He had two teams that went to the NBA Finals with Karl Malone and John Stockton. But coach Jerry Sloan on Thursday declared this season's Jazz "the most-talented team" he's ever had.

Then he added the caveat.

"But talent doesn't win for you," he added. "You've got to have guys that can play. I mean, they've got talent. ... But a lot of teams can't win with talent."

If the 2008-09 Jazz want to maximize their talent, Sloan suggested, they'd be well-advised to start playing better defense than in recent seasons.

"We've got a lot of offensive thinkers on our team, and somebody needs to step to the front from the defensive end of the floor," he said.

Sloan's defense-first comments, coming after the Jazz's morning shootaround preceding Thursday's 96-89 preseason loss to the Phoenix Suns, echo those he's been making since training camp opened late last month.

"We talk about it daily," guard Ronnie Brewer said. "What he's telling y'all, it's no secret."

It's also something the Jazz will be reminded of regularly.

"That's what we want to get out this preseason," forward Carlos Boozer added. "It's that when we start the (regular) season off against Denver at home — our defense is one step further to being a championship-caliber defense."

"Our goal is to win a championship," guard Kyle Korver added. "You watch the teams that have won a championship the past couple years, their defensive philosophy was great. And you kind of set your defensive philosophy in stone in the preseason."

HARPRING PROGRESS MINIMAL: Reserve forward Matt Harpring still is out and struggling with his surgically repaired and subsequently infected right ankle. Harpring on Thursday said that in the past week he's made "a little bit of progress, but it's not leaps and bounds."

"Best case? I have no idea. I really don't," Harpring said. "I hate to be this way, but I don't have any idea when all of a sudden I'm going to turn the corner.

"It's a frustrating thing for me, because if you play this game for the right reasons you want to play," he added. "I have no idea of what I'm going to feel like (in the next two weeks). I just know these last three-and-a-half months have been terrible. I'm just waiting for something to change."

Because of the uncertainty, the Jazz have been making contingency plans for filling Harpring's backup minutes behind Andrei Kirilenko at small forward — including starting swingman C.J. Miles at the position and bringing Kirilenko off the bench.