Would he rather be here, scoring 29 points in 30 minutes, plying his craft on the Basketball court in chilly Utah, or would he rather be in balmy, distraction-filled Miami, waiting not to play in Saturday's Jazz-Heat game?

"You mean here instead of being on vacation in Miami?" Almond said. "... Definitely here."

While Almond's perspective probably seems strange to Joe the Plumber, it's understandable for a young player whose professional future is uncertain, even though he was the Jazz's first-round pick only 21 months ago.

"Last year, I might have said differently," Almond continued. "But in my second year, I'd rather be playing than not playing. Not playing, that gets old. And here, it feels good to be part of the team again -- to compete, to contribute, to show what I can do."

For Almond, the final month of the season has become a critically important audition, which is probably why he prefers playing in the D-League over sitting with the Jazz.

With the improvement of Ronnie Brewer, the acquisition of Kyle Korver, the decision to keep C.J. Miles and the continued presence of veterans Andrei Kirilenko and Matt Harpring, Almond became the odd man out in the battle for playing time with the Jazz. If he has a future in the NBA, it's not with Utah, which earlier in the year could have picked up an option on his contract for beyond this season but didn't.

"Any time you step on the floor, whether you are under contract or not, it's an audition," Almond said. "You never know who is watching. There are a lot of teams out there. So I just try to have fun, improve and everything else will take care of itself."

If other NBA teams are interested in him, Almond's agents have not told him.

"My job is to go out and play," Almond said. "The agents told me they will take care of the business end of it and I need to just play. ... Everything will work out. That's the mind-set I go out with. I don't worry about it. I just try to have fun."

Almond looked like he had a good time in the Flash's win over Bakersfield.

Going head-to-head for long stretches against the Jam's Trey Johnson, who has been called up twice this season by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Almond scored at almost a point-per-minute pace.

As for the rest of the season, Almond plans to just play it out -- whether he's helping the Flash as they try to secure their first-ever playoff berth or returning to the Jazz for part-time duty.

"That's the thing, you never know," he said. "The Jazz might have a sprained ankle and I fly out tomorrow to meet them. You just never know, so you just want to be ready. ...

"When I wasn't playing [with the Jazz], I made sure I stayed in shape. I kept working hard. So I'm going to do here what I did up there -- stay in shape, work hard and be ready to compete at all times."

luhm@sltrib.com