Jazz player profiles

CARLOS BOOZER (5)

Power forward

HEIGHT: 6-foot-9. WEIGHT: 258 pounds. AGE: 23. COLLEGE: Duke. PREVIOUS NBA SEASONS: Three. OTHER NBA TEAM: Cleveland. HOW ACQUIRED: Signed as a free agent, 2004.

UPSIDE: After Boozer pulled a Houdini routine to escape from Cleveland in 2004, the Jazz offered him $68 million over six years in exchange for plenty of points and lots of rebounds. When he actually played last season — Utah's first 51 games, all of them starts — Boozer delivered on both counts. His career-high 17.8 points per game were a team-high, and his 52.1 percent shooting from the field was 10th-best in the NBA. He also averaged 9.0 rebounds per game, a team-high as well, and he posted double-doubles in 41 of his 51 appearances.

DOWN: Though the two later publicly claimed to have made amends, Boozer was blasted last February by Jazz owner Larry H. Miller for his effort — especially defensively. Trade rumors ensued. A strained right foot cropped up on the heels of Miller's tirade, prompting Boozer to sit for all of the Jazz's final 31 games. He had a strong summer conditioning-wise, but a strained left hamstring caused Boozer to sit for much of training camp and the preseason — prompting question marks over what is to come in the season ahead.

DEVIN BROWN (23)

Shooting guard

HEIGHT: 6-5. WEIGHT: 220. AGE: 26. COLLEGE: Texas-San Antonio. PREVIOUS NBA SEASONS: Three. OTHER NBA TEAMS: San Antonio, Denver. HOW ACQUIRED: Signed as a free agent, 2005.

UPSIDE: Brown is said to be an even-better defender than the man he was signed to essentially replace, Raja Bell. He can score in bunches on occasion, having posted 20 points or more six times last season. The San Antonio-raised Ogden native is a career 42.2 percent shooter from the field, and his high-energy play should keep coach Jerry Sloan off his back. Brown also has NBA Finals experience, playing in six title-series games and winning a ring with San Antonio in a reserve-role effort a season ago.

DOWN: The undrafted Brown doesn't have quite the offensive game as Bell, and his career 3-point shooting percentage — 36.0 on 49-of-136 — pales a bit compared to his predecessor's 40.3 percent in 2004-05. His scoring average has steadily increased in each of his three seasons, but has never risen into double-digits. He isn't accustomed to starting, coming off the bench in all 125 of his games the past two years. And after a bad back kept Brown out of 14 games last season, he has never played more than 67 in a full season.