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Jazz-y Jeff works out in BYU's back yard

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
(Updated 5:15 am)

SALT LAKE CITY -- Lighting up Brigham Young for 30 points gets you a lot of respect in these parts.

So Jeff Teague could smile when the first question he was asked wasn't about his early departure from Wake Forest or even if he could deal with being Deron Williams' backup.

Instead, the first question following his Tuesday workout with the Utah Jazz dealt with how the Demon Deacons ended BYU's 53-game home court regular season winning streak back in December.

"I loved coming out here," Teague said. "Very good game &ellipses; crazy environment from the moment we got off the plane until we got in the gym. They appreciate their basketball out here, that's for sure."

Now that his college days are behind him, is there a possibility Teague could be putting up the same kind of numbers for a Utah-based team this time?

The Jazz holds the 20th pick in Thursday's NBA draft. Most of the attention has focused on Utah's need for a power forward -- North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough and Wake Forest's James Johnson have auditioned here -- but there's also a concern to get some help at point guard.

Williams, an Olympian last year, missed 13 of the first 15 games last season. When he came back, he had to pick up some scoring slack as the Jazz suffered through an injury-plagued season that ended with a quick first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Now the team faces free agency questions concerning big men Carlos Boozer (a former Duke star), Paul Millsap and Mehmet Okur.

Williams will be back as an established point guard. But backup Brevin Knight struggled to run the Jazz offense effectively when Williams was out, and Ronnie Price played his way out of the guard rotation.

So there is interest in Teague, who moved to point guard as a sophomore last season at Wake and was among the fastest players with the ball in the ACC.

"It's a great opportunity," Teague said. "Deron's an all-star caliber player, and you can learn so much being under him. I don't see any reason why anyone wouldn't want to be here."

There's also a chance Teague could be used a combo guard -- playing point and shooting guard. At 6-foot-2, he's small for a shooting guard by NBA standards. But there's that speed, and he's a proven perimeter scorer.

"I'm a pure point guard," Teague said, "but I wouldn't mind being a combo guard.

"Everybody in this league was a great player college &ellipses; you have to come in and work."

Jazz officials were impressed with Teague.

"We saw what we wanted to see," Utah's Vice President of Player Personnel Walt Perrin said. "He can knock down shots, get to the basket, or as (Utah coach) Jerry (Sloan) says 'get on top on the hoop.' I think he can play combo and can play with Deron."

This was Teague's 11th workout. An injury forced him to cancel a couple of auditions, and he admits he's been performing at "85 percent" of capacity.

"I loved the process," Teague said. "Flying in, meeting new people. It's been great."

Just like that trip to BYU back in December.

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