While Kirilenko was a bit evasive, his coach seemed unfazed by things Kirilenko had said about him and concerned about helping him past this rough spot and keeping him on the Jazz roster.

"Those are the best situations — if you're willing to fight out of it — you can have because everybody said it couldn't be done," Sloan said, adding he's willing to "Go out on State Street and give him a big hug or whatever you want to go do" to have him help win games.

"I've always felt that way. I don't always get it done, for some reason, the right way," Sloan said.

He admitted he has not always dealt with Kirilenko in the best way. "I have to blame myself for Andrei's failure to be able to play at times because maybe I haven't handled him the way he'd like to be and done the right things.

"We have to learn how to try to be a more effective coach with him," Sloan said, noting that Kirilenko has told him that the coach's negative ways affect his confidence. Sloan will try to improve in that area but said Kirilenko's play last summer with his national team and being named EuroBasket MVP did a lot already for him.

The biggest thing he wants from Kirilenko and others is, "No. 1 playing hard, which he indicated he's going to try to do every day, and that's the bottom line. We want to try to get him situations where he is comfortable," Sloan said.

"I can't tell you that I'll always make the right decision on his behalf, but it will always be my intention to try to do it if it gives us a chance to win."

The coach said he and his staff are always trying to find ways to make players more effective, and they're again working on things for Kirilenko, something they also did last season, letting him handle the ball more.

"He never said anything specifically about where (position) he wanted to play," Sloan said. "He just wanted to be more involved in some of the things that's going on. Sometimes that will happen, and sometimes it won't. I think he understands that.

"Most importantly, we've got to do a better job trying to get him some things where he's comfortable. It's imperative for every player to be comfortable on the floor as much as possible," Sloan said, cautioning, "I can't tell you what the other team is going to do to you in those scenarios."

Sloan also wanted to cut international players like Kirilenko some slack for playing in foreign lands.

"I've always admired guys for coming here and playing and being away from their families, their homes," he said. "I don't think I could have done it. I don't know if I could ever get comfortable driving a different automobile, eating different kinds of food and stuff, so you have to give them a lot of credit for that."

He said Kirilenko never told him personally he can't play in his system, and, "I've never felt like any player couldn't play for me."

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