Utah Jazz notebook: Williams, ankle both feel stronger

During the offseason, Deron Williams took a couple of months off to rest his ankle, went golfing, played dodgeball, rode his bicycle, roamed the outfield on a softball team and did some traveling.

Shot a few hoops, too.

Williams also followed basketball-player-turned-bodybuilder Andrei Kirilenko's example by mixing in some serious weightlifting with all of his recreational and R&R activities.

The 6-foot-3 Williams credits pumping iron for helping him increase his weight by five pounds — from 207 to 212 — while keeping his body-fat rate at an uber-low 4 percent.

Williams says he "actually lifted heavier" this summer than he's done since his college days at Illinois.

"I feel a lot stronger," he said. "Hopefully, that will help me throughout the season. Hopefully, I can maintain that."

Williams also focused on increasing the strength of his ankle. It bothered him all last season and forced him to miss the first part of the year after he severely sprained it in preseason. After a two-month rest period following the Jazz's first-round playoff exit, Williams did strength and balance exercises to fortify his weakened ankle.

Williams wouldn't declare his ankle to be 100 percent, but it's close enough that he feels confident about it going into the season.

"I don't know if it's ever going to feel the same as it did," he said. "You know, there's going to be little aches here and there. But it feels good. There's no restrictions on it as far as I'm concerned."

PRACTICE IN SESSION: Relieved to have Friday's media-day madhouse and accompanying interrogations about Carlos Boozer's offseason remarks behind them, the Jazz began fall camp with morning and evening practices Saturday.

Which explains why Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was smiling like a giddy boy on the first day of school.

"It's always good to get everybody back in," he said after the morning practice at the Zions Bank Basketball Center.

NBA rules prohibit teams from having full-contact in both sessions during two-a-days, so Saturday's first workout consisted mostly of running and drills. Only having the players actually scrimmage at night suited Sloan fine.