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Jody Genessy keeps readers up to date on all things Utah Jazz along with information and insights from around the NBA. You can also follow Jody on Twitter.
An international incident?
Jazz writer | March 19, 2010 at 12:10 a.m.
Carlos Boozer (Duke) and Wesley Matthews (Marquette) weren't the only Jazz players who recently put plugs in for their non-NBA basketball teams.
Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur both participated in a photo shoot this week while wearing their countries' colors. The session was for upcoming promos for the 2010 FIBA World Championships, which will be held in Turkey this summer.
Not sure how it will turn out, but both players were shot in their homeland's uniforms, presumably on the court at EnergySolutions Arena. (Media wasn't allowed into the arena at the time, so I can't tell you exactly what they did.)
Okur used his modeling moment to get out of talking to media, jokingly showing reporters his Turkey basketball jersey as he came out of the locker room when he'd normally chat with reporters.
Kirilenko, who entered the Jazz locker room wearing his Russian uniform, wasn't so lucky.
"I feel a little different," he said. "I put it (the uniform) on and I'm like, 'Uh, oh.'"
Though strange to wear a non-Jazz uniform, the Russian superstar admits he's "definitely" excited about playing for his country this summer. (If you remember he took last summer off from his national team so he and his wife could adopt a baby girl.)
"We're looking forward to the world championship in Turkey," Kirilenko added. "It should be a very nice event. The U.S. team is always going to be favorite, but everybody (is) going to try to beat them."
A.K. laughed when asked if he razzed his Turkish teammate.
"He's my neighbor," Kirilenko said. "We're always trash-talking."
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