"Not only will playing for Utah provide great financial stability, but it will provide the opportunity for me to develop my game and become an All-Star," Boozer added. "Plus, I'll have the opportunity to play where my basketball idol, Karl Malone, played."

Boozer, 22 and a two-year pro out of Duke University, said he is "not saying I want to be the man." But he did tell the Cleveland newspaper "I feel mature enough, educated about the game enough and good enough to take on more responsibility."

That must be sweet music to the ears of O'Connor, who set out to get Okur — and was more than happy when Boozer also fell into his lap.

"We targeted Mehmet Okur as somebody that we really wanted. . . . We knew that we were in a position to go after him. He was a priority," O'Connor said of the 25-year-old Turk. "We stressed that to his agent, we stressed that to him. And I don't think we wavered from that."

Nor did the Jazz waver when they saw a surprise path to Boozer, who will play for USA Basketball in next month's Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

"I don't want to get too far ahead of this, because we haven't signed him yet," O'Connor said. "But I think the fact we have an offer sheet on a kid that people thought was good enough to play in the Olympics is a plus for us. We didn't expect it."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com