C.J. Miles participated in the Jazz's shoot-around Wednesday morning at US Airways Center, 24 hours before the NBA trade deadline.
Miles' name has surfaced in possible trades in the last few days, but his biggest concern at this point is playing well tonight against the Phoenix Suns.
"All I can control is what I do on the basketball floor -- play hard," Miles said. "Like I've said all year, my job is to play basketball, whenever and wherever it is. And that's what I'm going to do."
Miles has been in contact with agent Bill Ceisler, especially since the internet began crackling with trade rumors, including one involving the Jazz and Minnesota.
Miles and Ceisler "spoke when the rumors started to pop up [Tuesday] night on the internet. I wasn't on the internet but he told me about it. He called me and told me the one about the Timberwolves. He said that wasn't about to happen. But as far as the other stuff, he's heard my name. Nothing's imminent but he said, 'Be prepared in case something does happen.'"
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Al Jefferson, whose grandmother died in Mississippi last week, will play against Phoenix. He will also play when the Jazz play host to Minnesota on Thursday night.
Jefferson plans to leave the team after the game against the Timberwolves and return to Mississippi to be with his family. He will miss Utah's weekend games against Golden State (Saturday) and the L.A. Lakers (Sunday) before rejoining the team on Monday.
Looking ahead, coach Tyrone Corbin knows that playing without Jefferson will be "... a big-time change for us. He's the guy we go to on offense. We look for him to score. But we've missed him before this season and guys have stepped up. We expect that to continue."
Jefferson has missed three of the Jazz's first 41 games this season.
-- Steve Luhm
