Jazz forward Carlos Boozer has been granted permission to report late to the official start of the 2007-08 season due to family medical needs.  Whether Boozer will be able to join the team at training camp in Boise, Idaho, is still uncertain.  

?My son is recovering from a bone marrow transplant in Miami. Because of his procedure, my return to training camp in Boise, Idaho, is uncertain.  As soon as my son is home from the hospital and stable, I will join my teammates.  Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated by me and my family during this time.  We have been in contact with the Jazz organization, including Mr. Miller, Kevin O?Connor, and Coach Sloan, and all of my teammates, and everyone has been incredibly supportive of my family during these days.  We want everyone to know how grateful we are for that.?

Point guard Shawn Stockton, nephew of NBA legend John Stockton, has made a verbal agreement to play basketball at the University of Montana in the fall.

Shawn Stockton is an all-state basketball and football player at Ferris High in Spokane, Wash. He averaged 12.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.6 steals per game last season as Ferris capped a 29-0 season with the Washington state 4A championship. He is also the starting quarterback on the football team, which is ranked No. 1 in the state.

Andrei Kirilenko has at least one Utah Jazz teammate who isn't upset by his recent trade demands. Jazz center Mehmet Okur, who calls himself "a very good friend" of Kirilenko's, has shown his support for both his disgruntled fellow European star and the Jazz organization.

"I believe that people have to respect (Kirilenko's) opinion that the Utah system no longer is a good fit for him," Okur said on his official Web site, www.memo13.com.

"I think the fact that he has said that he would agree to rework his contract shows his determination. Andrei is a very important player that has been an All-Star. However, sometimes the system might not fit the player and vice versa."

After eight years in Phoenix, Shawn Marion wants to leave the Suns and has let the team know in recent weeks.

"I'm tired of hearing my name in trades," Marion said by phone from his Chicago home Tuesday night. "I love my fans in Phoenix but I think it's time for me to move on."

There are two known trade suitors in the Utah Jazz (for Andrei Kirilenko, if not others) and the Los Angeles Lakers (for Lamar Odom and a teammate), with Marion showing an interest in the latter because of a friendship with Kobe Bryant.

"Regardless of everything that went on with the extension, I'm tired of hearing my name in trade rumors," Marion said. "It's time for me to move on. I felt like they tried to force my hand to Boston with the (Kevin) Garnett stuff."

In June, there was the possibility of a three-way trade sending Garnett to Phoenix, a Boston pick package going to Minnesota and Marion to Boston with a contract extension but the Marion camp killed it.

"I haven't done anything wrong," said Marion, a four-time All-Star. "I leave it on the floor night in and night out. Sometimes, it's just time, and it's time to go. "It's been like a nightmare. It hurts me making this phone call. It's hurting me in my stomach."

CSKA Moscow said it would happily sign Andrei Kirilenko after the Utah Jazz forward revealed in an interview that he wanted to walk away from his $63 million NBA contract to play professionally in Russia.

The president of the CSKA basketball team told Sport Express over the weekend that although Kirilenko's situation with the Jazz was complicated and any move would be subject to the NBA's approval, the door was wide open.

"Of course we would be happy to have a player of his class on our roster," Sergei Kushchenko said.

"But we could fantasize about that all day," he cautioned. "For instance, it would be nice if we could sign Viktor Khryapa, too. And also if the best Russian hockey players were to join our league instead of the NHL."

Overshadowed by the Andrei Kirilenko controversy, C.J. Miles still hasn't officially re-signed with the Jazz. His agent and Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president of basketball operations, were still "grinding it out," as Miles described it Monday.
   
He was back in town for Deron Williams' charity golf tournament and, in the best evidence of his future, doesn't have a plane ticket to leave. Just being able to joke around with teammates was a welcome diversion after a summer of uncertainty.
   
"It was tough on him this summer,'' Williams said. "I know it's been a tough summer, still a tough summer on him because he's not official yet."
   
Miles has had a one-year qualifying offer for $945,610 on the table since the end of June.

According to several Suns sources, Shawn Marion seems to be unhappy that the team will not talk about a contract extension.

Apparently Marion wants $60 million over three years. Marion, already the highest-paid Suns player, will make $16.4 million this season and $17.8 million for 2008-09.

Trade rumors might not bother Marion much anymore, because there are indications that he would welcome a deal.

The two top trade possibilities involve Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, who is even more disgruntled with his team, and Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom and a teammate, possibly forward Brian Cook.

Second-year player Dee Brown will spend next season in Turkey.

Brown decided over the weekend to accept an offer from Turkish club Galatasaray rather than try to make the Utah Jazz roster in training camp, agent Henry Thomas said Monday.

"At this point, he realizes that this is where it is for him," Thomas said.

Utah point guard Deron Williams wants Andrei Kirilenko back with the Jazz next season, but hopes his unhappy teammate brings an improved work ethic with him.

In a Friday afternoon radio interview on 1280 The Zone, Williams told Salt Lake Tribune columnist Gordon Monson and co-host Kevin Graham that Kirilenko can be "a special player for us" if he returns with the right attitude.

Referring to teammates Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur, Williams said, "You see Booz after practice shooting for 25 or 30 minutes. You see Memo shooting for 20 minutes. You see, you know, all the rookies. The young guys. You saw [Rafael Araujo] in there working. [Then] you see Andrei being the first one out the door."

As the Jazz's quarterback, Williams admitted he has looked for other targets with his passes because of Kirilenko's approach to the game last season.

"If he's coming off a screen on one side and Matt [Harpring] is coming off a screen on one side, who do you think you're going to pass to?" Williams said.

"You think you're going to pass to the guy you see working every day in the gym or are you going to pass to the guy who never works on his shot but yet wants to shoot 'em every time?"

Asked if Kirilenko's work ethic was a problem, Williams said, "I would say so."

Because of the threat of possible fines, Andrei Kirilenko is done with interviews after his latest with the Russian Sport Express newspaper.
   
Kirilenko's wife, Masha, e-mailed Thursday to say Kirilenko had talked to his agent and been warned by the NBA that he would face fines if he continued to talk about the Jazz.
   
"According to him players are not supposed to talk openly about things like this unless they wanna be fined," Masha Kirilenko wrote.
   
The Jazz will not fine or suspended Kirilenko based on anything he says. He would face sanctions if he didn't report to training camp by Oct. 1.