Mehmet Okur returns to Jazz tonight

The 18-8 Utah Jazz will get better tonight. Soon that may be significantly better.

Center Mehmet Okur — out since rupturing his Achilles tendon in the first game of the playoffs last season — will suit up and come off the bench for the Jazz tonight, the team announced at shoot around this morning. Not a lot, just 5 or 10 minutes off the bench, but he will play.

Okur brings floor spacing, a deadly pick-and-pop game, and rebounding. He joins Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson and Andrei Kirilenko to make one of the better front lines in the league and one with a lot of versatility. Jerry Sloan likes versatility. Oh, the Jazz have that Deron Williams guy too, I hear he’s pretty good.

The Jazz are good without him, with Okur they move up a notch. Probably not “beat a healthy Lakers team in a seven game series” notch, but you can bet the Mavericks and Spurs would like to avoid them for as long as possible.