One of the Utah Jazz's weaknesses last season was the defense played by their guards.
They tried to address that this summer by trading to get 7-foot-2 center Greg Ostertag back to take up more room inside and give the guards a little backup help.
And today, assuming Toronto unrestricted free-agent guard Milt Palacio passes his doctors' examination this morning, the Jazz will add the veteran defender to the point guard spot to go along with No. 3 overall draft choice Deron Williams and, probably, restricted free agent Keith McLeod.
Palacio was in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, visiting with Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor, and agreed to sign a contract with Utah today, if all goes well with the physical.
Terms were not disclosed.
Utah is still interested in San Antonio restricted free agent guard Devin Brown, who likely became more available Wednesday when the Spurs signed hot free agent Michael Finley. "That's an interesting deal," O'Connor observed.
And it wants to retain McLeod, who has had talks with Toronto, which knew it would likely lose Palacio.
If Utah is able to keep McLeod — he has presented no offer sheets so far — it would likely be more in the market for another shooting guard as the free-agent chase progresses into September.
O'Connor said the Jazz have been talking with Palacio since July 1, when teams were allowed to begin discussions with free agents, and after Palacio visited with some teams and the Jazz visited with a number of prospects, the timing was right for the tying of the knot today. "He was ready to make a decision," O'Connor said. "I think it was time to make the call.
"I think he looked at our situation — the fact that we play a system. He seemed to like our situation, and he also recognized the fan support and that it's fun to play in front of people that care."
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Palacio — who played his college ball at Colorado State for Stew Morrill, gives the Jazz more size at the point than it's had in years.
"He's a big, strong point guard, and that helps him defensively," said O'Connor, who likes it that Palacio is still a relatively young 27 and is coming off his best season.
"He's getting better," O'Connor said, adding the Jazz watched a lot of tape of him with the Raptors and "thought he played well" there.
Palacio averaged career-highs of 5.8 points and 3.5 assists a game and had his second-best career shooting percentage (.446) in 80 outings with the Raptors last season. That tied the most games he's played in a single season. Three seasons ago, he had career-bests of 46 starts and 68 steals in 80 games at Cleveland; he had four starts and 48 steals last season.
Utah will sign Palacio "purely as a point," O'Connor said, though it will be coach Jerry Sloan's decision to make on the court.
Palacio has played for five teams (Vancouver, Boston, Phoenix, Cleveland and Toronto) in his 399 games and six seasons in the NBA, but that does not bother the Jazz because he "is really an outgoing person" who's not been passed around the league as a troublemaker. Palacio's NBA biography says he wants to become an elementary school teacher or principal when his playing days are done.
Palacio's parents are from Belize, but he grew up in Los Angeles with eight siblings.
Because he played collegiately in the Mountain Time zone, visiting Utah, BYU and Utah State, and is from the West, Palacio seems to have a "comfort level" coming to Utah, said O'Connor. "He knows what's here and what's not."
O'Connor thinks former Jazzman Donyell Marshall, who played with Palacio at Toronto, "talked to him about what to expect" here as well. Palacio did not actually come to Utah until Wednesday.
E-mail: lham@desnews.com