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It's never been made clear by anyone what happened with Carlos Arroyo and Jerry Sloan. There was a public explosion when Arroyo yelled at Sloan as he came to the bench in a game not a month ago. Suddenly Arroyo lost his starting job and found himself behind a few DNP-Coach's decisions. And the point guard of the Jazz's future found himself traded to the world champion Detroit Pistons.

Why'd they get rid of Arroyo, and for such a lopsided deal? Utah traded him for Elden Campbell, whom they've waived, and a lottery-protected 2006 first round pick. The Jazz already have two first-round picks for next year, and now they have two more floating around. What is the master plan here?

This season is going the way they thought last year would. The Jazz are on their way to their first losing season in over 20 years. This will mean uncharted territory. It will mean they should get a Top 10 pick in 2005's draft, even a decent shot at a Top 3 pick.

Is it too soon to give up on the Jazz season? After all, we've just passed the halfway point. Andrei Kirilenko has just come back, albeit not at 100%. Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol could all go down with freak injuries tomorrow. The Lakers are just treading water without Kobe Bryant. By my estimation, the Jazz would need to finish the season 29-8 to get the eighth spot.

The Jazz have been inconsistent all season. They started the season looking like the best team in the NBA. Then Arroyo came back from injury and the Jazz stumbled. Then Kirilenko got hurt, the Jazz did a freefall. This Jazz team can go out and beat San Antonio, Phoenix and Seattle, then lose to teams like Milwaukee and New Jersey.

One interesting development in the slow return of Andrei (getting a few more minutes each game) has been the cutback on minutes for Carlos Boozer. Boozer has been one of the quietest 20-10 forwards in the league, because defensively, the man he's guarding is allowed to score the same. Jerry Sloan is incorporating the fourth quarter lineup of Raul Lopez, Raja Bell, Matt Harpring, Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur. AK47 showed last year he can guard just about anyone, and Harpring and Bell can be counted on for defensive tenacity. Lopez showed he wants the starting job against Seattle (20 points, 11 assists), but also showed the eggs he's capable of laying when he went for 2 points and 2 assists against New Jersey's Jason Kidd.

Last year this team had a bunch of no-names who stuck together and managed 42 wins. Many of those no-names (Sasha Pavlovic, Maurice Williams, Mikki Moore and now Carlos Arroyo) are now gone, and while the addition of Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur sounded like talent upgrades, the chemistry has never come together.

Jerry Sloan is the longest-tenured coach in any professional sport, but he's headed toward his first losing season, and there's no evidence over these first 45 games that something will click with this team to prevent it.