Utah Jazz: Center position full of question marks heading into training camp

SALT LAKE CITY — Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap will provide the meat and muscle, no doubt.

How Mehmet Okur, Kyrylo Fesenko and now Francisco Elson will fit into the Jazz's big picture is less clear.

Okur said Monday he has "no idea" if he'll be ready to start Utah's 2010-11 NBA season, and nobody with the organization seemed sure either.

"No time on the table," Okur said. "As soon as I can. I can't wait."

Fesenko also was on hand for Monday's pre-training camp media day, signing the team's one-year, $1.1 million qualifying contract offer to remain in Utah for a fourth season.

He'll become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

"It's where I belong. It's my family," said Fesenko, who added his "pretty smile" will help Jazz fans forgive him for pursuing opportunities elsewhere.

Elson was there too, offering to help however he can. Signed earlier this month as a free agent, he'll provide two needs no one had to tell him the Jazz had.

One is veteran experience, which comes from five teams over seven NBA seasons — Denver, San Antonio (where in 2006-07 he logged 70 games, averaging 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds for the league-champion Spurs), Seattle, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.

The other:

"You can tell on your own that they don't have a lot of length up front," the 7-footer said.

How much Elson plays, though, will depend partly on Okur's health and Fesenko's readiness.

Until usual starting center Okur returns from offseason surgery to repair the Achilles tendon he tore in last postseason, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan suggested Monday, longtime backup power forward Millsap and newly acquired Jefferson are penciled in as Utah's starters down low.

"If I had to start today ... that's probably what I would do," Sloan said.

And until Okur is good to go, he added, usual small forward Andrei Kirilenko may be counted on to contribute at power forward.

"Right now, at this stage, Andrei will have to play some," Sloan said. "If Paul (Millsap) got in foul trouble, with Okur out, and then Jefferson, if he got in foul trouble — I don't know our other people well enough. Fesenko, I have to see where he is.