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SALT LAKE CITY — For the first time in franchise history, the Jazz are luxury tax payers.
They exceeded the NBA's $69.92 million threshold for teams that engage in excessive player payroll spending by roughly $2.2 million for the soon-to-end 2009-10 season, resulting in a soon-due dollar-for-dollar penalty payment — plus denial of a share from the money pool that teams that don't pay the tax collect, which this year is likely to exceed $2 million per team.
Yet according to general manager Kevin O'Connor, Utah won't rule out being luxury-tax payers in the future.
"I think you can see us doing that again," O'Connor said shortly after the Jazz's season ended early last week with a second-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
To be successful in today's NBA, paying a tax is practically requisite.
All four current conference finalists — Boston, Orlando, Phoenix and the Lakers — will pay. So will all but one (Atlanta) of the league's last eight playoff teams alive.
It's with that in mind the Jazz look ahead knowing that to remain competitive — Utah has played in each of the past four postseasons — it could require reaching deep into the pockets of franchise ownership.
"Look, we're not gonna do it to try to sign a body to make it look cosmetically good," O'Connor said. "But I think if it improves our team for the long range, and it gives us an opportunity to get to the next round or whatever round, we hear it.
"I think we're gonna be aggressive in trying to build a real competitive team, an elite team, which I think we've done over the last four years," the Jazz GM added. "Where we go from here, I'm not positive. But I think the Miller family has given a commitment."
O'Connor cites as evidence the fact the Jazz are "paying the luxury tax this year, which I think none of you thought we would."
Utah did significantly decrease its bill with cost-cutting in-season trades that sent rookie first-round draft choice Eric Maynor and injured Matt Harpring's expiring contract to Oklahoma City and starting shooting guard Ronnie Brewer to Memphis.
But, said O'Connor of those moves, "I don't think it hurt our ball club a whole lot."
"We wound up winning 53 (of 82) games," he said.
O'Connor further cites the fact the Jazz matched the four-year, front-loaded $32 million offer sheet that backup power forward Paul Millsap signed with Portland last offseason as evidence that financial constraints don't always trump basketball decisions.
"I'll go back to the Paul Millsap thing: That would have hamstrung us if they (ownership) said not to re-sign him," he said. "But I haven't felt that way."
How all of that translates in real terms to the Jazz's 2010 offseason remains to be seen.
The Jazz, sure to go over the NBA's soft salary cap for next season, already have nearly $57 million in payroll committed to seven players in 2010-11.
If they retain Othyus Jeffers and Sundiata Gaines — Utah has them under contract for next season, but the deals aren't fully guaranteed — there goes another $1.5 million-plus.
Their first-round pick in next June's NBA Draft will cost more than $2 million for next season.
With next season's spending threshold projected to be $68 million, that leaves less than $8 million before having to again pay the luxury tax to re-sign some combination of two-time All-Star power forward and unrestricted free agent Carlos Boozer, unrestricted free agent reserve shooting guard Kyle Korver, starting shooting guard and restricted free agent Wesley Matthews, backup center and restricted free agent Kyrylo Fesenko, and whoever else might be brought in as a free agent in any of their places.
Unless, that is, the Jazz were to dump expiring contracts to under-the-cap teams again next season.
No wonder Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has no real idea just what the makeup of his club will be next season — but realizes it almost undoubtedly will be unable to make additions like in 2004, when Utah used then-ample cap space to sign free agents Boozer and starting center Mehmet Okur.
Signing those two, Sloan said, "helped us a great deal — and if that would be available to us, then we'd have the opportunity."
"Otherwise, we have to do it from the ground up," Sloan added. "We've done it (the last several years) with first- and second-round draft choices, to try to be competitive for a long time. And we'll work with whoever's here."
It's reality that they must, because the Jazz aren't among the multitude of teams that created payroll room for this summer so they can pursue one or two from a cornucopia of free-agent stars that could include Cleveland's LeBron James, Miami's Dwyane Wade, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, Toronto's Chris Bosh, Phoenix Amar'e Stoudemire, Atlanta's Joe Johnson and Utah team scoring and rebounding leader Boozer.
"You're in a situation where you're over the cap," O'Connor said, "so then it becomes trades and signing mid-level (cap exception) guys and that kind of stuff."
Yet point guard Deron Williams — who himself will take up nearly $15 million of the Jazz's payroll next season, more than everyone else on the current roster except for Andrei Kirilenko and his $17.82 million — made it known early last week that he expects the Jazz to add "a couple pieces" to go from a mere playoff qualifier to a title team.
O'Connor certainly won't make moves prompted solely by Williams' waves, but he vows to keep paddling back out to see what can be done.
"Our responsibility is to try to put the best team on the floor we possibly can," he said.
"I don't think anybody … wanted to win more than (late owner) Larry Miller did, and more than Jerry Sloan does, and more than (current CEO) Greg Miller does now.
"So, we're gonna do everything within our power to win," the Jazz G.M. added. "This organization, if you look at the record we've had over the last 20-some-odd years — I think it's been indicative of the fact that we have tried to win."
e-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com
