Kirilenko is back for camp

He doesn't really want to leave Utah but would rather be elsewhere — or at least somewhere, essentially, longtime Jazz coach Jerry Sloan is not.

But Andrei Kirilenko is here.

Now back in Salt Lake City from his home in Russia, the Jazz's unhappy starting small forward and one-time NBA All-Star intends to be on hand for Media Day and travel today with the team to Boise for Tuesday morning's start of training camp.

He'll do so seemingly resigned to the fact the Jazz have no immediate plans to trade him, and probably resigned as well to the reality that Sloan certainly isn't headed anywhere else.

So the Jazz's highest-paid player suggested when interviewed Sunday by a local television reporter.

"I'm stuck," Kirilenko told KSL-TV's Tom Kirkland. "I don't know — I'm stuck in this situation, you know."

Kirilenko shed tears of frustration during the Jazz's first-round playoff series with Houston last spring, and since has told reporters in his native Russia that while he and his family love living in Utah he nevertheless desires to be dealt away from the Sloan-coached club.

Sunday, Kirilenko — who has four years and $63 million remaining on his current contract, and said he feels likes "an anchor, game-wise and money-wise" to the team — suggested the only person who can make that happen is franchise owner Larry H. Miller.

"Because he is the, really, guy who I want to listen to," Kirilenko told KSL. "He is my owner, and I really like him to make the wise decision and decision which (makes) the Jazz better team and, you know, be successful at that point.

"You know, I never have problem with Larry. He always help me with any kind of situation — so I just want him to help me, again, and help the team."

Kirilenko conceded he isn't certain he'd find bliss elsewhere — but was adamant about believing it cannot be realized while continuing to play for a demanding Sloan in Utah.

"It's not the fact that I'm gonna be happy on another team," he said. "It's not a fact. Again, I can't guarantee that. Nobody can guarantee that. It's just the way I feel last season — I don't want to continue. That's the main point."

Kirilenko went to great lengths to make it known his issues with Sloan are not at all personal. It's just that he can no longer deal with working for a coach that he deems to be overly negative.

"I don't want to be under pressure 24-7," he said.

Kirilenko doesn't foresee Sloan changing his ways, either.

"You know Jerry, I know Jerry. Everybody knows Jerry," he said. "He is who he is."

So while a clearly frustrated Kirilenko might prefer for the situation to change such that it's possible for him to once again enjoy playing for the Jazz, he seems skeptical — albeit hopeful — that will indeed happen.

"I heard of things like ... 'We have a conflict with the coach,"' Kirilenko told the TV station.

"No," he said. "We don't have a conflict. More than that, you know, we have a very good relationship outside the court. We just have trouble to understand each other."

Sloan, who has not spoken with Kirilenko since he made his various offseason remarks, declined comment Sunday night.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com