Just about nothing has gone right for the Jazz this year. From Deron Williams missing most of November to Carlos Boozer being on the shelf the last two months and counting, this team has never been healthy all at once. The team announced that Andrei Kirilenko, who's already missed the last four games, would join the list of long-term wounded. He's set to undergo surgery on Friday to remove bone fragments from his right ankle. It's an ailment he's played through for awhile thanks to grit and cortisone, but finally the pain became too much to handle.
The team didn't reveal an exact timetable for his recovery, but Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune reports that Kirilenko told reporters last month that an operation would likely sideline him three-to-four weeks. If the Jazz had to lose another player, this is probably the time for it to happen: they're at home for nine of their next 13 games, and there's a five-day layoff in the middle of February for All-Star weekend.
There's a good chance that Boozer will be ready to return right around the same time AK-47 gets healthy, which means the Jazz should have their core back together for the stretch run before the playoffs. That's a good thing, because as things already stand, they're on the outside looking in as the West's No. 9 seed.
