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Kwazimodal
Posts: 20896
Alba Posts: 5
Joined: 8/3/2004
Member: #728
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Alot of conflicting reports...
Found this exerpt from a feb 10 insider maybe someone can post it.
http://proxy.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&id=1988472
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600111269,00.html
Boozer isn't talking
Jazz deny ESPN report that a trade may be in the works
By Tim Buckley
Deseret Morning News
The morning after Larry H. Miller questioned his toughness, Carlos Boozer was not talking — at least not to media members.
Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer declined to comment on remarks by owner Larry H. Miller questioning the highly paid player's toughness.
Michael Brandy, Deseret Morning News
"I'm reserving my judgment until I speak to (Miller)," Boozer said Thursday, one day after the Jazz's owner said his $68 million power forward is talented — but some nights acts like he doesn't care enough.
Later Thursday, the two did have a heart-to-heart.
"No comment," Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor said when asked to characterize the meeting. "I'll leave it to those two to discuss that (today)."
The Jazz, meanwhile, say they're not talking, either — at least not seriously talking to other teams about trading Boozer.
ESPNInsider.com's Chad Ford reported Thursday that while "Matt Harpring seems to be the guy most teams are after," unnamed NBA sources say "the Jazz are open to trading" Boozer.
Wrote Ford: "While a Jazz official brushed off the rumors to a certain extent, they weren't totally dismissed either. The Jazz are not shopping Boozer or holding a fire sale. But would they consider trading him if the right deal came along? Yes.
"If the team could get a top-flight, 40-minute-a-night point guard capable of playing the Jazz's system, it would have to consider making a trade."
Miller seemed to suggest Wednesday that the Jazz have Boozer suitors, saying, "There's at least three teams I know about that would like to have him."
He also reiterated earlier comments suggesting Jazz ears will be open to all chatter up to the league's Feb. 24 trade deadline: "This year . . . we're more engaged in more serious trade talk from our end than we've been in in most years."
O'Connor, however, shot down the ESPN report.
"There's no credence to it," he said. "Is anybody un-tradable? No. But we're not looking to trade Carlos. Don't want to trade him. Want him to be here for the six years of his contract.
"I'm not going to say we'd never trade a player, because you always listen to options you can come up with. But we have no interest in trading Carlos Boozer. It doesn't make any sense. We expect him to get better."
As for Harpring, one of the Jazz's co-captains, he expresses no desire to leave Utah — even though the 16-33 team is struggling heading into tonight's Delta Center meeting with Minnesota.
"I don't want to go anywhere. I really don't," Harpring said recently. "I've invested a lot of time and hard work here, and I want to see this be successful. And I still think we can be. This year is looking more grim. But that doesn't mean the future is grim, too."
Precisely what profile Boozer, whom Utah signed away from the Cleveland Cavaliers last summer, has in that future remains to be seen.
"Boozer, on his end, wouldn't mind a trade either," Ford wrote. "He hasn't meshed with head coach Jerry Sloan. While he doesn't regret bolting the Cavs, one league source told Insider he wouldn't mind a change of scenery."
The Jazz, though, evidently expect their landscape to feature only more consistent play and effort from a 23-year-old who already is the franchise's leading scorer and rebounder.
"He's going to have to step up and do what he needs to do," Miller said Wednesday. "But I think he'll learn how to do that. I think his attitude's fine.
"Jerry (Sloan) kind of called him out in the media (recently) — and he seemed to respond to it a couple nights, and he's had some great games since. But he's also had some very tough nights . . . I think he's still in the process of figuring out how to do that every night."
Sloan on Thursday suggested he respects the owner's right to speak out. But the Jazz coach did not seem interested in driving down quite the same road as Miller.
"I expect more from everybody," he said when asked specifically about Boozer's consistency.
Sloan even pointed to himself, not Boozer.
"Whatever the reason is, we're not getting it done," he said. "That responsibility falls in my hands.
"We're with these guys every single day, and all we can do is try to show them and teach them. If that doesn't work, then we'll see what happens. I don't like the possibilities of consequences that come after that."
Asked if he felt a sense of being caught between Miller and Boozer, Sloan said, "I am in the middle of it.
"But Larry (Miller) doesn't expect me to fight his battle. I don't expect him to fight my battle," he added. "I'm here to do a job for his organization the best I can do, and that's all I can do."
Sloan, who replaced his five usual starters for the second half of Tuesday's loss at Denver, said Thursday he was considering a change to tonight's opening lineup.
He was not specific, but did say Boozer would not be benched.
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2/21/2005 3:11 PM