Andrei Kirilenko ain't too proud to beg

After spouting off in Russian a few weeks ago, Andrei Kirilenko is back in the media spotlight reiterating his wish to leave the Utah Jazz, this time in plain english. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Kirilenko, during an interview with local TV station KLS 5, made it quite clear in so many ways that he simply doesn’t fit the current Jazz roster and within Coach Jerry Sloan’s system.

“I’m stuck. I don’t know. I’m stuck in this situation,” Kirilenko said. “I just want him [Jazz owner Larry Miller] to help me again and help the team. I don’t want to be an anchor for the team. Right now, I feel like an anchor game-wise and money-wise. I want the Jazz to be as happy as possible.”

You can almost feel the frustration when you read Kirilenko’s words. He sounds like a grounded teenager begging and pleading with his parents to let him go to the party with the cool kids. It’s almost as if he’s saying, “I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll mow the lawn, I’ll take out the trash, I’ll clean out my room, please just let me go.”

We’re not sure how the Utah Jazz can go into a season with this Kirilenko issue hanging over their head like an ominous cloud of bad karma. The entire scenario has all the makings of turning into a major locker room issue – a cancer on one of the brightest young teams in the league. It has to be dealt with right now, before the hinges fall off on what should be a promising season for the Utah Jazz. A trade, given Kirilenko’s large contract and small production (at least in 2007), will be extremely difficult to pull off, but Miller and Sloan need to explore all available leads and grant the hypersensitive Russian his walking papers.

Shawn Marion asks for a trade; May be headed to the Lakers

The Shawn Marion trade rumors have been percolating all summer, but today things came to a boil as the aptly nicknamed “Matrix” flatly asked for a trade out of Phoenix. Marion told the Arizona Republic that he is “tired of hearing” his name in trade rumors and that “it’s time to move on.” It’s the same old song and dance that’s become the MO for disgruntled superstars in the NBA. Marion, who has been unsuccessfully seeking a contract extension at a whopping $20 million per season from the Suns, feels that he has been disrespected and that the organization lied to him, blah, blah, blah. Marion said that he would report to training camp and take part in all mandatory training camp and pre-season activities, but for a team positioned for a serious run at the championship trophy this soap-opera could become a major distraction.

Perhaps to quell the issue before it becomes a full-blown national emergency, it seems that Phoenix is considering some trade scenarios. According to reports, some of which may be wishful thinking than actual intelligence, Marion has been mentioned in trades involving both the Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz. The key players going to Phoenix as part of these trades would be Lamar Odom from the Lakers, or the disgruntled Andrei Kirilenko from the Jazz. Marion, for his part, would welcome a chance to play with his good buddy Kobe Bryant in LA.

"You have a great organization, great ownership there with the Lakers. I don't see no problems with playing there," Marion told the Sportingnews.com today.

For Utah the trade makes some sense, as they’d be ridding themselves of a head-ache and getting a perennial All-Star in return. But, we’re not sure if Marion, who nixed a trade to Boston earlier this summer (before the Cs traded for Garnett straight up), would welcome a trade to the land of dinosaurs and Mormons. Marion, among other things, is unhappy with being the third option behind Steve Nash and Amare Stoudamire on a loaded Phoenix squad, so we’re not sure if he’ll appreciate being the third option behind Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer in Utah.

As for the Lakers, given his comments we’re sure Marion would welcome the trade, but swapping small forward Odom with small forward Marion amounts to a horizontal move for Kobe’s crusaders. The Lakers would be wise to target a back-to-the-basket big man, like Jermaine O’neal for example, that can pass the ball out of the paint, and thrive within the triangle offense. Marion really only excels in the fast-break game, a concept which is almost alien to the current Lakers squad and their coach Phil Jackson.

Then there is the root issue of Marion’s demands for a contract extension with a yearly salary of $20 million-plus. The “Matrix” may be a solid player, but he must be living in an alternate reality if he thinks his game is worth that money – that’s Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant money. What advantage do the Lakers get by trading a small forward that fits somewhat within the triangle for one that will stick out like a sore thumb, and paying the new guy $7 million more per season?

The Sportingnews.com reports that the chances of the Lakers deal happening is about “50-50”. But, if the deal does go through, the chances of the Lakers suddenly becoming a championship contender with Shawn Marion on the roster, and Lamar Odom not, is probably 0 percent.

In The News: September 20, 2007

A day after Andrei Kirilenko demanded to be traded through a Russian blog post, both his agent and the Jazz tried to downplay the situation as much as possible. Agent Mark Fleisher told the Salt Lake Tribune that Kirilenko, though unhappy with his current role on the team, will report to training camp when it opens in early October. Kevin O’Connor, senior vice president of basketball operations for the Utah Jazz, also expected Kirilinko to be in camp, saying that he hopes the forward honors his rather substantial contract.

"I'd like to think Andrei recognizes that the Utah Jazz have helped him in his career,'' O'Connor told the newspaper.

But O’Connor also said, “I think what we would be remiss in doing, is not exploring every option to make our team better, and that includes everybody and we've always talked about that."

Things don’t look too rosy for Kirilenko in Utah, which would be just fine with AK-47.

Soccer goalie kicks ball boy on the shin

The life of a ball boy, or girl, seems like a fun and carefree one. You get to go to every game, hang out with the athletes and generally have one of the best seats in the house. Life is good, just as long as you’re not applying for the ball boy position in the Peruvian soccer league. Apparently a Peruvian league goalkeeper, who also plays for the International squad, simply couldn’t take the heckling from a ball boy any longer and kicked the poor lad on the shin. The goalkeeper was of course kicked out of the match and taken to the police station, for, well, abusing a poor, helpless kid. You can read more about this saga on the Guardian Web site.

Olympic torch aspires to be the first torch ever to scale Mount Everest

Since the close of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the Olympic torch has been on a long and winding journey to its final destination of Beijing, China for the 2008 Olympic event. Apparently, the torch has just now reached a very crucial stage, as it will in fact journey to the summit of Mount Everest and back down on its route through Nepal and China. It’s pretty cool in general that the torch is passing up to and through the summit of Mount Everest, but the “free Tibet” folks don’t seem too thrilled about a Chinese icon passing through Tibetan land.

Houston contemplates comeback. NY hoops teams contemplate crappy rosters

The Nets and the Knicks are dueling for the services of one Alan Houston. But, the story here really isn’t the fact that Houston may be coming out of retirement, it's that both the Nets and the Knicks are desperate enough to covet the services of an over-the-hill jump shooter, who never played defense even in his prime and is entirely too intimate with the surgeons table to be considered even the least bit reliable. Goes to show the state of the Nets and Knicks respective rosters.

Race horse becomes the Tiger Woods of losers

We generally don’t write about horse racing, but this nugget of news was too good to pass up. Apparently, a Puerto Rican horse has set some kind of world record for futility. With its last place finish this week, the infamous horse named Dona Chepa became the losingest steed in horse racing history. And you thought the Chicago Cubs had it bad. All is not lost however. Apparently, Dona Chepa’s jockey received a very nice plaque for his completely and utterly uninspired life-long losing efforts. Great success.

The LeBron James project reaches critical Stage 3

“Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first Bionic Man.”

Apparently, the research to build the most potent basketball player ever, or otherwise known as the “LeBron James experiment”, is still in full development. Coming off a star performance during this summer’s FIBA America’s tournament, LeBron has ballooned up to 255 pounds (from 240) on the same 6’8” frame, while gaining zero body fat. The 22-year old also underwent recent Lasik laser eye surgery and has better than 20/20 vision.

On the flip-side, the research to build the perfect big man has hit a snag.

There really is only one downside to all this experimentation however, and that’s premature aging. See Exhibit 1, 22-year old LeBron James, and Exhibit 2, 19-year old Greg Oden. Right.

Go to sleep for a couple of weeks and wake up to the glory of the NBA

If you’re a basketball fan, remember these dates: October 1, 6 and 30. The first date is the official start of NBA training camps. October 6 is the start of the NBA preseason schedule, which includes the NBA Europe Live tournament kicking things off. And of course, October 30 is the start of the 2007-2008 regular season. Can you feel the excitement? The NBA is back!

Andrei Kirilenko asks to be traded

Leverage and timing. Although Andrei Kirilenko – or the Ivan Drago clone, for you Rocky IV fans – generally speaks in broken English he seems to have no trouble grasping the importance of those two key English words, particularly when it comes to NBA negotiations. Kirilenko has apparently asked the Utah Jazz to trade him, or else, through a Russian blog entry. We say apparently because it isn’t 100 percent confirmed just yet whether Kirilenko is actually the one who penned the blog post. But really, what better time for Kirilenko to ask for a trade from his current team the Utah Jazz, than when he’s coming off a MVP performance at the recently concluded Eurobasket 2007 tournament, where he shot a scorching 54% from the field while averaging 18 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.8 blocks.

Kirilenko has been sulking all summer about the way his 2006-2007 NBA season with the Jazz played out. More specifically, throughout last season AK-47, as he is nicknamed, was upset with the way Jazz coach Jerry Sloan used his considerable skills. On the cusp of becoming a perennial all-star coming into the season, Kirilenko took a massive step back in terms of performance and the perception of his talent level last season while playing in the shadows of new Jazz stars Carlos Boozer, Deron Williams and Mehmet Okur. So, the Eurobasket tournament success was almost cathartic for AK. Following the finals win against a stacked Spanish club, Kirilenko only had the most glowing praise for the Russian team coach David Blatt. He went on to say that the tournament win was “the best achievement” in his career.

Drago throws a left jab, followed by a right hook…Jerry Sloan is reeling.

Andrei Kirilenko simply doesn’t fit the Jazz roster as it is currently composed. The presence of Boozer on the block and on the boards has left little real-estate for Kirilenko in the paint, while Mehmet Okur’s pick-and-roll play and outside shooting has relegated AK to being the fourth or even fifth offensive option. On the Jazz team as it is constituted now, Kirilenko is no more than a stand-still jump-shooter, which incidentally is also the weakest part of his game. The 4 years and $63 million remaining on his contract left the Jazz with no other option but to try make a square peg fit into a round hole, and thus the experimentation last year. But, judging from last season’s results it seems crystal clear that the Jazz, who made the Western Conference Finals without much help from AK, don’t need Andrei Kirilenko and Kirilenko can’t thrive on the current Utah team.

The Jazz should leverage the success Kirilenko had at the Eurobasket 2007 tournament and strike a trade while the iron is hot. The team is in dire need of a big shooting guard that can knock down the 3-ball on a consistent basis. We’re sure there’s a team out there that will gladly accept Kirilenko’s services, and contract, in exchange for such a player. The Jazz will also get the cap relief they desperately need to sign young stars like Paul Milsap and Deron Williams to long-term contracts.

Given Kirilenko’s seemingly saavy use of leverage and timing, if he isn’t traded by the start of the season, his message to Jerry Sloan and the Utah Jazz will be loud and clear: “I must break you!” And that distraction could be devastating for a young team like the Jazz going into the new season.