In fact, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan even offered up rare praise for Almond after he scored a career-high 12 points and was used late in Tuesday's narrow win at Sacramento, saying, perhaps for the first time, both, "I was proud of the way he played," and "I thought he worked very hard defensively."

Another is that with Boozer out now and starting center Mehmet Okur earlier missing games to be with his ill father in Turkey, 2008 first-round rookie Kosta Koufos has had unexpected time to develop.

The Ohio State product has played 13, 22 and 21 minutes in the Jazz's last three games, respectively — much more, Sloan suggested, than he'd get if everyone were healthy.

Still, Sloan said, "I think he's learned a lot, from where he was."

That's a good and much-needed thing in Sloan's mind, especially considering Koufos is just 19 years old — the NBA's second-youngest player this season behind only Golden State's Anthony Randolph, and the Jazz's third-youngest ever to start a game.

"Young players have so far to go to try to figure out what's going on, especially when teams do different things, and they make you make adjustments, and you try to figure out what you're doing defensively," Sloan said. "Wheels start turning on young guys, and it's a mess."

"He's got a chance to be a good player, but all that stuff comes at you at once," the Jazz coach added. "And he's so young that ... other guys can take advantage of him, other teams do. Those things he hasn't experienced much, and it kind of throws him out of sync — and it throws us out of sync trying to play."

Which gets to perhaps the hugest victim of the Jazz's injury woes: their offense.

Their sets are a mess. Their timing is off. Their mad-scramble play is something small forward C.J. Miles has deemed "hectic."

And none of that is a good thing when your point guard still is hobbling, or at least not nearly as explosive as when he's fully healthy.

"With Deron (Williams), who's not 100 percent, it's putting a lot of pressure him to have to run a pick-and-roll every time with four seconds on the clock," Miles said after Wednesday's loss to the Heat. "I had three times I had to catch the ball with the buzzer going off and (was) shooting long 3s."

Williams doesn't deny that he's still struggling, even after playing five consecutive games in his second comeback from the preseason ankle sprain.

"I'm just confused right now," he said after Wednesday's game. "I'm shooting when I'm supposed to pass and passing when I'm supposed to shoot. I've just got to get my head back mentally."

And the 12-8 Jazz, numbers sure seem to indicate, have to get bodies back.

That's 66, and counting.

Jazz on the air

Raptors (8-9) at Jazz (12-8)

Today, 8:30 p.m.

EnergySolutions Arena

TV: KJZZ/ESPN

Radio: 1320 AM; 98.7 FM

---

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com