After most of the gang of reporters had scattered, the session got juicier when Kirilenko was asked what he thought about the criticism that had been aimed at him last year after everything that happened in the playoffs and over the offseason, when he proclaimed to the world that he wanted out of Utah.
"I never really care what public thinks," he said. "I don't care about that."
What about your teammates, and their criticism?
"Everybody has their own opinion," he said. "Sometimes people don't know the whole [story]. . . . We're like a family. I don't have any problems with it. We're friends."
When Kirilenko was asked if he thought he would be with the Jazz next year at this time, he responded: "I have three more years on my contract. That's what I have. I have no control over that."
Is that the way you want it? Do you want to be here?
"You're asking bad questions," he said.
Maybe all that matters to most is that Kirilenko is helping the Jazz win big games, again, that he is relevant to the team the way he once was.
He's doing his job.
But there is more to his whole deal than is being told.
He doesn't really want to be with the Jazz, even though he can abide it by way of an odd kind of emotional detachment. He gets a bigger kick out of playing for the Russian national team. He's not close to many of his teammates. That's OK, as long as he keeps giving the Jazz what they want on the court. A lot of great teams haven't exactly sat around the campfire singing songs and giving communal hugs.
He's playing for the Jazz because his contract has him here, and he has no control over that now. He makes a boatload of money, more than he should based on what he brings most nights. He's probably OK with that. Still, the Jazz have big contracts to extend to other key players in the near future. Do they even want Kirilenko at his heavy cost?
The most compelling questions, then, will come in the months ahead, from both directions. If the Jazz make a deep run in the playoffs or win a championship, and he has a significant hand in it, will that bring contentment to Kirilenko here?
Or will it make him want to leave, even more?
And if it does, will the Jazz care?
It's hard for me to see a guy who still loathes being here diving for loose balls like AK has been, but if that's the case, my respect for him will actually have sky-rocketed. That's the kind of professionalism you have a right to expect out of a guy being paid insane amounts of money, especially when he doesn't deserve it.
http://www.sltrib.com/jazz/ci_8998643
