First of all, the Jazz shouldn't throw in the towel and hope for a good lottery pick. Most likely they wouldn't be among the top three picks and if you're not there then you're nowhere. The teams that came away with good players in the draft are the teams that have been in the lottery for years, like the Cavs with Lebron, the Bulls with their up-and-coming young team, the Nuggets with Anthony, etc. . . . the odds of the Jazz getting a good player in this next draft are not good for them to try to throw in the towel now. Second of all, Bell and Okur should be playing more minutes, like 35 minutes per game. Okur is a competent center, and Bell is important for our defense.

John Levy

Maaleh Adumim, Israel

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Jazz will bounce back

The Utah Jazz woes will be corrected by the best coach in the league. Coach Sloan did what I think he needed to do with Carlos Arroyo in giving him his chance, but he failed as stardom took over from the Olympics. With a healthy Keith McCleod and Andrei Kirilenko, the Utah Jazz will bounce back as they started the season! It may be too late to make a serious run, but if things fall into place, the Jazz could still make the playoffs and do some serious damage to teams that think they have it all! Back the team Utah has . . . there is depth and talent just aching to come out!

David Deem

Murrieta, Calif.

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Sloan a negative influence on players

I keep writing Mr. Buckley, but I'm glad to have another outlet for my frustration.

I believe that the Utah Jazz have lost their heart. Utah is well known for positive motivation writers and many of them might agree. The problem — Coach Sloan. Why? Bobbyee Sloan kept Jerry and the team going in a positive direction. Now that she is gone, Coach Sloan's negativity has gone from bad to worse. All of the players are playing down to his expectations. He tells them and us every day how crappy they are.

Coach Sloan is a coach but he doesn't have 'Mr. Positive' John Stockton or 'play well no matter what' Malone, or 'easy going' Hornacek. He has some excellent players who stumble once in a while — they're human. When they stumble, they're degraded. Maybe we need better nutrition or something else, but most definitely we need a hierarchy and coach that congratulates the players in public for how well they play but recognizes and challenges them with a need to play better with more energy.