With the team taking Sunday off following a three-game road trip and the New Jersey Nets visiting Utah tonight, a few recent and somewhat random thoughts on various Jazz players from coach Jerry Sloan ...

• Starting shooting guard Ronnie Brewer: "The position he plays, it's unfortunate, but guys he has to play against are very talented people, guys that score a lot of points. And sometimes the burden is on him to do something to try to be able to do something about that. But you can't do it alone, and that's where we've probably failed."

• Starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko: "He's doing about everything you can ask a guy to do. He seems to be much more at ease with himself the way he's playing ... He's missed some shots, and hasn't shot a lot of shots. But when he has the ball, and people move, he usually passes it to them. As many times as he's been open, he's not getting the basketball where he needs the ball to be able to score ... A lot of guys don't see any farther than their nose."

• Backup shooting guard Gordan Giricek, who seemed upset to be pulled from Friday's loss at Cleveland following a defensive lapse: "In coaching I don't think you ever bat a hundred percent dealing with guys and always treat them exactly like they want to be treated. I guess I've always gotten on players here and there as time goes on, and some players handle it a little differently than others, and I don't handle it very well at times, because I'm sometimes a little emotional about it. But, I mean, he's been here four, five years. It's not like he's a rookie trying to find out who I am or what I'm about. We need him to play well, we need him to play intelligently, we need ... (his) being able to shoot the basketball."

• Reserve swingman C.J. Miles, who has played sparingly and sporadically after missing offseason action due to an unsettled contract situation: "He's got work to do to catch up because he didn't play in the summer league, and he's got work to do to try to make himself a better basketball player ... If he can demand minutes from what we see in practice and what we see every time he gets in a game, then he'll get looked at a little bit. But he's a young player. He's got a lot to work on, and he's got a lot to work with."