The first time he came to Utah, Gordan Giricek huffed and puffed his way through two months of play under Jerry Sloan.
Now that he's on board for several more seasons here, the Jazz coach offered Giricek some friendly advice Monday.
"Get in shape," Sloan told Giricek on the same evening the 26-year-old shooting guard from Croatia signed a four-year, $16 million contract to stay with the Jazz.
Sloan wasn't kidding, and Giricek seemed to sense that.
"I was pretty tired (last season), and couldn't play the way coach Sloan wanted," said Giricek, who was not prepared for what it takes to play in Utah when the Jazz acquired him from Orlando in a February deadline-day trade for former Jazz first-round draft choice DeShawn Stevenson.
Despite his shortcoming, the Jazz were impressed enough by what they saw from the restricted free agent to agree to terms with him just five days after the NBA's summer signing period opened July 1.
Even owner Larry H. Miller's eyes were opened early on.
"I've liked Gordan," Miller said, "ever since I met him for the first time."
Giricek averaged 11.3 points on 43.6 percent shooting from the field last season, including 13.2 points per game in his 25 games with the Jazz.
By season's end, he was Sloan's starting shooting guard.
"We need scoring, and he's a scorer," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president for basketball operations.
"I think he fits the bill for what we want," O'Connor added. "He's somewhat experienced as an NBA player, but we think his best years are ahead of him."
Giricek played in Croatia and Russia before coming to the NBA, where it took him awhile to get settled.
His 1999 second-round draft rights were traded from Dallas to San Antonio to Memphis before he finally played his first NBA game in 2002, and a season later the Grizzlies shipped Giricek to Orlando.
Not long after his February arrival in Utah, however, Giricek decided he wanted to stay. His wife and baby daughter, born shortly after the trade, will join him here.
"He told me right away, as soon as he was traded here, that he felt at home," said Giricek's agent, Marc Fleisher.
The reason:
"I like the people," Giricek said, "I like the teammates and . . . I believe so much that he (Sloan) knows what he's doing, and that's important."
Important enough, that is, to heed any and all advice the ol' coach will dole.
"I need," Giricek said, "to be in better condition."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com