Harpring not yet set for opener

Three days before the Jazz's 2007-08 NBA regular-season opener, which comes Tuesday night at Golden State, veteran forward Matt Harpring still was not ready to declare himself good to go.

"I'm gonna play when I'm ready to play, because otherwise — if I'm not ready to play — I'm hurting the team, and I don't want to do that," Harpring, who missed all seven of the Jazz's preseason games due to his surgically repaired right knee, said prior to practice Saturday.

"I'm still not there," added Harpring, the Jazz's usual backup small forward and a 14.2 points-per-game scorer during his five seasons in Utah. "Some of it's timing, some of it's rest, some of it's 'I've got to get through.' But the other part of that is, still, there are some times when I move that I'm not there yet — and I know that. So, I've got to get — maybe not 100 percent, but — enough to where I can do it without anyone noticing."

Harpring underwent surgery in August to address excess scarring within the knee, which twice previously was repaired via microfracture surgery — once early in 2004, and again during the 2005 offseason.

The increasingly popular arthroscopic technique stimulates cartilage regeneration by using an awl to make tiny holes in the bone near the lesion in the joint. That allows bone marrow to seep through the multiple fractures, creating a blood clot that releases cartilage-building cells and helps to decrease bone-on-bone contact.

His operations were performed by Vail, Colo.-based Dr. Richard Steadman, a world-renowned knee specialist who personally developed the microfracture procedure in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Several NBA players have undergone such surgery, performed by Steadman and others, with varying degrees of result.

Chris Webber had it and never returned to prior form. Allan Houston, who earlier this month cut short a comeback bid with the New York Knicks, had it. But Jason Kidd had it, and he's still going strong. Others in the club include Jamal Mashburn, Zach Randolph, Amare Stoudemire, Eduardo Najera, Antonio McDyess, Sean May and, just a few weeks ago, 2007 No. 1 overall draft choice Greg Oden of the Portland Trail Blazers.

"I look at those guys, and I know they feel the pain," said Harpring, who has three years remaining on his current contract with the Jazz — a deal, potentially worth another $18.5 million, that in part is tied to how many games he plays. "There is no way you can have a microfracture surgery and be pain-free. ... That's why you see a lot of guys that, I think, just can't do it.