Giricek in Miller's sights, too

TORONTO — Andrei Kirilenko was not the only target of Larry H. Miller's wrath during the Jazz owner's much-publicized radio appearance Thursday.

Veteran guard Gordan Giricek was on the receiving end of Miller's flak too.

"I think Gordan could (play shooting guard) on a lot of teams. I'm not sure on this team that he'll fit in," Miller said of Giricek, who has been with the Jazz for nearly three full years and was rewarded with a four-year, $16 million contract in the summer of 2004.

"The coaches just demand certain things of him that don't seem to be a natural part of his game," Miller added during his weekly appearance on KZN 1280-AM. "He'll get out there and get open on shots and take them, whether there's 19 seconds on the shot clock or five ... Gordan just can't help himself."

Giricek — who started four games earlier this month, then lost his starter's job and did not play at all Monday at Washington, only to reemerge in the regular rotation for games Wednesday at Detroit and Friday at Toronto following a midweek meeting with coach Jerry Sloan — responded.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm trying to play hard. I mean, I'm always playing hard, giving my best," he said. "So what else can I do if I don't have ball? I just try to hustle for the team. I mean, I don't understand this kind of talk — because I think (it's) not true. That's perception of people, and I think perception is wrong in my case."

Giricek suggested he doesn't play enough, or take nearly enough shots when he does, to be guilty of what Miller suggested.

"I never finish third quarter, fourth quarter. ... How can I play," he said, "if I just don't have the minutes — if I play first quarter and then a little bit second, and — then what? — third and fourth I'm sitting on the bench, and I shoot maybe four shots a game?"

Despite all that, Giricek says he has no desire to be traded.

"I think it's the perfect place for me," he said.

Sloan's comment Friday on Giricek?

"We need him to play well," the Jazz coach said before using the 29-year-old Croatian off the bench in Friday's win over the Raptors, a 16-minute showing in which Giricek went scoreless on 0-of-3 shooting from the field.

SLOAN CATCHES BROWN: With Friday's win, Sloan tied Larry Brown — who now works in Philadelphia's front office — for fourth place on the NBA's all-time regular-season coaching victories list with 1,010.