"Devin Harris was sent home from practice Friday morning with the stomach flu.

Because of the ailment, the Utah Jazz point guard avoided answering questions about rumors regarding him being on the trading block.

Given ample opportunity to assess Harris' season and the former All-Star's struggles, his coach and teammates acted like most people would probably hope their close ones would in a similar situation.

The Jazz family — as center Al Jefferson called it — defended Harris to the hilt.

"He's fighting his way through it — some good games, some not-so-good games," Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. "Like everybody, you're going to go through some ups and downs in this league, and he has to continue to work."

Corbin continues to express his confidence in Harris.

The second-year coach likes that he's been pushing the ball more lately, but wants his starter to be "more comfortable" and build on what he's learned and done. He admitted the Jazz offense became "stagnant" in the final three minutes of Utah's 94-91 loss to Dallas on Thursday after Harris was reinserted for Watson, but Corbin blamed the five guys on the court — not just the point guard.

And nobody was thrilled to deal with trade rumor talk.

"The locker room and the practice court, this is supposed to be a safe haven," Jazz shooting guard Raja Bell said. "After you (media) guys leave, no disrespect intended, we don't want to deal with that BS anymore. We're here to work. We're here to get better. Dev's a big part of what we do.""