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By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Carlos Boozer's hamstring is healthy. Matt Harpring didn't require any knee surgery over the summer. And Andrei Kirilenko is still lean but slightly more sturdy as the Utah Jazz enter training camp.
Even coach Jerry Sloan is a little optimistic that the Jazz can return to the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
"This team can do it if they want to put the work into it," Sloan said Monday at the Jazz media day.
The Jazz met with reporters, posed for some team pictures, then were headed to Boise, Idaho, for training camp. Utah has a healthy lineup, which now includes veteran guard Derek Fisher and a group of young players that have already impressed Sloan, who is entering his 19th season coaching the Jazz.
Utah went 41-41 last season, missing out on the playoffs for a third straight year after never quite recovering from a succession of injuries. The Jazz didn't have the talent or experience.
"We can sustain an injury, whereas a year ago we couldn't sustain an injury because we weren't deep enough. We had guys who could go on the roster, but didn't have experience," said Sloan, a widower who remarried last month. "We still have guys that don't have great experience, but I think they have a little more athletic ability in some cases that can hold us in there and keep us competing."
The biggest newcomer is Fisher, the 10-year veteran and three-time NBA champion the Jazz picked up in a trade with Golden State this summer. First-round draft pick Ronnie Brewer is entering his first camp under Sloan, along with second-round picks Dee Brown and Paul Millsap.
So far, Sloan has only seen what the youngsters can do in the summer league and pickup games. But he's liked it so far.
"A lot of guys think we're mistreating them sometimes if we ask them to play hard. These guys already know how to do that, and that hopefully will be an incentive for some of the other people," Sloan said.
Sloan was especially happy to see that Kirilenko, who has struggled to put weight on his lanky 6-foot-9 body, spent the summer eating (mostly) what a nutritionist told him to and worked out vigorously.
He still only weighs about 227 pounds, but is stronger than he was five years ago when he was a rookie.
"He looks better and he looks stronger and he has to do that I think to keep himself going, to be effective when he can do that night in and night out, not just once in a while against certain people," Sloan said. "I think it's a tremendous jump because how many times has he ever worked this hard over the summer to begin with? This is one of the things we've been trying to sell to him -- get your body strong."
Kirilenko said he lifted weights, tried to eat the right foods, worked on his shooting and played pickup games over the summer. He hasn't played in all 82 games since his rookie season because of a long list of injuries.
Nothing is wrong with him this fall, and Kirilenko was a bubbly as ever Monday.
"I will try to stay the same man -- the same personality," he said.
Harpring had a surgery-free summer for the first time in years and at 30 is the second-oldest player on the roster. Only Fisher, 32, is older. Boozer is healthy after finishing strong last season and dismissed the persistent rumors that he hasn't been happy during two limited seasons with the Jazz.
"I'm glad to be back. It's going to be a good year," Boozer said. "We finished the season so strong, and we have a lot of promising things happening right now."
Brigham Young star Rafael Araujo, picked up in a summer trade with Toronto, appeared fit and ready for his first training camp under Sloan.
Sloan was hopeful his players really did spend their time well over the summer, but he was still a little skeptical.
"I've had guys tell me 'I'm in the greatest shape of my life,"' Sloan said, "then we run up and down the floor 10 times and I say 'Who was judging you on that?"'
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-10-02-06 1529MDT
