Gordan Giricek was smiling and seemed fairly relaxed, back at practice Thursday morning and planning to travel with the Utah Jazz later in the day for their game at the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night.
Giricek was reinstated after a meeting with himself, coach Jerry Sloan and general manager Kevin O'Connor prior to Thursday's 10 a.m. practice.
Giricek had been sent to the locker room before halftime of the Dec. 19 game at Charlotte after having words with Sloan on the bench, and after the game, he was sent home to Salt Lake City while the team went on to play games at Orlando and Miami.
He stayed away from the Jazz's Christmas Day practice, Wednesday's shootaround and Wednesday's game with Dallas in EnergySolutions Arena, he said on advice from his agent.
But before the game, it was announced that the meeting would be held, though a resolution was not promised at the time.
Details of Thursday's meeting were not made public — not even how long the meeting went. All three spoke only of the future.
But O'Connor said, "What we expect is for Giri to play and do what the rest of the team does. We're not asking him for any more or any less."
"Giri's back on the team," said Sloan. "We're just headed forward with that."
"We discussed different things," said Giricek. "We left everything behind us. We move forward, the way it should be not only in this situation but in your life, right?
"Always move forward from any situation you have, and why not? We're paid professionals, and we're grown-up people," Giricek added, "and we're going to do everything that's possible to help the team."
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