NEW YORK — His longest stint before Friday lasted seven minutes.
But after Aleksandar Radojevic played 17 minutes vs. the Celtics at the FleetCenter in Boston, he practically had Jazz coach Jerry Sloan feeling guilty there haven't been longer stretches.
"After watching him play (Friday), he's the guy that's probably suffered the most from my inability to get him on the floor," Sloan said. "You know, it's amazing — he dove on the floor for the ball."
At 7-foot-3, that's no small task.
"I haven't seen anybody do that in two weeks," said Sloan, whose club is slumping at 10-14. "If they did, it was just to get out of somebody else's way."
On a team searching for answers, Radojevic's little hustle play can go a long way toward earning extra minutes from Sloan.
The Jazz's No. 3 center entered Friday rather than struggling backup Curtis Borchardt, and Sloan stuck with him for the entire fourth quarter of a game still somewhat in question.
It was a rare long look at Radojevic, who was a healthy stash on the injured list for the first 14 games of the season and has appeared in just five of 10 games since being added to the active roster.
"This is how I play," he said after pulling down six rebounds in his 17 minutes and helping the Jazz pull to within eight points a few times in the fourth. "I think I played decent. It wasn't nothing too special, it wasn't nothing bad. I gave everything I have. That's how I play. I hope I probably surprised Coach."
Even if he was not shocked, Sloan did seem impressed.
"I'm just looking for somebody to compete hard," the Jazz coach said. "It's amazing how a little bit of enthusiasm goes a long way.
"He's fighting for his life," Sloan added, speaking purely in the professional sense. "The rest of them (other Jazz players) have already got their (lives) made. It's always kind of interesting to watch in this business: Guys that have the opportunity to play, it's alright to play but it's not important enough to win. A guy that's fighting for his life, he's got a different perspective."
Among 15 Jazz players, Radojevic — a 28-year-old native of what now is Serbia & Montenegro — is the only one whose contract currently is neither partially nor fully guaranteed.
Before Jan. 10, the Jazz must decide whether to keep Radojevic on their roster — guaranteeing his one-year deal for the rest of the season — or waive him. Even if he is waived, he can be brought back on 10-day contracts — but there are no assurances that would happen.
Meanwhile, Jazz brass have been talking for a while about perhaps signing center Ben Handlogten sometime after the holidays.
Handlogten even worked out for them early last week, though he still is not ready to return from a knee blowout sustained while playing for Utah last season.
That's why Radojevic is playing with one eye looking over his shoulder.
A former first-round draft choice of Toronto's before his NBA career was derailed by a couple of back surgeries, he is quite cognizant of the fact that at any time he may have to go.
"I just want to be here, man," he said. "I just want to be here. I don't want to be out of the league."
"Every day is survival for me," added Radojevic, who recently was in California for the birth of a baby girl. "Every day that I stay here, every day longer, it's not bad for me."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com