Jazz sign Jason Terry to offer sheet

The Utah Jazz announced Thursday that they have signed guard Jason Terry to an offer sheet. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement set forth by the National Basketball Association, the Atlanta Hawks will have 15 days to match the offer.

http://www.nba.com/jazz/news/terry_091103.html

Hopefully the Jazz can sign Terry and become the New York Knicks of the West by having a lot of perimeter players. Signing Terry would make this a somewhat productive offseason and probably help Kevin O' Connor keep his job.

terry for utah

Unless the Hawks are planning to go the way of the Milwaukee Bucks and start over by getting rid of their core players, they'll probably match the offer sheet. Even if they don't plan on keeping him, he's a valuable trade commodity, and the only one apart from Reef who will fetch a decent player in return.

Meanwhile, it will be disappointing for Utah if they can't get Terry. It's been a pretty difficult offseason for Utah, with the departure of Stockton and Malone, then the failure to sign any top free agents despite having plenty of cap space (though restricted free agency played a role in that).

if the jazz had been able to sign maggette and terry they would be pretty respectable with a good young core:

keon clark
andrei kirilenko
matt harpring
corey maggette
jason terry

as it is, they have no one proven who can run an offence and are putting there hope in lopez and arroyo. maybe it is better that they suck a season though so they could obtain a high draft pick and the possibility of a franchise player which maggette and terry are not. i really like harpring and kirilenko as a foundation to build on though, but they are more like good players who need a great player to raise their teams record.

If the Jazz re-sign Mark Jackson they'll have a capable (but aging) veteran running the club. Surely the Jazz won't be lucky enough to land Terry.

i really dont c Utah or ATL doing muh in the future so im sad to c terry go to either team but hopefully im wrong

Terry should of came to Chicago

He'd probably come off the bench though. Crawford is more familiar with the triangle, and I don't see Terry replacing Rose or Pippen in the starting lineup. Even without Jay Williams, the Bulls have enough talented players who know the triangle and can play the point guard position.

jcraw probably wont even be a pure pg in that system since he wont be allowed to control the ball with point forwards like rose and pip around, he probably fits better in that team with those players then jwill does since i think jwill needs to control the ball to flourish. i really really like what the bulls are building, curry + chandler have such awesome potential.

i really really like what the bulls are building, curry + chandler have such awesome potential.

If Chicago doesn't get back to the playoffs this coming season, they will have been a disappointment in my mind. There's way too much talent on that team to not make the postseason and with Scottie there, the Bulls have the veteran presence necessary as well.

I'm cautiously optimistic about a low playoff seed. I'll certainly be disappointed if they can't better last season's 30-52 record.

I'm cautiously optimistic about a low playoff seed. I'll certainly be disappointed if they can't better last season's 30-52 record.

couldn't agree with you anymore there. it was very encouraging to see that strong finish last season. even though it was a charity game, the 3C's looked good (see j.c. below) in rose's charity and sure looked they've been in the weight room.

the big question is can they get off to a good start and survive that killer road trip they anually have in november?

i really think that pippen will make a big difference in terms of setting up the offense and as a calming influence, i think he could probably still be a 16 6 and 6 player, but more realistically probably a 12-14 5 and 5. who knows? that portland team really kills individual statistics. on a lighter note, it would have been fun if the bulls could've traded for kukoc, and jordan played one last really final season for chicago, and steve kerr also delayed retirement a year, and what the heck, rodman signed along with horace grant. that would have been sooooo strange and unreal.

the big question is can they get off to a good start and survive that killer road trip they anually have in november?

Definitely. They were 3-38 on the road last year. 27-14 is a pretty good home record, definitely good enough to have a good shot at the playoffs. But even with that record at home, you need to win at least half your road games to have a good shot at the post season, even in the East.

Diverting the discussion back to Jason Terry:
Walker: Hawks to match Jazz's offer for Terry

What a bummer for Utah. After not even giving Malone a contract offer because they weren't sure there would be enough money left over for him after Utah signed their all star free agents, all the Jazz come up with is Keon Clark. Absolutly ridiculous. Kevin O' Connnor might soon become the Jerry Kraus of Utah.

Kevin O' Connnor might soon become the Jerry Kraus of Utah.

perhaps you should refer O'connor possibly to golden state management. not counting krumb's people skills, krause has been a pretty solid gm.

i've been one of krause's biggest critics ever since he broke up the dynasty. but i've swallowed my pride (the crow's in the oven)

although hes had several do-overs, it appears this rebuilding program is actually working. these past 5 years of mediocrity were rough but it looks like that will all be in the rear mirror starting next season. krause has played a major role in building the bulls into one of the young and upcoming teams in the league

The Bulls wouldn't have needed this long of a rebuilding scheme if Kraus would have kept the Jackson, Jordan, and Pippen around. Because of the way he treated those three, not many free agents wanted to sign with the Bulls even though they had lots of cap space.

As for Kevin O' Connor, he took over as Jazz GM after the 98 Finals. The team has been in a steady decline ever since (both in regular season and post season play). I don't that's all because of Stockton and Malone's age.

The Bulls wouldn't have needed this long of a rebuilding scheme if Kraus would have kept the Jackson, Jordan, and Pippen around

if possible, please give an explanation on how would that make rebuilding process faster?

had they kept those 3, i'm guessing the bulls would have been a better then .500 team with fading stars, high payroll, and mid first round draft picks for the next few yrs. it would be unlikely that mj or pip would be traded. and when those 2 would retire, that would leave the team with a lot of cap space, some specialty players, and mid 1st round picks. do you think krause could have got a stud FA to sign and play with that roster?hardly a situation condusive for a quick rebuilding scheme

Because of the way he treated those three, not many free agents wanted to sign with the Bulls even though they had lots of cap space.

that's true. but if you take a look at the bulls roster, it resembled a CBA roster. free agents (i.e. grant hill) admitted they were afraid of 'trying to fill mj's shoes'. krause may have been a jerk, but not many quality FA's would be thrilled about playing with that bulls team at the time anyway.

and in retrospect, it was good that the bulls struckout in FA that one year. duncan and tmac were unlikely to sign to begin with. the others:
*hill, a possibility. i can't remember the last the game that guy played in. and orlando has been stuck with him and his salary ever since they got him
*eddie jones- used the bulls to get a big contract w/heat. has been a disappointment ever since he left charlotte. also problems with injury since getting the big payday
*tim thomas- then the league's highest payed sixth man has been a disappointment as well, even though he has loads of potential

this past year, krause signed donyell marshall. he and harpring were two biggest names to bolt for FA last year. not superstars, but quality players. marshall went on to have one of his most productive seasons

how many successful rebuilding plans take less than 5/6 yrs anyway? boston was pretty terrible after bird & co left. not until they drafted pierce have the made it back to playoff contention. the lakers took about 5/6 yrs to make it back after the showtime days. and then there are teams like golden state and washington. seems like they've rebuilding forever

If and when the Hawks match, it seems Terry won't be too pleased.

Free agent guard wants to play for Utah

In a telephone interview, Terry told Aldridge that he hoped the Hawks would not match the sheet.

"It's a young team," Terry, 25, said of the Jazz. "But they said I'd become the young leader of that team. That would be fine with me ... I've had four different coaches in Atlanta. In Utah, the system's in place. I can just come in and execute it. I love [forward Andrei] Kirilenko. I've been watching him on TV this week [Kirilenko is playing for Russia in the European tournament] and their coaching staff is probably the biggest thing for me."

Also:
TUCKER ASKS, Jason Terry ANSWERS

Q: Do you hope the Hawks match, or not?

A: "I'm pretty sure I can make either situation work. But I'm ready to move on with my career and get in a structured situation like Utah, where the coaching staff and ownership are stable. It's definitely time to move on."

Q: You previously had been outspoken about wanting to stay with the Hawks. What changed?

A: "If I had to pinpoint one thing, the instability of ownership. I was excited about being part of a winning team with the Hawks. The city of Atlanta deserves that. But after talking with them a total of three times all summer, it became clear that the present ownership was really looking to try to save money rather than win. I was pretty much leaning toward [signing Utah's offer by Thursday morning], but it still wasn't solid in my mind. I talked to my wife, looked at my two kids, and they were ready [to move]."

Q: Is it going to be an antsy wait, the 15-day period?

A: "It's definitely on the Hawks; you never know what they'll do. At this point, I'm just relieved, man, to sign an offer with training camp two weeks away. I'm blessed."

utah is a better situation for jason terry. keeping jason terry is a better situation for atlanta. poor jason terry.