But he won't stray if coach Jerry Sloan, whose 15-11 Jazz visit New Jersey tonight, has any say in the matter.

"You don't get players like that very often," Sloan said Tuesday, one day after Millsap posted his 12th straight double-double and scored a career-high 32 points in a 100-91 loss at Boston.

"What is sticking out like a sore thumb, the way he's working? Those guys help you win," Sloan added. "They give you a chance to help you win every day -- if you get enough of them."

Millsap -- who will be a restricted free agent next offseason, meaning Utah has the right to match any offer he might receive in the NBA's summer shopping market -- just happens to be the Jazz's lowest-paid player at $797.581.

It's a reality not at all lost on the 2006 second-round draft choice.

"You can't help but think about it," he said candidly of the money matter. "It's a big thing.

"But," Millsap added, "if I do things right, my time will come."

Which is a reality he tries not to over-ponder, though difficult as that may be.

"You try to keep it in the back of your head, and not think about it," Millsap said. "Because some people think about it, and it can mess your whole game up.

"So I try to keep that as far away from Basketball as I can right now," he added. "It's a long season. Anything can happen."

So far, though, all that has happened for Millsap has been good.

Of the 14 games that All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer has missed due to a strained left quadriceps tendon and bruised knee cap, Millsap has started 13.

And in that baker's-dozen span, he merely has averaged 17.8 points and 11.1 rebounds per game -- well over even the preseason estimate Jazz point guard Deron Williams offered up.

"It's grown a lot," Williams said of Millsap's game during the time Boozer has been out. "He's getting a lot of minutes. That didn't happen early on his career.

"I said this summer, if he was given the minutes, he could be a 15 and 10 guy," William added. "He's proving that."

Boozer beneficiary, then?

You betcha.

"But overall," Millsap said, "the big picture is winning games. However we do that is fine with me. If I have to score, if I don't have to score -- either way."

Boozer, especially, has taken notice of Millsap's fill-in efforts.

"Oh, my God," he said Tuesday. "I mean, he's just playing great the whole time I've been hurt. But he was playing great before I got hurt.

"When you give a guy a chance to play," Boozer added, "it doesn't mean he's gonna show up. But Paul's doing a lot more than showing up."

He's putting up, and Sloan obviously has noticed.

That in mind, the Jazz coach continues working on ways to come up with more minutes for Millsap whenever Boozer actually returns.

He'll continue to play him behind Boozer, but also will use the versatile 6-foot-8 Millsap alongside Boozer as a part of an undersized front line, and perhaps at small forward as well.

"He's working every time to try to go get the ball," said Sloan, who also constantly praises Millsap for his work against opponent bigs -- in Monday's case, former NBA MVP Kevin Garnett, and, recently, Toronto All-Star Chris Bosh. "It doesn't come to him. He goes after it.

"He just goes out and competes, whether he's playing against a guy that's 7-1 or 7-2, or 6-6 or whatever. ... It's interesting to watch a guy who really wants to make himself better.

"It looks to me," the Jazz coach added, "like he's going to demand more playing time."

Yet that also means Millsap -- if he continues to show like he has -- will command more money.

And that, frankly, seems fine by Sloan -- even if it could ultimately cost the Jazz, who potentially will have to decide whether to re-sign Boozer (should he opt out of his current deal), Millsap or, though financially challenging, both.

"I don't have a problem with that, if a guy makes money," he said. "If you do the right thing, you have a chance to do that.

"That," Sloan added, "is the most fun thing in the world with coaching -- to see a guy work that hard, and put himself in a better position."

So, for now, the only numbers to concern either of them are those attached to points, rebounds, double-doubles, minutes and, ultimately, victories.

"All I can do is get out there and play," Millsap said of his future earning potential, be it in Utah or elsewhere, "and that's up to (others) to decide that."

"That will take care of itself," added Sloan, who conceivably stands to lose the most -- a hard-working coach's favorite -- as Millsap produces more and more. "I can't control it anyway. I mean, I can't tell him not to play hard." E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com