An MRI exam on Raja Bell's swollen right knee came up negative for structural damage Thursday, prompting the Jazz to list their starting shooting guard as "day-to-day."
Bell said his knee started hurting him in the third quarter of last Monday's game against Seattle, and he did not play against the Clippers on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Bell is "questionable" for tonight's Delta Center game against Sacramento, Jazz spokesman Kim Turner said Thursday. If there is no inflammation, Bell probably will play.
With Bell out, rookie Kirk Snyder played a career-high 30 minutes while making his first NBA start Wednesday.
He scored 11 points, shot 4-of-11 from the field, pulled down three rebounds, dished a couple assists, blocked one shot, picked up a flagrant foul, fought for the ball and was flung to the floor after stepping in to help a teammate.
Afterward, however, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan suggested he was looking for more from Snyder.
"He's got to learn how to defend people," Sloan said. "He's got all the athletic ability, but that doesn't do you any good if you don't get up and play people.
"What good does it do you if you play four, five feet off a guy or you don't know the philosophy of what we're trying to do? He's got to learn a couple things. But he did OK. I don't have a problem with that."
NO NUGGETS FOR JOHNSON: Jazz assistant coach Phil Johnson is no longer under consideration for the Denver Nuggets' head coaching job.
Johnson on Thursday told the Rocky Mountain News that he is not a candidate for the post, although the Nuggets did contact him to gauge Johnson's interest.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan's longtime assistant was a finalist for the job that later went to Bzdelik, but he withdrew from consideration when the hiring process dragged on.
The Denver Post reported Thursday that Dallas assistant Del Harris, San Antonio assistant P.J. Carlesimo and ex-NBA coach George Karl are on the Nuggets' short list.
HUDSON WANTS SUPPORT: One day after ex-Jazz guard Troy Hudson's agent suggested Minnesota should consider trading his client, Hudson said he doesn't necessarily want to be dealt.
He does, however, want a vote of confidence from his bosses.
"I'm coming off an injury," Hudson told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "It would feel better just to have support from the inside, knowing that (I'm) out there playing injured on one leg.
"It seems like the confidence level (in me) is not there. It's like, 'OK, he's not the old Troy, so he can't really help us.' "
Nice line, incidentally, from Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders, who doesn't seem to agree with agent Bill Neff's assessment of Hudson's play: "If he (Neff) doesn't have (NBA) League Pass, he should get it and watch it."
KIRILENKO HANGING IN: Despite remaining sidelined indefinitely by a partially torn medial collateral knee ligament, Jazz All-Star Andrei Kirilenko remains in the top 10 in voting for Western Conference forwards.
According to the NBA's second release of partial balloting results for the 2005 NBA All-Star Game, Kirilenko ranks eighth at his position in the West, with 141,723 votes.
Spots six and seven belong to two Sacramento teammates who visit Utah tonight, Peja Stojakovic (170,458) and Chris Webber (162,361). Minnesota's Kevin Garnett (1,142,804) and San Antonio's Tim Duncan (886,547) continue to lead all Western forwards, followed by Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki, Denver's Carmelo Anthony and Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire.
None of the other Jazz players on the ballot — Carlos Boozer,Matt Harpring and Carlos Arroyo — rank among the top 10 at their respective positions.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com