"I just thought I'd make a change.''

"Fes has got to learn to be little bit more accountable for being late a time or two, and some of those things,'' Sloan said. "You know, if he's gonna play in this league and doesn't like what we do, that's fine. I don't have a problem with that.

"But if he's gonna stay involved and try to understand what's going on — he's got talent, but it's important for him to stay focused on what we're trying to do and not be jackpotting around.''

"And he's a young guy. It's like he already has the answers as to what's going on out there. And I haven't always seen that in practice, and some of his workouts. He'll tell you he works hard, but I've seen guys work hard. I'm not totally blind.''

Asked further if the decision was disciplinary, then, Sloan responded accordingly, and took only breath while doing so:

"No, not disciplinary. People will probably call it that, or (suggest) I'm trying to be a hard-nosed guy. I'm not a hard-nosed guy with these guys. I just hope that he learns. We've tried to tell him. I don't fine him money. If I wanted to be a disciplinarian, I would take his money. I'm not interested in money. I'm interested in the kid getting better. We've got a lot invested in him. A lot of time. A lot of effort. Our coaches work with him. You know, take advantage of it rather than let it slip through your fingers when it's there. And obviously a lot of people haven't agreed with my substitutions and all those things. But I think we can say that we want guys to succeed, and we've got a lot of people succeed that weren't expected to because they worked hard. We're not trying to hurt him in any way.''