Utah Jazz: The players profiled

The starters

DERON WILLIAMS

Point guard

6-3, 207

25 years old

Prior NBA Experience: 4 years. Other NBA Teams: None. From: University of Illinois.

Acquired: First-round draft pick, No. 3 overall in 2005.

Upside: With this season's NBA All-Star Game being held in his boyhood hometown area of Dallas, Williams has ample incentive for a great start to the season. Playing constantly with a chip on his shoulder, though, he's always motivated to win anyway. The 2008 Team USA Olympic gold medal-winner is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 19.4 points and a career-high 10.7 assists in a team-high 36.8 minutes per game. The Jazz's top team leader will be looking to score more this season, and is likely to log a few more minutes per game too.

Down: Williams must oversee keeping the peace in a locker room that has a starting power forward (Carlos Boozer) who is preparing to leave Utah next offseason if not sooner and a backup power forward (Paul Millsap) who is popular among teammates and the Jazz organization. With the Jazz's perimeter already decimated by long-term injuries to C.J. Miles, Kyle Korver and Matt Harpring, Williams may be forced to assume an even larger scoring burden than when he led the team in points per game last season — all while continuing to be the dependable distributor he always has been.

RONNIE BREWER

Shooting guard

6-7, 236

24 years old

Prior NBA Experience: 3 years. Other NBA Teams: None. From: University of Arkansas.

Acquired: First-round draft pick, No. 14 overall in 2006.

Upside: Brewer seemingly found a degree of consistency with his outside jumper during the preseason, and if that continues in the regular season defenses will have no choice but to show him the respect they would not last season and particularly last postseason. NBA retiree Ron Brewer's son has a knack for using his long reach to break up passing lanes, evidenced by his 1.7 steals per game average each of the past two seasons. He has hops, and gets on top of the basket — which is why his 32.2 minutes per game from last season aren't likely to dip.