With Carmani, now 18 months old, recovering from a bone marrow transplant, Boozer wound up missing all of training camp and the Jazz's first three preseason games as he waited to join the team until his son was released from the hospital.

As easy as it would have been for Boozer to start the season slowly, the opposite happened. Boozer was named Western Conference player of the month in November and was selected to play in the All-Star Game for the second time.

"The biggest thing I was worried about is just having my presence felt out there,'' Boozer said, "because sometimes when you miss training camp, a lot of team bonding goes on in training camp."

Boozer never was concerned about his productivity, but he did look back at the Jazz's December swoon and wonder if he was partly to blame. "Sometimes you can look back at training camp," he said, "if we had everybody in training camp, maybe we don't hit that lull."

Deron Williams said he knew Boozer would be fine when he complained about playing just 13 minutes in his first game back. "He was like, 'I want to play more,' " Williams said. "I think Coach [Jerry Sloan] saw that and gave him the minutes and he adjusted quickly."

Boozer's family has since moved to Utah and has been encouraged by the progress in Carmani's fight against sickle cell disease. "He continues to improve and the doctors are really happy with where he's at,'' Boozer said.

D-League stars

When he first learned he'd been chosen to play in the NBA Development League's All-Star Game, Jazz rookie guard Morris Almond admits he considered asking out of the trip to New Orleans.

"It crossed my mind, I had reservations about it,'' Almond said. "I was like, 'Should I play in it, should I pass on it?' But I'm more than happy that I came down here."

Only after talking to his father did Almond come to see that playing in the game would be harmless at worst. He started hitting jumpers in the second half Saturday and finished with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting as his team won 117-99.

Jazz center Kyrylo Fesenko had 14 points and even attempted a rare three-pointer with 2 1/2 minutes left in the blowout. "I can score that, just that was not lucky one,'' said Fesenko, who double-checked to make sure his feet were behind the arc before firing.

Both Almond and Fesenko have spent the bulk of this season on assignment with the D-League's Utah Flash. Little in Almond's season has gone as he would have scripted, but the first-round pick is committed to making the best out of things.

Almond has played in only six games for a total of 25 minutes this season with the Jazz. He has tied (51 points) and broken (53) the D-League's single-game scoring record, but was asked if he felt he was improving as a player with the Flash.

"I really learned to kind of be a self-starter down here, you know, motivate myself,'' Almond said. "It's not about just scoring points, you know, because I scored 50, I can't think I'm a complete player and I'm ready to come back up and put me in the lineup."

Fesenko was asked whether he wanted to finish the season with the Jazz. "I hope so," he said, "but I don't want to rush nothing and if coach Sloan thinks that it will be better for me to stay here and they say they don't need me right now, this moment, I agree."

rsiler@sltrib.com