--What the Jazz are considering doing in using Andrei Kirilenko as a sixth man in Matt Harpring's absence is close to unprecedented. No team other than the Knicks with Stephon Marbury ($20.8 million) would be paying a player more to come off the bench than the Jazz and Kirilenko. Steve Francis is the NBA's only other highest-paid reserve after being bought out in Portland and signing with Houston. Kirilenko is the Jazz's highest-paid player at $15.1 million this season. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has promised that Kirilenko will play as much as he would as a starter and will be in the lineup to finish games in the fourth quarter.
--The Jazz no longer will be the only team in the NBA to keep the lights on during player introductions. They installed a new lighting and sound system at EnergySolutions Arena and will debut their new introductions on opening night. It was welcome news to the Jazz players, particularly Deron Williams. "I've been trying to get that since we got here," Williams said. "When you're growing up, you always envision NBA games, going and turning the lights off and having intros. It was kind of weird when I came here and I'm like, 'What's wrong with the lights?'"
--Jazz owner Larry Miller made it to the team's preseason home opener, which came less than two months after he was released from the hospital this summer. Miller suffered a heart attack and battled kidney failure, gastrointestinal bleeding and diabetic complications during his 59-day stay in the hospital. He was still using a wheelchair at the game, but did pay his customary visits to the Jazz locker room before the game and at halftime.
MAIN REASON JAZZ CAN WIN: The Jazz went 37-4 at home last season and proved to be almost impossible to beat at EnergySolutions Arena. If they can bring a more consistent effort on the road, where they were 17-24, the Jazz could claim the Western Conference's No. 1 playoff seed and home-court advantage. They dropped three close games to the Lakers in Los Angeles in last season's conference semifinals, underscoring the importance to the Jazz of home-court advantage.
MAIN REASON JAZZ CAN LOSE: The Jazz failed to make a move this summer and could only watch as Houston added Ron Artest and New Orleans signed James Posey. Both Western Conference rivals got better in the off-season, as will the Lakers with Andrew Bynum's return from a knee injury. If the Jazz are to take the next step in reaching the NBA Finals, their growth is going to have to come from within.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Andrei's always been a guy when he steps on the floor, he's alive. It doesn't take him long to warm up. And I'd rather have somebody like that than somebody that takes five possessions to get involved in the game." -- Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, explaining the decision to bring F Andrei Kirilenko off the bench with Matt Harpring out.
