Utah Jazz: Players' intros to get louder, darker

ANAHEIM, Calif. — They're playing tonight's exhibition at Anaheim, so the Jazz won't witness the full-blown, over-the-top introduction session to which the Los Angeles Lakers have grown so accustomed to at the Staples Center.

And that is one that sure can grate on the nerves of certain opponents anxious to start playing.

Soon, though, Jazz opponents will have their own do-it-up-right intros to endure.

A new lighting and sound system will be installed at EnergySolutions Arena for the upcoming 2008-09 NBA season, and Jazz point guard Deron Williams — for one — is thrilled by its arrival.

"I've been trying to get that since we got here," Williams said of lighting that will allow for the darkening of most of the arena during pre-game player introductions.

"You know, when you're growing up, you always envision NBA games — going and turning the lights off, and having intros," he said. "It was kind of weird when I came here and I'm like, 'Well, what's wrong with the lights?"'

The new atmosphere, Williams said, should help to make the Jazz feel like they're playing "a real game."

Credit the franchise's emergence from cave-day production on game night to team president Randy Rigby, who also has been lobbied by Williams for a new scoreboard at the old Delta Center.

"He's already made a lot of changes, a lot of improvements, since he's been here," Williams said, "and I think he's going to continue to do that."

HARPRING UPDATE: Matt Harpring made Monday's trip to California with the Jazz, as expected, but there are no plans for him play in tonight's exhibition opener against Lakers.

Harpring had a hard pre-practice workout Monday morning with assistant coaches Scott Layden and Tyrone Corvin, but the veteran backup small forward didn't work out with the team and isn't anywhere near ready to return from offseason ankle surgery and subsequent infection in the joint.

LAKERLAND: The Lakers have been experimenting during their training camp with using star Kobe Bryant at small forward, ex-Jazz guard and usual Laker point Derek Fisher at Bryant's shooting guard spot and veteran forward Lamar Odom at the point, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It's uncertain, though, if either Bryant or Lakers big man Pau Gasol — both of whom played not only in the NBA Finals, but also at the Summer Olympics in China — will take part in tonight's exhibition.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson reportedly has said Bryant will play in all of L.A.'s preseason games despite Bryant's busy schedule that included a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics.