With Lopez ailing, Jazz worried about the point

PHILADELPHIA — The Jazz's problem at the point — behind starter Carlos Arroyo, to be quite clear — is proving to be more and more troubling by the day.

"There's concern . . . because there's a lack of knowledge," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president for basketball operations, said before Utah's 97-86 preseason loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

What the Jazz do not know is whether or not Arroyo's backup, Raul Lopez, will be available for the start of the season.

Still.

It had seemed Lopez was well down the road to recovery, but now there has been a setback in efforts to strengthen the hamstring and quadricep muscles around his twice surgically reconstructed right knee.

"One day," O'Connor said Tuesday, "Raul plays pretty well. The next day, he seems to be favoring the knee."

The pain, Lopez said, comes not from the knee itself, but rather an area around it.

Jazz trainer Gary Briggs said Lopez will be seen by a specialist early next week, after Utah returns from a preseason-ending road trip that concludes Thursday night in New York.

The outcome of that exam, O'Connor suggested, will go a long way toward to helping the Jazz make several roster-related decisions, including whether or not to sign an available free agent who can back up Arroyo.

"If the doctor shuts (Lopez) down for three weeks," O'Connor said, "what do you do?"

"We've got to address it," the Jazz exec added. "Sooner or later, we have to sit down and say, 'What are we gonna do?' "

There are multiple potential options, including the possibility of bringing back one rather familiar name.

Howard Eisley, anyone?

Eisley — a backup to John Stockton for five years in Utah, including the Jazz's two NBA Finals seasons — is under consideration, should the Phoenix Suns decide to buy out a contract that the Arizona Republic reported Tuesday is worth $13.3 million over the next two years.

Eisley is struggling to win the No. 3 point position in Phoenix behind Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa, prompting him to tell the Republic, "No, I don't," when asked if he feels good about staying in Phoenix.