MAITLAND, Fla. -- On days like Wednesday, stat lines from summer league games fade even more into obscurity.
But as the Jazz begins to deal with the Carlos Boozer fallout, one ray of hope could come from another solid effort from Kosta Koufos at the 2010 Summer League.
Okay, 19 points and seven rebounds in an 83-74 loss to the Indiana Pacers will probably not make up for Boozer to Chicago. But now with Boozer gone, Utah is going to need everything it can get out of its bigs during the transition time.
Mehmet Okur is still recovering from from surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon and Kyrylo Fesenko is...Kyrylo Fesenko. So now it's time for Koufos to step up, especially with the deadline for picking up the fourth year of his contact coming up in October.
This summer league was the first test for Koufos to show improvement from a 2009-2010 season where he saw just 172 minutes of Jazz time in addition to stint down in Orem with the D-League Flash.
In Tuesday's 78-73 victory over Orlando, Koufos overcame 4-11 shooting from the field to notch a 13-11 double-double. Wednesday saw him hit 7-10 from the field, show some range with a nice perimeter shot and another strong effort on the offensive boards (five).
"He's had a good camp," said Jazz assistant coach Scott Layden, who handled both the head coaching and not talking about Boozer duties Wednesday. "This is what this camp is all about. You get the rookies acclimated and the young veterans a chance to establish themselves more.
"For Kosta, it's about rebounds per minute," Layden said. "If a big guy is getting a rebound every two and a half minutes, he's leading the league."
Koufos was on the floor a team-high 29 minutes for a Utah team that scored just 14 in the first quarter and was down by as many as 24. After three games, he has team with 12 points and 8.3 rebounds.
"I feel a lot stronger and a lot more confident," Koufos said. "For me, it's all about getting better in the system."
NOTES: Wednesday's line on top pick Gordon Hayward: Seven points and two rebounds in 24 minutes. He hit only one of his five attempts from the field, but was 5-5 from the line... Sundiata Gaines' time was limited after a nasty spill left him with four stitches; he still returned to the game in the second half... Could Ronnie Brewer make a return to Utah? GM Kevin O'Connor said there have been talks with the former Jazz guard after Memphis failed to make a qualifying offer earlier this week.
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