Sloan's contract status came into the forefront nationally over four days in February, beginning with Karl Malone's comments at NBA All-Star Weekend in New York City on Feb. 6.

"If Jerry's not there, I'm not there," said Malone during the official All-Star media availability session, with plenty of national and international press around to hear him say it. Malone, unlike Jordan, was not threatening retirement. Rather, he was just stating that if the Jazz don't extend Sloan's contract, he'll leave Utah as a free agent.

Talks between Sloan and the Jazz started early in the 1997-98 season but had been cut off by midseason.

Malone said that the Jazz management called up Sloan to talk about a contract extension only to call him back later to say that they had changed their minds. So while Sloan was still under contract for the next 11/2 years, he didn't have his customary two-plus year cushion.

"What should my attitude be, as a player who respects his coach?" Malone asked. "It's the same thing that's happening in Chicago. . . . What's happening between Jazz management and coach Sloan is bull(bleep)."

Malone said he could tell "without a doubt" that the contract situation was frustrating to the veteran Jazz coach.

"I know my coach," Malone said. "I read my coach really well. I can tell when he's not the coach I know. I can tell when something is on his mind. . . . He's not going to say that he's distracted, but I can tell that he is."

Malone added at the time that if Sloan ends up coaching another team, "there ain't a doubt in my mind (that I'd follow him). If Jerry winds up somewhere else and he has the same rapport with his players - which I know he'll have because he's not going to change for nobody - there ain't a doubt in my that I would go, too."

Having the contract extension done earlier wasn't for a lack of interest on the team's part, said Miller earlier in the year, nothing that he had been busy serving on the NBA labor relations committee.

As for concerns he didn't seem interested in keeping Sloan, Miller added: "I don't think there's any question we'll give him an extension (on his contract). If someone else has him going to another team, then that's a decision he has got to make.

"But as far as the Jazz are concerned, it's the same situation it's been for years. I said this a few years ago when Jerry was under fire, that he'd be the guy we want coaching the team. He is the coach and will be in the future. Whether that's two years or 20 years from now, I don't know. But there's no element here - zero - of `Well, do we really want him back after next season?' That's not even a consideration, nor is it a matter of letting his contract run out until he's a free agent. There's no consideration of that on our end . . . ."