Utah Jazz lineup is coming into focus

With the Jazz's preseason done at 6-2, their best since going 7-1 in 2003, and an 82-game 2009-10 NBA regular season scheduled to get under way Wednesday night at Denver, much is coming into focus.

Deron Williams will lead the way as expected, and perhaps Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap can actually coexist. Defense remains a concern, as does outside shooting, bench depth and a dearth of big bigs.

Beyond that, though, they're hardly the picture of perfection, especially when it comes to the health department — which makes pinpointing a potential regular rotation a fuzzy proposition at best.

With that established, five questions that loomed when training camp opened late last month at least have more answers than not:

1. The starting lineup

With incumbent starting small forward C.J. Miles recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured thumb ligament in his shooting hand and shooting guard Kyle Korver scheduled for arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday, coach Jerry Sloan seems inclined to go with an opening lineup at Williams at the point, returnee Ronnie Brewer at shooting guard (if he can shake the back spasms that kept him out of Friday's preseason-ending win at Sacramento), former starter Andrei Kirilenko off the bench and back at small forward, two-time NBA All-Star Boozer at power forward and Mehmet Okur at center as usual.

That means backup power forward Millsap would come off the bench, though Sloan plans to use him everywhere from small forward to center.

"We've got to keep him on the floor as much as possible," Sloan said of Millsap, who heads into the first season of a new four-year, $32 million contract.

2. Playing time

Williams logged 36.8 minutes per game last season, and there is no reason to think that number won't inch closer to 40 — especially if he plays some at shooting guard.

"We'll probably do that some ... I guess," Sloan said.

Okur's 33.5 minutes per game from last season should hold fairly steady, as should Boozer's 32.3 and Brewer's 32.2. Millsap's 30.1 may rise, as could Kirilenko's 27.3.

"We know when we're at full strength we've got a lot of guys that can play," Boozer said. "And the rest of it, we've just got to be ready. But it's up to Coach (Sloan). Coach will play guys, and if we have to play 40, we'll play 'em. If we have guys that rotate and we play 35, that's what we'll do."

3. The backups