Utah Jazz: Millsap earning Sloan's praises

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — He just keeps going, and going, and going.

He's going so much, Paul Millsap might even price himself into going far, far away from Utah when the NBA's free-agency signing period opens next summer.

But he won't stray if coach Jerry Sloan, whose 15-11 Jazz visit New Jersey tonight, has any say in the matter.

"You don't get players like that very often," Sloan said Tuesday, one day after Millsap posted his 12th straight double-double and scored a career-high 32 points in a 100-91 loss at Boston.

"What is sticking out like a sore thumb, the way he's working? Those guys help you win," Sloan added. "They give you a chance to help you win every day — if you get enough of them."

Millsap — who will be a restricted free agent next offseason, meaning Utah has the right to match any offer he might receive in the NBA's summer shopping market — just happens to be the Jazz's lowest-paid player at $797.581.

It's a reality not at all lost on the 2006 second-round draft choice.

"You can't help but think about it," he said candidly of the money matter. "It's a big thing.

"But," Millsap added, "if I do things right, my time will come."

Which is a reality he tries not to over-ponder, though difficult as that may be.

"You try to keep it in the back of your head, and not think about it," Millsap said. "Because some people think about it, and it can mess your whole game up.

"So I try to keep that as far away from basketball as I can right now," he added. "It's a long season. Anything can happen."

So far, though, all that has happened for Millsap has been good.

Of the 14 games that All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer has missed due to a strained left quadriceps tendon and bruised knee cap, Millsap has started 13.

And in that baker's-dozen span, he merely has averaged 17.8 points and 11.1 rebounds per game — well over even the preseason estimate Jazz point guard Deron Williams offered up.

"It's grown a lot," Williams said of Millsap's game during the time Boozer has been out. "He's getting a lot of minutes. That didn't happen early on his career.

"I said this summer, if he was given the minutes, he could be a 15 and 10 guy," William added. "He's proving that."

Boozer beneficiary, then?

You betcha.

"But overall," Millsap said, "the big picture is winning games. However we do that is fine with me. If I have to score, if I don't have to score — either way."

Boozer, especially, has taken notice of Millsap's fill-in efforts.

"Oh, my God," he said Tuesday. "I mean, he's just playing great the whole time I've been hurt. But he was playing great before I got hurt.