Jazz have great expectations for new season By Chuck Nunn/South Idaho Press SALT LAKE CITY - As the Utah Jazz report for duty at fall camp to prepare for the 2007-08 season, they do so under the weight of some great expectations. After the team defied the odds and conventional NBA wisdom to reach the Western Conference Finals, the question pundits and fans alike are asking is can they do it again? The answer from most of Utah's players Monday at the Zions Bank Basketball Center was almost unanimous in the affirmative. "It's a high bar, but impossible is nothing," second year forward Paul Millsap said. "People counted us out last year and didn't expect us to get where we were last year, so hopefully with the gains last season we can get to the same spot ─ if not further." Fellow second year player Ronnie Brewer was also brimming with confidence. "Definitely, you've got to set your goals high," Brewer said. "Going into the season, I think the goal for everyone on this team is to win a championship, as well as all of the other teams in the NBA." Of course, one would expect young players to be brimming with that kind of optimism. But optimism can be infectious, as Utah's veterans also seemed to have caught the bug. "We're all excited, so if we do what we did last year, we'll be in the playoffs, and maybe play in the Finals," Utah center Mehmet Okur said. Veteran off-guard Gordan Giricek aalso shared the sentiment that Utah is capable of great things going forward this season. "We know we're a great team," Giricek said. "And that gives us every reason to believe that we can do a great job." Even Utah's newcomers are coming into their new situation with the Jazz with the idea that they're joining a contender. "Who wouldn't want to be not only playing for coach (Jerry) Sloan but playing for this organization?" summer acquisition Ronnie Price asked. "They're a winning organization ─ they have been for years and years and years. It's a great atmosphere, and we're NBA championship contenders. I don't see why players wouldn't want to be in that situation." But not everyone in Utah's camp was prepared to go so far as touting the team as a championship contender. Jazz forward Matt Harpring voiced a more pragmatic opinion. "I don't know. I hate to do the expectation thing," Harpring said. "I just want to come in and have our team healthy. And I know if our team's healthy and we can get through the year, we're going to be just fine." But even Harpring was willing to entertain the possibility of another deep run into the playoffs. "I think we're in the right direction, obviously, because we went to the Western Conference Finals," he said. "We've just got to continue getting better and keep going." Indeed, every player's optimism Monday was tempered with the realization that only hard work and the best effort would culminate in playoff glory. "The bar is set high, and the expectations are set high, so you've got to make the best out of that and just take it game by game, keep on improving with every game every month," Brewer said. "And if we're playing our best basketball come playoff time, I think we have the opportunity to get that far ─ if not win the championship." Utah's veterans also comprehend what it will take to return to the postseason. "We've got to do what we did last year," Okur said. "We've got to work hard every day. We've got to play hard night-in and night-out." And as for newcomer Price, he is well aware of the dues he will have to pay to help make a championship a real possibility for Utah. "I understand that, and I understand that I have to work my butt off to fit in and work my butt off to continue to help this team to stay a championship- caliber team," he said. In the end, it will be the players who determine how far they will go with those efforts, as couched in the country wisdom of Utah's legendary coach. "You don't win a Kentucky Derby with a (donkey)," Sloan said. "So you'd better have some guys who can play, and you'd better have some horses that can run. And that's always the way it's been." Still, even the tenured Jazz mentor allowed himself a little bit of optimism concerning his team. "We think we have some talent. If they play hard every day we think we can win some games. But they have to do that." http://www.southidahopress.com/articles/2007/ 10/02/sports/local/9992jazzsess.txt --

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