Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said Wednesday that he did not know John Amaechi was gay when Amaechi played for the Jazz, but it would have made some difference to him if he had.

"Oh, yeah, it would have probably mattered. I don't know exactly; I always have peoples' feelings at heart," Sloan said before Jazz practice Wednesday morning when asked about his part in a book that is to come out next week in which Amaechi proclaims his homosexuality — the first NBA player to ever do so — and accuses Sloan of using "anti-gay innuendo" to describe him.

Amaechi is to make a public announcement of his homosexuality on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" Sunday, and the book, published by ESPN's books division, "Man in the Middle," is to be released shortly thereafter. "Man in the Middle" is to be excerpted in ESPN The Magazine.

ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan, with knowledge of what is in Amaechi's book and in the "Outside the Lines" interview, wrote late Wednesday that the book and TV interview also find Amaechi charging that Jazz owner Larry H. Miller is a "bigot," former Jazz player Karl Malone is a "xenophobe" and that Sloan "hated" him.

Miller created an international stir last year when he ordered his theaters to not show the acclaimed gay-cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain."

Amaechi did have kind words for former Jazzman Greg Ostertag and current player Andrei Kirilenko.

Sloan said he had heard that Amaechi had a book coming out and that it would be critical of him. "I don't have a problem with that. Life goes on. A lot of people are critical of me," he said. "People can do what they want to do. I don't have any control over that."

He said he likely wouldn't read the book.

Word about the book began surfacing at a Super Bowl party, hinted at by Amaechi publicist Howard Bragman, who managed such announcements for other gay athletes. "He is coming out of the closet as a gay man," Bragman told The Associated Press Wednesday.

Sloan refused comment on whether he ever made homophobic statements but said his relationship with Amaechi was "shaky, as a player. We didn't see eye to eye on a few things as far as I was concerned."

The highly intellectual 6-foot-10 Amaechi, now 36, was not known for inspired play with the Jazz, for whom he averaged 3.2 points and 2.0 rebounds in 54 2001-02 games. He dropped to 2.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and a team-low .314 field-goal percentage in 50 games in 2002-03.

In a prepared statement released by the Jazz late Wednesday, Sloan said, "John is one of 117 players I have coached in the past 19 seasons, and it has always been my philosophy that my job is to make sure Jazz players perform to their maximum ability on the floor. As far as his personal life is concerned, I wish John the best and have nothing further to add."