With more than $25 million in under-the-cap salary money available to spend, the Jazz will actively compete for NBA free agents in this summer's open market.
They'll also, however, have competition for some of their own free agents.
The Oregonian newspaper reported Tuesday that Jazz restricted free agent shooting guard Gordan Giricek is one player the Portland Trail Blazers "are expected to pursue, among others."
The Blazers are searching for a shooting guard, and the Oregonian identified Giricek, Seattle's Brent Barry, Atlanta's Stephen Jackson and Denver's Jon Barry as being on their list of potential targets.
Giricek does plan to test the market, but he also has made it clear he would like to return to Utah.
"They (the Jazz) will be in front of anybody," he said shortly after the season ended.
The Jazz also have indicated Giricek is in their future plans, though they cannot formally begin efforts to re-sign him until the free-agency negotiating period opens July 1.
Utah, meanwhile, can expect to be in a big battle for one player thought to be quite high on its list of targeted free agents: Detroit restricted free agent Mehmet Okur, the Pistons' 6-foot-11 big man from Turkey.
The Phoenix-area East Valley Tribune reported Tuesday that "a source close to the Pistons' Okur who asked not to be identified confirmed the player's interest in the (Phoenix) Suns."
And even though Okur has struggled to earn significant postseason playing time with the Pistons, he has not ruled out re-signing with Detroit.
"That's what I want first," Okur said earlier this week in The Detroit News. "I'll try to push myself to be a good player on this team and this league for next season and the future. But I want to play."
SASHA'S SUMMER: The Jazz still aren't sure if rookie shooting guard Sasha Pavlovic will play on their Rocky Mountain Revue summer league team.
Pavlovic will play in the July Revue, basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor recently said, only if he does not make his Serbia & Montenegro national team for the 2004 Summer Olympics that will be played this August in Athens, Greece.
HE SAID IT: Jazz owner Larry H. Miller, speaking to KUTV-Ch. 2 about ex-Jazz star Karl Malone's contributions to the Los Angeles Lakers' playoff run: "He's been a real stabilizing force in a sea of insanity, in my opinion. And who would have ever expected that of Karl?"
Miller, by the way, suggested he has been on good terms with Malone ever since the two made amends during the Lakers' last visit of the season to Utah.
ARAJUO IN PORTLAND: BYU big man Rafael Araujo, a possible pick of the Jazz's in the upcoming NBA Draft, will work out today in Portland, the Oregonian reported Tuesday.
UTAH TIES: Former Knicks and Grizzlies scout Jay Hillock, hired earlier this month to be the Chicago Bulls' director of pro personnel, was retired Jazz star John Stockton's coach at Gonzaga University. Hillock's brother, Joe, is the women's coach at Southern Utah University.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com