The Jazz spent almost as much time on the court for their pregame shootaround Monday as coach Jerry Sloan did answering questions from reporters, during a sometimes testy, sometimes defensive 20-minute exchange.
"If you've never coached, you can sit up in the stands and coach all you want, but you still don't know what this game is about," Sloan said. "I don't mean to offend anybody by that, I don't think any of you [have] ever coached at this level, but you've talked at this level, which you're all more intelligent than I am with making your observations because I'm not very good at that."
In the wake of Saturday's loss to a seven-man Golden State team, Sloan opted against making any lineup changes for Monday's game against the Clippers.
"I could look at a lot of people and change everybody, but this is kind of who we are to a certain extent," Sloan said. "The way I see it and when I talk with the coaches, that's pretty much in agreement."
Sloan said he had been nothing but honest in saying he expected Carlos Boozer to struggle in his return from knee surgery, much as Deron Williams did after returning from a sprained ankle.
But Sloan was asked why the Jazz have had seemingly less chemistry at full strength than they did playing through injuries earlier this season. His comments suggested that he felt he had no choice but to play Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko .
"What do we do? Sit them down and not play them at all?" Sloan said. "And then say, 'OK, we've got an All-Star guy here that's good enough to play and I sit him down and not play him, thinking that he's going to get to a level that I think he should be?
"That's like taking Karl Malone and he's missed -- he never missed any games -- but say he missed 40 games, I'm going to sit him down and not play him?"
Boozer has played 23 games since returning Feb. 23, leading to another question about whether he should be further along than he is after seven weeks.
"Yeah, but he's not 5-9, he's not 6-feet tall," Sloan said. "If he was 6-1, 6-2, maybe he comes back a little quicker. He's a big man. None of you are big men that way, especially that play Basketball.
"I think I try to be fair to all of our players, and sometimes I'm not, but I have tremendous hope for us when we get to the playoffs, because the regular season, all this stuff we're talking about today, won't mean a thing when the playoffs start."
For all the questions about the Jazz's defense and effort, Sloan said he could only "guide" players, not make them do anything. "I hope they want to do it, have the pride in themselves to try to be a good player every time they step on the floor," he said.
rsiler@sltrib.com
