Pavlovic is ready to play

BOISE — He is still one month shy of turning 20 years old, a mere pup by most professional workplace standards.

Yet Sasha Pavlovic's response suggests he is prepared.

Prepared to contribute. Prepared for the rigors of an 82-game schedule. Prepared to play.

"I'm ready," said Pavlovic, Utah's first-round selection in last June's NBA Draft. "I'm more than ready."

Even if they're hesitant to publicly declare it quite so soon, the Jazz seem to be sensing the same.

Pavlovic had a third straight strong outing Tuesday night, scoring five points with two assists and two steals over 11 minutes in Utah's 81-65 exhibition blowout of the New York Knicks at The Pavilion on the Boise State University campus.

Andrei Kirilenko led the way for the Jazz, scoring 17, including off a brilliant play by Pavlovic: Pavlovic perfectly timed a second-quarter steal near midcourt, then followed with a long bounce pass that Kirilenko converted into a reverse layup.

The notable performance comes on the heels of a couple others.

In the Jazz's preseason-opening win over Dallas in Mexico City, he played 20 minutes, scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field with a couple rebounds, a couple assists and only two turnovers to boot.

Pavlovic followed that with nine points, a couple more assists, three rebounds, three steals and absolutely no turnovers while logging 19 minutes in his Delta Center debut, a Saturday win over Seattle.

Afterward, Jerry Sloan would not go out on quite the same limb as Pavlovic. But the longtime Jazz coach does seem to be barking up the tree.

"No, he's not 'ready,' " said Sloan, Utah's Oct. 29 regular-season opener still light years away in his mind. "I don't know where he is.

"But if a guy knows how to play, and knows what you're doing," the Jazz coach added, "I've never had a problem playing anybody that's young."

As far as Sloan can tell, Pavlovic knows how to play and understands what the Jazz are doing. That is why Utah coaches are exploring various ways to find minutes wherever they can for Pavlovic, a Serbia & Montenegro native who averaged 10.1 points on 60.4 percent shooting in 20 games last season for Buducnost of the Yugoslav League.