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SALT LAKE CITY -- Jazz sharpshooter Kyle Korver has decided to "opt-in" and stay with the Jazz rather than test out the free-agent market.
"Well there was a lot of reasons," Korver said. "I like it here, first of all; that's the biggest one. I like playing for these fans and for this team and for this coach."
He continued, "Everyone's been great to me since day one, and there was no reason to leave. I think as a possible free agent, you're supposed to see what else is out there. I was listening to my agent, but I wanted to tell the Jazz a month ago that I wanted to stay for the last year. But you know, you're agent wants you to wait 'till the last minute so you listen to him."
Korver added, "I'm looking forward to having a good year. I had surgery on my wrist about seven weeks ago now. It feels a lot better, a lot stronger and I plan on having an even better year next year."
Korver's agent said teams expressed interest in signing him to a contract this summer. "Yeah, I think the markets not great for anyone right now. There's just not a whole lot of teams looking to spend any money, but you know, I definitely, probably, could have gotten a contract for sure. But if it wouldn't have been here -- and maybe it would have been here -- but like I said, I don't want to leave. I like playing here. So, maybe next summer we'll think about that."
When asked about the recent decision by both Carlos Boozer and Memo Okur to opt in on the final year of their contracts, Korver said, "I know they both wanted to be here. I know they both like playing here. I think from everything you heard, you thought that might be different, but we're glad to have them back. Obviously, the Jazz have some decisions to make just because of where we're at with the salary cap. We have a lot of faith in Kevin. He's got a plan and we'll see what that plan is."
Korver also believes the Jazz are championship contenders. "I think so. I mean, I think if you look at last year, all the excitement we had, it's basically the same team. We had a lot of people go down last year and couldn't find the rhythm that we wanted, and never had even a few weeks when we all were playing together. So if we can start off the season healthy, and hopefully have a healthy year, I think we can be right there. I understand, from a fan's prospective, why you might think not, just because of what you saw last year. But you know, just go back a year in your mind and think about the thought you had then, all those happy thoughts, and you know we'll be all right."
E-mail: rzundel@ksl.com
