Those conversations make clear where Miles' NBA future most likely lies. Boozer left a message Wednesday that Miles still needed to return. He planned on getting in touch with Williams as well, now that he's finished with USA Basketball duty in Las Vegas.

The most important person Miles was waiting to speak with, though, was with Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz' senior vice president of basketball operations.

If everything goes well, Miles' contract issues will be resolved in the coming weeks with enough time for the 20-year-old guard to return to Salt Lake City and re-acclimate to the altitude in advance of training camp.

Miles described his situation by phone Thursday as being "kind of up in the air" but said he wanted to return to Utah. With a young team that reached the Western Conference finals, Miles said, "Why wouldn't I want to be there?"

Miles has had a one-year $945,610 qualifying offer on the table from the Jazz since June 29. The Jazz note that would amount to a significant raise (42.4 percent, in fact) from what Miles made last season.

With Miles a restricted free agent, the Jazz have the right to match any offer he receives from another team. So far, the Jazz have been resistant to sign-and-trade offers that would bring them an undesired player and/or undesired contract.

Miles, meanwhile, addressed his decision to sit out the Rocky Mountain Revue, saying the injury risk was too great as an unsigned free agent. He was most troubled by people's belief that he pulled out only a day or two before the start of summer league. "It was discussed way before that,'' he said.

Should he sign the qualifying offer, Miles would be a restricted free agent next summer as well. There is no deadline to agree on a deal, though Miles said he wanted to be in town for conditioning work at least two weeks before training camp.

O'Connor, meanwhile, was asked if the Jazz would be heading to camp in 25 days with their current roster. The Jazz have 13 players under contract, not counting Miles.

"The minute I say the roster's probably set is when things change,'' O'Connor said. "We've made changes in the month of September before, and we're going to continue to look to improve our roster a little bit."

After losing Derek Fisher, the Jazz still lack a starting shooting guard.

They have three young players at the position (Brewer, Miles and rookie Morris Almond) and a veteran in Gordan Giricek who had fallen out of favor.

"There's four of them and they all have things they do at a major-league level,'' O'Connor said. "Somebody's going to have to step up and do it consistently."

The Jazz still have a qualifying offer out to Dee Brown, but only about $25,000 is believed to be guaranteed. With the additions of Jason Hart and Ronnie Price, Brown is out of a job as the No. 3 point guard.

Brown still could attend training camp, with the Jazz expecting to bring 17 or 18 players to Boise, Idaho. The Jazz also would withdraw Brown's qualifying offer and make him an unrestricted free agent should another team show interest.

rsiler@sltrib.com