The NBA's trade deadline passed last Thursday, but the Jazz still are shopping hard for a shooting guard ? and may sign one as soon as midweek.
     
"We're going to play (tonight at Golden State)," Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor said Sunday, "and then we'll take a look."
   
O'Connor suggested the Jazz's preference is to sign a veteran free agent sooner rather than later, and only if they cannot land one they like would they consider signing a younger player from the minors later this season.
     
With usual starting shooting guard Gordan Giricek still out week-to-week with Achilles tendinitis, O'Connor said the Jazz are hoping to find "somebody (who) can get us through until Giri comes back."
     
O'Connor would not name names.
     
But it's believed possibilities for the Jazz include 32-year-old Voshon Lenard, should he soon reach a buyout agreement with Portland and be waived by the Trail Blazers, and 32-year-old Tony Delk, who was waived late last week by Atlanta but reportedly is on Detroit's radar.

The Jazz held off on dealing Carlos Boozer to the Lakers, but look for that deal to be revisited this summer. The Lakers' package included Brian Cook and Chris Mihm, but the Jazz believes it can do better than that.

Once Boozer is a Laker, Lamar Odom is gone, if not before.

If the Jazz pull a blockbuster, Carlos Boozer is the guy who will go, and last season's trade rumors have been revived by the 24-year-old's return to action just in time to showcase his recovery from a four-month-long hamstring injury.
 
The rumors are based on the assumption that the Jazz have grown furious with the most-celebrated free-agent in team history, have tired of paying him more than $11 million a season while he sits out with injuries, and have concluded that his $68 million contract was a mistake.
 
O'Connor denies that any of that is true. Yet he doesn't completely rule out dealing his highest-paid player, either.
 
"He [was] hurt. We know he was hurt, but there's not much you can do if people don't believe you," O'Connor protested. "Would we listen to offers? We'll listen to anything. It would be irresponsible not to. But these [reports] that we're trying to dump Carlos, they are coming from people who don't know Carlos and who don't know us. It's ridiculous, but it's part of the business."

Matt Harpring is an NBA veteran at more than just scoring points and grabbing rebounds. "I've been about to be traded since I got here four years ago," Harpring scoffed at the notion that his name is being circulated. "After awhile, you learn not to listen. I don't even know when [the deadline] is. That sort of stuff is just talk, and you can't let it bother you."
 
Still, Harpring's situation is a little different this season, and not because of his bad right knee; that, he's had before. No, Harpring may be marginally more marketable this season because his four-year, $18 million contract expires in June.
 
That allows a team to acquire Harpring and his current $5 million salary with little risk. He is a decent scorer off the bench, averaging nearly 12 points per game, and could provide depth for a contender - then come off its salary cap at season's end.
 
"If he hadn't missed so many games [because of his knee], he would be really attractive," said a Western Conference personnel director. "As it is, a team might be willing to take a chance on him."

Now that he's healthy again, Carlos Boozer can resume his No. 1 function on the Jazz roster.

Scoring? Rebounding? Actually, the power forward's most-frequent position has been right in the middle of trade rumors, speculation that has surrounded him practically since the moment he tried on his Utah uniform.
 
"I wish that stuff didn't happen. It's been tough on Carlos," Sloan said.
 
The NBA trade deadline looms less than two weeks away, and Sloan understands that Boozer's long-awaited return comes just in time to fuel a whole new round of what-ifs.

"That's not my intention," Sloan said of a trade. "I project him on this team for the long-term. I've been thinking about how we can play with him in the mix. He can help us. He's a big part of this team."

Carlos Boozer played basketball, real basketball, for the first time since October on Wednesday, and though it was only four minutes of a full-court scrimmage with his teammates, it represents the first real step forward in his condition since he first felt pain in his left hamstring. In other words: no tweaks.

"My leg feels really good. It's felt the best to me since I pulled it," Boozer said after a one-hour practice full of conditioning drills and running, playbook refreshers, some halfcourt run-throughs, and finally, his first competition since he strained the hamstring Oct. 8. "To be honest, I wasn't hesitant or worried about it. I warmed up really well, I did things at a little slower pace [in warmups], but once I was out there, I felt great."

His coach, on the other hand, was "scared to death," despite all the bandages and tape and compression shorts around Boozer's legs.

"We've been slapped in the face a few times," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, speaking of Boozer's three setbacks, which have kept him out of uniform for the entire season. "We tried to have a little contact so we could see him run up and down the floor."

It's just one hurdle, but a major one. If his leg still feels OK this morning, he will take part in another practice. If all is still well, Friday morning's shootaround is the next test. And an hour before tipoff in Minneapolis, the Jazz will make a decision: Whether Boozer is ready to take part in an NBA game for the first time in 361 days.

"I think we're all excited about having him back," said veteran center Jarron Collins. "Having seen all he has gone through to get back to this point, you can't help but be happy for him."

His debut will amount to about five minutes, Sloan said, enough to allow him to get a feel for the game while the Jazz go about trying to beat the Timberwolves and cement their second-place standing in the Northwest Division. The coach has already envisioned a temporary second unit of Matt Harpring, Greg Ostertag and Boozer. "That will give us a little different look on the front line," Sloan said. "If we go that way for five minutes, maybe that keeps [Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur] fresh late in the game."

The Jazz beat Chicago on Monday night without rookie backup point guard Deron Williams, who sprained his left ankle during pre-game warmups.
     
It's the first game missed this season due to an ankle sprain for Williams, who said earlier this season that he has a history of weak ankles dating back to his days at the University of Illinois.
     
He also sprained an ankle when the Jazz visited Chicago in November but returned when the Jazz played next.

Carlos Boozer used the word "tweak" again Saturday. Don't panic. This time, it was good news.

The Jazz power forward spent some time running through the offense Saturday, learning what "tweaks" had been made while he has been out. Then, for the first time since injuring his hamstring in October, Boozer suggested a possible date for his return.

"If I have good practices this week, those games on the road [next weekend] might be the games I'm back," Boozer said.

Veteran starter Gordan Giricek and undrafted rookie reserve Andre Owens both will be out indefinitely due to the injuries, the team revealed after Friday's morning shootaround.
     
With those two out and the Jazz playing Sacramento on Friday night, Utah on Friday also recalled rookie shooting guard C.J. Miles from D-League affiliate Albuquerque.
     
An MRI exam performed Thursday on Giricek's lower left leg confirmed Achilles tendinitis. He will continue to keep the tendon immobilized so it can heal. The Croatian has now missed seven games due since early December, including two straight.
     
"The MRI showed a hot spot," Jazz basketball boss Kevin O'Connor said. "So we basically said we're gonna shut him down, put him in a boot and on heavy anti-inflammator drugs, and reevaluate it in about a week."
     
That means Giricek will miss at least three games. Giricek said Friday he could be out 3-to-4 weeks if the reevaluation does not go well.

he Utah Jazz recalled shooting guard C.J. Miles from the NBA Developmental League on Friday and announced that guards Gordan Giricek and Andre Owens are out indefinitely with injuries.

Miles, a second-round draft pick last summer, averaged 12.7 points and 3.5 minutes in 11 games with the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. He had only played in 10 games for the Jazz before the team sent him to Albuquerque to get him more playing time.

Giricek has missed six games with tendinitis in his left Achilles' tendon. Owens has a stress fracture in his left leg.