Utah Jazz: Preseason peculiar, injuries familiar

Deron Williams helps Paul Millsap up as the Jazz face the Nuggets in a preseason game at EnergySolutions Arena, Thursday Oct. 1, 2009. (Jeremy Harmon / The Salt Lake Tribune)

The oddity of this October could be highlighted any number of ways for the Jazz, starting with the fact they played one preseason game before a packed house in London, followed by two games at an almost empty Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Thanks to the franchise's first-ever trip to Europe, the Jazz traveled nearly 15,000 miles just to get to opening night, including a three-week stretch in which they spent all or part of 13 days on the road, all to complete the exhibition schedule.

Of course, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has seen worse. As a rookie with the Baltimore Bullets in 1965, Sloan remembered playing a 15-game preseason, including eight games against the Pistons "at every high school gym in Detroit."

Not only did the Bullets and Pistons play each other so many times, they stayed at the same hotels and rode elbow to elbow on the same buses. "I never enjoyed that at all," Sloan said. "I didn't like a lot of those people."

As they look ahead, though, to Wednesday's opener at Denver -- which reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1985 last season -- the Jazz can take away several things from the preseason.

For starters, the Jazz appear to have been mistaken if they believed a new season would bring a change of fortune with respect to injuries.

Starting with Deron Williams' sprained ankle last preseason, the Jazz couldn't say they were at full strength until Feb. 23. Now they will open this season

Miles is recovering from thumb surgery while Korver will undergo surgery this week to remove a bone spur from his left knee. "I'm going to stop talking about injuries," Williams pleaded, "so we don't have to talk about them any more."

All the Jazz can hope is that Ronnie Brewer (back spasms) and Ronnie Price (strained left hamstring) will have shown improvement by the time they reconvene for practice today.

Having opened training camp with 16 players -- a number they carried through their first seven preseason games -- the Jazz were taken aback when they were left with just nine players in uniform Friday.

"I know we're going to be exciting when we're at full strength, but we've got enough to still play," Carlos Boozer said. "No excuses, man. Every team goes through something.

"Obviously, we'd like to be at full strength now, but if we've got a couple guys banged up, then they're going to come back earlier in the season, we'd [rather] it now than later."

Sloan can patch things together by using players out of position -- including Paul Millsap at small forward and Williams and Price at shooting guard -- but Williams suggested after Friday's game that the Jazz might have no choice but to explore outside possibilities.

"Hopefully, Ronnie Price gets back soon," Williams said. "I don't know if we're going to pick anybody else up, but that might be the easiest thing to do."

The Jazz can ill afford a slow start to the season, with a four-game trip in November that includes games at Eastern Conference heavyweights Boston and Cleveland, followed by a season-long six-game homestand that will take them into December.

With respect to their renewed commitment to defense, the jury is still out. The Jazz gave up 95.0 points on 43.5 percent shooting in the preseason. Sloan, however, branded the Jazz's defense as "awful" in Friday's game, showing little in the way of structure.

The Jazz gave up just 85 points on 38.8 percent shooting to Sacramento, though the Kings missed 17 free throws. In addition, the Jazz's two most encouraging defensive games came against Portland, which did not play a full lineup in either.

"We have a long way to go, but the good thing is, we're making steps in the right direction," Boozer said. "I was happy with it -- happy with it, with room to improve."

The Jazz were able to win their final three road preseason games, though the true test will come this week for a team that went 15-26 away from EnergySolutions Arena last season.

As far as lineups, Sloan appears set to go with a starting five of Williams, Brewer, Andrei Kirilenko, Boozer and Mehmet Okur. That would leave Millsap coming off the bench, though Sloan acknowledged, "We've got to keep him on the floor as much as possible."

The Jazz also appear inclined to have rookie Eric Maynor back up Williams at point guard. Maynor shot just 36.2 percent overall, but had a nearly 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio and hit 6 of 12 three-pointers.

"I feel comfortable and I'm glad coach put me out there, just to get a taste of how everything goes," Maynor said. "Now I'm ready for the regular season."

Williams saw time at off guard (in some cases extensively) opposite Maynor in the Jazz's final four preseason games, something Sloan is likely to continue in the regular season. Price also could play alongside Williams or Maynor in the backcourt.

"We'll probably do that some, play a smaller lineup, I guess," Sloan said.

If nothing else, the Jazz could take comfort in Williams' play this preseason. Williams looked like a potential MVP candidate in averaging 17.5 points and 6.1 assists, numbers that would project to 23.7 points and 8.3 assists with his typical 37 minutes a game.

rsiler@sltrib.com