Utah Jazz: Sloan not ready to declare Boozer, Millsap starter

One, Carlos Boozer, will make about $12.7 million in the season to come, yet spent this past summer talking about welcoming a trade that so far hasn't happened.

The other, Paul Millsap, will remain in Utah and make nearly $12 million before next summer, including a $5.6 million signing bonus on his newly signed four-year, $32 million contract.

But both play the same position, so Jazz coach Jerry Sloan must find ample time for both — Boozer enough to live up to his NBA All-Star billing of seasons past and to enhance his trade value, and Millsap enough to live up to the deal Utah agreed to sensing that sooner or later he'd be the franchise's full-time starting power forward.

How, oh how, can coach juggle the two without one going splat?

Easy, suggests Sloan, whose club opened its 2009 training camp with two practices Saturday.

"I'm not going to play either one of them," he cracked. "That way I won't have that headache."

Fear not, folks.

Before everyone involved goes reaching for the Goody's, Sloan really does have a plan. Or at least a vision. Or, err, hopes for one coming into focus.

"It all depends on what we see and what we look at it," the Jazz coach said.

As it stands, Sloan declines for now to declare either incumbent two-time United States Olympian Boozer or promising backup Millsap as his anticipated starter for the season ahead.

"I don't think you make any decisions right now," he said at the team's media day Friday.

"You know, there's certain things that guys have got to do, and we've got to see how we're gonna play together, who's gonna play.

"I don't think anything's in stone."

Nor is any ink dry.

"We will have to make a spot for (both) those guys if they play like we expect them to," Sloan said. "They may have to play another position. Paul might have to play some 3 (small forward) in order to get the amount of minutes out of him. He has the ability to go out on the floor and cover people. We'll see what happens.

That's something we've talked about. But I don't know how it will work out."

On Saturday, though, Sloan downplayed the notion of Millsap playing much at the position typically filled by Andrei Kirilenko or C.J.