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."