Boozer

Last year, Boozer had a breakout campaign, averaging 15.4 points and 11.0 rebounds for a Cavs team on the rise. Among the faithful in Cleveland, his Q-rating may have equaled that of James.

An equally appreciative fan base awaits Boozer in Salt Lake City, where he will now patrol the position previously occupied by Karl Malone. With big shoes to fill, the U.S. Olympian and the recipient of a large annual salary, he'd better produce. A double-double every night will be expected, rather than a pleasant surprise.

Boozer possesses an outside game that belies his size, and is one of the game's top rebounders. But now Kenyon Martin, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan will be frequent sparring partners, so defensive lapses won't be overlooked by Jerry Sloan, particularly if Humphries arrives ready to play.

Kirilenko

Last year, some thought the Jazz could challenge the NBA's single-season futility mark. Instead, Utah finished 42-40, even though Matt Harpring -- Sloan's second-best player -- was sidelined for the year after only 31 games.

This year Sloan gets a serious upgrade in talent. The rest of the league should be scared.

The Jazz opened the vault for big men Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur. Boozer is one of the league's top rebounders (11.5 last season), plays hard and has a nice shooting touch. Okur was a key cog for Detroit before falling out of the rotation at playoff time. Offensively, he'll be an upgrade over Greg Ostertag.

With two first-round picks, the Jazz nabbed 6-9 Kris Humphries from Minnesota and 6-6 Kirk Snyder of Nevada. Humphries, the 14th pick, was the Big Ten freshman of the year. A physical player who can score from inside and out, he became the first freshman to lead the conference in scoring and rebounding. Snyder fell to the Jazz at No. 16 despite buzz from scouts that he possessed an NBA-ready game that includes defense, athleticism and strength.

Andrei Kirilenko is quickly becoming one of the game's best players. A fantasy leaguer's dream, Kirilenko was the team's leader in scoring (16.5), rebounding (8.1), steals (1.92) and blocks (2.76). He even hit 68 threes and chipped in 3.1 assists per game.

The point guard position is set with a two-man tandem of Carlos Arroyo and Raul Lopez that combined for 19.6 points and 8.7 assists last season.

A lineup of Arroyo, Harpring, Kirilenko, Boozer and Okur is formidable, and with Raja Bell, Gordan Giricek and Jarron Collins joining Lopez, Snyder and Humphries on the bench, Sloan will have plenty of weapons to get Utah back into the playoffs after a one-year absence.