They obviously need to move Boozer, having determined via whatever form of forecasting, fan feedback or financial analysis they're using these days that he's not in their future plans. There's no rush to find a taker for him, though. While there's a certain Hot Stove feel to the NBA in July, when teams are evaluating their personnel and salary-cap options during the free-agency period, the start of training camp is still more than two months away and the regular-opener season comes another month later.

Which means that other than the immediate payment to Millsap that comes with matching his offer sheet from Portland, there's no player payroll to meet for a while, and no luxury tax to be assessed until after the coming season. So general manager Kevin O'Connor and his bosses should shop carefully and make a genuine trade to improve their team, beyond the budget impact.

I'll stop short of suggesting that they keep Boozer until the trade deadline in February, knowing what a distraction his presence would be during the season. But getting rid of him this month, just to have it all over and done with, is hardly necessary.

They absolutely have to make the best Basketball deal they can. Whether it takes packaging C.J. Miles or somebody else, the Jazz need some degree of talent in return for Boozer, not just attractive contracts. The fact is that simply subtracting Boozer makes the Jazz worse, knocking them down to about the eighth-best team in the Western Conference, even when healthy.

If they can compensate sufficiently for losing Boozer by bringing in a decent player, they can move into the middle of the pack.

Merely promoting Millsap to the starting lineup, as they did for half of last season when Boozer was injured, is not a roster upgrade. I'm also not sure that allowing fan sentiment to drive Boozer out of town is the proper way to run a franchise, but here we are. You wanted Paul Millsap as your power forward, and you got him.

Now, hold him to the same standards as Boozer, the two-time All-Star. Millsap's overachieving is in the past, in other words. The reality of Millsap is he's really only about 6-feet-7, with limited shooting range and offensive skills that opponents seemed to figure out after one trip around the league last season. There's obviously a lot to like about him, with attributes including his relentless rebounding, his determined nature and a grounded family background that should keep him from becoming too comfortable with his nice contract.

It's just that there's an improvement ceiling for every player, and the Jazz have to hope he's not there yet.

Regardless, they have to know that scraping Boozer off the soles of their fans' shoes and keeping Mehmet Okur, Kyle Korver and Ronnie Price cannot serve as the sum of their summer's tinkering in the deep, competitive West, even with their salary restrictions.

They do need tax relief at this point, but they also need personnel help. Boozer is a bargaining chip, not a burden. When it comes to offseason dealing, he's still the Jazz's biggest asset -- even if their fans might use another word.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com