Sloan for President?
Pains of marital compromise are in full force this time of year. Having tied the knot in March, my new bride exercised extreme patience in allowing ESPN and TNT to dominate the television from April to June. Consequently, since San Antonio slammed the door on
Cleveland, I have endured enough “What Not To Wear” and “Ten Years Younger” for this to be a fashion blog.
In attempting to escape the confines of TLC in search of legit (non-baseball) sports headlines, I have found nothing but Patriot spy games and arguments of whether Bonds’ home run ball # 756 should be relocated to outer space. Believe it or not, the season debut of Kirilenko’s day-time drama could not have come too soon.
However, rather than speculate as to the gravity of AK’s tantrum, or explore available trade options, my focus is on AK’s verbal assault on Jerry Sloan. Aside from a few Sloan haters (who I would love to hear from), it is no secret that Jazz fans would rather cut ties with Kirilenko than loosen our hold on Jerry Sloan. But that begs a much more interesting question: In the event of a player/coach standoff, what player, if any, would the Jazz elect to keep over the longest tenured coach in professional sports?
If Boozer was fed up with the pick ‘n roll, would we usher him out the door or call for Sloan’s resignation? If our beloved D-Will wanted more freedom on the court, would we throw him a going away party or re-read Jerry’s contract? Perhaps most importantly, if Sloan instituted a “comb your hair” policy before each game, would we let Memo walk because of it?
If you’re like me and cannot wait any longer for training camp to reconvene in October, hit me up with your thoughts on where your loyalties lie between our young bucks and legendary coach. It’s gotta be an upgrade from “Flip That House.”
11 Comments to “Sloan for President?”
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I used to hate the Jazz. I always rooted for the second banana in the 80s, and in my eyes at least I thought that was Dominique Wilkins to Michael Jordan instead of Karl Malone.
The methodical, reliable and calculated play gave me severe stints of boredom and nausea as a teen, but since (hopefully) entering adulthood and watching Sloan make due without Malone and Stockton the Jazz have found a place in my heart.
Sloan seems to be one of the few coaches who can both manage stars (except for Kirilenko) and role players. Phil Jackson if famous for how well he can work with stars, and while I am no big fan of his, I did listen very closely when a few years ago he mentioned he votes for Sloan annually as Coach of the Year.
I think the Jazz have great talent but none of the players are as yet larger than the team’s identity and therefore should follow Sloan. Williams was in the doghouse early on but look how far he has come since abiding to the coach. In one year he leapfrogged Chris Paul as the best young PG and will be deserved of any All Star or All Nba teams and nominations he receives. Boozer has been revived since leaving Cleveland and Okur is coming into his own.
Two last points: 1) MJ and Kobe became their most lethal once they achieved a level of discipline. Freak athleticism a la Lebron James is wonderful but look to MJ, Kobe, Tim Duncan, or Shaquille for polish and killing spirit; 2) Would Kirilenko be happier if his wife would offer a ‘two times a year package’ instead of one?
Agreed. As a long-time Jazz fan, I’ve had experiences of frustration with Sloan, but that’s true with any coach. He’s successfully led the Jazz to multiple playoff berths, even after the loss of the Stockton to Malone combo. Let the big man run. If he’s got a problem with his coach, if he doesn’t want to play, just let him run.
The biggest question is if there is going to be in Power of Greyskull left…
I’d just like to give a “hurrah to the shopkeep!” on this one. Mr. Heaton (ie the shopkeep) has brought up a valid point. If ESPN, TNT, FSN and the rest of that jumbled heap of chatterboxes we call quality sports coverage (sorry Lee Corso but you’re included in this) would realize that their overdramatization of the nautious side of sports is just that, they may be able to regain confidence with those of us who want a heart felt story. They’ve tried with Tedy Bruschi and I do enjoy the news about Kevin Everett now and then as well. All in all though its too much about cheating and idolicism and too little about fundamentals.
Give me Jerry Sloan. Every year for two decades now all he’s done is taken very typical atheletes and made them extraordinary. If you disagree simply tell me one player who’s career was made better by leaving the Jazz. Yes, now and then you’ll find a Maurice Williams or a Raja Bell of whom can be said, “they came into their own,” after being traded by the Jazz. Thats respectable but considerations also need to be made that Mo Williams was a young buck here and Bell now gets the luxury of playing with 3 NBA all stars. Even so, for every one of them how many Howard Eisley, Byron Russell, Jeff Hornacek, Jeff Malone, Kris Humphries, Shandon Anderson, and Carlos Arroyo’s are there? Flip that. How many places could Adam Keefe or Ben Handlogten have been productive and helped their team? Harpring? Boozer for crying out loud? Remember that we signed him AFTER losing out on Corey Maggette. Who knew? This guy was Drew Gooden 2 years ago and because of Sloan he’s now Charles Barkley. I myself booed the Jazz for taking Deron. I wanted Chris Paul. Once again you can thank the coach in part for what the player has become.
The guy simply knows how to win. He’s like the Little Giants or the 1980’s USA hockey coaches. The Jazz give him a few solid players combined with a rag tag mesh of unpolished bench warmers and he simply goes out and wins games.
In a profession where you have a fool like Isiah Thomas encouraging his players to commit flagrant fouls, follwed by his lackadaisical decision not to discipline his point guard for throwing himself an alley oop during a contest, how can you NOT be grateful for Jerry Sloan?
One lottery pick. Sloan’s probably had more free agents at his service than top 20 picks. No other team in the NBA can say that. But yet he wins more games than all but 2 other NBA coaches these past 2 decades. Praise Popavic if you will. He’s a great coach. He’s a stupendous coach. He’s had two #1 draft picks in a row. Phil Jackson? If I won’t argue with 4 rings I’m certainly not going to argue with 9. But who wouldn’t have 9 rings with Shaq and MJ as his first option to go with Kobe and Pippen as #2?? I’m surprised he doesn’t have 15. Jerry Sloan is every bit as good as either of them and as a trio they are head and shoulders above everybody else but George Carl.
I’d much rather see Kirilenko go back to Mother Russia than send Sloan back to his John Deere tractors. I do wish that Sloan could finally get us a championship, but I don’t think Kirilenko is the player who will get us one either.
When Jerry does decide to leave the Jazz, I think there’s only one man who can fill his shoes…. BILL LAIMBEER!!!
I wish to have Jerry Sloan’s child. Let Ivan Drago leave. Frankly I feel that the two most important players on the Jazz roster with which the team’s future lies are Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams. The others are mere accessories, though some are better than others (Millie, Memo, and possibly Almond from what I saw from the Revue), with the main core and keeping our general at the helm, I feel the Jazz have a very bright future. Agreed to the shoekeep. Give that kid a paid position so he can support his wife and maybe buy an HD flatscreen so that they may enjoy TLC fashion shows for many years to come.
William, I love your note about Phil Jackson annually voting for Sloan for coach of the year, and how your perspectives on the Jazz changed as your basketball knowledge matured.
The entertainment from watching a high flying team like the suns is like getting plastered from cheap beer. It’s fun, wild, and most of the time you have no idea what’s going on.
On the other hand, you have to be a true basketball connoisseur to appreciate what the Jazz do night in ‘n night out. Like fine wine, Sloan’s system has withstood the test of time. It’s not flashy, but there are few things more satisfying than seeing a pick ‘n roll run perfectly again, and again… and again… watching the opposing team flip through a rolodex of futile defensive sets as they get buried by sheer execution.
As Joey mentioned, that type of system will always extract playoff worthy talent from an otherwise mediocre roster.
At this point, the only player on a current or past Jazz roster that I would even think about choosing over Jerry Sloan in a dispute would be John Stockton. But that’s mostly because I still believe that Steve Nash should never even be considered for MVP while statistically posting lower performances than Stockton in his worst years. Perhaps Stockton could return in an old school Player-Coach role to call plays during time outs and then set picks during the game.
Seriously though, until further notice, no one should hesitate to choose Jerry Sloan over any player on the current Jazz roster. Things should remain this way for a very long time. That is unless we find someone else that we can trust to drain threes over Charles Barkley in the final moments of regulation.
Jerry Sloan owns AK47 any day of the week! AK’s good for a few buckets and trace amounts of miscellaneous stats every full moon, but for years Jerry Sloan innovated four-man play to make ho-hums like Greg Ghostertag look like LaDainian Tomlinson on Fantasy Draft Day. If Jerry Sloan was ever voted off the island in place of AK47, I would resign myself to watching reruns of shuttle launches.
I’ll just say Amen to Geronimo’s beef about Nash collecting MVP awards with numbers that would have led Stockton to bench himself. As for the choice between Sloan and Stockton, that’s one of those ethereal questions that would never have to be answered. Sloan and Stockton were cut from the same slab of basketball genius. Anyone not willing to comply with Sloan’s directives definately wouldn’t receive any sympathy from J-stock. Moreover, Stockton’s 19 year career had less drama than a statistics textbook. It’s difficult to imagine any circumstances under which Sloan and Stockton would have considered parting ways.
It is true that AK47 will once in a while post crazy like numbers like when he goes 5×5 and just kills on the defensive end of the floor and I would much rather have AK on the team then let him play against the Jazz but if he wants to go then send his sorry little behind to some lame team in the East like ATL where he can perish and wilt away into NBA oblivion. It isn’t even a question as to who to keep. I myself have had moments when I wanted to see Sloan leave but like has been said who doesn’t feel that way about their coach once in a while. Sloan is hands down one of the best coaches in all of sports.
Don’t forget either that AK47 had some of his best years stats wise when the Jazz were doing just awful after the Malone/Stockton era. He was the man during those days. Who else was there to score? Who else was there to get boards? Who else was there to play defense? Mostly it was just AK along with has-been nobodys like Greg Roostertag. Now though there is D-Will to score and dish the assists. There is Booz to score and hit the boards. We also have Okur to score as well along with the incredible young talent that is on the Jazz bench this year.
The Jazz did just fine w/o AK47 before and they most certainly will do fine if and when he leaves. Amen to the “shopkeep” and here is to Sloan FINALLY winning coach of the year and a TITLE.
GO JAZZ
HFAC for life.
W’sup Heffa’~
Problem with coach of the year award: The award typically goes to the coach of a team that either (a) ends with a ridiculously good record (i.e. Avery Johnson in 05-06 and Mike D’Antoni in 04-05), or (b) far exceeded expectations (i.e. last year’s winner Sam Mitchell and Hubie Brown in 03-04).
After 20 years, people have unfortunately made a habit of expecting our team to make the playoffs under Sloan’s direction. That makes for an awfully difficult framework in which to overachieve.
Here’s to Jazz fans in Sac-town!
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