Utah keeps Millsap, ready to launch Boozer?

Utah will hang onto Paul Millsap, which means the next logical transaction for the Jazz will be to relocate Carlos Boozer.

As expected, Utah matched the four-year, $32 million offer sheet given to Millsap by Portland. Now it's a question of where Boozer will land, though the Jazz may be in no hurry to move the burly power forward. I'm sure Utah would like to start next season without him, but they could always keep the burly power forward until the trade deadline next February.

The Bulls are often mentioned as a likely destination. But count on the Jazz searching far and wide for a way to trim some payroll in a multi-team trade, because Utah faces an $11 million luxury-tax bill as it stands today. The Bulls could swap Tyrus Thomas and Jerome James straight up for Boozer, for example, but that doesn't help Utah's overloaded payroll.

To give up both Thomas and Kirk Hinrich in any deal, the Bulls would need to get a quality guard back in return. There was a report last week that the hangup in any Hinrich-to-Portland scenario was the Bulls insisting second-year guard Jerryd Bayless be included.
Bayless would be a nice addition, although he rarely played as a rookie. It's hard to see that being a deal-breaker.

A logical acquisition would be point guard Steve Blake, a full-time starter for the Blazers who averaged 11 points, 5 assists an shot well from 3-point range last season. He's a rung or two below Hinrich, especially as a defender, but can certainly help a team.

It would seem as though Blake and Travis Outlaw, both on expiring contracts, would be an acceptable return from Portland for Hinrich, but no telling if the Blazers would give back both players.

By trading Hinrich, the Bulls could conceivably trade for Boozer and still have the cap room to chase a major free agent, such as Dwyane Wade or Joe Johnson, next summer.

LITTLE LOVE FOR BOOZER
One interesting part of all the Boozer trade talk is how anxious people in Utah are to see him leave. Gordon Munson penned a "good riddance" column in the Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday, while the reader comments in the Utah papers and Jazz message boards are filled with negative comments.

Some still criticize Boozer for sticking it to the Cavaliers five years ago. The story is Boozer allegedly agreed to sign a long-term deal with the Cavs if they didn't renew his contract option at second-round money, then reneged and grabbed a bigger payday in Utah.

Who knows the true story? If the Cavs agreed to an under-the-table deal like that, it would have been illegal, anyway. And former Cavs owner Gordon Gund may have been blind, but he'd been around the block plenty of times. As a second-round pick, Boozer was underpaid for two years, then set out to maximize his earnings, a common story in the NBA.

Another complaint is Boozer's repeated injuries. He missed significant time during his first two years in Utah, then sat out 45 games with a quad tendon strain above his knee. I still remember Fred Hoiberg missing 50 games with the same injury in 1999-2000, so it can be more serious than it sounds. But the anit-Boozer crowd asks why Deron Williams could play through that nasty high ankle sprain suffered during a preseason game at the United Center last year, while Boozer kept sitting.

My prevailing memory of Boozer in Utah is how he repeatedly went at Yao Ming for late-game clutch baskets when the Jazz beat Houston in a seven-game series in 2007 and went on to the Western Conference finals. He's averaged 20 and 10 in the playoffs more than once.

If he'd agree to a four-year, $48-million extension - a big if, perhaps - Boozer would seem to be a nice addition for the Bulls.

MIAMI EYES ODOM
Besides the Bulls, some other possible destinations for Boozer are Miami for Udonis Haslem, Detroit for Richard Hamilton and maybe Golden State or others.

Miami president Pat Riley downplayed Boozer, but told a group of fans that the Heat is seriously pursuing Lamar Odom. The Heat is pushing Florida's lack of state income tax as a salary equalizer. Without a sign-and-trade, the Heat could offer Odom no more than the mid-level exception of $5.8 million as a starting salary. Odom and the Lakers reportedly agreed on a $9-million per season deal, but Odom wants four years and the Lakers are offering three. At this point, Odom still seems more likely to re-sign with the Lakers.

Portland also needs to find a way to use it’s roughly $8 million in cap room, now that it’s been thwarted in efforts to add Millsap and Hedo Turkoglu, who changed his mind about Portland and signed with Toronto.

The only significant unrestricted free agents still on the market are Odom and Philadelphia point guard Andre Miller. The Blazers could also put in an offer sheet for restricted free agents David Lee (New York) or Glen Davis (Boston).