Wednesday report
Heard a tremendous story about Andrei Kirilenko that I mentioned in Wednesday's paper - - - we'll see how carefully you read - - and asked Kirilenko about at the Jazz's pregame shootaround.
It turns out that the same Sunday afternoon as he sat down for his KSL interview on Sept. 30, the interview in which he described himself as "stuck" with Jerry Sloan and the Jazz, Kirilenko went out and jumped in a game with a local Firebirds youth soccer team.
So much for being sequestered at his house amid all the turmoil, as Jeff Robbins noted. Robbins is the chairman of Kirilenko's foundation and heard about the story not from the Russian forward but from another soccer dad.
I've concluded it's impossible to figure out Kirilenko, at least right now. He sits for an interview in a Jazz sweat suit, says he thinks it's best for both parties if he leaves Utah, then he's happy-go-lucky enough to play midfield with a group of 14-year-old boys.
Kirilenko said he and Okur are both soccer fans and grew up playing the sport in Europe. They headed to a field by the Shriner's Hospital and kicked the ball around themselves for a half-hour or so before a couple of kids worked up the courage to ask them to play.
What position did Kirilenko play? "When you play with the kids, you should be everywhere," he said. "You're defender, you're goalie, you're offensive player."
Robbins knows the Kirilenkos well and has seen the work they've done with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Utah Food Bank and the Ronald McDonald House, in addition to buying Jazz tickets for underprivileged kids. He can vouch for their love of the community.
"They've always told me that they enjoy Salt Lake City and Utah," he said. "They enjoy the people, they have a lot of friends here. I think their actions would certainly speak to that."
* * *
Sloan doesn't even start going over scouting reports on the opposing team until the third-to-last preseason game. His philosophy is to get everybody in uniform into the game, even if his bench goes 10 deep. He will play his starters limited minutes citing the injury risk.
Just don't say he considers these exhibition games meaningless.
"It's like losing to end the season when you think you're not going to make the playoffs and you get a better draft pick," Sloan said.
"I think that sends a bad message to people that winning really is not important in this organization and I've always felt that's the most important thing about it. The winning is important. Anything other than that, you're being dishonest."
That doesn't mean Sloan will bring his starters back in the fourth quarter if they've been on the bench too long. The Jazz, incidentally, don't go into exhibition games with a rotation already planned out for the night. They will change things up as the game dictates.
* * *
Want to try the Gira diet? Gordan Giricek weighed in at 218 pounds with less than 5 percent body fat. That's down from 6 percent or 7 percent in the past. He said the secret is eating five meals a day to speed up his metabolism.
Giricek has egg whites for breakfast every morning, protein shakes before and after practice and no carbohydrates at night.
I asked him after shootaround if he was going home to enjoy some tuna and cottage cheese - - two staples of the diet, along with lots of meat and salad - - and he said that was what he'd eat after Wednesday's game, before he went to bed.
* * *
Kirilenko and Kyrylo Fesenko, the Ukrainian center, have become fast friends, so much so that they went out for sushi Monday night. While Fesenko came down with food poisoning, though, Kirilenko was able to joke about having a "steel" stomach.
Fesenko speaks Russian, as well as Ukrainian, which allows him to talk with Kirilenko. As Sloan said: "That's what happens when you run into a guy who can talk to you. You end up having a friend."
"That's why everybody in Southern Illinois, we all understand each other," Sloan added. "They don't understand me when we get out here."
* * *
Sorry for the hiccup in blogging. It's been an adjustment for me to the Jazz's routine. They are one of the few teams in the NBA that has media availability before practice instead of afterward. It makes for a vastly more efficient morning as a reporter but the lack of idle talk hurts in terms of providing blog fodder. Things should be better once the games start.
--Ross Siler
It turns out that the same Sunday afternoon as he sat down for his KSL interview on Sept. 30, the interview in which he described himself as "stuck" with Jerry Sloan and the Jazz, Kirilenko went out and jumped in a game with a local Firebirds youth soccer team.
So much for being sequestered at his house amid all the turmoil, as Jeff Robbins noted. Robbins is the chairman of Kirilenko's foundation and heard about the story not from the Russian forward but from another soccer dad.
I've concluded it's impossible to figure out Kirilenko, at least right now. He sits for an interview in a Jazz sweat suit, says he thinks it's best for both parties if he leaves Utah, then he's happy-go-lucky enough to play midfield with a group of 14-year-old boys.
Kirilenko said he and Okur are both soccer fans and grew up playing the sport in Europe. They headed to a field by the Shriner's Hospital and kicked the ball around themselves for a half-hour or so before a couple of kids worked up the courage to ask them to play.
What position did Kirilenko play? "When you play with the kids, you should be everywhere," he said. "You're defender, you're goalie, you're offensive player."
Robbins knows the Kirilenkos well and has seen the work they've done with the Huntsman Cancer Institute, the Utah Food Bank and the Ronald McDonald House, in addition to buying Jazz tickets for underprivileged kids. He can vouch for their love of the community.
"They've always told me that they enjoy Salt Lake City and Utah," he said. "They enjoy the people, they have a lot of friends here. I think their actions would certainly speak to that."
* * *
Sloan doesn't even start going over scouting reports on the opposing team until the third-to-last preseason game. His philosophy is to get everybody in uniform into the game, even if his bench goes 10 deep. He will play his starters limited minutes citing the injury risk.
Just don't say he considers these exhibition games meaningless.
"It's like losing to end the season when you think you're not going to make the playoffs and you get a better draft pick," Sloan said.
"I think that sends a bad message to people that winning really is not important in this organization and I've always felt that's the most important thing about it. The winning is important. Anything other than that, you're being dishonest."
That doesn't mean Sloan will bring his starters back in the fourth quarter if they've been on the bench too long. The Jazz, incidentally, don't go into exhibition games with a rotation already planned out for the night. They will change things up as the game dictates.
* * *
Want to try the Gira diet? Gordan Giricek weighed in at 218 pounds with less than 5 percent body fat. That's down from 6 percent or 7 percent in the past. He said the secret is eating five meals a day to speed up his metabolism.
Giricek has egg whites for breakfast every morning, protein shakes before and after practice and no carbohydrates at night.
I asked him after shootaround if he was going home to enjoy some tuna and cottage cheese - - two staples of the diet, along with lots of meat and salad - - and he said that was what he'd eat after Wednesday's game, before he went to bed.
* * *
Kirilenko and Kyrylo Fesenko, the Ukrainian center, have become fast friends, so much so that they went out for sushi Monday night. While Fesenko came down with food poisoning, though, Kirilenko was able to joke about having a "steel" stomach.
Fesenko speaks Russian, as well as Ukrainian, which allows him to talk with Kirilenko. As Sloan said: "That's what happens when you run into a guy who can talk to you. You end up having a friend."
"That's why everybody in Southern Illinois, we all understand each other," Sloan added. "They don't understand me when we get out here."
* * *
Sorry for the hiccup in blogging. It's been an adjustment for me to the Jazz's routine. They are one of the few teams in the NBA that has media availability before practice instead of afterward. It makes for a vastly more efficient morning as a reporter but the lack of idle talk hurts in terms of providing blog fodder. Things should be better once the games start.
--Ross Siler
2:32 PM
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