Andrei Kirilenko will likely return tonight against Indiana at the Delta Center.
     
"Nobody tells me," Kirilenko said Monday, "but it feels like 'Yes.' "

Utah is a different team with Kirilenko in the lineup. A better team. A more positive-thinking team.
     
Teammates suggest as much, and words perhaps are more telling than any statistics ever could be.
     
"He's huge for us," said big man Mehmet Okur, who with Kirilenko sidelined and Carlos Boozer out all season with a strained hamstring has assumed season-long team-high scoring honors over the Jazz's first dozen games of 2005-06. "Everybody has to step up without him. With him, he makes us a good team and makes our job easy."

One hot rumor more than a year ago was that Utah power forward Carlos Boozer was going to the Lakers. Boozer was criticized last season by team owner Larry Miller, who had signed him to a $68 million deal.

He hasn't played this season because of a hamstring injury.

Last week there was a note in the Los Angeles Times that Boozer had purchased a 5,600-square-foot home with 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, a guest house, elevator, racquetball court and tennis court in L.A. for $8.6 million.

Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko expects to return next week from a sprained ankle that has kept him out of the last seven games.

Kirilenko warmed up before Friday night's home game against Golden State and felt he could play, but Jazz trainer Gary Briggs wanted to give the former All-Star's right ankle more time to heal. Utah doesn't play again until Tuesday at home against Indiana.

Kirilenko, who missed half of last season because of injuries, hasn't played since spraining his ankle Nov. 12 in a game at Chicago.

Andrei Kirilenko returned to practice with his teammates Thursday, and he was relatively optimistic that his sprained right ankle is healed enough that he could be activated in time to face the Warriors tonight.

"It feels good, and if I survive through practice, I'll be great," said Kirilenko, who indeed lasted the entire workout on Thursday. "I want to get back soon. I want to get back yesterday."

According to Sports Illustrated's 'Truth And Rumor's section, the St. Paul Pioneer Press is reporting that the Timberwolves may talk trade with the Utah Jazz, with the discussions focusing on Minnesota big man Michael Olowonkandi and either Troy Hudson or Marko Jaric, and disappointing Utah forward Carlos Boozer.

'Don't be surprised if the Timberwolves talk trade with the Jazz, with Michael Olowokandi going to Utah for Carlos Boozer, and with either Troy Hudson or Marko Jaric of the Wolves as part of a deal,' the piece states.

The move, if it ever comes to fruition, would indictate the Jazz are giving up on the oft injured Boozer, whose bloated contract runs through 09/10.  Olowonkandi would come off the books after this season while both Hudson and Jaric are signed to long term deals.

There's no reason for impatient fans to be skeptical about Carlos Boozer's hamstring injury, the Jazz insisted today. Unfortunately, that's because his condition has gotten much worse.
   
The "setback" in his recovery that Boozer experienced Monday was actually a serious aggravation of his original injury, the team's orthopedic surgeon said. Boozer will need another month at a minimum to recover.
   
"Miserable," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's basketball boss. "It's disappointing. . . . All the work he did in June, July and August to get ready is now dissipated."
 
Boozer originally strained his left hamstring on Oct. 6, then "tweaked" the injury while trying to practice on Oct. 31. He worked out with Jazz coaches on Sunday and was hoping to practice with the team Thursday. Instead, while performing a cut-and-shoot drill before Monday's game with New York, "he felt a pull, or what he described as a pop, in his thigh again," said team surgeon Lyle Mason.
   
"This time, it was in a more extensive area." Doctors took an MRI of the leg on Tuesday, and the results were devastating to a team that had hoped to have last season's leading scorer back on the floor soon.
   
"The scan shows a new injury, a more extensive injury," Mason said. "The difference between the most recent MRI and the MRI we took before is profound. There is definite evidence that this is an acute injury. It's in a different area, it's more extensive. There's fluid in the muscle that was not there before."
   
That means Boozer, who has not appeared in a Jazz uniform in more than nine months, since suffering an unrelated foot injury Feb. 14, must start his rehabilitation over. Don't expect to see Boozer, who will earn $11.6 million this season, back before Christmas, at least.
 
"Soft-tissue healing usually takes about four to six weeks," Mason said, "but then you have to take into consideration rehab, conditioning, game readiness, all those things."

Greg Ostertag probably wasn't expecting it, but he received a relatively warm ovation when he was introduced in Arco Arena on Tuesday. Then again, Ostertag said he felt the same way.

"People treated me great here," the Jazz center said of his first game in Sacramento since being traded by the Kings back to Utah in July. "I wish I could have played more, but I never had any complaints about how nice everyone was to me."

That's why the 7-foot-2 center said he didn't want to beat the Kings any more than he wants to win any night. "It's not a personal thing. I don't have a vendetta against anyone. It just didn't work out," Ostertag said of his single season in Sacramento, the worst of his 10-year career. "Guys who feel that way usually think they've been wronged. But I was never treated badly."

Jazz trainer Gary Briggs resorted to complicated medical jargon to describe Carlos Boozer's condition: "It's one step forward," Briggs said, "and two steps back."

Just hours after Boozer spoke with conviction and excitement Monday about progress in his recovery from a lingering hamstring strain, the Jazz forward reinjured his left leg again. So forget about Boozer practicing with the team this week, and stop daydreaming about a dramatic return to the lineup this weekend. It's as if the last couple of weeks never happened.

"It's very similar to the tweak" Boozer suffered on Oct. 31, Briggs said.

Boozer skipped the Jazz's trip to Sacramento in order to have an MRI done on his left hamstring. The test showed what the Jazz already knew, Briggs said: The hamstring still hasn't healed.

"We had some other people look at the test," Briggs said. "I'd say we're back to square one."

According to Sports Illustrated, New Orleans rookie Chris Paul  is at the head of his class, overtaking first overall pick Andrew Bogut at the top of their rookie power rankings.

Can you imagine what the 2-3 Hornets would be like without Paul? Already an excellent ballhandler, Paul is a 3-point shot away from All-Star consideration. He poured in a career high 26 against Mavericks Saturday, writes Sports Illustrated.

Paul, Bogut, Jose Calderon, Deron Williams and Knick center Channing Frye close out the top 5.

Paul is averaging 15.4 points and 4.8 assists thus far this season.

Jerry Stackhouse's right knee is improving, and he could return to practice Wednesday.

But a different sort of healing process was at work Saturday night in Oklahoma City.

Stackhouse took exception last season to what he thought were some cheap shots on the court by Utah's Kirk Snyder. After the game, Stackhouse confronted Snyder in the loading dock at American Airlines Center and they came to blows, with Stackhouse getting the best of Snyder.

Stackhouse paid the price by getting suspended for a game.

But Saturday, Snyder, who plays for New Orleans, told Stackhouse he deserved the lesson.

"He came up to me and said he appreciated it," Stackhouse said. "He said he learned you can't do certain things on the court just to show the coach something. I thought that was big of him."