SALT LAKE CITY -- Comments made by Utah Jazz reserve forward/center John Amaechi to a London newspaper aren't expected to help his already tenuous future in Salt Lake City.

	John Amaechi Forward-Center Utah Jazz Profile
	2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 50 2.0 1.5 0.4 .314 .481

The Independent quoted Amaechi, a Briton who signed with the Jazz in 2001, as saying that Jazz coach Jerry Sloan told him recently, "You know what your problem is? You hate white people, you hate Americans and you think you're smarter than everyone else.''

The comments attributed to Sloan in the article were actually made by Jazz assistant coach Mark McKown, Amaechi told The Associated Press Tuesday. Team spokesman Kim Turner agreed that the comments came from McKown.

McKown did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Jazz spokesman Kim Turner said Sloan would not comment on the matter Tuesday.

Turner said the team did not defend the comments made by McKown. He described the incident as a "pretty heated conversation between the two of them,'' following a game earlier this year.

Calling from his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., Amaechi said the comments were not made by Sloan and the newspaper's reporter misinterpreted him.

"But they were made right in front of Jerry and (team owner) Larry Miller,'' said Amaechi, who has two years left on a four-year deal worth $10 million. "I would want that to be perfectly clear. It's unfortunate that people thought it was (Sloan). But it was said by a member of his staff. My mother is white, for crying out loud, and she's dead. It is highly offensive and I didn't get an apology the next day.''

Amaechi fell out of favor with Sloan shortly after he arrived in Utah and the team hasn't hid its interest in trading him or buying out his contract.

A telephone message left at Miller's office Tuesday was not immediately returned, but he said of Amaechi last month, "It doesn't make sense to go through two more years of what we had, so we've got to seek other alternatives.''

The 6-foot-10 Amaechi played 474 minutes and averaged two points in 50 games this season.

Amaechi said he suspects his rift with Sloan began with Amaechi's comments in a magazine article suggesting that basketball did not consume his life.

"Jerry's told me that people who don't love the game don't deserve to play,'' Amaechi said. "I've sacrificed an awful lot to be where I am today, to suggest that I don't take it seriously is absurd.''

The coaching staff, including Sloan, were happy with Amaechi's physical shape at the beginning of the season. But Sloan later told Amaechi that he was "having a hard time getting over the ESPN article,'' Amaechi said.

Amaechi, 32, says he likes Utah but is bothered by what he said were false reports that his teammates dislike him.

What he wants is playing time.

"If I sit on the bench for two hours and play the last minute and 35 seconds, I'm not going to be able to prove anything to anybody,'' he said. "I'm desperate to play. That's what I came to this country to do. I did that at one point, and I thought I had a good opportunity to do so in Utah.''

Amaechi's agent, Bill Sweek, said the two have discussed Amaechi's future in recent weeks. Sweek said he was troubled by the two sides' "war of words.''

"I think one thing that's regrettable, as far as a trade, it's not doing either side good to paint each other in a negative light,'' Sweek said.

Amaechi was not drafted after he graduated from Penn State in 1995.

He signed as a free agent with Cleveland Cavaliers, was waived and then played in Europe. He was signed as a free agent by Orlando in 1999 before coming to Utah.