Still-healing Harpring expects to sit some

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jazz forward Matt Harpring hopes for the best but is prepared for less.

Harpring, who missed 50 games last season because of a knee injury that required season-ending surgery, has played in each of 5-1 Utah's first six games this season.

There was concern he might not go last Saturday against Detroit, but Harpring did. Whether or not he will miss future games due to knee soreness, however, remains to be seen.

"It's going to flare up and be sore," Harpring said Monday. "That's part of it.

"I've got to be able to rest when I can and play when I should," he added, "and just let the healing course take effect."

At 10 months after micro-fracture surgery to address a cartilage problem beneath the right kneecap, Jazz trainer Gary Briggs said Harpring still is two to four months away from complete healing.

Accordingly, the Jazz are prepared to rest Harpring when needed — in workouts, and perhaps even a game here and there.

"Some days he'll start getting sore," Briggs said, "and we'll have to back him off practice."

When the Jazz play three games in four nights or four in five — as in their current four-game trip, which starts tonight against the Charlotte Bobcats and ends Saturday at Atlanta — Briggs said "we might have to either sit him, or cut his minutes."

Harpring understands.

"The doc said it's going to get better and better," he said. "He told me it's going to take a little while to get everything feeling comfortable again, training your mind to trust that leg. That's why I'm being patient. I know it's going to get better.

"I'm not gonna get down," Harpring added. "It's just something I knew was going to be a struggle."

Meanwhile, Briggs said point guard Carlos Arroyo's availability will be a game-time decision tonight. Arroyo has missed Utah's first six games with a sprained left ankle.

If Arroyo is ready, he starts. Otherwise, Keith McLeod makes start No. 7.

"If there's any question," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan of Arroyo, "we'll take an extra day."

BOBCAT MOVES: The Bobcats on Monday activated big man Jamal Sampson and guard Keith Bogans, replacing them on the injured list with swingman Bernard Robinson (left knee) and forward Tamar Slay (left foot).