SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz need to add at least two players before the upcoming season begins.

It remains possible two familiar faces will fill those empty roster spots.

The Jazz are engaged in ongoing discussions with the camps of small forward Andrei Kirilenko and point guard Earl Watson, their agents told the Deseret News on Monday.

General manager Kevin O’Connor confirmed that he reached out to the former Jazz players on the team-owned radio station, 1320 KFAN.

O’Connor, who didn’t immediately return calls from the Deseret News, first contacted Utah’s current players when allowed Monday morning, he told play-by-play announcer David Locke. The Jazz G.M. then phoned former players who are free agents.

Monday marked the first day NBA front-office personnel were allowed to speak with players and free agents.

Kirilenko played for the Jazz the past 10 seasons, but he’s currently under contract with CSKA Moscow in his native Russia. Though nursing a broken nose and recovering from a bruised shoulder, Kirilenko is expected to play again this weekend with his Russian team while NBA negotiations continue, according to his representative.

“He’s still weighing his interest in different teams,” agent Marc Fleisher said.

As for Watson, the veteran playmaker has maintained a hope to return to Utah since last spring. The 10-year pro felt more comfortable running the team’s offense as his first season with Utah progressed, and he liked his reserve situation behind Deron Williams and Devin Harris.

“The organization knows how I feel,” Watson enthusiastically told the Deseret News on Monday.

Watson also took the time to thank Jazz fans who participated in a “BringBackEarl” campaign on Twitter with this message: “Thank you to all of jazz nation! Great fans!”

Friday is the first day players can officially come to an agreement with teams or trades can be made, pending the ratification of the new collective bargaining agreement.

That’s also when camps can begin.

The Jazz received good news on that front. Center Mehmet Okur will be here in time to participate from the get-go of the training sessions.

Okur was granted a release from his Turkish basketball team, allowing him to leave early despite a stipulation in the contract that he had to stay until a new NBA labor deal was officially in place.

Okur flew from Turkey to the United States on Monday. He’s returning, by the way, in much-improved health, his agent said, as the center’s surgically repaired left Achilles tendon and back have made significant progress from last season when he played in only 13 games for the Jazz.

SALT LAKE CITY — Imagine Greg Ostertag. Now picture a court full of guys who were much shorter, remarkably slower and worse outside shooters than the oft-goofy player Karl Malone called out for returning one fall with an oversized caboose.

That was what the Utah Jazz coaching staff had to work with during a fantasy training camp this past week.

Considering how silly they got to make newspaper, TV and radio guys look for a two-hour period, this was one media session the coaches clearly savored.

Perhaps their favorite part?

Most of us were too winded to ask inane questions.

While a new labor deal is hammered out, Tyrone Corbin, Scott Layden, Jeff Hornacek and Sidney Lowe have extra time on their hands. Sure, they’ve strategized and prepared for whenever real basketball gets here. In the meantime, they’ve put on camp-like clinics at the team training facility for season ticket holders, sponsors and VIPs.

For a day, participants experience what it’s like to be Paul Millsap and Gordon Hayward — minus the million dollar contracts and pink princess backpacks.

Wednesday was the media’s day, and we were given full access to the place.

We parked our clunkers in the secured lot where Deron Williams’ fancy cars used to chill.

We goofed around in the locker room, where smiling media guys took over personalized lockers usually occupied by NBA players.

We even got to dip into the water station gum dish.

There were limitations. No whirlpool, massages or kicking back with popcorn in the team theater room. While wandering through the training room, I was teased, “What are you doing back here?” (I resisted making a Carlos Boozer joke.)

But I did manage to find my way into Kevin O’Connor’s office, which has a big window that overlooks the two basketball courts.

“Keep your day job,” the Jazz general manager said after watching me struggle with 20 media types.

The coaches might be reconsidering their career paths due to their closer view of the court carnage. At the very least, they might have to reel in unrealistic expectations once they get their real players back and see how good they are compared to media ballers.

Coaches witnessed us stumble while stretching. They heard our groans in warm-up exercises, encouraged us as we tortured the rim (and air) with off-target layup and jumper attempts, patiently guided us through drills and watched as four teams struggled for 10 minutes to hit three buckets in scrimmage action.

Considered by many (people named Jody Genessy) to be the John Stockton of the Kearns South Stake in the 1980s, my hoop skills were rusty.

The Jazz will open the preseason at Portland on October 9 for the first of two meetings with the Trail Blazers. Jazz fans will get their first chance to see the team in Salt Lake City when the Jazz hosts Northwest Division rival Oklahoma City on Wednesday, October 12, and then the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, October 14.

Utah will then play three straight games in Southern California, facing the Los Angeles Lakers (10/16) and Clippers (10/17) on back-to-back nights at STAPLES Center before meeting the Lakers at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on October 19. This is the second straight preseason and fourth time in the last five years that the Lakers and Jazz will meet in Anaheim.

The Jazz then hosts Portland in the return match on October 21 before wrapping up the preseason with a game against the Golden State Warriors at the Bismarck Civic Center in Bismarck, N.D., home to the NBA Development League’s Dakota Wizards, on October 25. This is the first time the Jazz will ever play a game in North or South Dakota.

This year’s schedule marks the second straight year the Jazz will host three preseason games in Salt Lake City. The 2010 preseason was the first time this ever occurred, and was the first time since 2001 that the team played three preseason games in the state of Utah.

While Utah also played the Trail Blazers, Clippers and Lakers in the 2010 preseason, the Jazz will face Oklahoma City for the first time since 2004 when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics, and meet Golden State in the preseason for the first time since 1995.

The following is the complete 2011 Utah Jazz Preseason Schedule:

Sun, Oct. 9
at Portland
Portland, OR (Rose Garden)
7 p.m.

Wed, Oct. 12
vs. OKLAHOMA CITY
EnergySolutions Arena
7 p.m.

Fri, Oct. 14
vs. L.A. CLIPPERS
EnergySolutions Arena
7 p.m.

Sun, Oct. 16
at L.A. Lakers
Los Angeles, CA (STAPLES Center)
8 p.m.

Mon, Oct. 17
at L.A. Clippers
Los Angeles, CA (STAPLES Center)
8:30 p.m.

Wed, Oct. 19
vs. L.A. Lakers
Anaheim, CA (Honda Center)
8 p.m.

Fri, Oct. 21
vs. PORTLAND
EnergySolutions Arena
7 p.m.

Tue, Oct. 25
vs. Golden State
Bismarck, ND (Bismarck Civic Center)
6 p.m.

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz announced the team’s eight-game 2011 preseason schedule Thursday, which, if the NBA lockout ends, will feature three home games at EnergySolutions Arena for the second straight year .

Should the lockout end, the Jazz would open the preseason at Portland on Oct. 9 for the first of two meetings with the Trail Blazers. Jazz fans will get their first chance to see the team in Salt Lake City when the Jazz host Northwest Division rival Oklahoma City on Wednesday, Oct. 12, and then the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, Oct. 14.

Next on the schedule are three games in Southern California. The Jazz are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Lakers, Oct. 16, and Clippers, Oct. 16-17, in Staples Center, before a meeting with the Lakers at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Oct. 19. This is the second straight preseason and fourth time in the last five years that the Lakers and Jazz will meet in Anaheim.

The Jazz then host Portland in the return match on Oct. 21 before wrapping up the preseason with a game against the Golden State Warriors at the Bismarck Civic Center in Bismarck, N.D., home to the NBA Development League’s Dakota Wizards, on Oct. 25. This is the first time the Jazz will ever play a game in North or South Dakota.

In going up against some of the top AAU basketball teams in the country, the Utah Pump N Run elite U17 AAU team is having a busy and incredibly successful summer.

After recently completing a semifinal run in the Super 64 tournament in Las Vegas, the team is currently in Los Angeles at the Best of Summer tournament.

Through the summer Pump N Run has posted a stellar 12-1 record, including a star-studded team from Atlanta.

The Atlanta Celtics have a rich history that includes alumni Amare Stoudemire (New York Knicks), Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic), Josh Smith (Atlanta Hawks) and Derrick Favors (Utah Jazz).

According to Pump N Runs standout Jordan Loveridge, the current Celtics have players who have committed to Memphis, UCLA and some other top schools in the nation.

“They were definitely the best team we’ve played so far,” said the West Jordan High standout. “Everyone on their team had big-time offers, and it was a great game, but we beat them by a point, which was a huge win for us. I had a big game, too, with 35 points and 12 rebounds.”

While it’s hard to match the rich history of an AAU squad like the Atlanta Celtics, Utah Pump N Run has a stellar history of its own. Its alumni includes players Charles Abouo (BYU), Chris Collinsworth (BYU) and Brandon Davies (BYU).

Along with Loveridge, who has offers from BYU, Utah, Utah State, Hawaii and Colorado State, Utah State commits Marcel Marcel Davis, Quincey Bair and David Collette are on the team along with Weber State commit Ryan Van Pelt.

The team has been together for three years, and the players have grown very close while improving in their overall play. This year they wanted to go out strong. So far, so good on that front.

“We’ve proven that we can play with anybody and that Utah has some of the best talent around,” said Loveridge. “We’re very close friends, all of us on the team, and we all dedicated ourselves to playing well and representing the state as best we possibly could.”

It seems its opponents aren’t too scared when they see Pump N Run is from Utah, but by its dominant showing during this year’s AAU circuit, that could be changing.

“You can see it in their eyes when we take the court, they don’t respect Utah and they don’t think Utah has good talent,” said Loveridge of their opponents. “Pretty soon, after the ball is tipped, we’re proving to them that Utah has as good of talent as anyone around. That’s important to us, to represent what we have here in Utah.”

Loveridge has certainly warranted a lot of attention through his play. His 35-point, 12-rebound output against the Atlanta Celtics has been somewhat the norm for him this summer.

SALT LAKE CITY — One of the great things about the Utah Jazz organization has always been their desire and willingness to get involved in the community.

Well, they were at it again on Saturday morning at the Zions Bank Basketball Center, where a group of 40 youths — representing Big Brothers and Big Sisters Utah and the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Valley — gathered for a free basketball clinic conducted by the Jazz coaching staff.

The NBA team’s two newest members, Enes Kanter and Alec Burks, who were selected by Utah in the 2011 NBA Draft on Thursday night, were also on hand to help teach the youngsters fundamental basketball skills.

In Journalism 101 back during my college days, we were always told to never use the expression “a good time was had by all” when writing about an event because there’s always a chance that somebody didn’t enjoy themselves — you know, maybe Bobby and Betty Sue broke up at the big dance, or Billy hurt his back trying to find out “how low can you go” during the limbo.

However, in the case of this clinic, I’m gonna go out on a journalistic limb and say “a good time was had by all” — Jazz coaches and players, the team’s administrative staff that organized the whole thing, volunteers from the participating Big Brothers and Sisters and Boys and Girls Clubs organizations, the parents who were on hand.

And especially the kids.

“Seeing the new Jazz players and the coaches and learning everything from them, it was pretty awesome,” said Kyra Wellington, 12, of Bountiful. “I learned some stuff today.

“I’m not playing in a league right now because I didn’t sign up in time at the Boys and Girls Club, but I love to watch and I learn a lot from watching. It’d be fun to play. I’ve got some skills, not a lot.”

The clinic was divided into four separate skills — shooting, dribbling, passing and defense — with the youths divided into four groups, which rotated around the gym every few minutes so each group got instruction in each of the four different skills.

After the youngsters went through some stretching exercises, Jazz assistant coach Jeff Hornacek and Burks conducted the shooting instruction at the clinic; Richard Smith, the team’s director of basketball operations, was in charge of the dribbling drills; assistant coach Scott Layden handled the passing portion of the clinic; and Jazz head coach Ty Corbin and Kanter taught the kids the right way to play defense.

Wellington said she preferred the dribbling drills, “because when they had us close our eyes for the dribble, I actually could feel the ball and the rhythm with how it was going and I could actually keep my hands with the ball,” she said. “I felt like I was psychic or something.”