Sloan and AK Finally Embrace

2007-10-12T11:39:00.001-07:00

A begrudging Sloan finally gave AK what he wanted. More touches and a bit of ego stroking. The touches came on every possession for Andre, during the Pre-season opener against the Bucks Wednesday. AK was clearly the shinning star of the game. He finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in just 24 minutes.	A warm embrace
The Euro League MVP, seemed to dominate the flow of the first quarter with his intensity. A reel of Highlight plays ensued. Andre began by flying across the lane, blocking a Charlie Villanueva shot, which , lead to a dunk for Ronnie Brewer at the other end. Deron Williams, then found AK on the fast break who unselfishly threw a nifty, behind the back pass to a streaking Paul Milsap for the easy basket. Andre even had something that looked suspiciously like a Jump Shot. Even Hot Rod commented on AK's Jump shot. "And the Cow Hide Globe Hits Home! Wow! It looks like that work with Jeff Hornacek has been paying off. What a smooth touch." Of course his next shot was an air ball but, Hot Rod kept coming back to the two weeks of hard work AK had put in with Hornaceck. Sloan topped off the night with a 'curtain call' for AK in the fourth quarter. Kirilenko was the only starter to come back for the fourth only to be pulled out of the game minutes later to a round of applause from the fans.
Buddy System But most importantly we saw AK smiling on the bench, and Joking with the 20-year-old Ukrainian Rookie Fesinko. It appeared as if Andre has a new friend and protégé in 'Fess'. No one has seemed to pick up on this but I think AK finally has someone who he can speak Russian with.	A Comrade for AK?
For more than 300 years Ukraine was a part of Russia. Though official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian, more than 60% of its population speaks Russian. This may be the real reason that Fess was so quickly ushered into the Jazz. Normally the Jazz style is to save some money and let an undeveloped draft pick languish in their home country for years. At least this happened with with AK. I think that Fess is a million dollar friend for AK. Sloan has said Fesinko, has no idea what he is doing and is lost in space. If this is true though, I think it is a small price to pay. UPDATE: Shortly after posting this an article on the D-news appeared confirming my suspicions. They do both speak Russian. When asked about the blossoming friendship, Sloan was quoted as saying "You run into a guy that can talk to you, you end up having a friend," said Sloan, who calls Illinois home. "Everybody in southern Illinois, we all understand each other." Translation: "I can't talk to AK, so we got him someone who could" Fesenko and Kirilenko drank a bit of Sake over a sushi dinner last Monday night. Fesenko showed up sick for practice on Tuesday morning with an apparent case of food poisoning, but Kirilenko did not. "I have steel in," Kirilenko said, pointing to his stomach."

jazzwatcher

Sloan and AK Finally Embrace