A Plan For 'The Stack Chip': Carlos Boozer

We Go Through The Likely Mavs Partners And Propose A Utah Deal

David Lord -- DB.com

   First order of business in The Summer of Nuclear Winter? Get Kidd and Gortat sealed up.  

     This is purely the reading of tea leaves, but it’s not rocket science. Once Kidd and Gortat are both successfully secured, if I’m the Mavs I turn my focus to my next attractive asset (The Stack Chip) and to what's happening with the other NBA teams still hurting in the payroll department.

     These come in three categories:

     THE USUAL SUSPECTS

     You certainly need to include New Orleans and Phoenix here. The Hornets have, since before the trade deadline, made moves that are more about budget than talent, with Tyson Chandler as the centerpiece. Phoenix did the same thing with Shaq (moving him for cap room) but might not be done. Charlotte keeps coming up in this discussion in media circles, and seems like an obvious choice, regardless of their public posturing. Are the Nets sellers? Are the Bucks done? And I’d still put Washington in there, too.  The Wizards roster seems awfully top-heavy for a team most people don’t project to be a true contender in the East.

    Can the Mavs take advantage of a fire sale here?

    ONE OF THIS THINGS DOESN’T BELONG

    Atlanta has a fine roster, competitive, young, exciting and promising. Unfortunately, the timing for so many of those guys, contractually, is all wrong. The Hawks suddenly have too many talented players needing deals (Mike Bibby, Josh Childress and Marvin Williams) and – I believe -- not enough budget to want to pay them all.

    Atlanta will have to find a way to be very clever and very persuasive to keep all their horses in the stable.

    Clever and persuasive? There's probably an angle or three that can be devised by Dallas to help the most desperate of those teams in either of the above categories out of their distress, given the right price.
    UTAH IS A GOOD CITY – FOR A TRADE

    But I'm watching Utah the most. The belief around the league is that they prefer to sign and keep free agent Paul Millsap long-term because he's younger and should be cheaper than Carlos Boozer, like Millsap a talented power forward. But here’s where it gets tricky for Utah: Their payroll this season is a mess due to both Boozer and Mehmet Okur unexpectedly opting in for another year. (Privately, the Jazz almost had to be half-hoping one of them would opt out.)

    Under current circumstances – committed to big man Okur and big man Boozer – The Great Salt Lake will be filled with red ink if they also sign Paul Millsap.

    Even worse for the Jazz: If they swallow hard and sign Millsap, what are they going to do about Boozer? I’m talking about juggling time and money here. Boozer – a powerful interior player, an easy-basket master, will be a short-timer who is leaving in a year. He’ll be getting paid huge money the Jazz can't really afford. He'll be too expensive to be a backup, yet it will make no sense for them to keep playing Boozer in front of Millsap once they commit to Millsap as their future 4. 

    So – and I’m being hopeful here in starting the negotiations with a low ball -- in that scenario, would they give you Boozer for next to nothing, especially if you could help them drastically lower their payroll this season and make it easier to keep Millsap?

    "Utah, meet Jerry Stackhouse."

    In the coming days, you will see many national media proposals that involve trading Boozer. Most of them will be "Boozer for Player X,'' and the discussion will center around how much Player X must be paid and how much he must be played.

    Our idea is different. I'm proposing a concept that doesn't require Utah or pay or play anybody. It's a savings, the sort that few teams outside the Mavs can even offer.

    The Stack Chip, when combined with enough filler salary to match Boozer's contract, could reduce the Jazz' payroll by nearly $8M the instant such a trade is made.
    And Utah is out of its power-forward conundrum, out from under Boozer’s contract and out of having to swim in red ink in the Great Salt Lake.
    I don't know exactly how Boozer would fit on the floor in Dallas, but he's a very talented low-post scorer so I bet Carlisle and staff would be excited to find a way. If it’s not a personnel fit, there are tons of teams hungry for an All-Star-caliber player with such a skill set; if Utah likes the solution being offered, couldn't the Mavs be able to easily create a three-way where Utah gets instant cap reduction, Team X gets Boozer, and the Mavs get a Boozer-quality wing from Team X?

     That's the sort of deal I'm looking for, and I hope the Mavs are, too.