Okur agrees it's time to take it inside

MINNEAPOLIS — All three of Mehmet Okur's baskets on a 3-for-10 shooting night came from 3-point range Tuesday, but Jazz coach Jerry Sloan knows why Okur struggled.

"He stayed on the perimeter," Sloan said after Utah's 111-100 loss at Minnesota.

"You know," Sloan added, "they switched smaller guys on him. Sometimes you have to go to the basket with smaller guys. You can't look for outside shots all the time."

Okur, who faces his old Detroit club tonight, agreed.

"I should have started with maybe a couple easy baskets, (getting to) the free-throw line," he said.

"Hopefully the ball is gonna fall for me (tonight)," Okur added, "so I have to let it go."

SNYDER'S REGRETS: Traded from Houston to Minnesota at last week's trade deadline, ex-Jazz swingman Kirk Snyder scored six points while playing a season-high 24 minutes in his Timberwolves debut.

Shortly after the deal, Snyder — who had played only 81 minutes in nine games with the Rockets this season — told a Minnesota newspaper he regretted not heeding Sloan's advice more as a rookie in Utah.

The former first-rounder from Nevada-Reno, Sloan suggested Tuesday, was typical of college stars who come to the NBA wide-eyed.

"Sometimes it's a rude awakening," he said.

"Sometimes young players come in and think, 'I have to do it this way. This is the only way I know how to do it.' It takes them a while to figure out there are four other guys out there playing with him," Sloan added. "It's hard to play this game by yourself and expect to win. Some guys can do it better than others, but there aren't many Michael Jordans around."

STANDING PAT: The Jazz apparently had little-to-no interest in veteran big man Jamaal Magloire, who was waived Friday by New Jersey and signed Tuesday by Dallas.

"(General manager) Kevin (O'Connor) mentioned his name," Sloan said, "but that's about it."

The Jazz haven't ruled out filling their 15th roster spot with a late-season signing, but they aren't about to significantly rearrange their roster either, Sloan suggested.

"We've got a lot of young guys," the Jazz coach said. "What are we gonna do? Destroy what we've tried to build up with them, and take something away from them?"

MISC.: Ex-University of Utah big man Michael Doleac dressed but didn't play (coach's decision) for Minnesota. Doleac has appeared in just 17 games this season. ... A two-man television crew from Iowa made a six-hour drive to talk Tuesday with Iowa high school product Kyle Korver for a story on the Jazz guard and his three basketball-playing brothers. ... Jarron Collins, Jason Hart and C.J. Miles all dressed but didn't play (coach's decision) for Utah.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com