The Jazz have apparently not yet overcome Corey Maggette's signing an offer sheet with them in 2003, only to return to the Clippers without the slightest warning. Rumors concerning the Jazz's interest in acquiring Maggette began to swirl this week for the first time in six years, rumors that could evolve into a star-studded trade that would alter Utah's future for years to come.
Rumor has it the Warriors would like to ship Maggette and teammate Jamal Crawford to Utah in exchange for Andrei Kirilenko. The main motivation for this potential swap is surely the salary match (Maggette will mane $8.9 million next year, Crawford will make $9.3 million, while Kirilenko is set to make $16.5), but Warriors coach Don Nelson has expressed in interest in Kirilenko for a while now, seeing him as a defensive stabilizer for the young squad, and the 6-9 point forward he loves to have run his teams to create sizable mismatches. Dumping two salaries for Kirilenko would keep the Warriors in good stead financially, and the absence of Maggette and Crawford would allow blossoming young talents Anthony Morrow, Marco Belinelli, Kelena Azubuike and Anthony Randolph to develop quicker. A lineup of Monta Ellis, Azubuike, Steven Jackson, Kirilenko and Andris Biedrins would surely give most any team fits.
It's not hard to see why the Warriors are invested in this trade, but now for the important part: what's in it for the Jazz?
The lofty numbers posted by Maggette and Crawford are so awfully misleading that I feel cheated just discussing them, though in the right system - with strict, strict guidance and a coach to set them straight - at least one of them could turn out alright. In Maggette the Jazz will be getting a versatile swingman who's good for 18 points and 5 boards a night; they'll also be getting a player who's averaged 59 games per season over the last five years and made just one playoff appearance. In Crawford you have a threat to drop 40 on a nightly basis, though he has the worst winning percentage of any player in the league, has NEVER made the playoffs, and is a career 40.4% shooter from the field. Jazz GM Kevin O'Connnor will admit without hesitation that they are in need of a versatile scorer (which is neither Kyle Korver nor C.J. Miles) to take control once in a while and spread the floor, but Maggette and Crawford are simply too inconsistent, too untrustworthy and too unproven as team players to acquire after three straight 48+ win seasons. I firmly believe that Utah really has a good thing going here, that if Deron Williams, Mehmet Okur and Carlos Boozer stay healthy for an entire season they're back in the conference finals like in 2007. Should one of Boozer or Okur leave, I wouldn't mind potentially acquiring Maggette, which would in turn mean shouldering the salary of Ronny Turiaf to make the contracts match.
I'm still holding out - and will always be holding out - for the woefully underpaid Ben Gordon, who becomes a free agent this summer. Until that happens (please god, please god...), at least we Jazz fans have some buzz to ignite our most important off-season since the departure of John Stockton and Karl Malone.
