Miles jazzed about situation

Tim makes a great point below about why the Jazz might have re-signed C.J. Miles.
Miles told us Monday that he wasn’t surprised Utah matched the offer sheet he signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder. In his end-of-the-season interview with Jazz management, Miles said he was told the organization expected to bring him back “unless something crazy was going to happen.”
Perhaps the crazy thing that happened brought him back here instead.
Either way, Miles says receiving the fat contract is a “confidence booster.” He also says he’s glad to be back with teammates, Jazz fans and in Salt Lake City.
Though he missed the Rocky Mountain Revue while his contract issues were being resolved, Miles says he worked hard at learning how to work hard. He also spent time with a trainer in New York who helps NFL athletes with their speed, strength and conditioning. He returned to Utah in early September — along with about half of the team — and played pick-up ball with other Jazz players. He even took some hikes in the Wasatch Front mountains.
All that, the 21-year-old said, resulted in him being in the best shape of his NBA career.
“I feel a lot more prepared,” he said.
Miles expects to contribute more in 2008-09 than he did last year, when the athletic 6-6 swing man appeared in 60 games (including 13 starts) and averaged 4.9 points, 1.3 rebounds in 11.3 minutes.
He said he wants to be “trusted” — an interesting choice of words considering his sometimes-rocky relationship with coach Jerry Sloan — to be on the floor whenever the Jazz need him to be, which he hopes is a lot. Miles’ goal, he said, is to be a “consistent contributor, to come in and try to prove my worth.”
Even with a lot of wing players, Miles said, “The job is up for grabs, and I’m going to try to grab it and that’s my plan. I’m going to work and play as hard as I can.”
Miles has confidence in the team as well as himself.
“It’s fun watching everybody grow and growing together,” he said. “We’re still a fairly young team. We’re just going to keep on pushing and keep on growing and hopefully we can take that next step this year and get all the way to the Finals and win it.”