Jazz center Mehmet Okur is acting as if he'll be returning to the club next season.

Okur is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract, which is scheduled to pay him $9 million.

He just recently started working out after taking some time off to heal a severely strained hamstring.

"My goal is to be in the best shape of my career when the preseason camp starts," Okur wrote on his personal Web site.

"We (the Jazz) had a tough season, an unlucky season with so many different injuries and problems," he added. "However, a couple of years ago we had another season filled with injuries and then we came back to go all the way to the Western (Conference) finals."