Jerry Sloan will soon have knee replacement surgery, and is expected to return for his 22nd season as the head coach of the Jazz.

"The surgery won't have anything to do with" the decision, Sloan said, "... unless something happens and I have to have it taken off. Then I probably wouldn't be able to coach, if I had just one leg."

There had been some speculation that Sloan might retire in the wake of owner Larry H. Miller's death.

"It's still his decision," Utah team president Randy Rigby said Tuesday. "Jerry's style and philosophy hasn't changed, nor has ours. His passion to win continues to burn. ... I have the utmost confidence in Jerry, now and in the future."