The mike matter won't go away.
And this one has nothing to do with Jordan.Rather, it is the issue of NBA coaches being ordered by the league to wear microphones during games, when national TV networks so desire, for potential tape-delayed use later in a broadcast.
It's been a hot topic around the league lately, so much so that the NBA made a compromise of sorts on Tuesday night and allowed New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy to go without a mike for a televised game against the Rockets.
Instead, a large boom mike was strategically placed near New York's bench -- a solution that, at the very least, reportedly appeased the Knicks.
Whether or not it works for the rest of the league remains to be seen.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan always has been adamantly opposed to the idea of intrusive mikes, and earlier this month he said as much when the league issued its edict. Earlier this week, even after Sloan found out what was then the going price for refusing to do so, he still said he would refuse to comply with the initial order from David Stern.
Two NBA teams, Seattle and Toronto, were fined $100,000 each when their coaches -- Paul Westphal and Butch Carter -- refused to wear the mikes during their NBC-televised game Sunday.
The figure hardly fazed Sloan.
"They can fine me, they can kick me out of the league, they can do whatever they want," Sloan said after the fines were levied Monday. "I'm not going to wear it."
Sloan said it is merely a matter of personal preference.
"That's like saying I have to wear long underwear," he said. "I'm not going to wear long underwear."
Even if it's a tad chilly, coach?
"Even if it's really cold," Sloan said, "I'm not going to wear it."
It's a matter of privacy, Sloan believes.
"I really think that's a total infringement," he said.
"They have the right to do what they want; I have the right to do what I want," Sloan added. "If they don't want me in the league, then they'll figure out a way to get me out. It's pretty simple. I'm not going to be intimidated by that. Never have been; never will be."
The Jazz are not scheduled to play their next national TV game until April, and by then -- with Tuesday's compromise, plus intercession from both the NBA Coaches Association and the NBA Players Association -- the matter may be moot.
Even if it's resolved, there's still something that has Sloan riled: The order -- actually issued by Stern underlings Russ Granik and Rod Thorn -- was given even before league coaches were consulted.
"They just said, 'Hey, fellas, get ready; we're going to, all of a sudden, do something crazy here. And everybody has to do it,' " Sloan said. "I don't think that's the right approach -- to take 29 coaches, who are fighting every for their life every day in their job, and say, 'This is what we're going to do, to heck with how you feel about it.' "
The coaches, it should be noted, are not united in their opposition.
"I probably would be real excited (to be miked)," Tim Floyd, coach of the struggling Chicago Bulls, told the Chicago Tribune, "because that would mean we were playing on national television, and our product would be worthy of national television."
HUH? Sloan was also asked his opinion this week on the Final Four.
"Final Four of what?" he answered.
He was kidding.
We think.
NAME BRAND: Speaking of opinions, the Jazz shared some rather lofty ones on Chicago rookie Elton Brand after Utah beat the Bulls on Monday night.
It's not often that Jazz players and coaches will speak on an opposing player, let alone shower one with such praise.
When they do so with Brand, it's worth reviewing.
"He's a wonderful young player," Sloan said. "He's going to do nothing but get better and better."
"He's tough inside," Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek said. "He creates some problems."
Even Karl Malone, who would not field questions on Brand before Monday's game, had something positive to say afterward.
"If he plays this hard on a losing team," Malone said after Brand led the 13-39 Bulls with a 26-point, 12-rebound effort, "what will happen when they start winning?"
Brand returned the compliment, saying of Malone, "He's 36, 37 years old (actually 36), and he just beat me down the court."
Whether Brand will some day do the same to some other hot-shot rookie remains to be seen because, as Sloan said, it is way too early to start comparing and contrasting the two.
"The only way you can compare them and be fair about it, is to follow them around every day after they're off the floor," Sloan said. "That's how you compare basketball players: see if they're going to get better.
"I mean, he's already pretty much of a star player. Karl Malone was not a star player when he came into the league, but he was a star worker when he was off the floor. . . . Whenever he was not out there shooting, he was off doing something else to try to make himself better. That's the real test of how a guy really becomes a better player."
NO WAY: Two-time Dream Teamer Malone took a stand this week regarding USA Basketball's need to name a replacement for Phoenix's Tom Gugliotta on the U.S. Olympic Team that will play in this year's Summer Games in Australia.
Malone said he won't go to the Games, even in the slim likelihood that he is asked.
"No, I won't consider it," said Malone, who was upset earlier this season that the selection committee did not even consult or contact him prior to naming its 12-man team.
"I'll take myself out of that mix right now, and tell them to not even consider me."
Malone, who would much rather spend time with his family this summer, figures rising star Vince Carter is a lock for the spot to replace Gugliotta, who tore a knee ligament when the Jazz recently beat the Suns.
If it isn't Carter, other possible choices include Allen Iverson, or maybe even Kobe Bryant.
SONIC SUB: Reserve center Greg Foster, whom the Jazz opted not to re-sign this past offseason, is starting to gain some praise in his new home, Seattle. Foster had been stuck on the end of Westphal's bench, but recently he has been backing up Horace Grant and Vin Baker -- and doing a decent job of it.
"The way he's played lately is how we hoped he could play," Westphal, whose club plays host to the Jazz at the end of next week, recently told the Seattle Times.
"It's really a big lift for us when he plays that way. I think he's making a good case for being the No. 1 sub for Vin and Horace."
Said Grant: "I think he's getting the minutes now. And he's making the best of his opportunities. It's sort of like the Greg Foster of Utah. And that's great for this ball club."
Foster knows he must continue to play with confidence, much like he has been doing in practice.
"I'm just trying to refocus on the second half of the season," he told the Times. "Obviously things didn't go the way I wanted them to in the first half of the season, so I just took it upon myself to practice even harder and get myself in better condition, mentally and physically.
"Early on in the season, I was pretty much trying to look for one particular shot, maybe get a shot at the top of the key off the double team. It's really hard to play that way. So I'm trying to do something else to get myself in a rhythm, getting myself going instead of waiting for that one 17- or 18-footer all the time."
AND FINALLY: No wonder ex-Jazz center Ike Austin was so anxious to be dealt at the NBA trade deadline, which he was not. Austin, rumored in various deals to be going to either Detroit or back to Utah, remains in Washington, where lately he has been playing behind not only Jahadi White, but now also behind Aaron Williams.