Shooting guard J.R. Giddens, who was assigned to Utah from the Boston Celtics, was last year's Mountain West Conference co-MVP with BYU's Lee Cummard at New Mexico.

Point guard Dontell Jefferson's local connection plays with Utah's NBA team. He and Jazz shooting guard Ronnie Brewer were teammates at the University of Arkansas and are now roommates.

The Jazz have no immediate plans to assign any current players to the Flash, who held their Media Day and practice at the Zions Bank Basketball Center on Tuesday.

MENTAL BLOCK: Despite how it appeared Monday, blocking Shaq's shot isn't as simple as the Jazz made it look. It helped that Kirilenko, who stuffed O'Neal twice, is familiar with the Diesel's game.

"I wouldn't say it's easy," Kirilenko said, "but it's kind of predictable because Shaq is a huge force inside and a post-up player."

Shaq also has his habits. According to Kirilenko, if O'Neal doesn't dish the ball right away while posting up or before making his move to the hoop, teammates might as well start blocking out. That's because once he begins his motion, "he almost never pass," Kirilenko said. "He likes to get power layup."

The lanky Russian forward took advantage of that tendency twice in a matter of seconds while sagging off of his man to help Carlos Boozer.

STOCKTON FAN: John Stockton and Gary Payton had their battles when they were among the league's top point guards, and the Jazz great still gets respect from the former Seattle star. In an interview with SLAM magazine, the 40-year-old Payton named 46-year-old Stockton as one of his favorite players to watch while growing up. The others: Magic Johnson, Calvin Murphy and Tiny Archibald.

"Stockton could just do everything," Payton said. "I really admired his game."

---

E-mail: jody@desnews.com