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Veteran Utah club set for preseason
By JIM BURTONSALT LAKE CITY -- There's Kosta Koufos - he's the rookie - and then there's everyone else on the Jazz roster.
As the team begins its preseason campaign tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers, an appropriate moniker might be, "Kosta and the Vets."
This year's Jazz team is loaded with veterans of all shapes, sizes and ages. Some have been around a long time (witness Matt Harpring, Jarron Collins, Andrei Kirilenko and Brevin Knight). Others have been around just long enough to have figured out a few of the league's idiosyncrasies (see Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams, Kyle Korver, Mehmet Okur). And still others fall into another category, that of non-rookie/partial veteran (say hello to Paul Millsap, Ronnie Brewer, C.J. Miles and, maybe, Morris Almond).
With a sizable amount of experience to go around, it raises an interesting question about how much training camp and how many preseason games are needed to truly get the team ready for the regular season.
It's safe to say Koufos, a 7-foot-1 center from Ohio State, will take all the training and bonus playing time he can get. Also, it's a fair assumption longtime Jazz coach Jerry Sloan will take whatever the NBA gives in terms of preseason preparation time.
From there, however, it's anyone's guess.
"Camp is always crucial for everything because you get a chance to work on your basic principles, getting sharp," Boozer said. "But with a team like ours, we know our (principles) pretty well."
The Jazz wrapped up training camp last week in Boise, Idaho. They went through team scrimmages on Thursday and again on Saturday, then practiced Monday morning before leaving for southern California.
Counting tonight's game -- which will be played at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. -- there are seven games on Utah's preseason schedule.
Preseason contests certainly have value in terms of shaking off rust, fine tuning bodies and focusing players' attention on the upcoming season. Additionally, coaches like them because the preseason allows them to take closer looks at younger players who might not get as much court time during the regular season, and in-camp free agents who might be brought back in an emergency later in the season.
But veteran players, who have big contracts, know the playbook and don't really need a lot of tune-up time?
"We probably need four games as opposed to seven or eight," Boozer said. "At the same time, those games do give you a chance to get the rust out."
"If it was up to me, you could cut those games down to about four or five, then let's get rockin' and rollin'," said Knight, an 11-year veteran who is playing for the first time in a Jazz uniform.
"I think you leave a lot to injury if you start playing a lot of games."
Korver, who came to the Jazz from Philadelphia last December, said it's difficult to quantify how much getting-ready time is needed.
"I think coach Sloan's done a good job so far in training camp and preseason, of pushing us, but realizing who we are, that we're a team that has been together," he said.
Korver also noted there is a significant difference between preseason practice sessions and actual preseason games.
"The scrimmage the other night, and even the scrimmage we had over in Boise felt a lot different (than practice)," he said.
A year ago, Boozer missed all of training camp and Williams missed most of it, and yet the two played nearly 40 minutes each on opening night, with Boozer scoring 24 points and Williams adding 18 and 10 assists.
"I'm definitely excited," Williams said. "We're farther along right now, at this point, than we were last year. I think it's night and day, just because we pretty much have the same team back. There's not much teaching going on, we know the offense. We're just trying to sharpen things up."
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We are looking forward for Kosta debut in preseason in Greece. I think thah he has the talent to get some minutes and show his quality. He is out hero in NBA. All the best Kosta
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