Miller in hospital due to type 2 diabetes

For years, Larry H. Miller has neglected his health.

"And now he's paying the price for it," Miller's oldest son, Greg Miller, said Monday.

Miller, 64-year-old owner of the NBA's Utah Jazz and one of the state's most influential business magnates, is hospitalized with complications from type 2 diabetes.

A statement released by the team Monday said that "according to his doctors and family, Miller is doing well and is expected to make a full recovery."

A Jazz spokeswoman, however, said Miller himself would neither confirm nor deny that the complications involved a heart attack and/or heart issues. Greg Miller also would not comment when asked specifically about a heart attack, though he did indicate his father had not suffered a stroke.

"He was conversant, he was coherent," Greg Miller said of a Monday visit with his father, who was taken to an undisclosed hospital on June 10 and quietly has remained there since.

"He was very tired," Greg Miller added during a conference call with reporters, "but, aside from that, the thing I was most encouraged by ... (is his primary care physician) said the good news here is we're talking about recovery and not a funeral."

Type 2 diabetes — the disease's most-common form — involves either the body not producing enough insulin, which is necessary for cells to use glucose for energy, or cells ignoring the insulin.

According to the American Diabetes Association's Web site, complications can include heart disease, blindness, nerve damage and kidney damage.

Miller evidently has had diabetes for several years, but kept it secret from even close family members for some time.

"I'm sure he had it for a number of years before he acknowledged it to himself," Greg Miller said.

No timetable for release from the hospital has been set, but franchise officials are optimistic he'll soon return to work in at least some capacity, perhaps even later this week.

"He sounds great," said Jazz communications vice president Linda Luchetti, who spoke to Miller on Monday. "He said, 'I don't want people to think this is bigger than it is, because I'm fine."'

"They're just kind of taking it one day at a time, and seeing how his body adjusts to the different medicines or treatments they're giving him," Greg Miller said.

Greg Miller — 42 years old, and heir apparent to the Miller empire, including control of the Jazz — suggested he actually hopes his father's stay in the hospital is longer rather than shorter.

"I'd really like to just lock him up there," he said jokingly.