Starter Humphries doesn't question why things happen

Rarely gun shy, Jazz forward Kris Humphries got his first start of the season in the Jazz's Tuesday-night win at Seattle.

Humphries, however, was not about to read anything into the decision by Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who just days earlier blasted the 20-year-old for trigger-happy shooting tendencies and failure to rebound, pass and play enough of a team-oriented game.

"I don't try to play into all that," Humphries said when asked if he thought the start was a reward for his 10-rebound night in Monday's win over Milwaukee, which came one game after Sloan's comments. "I just go out and play. Who knows what Coach is thinking—his reasons for doing things?"

Well, Sloan, for one.

"He can take shots once in a while in the offense," the Jazz coach said before Utah's visit with the Sonics, "but to just take the ball and go on your own doesn't help us a great deal.

"He goes forward a little bit, then he drops back," Sloan added. "That's a problem he has."

Sloan suggested Humphries' start at small forward, which stemmed from Andrei Kirilenko's and Matt Harpring's injury-related absences, had more than do with necessity than reward.

In fact, Sloan — whose 6-7 club is idle until hosting Golden State on Friday night — had only mixed reviews of Humphries' 10-boards, two-assists play against the Bucks.

"He played up until it got down to the end of the ballgame," Sloan said, "then he got kind of a wild and started looking and searching and hunting shots out rather than just going and defending and doing the right thing."

Humphries, who had six points on 3-of-5 shooting and two assists in Seattle, seemed oblivious to Sloan's sentiments.

"I never heard anything. I don't read the paper or watch the news. I just play, you know? Just keep the game fun," he said. "You've got to have fun out there, play hard and try to win. All that other stuff just gets in the way and makes basketball what it shouldn't be."

WILDFIRE: Under the headline, "Don't print that," here's a one-line, unattributed rumor appearing in Tuesday's St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press: "Don't be surprised if the Timberwolves talk trade with the Jazz, with Michael Olowokandi going to Utah for Carlos Boozer, and with either Troy Hudson or Marko Jaric of the Wolves as part of a deal."