Kirilenko To Return On Friday

Andrei Kirilenko's sprained right ankle is no longer giving him any pain, so the Utah forward is slated to return to action on Friday versus the Lakers.

"I'll have to see Andrei play," Sloan said when asked what kind of role he will have in his return. "Maybe he's better coming off the bench. I don't know where he's at right now.

"His energy level seems to be pretty high right now," Sloan said. "He seems to want to work hard in practice, and that's important. [The extra playing time] has helped him, I think so."

Ronnie Brewer, who has been in the starting line-up as Kirilenko's replacement, may remain in the first five as the team's shooting guard.

Via Salt Lake Tribune

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Jazz GM: ''There Is Nobody Untradeable On The Team''

Kevin O'Connor was recently asked by SI.com about the constant trade rumors surrounding Carlos Boozer.

"My job is to make the team better, and we as an organization have a history of not trying to trade people," said O'Connor. "We're not looking to move people, and patience is something that's important to us, because we think guys get better here. But if we had a situation that would improve our team, there is nobody untradeable on the team."

Via Deseret News

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Kirilenko Back On Friday?

Andrei Kirilenko ran all the drills on Wednesday, and said he feels ready to play. But the Jazz want him to wait until at least Friday to test his sprained right ankle, so he watched last night's win over the Kings in street clothes.

"No problems. I'm a little worried about game speed, because practice isn't same," Kirilenko said. "I played three-on-three today, feels good. But there's big difference. We only use one basket."

The Russian forward, who sprained his ankle Nov. 11 in Milwaukee and had sat out four games, all Utah victories, before Wednesday, said it will take a week or so to get back into game shape.

In this condition, he said he's concerned about disrupting the roll the 10-1 Jazz are on.

"They're playing better without me, so I'll just do dirty work," Kirilenko said with a grin. "I don't want to break their play right now, they're so good."

Via Salt Lake Tribune

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