# A gentle push, and a mild arc......



## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

And the cowhide globe hits home. Hot Rod's last game last night. Bummer that 5 of his last 6 games were beat-downs to the Lakers. Like him or hate him, Hot Rod IS the Utah Jazz. I will most certainly miss his calls. New ownner. New broadcaster. New face for the Jazz this coming year. It will be interesting to see how things change. There will be lots of player changes this off season I'm sure. 

Here are changes I see happening:
Boozer opts out and ends up in Detroit.
Okur opts out and ends up in Denver? 
Korver stays.
Millsap signs with another team.
Price signs with another team.
Almond is released.
K-Fez is released.
Knight is released.
David Locke is named new play-by-play radio guy.
The core of the remaining team will be D-Will and AK. Sad as it is. This is where O'conner, Greg Miller and Rigby earn their money. It will be an interesting off-season.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> And the cowhide globe hits home. Hot Rod's last game last night. Bummer that 5 of his last 6 games were beat-downs to the Lakers. Like him or hate him, Hot Rod IS the Utah Jazz. I will most certainly miss his calls. New ownner. New broadcaster. New face for the Jazz this coming year. It will be interesting to see how things change. There will be lots of player changes this off season I'm sure.
> 
> Here are changes I see happening:
> Boozer opts out and ends up in Detroit.
> ...


What about the Collins guy? So basically a totally brand new team next year eh?


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

I could see most of your predictions coming true, but I think we resign Millsap.


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## dkhntrdstn (Sep 7, 2007)

mjschijf said:


> I could see most of your predictions coming true, but I think we resign Millsap.


+1 on millsap. he need to stay here and I think he will be a starter next year.


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

With that much rebuilding, I see this franchise in a heap of trouble. Scary. Could leave Utah?


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

I don't see them leaving Utah. Where would they go? LHM Enterprises owns the arena, so the bait of building an arena is out. The Jazz still draw 20,000+ to most all games, and they are the ONLY game in town for sports entertainment - something they wouldn't have some place else. I keep hearing people suggest they would move, but why? Really. I don't see it. I think LHM would jump out of the grave zombie-haunt Greg forever if he moved the team.


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## Lycan (Sep 22, 2008)

I predict the Jazz will move within 5 years. I mean come on, who thought Seattle would go to Oklahoma City of all places? I'd bet there are a number of big cities without an NBA team that would be interested. St. Louis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Baltimore, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Las Vegas are all possibilities that come to mind. Seattle could decide they want a team again, and I'm sure they will once they pony up the money for a new stadium. Technically, San Francisco doesn't have an NBA team either, but they would most likely dump money into a new football field to keep the 49ers around. Cities with double exposure in other sports markets may want to expand. Los Angeles has two teams, but NYC and Chicago don't so they may want to add another to stay competitive. Chicago making the most sense since it is rumored the NJ Nets are moving to Brooklyn. Maybe adding another team in Canada? Vancouver moved, but maybe Montreal or Calgary? Just saying there are possibilities.

I see some bidding wars in the near future for the NBA because Charlotte, New Orleans, Memphis, and maybe even OKC are all major possibilities for getting moved too.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

In Seattle, the team didn't own the arena - the city does. And they didn't want to make investments in it that the Sonics wanted. In Salt Lake, LHM Enterprises owns the ESA. So if the Jazz want improvements, they'll just do it. By owning the arena, LHM gets ALL revenue from the game - gate, concessions, and other events like concerts, AFL games, rodeos, the circus, and whatever else uses the ESA. Few teams have controlling interest in their arena like the Jazz do.

Kansas City failed to support their team so they (The Kings) moved. San Diego same way (Clippers). Las Vegas has hosted some NBA games - some of you might remember when the Jazz would play 10-15 "home" games down there every year at UNLV's arena. St. Louis and Pittsburgh have also lost teams in the past, and with industrial America slowing down, cities like those are not going to be spending money on stadiums full of breaks to get a sports team. And a move to Canada - not going to happen because of the tax issues to player which is what ultimatly drove the Grizzlies to move. The Jazz are here to stay. 

My question - WHY would the Jazz move? What would they gain? Really?


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## HighNDry (Dec 26, 2007)

You'd have to ask Derek Fisher.


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## neverdrawn (Jan 3, 2009)

Fisher would just lie to you and move on.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

HighNDry said:


> You'd have to ask Derek Fisher.


That's asinine! Fisher was a single player, not a whole dang organization.

There is no good reason for the Jazz to move. They wouldn't benefit from it financially at all. Isn't the almighty dollar what its about anyway?


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

HighNDry said:


> You'd have to ask Derek Fisher.


I'm guessing you're hinting at championships.... which could be be earned because players might actually want to go somewhere else and play. Jazz move and they might actually be able to entice good players to come and play... Just a speculation of course but happy players equals better play, more wins, more attendance and then if by some chance they do win a championship, seats are full of fans. Just moving the team doesn't mean that ownership of the ESA has to be let go as well. I don't know.... if things don't change with the Jazz, then I'd say anything is possible if the new ownership decides to really get serious about pushing far into the post season again.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

I think the biggest key is being willing to pay that salary cap penalties. All the teams that have done well (championships) have been willing to pay it. 

I do think that a lot of players have a hard time staying entertained here though. There really isn't much to do in SLC. I can buy the argument that they may do better in another city for that reason.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

That is a key thing there - Larry would never go over the salary cap. Who knows if Greg Miller will or not. But still - only 1 team wins a championship. And only one small market team has done it in the past 30 years (Spurs). But still - the Jazz are THE game in town. Any other larger city and they'll be second rate at best. And it is a business. And truth be known, business is good in SLC. Current ownership will not move the Jazz. The only way the Jazz are moving would be if they are sold because LHM Enterprises is strapped financially. Which may or may not happen. 

Not winning a title is no reason for a team to move. Even in the three losing seasons, the Jazz still were among the top quarter in the league in attendance. Again - what is the business case to leave? It isn't there.


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## Comrade Duck (Oct 24, 2007)

GaryFish said:


> That is a key thing there - Larry would never go over the salary cap. Who knows if Greg Miller will or not. But still - only 1 team wins a championship. And only one small market team has done it in the past 30 years (Spurs). But still - the Jazz are THE game in town. Any other larger city and they'll be second rate at best. And it is a business. And truth be known, business is good in SLC. Current ownership will not move the Jazz. The only way the Jazz are moving would be if they are sold because LHM Enterprises is strapped financially. Which may or may not happen.
> 
> Not winning a title is no reason for a team to move. Even in the three losing seasons, the Jazz still were among the top quarter in the league in attendance. Again - what is the business case to leave? It isn't there.


+1

Shane


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

I thought Milsap was a restricted free agent------ don't see him leaving because the Jazz want him. Boozer- don't let the door hit you in the @@@ on the way out. I do see some changes- a lot with how and who the Jazz pick to get.


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## HOGAN (Sep 8, 2007)

I for one will miss Hot Rod. I grew up with him, well kind of. He lived in my neighborhhod, Millcreek area. Honeycutt to be more persice. He had a hot tub and every Jazz game we would sneak on over to his house and take a dip and have a few brewskies. Never did get caught, always cleaned up, left it how we found it. Then he opened a bar and called it Hot Rods, on highland, what a great bar, I had just turned 21 ish and hung out there all the time. One of my favoritr St. paddys day, power outage @ the bar nothing but candle light hangin with Hot Rod, great times, He did get too lit up some games for a while there but one hell of a guy, I will miss him.


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