Words that I’ve used in the past in columns such as this one to describe Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko have been mostly positive.   Warrior.   Fearless.   Goes all out.   Tremendous shot-blocking ability.

You will not hear too many positive things said about a man now known as perhaps the biggest pariah in Utah history since Derek Harper told the media, “You go live in Utah then,” shortly after his refusing to report after the Jazz had apparently traded for him to come backup John Stockton.

Now, don’t get me wrong; the “Trade Kirilenko” bandwagon has long been gaining steam amongst Jazz fans for the better part of a year now.   It’s just that I’ve never jumped onboard…

Until now.

In case you haven’t heard, Kirilenko has been telling anybody and everybody that’s willing to listen (and who can read and understand Russian) that he wants out of Utah because he’s not getting the ball enough and not taking enough shots during the game.   He also said he’d much rather tear up his contract and play in his home country of Russia than to have another season similar to what he experienced last season.   Now, in the interest of fairness, I will say that he had a really bad season.   Anytime a former All-Star is averaging only eight points, five rebounds, and 1.2 assists would have to be considered as having a bad season.

But, at the same time, there are flaws to Kirilenko’s logic.   See, his thinking is that he could just go play in Russia for the Russian National Team and not suffer any consequences from his actions.   Only problem is that FIBA, the international basketball body, honors NBA contracts because of the agreement that they have.   Therefore, since Kirilenko would be violating his NBA contract, he would then be ineligible to play for the Russian National Team.   In essence, if Kirilenko follows through on his threat, he would basically be throwing his basketball career, foreign and domestic, right into the toilet and flushing it away.

And from the sounds of things, both from the local papers and from people on the streets, he may have just thrown his Utah Jazz career into the toilet and flushed that away.

For starters, how badly do you think head coach Jerry Sloan, who already has a reputation for being hard, tough, and old-school, is going to make Kirilenko’s life a living hell now?   Kirilenko would be guaranteed to not repeat what happened last season, but rather it would be much worse this season.

Point guard Deron Williams blew him up recently in some comments he made.   In a radio interview he did with a local radio station, Williams said about Kirilenko’s work ethic, “You see Booz (Carlos Boozer) after practice shooting for 25 or 30 minutes. You see Memo (Mehmet Okur) 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."   Do you honestly think that Deron Williams, even though he’ll be a professional no matter what, wants Kirilenko back?   But, on a side note, how about that nice little jab, mentioning the guy who spent a lot of time last season riding the bench?   There’s something to be said about a guy who is the twelfth man on the bench working harder than the guy who is set to make more money this season than anybody else on the roster.   And none of that being said would be positive.

And Jerry Sloan may be a lot of things to a lot of people, but the one thing you can never discredit Sloan for is this: his philosophy is if you work hard enough, and you show that you deserve a certain number of shots, you’ll get your shots.   It’s as simple as that.   So why in the hell would Kirilenko not think that through before making these threats?   If Kirilenko would just shut up and work harder to earn those extra shots that he desperately wants, he wouldn’t have any issues whatsoever.

And at the same time, on top of the coach basically looking to make his life a living hell, how badly do you think this is going over with the fans?   You have to know that the minute he steps onto that EnergySolutions Arena floor, he is going to be absolutely annihilated; the 19,000+ at that arena are going to come to the game looking to boo Kirilenko right out the freaking door all the way to Salt Lake International Airport.

To make matters worse for his chances of staying in Utah, now comes word out of Phoenix that Suns forward Shawn Marion is unhappy with his situation and wants out of Phoenix as well.   So you can imagine that the Marion-for-Kirilenko trade rumors have restarted once again.   Except there’s one slight problem with that potential trade: the Suns fans want as much to do with Kirilenko as Jazz fans do, namely nothing.   They’d rather have Marion than Kirilenko.

So, since another name has popped up recently in trade rumors, I have a way to solve everybody’s problems:

The Utah Jazz would send Andrei Kirilenko to the New Jersey Nets, who would, in turn, send Richard Jefferson and Nenad Krstic to the Phoenix Suns, who would then send Shawn Marion to the Jazz.   Problem solved, and everybody goes home happy.   Kirilenko could then play with another guy who orchestrated a trade in Vince Carter.   Remember, it was Vince Carter who faked an injury so he could orchestrate the trade that sent him from Toronto to New Jersey for Alonzo Mourning.   Meanwhile, the Jazz get someone who is actually looking for a pay raise after this season, and will look to get that pay raise the right way: by putting up numbers, building stats, and helping the team win.   Oh, and Phoenix gets a decent center and a great shooting swingman in Jefferson.   It’s a win-win for everybody.

Oh, and on a personal note, Andrei, from a life-long Jazz fan just to you:

I have stuck up for you time after time, defended you amidst everybody else calling for your head, and this is the thanks I get?!   Well, I will say thank you for potentially wrecking the team chemistry of what could have been the best young nucleus not only in the Northwest Division, not only in the Western Conference, but in the entire NBA arguably.   Personally, I hope you do follow through on your promise to tear the contract, just so I can watch Larry Miller (you know that guy, the one who signs your freaking paychecks) take your sorry, fragile, weak ass to court for breach of contract.   And when you do lose that case and you become penniless, you’ll find that the once-a-year allowances from your wife become harder and harder to cash in.   Now do us all a favor and go to Russia, to the Ukraine, to France, to hell!   I don’t care where you go, just get the hell out of Utah now while you have a shred of dignity left.   I may have made the mistake of defending you once before, but I will never make that same mistake again.

Didn’t you learn anything from the whole Carlos Arroyo fiasco?   No sooner than he started having words with Jerry Sloan, he was traded to Detroit and the trade was reported on ESPN.com faster than you could finish singing a hymn at sacrament in church.   Andrei Kirilenko is now the Jazz player most hated by Jazz fans since DeShawn “She Told Me She was 19, Not 16” Stevenson.

RaulCBK@comcast.net

To quote Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy, “That’s all I’ve got to say.   Makes me want to puke.”