AK-47 wants out

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Arby's Roast Beef

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This is from Andrei Kirilenko's blog. It sounds like he's been mesmerized by the Eurobasket experience, particularly American-born Russian coach David Blatt's leadership. He then switches gears and talks about his struggles in Utah last season, ultimately leading to his case that he wants out from the team.

For those of you who can read Russian, here's the link:
http://www.sports.ru/blog/kirilenko/3427761.html

Translated Google version:
http://translate.google.com/transla...rts.ru/blog/kirilenko/3427761.html&hl=en&sa=G

It's hard to quote here, so I'll just pull out the key sentences from the article:

I am convinced that the methods Sloan had a negative impact on me

Coach Sloan is one of the reasons, but not the only one.

I told them I do not see [myself] on the team and want to leave.

Therefore, do not see their future in the team, "Utah Jazz.

And I have only one request--let me go in the direction I want.

Nevertheless, it is hope, the "Concept" still understand that our relationship has exhausted itself and us is to part.
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...yawn...

He's mesmerized by the Eurobasketball experience? Fine, let him go play Euro ball.
 
Reason I bring this thread up is that the Marion for Kirilenko swap rumors surfaced a few weeks ago. I wonder if Kirilenko's trying to push a deal to happen, and this might be the impetus for something to happen. But yeah, going back to Europe should be another alternative--hey, isn't it the new fad for hotshot NBA players to try their hands in Europe to force something to happen? Charlie Bell tried to force Bucks management's hands by playing in Greece. Alas, just another day in this long dreary offseason.
 
Waah waah. Kirilenko has a max contract that makes him untradeable at this point. Even at his previous level, he's not worth that kind of money.
 
Arby's Roast Beef said:
Reason I bring this thread up is that the Marion for Kirilenko swap rumors surfaced a few weeks ago. I wonder if Kirilenko's trying to push a deal to happen, and this might be the impetus for something to happen. But yeah, going back to Europe should be another alternative--hey, isn't it the new fad for hotshot NBA players to try their hands in Europe to force something to happen? Charlie Bell tried to force Bucks management's hands by playing in Greece. Alas, just another day in this long dreary offseason.
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Charlie Bell had to use Europe to make it into the league and was a superstar over there, so it was a viable threat before Miami stepped in. Money thing. AK-47, not so much. And his $14mil a year contrract makes that doubly so.

Its funny, because after I saw that picture of them knocking off Spain with him smiling, the first thing that occurred to me was I wonder how that was going to compare to his Jazz experience for him.
 
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chrisnu said:
Waah waah. Kirilenko has a max contract that makes him untradeable at this point. Even at his previous level, he's not worth that kind of money.
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I'd cheerfully cheerfully give them Salmons and Reef for him, call him a PF, and stick him next to Ron.
 
well, i don't think kirilenko wants to go back to europe. but it was pretty obvious he wanted out during the last season. kirilenko wants to run, cut, hustle but utah does not want him to play that way. he was asked to only run on defense and hope for the best on offense after boozer, memo and deron tried their chances. not exactly a player's dream. he probably would welcome playing in phoenix; i don't think he is keen on leaving utah just to play on another similar clogged system.
as for the 14$ per year, wow, i did not know that he was being paid that much. a little hype and a few successful seasons do wonders apparently.
 
As Polish, I can understand Russian language and I can say that Kirilenko was very polite to Sloan and the Jazz in that article. He used a mild tone (you can not feel it reading translation). Actually, Andrei is a very nice guy and I have never read anything bad about him.

However, I do not think that Utah will trade him ... yes, he is expensive but they need his super defense and athleticism. I guess only they really know how valuable he is. That's why they gave him that juicy contract.



VF21 said:
He's mesmerized by the Eurobasketball experience? Fine, let him go play Euro ball.
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Ridiculous ...
 
Bricklayer said:
I'd cheerfully cheerfully give them Salmons and Reef for him, call him a PF, and stick him next to Ron.
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Yeah I actually would do that too. We'd probably have to throw in something though, like Garcia. I dunno what we'd have to do to make the deal work but that would atleast be something good.
 
would you do it for martin? then start salmons or garcia at sg... i'd miss martin, dont know what to do with reef and thomas but still that'd be cool...
 
I just saw an article in which Kirilenko states that he wants not just to go from Utah,but to come back to Europe!He said that European competitions are much more competitive and exciting than NBA which he says is pretty boring till the playoff starts.
 
I read his official interview to Sport-Express that is the biggest sport newspaper in Eastern Europe.

He did not say that he wanna play in Europe only but he is ready to come back and he wanna play in Russia but other European teams are Ok too. However, as I understand, NBA is still #1 for him. He wanna play in NBA and someday to win a championship.

He said that Sloan is a super coach but his style is not for him. He said that he loves SLC and he was happy in there but he can not get along with Sloan. Besides coach told him that he is not going to change anything.

Kirilenko said that he has a huge contract and he is ready to break it. He said that his game was not that good last year. He wanna be honest with Utah and fans. He is ready to earn less.


You can read that article - http://www.sport-express.ru/art.shtml?146536
If you do not speak Russian, online translation will help you :)
 
ready to leave $63 mil contract

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3029816


According to a translation by The Salt Lake Tribune, Kirilenko said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Sport Express that he is prepared to go without the money remaining on his NBA contract to get away from the Jazz.

According to the Tribune, Kirilenko is quoted in the Russian newspaper as saying: "I just want to explain to everybody what I think and feel and that I could sacrifice my career with the NBA. The only thing I'm not prepared for is if I'm told, 'Andrei, we want you to stay anyway.' I'm sure then the next season would be a repetition of the previous one, and what will the fans say then? How could you possibly rely on a player who wants to leave?"

Kirilenko, who is under contract through the 2010-11 season, told Sport Express he thinks the chances of his contract being voided are small. But he remains steadfast in his desire to leave Utah, even if it means playing on a worse team, NBA or otherwise.
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Wow, I suddenly have a lot more respect for Andrei Kirilenko. A lot of guys say they're not about the money, but how many are willing to put their money where their mouth is? I don't see this as another case of an overpaid superstar demanding a trade because they want to be on a winning team. The Jazz are a competitive team, but he's miserable there. I think he was happy when he signed the deal, but a lot of things have changed since then. And maybe you can't put a price on happiness, not even 63 million dollars. I don't know, seems like a stretch, but I like it. He's already made plenty of money, maybe he's more interested in his development as a basketball player now then in making the most money possible. If he does negotiate a buyout though, who's got the money to pay him? Or would he take a minimum deal to play until he's eligible for another max extension? Tricky situation. Heck of a basketball player. As a fan, I'd sure like to see this benefit our team somehow.
 
hrdboild said:
Wow, I suddenly have a lot more respect for Andrei Kirilenko.
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Ironically my reaction was the opposite. Perpetuating the image of the soft Euro basketball player who cuts and runs under pressure and is doesn't burn to win. Its been a hell of a weight around the ankles for Euros for a long time.

He's a very good player. Contract is too big, but he;s got unique skills. If you could get him for relatively cheap you have to consider almsot no matter who you are. But there is simply no way any NBA team is looking at a guy who has seemingly everything -- megacontract, coming off a trip to the WCF, and still threatens to bail because his poor little weelings are hurt and thinkgin they can remotely rely or trust this guy to be about winning a title.
 
Cultural differences I guess. I don't really go for all the machismo, testosterone, pride, ultra-competitiveness angle that is typically expected of male athletes in America. I think you've got a basketball player here who's on a team that is totally wrong for him and he knows it and instead of playing out the rest of his prime on a team he hates because his contract demands it, and probably setting himself up for a career of underperformance and disappointment as a result, he's willing to null his contract to get moved to a situation where he can thrive. I don't think that makes him a wimp, I think that makes him intelligent. True he could just suck it up and play, but why should he have to? It's only money. It's not like the Utah Jazz own him.

He just dominated a lot of good players in the Eurobasket tournament including Dirk and Pau Gasol, yet last season he was averaging 8 points and 6 rebounds per game. Huh? It's easy to see what's happened. Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer are Sloan's new Stockton and Malone. Together they averaged 29 shots per game last year. And they could only find 6 shots for Kirilenko? This isn't just a matter of professional pride -- he's been completely frozen out of the offense. And he's supposed to come in and punch the timeclock for the next 4 years because once upon a time Utah said they were going to make him their franchise player and paid him handsomly for it? I'm with Kirilenko on this one. It's time to move on. Life's too short. And if he's man enough to waive his contract, I wish him all the best.
 
I was just reading an article on some serbian site how lots of players these days wanna come back to Europe,which was unbelievable a few years ago.After Kirilenko,Jasikevicius is going to sign with Olympiakos or Panathinaikos(both Greece) and Sasa Pavlovic,Anderson Varejao and Mikael Pietrus are considering something like that too.Very interesting...
 
If the money becomes comparable, I can definitely see the appeal of being a "star" and the man on your team in Europe vs being a role player for some struggling NBA team.

Add to that the benefit of being closer to home and I'd probably seriously consider it as well.
 
hrdboild said:
Cultural differences I guess. I don't really go for all the machismo, testosterone, pride, ultra-competitiveness angle that is typically expected of male athletes in America.
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You would then not go in for what typically makes an athlete, male or female, from anywhere in the world, a champion. Heck toughmindedness is a defiing trait of a champion in almost any field, ahtletics or not.

Its not a game, and he's not a child. Its a high stakes big $$ profession, and you either have the stones for it, or you run away when the going gets tough.
 
I don't know what to think about this. On one hand, like Brick said, he is "running away" if he returns to Europe, but on the other, if he walks away from all that money he is guaranteed in the NBA to play the game he likes the way he likes it, I have to respect that (he will never get anything approaching his NBA salary).

I guess if it wasn't for his melt-down in the play offs last season, I would find it easier to see his side of the story, but man, that was a dictionary definition of a player crumbling once he is taken outside his comfort zone.


As for the whole "cultural differences" thing. The culture and competitivness in Europe is on par with NBA. The problem is just that, European alpha-male athletes are every bit as competitive, egotistical and uncompromising as their NBA counterparts. Many never make the move to the NBA because they don't want to relinquish power and status that they earned in Europe (for example, Sacramento King's very own draftee - Bodiroga). Others show up for the camp or even sign a deal and then cannot handle the whole "your career is a clean slate now/starting from the bottom rung" thing (Djordjevic and Danilovic come to mind, both have more in common with Kobe then with AK personality wise). Drazen Petrovic is really the only exception... He was "it" everywhere he played except Portland.
 
Peja said:
I was just reading an article on some serbian site how lots of players these days wanna come back to Europe,which was unbelievable a few years ago.After Kirilenko,Jasikevicius is going to sign with Olympiakos or Panathinaikos(both Greece) and Sasa Pavlovic,Anderson Varejao and Mikael Pietrus are considering something like that too.Very interesting...
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Saras is done. He will never be the player that he was with Maccabi. Sasa, Varejao and Pietrus might benefit from playing a year or two in Europe in the long term by securing bigger and better contracts in NBA once they are unrestricted FA's. AK just needs an NBA team that will play him at PF and he is good to go, there is nothing to be gained by him from playing in Europe.
 
And this isn't helping:

Utah Jazz: Williams rips Kirilenko
The Jazz point guard says the forward was 'the first one out the door' after practice
By Steve Luhm
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 09/22/2007 10:05:16 AM MDT

Utah point guard Deron Williams wants Andrei Kirilenko back with the Jazz next season, but hopes his unhappy teammate brings an improved work ethic with him.

In a Friday afternoon radio interview on 1280 The Zone, Williams told Salt Lake Tribune columnist Gordon Monson and co-host Kevin Graham that Kirilenko can be "a special player for us" if he returns with the right attitude.

Referring to teammates Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur, Williams said, "You see Booz after practice shooting for 25 or 30 minutes. You see Memo shooting for 20 minutes. You see, you know, all the rookies. The young guys. You saw [Rafael Araujo] in there working. [Then] you see Andrei being the first one out the door."

As the Jazz's quarterback, Williams admitted he has looked for other targets with his passes because of Kirilenko's approach to the game last season.

"If he's coming off a screen on one side and Matt [Harpring] is coming off a screen on one side, who do you think you're going to pass to?" Williams said.

"You think you're going to pass to the guy you see working every day in the gym or are you going to pass to the guy who never works on his shot but yet wants to shoot 'em every time?"

Asked if Kirilenko's work ethic was a problem, Williams said, "I would say so."

Kirilenko averaged 8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds last season, when the Jazz won 51 games during the regular season and reached the Western Conference finals.

Those numbers are about half of what Kirilenko produced during his best season in 2003-04, when he averaged 16.5 points and 8.1 rebounds.

After leading Russia to the EuroLeague championship last week, Kirilenko was named the tournament MVP and lashed out at the Jazz and veteran coach Jerry Sloan. He demanded a trade and eventually suggested he was so unhappy that he might walk away from the $63 million that remains on his contract, which runs through 2011.

"I haven't been paying much attention to it," Williams said. "[But] I'll bet he's here on the first" of October.

The Jazz open training camp Oct. 2 in Boise.

"I've said before, we need Andrei," Williams said. "He's a great player for us. He can be a special player for us. There are not too many guys in the NBA who can come up and attack you like he can.

"He had a great EuroLeague tournament over there. He played well, got the MVP. I'm sure his confidence is up. But I don't see anyone walking away from $60 million."

What if Kirilenko does not return?

"It will definitely hurt us," Williams said. "But at the same time, guys don't want to sit across the locker room from a guy who doesn't want to be here. . . . I love Andrei - like him as a player, like him as a person. He can definitely be a special player for us. But he's not going to average 20 points a game."

Williams suggested that part of his job next season will be to help Kirilenko regain the confidence he lost last year: "I've got to get him ways to get him more touches, where he's comfortable and not just shooting jumpers because that's really not A.K.'s game. He'll be the first one to tell you that.

"But he can still work. . . . If you work on your shot, it's going to improve. Just because you can't shoot doesn't mean you shouldn't work on it - shouldn't mean you just give up on it. We definitely need to find ways - post him up more, [get him] slashing to the basket more. Find ways to utilize him within the offense."

Williams defended Sloan, who has been a target of harsh criticism from Kirilenko.

"I'm trying to win," Williams said. "I could be mad at Coach Sloan. I could hate Coach Sloan more than anything. But I'm still going to play for him, still going to play hard."

In a story published Friday in Russia's Sport-Express, Kirilenko repeated his desire to leave Utah and sever ties with the Jazz and Sloan.

"For the past two years, I've been going on the court and acting like a robot," Kirilenko told the newspaper. "When I signed my contract, the future looked completely different."

Jazz vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor said earlier this week that Kirilenko is under contract and is expected for the start of training camp. Contacted Friday night, O'Connor declined any further comment.

http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_6970226


First after the playoffs, and now this. Deron really burst onto the scene as a major PG last year, but he;s proving to be problematically yappy too. Utah really has to fiond a way to muzzle this guy before his particular brand of "leadership" tears them up. Remember the huge furor when Webb even dared IMPLY that unnamed people weren't carrying their weight, but this kid has been throwing absolute bombs around all offseason and naming names to boot. Utah had a great year last year, but you can see all kinds of chemistry things brewing there that could cut them down before they ever really take off.
 
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