Report says Palacio is headed to SuperSonics

With training camp beginning Monday when players officially report in Salt Lake City prior to Tuesday's first fall practice in Boise, the Utah Jazz are close to announcing their camp roster.

It could come today — the Jazz will hold a media get-together to announce some changes in the Delta Center for fans and media — but Kevin O'Connor, senior vice president of basketball operations, said it will more likely be Thursday or Friday.

O'Connor is still trying to work out that last spot or two, with possible invitees also weighing other options. The Jazz have 14 players under contract — most already in town — and can have as many as 20 on the camp roster but will likely have a few less by choice because a smaller group is easier to work with. They can carry 15 during the regular season but would prefer 14 to leave room for trade possibilities.

The roster will not include forward Cory Violette, who was with the Jazz in camp last year and played on their 2005 and 2006 Rocky Mountain Revue teams. They had planned to bring Violette in, but — much as they did in August with Utah State's Spencer Nelson, also a 2005 camper and 2005-06 Revue player — they recently advised Violette to accept an offer to play in the Italian A League.

He will wear No. 19 with Bipop Carire in Reggio Emilia, a team also known as Pallacanestro Reggiana. Violette, who is from Boise and played at Gonzaga, played last season in Turkey after not making the Jazz regular-season roster.

Nelson is with Benetton Treviso in the Italian A League and Euroleague.

The 2006-07 Jazz roster will also not include guard Milt Palacio, a journeyman free agent who was a Jazzman last season but whose ties to the club were hurt when it traded for Derek Fisher. Palacio, who played collegiately at Colorado State, spent much of the summer working out in Salt Lake City but is nearing a deal with the Seattle SuperSonics, according to the Seattle Times, citing "a league source."

Nor will the new roster include center Robert Whaley, who showed skills as a rookie last season but had off-court problems even though the Jazz told him when they drafted him in 2005's second round that they would not tolerate a continuance of the legal scrapes he had in college.

"No, and you can print that," O'Connor said about any further interest in Whaley.