Brown appreciates shot at roster

BOISE — Dee Brown declines to dwell on the details.

Like the fact his NBA contract contains only a pocket-change's worth of guaranteed money. Or the reality that a job with the Jazz is not his to lose, but rather one he still must win.

To him, that's all fine print. The headline is that he has a chance and hopes to make the most of it.

So Brown suggested Tuesday, when the 2006 second-round draft choice from the University of Illinois and the rest of the Jazz opened training camp at Boise State University.

"I don't even do the business part of it," Brown said. "I just stick to the basketball department. Go out there and have fun, and if it was meant to be for me to be on the Utah Jazz (I will)."

Brown is battling for what amounts to one of two roster spots the Jazz have open, and if he's offended that he must fight to earn the big bucks he sure isn't letting on.

"Nothing is given to you," Brown said. "You have to go out there and work. It's equal opportunity for every guy."

The truth, though, is that's simply not true.

Brown's former Illinois backcourt mate, Jazz starting point guard Deron Williams, became an instant millionaire after Utah selected him No. 3 overall in the 2005 NBA Draft.

Williams never had to worry about "making the roster."

Forward Paul Millsap — taken No. 47 overall by the Jazz in the '06 draft, one pick behind Brown — secured a fully guaranteed two-year contract that included a team option for season No. 3.

Millsap came to camp comfortable a roster spot is his for the having.

Even forward Roger Powell Jr. — who played with Brown and Williams in college, but went undrafted coming out of Illinois in 2005 — managed to secure a partial guarantee on a deal that presents a solid shot to stick with the Jazz for at least the start of the season.

Brown, meanwhile, must prove he belongs somewhere, anywhere, in an NBA backcourt — that at an inch or two shy of the 6-feet at which the Jazz list him, he really can play in the league.

That's the mind-set he took to camp, one which follows a summer in which the franchise that drafted him got a close-up look at just what Brown can and cannot do.