"But it seems to me he's just ready to go ... He's looking good out there. He's just playing hard," Okur added. "To me, he just came in with clean mind, fresh body."

It even includes, as well, those who have spoken directly with Kirilenko about the matter.

"I don't know how he feels personally," Williams said. "I mean, he's focusing on basketball. That's all we can hope for. That's all that can be done.

"I don't know (if) maybe in his head, in the back of his mind, he still wants to leave," the Jazz point added. "But as long as it doesn't affect the team, he doesn't let it affect everybody else, then it's not a problem."

Yet the affair has caused at least one to take a stand.

Fittingly, even it is conflicted.

Shortly after Kirilenko wrote about his feelings, Okur used his own Web site to support his teammate, writing, in part, "I believe that people have to respect his opinion that the Utah system no longer is a good fit for him."

Now, though, Okur sings a slightly altered tune.

"I still agree (with) what I said," the Turkish big man said Monday, "because I felt that way."

But, Okur hastened to add, "Hopefully he stay, because I like to play with him. He's such a good player. He makes my job easier, and my teammates' job easier on the defensive end and also the offensive end."

Kirilenko, for his part, suggested Monday that with the start of the season so close now he'll do all he can to keep quiet.

"We just don't like to talk about that right now," he said, "because it's not the time. Right now is really basketball time."

Asked if he can maintain "basketball time" for the next seven months or so, something resembling an actual smile broke across Kirilenko's sad-of-late face.

"Why not?" he asked. "We'll see. Definitely. I will try to do my best."

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com