Strained hamstring forces Boozer to be a spectator

TORONTO — The Jazz began preseason play Wednesday without their leading scorer from a season ago, Carlos Boozer.

Boozer sat out Utah's exhibition opener at Toronto with a strained left hamstring, and Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said the power forward will not play tonight at Indiana either.

"I think those are things we have to be a little bit more cautious about at this time of the year," Sloan said of the injury. "I don't think we're gonna make or break what he does (in the regular season) by playing him (so early in the preseason)."

Boozer, who initially sustained the strain in the second session of two-a-day workouts Saturday night, declared himself to be "day-to-day."

"It's constricting," said Boozer, who also missed last year's preseason opener — with soreness in his lower back. "It only gets painful when I try to do too much, go too far. But it's fine. It's gotten a lot stronger. It's healed very nice, and we'll just take it day-to-day and see how it goes."

Boozer, who missed the last 31 games of last season with a foot injury, did work out with trainer Gary Briggs on Wednesday. Later, Sloan did not seem overly concerned.

"We'd like to have him back, so where we can kind of see where he is, how he's able to play with our team," the Jazz coach said. "But we know he's going to be a part of it, so there will be space for him."

It remains to be seen if Boozer will play in Utah's third game of the preseason, Monday night vs. Phoenix at the Delta Center.

A FOUL MACHINE: Former BYU big man Rafael Araujo is in a battle with veteran Aaron Williams, who played briefly for the Jazz during the 1993-94 season, and Loren Woods for the starting center's job in Toronto.

Based on his training-camp press clips, Araujo will need to show much more in the preseason than he did during his rookie NBA season if he is to emerge as the winner.

According to the Toronto Sun: Araujo "was a foul machine last season." The Toronto Star: Araujo "was a washout as a rookie, foul-prone, too slow, too unable to grasp the nuances of NBA defense or offense, unable to adapt to a game that was too fast for him. The National Post: Araujo's "rookie season was a mess of bewildered looks and less-than-intelligent fouls."

The Sun again: "Players with two years of duty or less are eligible to be sent to the Raptors' minor-league outpost in Arkansas, so it's up to Araujo to prove he belongs in the NBA.