Utah Jazz: Small forward starting spot up for grabs

He started at small forward for all 72 regular-season games in which he played last season.

But with the index finger on his left, shooting hand dislocated in early April and still not healed when NBA postseason play for the Jazz got under way later that same month, C.J. Miles mostly sat.

Backup shooting guard Kyle Korver opened in his place for the first two games of Utah's first-round playoff series with the eventual league-champion Los Angeles Lakers, and things didn't go so well.

The Jazz lost both, quickly falling behind in a best-of-seven series the Lakers wound up taking 4-1.

Fellow forward Andrei Kirilenko — who spent most of his eighth season in Utah as a backup, if for no other reason than coach Jerry Sloan wanted experience and a spark coming off his thin bench — started the final three.

So what will Sloan do in that regard this season, especially in light of the fact that the Jazz's bench is largely unchanged?

Return the job to Miles, whose 22.5 minutes per game in 2008-09 actually were nearly five fewer than backup Kirilenko averaged? Give sharpshooter Korver a longer look as a starter? Or stick with one-time NBA All-Star Kirilenko, essentially a full-time starter for five years prior to last season?

Before all three coincidentally wound up getting hurt in training camp on Sunday morning, those very questions — and perhaps others not yet made public — were being bandied about by Jazz brass.

The injuries — a strained left quadriceps muscle for Kirilenko, a strained left hip flexor for Miles and an inflamed left knee for Korver, according to a team spokesman — kept the trio from taking part in Sunday night's second session of two-a-days.

Korver's case may be the most serious of the bunch, as on Sunday he underwent an MRI exam, results of which were not immediately made known.

Miles, according to a tweet on his personal Twitter account, also hurt his groin.

It's uncertain if any or all will take part in camp sessions scheduled for this morning and tonight.

Before the injuries were sustained, Sloan had not yet made up his mind regarding any of the possibilities.

"We talked about that a little bit," the Jazz coach said over the weekend, "but I couldn't say today."

Whatever the case turns out to be, Miles is prepared to accept the decision.