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As Kyle Korver noted earlier this week, he never has been out as long in his NBA career as he has since undergoing knee surgery last month. Now in his seventh year, Korver never has missed more than eight games in a season before this one.
Although he'd hoped to return in the coming days, Korver will have to wait a little longer. He said Thursday that Cybex testing showed he still has strength to regain in his hamstring and quadriceps following surgery.
As a result, Korver will cease court work for a week and focus on rebuilding strength in his leg. Korver said he would need to test at 75 percent to be "borderline" to play; his quadriceps was 70 percent and his hamstring 56 percent.
"It's frustrating because I wanted to be back before then," Korver said, adding that his muscles likely weakened when wasn't able to practice in the preseason due to the swelling in his left knee.
"It's been a while since I had really gotten after it. I think that's why it's taking a little longer than I thought."
Korver, who had played in 465 of a possible 492 games his first six seasons, missed his 15th game of the season Thursday. He underwent arthroscopic surgery Oct. 28 to remove a bone spur.
Iverson thoughts
Having played with Allen Iverson to start his career in Philadelphia, Korver wasn't so sure the former NBA MVP was done with basketball, even though Iverson announced his retirement
"I think if he gets another opportunity, he'll play again," Korver said, adding that he hadn't spoken with Iverson in a while.
If Iverson's career has come to an end, Carlos Boozer remembered him as a player who transcended the game and served as an inspiration to small guards everywhere with his fearless play.
Iverson "had every dribble move in the book, [was] faster than everybody, played with more heart than everybody, didn't mind getting bumped around and getting back up," Boozer said.
After playing on the bronze-medal winning 2004 Olympic team with Iverson, Boozer said the former Sixers star was a good teammate, despite his reputation to the contrary.
"People were writing bad stories about him because we lost some games. ... He ended up being the fall guy," Boozer said. "For some reason, the media likes to pick on the guy that seems to be the bad guy of the group and paint him into this villain.
"But he wasn't like that. He was a leader out there. I'm sitting right next to him on the bus and talking to him, I'm there. He was one of those guys that wanted to win as bad as anybody else."
Deron Williams said Iverson would be remembered as one of the greatest scorers in league history, adding: "He's one of those unfortunate guys that had a great career but didn't win a championship. But there's a lot of those."
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan praised Iverson's toughness and willingness to attack the basket, describing him as a great "layup shooter" on par with John Stockton . As for Iverson's famous disdain for practice ...
"I'm kind of old fashioned," Sloan said. "I've always felt like practice was important for your team. It may not be good for you, but it's good for your team."
Not Bullish
Thursday's game marked the first time Boozer had faced the Bulls in the regular season since he expressed his desire to be traded to Chicago in a series of July radio interviews. The Jazz and Bulls did play a preseason game in London last month.
"That's like a lifetime ago, man," Boozer said of his summer controversy. "There's been so much going on since then."
