The first meeting free-agent power forward Paul Millsap had after the opening of free agency at midnight Eastern Time on Monday was with a familiar face, according to the Deseret News: Utah Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey.
The Utah Jazz reportedly met with free agent Paul Millsap late Sunday night. (NBA.com photo)
The Jazz didn’t extend an offer to Millsap, but a source told Jody Genessy of the Deseret News that the Jazz have “high interest” in keeping Millsap, who has played his entire seven-year career with Utah.
Millsap is apparently interested in remaining in Salt Lake City; the source said there was “mutual interest.”
Millsap averaged 14.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in 30.4 minutes a night for the Jazz last season. His minutes and scoring have gone down in each of the last two seasons, however. In 2010-11, Millsap averaged 17.3 points and 34.3 minutes a game and in 2011-12, those numbers went down to 16.6 and 32.8.
Those dips coincide, however, with the arrival of Derrick Favors in the February 2011 trade that sent Deron Williams to the New Jersey Nets. Favors, the third overall pick in the 2010 draft, is also a power forward.
Millsap has been a terrific overachiever for Utah since being taken with the 47th overall pick out of Louisiana Tech in 2006.
He didn’t become a full-time starter until 2010, but has averaged 14.6 points and 7.7 rebounds while shooting 51.7 percent from the floor in the five seasons since he became a permanent part of the rotation in 2008-09.
Millsap earned $8.6 million last season and the Deseret News reported that Millsap is drawing interest from other, unnamed teams.
If Millsap stays, it may be in a reduced role. Favors averaged 14.6 points, 11 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots per 36 minutes last season and will turn 22 on July 15. Millsap, 28, is pretty much a known commodity at this point, whereas Favors would appear to be just scratching the surface of the potential that prompted the Nets to use a No. 3 pick to get him.
Linsday, however, said he won’t be talking about Utah’s intentions during the free-agency moratorium, which extends until July 10. Kevin O’Connor, the Jazz’s executive vice president of basketball operations, offered at least a hint at Utah’s strategy, however. Expect the Jazz to hang back a bit in the early going, according to an interview with 1280 The Zone in Salt Lake City.
You’ve got to sit on your hands a little bit and understand that the first five or six days, it’s usually a deal that’s in favor of the player.
Utah currently has three frontcourt players under contract. Along with Favors, the team also has Enes Kanter and Jeremy Evans signed for 2013-14.
Millsap posted a solid 19.8 player efficiency rating (PER) in 2012-13, although that was a drop from the career-best 21.8 he had in 2011-12. Favors’ PER last season was 17.5 and while Millsap posted a better offensive rating (112 for Millsap compared to 104 for Favors), Favors was the better defender with a defensive rating of 101 to a 104 for Millsap.
There have been no reports of what talks, if any, the Jazz have had with unrestricted free agent center Al Jefferson. But Yahoo Sports reported Monday that Jefferson “appears to no longer be in the Utah Jazz’s plans.” Jefferson, according to Y! Sports, is scheduled to go to Charlotte tonight and will meet with Bobcats officials on Wednesday.
The Jazz have seven unrestricted free agents this summer. Besides Millsap and Jefferson, DeMarre Carroll, Randy Foye, Jamaal Tinsley, Earl Watson and Mo Williams are all free to make their own deals.