Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Andrei Kirilenko flew in from Moscow late Saturday night, getting ready for the beginning of Jazz Training Camp. Before camp begins Tuesday, Andrei allowed KSL into his home for an exclusive interview.
Earlier this month Kirilenko made a trade request through a blog entry on www.sports.ru. The former All-Star said he wants to be traded from Utah, where he has gone from being the keystone of a rebuilding team to a frustrated role player.
"The last season was unsuccessful for me and was seriously disappointing. I've thought a lot about this and come to the decision that I want to quit Utah," according to the blog entry, which was translated by the Moscow bureau of The Associated Press.
Sunday night, in an exclusive sit-down interview, Andrei makes it clear he loves Utah and wants to stay here.
"I'm the happiest guy in Salt Lake. I have lots of friends here. I have two kids was born here, I would like to finish my career here. That's in a perfect world, but the world is not perfect."
But he does not and will not go through more seasons dealing with Jerry Sloan's toughness.
"It's not a coach problem, it's my problem. I don't really see that it could work...He was trying to help, but sometimes we don't know how to help each other."
"I don't want to pretend I was happy last season. I don't want to blame anybody for that. I just seem to be on a different page with coach."
The Jazz will hold media day on Monday, October 1, at noon at the Zions Bank Basketball Center. The team then will depart for training camp in Boise, Idaho, that afternoon. The Jazz open the 2007 preseason at home vs. the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, October 10. The regular season tips off at Golden State on October 30.
