Even if there's no guarantee of how many of his current teammates will be around for that day, Williams couldn't help but exude confidence about what can be done in the years he's committed to continue playing for the Jazz.

Having concluded that the Jazz's "track record speaks for itself," Williams signed a three-year extension with a fourth-year option that will pay him between $50 million and $70 million and keep him in Utah at least through the 2011-12 season.

"There's not many questions to ask, there's not much to doubt," Williams said. "You know that they're focused on winning a championship and you can see that with the recent signings and moves that we've made. I have the utmost confidence in them."

Williams made reference to the Jazz's lone losing season in Jerry Sloan's two decades as coach and said he still had goals to accomplish as far as being selected an All-Star and winning a championship even after signing a max contract.

The Jazz, meanwhile, expressed no disappointment that Williams had decided to sign a shorter extension than one for the full five years.

"The minimum it could be is there'll be another presidential election before we have to go again," Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said. O'Connor flashed back to the news conference three years ago at which Williams was introduced as the Jazz's prize with the No. 3 overall draft pick.

"We had a choice," O'Connor said, "and we made a choice and the choice has exceeded our expectations."

With the Jazz having won 50-plus games and reached the playoffs the last two seasons while boasting one of the NBA's youngest rosters, Williams said winning a championship was a distinct possibility.

"I think we're very close," Williams said. "I think we've improved every year, we just ran into some teams that maybe had a little edge on us, and hopefully we can tighten up some things this year defensively. I think that's going to be a big key to our success."

The Jazz would prefer to focus on the coming season, but Williams did have some concern about the future in signing his extension.

Next summer, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver all can opt out of their contracts and become free agents. Williams said he hoped signing an extension would sway Boozer to re-sign if the All-Star forward did opt out.

"We've talked about it since I've been here," Williams said. "He said his main thing was he probably wouldn't stay if I wasn't here, if I wouldn't sign an extension. I think I took the first step in that by signing the extension and he knows I'm going to be here for five more years.

"The next step is just convincing him to stay. Whether he opts out or not, I don't know. Hopefully, he stays. He knows he's a big part of this team. He knows that we have that great chemistry together and it'd be hard to develop the same chemistry with another point guard."

Williams said he talked to Carmelo Anthony (four years plus an option) and LeBron James (three years plus an option) about their extensions and went back and forth before going with his gut feeling for the three-year deal plus an option.

"He always wanted to do this," said Bob McClaren, Williams' agent, "but he was very open to all of the options."

Although James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul all have signed similar deals in past summers, Williams said: "You can't do something just because another player did it. It has to be for what you feel and your feeling on the situation is."

With his own future set, Williams said he thought he could help recruit free agents to Utah in the coming years. As part of that, Williams said one of his goals would be "trying to get over that stereotype that Utah is not a great place to live."

rsiler@sltrib.com