Jazz lose to Suns as Sloan tinkers

PHOENIX — He's been tinkering and toying, trying this and that and any other idea that may cross his mind.

That is because Jerry Sloan has decisions to make, and plenty of them before the Jazz regular season starts Nov. 3 — now just four more exhibition games, and less than two weeks, away.

So what will he do?

We'll it's still just too early to tell.

"We'll see," Sloan said. "You know, you can talk about it all you want. But we'll see who has that ability to really want to compete."

Based on a 108-67 exhibition loss to Phoenix at Wednesday night at America West Arena here — the now 2-1 Jazz looked rather weary in the second game of a back-to-back set, and their third game in four nights — the search obviously remains ongoing.

And while nothing too much is to be read into early preseason lineups, there are some clues as to what Sloan may be thinking.

The issue of who starts at the point, of course, is a no-brainer: Returning starter Carlos Arroyo made his third straight start Wednesday, and with backup Raul Lopez still rehabbing to strength his weak right leg it's apparent Arroyo is line for big minutes when the Los Angeles Lakers roll into town early in November.

Shooting guard is a much-bigger battle.

Returning starter Gordan Giricek opened their last Sunday night against Seattle, sixth man Raja Bell made the start Tuesday night against New York and rookie Kirk Snyder — on the strength a game against the Knicks in which he earned high praise from Sloan — got the nod Wednesday in Phoenix.

Sloan has said Bell has been the best of the bunch so far in camp, and for now the Jazz coach might be inclined to start him against the Lakers. Bell dressed but did not play Wednesday, though, instead resting a groin strain that also had him out in Seattle.

There's still the possibility, as well, of going with two small forwards, Matt Harpring and All-Star Andrei Kirilenko, at the 2 and 3 spots.

If that does not happen, it would mean one of those two would be coming off the bench — and it could even be Kirilenko, though he has started all three games of the preseason so far at the 3.

Power forward and center would seem to be rather apparent, since the Jazz have a total of $118 million invested in offseason free-agent signees Carlos Boozer, who like Kirilenko had a team-high 12 points Wednesday, and Mehmet Okur.