Front Court Statistics

In an interview shortly after being released from the hospital, Larry Miller expressed his concern for the summer of 2010 (after this coming season).

"Next summer will be one of the most important summers in our history."

Miller state that he is very worried about the "big challenge" coming next off-season. Three of the Jazz's top players — Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver — are likely to become free agents, with Paul Millsap available for contract extension. Failure to extend Millsap's contract would result in Millsap becoming a free agent the following summer. Ronnie Price, Jarron Collins, and Brevin Knight will all be free agents as well.

"We're going to have to make some very, very tough decisions next year," Miller said. "I do not intend us to be a luxury-tax payer, but only because we have to have an economically stable franchise regardless of anything else."

In light of Miller's recent comments, and following up on our recent discussions of Paul Millsap vs. Carlos Boozer, our blogger staff has compiled some simple NBA statistics for comparison of the Jazz frontcourt trio.

All statistics compare players at the same stage of their career (rather than current head-to-head).

Would You Make These Trades?

The Utah Jazz have historically been a quiet yet active front office when it came down to trades. In the spirit of summer, and for purpose of discussion only, our blogger-staff has come up with three potential roster moves the Jazz "could" make this off-season. Jazz fans have thoroughly discussed the options of dealing for Omeka Okafor, Luol Deng, etc. For the sake of this discussion, as far as our blogger-staff knows, none of these trades have surfaced for discussion.

Would you do this deal?

1. Chicago Blockbuster

Jazz send:
Carlos Boozer - PF
Morris Almond - SG

Bulls send:
Kirk Hinrich - G
Tyrus Thomas - PF

Adjusted Jazz Depth Chart:
PG - Deron Williams - Brevin Knight - Ronnie Price
SG - Kirk Hinrich - Kyle Korver - CJ Miles
SF - Ronnie Brewer - Matt Harpring
PF - Andrei Kirilenko - Paul Millsap
C -Mehmet Okur - Tyrus Thomas - Jarron Collins

Adjusted Bulls Depth Chart:
PG - Derrick Rose - Ben Gordon
SG - Ben Gordon - Larry Hughes - Thabo Sefolosha
SF - Luol Deng - Andres Nocioni
PF - Carlos Boozer - Joakim Noah
C - Drew Gooden - Cedric Simmons
Positives/Negatives for Jazz: + Defense: Boozer ranks in the 5th percentile defensively, while Hinrich ranks in the 63rd percentile)
+ Perimeter Shooting: Hinrich shoots 38% from beyond the arc for his career
+ Ball Handling: Hinrich averaged 6 apg last season to only 2 turnovers per game.
+ Roster Flexibility: The Jazz save money over the long haul.
- Interior Offense: Boozer accounted for about 15 ppg inside the painted area.
- Rebounding: While Thomas and Millsap can pull down rebounds in bulk, Boozer leaves a void that will be tough to fill.
- Big for Small: As a rule of thumb, teams should never trade a big man for a perimeter player (PG excluded)

Would you do this deal?

2. Shooting Stars

Jazz Send:
Andrei Kirilenko
Kyle Korver
Jarron Collins
Future First Round Pick (protected)

Bucks Send:
Michael Redd
Dan Gadzuric

Jazz Adjusted Depth Chart:
PG - Deron Williams - Brevin Knight - Ronnie Price
SG - Michael Redd - CJ Miles - Morris Almond
SF - Ronnie Brewer - Matt Harpring
PF - Carlos Boozer - Paul Millsap
C -Mehmet Okur - Dan Gadzuric

Bucks Adjusted Depth Chart:
PG - Mo Williams - Charlie Bell
SG - Kyle Korver - Desmond Mason
SF - Richard Jefferson - Joe Alexander
PF - Andrei Kirilenko - Charlie Villanueva
C - Andrew Bogut - Jarron Collins

Positives/Negatives for Jazz:
+ Weapons: Add an all-star caliber shooting guard in Redd (22.7 ppg)
+ Outside Shooting: Although Korver is a great outside shooter, Redd is a significant upgrade
+ Unload Kirilenko: AK's trade value may be the highest it will be in years to come (Olympic standout), and through this trade the Jazz get rid of him
+ Depth at Center: Gadzuric will give you his best effort, and he's 7 feet.
- Defensive downgrade: Redd is a below average defender, without much help on the inside.
- Shot Blocking: The Jazz lose their only real shot blocker in Kirilenko

Would you do this deal?

3. Cooler Heads Prevail

Jazz Send:
Matt Harpring
Kyle Korver
Kyrylo Fesenko
Ante Tomic (Rights to)

Pistons Send:
Rasheed Wallace

Jazz Adjusted Depth Chart:
PG - Deron Williams - Brevin Knight - Ronnie Price
SG - Ronnie Brewer - CJ Miles - Morris Almond
SF - Andre Kirilenko - CJ Miles
PF - Carlos Boozer - Paul Millsap
C -Mehmet Okur - Rasheed Wallace

Pistons Adjusted Depth Chart:
PG - Chauncey Billups - Rodney Stuckey
SG - Rip Hamilton - Kyle Korver
SF - Tayshawn Prince - Matt Harpring
PF - Jason Maxiell
C - Antonio McDyess - Kwame Brown

Positives/Negatives for Jazz:
+ Winning Mentality: There's little coincidence the Blazers fell apart after Rasheed left for Detroit.
+ Interior Defense: Despite getting older, Rasheed is a very good defensive player
+/- Bench Production: Wallace is one of the best scoring bigs in the NBA, although the Jazz give up their current bench in Harpring and Korver.
+/- Future Flexibility: Wallace has a huge yet expiring contract. Korver will likely opt out next season, and Harpring's knees are all but done.
- Mental Stability: Rasheed leads the NBA in technical fouls every year.
- Sloan's Respons: Jerry Sloan and Rasheed Wallace we be nose to nose about every other game.

Would you do this deal?

4. The Missing Piece

Jazz Send: (to a 3rd party team)
Andrei Kirilenko

Rockets Send: (to Utah)
Shane Battier
Bobby Jackson

Jazz Adjusted Depth Chart:
PG - Deron Williams - Brevin Knight - Ronnie Price
SG - Ronnie Brewer - Kyle Korver - Morris Almond
SF - Shane Battier - CJ Miles
PF - Carlos Boozer - Paul Millsap
C -Mehmet Okur - Jarron Collins

*This trade would likely only occur with a 3rd party team to receive Kirilenko, and send additional players to the Rockets.

Positives/Negatives for Jazz:
+/- Team defense: AK and Battier are both excellent defenders who can guard 3 positions
+ Outside Shooting: Battier shot 39% from behind the arc last season which is an upgrade over Kirilenko's 31% career average.
+ Mental Toughness: Battier is one of the toughest players in the NBA, meanwhile AK cried during the playoffs.
+ Value: Battier comes at a much cheaper price with arguably greater production. Jackson's contract expires at the end of the year, freeing up money to sign Boozer
- Shot Blocking: The Jazz once again lose their only real shot blocking presence.

Would you pull the trigger on any of these moves? Would the opposing team? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

If you have any ideas for 3rd party teams in the Houston Deal (or any other trade ideas), go ahead and post them in the comments.