note most stories say it was the NY pick, which the Jazz hold, but some say it was a Jazz protected pick)

If you throw out the ‘wild card’ aspect of the draft pick, the trade seems to benefit both teams equally. Philly gets further under the cap for 2008 and a 2010 draft pick for rebuilding. The Jazz obligate themselves to 2 or 3 years additional salary, of roughly $5 million a year, depending how well Kyle performs, his market value and whether he opts out of the 3rd year to seek a better contract. He seems almost giddy to be coming.

Gira moves away from a contentious situation to a new opportunity. He should get plenty of playing time and an opportunity to get a good contract this summer.

Kyle moves from rebuilding Hell to an up and coming playoff team (December was a blip, withhold judgment until the end of the season). Despite their similar statures, Kyle will play more small forward and get more time. This will help relieve the SG logjam. He appears to have great character, except for some of those dumb stunts in That ’70s Show, hummm, I might have him mixed up with Ashton Kutcher. Well, Will Smith is still playing for the Spurs, so, it’ll probably work out.

He is a premier shooter of 3’s and free throws, a Jazz weakness. I’ve also noticed, in passing glimpses, his mid-range game and defense have gotten better over the years. Now, if he could just clog the middle and block shots too.

I’m not sure if he speaks ‘farm’ English yet, but probably better than Jerry speaks Croatian.

Win-Win.

Jazzaholic