Boozer's camp would prefer to go somewhere where he could be cheerful long-term, and to a team willing to offer him a lucrative multiyear contract extension.

"I'd definitely be open to signing an extension and being locked into a team — obviously, one, that wanted me to be there in the future and, two, that I thought we would have a chance to succeed," he told WMVP, the Bulls' flagship station. "That would be something me and my agent would explore right away."

No matter what they might have told him, however, the Jazz are under no obligation whatsoever to do what's best for Boozer.

Their primary interest is what's best for them, and what that is — on both the Boozer trade and Millsap match fronts — could be decided during a meeting among Jazz front-office and ownership personnel that is thought to be scheduled for either today or Thursday.

That could entail sending Boozer either to a contending team that truly wants him long-term, or perhaps to a bottom-of-the-pack club that merely wants to borrow his expiring contract for a year so it can gain team payroll salary cap space for the NBA's 2010 summer free-agency shopping market.

After all, the Jazz do control his rights — and, because he opted in, he no longer has a say in the matter.

As for the Bulls, a three-team deal that would have sent Boozer to Chicago, brought forward Tyrus Thomas to Utah and moved guard Kirk Hinrich from Chicago to Portland broke down late last week.

But the Bulls, who remain interested in moving Hinrich, and Jazz continue to talk.

"Great organization, top-notch from top to bottom," Boozer, speaking to WMVP, said of the Bulls. "They do things very professionally there.

"At the same time, they have a very good group of talent there.

"If I was able to come there," he added, "I'd add a lot, especially in the low post and being a leader as well."

e-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com