The New Jersey Nets, it's now believed, never did offer All-Star shooting guard Vince Carter to the Jazz for small forward Andrei Kirilenko, as a New Jersey newspaper reported Saturday.

The Bergen (N.J.) Record cited unidentified "sources" in its story saying Jersey offered Carter to Utah for its forward from Russia, to Memphis for Pau Gasol and to Seattle for Ray Allen.

At least regarding Kirilenko, that's simply untrue, a well-placed Jazz source indicated Sunday.

The Jazz forward, meanwhile, hardly seems fazed his name has been bandied about.

"I understand why the rumor goes — because you see my position is kind of a little different this year," said Kirilenko, who's struggled this season and is currently the Jazz's No. 6 scorer behind Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Deron Williams, Matt Harpring and Derek Fisher with an average of 9.2 points per game — six-plus fewer than he averaged a season ago. "I understand. It's one more example of why it's a business."

Carter, who visits Utah with the Nets tonight fresh from Saturday's 40-point game in Denver, knows the routine well.

"I'm going to continue to play just like I did when I was in Toronto (before being dealt to the Nets)," he told the Record. "I'm going to be who I am for (whomever) I'm playing for.

"I don't worry about stuff like that," Carter added. "I just worry about making sure I'm consistent for this team. I want to be better at that."

MILES GETS DEFENSIVE: After spending eight games earlier this month with affiliate Idaho of the D-League, C.J. Miles — the Jazz's starting shooting guard at the start of this season, before being demoted — finally got another taste of NBA play.

Miles logged four minutes in Utah's loss at Oklahoma City on Saturday night, and when he did he felt like a better player — especially on defense — than when he left for a stint in the minors.

"It helped just to be able to guard guys in a game setting," the 19-year-old said. "I think I made a lot of good strides, especially off the ball on defense. On the ball, I'm still working on that with some of the smaller, quicker guys.

"It was good to go down, just play some games — playing 35 minutes a game, and getting my reps in," he added. "It was fun. I'm happy to be back with the guys, though."

Miles, incidentally, had quite an adventure going from Boise to Utah after getting recalled last Friday.