Ex-Aggie prepared to play 'Jerry Ball'

Former Utah State all-star forward Spencer Nelson figures if he keeps his confidence up, he can hold his own in the Utah Jazz's summer training camp this week at the Zion's Bank Basketball Center.

"But that's only if I give it my best and work as hard as possible. If I let down at all, then I probably don't stack up against some of these guys," Nelson said Tuesday before a workout.

Like many of the 16 men on Utah's summer roster, Nelson would like to earn an invitation to fall training camp, but he's too humble to think about it publicly. "I'm looking for an invitation to play on this summer team first. A step at a time," said Nelson. "I'm just going to go out in practice and try to get better each day and hopefully play as best as I can on the summer league team and see where that leads us."

Perhaps he needn't fret.

Told Nelson is sweating making it to Friday's opening night of the Rocky Mountain Revue at Salt Lake Community College, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was uncharacteristically outspoken about the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Player of the Year.

"Oh, he is? I think he's going to make it," Sloan said with a smile, "— 'Cause I'll have the last say in that."

Sloan likes the 6-foot-8 former Aggie. "He's played well. He likes to pass the ball. He works. Those kind of guys, they keep you on your toes. I think he'll do well," he said in an enthusiastic endorsement of a guy who really was no threat to be drafted two weeks ago but is a Sloan-style player whose goal is to make others on the court better.

"It's always fun to watch guys play, have fun, compliment somebody — and he seems to be that kind of guy," Sloan observed. "I haven't seen him play a lot, but we all like him."

Nelson is a "high-energy guy," Sloan noted, "a hustle player who just likes to play and isn't one of those one-on-one addicts.

"If you give him the basketball and say go play that way, I don't think he'll impress anybody," Sloan said. "He just plays with other people and complements other people, seems to be excited and tries to get them excited. Somewhere along the line, this game has to be fun . . . Some guys try to approach it that way."