<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">C.J. Miles and Robert Whaley might get to play for a first-place team, though it won't happen before Christmas. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, his coaching staff, and vice president for basketball operations Kevin O'Connor met Thursday to discuss whether to assign one of their rookies to Albuquerque while the team travels to five Eastern Conference cities in the next two weeks. Their verdict: Until the nagging injuries that have plagued the team lately abate, the kids will stay with the Jazz. "The team comes first," O'Connor said. "If we need one of those guys to play five or seven minutes here or there, we need them. And we want them [available]." Gordan Giricek, Greg Ostertag, Keith McLeod, Devin Brown and Matt Harpring have all missed games for a variety of reasons lately - Giricek didn't suit up Friday after the pain in his Achilles' tendon kept him from practicing in the morning - and the Jazz don't want to risk being shorthanded on the upcoming road trip if someone gets sick or injured. </div> <div align="center">Source</div>
