MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — At home here, Kris Humphries was "The Man."
Former Minnesota Mr. Basketball and McDonald's All-American out of Hopkins High. Averaged 21.7 points per game in his only season with the University of Minnesota. Last year's Big Ten freshman of the year.
Jumping to the Jazz, however, has been quite a wake-up.
Humphries plays sparingly, even as lottery draft-choice rookie. He scores just as infrequently. The travel is more than he's ever faced before, and the games keep coming.
Yet the 19-year-old wouldn't trade the experience.
"College is great. Nothing's like it," Humphries said Friday before Utah played the Minnesota Timberwolves in his first game at home as a pro. "But the NBA — it's a job, but it's the best job in the world. I love what I do, and I'm excited to be in the NBA at this point in my life."
Humphries returned to tough questions, though, with some wondering if the Gophers — off to a strong start this season — aren't better off playing team ball compared to when one certain freshman star got the majority of touches a season ago.
"You hear that," he said, "but they have a totally different team this year.
"I don't pay attention to that," Humphries added, shaking off the criticism. "I just focus on the fact they're doing well."
Many in a sold-out Target Center crowd of 19,553 even booed Humphries as he waited for his minute-and-a-half, scoreless no-shot appearance at the end of Friday's first half.
Humphries, though, chalked up the chilly Minnesota reception to fans merely bitter over an underclassmen leaving school early.
"It's just a standing thing," he said.
Humphries bought tickets Friday for a dozen or so family members. On Thursday, he hung out with some old friends — and picked up the tab, even though he did not necessarily feel obliged.
"I may choose to buy, but no one makes me," Humphries said with a grin. "You can't expect it."
HUGE SAVINGS: Utah's opponent tonight, New Jersey, claimed veteran center Elden Campbell off waivers from the Jazz on Friday.
That means an unexpected windfall for the Jazz of more than $2 million — because the Nets, not Utah, are now responsible for the remainder of Campbell's contract for this season.
Acquired along with a lottery-protected 2006 first-round draft pick as part of last week's trade that sent Carlos Arroyo to Detroit, Campbell had threatened earlier this week to retire if he was claimed — because he intended to re-sign with the Pistons and wanted to scare a team like the Nets away.
Seeing how that would mean leaving about $2 million on the table, however, retirement seems like a rather unlikely option now.
FRANCIS RESIGNING: Longtime Jazz employee Jay Francis is resigning as senior vice president of sales and marketing for the franchise so he can leave sometime in the next several months for a call from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve for three years as a mission president.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com