Jazz Notes:

The Utah Jazz and NBA by Ross Siler and Steve Luhm

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Wednesday notes

Back in November, I visited the Peak Performance Project in Santa Barbara, Calif., for a story. The center's director, Dr. Marcus Elliott, has been working with Jazz players the past two summers and is very much a man in demand in NBA circles.

Ronnie Brewer and Paul Millsap have been two of P3's success stories, with Elliott working with Brewer to translate his leaping ability and natural athleticism into horizontal force, which can make him a more explosive player and improved defender.

Kyle Korver and Kosta Koufos also spent time in Santa Barbara last summer, with Korver saying it was the first time in his basketball life that he'd trained smarter, rather than just training harder. In fact, there's not even a traditional bench press to be found at P3.

Trading e-mails with Elliott this week, he's set to welcome another group of Jazz players next week, including Andrei Kirilenko. It'll be Kirilenko's first trip to P3 and Elliott wrote that he considered it a "big win" that Kirilenko was interested in taking part.

If you remember, the Jazz made a big issue about Kirilenko dropping weight during the season, even though Kirilenko insisted he had not. Elliott wrote: "I look forward to seeing how he is put together and what we can do for him."

It certainly appears as if Kirilenko is making an increased commitment to the Jazz's off-season program and suggests that Kirilenko will be back in Utah next season.

-Ross Siler