SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Utah Jazz entered this season as one of the favorites to win the NBA title.
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It's a process to go from "controlled court work," as the Jazz are calling it, to being a full participant in practice and playing in a game. Though that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be playing soon after the evaluation. The next benchmark may come soon enough: Gay will be re-evaluated on Nov. He's hit every benchmark that he's needed." "When we got our schedule, this is what it looked like. "This isn't ahead of schedule, behind schedule, this is exactly where we thought it would come to," Zanik said. Gay progressed to playing three on three Tuesday, and is inching closer to full-court activity. That timeline is starting to get more and more into focus. They were aware of the procedure he had undergone just after the season concluded and were fine with the recovery timeline. When the Jazz signed Gay in August, they knew they'd have to wait. That could provide the Jazz with enough sessions to get a feel for how close Gay is to a return. Starting with Tuesday's win over Atlanta, the Jazz will play nine of its next 11 games at home. There's not a lot of space to set training runs for Gay that all changes now. Sunday: Play Magic fly back to Salt Lake City.Saturday: Game against Heat fly to Orlando.Friday: Rest day with some players getting in shots.Thursday: Game against the Hawks fly to Miami.Just take a look at last week's schedule: While there hasn't been a setback, per se, the travel has made it hard for him to get some time on the court.
Gay is recovering from an offseason surgery to his right heel that has kept him on the sideline during his first season in Utah. "Now that we're home for 10 days, I think it's a great period where even if we're not having practice, we're having an environment where we can set stuff up for two on two, three on three, four on four, and then have him integrated fully into practice," Jazz general manager Justin Zanik said Tuesday. But there's the not so obvious, too: It could help get Rudy Gay on the court. There's the obvious benefits of no travel, more practice time and extra recovery sessions. Thursday's contest against Indiana will mark the first time the Jazz will play back-to-back home games as the team continues on a five-game homestand. After starting the season with a whirlwind travel schedule of 10 games in 10 different cities, the team finally gets some extended time at home. SALT LAKE CITY - The next couple weeks will be important for the Utah Jazz.