Andrei Kirilenko Headed to CSKA Moscow?
AK back to Russia?If the Jazz can get their entire roster healthy and on the floor at the same time, they’re arguably as good as any team in the League. But as of late, it looks like that window is quickly closing. For weeks we’ve been hearing about Carlos Boozer’s relationship with Heat owner Mickey Arison and Booz’s plans to opt out of his contract after this season for bigger money and sandier beaches in Miami.
Though Utah’s brass desperately wants to maintain their nucleus of Deron Williams and Boozer, the reality is that someone will have to go. If you crunch the numbers, it’s tough to figure out a way that they’ll be able to hold onto Boozer ($12 million player option after ‘08-09), Mehmet Okur ($9 million player option after ‘08-09), Deron Williams (unrestricted free agent), and Ronnie Brewer (team option just under $3 million).
The biggest issue to keeping everyone together actually might not be Boozer’s desire to play on South Beach. It’s that Andrei Kirilenko is owed almost $50 million over the next three years, taking up a serious chunk of the cap space that the Jazz would need to keep the aforementioned guys. With AK-47 putting up 11 and 5 per game like he did last season, he definitely isn’t producing the value that he’s getting paid. That’s got to be a cause for some serious frustration among Utah’s management.
And actually, there might be a solution. Rumors are floating around that Kirilenko has drawn interest from CSKA Moscow. If the team that’s been trying to pry Ben Gordon from the Bulls could take Kirilenko from the Jazz, it might hurt the squad this season. But it might be a blessing for them when they try to maintain this nucleus down the road.
CSKA wants to offer Kirilenko a contract to rival that of other NBA stars and what seems to be the appeal in this case for CSKA is that Kirilenko, doesn’t occupy the position of non-russian player, which allows CSKA to keep him in the roster at all times.
Source: The Hoop
September 17th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
K_Digital says:
LAST!!!
September 17th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Sam I Am says:
Second to NONE baby
September 17th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
gangsta of love says:
They weren’t actually going after Gordon. That was a figment of his agent’s imagination.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
loc says:
Its such a shame really,
losing a player like Kirilenko is a real loss to the league, hes an oustanding player. Sucks to see the league losing legitimate NBA starts!
September 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
that's whats up says:
good riddance you scrawny bastard.
You stopped giving your effort in the NBA about two years ago.
Say hello to the wife for me
September 17th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Coop says:
surely the question here should be:
WHY IN JESUS WOULD THEY WANT TO KEEP OKUR???? hahaha
Man I hate Okur
September 17th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
SayItAintSo says:
Ok, I second Coop’s opinion. Why would they keep the big Ferret?
AK47 is WAY overpaid. He is clearly an amazing utility player but is benefitting from what he does in international play. In my opinion, he has never consistently produced at a high enough level in the NBA to be deserving of that kind of money.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Amar says:
that’ hilarious dime . . . what’s next, marbury to play on mars?
AK is probably going to go after his contract is up. but how bad would the jazz be without him.
as for ’stopped giving effort’ guy above, look at this stats when he plays 37 mpg. he used to avg 37 mpg (as recently as two seasons ago), and back then he was getting 15/8/and a whole bunch of assists, steals and blocks. in games (including last season) when he played that much he was getting similar stats.
how many mpg has he gotten the last two seasons? 29 mpg and 31 mpg (or something like that). he’s the same guy, just being used less frequently, and his role has changed.
put him on a crap team like miami (or team russia) and watch his stats balloon with the same effort he is playing for sloan right now.
and for the record, last season he was open to renegotiating his contract so he was less of an ‘anchor’ for the team (holding them back, in his words), but the NBA-player’s assoc wouldn’t have it. (after all, that was the same summer that larry h. miller had to beg the nba player’s association to allow fisher out of his contract so he could move closer to where his daughter was recieving cancer treatment)
September 17th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
GEE...currently pop locking and then the windmill! says:
Stay or leave. Don’t matter to me. Do whatever will make the Jazz worse. LOL
September 17th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Coop says:
How’s aboot AK to Phx for Barbosa and something expiring? Er…shit Phx dont have anything decent expiring if memory serves. Oh well.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
matt says:
To the okur comment, Okur is a good center with an improving shot, he is not an imposing center, but he opens up the lanes, and in the jazz playbook, an open lane means easier pick and roll, and easier pick and roll means more points and more wins.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Coop says:
That’s a good point, and valid, but the trouble is that he may do all that but that’s not the point of a centre. What he CAN’T do takes away from the team more than what he brings imo. You could have a decent shooter at the 2 or 3 doing that job. It’s just a waste, for my money.
September 17th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Ansonious says:
Okur is alright but he has no defense whats so ever.
September 17th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Logan Light says:
Are we getting into the days when there might be conspiracy from overseas teams to “re leave” teams of highly paid players? Would the NBA team get some sort of kickback for letting their player go? Will Stern catch on and introduce a ludicrous rule about going overseas?
Thanks Josh Childress… we owe all of this hob-nob to you… sheesh.
LL
September 17th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Amar says:
okur plays more defense than boozer. the problem is that you can’t have both boozer *and* okur on defense. together they compliment each other on offense, but that’s only half of the game.
the jazz would be better served with letting boozer go, look at the games he has missed due to injury — either kirilenko or millsap gets plugged into the 4 spot and they have huge games. (like millsap vs. cleveland, or andrei vs. lakers last season — both jazz wins) the 4 spot is a focal point in the jazz offense that makes the player, not the other way around.
put memo at the 4, and start fesenko (a 7′2 shotblocking bigman who intimidates and only plays in the paint). pay millsap, brewer and crew, and get better.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
marcello robertson says:
Not to get off the subject (real b ball), but Okur is a 30-35 point scorer at the PF in nba live 08. With a couple of trip dubs. No lie……Seroiously
September 17th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
FlipTheScript says:
Gotta love the wannabe-GMs…
Shut up and just be fans. Everybody has the right to bitch and complain but at the end of the day, you ain’t GMs. Stop all the one-sided trades, the stupid signings, and all that crap. Sure everyone’s supporting their teams, but is everyone blinded by false grandeur?
Point is, be logical.
Boozer is a centerpiece of this team, injury or not, Arenas wasn’t overpaid, and you ain’t gettin a superstar player from a chump team for change. The Lakers just got lucky.
Just sit your asses down and enjoy the games.
peace.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Amar says:
deron williams is the centerpiece of this team. gotta love wannabe-fans. you’re as subjective as you proclaim us to be.
26 wins w/o ak and boozer, before drafting deron
42 wins w/ ak back and Rookie deron, still w/o boozer
September 17th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
it ain't easy being green says:
@ marcello- I’d dominate u in live. Or anyone else for that matter!!!!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:29 am
FlipTheScript says:
@Amar
That’s the blindness I’m talking about. I said Boozer was A centerpiece, not THE centerpiece. Check the post before you slam it. Boozer is an integral part of this team, and the win/loss column doesn’t say it all. Who can run the pick and roll the way Sloan wants it? I doubt Memo is fast enough for it. AK is definitely too thin for it. Like it or not, Boozer helps your team more than he hurts it. He can move and shoot almost like the Mailman. Remember the Laker series last year? Boozer was in foul trouble most of the time and Deron couldn’t do it by himself. A successful NBA team needs at least 2 high-quality ballers to win. Check the last 8 championships:
00-02 - Shaq/Kobe
03 - TimmyD/Parker/Manu
04 - Rip/Billups/Rasheed
05 - TimmyD/Parker/Manu
06 - Shaq/Wade
07 - TimmyD/Parker/Manu
08 - KG/RayRay/Truth
The win/loss column in itself is very subjective: it changes every year depending on the strength of the teams. It also depends on player development. Before DWill was drafted, Boozer was still improving.
Open your eyes and ears to the rest of the L. Then when you see that a lopsided trade DOES exist, maybe you’ll stop fantasizing that the Jazz can reach at least the Conf. Finals with Deron by himself. Once Boozer leaves next year, Jazz will fall to the lower echelon of the West Playoffs.
If you really support your team, then you know that everyone is important to the cause unless they start tanking. I don’t think averaging a double-double constitutes that.
Stop acting like a football fan (check YouTube for football riots) and enjoy the game. I’m a Laker and Warrior fan, but I appreciate the competition that each game can bring. If Memphis or NYC starts playing like they want to win, hell, I’ll show some love their way too.
I might not know and analyze all the stats like you have expertly provided, but I do know enough to appreciate the game in its entirety.
Peace.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Ansonious says:
@ flipthescript Who the fu– do you think you are this is a place for people to post their opinions of what they think in the world of hoops, I won’t lie and say that I don’t disagree with what people are posting, yet I hear them out, understand where their coming from, and don’t act like I’m the big cheese or have some form of authority as if I was some kind of god. It’s just like religion it may be for you just don’t push it on me. A.I. to the nuggets for what not shit. Ron Ron for what pretty much nobody. Pau Gasol for Kwame, Aaron Mckie,and Jarvis please. S-jack, Harrington for Murphy, and Dunleavy please. What did the blazers get in return for Sheed? You want to talk shit to the fans as if you were the owner, if it wasn’t for the fans we wouldn’t be having these debates, conversations, opinions, and contraversy over the game we all love(even if were not the stars.) So you my friend need to have a tall glass of SHUT THE FUCK UP NOT us. I’m out like flipthescript having a point peace!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Ansonious says:
And I don’t care if the teams wanted them out star players don’t deserved to be disgraced like that.