Millsap, Gortat Matched

Two backup restricted free-agent bigmen's offer sheets were matched this week by teams deep in the luxury tax.

I've suspected from the start that Portland only signed Paul Millsap to an offer sheet to force Utah to unload Boozer, preferably to Chicago who would then send Hinrich to Portland to clear cap room (which would then be used by Utah to pay Millsap). Whatever goal, this was a smart move by Portland -- their worst case scenario was ending up with arguably the best backup PF in the league, though he would be substantially overpaid. Now Utah can either go deep, deep into the tax to field a team that won't contend for anything or must find a way to dump Boozer, a borderline all-star talent (still a good outcome for Portland as they weaken a division rival). I don't see Utah fielding this team as is, as as is is about $14.5 million over the luxury tax (mean they will need to pay $14.5 million to the league in addition to all their contracts), so I expect them to make the aforementioned CHI-POR-UTA trade or perhaps one sending Boozer to the Knicks, with a third team absorbing the difference in salaries (e.g. http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=mtfqtw). Nevertheless, I think Utah made the right choice in matching. Millsap is a great player, and a great guy (only of those things can be said about Boozer) and will contribute for years to come, and Boozer shouldn't be that difficult to move before the trade deadline, when the tax kicks in.

The Magic, after matching Marcin Gortat, are "only" $8 million into the tax, so they could conceivably keep the overachieving backup center. Mid-level money for a top 5 backup big? Sounds pretty reasonable to me, even if he only gets around 12 minutes a game. But if they end up trading him for a 3rd PG and a weaker big, I won't blame them. Gortat is Base-Year Compensation though, which makes trading him without a third team nearly impossible (I don't think, though it's so hard to be sure with the CBA rules, that they can use their own Traded Player exceptions to facilitate the trade). Still good move, and always nice to see an owner willing to go in big to pay for a winner.

So, solid moves all around, after an iffy free agent period to this point. These GM's have shown faith in their players, now it's time for the players to vindicate them.