Utah Jazz: Rotation still a work in progress

With the Utah Jazz heading into their third game of the 2009-10 season tonight, there's still something they are trying to figure out.

Consider it a work in progress. It needs some tinkering and tweaking.

It's worked at times, not so much at others.

That darn defense, right?

Nah. Try the point-guard rotation.

The good news for Jerry Sloan, as he's pointed out this fall, is that the Jazz coach really only needs to worry about 10 minutes, give or take a few. Deron Williams is going to gobble up the vast majority of the game's 48 minutes as the team's point man.

Barring foul problems or (superstitious types might wanna knock on wood) health issues, versatile veteran Ronnie Price and rookie Eric Maynor are only going to get spare time as the playmaker.

That's held true so far. In the first two games, Williams has averaged 39.5 minutes. For the rest, though, Sloan has varied considerably between the season-opener and the home-opener how the remaining 9.5 minutes were divvied up (a bit more, really, considering Williams has shared the court with both of his backups at times).

One thing is certain for Sloan: He knows Williams can play an awful lot, but he needs an occasional breather.

"As long as we don't go too awfully long with him (on the floor), I think he can play whatever I want to play him," Sloan said. "I know fatigue becomes a factor."

Also factored in are considerations of production drop off, especially when considering the All-Star candidate is averaging 24.5 points and 11 assists after the first week.

"He's a high-profile player," Sloan said of Williams. "He's got a lot of responsibility, and I think he likes that."

Williams defers to Sloan to decide how to divide things up, and to figure out when to play whom and who to play where.

"I'm happy with whatever coach wants me to do," Williams said. "I just play the game, let him worry about playing time and all of that."

The Jazz re-signed Price and drafted Maynor in hopes of getting more consistency than they've had in recent years from their backup points. Both reserves have started two quarters apiece, with each getting the nod at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters. Perhaps indicative of the experimenting process, they've flip-flopped which quarters they started in the first two games — and Price has played more shooting guard than point guard.

Ronnie Brewer even brought the ball up and got the offense going on one occasion.

It's certainly too early to pinpoint a pattern, which over the years has almost been as predictable as the sunrise with the point-guard rotation.

"We've struggled a little bit with it," Sloan said.