Post by Utah on Aug 1, 2007 16:31:39 GMT -5
Salt Lake Tribune:
The Utah Jazz have officially traded first round pick Michael Beasley and other considerations to the Seattle Sonics for Emeka Okafor.
In the surprising move of the season thus far, the played many people thought would be the second pick of the draft is already on his second team of his young career.
"I'm shocked. I thought I was going to be the franchise for a number of years with Chris Paul. I mean I know that Okafor is a great player but I feel like they gave up on me. Whenever I play against the Jazz, I'm going to stick it to them and show them they should have kept me," said Beasley as he was cleaning out his locker.
Gm Bjscho23, commonly referred to as bj psycho among league gms, had this to say in response to the trade. "To be fair, let's look at the total package. We traded Beasley, J.R Smith, Taj Gibson and our first round pick for Okafor. Okafor was scoring 30 points a game when we acquired him from a winning team so he was no bum at all. He can score and play defense and is one of the premier power forwards in the league. Beasley is a great young player but we had to give something up if we were going to get Emeka and so we did that. We lost a great shooting guard in JR who had a great camp for us so this will take some adjustments. The key is that now we have 3 very good players and some excellent role players to mesh with them. I look for the big 3 to score at least 60 a game combined and the rest of the guys to really pick up the slack. We are going to get Varajao in at the power forward spot where he is more comfortable and it should really help us out with rebounding. I'm not done dealing though. If I can get some a little better at the shooting guard spot i'll be very comfortable using Pietrus as a backup to the small forward or the shooting guard. Paul Harris will see some more time with his improved jump shot and we'll see how that goes. I like our team. I wouldnt' want to play us if we somehow get into the playoffs."
On a side note, the two teams played last week with the Jazz winning by 20 at home. Beasley scored 2 points and got in some foul trouble playing out of position at center. Okafor scored 29 and had 12 boards for the Jazz in that game. JR Smith led the Sonics with 22 points in a return to his former home arena.
The Utah Jazz have officially traded first round pick Michael Beasley and other considerations to the Seattle Sonics for Emeka Okafor.
In the surprising move of the season thus far, the played many people thought would be the second pick of the draft is already on his second team of his young career.
"I'm shocked. I thought I was going to be the franchise for a number of years with Chris Paul. I mean I know that Okafor is a great player but I feel like they gave up on me. Whenever I play against the Jazz, I'm going to stick it to them and show them they should have kept me," said Beasley as he was cleaning out his locker.
Gm Bjscho23, commonly referred to as bj psycho among league gms, had this to say in response to the trade. "To be fair, let's look at the total package. We traded Beasley, J.R Smith, Taj Gibson and our first round pick for Okafor. Okafor was scoring 30 points a game when we acquired him from a winning team so he was no bum at all. He can score and play defense and is one of the premier power forwards in the league. Beasley is a great young player but we had to give something up if we were going to get Emeka and so we did that. We lost a great shooting guard in JR who had a great camp for us so this will take some adjustments. The key is that now we have 3 very good players and some excellent role players to mesh with them. I look for the big 3 to score at least 60 a game combined and the rest of the guys to really pick up the slack. We are going to get Varajao in at the power forward spot where he is more comfortable and it should really help us out with rebounding. I'm not done dealing though. If I can get some a little better at the shooting guard spot i'll be very comfortable using Pietrus as a backup to the small forward or the shooting guard. Paul Harris will see some more time with his improved jump shot and we'll see how that goes. I like our team. I wouldnt' want to play us if we somehow get into the playoffs."
On a side note, the two teams played last week with the Jazz winning by 20 at home. Beasley scored 2 points and got in some foul trouble playing out of position at center. Okafor scored 29 and had 12 boards for the Jazz in that game. JR Smith led the Sonics with 22 points in a return to his former home arena.
