He struggled just to get off the bench his first two years at Rice before becoming one of college basketball's leading scorers. He was the Jazz's first round draft pick last year but played in only nine games as a rookie.

"I'm that guy, man," Almond said Wednesday. "You know, I guess I'm that guy. It's not what I wanted, but it always works itself out, eventually."

Even as he set scoring records in the NBA Development League, Almond still couldn't earn a ticket back to the Jazz. There were too many young guards on the roster with Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Miles and too few minutes to go around.

"I'm human," said Almond, who was assigned to the D-League's Utah Flash three times. "It was frustrating a little bit. But I'm also professional. I'm not going to crack and shut down because things aren't going my way my first year.

"If I would have shut down at one point, it would have been sitting on the bench at Rice as a first-year player. So here, I've kind of been through it. That's where that college experience comes in, I guess. We'll see how it shakes things out."

As he prepares to play in the Rocky Mountain Revue for a second time, Almond has all the opportunity he could ask for. He's the veteran player trying to "set the tone," advising his teammates about everything from running the offense to keeping their jerseys tucked in.

"It's easier," Almond said. "I feel a lot more comfortable. You know the plays. It makes me realize how green I was last year. Coming in, you don't know anything, and now you can really get the nuances down because I have a year under my belt."

There is a definite anticipation about what Almond will do in the Revue. He scored 51 points in one game with the Flash, 53 in another, and averaged 25.6 points for the season. His Jazz teammates often teased Almond about being the D-League's Kobe Bryant.

From the summer-league practices he's seen so far, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said Almond looked stronger and was hustling back on defense better.

"I can just see when he gets out here and runs up and down the floor he looks a whole lot more like a pro right now than he did when we first got him," Flash coach Brad Jones said. "That's kind of the purpose of what we do."

The Jazz have regarded Almond as an NBA-caliber shooter and scorer since they drafted him with the No. 25 overall pick. It's the other areas of his game in which they want to see improvement, starting with defense and team play.

"What's going to happen to him when people start just double-teaming him every time he catches the ball?" Sloan asked, adding, "You can't have the luxury of a guy shooting every time he touches it but not doing anything else."

As long as Almond was cashing NBA checks, Sloan had little sympathy for the season the rookie spent in the D-League. "There's lots and lots and lots of people that would like to have that same job," Sloan said.

With Miles skipping the Revue again this summer, Almond has the chance to make a favorable impression. He said he didn't think he needed to tone down his scoring just to show what else he could do.

"It's just playing my game, being natural," Almond said. "Of course, I've worked on other things. But I'm not going to try to overemphasize one thing to take away from what I do because I am what I am. I look forward to playing a well-rounded game down there."

Jones praised Almond for working hard in the D-League even though "I'm sure obviously on draft night it's not what he envisioned." For his part, Almond was asked about escaping that history as a slow starter wherever he's been.

"That's life, man, always," Almond said. "It's like the seasons."