Sloan adjusting? He just wants hard play

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was asked after Saturday's win over Golden State about his approach to the job this season.

His response:

"We've had to adjust some with the people we have," said Sloan, who is in his 20th season with the Jazz and is under orders from franchise owner Larry H. Miller to take a more positive approach with unhappy forward Andrei Kirilenko in particular. "I don't know if we have or not. Some people say we have, some people say (otherwise). I don't worry about that.

"I'm only worried about trying to get guys to play hard. Sometimes we have a tendency not to respect the game like we should. But it's a little old-fashioned to expect that ...

"This is a players game, No. 1, and I think the sooner you understand that the easier it is to understand what goes on," Sloan added. "They don't fire players. That's the way this business is."

FOREIGN FLAVOR: At one point in Saturday's second quarter, each of three matchups on the floor involved European players: Italian Marco Belinelli on Croatian Gordan Giricek, Latvian Andris Biedrins on Russian Kirilenko and Frenchman Mikael Pietrus on Turk Mehmet Okur.

Golden State, by the way, leads the league in international players this season with six. Utah has four — the aforementioned three, and Ukranian Kyrylo Fesenko.

One other with the Jazz, Carlos Boozer, is an American born in Germany.

BOOKSHELF: The author of a recently published basketball book says the first Jazz team that went to the NBA Finals was better than the second.

"The 1997-98 Jazz probably had a better chance to win an NBA title, but the 1996-97 Jazz had the better season," said Kyle Wright, author of The NBA From Top to Bottom ($20.95, available on-line at www.iuniverse.com or www.sportsfromtoptobottom.com).

The book uses a unique computer formula to rank all 1,153 teams in NBA history, and ranks the 23-59 expansion (New Orleans) Jazz club as the worst in franchise history. Worst in Utah Jazz history? Adrian Dantley won the NBA scoring title that season, but Wright taps the 1980-81 Jazz who finished 28-54.

The 1970-1971 Milwaukee Bucks are named the greatest team in league history, and the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks are dubbed the worst.

DANTLEY DRIBBLES: Speaking of Dantley, the current Denver Nuggets assistant coach had five 30-plus point games at the start of the season in 1980 and four straight in 1980.