So sometime just before 6 p.m. tonight, Sloan will walk onto the Target Center floor in Minneapolis where the Jazz are warming up, pull aside one of his players - possibly Rafael Araujo, but more likely C.J. Miles - and mutter the three dreaded words that both sides already know are coming.

" 'Don't dress tonight,' that's what he usually says," Miles said with a shrug. "Sometimes he'll explain, like 'I'm going to dress Hoffa [Araujo],' or 'Deron [Williams is] going to go [play] tonight.' But he always makes it a point to come and tell me himself."

He's just doing his job, the Grim Reaper aspect of coaching in the NBA. Rosters can include 15 players, and must carry at least 13. But only 12 can wear the uniform on any given night.

That forces a coach to disappoint someone every night, unless injuries make the decision simple. Sloan briefly consults his three assistants upon arrival at the arena, and agrees upon exactly which 12 will be active - or more accurately, which one or two will not.

Deciding on the inactive list is not as wrenching as informing a player he's being cut, a task Sloan dreads every season. It's more distasteful than most people would imagine, though.

"I don't like it. I just wish we had 15 guys, [and] they could all sit on the bench, ready to go," said Sloan, who refuses to simply post the list in the locker room and avoid one-on-one contact, the way some coaches do. "I feel like I'm being a bad guy, and I don't like that, to be a bad guy to someone who's trying to play, working hard, who wants to play."

That's why Sloan puts it off until the last minute, just in case an injury changes the plan. "He has to turn in the lineups 60 minutes before the game. So about 70 minutes before the game, he usually comes out and tells me," said Miles, the teenage guard who was scratched for the 17th time Wednesday night in Memphis. "I see him coming. If he walks by, then it's good, I'm in. But if he comes up to me, I already know."

Sometimes he doesn't even have to say anything. "Last game, he comes up and I just nodded at him," Miles said. "He said, 'Yeah.' You can tell he doesn't like it."

The thrill of being activated is greater than the letdown over being benched, according to Araujo. He has sat in street clothes 18 times during this season, including 11 in a row in November and December. When the coaches decided to put him on the active list for a game in Indiana, the center could hardly believe it.

"Yeah, that's a good day. I was out there [wondering], 'Where is he?' You look for him a little bit," Araujo said.

When Sloan didn't drop by, Araujo wasn't certain what was going on. "He didn't say nothing, so I thought, 'I'm supposed to dress? This is true?' "

They accept their fate well, Sloan said. "I think they get dejected a little bit, but they've been great," he said. "The players understand, but I'm sure in a lot of cases, they think, 'Well, why not that guy? Why don't I play, and why is the other guy playing?' It's just one more hassle."

Didn't used to be that way. The NBA used to require injured players to be on the injured list for at least five games, so there wasn't any every-night jockeying with the roster. Now, it's just part of the job for Araujo and Miles - and Dee Brown, the only other current player to spend a game on the inactive list while healthy.

"I just try to keep my focus like I'm going to play the game," said Araujo, who hasn't been on the inactive list since Jan. 9. "If I get my name called, I just have to support my teammates. If I have to sacrifice for the good of the team, I'll do it. He's the boss."

pmiller@sltrib.com

Jazz at Timberwolves

At the Target Center, Minneapolis

Tipoff: 6 p.m. MST

TV: FSN Utah

Radio: 1320 AM, 101.1 FM

Records: Utah 38-19, Minnesota 26-31

Season Series: Tied, 1-1

All-Time: Jazz lead, 50-25

At Minnesota: Jazz lead, 22-16

Streak: Jazz, 1 win

Last Meeting: Jazz 106, Wolves 91 (Jan. 22)

Line: Jazz by 3