With USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo soon to announce a 25-player pool from which the 2010 national team will be selected, Carlos Boozer hasn't ruled out the possibility of returning for next summer's FIBA world championships in Turkey.
"I told them if they needed me, I'd be there," Boozer said Saturday. "If not, I'll enjoy my summer. But I told them I'd be honored to wear USA again, so it's up to them."
Boozer was a member of the gold-medal winning 2008 Olympic team, though he averaged only 6.0 minutes a game in Beijing. Having also played on the 2004 team that took bronze in Athens, Greece, Boozer is a USA Basketball veteran of sorts.
"If I didn't get a chance to go, I wouldn't be disappointed at all," Boozer said. "I had two great experiences and finishing up with the '08 gold in Beijing. I'm proud of what I've been able to do for my country."
With Duke's Mike Krzyzewski set to return as U.S. coach, Boozer said he had talked to his former college coach recently, but they hadn't spoken about the national team.
Boozer added that heading into free agency this summer wouldn't affect his decision to play, as it could for LeBron James , Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh . "Not at all," he said. "If the chance came up again to wear it, I'd wear the USA uniform in a heartbeat."
Deron Williams already is committed to playing next summer.
Colangelo said in a recent interview that Jason Kidd was the only member of the 2008 team not to express interest in returning for the world championships.
From that team, however, Boozer, Tayshaun Prince and Michael Redd might give way to a next generation of marquee players, headlined by Kevin Durant .
Feet at a time
Ronnie Price reported progress as he continues to recover from the left foot injury he suffered Nov. 9 in New York. He has started to jog again and estimated that he was about 50 percent of the way back.
"From not being able to walk to being able to jog, I would say I'm halfway there," Price said.
The injury has been called a sprained left big toe, but Price described it as soreness on the bottom of his foot near the toe.
Part of the problem is that he continues to feel pain just walking and planting off his foot, let alone more intense activity. "Running and jumping and stuff is something that is a must in the game that we play," he said. "It's painful to put that much pressure on it."
"I've been trying to walk different and all that does is cause other things to ache," Price added. "You change the way you walk on your foot and it causes the outer side of your foot to start bothering you ... and then your knee starts bothering you."
Price missed his ninth game Saturday after suffering the injury nearly three weeks ago.
The Jazz have ruled out surgery for the backup point guard. "It's not going fast enough for me, but it is moving," Price said.
Frankly speaking
Jerry Sloan never has suffered a losing streak longer than nine games in his 22 seasons as Jazz coach. That hasn't stopped Sloan from sympathizing with what Nets coach Lawrence Frank is going through at 0-16 and on the verge of the worst start in NBA history.
"We lost 56 games one year and that wasn't an easy thing to try to deal with," Sloan said. "But you find out some things about players. You find out some things about ownership, all that stuff, about how they stick with you."
From his playing days, Sloan recalled opening the 1972-73 season with a close victory -- it was 95-89 -- over the Philadelphia 76ers, who went on to lose their first 15 games and finished with the worst record in league history at 9-73.
"Who's to say? Maybe they win that game and they get a little bit of momentum to get a little life," Sloan said, adding, "This is a very fickle business, and if you don't understand that, it can eat you alive."
