Waiver, Waiver, wherefore art thou Waiver?

Posted by Keith Haney on March 11, 2008

(NBAE/Getty Images)

Look at the players above. None of these guys are superstars. Yet, over the last couple of weeks they were hot commodities for teams in the NBA. They were all released by their bottom-feeder teams and re-signed by contenders. I think this is a awful loophole David Stern has allowed to proliferate in the league. It has led to players being exchanged and used based solely on salary rather than skill. But I’m not writing this blog because I’m frustrated about another rule the league should change. What I’m really wondering is whether any of these guys were on the Jazz radar. Why isn’t Kevin O’ Connor playing this Waiver Game?

From every article I read in the last month about the guys in the photo, none of these “players for hire” was mentioned as possibly relocating to the Beehive State. Why is that? Let’s examine this question and see if any of them should have or could have filled that open 15th roster spot for Coach Sloan.

From Worst to Best Fit

1) Gordan Giricek. This one’s easy. He wasn’t coming back here even if he played for free and promised to never do that little studder step travelling move from the top of the 3 point line again. We don’t need his type of play anyways. Korver has been a much better pickup in return. I will say this though – in watching 3 Phoenix games that Giri has played, he has actually done quite well. They are a good fit for him. Judgement: Stating the obvious – Awful fit

2) Brent Barry. He is the reason this rule shouldn’t exist. It’s shamefully obvious that he is and always was going back to San Antonio after being released. He really won’t add much for them anyways though. Watching him hobble around this year has been embarassing. He needs to join is brother on the sidelines reporting. The Jazz really don’t need another 2/3 guard anyways. Judgement: Bad fit – no need on the roster

3) Sam Cassell. I didn’t hear his name mentioned with any other team besides Boston. Talk of his eventual coastal move started before the season even. The day Elton Brand tore his achilles, it was inevitable that Cassell would be a Celtic. It’s too bad really, he would have made a great addition to play alongside and behind Deron Williams. He would have been our Derek Fisher for the playoffs this year only better. Still, I can’t blame Sam for going back East. He has a better chance of winning a championship with Boston than Utah. Judgement: Good Fit but hard to get

4) PJ Brown. Since a top flight vet like Cassell was never going to play 10 minutes a game backing up Williams, I thought that Brown would have been the second best experienced player the Jazz could have pursued. They need a vet, a big guy, and a shot blocker. He’s all three. The appeal of Boston was too big of a draw I guess. Sidenote on Boston – does anyone else see the parallels to their current roster and that of the 2003 Lakers with Malone, Shaq, Kobe, and Payton? Isn’t one little injury to any of Boston’s big 3 just going to kill them in the playoffs? It’s going to happen. I just know it. Some guys are just destined to never get a ring in this league. Sorry Nash and KG – you are the Stockton and Malone of your generation, just on different teams. Judgement: Good fit for a vet. Bad fit for shot blocking center

5) Theo Ratliff. OK, so Boston loaded up their bench. Phoenix and San Antonio got shooters they need to help spread the floor for their big men. Even Dallas locked up Jamal Magloire (who I didn’t even list here) to replace Desagana Diop. Which leaves Theo Ratliff on the board. He’s exactly what the Jazz could have used. A shot blocking center who can play a little defense and give you 10 good minutes, I’ll take him on the cheap any day. Look, I’m not saying he’s Marcus Camby or anything, but he’s exactly what O’ Connor kept saying he wanted at the trade deadline – someone to backup Okur. Detroit goes and signs him for a measly $315k for the rest of the season. We’re the Jazz even in the running here? Did they even call his agent to gauge some interest? If you watched him in the Detroit-Chicago game yesterday, you saw what this guy can still bring. He finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks. That kind of play would go a long ways to shoring up the Jazz’ defense woes in the middle. Judgement: Great fit – gives Jazz a shot at filling the missing holes on D

The Waiver Game is over. Everyone has been scooped up. Now the Jazz are left with the same problem they’ve had all season – they can’t stop anyone defensively. Defense wins championships. Ratliff may not have put them over the hump, but he would have given them a fighting chance. Alas, now I have to sit idly by and watch the Jazz lose to the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs. It’s inevitable. It’s going to happen. Just as sure as Cassell has been shopping for condos in Massachusetts since last November.

6 Comments

Pudge on March 11, 2008 said:

It seems to me a lot of NBA players have an attitude regarding Utah similar to Derek Harper’s (”You try living there!”). For grizzled vets who could sign with just about any team, I think Salt Lake is hardly on their list of favorite NBA cities.

justalars on March 11, 2008 said:

Dale Davis is still available, he was originally going to sign with Detroit until Ratliff became available. But Sloan had been quoted as saying they weren’t going to make a move that would disrupt the team. The trade for Korver made Brewer mad, maybe it was worse than we thought. Maybe they feel like it wasn’t worth the risk, plus I think Ratliff cleared waivers after the deadline so he couldn’t have been on our playoff roster anyway. I think Ratliff would have been great for us. But where our team has come over the last 3 years I trust O’Connor. He knows what he’s doing. They arn’t that bad at D when they want to D up.

J R Stewart on March 11, 2008 said:

I think Harper’s phrase was “You go live in Utah.”

The NBA needs to eliminate the option of a waived player returning to his old team until the next season.

I must conFESS, I think we might just have that shot blocking center already playing in the D-League. This year the teams will have a 13 man roster and the ability to change it after each round. Perhaps we’ll all be pleasantly surprised.

Jazzaholic

Keith Haney on March 11, 2008 said:

Great suggestion Justalars. Dale Davis would be a good pickup too. I think the key difference in my mind between picking someone up off waivers vs making a trade is that the waiver signing doesn’t disrupt the team as much. I agree with your argument about Korver and Brewer having to adjust. I think that a Ratliff signing would have been nice to fill in those 10 minutes when Memo is out or one of the big men is in foul trouble (Boozer and Millsap fall into that trap a lot as of late). Come playoff time, it’s going to be up to Collins to guard the likes of Shaq, Duncan, and Gasol. I would have liked to had Ratliff as another option. He would also pose more of an shot blocking threat against guards like Ginobli, Parker, and Kobe that slash to the lane and kill the Jazz frequently.

justalars on March 11, 2008 said:

David Locke had a good chat with O’Connor on K-Fan about bringing Fess up. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. They are going with Collins over Fess. I loved it cause O’Connor knows what he’s doing and isn’t interested in hearing all the critics tell him how to do his job. it was great. if you wanna listen here’s the link http://www.thefansports.com/index.cfm you have to sign up for it to listen but its free, just look under David Locke to find it

Linda McFarland on March 12, 2008 said:

Why would we want to have anyone who didn’t want to live in Utah????? That is part of what makes the Jazz the Jazz. If they can’t stand the dicipline and the way of life then we don’t need them no matter how many blocks they make.

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