Brown's signing delay is not issue, Jazz say

The deal for the Utah Jazz to hold their 2006 fall training camp in Boise is done, but the deal to sign No. 46 overall draft pick Dee Brown is taking more time than expected — though there is apparently no problem with it.

"It's not an issue. We're just trying to catch up with each other," said Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor Friday about the Brown negotiations with agent Henry Thomas.

"Don't read anything into that (the additional time). It's just a matter of getting it done."

He said it now may take until some time next week.

Jazz players will report to the Zions Bank Basketball Center on Monday, Oct. 2, and the team will open its training camp for the 2006-07 season on Oct. 3 at Taco Bell Arena on the campus of Boise State University.

Utah will hold practices Oct. 3-7 in Boise, but they will again be closed to the public and media.

O'Connor said Boise is again the destination for camp because of the facilities available at BSU and because the Boise Stampede is the new Jazz affiliate in the NBA Development League. "Giving both coaching staffs the opportunity to share ideas and see the team practice is a benefit to the Jazz," he said in a news release.

Utah and Seattle will share the NBDL affiliation with Boise and its new coach, Bryan Gates, 33, who was a Stampede assistant and spent last season as an NBDL assistant in Austin, Texas, under Dennis Johnson. He was named Stampede coach on July 28. Boise joined the NBDL this season following nine seasons in the CBA.

NOTES: Former University of Utah forward Britton Johnsen has signed to play this season with Pau-Orthez in the French Pro A league, according to www.Sport365.fr. And Viewmont High/Snow College forward Jackson Vroman has signed with Cran Granaria of Spain, according to that team's Web site, which sees him as completing the Canaries' need for big men.

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