Utah Jazz: Injured forward Marvin Williams 'taking it slow'

El Segundo, Calif. • The shallowest thing in Southern California right now?

It may be the Utah Jazz's bench.

But don't expect small forward Marvin Williams to be back for the Jazz too soon. The team plans to push Williams, who is rehabbing after an Achilles surgery this summer, harder in practice beginning Thursday, but there's still no timeline for his return.

"I would circle today if I could," Williams said after shootaround Wednesday morning. "We haven't looked at that. The trainers have been great. They're taking it slow. Everybody's being really cautious."

Williams said he began to feel the affects of his heel injury in January, and it greatly limited his game. He averaged career lows in minutes and points last season.

"It's very difficult to plant and jump and cut," he said. "I feel like I got to the league doing that, and when I finally couldn't do that last year, it really affected my game. Hopefully this year I got it taken care of and it will be back to normal."

Williams, whom Utah acquired from Atlanta in 2012, averaged 7.2 points and 3.6 rebounds a game for the Jazz a year ago.

While he said he's feeling healthier each day, Williams said he's still "not very explosive" right now off the injured foot.

"The doctors said when I got it done that would be the last thing to come back," he said.

The former No. 2 pick has been shooting and conditioning with the team.

"It's always tough to watch [from the bench]," he said. "Especially when you're kind of in the dog days of the season, training camp, you kind of want to suffer with your teammates. You want to be there for them, so I try to get out there and do as I much as I can."

Injury report

Forward Dominic McGuire (right ankle tendinitis) is doubtful for Wednesday's game. Forward Brandon Rush (knee) and point guard Trey Burke (finger) will not play. —