"I've been trying to get that since we got here," Williams said. "When you're growing up, you always envision NBA games, going and turning the lights off and having intros. It was kind of weird when I came here and I'm like, 'What's wrong with the lights?' "

The Jazz long have been the last NBA team to introduce players with the lights on. They went 37-4 at home last season, but Williams said there was little sentiment among players to stick with something that wasn't broken.

"It feels like a real game," Williams said, adding that he'd had conversations with team president Randy Rigby about several arena upgrades, including a new video board.

Issue free: As long as nobody is on scholarship, Kyle Korver is going to refrain from comparing the closeness on the Jazz to a college team. But Korver did say Monday of the team's chemistry, "This is by far the best I've been on."

With so many players eager to hang out off the court, Korver added, "I think that really feeds into how you play on the court."

To say the Jazz got a head start by bringing back 13 players from last season might be an understatement.

"We're farther along right now at this point than we were last year," Williams said. "I think it's night and day, just because we have pretty much the same team back. There's not much teaching going on. We know the offense. Like I said, we're just trying to sharpen things up."

Friend or foe: Although they spent the summer as teammates with USA Basketball, Williams said he would have no problem readjusting to life playing against Kobe Bryant.

"It was fun playing with them. I had a blast. It was a great experience to play with the guys that I got a chance to play [with]," Williams said. "But when you step on the court, they're competitors just like I am, and they want to win just like I do."

Briefly: Williams said he expected to play the first and third quarters tonight, with his minutes increasing later in the preseason. . . . Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was undecided about using some of the small lineups he's shown so far.

rsiler@sltrib.com