New guy stays home when Utah Jazz play Suns

PHOENIX — On the first day of his new deal with the Jazz, Othyus Jeffers didn't even meet coach Jerry Sloan — or any of his Utah teammates.

But Sloan knows the reputation of Jeffers, a 24-year-old swingman who signed a 10-day contract Thursday and remained in Salt Lake City while the Jazz played at Phoenix late Thursday night.

"He acts like he likes to play," Sloan said of Jeffers, a call-up from Iowa of the NBA Development League. "His shooting, I guess, might be a little questionable. But most guys who come into the league, their shooting is questioned."

Jeffers will practice with a few new teammates today, after the club returns home from Phoenix and in advance of Saturday night's home game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Sloan suggested he hopes to play Jeffers, who never previously has been with an NBA team, sometime during his stay with the Jazz.

However long that may be.

"We'd like to," he said, "because if it's just a 10-day contract, you'd certainly like to get him in a game. But you never know."

Utah still hasn't ruled out signing a veteran free agent before the season ends — ex-Jazz big man Mikki Moore, currently recovering from December heel surgery, is one possibility — and if that happens, Jeffers may not be offered a second 10-day deal.

Or, if things go his way, the Chicago native could stay for the rest of the season.

"Still other things might happen down the line," Sloan said. "We just have to wait and see."

Moore won't be ready to play until sometime later this month — "We're hoping in the next couple weeks," his Chicago-based agent, Mark Bartelstein, said Thursday — and when he is, there could be multiple clubs seeking the services of the 12-season, 10-team veteran.

"We'll just see," Bartelstein said. "I think there's gonna be a lot of interest."

Bartelstein said he has had recent contact with Jazz brass regarding Moore, but no substantive talks have taken place.

KORVER INDUCTION: Jazz shooting guard and Creighton University product Kyle Korver didn't return to Utah with the team after Thursday's game, and instead headed to St. Louis, where this morning he will be the lone Class of 2010 player inducted into the Missouri Valley Conference's Hall of Fame.