Sports writers wondered if Andrei Kirilenko would show up to camp after his latest requests for a trade and public desire to play in a different system other that of Jerry Sloan, which he feels hampers his ability to play to his fullest.
Amazingly enough the sports writers asked him to reiterate what he has already said.
Alright.
That’s not so amazing.
They were persistent, too, rephrasing the question a hundred different ways before finally conceding that he wasn’t going to say any more to any of them about wanting to be traded than he had already said publicly on three different occasions: on his blog, to a Russian paper, and to a television team in Utah.
Andrei Kirilenko thought that was enough, and he left it at that.
Will he be traded?
Probably not for Shawn Marion who has, himself, asked to be traded to a team where he isn’t the third or fourth option — which is exactly what he would be in Utah. He also wants a monster extension, and Utah is unlikely to give it to him with Deron Williams extension coming up.
That leaves trades for a huge collection of players — which Utah is very unlikely to take on considering that they have assembled a crew of their own — or for a player or two that add up to Kirilenko’s max contract. The number of players on teams who might be willing to trade them for Kirilenko could probably be counted on one hand. Aside from Phoenix trading Marion, the Lakers might trade Lamar Odom, the Pacers might trade Jermaine O’Neal (although I don’t see how he would fit in with Boozer and Okur), or the Nets might trade Richard Jefferson (who has had some injury problems lately).
Now that Kirilenko is here, should the Jazz see if fences can be mended and Kirilenko can return to All-Star form?
Whether or not they should, I think they will try.
Personally, I’d trade him for Richard Jefferson or Lamar Odom, in that order, and see what Utah can do.
