Utah Jazz: Harpring makes season debut

WASHINGTON — Veteran forward Matt Harpring made his season debut Wednesday night, logging five minutes and scoring two points in the Jazz's loss to the Washington Wizards here.

Harpring has been sidelined since the summer due to rehab on his surgically repaired and subsequently infected ankle, including complications so severe that — he admitted Wednesday — he wondered if his career was in jeopardy.

"It felt pretty good," Harpring said. "It was just good to get out on the court finally. It's been a long summer, long rehab process, so, honestly, I was just happy I was out there.

"Three months ago," he added, "I never thought I'd step on the court again. I was pretty down. So, it's just good to be able to get back."

The Jazz will continue to limit and monitor Harpring's minutes as the season progresses.

"I'm planning on getting better and better," he said. "It's just that I'm at the point where I feel like I can get out there, and hopefully through January it will get better."

OKUR UPDATE: The Jazz again were without usual starting center Mehmet Okur, who left the team's Philadelphia hotel and was taken by car to New York on Monday so he could catch a flight to his native Turkey and be with his ailing father Abdullah.

According his personal Web site, www.memo13.com, Okur "arrived at (an Istanbul) hospital and immediately was given approval to visit his father Abdullah in intensive care.

"During his first visit ... his father did not gain consciousness and Memo was not able to communicate at all."

Abdullah Okur has had two cancer-related operations in the last five years, one to remove part of his lung and another about seven months later to remove a brain tumor. He also experienced an epileptic attack, attributed to air-pressure changes, on a return flight from Salt Lake City two years ago.

Abdullah Okur subsequently has had similar attacks, the most recent of which — according to the Web site — occurred about two weeks ago and was the most severe to date.

He has endured lengthy bouts of unconsciousness since, and according to the Web site has been diagnosed with "aspiration pneumonia secondary to dysphagia."