Redick still 'prime consideration' for Jazz

Even a bad back that may — repeat, may — require surgery will not prevent the Jazz from perhaps using their No. 14 overall selection in Wednesday's NBA Draft on Duke University shooting guard J.J. Redick.

Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor declines to comment on Redick's health status. But Utah's basketball boss does say Redick remains in play as a possible pick for the Jazz.

"He's still not only a consideration," O'Connor said Thursday, "but a prime consideration."

Selecting the consensus national player of the year, however, could prove to be a risky proposition for any team picking as high as the Jazz.

Redick performed well, and apparently injury-free, when he auditioned May 30 in Utah. But he canceled workouts last week in Orlando, Minnesota and Boston, citing a sore back. He also supposedly canceled a session scheduled Saturday in Philadelphia, and it remains to be seen if he'll work out again before the draft.

"It's been confirmed by doctors that he hurt his back," Boston Celtics basketball boss Danny Ainge told the Boston Herald last week. "We're just not sure what the extent of the injury is."

DraftExpress.com reported last week that Redick "will be out for an extended period of time with a back problem that may require surgery." An official from the agency representing Redick, the Web site also reported, "denied there are issues that might lead Redick to (undergo) surgery and sit out for four months."

On Wednesday, the Charlotte Observer reported that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski "said Redick has a disc problem" that caused him to cancel last week's workouts.

At issue, then, seems to be whether or not surgery is indeed needed — or if Redick can play through the injury. Moreover, this question lingers: If surgery is performed, will Redick be fully healthy afterward?

Ex-University of Oregon star Luke Jackson, for instance, has had to undergo surgery to repair a herniated disc twice in less than two years after Cleveland drafted him No. 10 overall in 2004.

Two other issues further complicate matters from the Jazz's perspective.

One is that Utah has been burned in the past by gambling on a hot prospect with injury issues (see Curtis Borchardt, 2002). The other: Redick was arrested last week for alleged drunken driving.

WORKOUT BLUES: The Jazz's draft workout Thursday did not amount to much in terms of first-round implications.