Utah Jazz: Sloan still has high opinion of Collins

He has bursitis in his right elbow, committed three fouls in seven minutes, missed both of his free-throw attempts and missed his only shot from the field in Thursday night's preseason loss to the Phoenix Suns.

But Jarron Collins still has the full backing of Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.

"No, he's not behind. One thing about Jarron — he can play or not play, and he's going to do his thing," Sloan said of the veteran big man, who played similar time in the Jazz's preseason-opening win over the Los Angeles Lakers. "He's going to go out and try to hustle, try to draw charges. Things like that. If he gets the ball in his hands, he's not afraid to pass it ... to somebody and give them a better shot. He'll set screens."

Collins has played 454 games over seven seasons since the Jazz selected him in the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft, including nearly half of them — 203 games — as starts.

His role was greatly reduced, essentially squeezed from the regular rotation, last postseason.

Yet the steady Stanford product remains a favorite of Sloan's.

"Jarron usually knows his assignment. And that's a huge thing if you're going to have a team game," the Jazz coach said.

"People don't look at that. They look at a guy blocking shots and doing all those things, making jump shots," Sloan added. "(But) Jarron's played a lot of basketball for us, and he's helped us in a lot of situations over the years because of his knowledge of what we're doing. You don't have to get on him because of not knowing what he's told to do."

Sloan didn't commit when asked Friday if Collins would retain his backup center role, especially when facing smaller lineups. But he did make it clear he would not hesitate to call on the 29-year-old when needed.

"When you start to run a play," Sloan said, "he's going to run the play. ... There's a lot to be said about that."

INJURY UPDATES: While reserve guard Ronnie Price sat out due to a bruised lower right leg sustained Thursday, All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer made it through all of practice Friday and is on track to make his preseason debut in the Jazz's exhibition game Sunday at Portland.

Boozer missed Utah's first two preseason games with soreness in his strained left hamstring. The Jazz are calling him "probable" for Sunday's game, while Price is listed as "questionable."

Also "questionable" for Sunday is rookie big man Kosta Koufos, who strained his left hamstring in last Tuesday's preseason-opening win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Anaheim, Calif.