The highlight-laden play of rookie Ronnie Brewer and surprise sophomore-season starter C.J. Miles were not the only reasons veteran shooting guard Gordan Giricek did not get up off the bench in the Jazz's season-opening win over Houston on Wednesday night at the Delta Center.
      The decision to sit Giricek cuts deeper than that, coach Jerry Sloan suggested prior to practice and the club's departure Thursday for tonight's 2006-07 road opener at Phoenix.
      "I don't think Giri has worked hard enough to play right now," Sloan said.
      "I don't have anything against him personally," the Jazz coach added. "I just think it's important that he works. He's got a lot of talent, and I think he wastes it. Right now, he's wasting some of it."
      Giricek — who played 37 games, including 36 starts, before succumbing to an Achilles tendon injury last season — declined to comment Thursday on Sloan's demand that he toil with more intensity.