I bet this is just another part of the NBA conspiracy to favor the Lakers.

The Lakers must have friends in the State Department. They don't want AK defending Kobe anymore.

I wouldn't be surprised if David Stern has anything to do with this. Seeing Andrei is the only defender that can give Bryant fits.

Just switch to Discover Card.

I know it's important, I honestly do but we're talking about practice. We're talking about practice man. We're talking about practice. We're talking about practice. We're not talking about the game. We're talking about practice.

Any team with 15 turnovers in 1 half has noone to blame but themselves.

Not Conspiracy and not refs.

Thankyou Utah, that one was an easy mark for You as the Lakers did not play that well either.

When 2 teams play that poorly someone needs to step up. Except for Williams who choked off when needed late in game 5. Utah does not have that guy and I love to see Boozer in the waning moments take shots instead of him.

With Kobe, Gasol and Odom Utah has to have an answer for each. So the triple team Kobe. Big deal, Odom and Gasol are always there.

When Williams is doubled, it's laughable to see Okur or Booze. Huge difference.

"switch to discover card" LOL...
Talking about practice...LOL...
Wow Awesome comments, YOU guys are too funny!!!

Why is AK worried about his visa? He better not be making vacation plans already!!!

But we all know that how you practice is how you play the game ...

If the worst happens,and they deport him, just fly him to Mexico, and he can walk right across the bordder, and back into the US to play the game.

This is a no brainer folks....

So ICE is checking into AK's Visa and yet there are thousands+ with no paperwork that go unchecked....

It is very interesting indeed.

and if it continues tomorrow... It would just be a game....

@ Allen I.

Best post ever on a Jazz article.

Thanks for the giant laugh.

It is my understanding that his visa renewal form was accidentally mailed to Jerry Seinfeld.

If he is having visa problems and can't practice. If he doesn't get it figured out before tomorrow night, he can't play.

Thanks for the laugh.

Laker view game 5- I didn't see anybody post anything about game five so shut it. Go post on some other article. Anybody with eyes and an objective mind can tell you that game was called very poorly in the fourth quarter.

If Kirilenko doesn't work, just file the name Ivan Drago. All should be good.

-There's lots of ICE employees in Los Angeles.

-They make big money and can afford good tickets to Lakers' games.

-There aren't so many ICE employees in Salt Lake City.

It's a miracle that Memo and Kirilenko aren't in Guantanamo Bay.

Go with American Express--everyone knows Visas from Russia are controlled by the KGB.

Maybe it's not a visa problem, maybe he is still at the Staples Center looking for that foul he "committed" on Vujacic.

I am laughting about the Jazz fans always 'crying" about a NBA conspiracy against their team. The Jazz get the close calls in Salt Lake.

Plus if the NBA is really trying to keep the "small market" Cities from going to the finals, why is "small market" San Antonio in the finals several times in the last few years?

@visa problems??
hahahaha, not credit cards due, TRAVEL VISA!

Did anybody read more than the headline? The travel visa is to visit France! Don't you think the Jazz front office is taking care of his US visa?

san antonio is not a small market!!! its not as big as new york or la or anything like that but its a bigger market than slc and other nba markets and the nba conspiracy is real!!! just ask tim donaghy

Then the Jazz need to move.

So here goes AK planning his summer vacation again while the playoffs are still going. Isn't that what doomed the Jazz last year?

The San Antonio TV market is smaller than the Salt Lake City TV market.

> Then the Jazz need to move.

So where should the Jazz move?

I'm looking at 2007 Census estimates on Wikipedia. They count SLC, Provo, and Ogden as three separate metro areas. Knowing that plenty of people come from Provo and Ogden for Jazz games, I added the population of the three for a total of 2,111,628 in the market.

Metro areas larger than 2,111,628 without an NBA team (metro population in parentheses):

14. Riverside/San Bernardino/Ontario, California (4,081,371) (but this is solid Laker country)

15. Seattle/Tacoma (3,309,347) (may lose Sonics)

17. San Diego (2,974,859) (had Clippers until 1984)

18. St. Louis (2,803,707)

19. Tampa/St. Petersburg (2,723,949) (too close to Magic?)

20. Baltimore (2,668,056) (too close to Wizards?)

22. Pittsburgh (2,355,712)

24. Cincinnati (2,133,678)

SLC is #48, but as I said, they split out Provo and Ogden separately. Counting Provo and Ogden, the metro area is bigger than Sacramento, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Cleveland, Orlando, and Charlotte, all of whom have NBA teams. Of course, those places probably include other areas like I included Provo and Ogden, so SLC is probably still the second-smallest current NBA market (only New Orleans is smaller on the list at #51).

Kirilenko is ridiculous..What is he doing tending
to visa concerns during the NBA playoffs? This
is crazy.
Anyone who knows Stern..aka 'The Hoopsville Patron
Bandito' is well aware of the big cheese penchant for
favoring the Lakers...With the Knicks dead...caput...
cooked...he has only one major market still alive..
He will do anything to hurt the Jazz and the Hornets..

At least Kirilenko has showed up in this series, unlike Boozer. I'm would think Kirilenko's vacation to France is planned for after the season, not next week.