The Oklahoman (Mike Baldwin) reports on a team’s 82-game regular season schedule: “Four games against division opponents. Four games against six out-of-division conference opponents. Three games against the remaining four conference teams. Two games against teams in the opposing conference. A five-year rotation determines which out-of-division conference teams are played only three times.”

The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has exercised its first right of refusal on guard C.J. Miles’s contract. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not announced.
Miles (6-6, 220, Skyline H.S. (TX)) has appeared in 120 games (26 starts) in three seasons with the Jazz, averaging 4.0 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 10.5 minutes per game. Miles appeared in 60 games (13 starts) for the Jazz in 2007-08, posting career highs of 5.0 points and 0.9 assists in 11.5 minutes per game. Originally selected by the Jazz in the second round (34th pick overall) of the 2005 NBA Draft, the then 18-year-old became the youngest player in Jazz franchise history.
Miles will be available via conference call in the Salt Lake Community College press room at 6:30 p.m. tonight, prior to the Utah Jazz game vs. the Dallas Mavericks in the finale of the 2008 Rocky Mountain Revue.

The Los Angeles Clippers acquired guard Jason Hart from the Utah Jazz in exchange for Brevin Knight, Vice President of Basketball Operations Elgin Baylor announced today.
With the addition of Hart, the Clippers boast a revamped roster which currently features six new players, including two-time All-Star Baron Davis, two-time All-Defensive First Team member Marcus Camby and the seventh overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft, Indiana product Eric Gordon.
“We are glad to have Jason back with us,” Baylor said. “He played an important role for us when he was here previously, and we think he will be a valuable component this time as well.”
A seven-year NBA veteran, Hart is a native Los Angeleno and attended Inglewood High School. He rejoins the Clippers after appearing in 57 games for the Utah Jazz last season. The 30-year old point guard split the 2006-07 season with Sacramento and the Clippers, playing in 23 games and averaging 9.0 points and 4.0 assists for Los Angeles.
Hart brings back to Los Angeles career averages of 5.2 points, 2.4 assists and 1.7 rebounds in 297 games. He has appeared in a combined 12 playoff games with the Spurs (2003-04) and Kings (2005-06), averaging 2.7 points. The former Inglewood High School star signed with the Jazz as a free agent prior to the 2007-08 season and averaged 2.9 points, 1.5 assists and 1.0 rebounds last year with Utah.
The 6-3, 180 pound point guard enjoyed his best professional season in 2004-05 with Charlotte, appearing in 74 games and averaging 9.5 points, 5.0 assists and 1.1 rebounds per game. The onetime Syracuse University standout began his NBA career with Milwaukee after the Bucks drafted him with the 49th selection of the second round in the 2000 NBA Draft. Hart played in one game with the Bucks during his rookie season.
A native of Livingston, N.J., Knight attended Seton Hall Prep in East Orange, N.J., before playing four seasons at Stanford University (1993-97), where he was a First Team All-American as a senior and won the 1997 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award as the nation’s most outstanding senior male collegian under six feet tall.
Knight also has his own foundation called Assist by Knight (http://asssistbyknight.org), established in 2002, which focuses on life-enriching activities for disadvantaged youth. 

The Salt Lake Tribune (Ross Siler) reports: The agent for Jazz guard Deron Williams said Monday he has continued having conversations with general manager Kevin O’Connor and is still hopeful to reach agreement on a contract extension by the end of the week. “I think that’s still everyone’s objective,” agent Bob McClaren said, “and I’m certainly not discouraged by the process at all.” Williams has said he would like to finalize an extension before he leaves either Saturday or Sunday for USA Basketball training camp in Las Vegas. Williams will travel from there to Beijing for the Olympics. McClaren said he has talked “several times every day” with O’Connor since the two met Wednesday and that no additional meeting had been scheduled.

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed restricted free agent point guard Dee Brown to an offer sheet.  Per team policy, terms of the contract were not released.  The Utah Jazz will now have seven days to match the Wizards’ offer under the terms of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
“Dee is a player who can bring quickness and energy to our team” said Grunfeld. “We like that he gives us depth and a different look at the point guard position.”
Brown (6-0, 185) played last season for Galatasaray Café Crown in Turkey, where he averaged 12.3 points per game.  He was originally drafted by Utah with the 46th overall pick of the 2006 NBA Draft and averaged 1.9 points and 1.7 assists in 49 games for the Jazz during the 2006-07 season.  Brown is a product of the University of Illinois, where he finished his four-year career as the winningest player in school history (114 games, 114-23 overall record) and helped lead the Illini to the NCAA Championship Game as a junior in 2005.

The  National  Basketball  Association today announced  that  the  Salary  Cap  for  the  2008-09 season will be $58.680 million.   The  new  Cap  goes  into  effect  immediately  as  the league’s “moratorium  period”  has ended and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades.
The  tax level for the 2008-09 season has been set at $71.150 million.  Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $71.150 million.
The  mid-level  exception  is $5.585 million for the 2008-09 season and the minimum  team  salary,  which  is  set at 75% of the Salary Cap, is $44.010 million.
For  the 2007-08 season, the Salary Cap was set at $55.630 million, the tax level was $67.865 million and the mid-level exception was $5.356 million.