N.Y. media update Andrei's summer of Jazz discontent

NEW YORK — Leave it to the capital of controversy to prompt an update on the Jazz's most controversial issue of the year — forward Andrei Kirilenko's offseason expression of unhappiness in Utah.

Kirilenko was asked about his summer of discontent prior to the Jazz's 113-109 loss at New York on Monday, and shed some light on just where things stand.

"It was tough year last year, and it's been a lot of disappointments for me," the forward from Russia said. "And, you know, in your mind you start just talk to yourself a little bit. It's like, 'Man, it's not everything.' You need to think about basketball, but, you know, in a positive way. Right now, I'm changed completely. I feel way different.

"It's way different," Kirilenko added. "It's way different. I feel much better."

Asked if he felt more involved with the Jazz offense — a reference to one of his chief complaints while expressing a desire to be traded this summer — Kirilenko responded, "Well, definitely. You can see that. I'm just trying to be everywhere and not only defensively but the offense part."

Kirilenko also was asked if it's true he wanted to return to his old Russian team, CSKA Moscow. But he wasn't about to go down that road.

"We had a lot of negative stuff going on in the summertime," he said. "I don't want to get back to it."

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan also was queried.

"He's been terrific," Sloan said, reiterating a theme he's stuck to all season. "His shooting hasn't been as good as I hope it eventually will be, but he has a lot of different things he does.

"We haven't done a very good job, probably, coaching him the last couple years. But I think, with that, he's done a better job this year — and we've tried to do a better job coaching him," Sloan added. "He's put in a lot of work. ... And I think if you have the ability to work, it gives you the ability to be able to forget about something wrong."

Asked if he thought Kirilenko's offseason issues were water under the proverbial bridge, however, the Jazz coach was somewhat noncommittal.

"I don't know what tomorrow brings with anybody," he said. "I don't mean that in a negative way. That's just the way life is.

"If you don't know that about this business, then you're gonna be really shocked when something happens," Sloan added. "And I haven't been shocked too many times. I know that things can happen, and players can get upset with me or get upset with a coach — and then struggle a little bit. But you hope they fight back out of it. Give him credit for doing that."