No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

Are you serious? I think they have one in the NBA forum but seriouslyyy..

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

I was going to make one last night, but I ended up going to bed.

But yeah, thanks Jerry for a great 23 years here as the head coach here in Utah, you did a great job. :applause:

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

I think we're all still in shock.

Thanks Jerry for all memories. Props to the general NBA fans for showing respect too in the main forum.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

Who wears short shorts? Jeff and John wear short shorts.

Even though I wanted Corbin in as head coach, this is the worst possible way for it to happen.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

That's the way I feel (the 2nd part not the first part since I'm not really a Jazz fan). It would've been nice for him to be able to go out with one more run like Phil Jackson is doing and then to really be celebrated and cheered in appreciation for his last game. But it just feels so wrong and disrespectful that it happened so abruptly and that the players haven't shown any sort of remorse for the guy. They didn't even so much as show up at his press conference. The guy had 23 great years and not so much as one COTY award and this is how he leaves. Very sad and disappointing, there's so few coaches like Jerry Sloan left in the league and it's sad to see him go.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

He got 20 years of last runs as far as I'm concerned. Any other coach would have been fired 20 years ago when they went from 1st to 3rd with 2 of the greatest players in the game healthy and at the top of their games.


He's supposed to be given the award for job security. He's in the HOF. I think he's more than got his due.


For good reason. It's a different game than when he played or even when he started coaching.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

Is it really? Because let's look at the coaches of the team's who have won it all in the last 12 seasons.

Phil Jackson 5X
Greg Popovic 4X
Larry Brown 1X
Doc Rivers 1X
Pat Riley 1X

With the exception of maybe Doc Rivers, are you noticing a patter there?

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

The pattern I see is coaches that had great players(Larry Brown the exception. Can thank Kobe for that one) and got the job done unlike Sloan. They also all played great D except maybe the Lakers another thing that's missing in Utah.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

Nope. Clearly you missed it. There are a ton of new, young, coaches in the league but the old vets are the ones who have been able to get it done. There are only a handful of teams on a year to year basis who have a legit shot at a championship ring and Jerry Sloan isn't the reason his team didn't beat Kobe's Lakers or MJ's bulls in the playoffs.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

And Sloan hasn't despite inheriting two of the greatest players ever at the top of their powers. The fact that they were always healthy is very glaring as well.


He's certainly part of it. He was thoroughly outcoached by Phil. The fact that he didn't have a back-up plan when Karl didn't show up killed them.

What about all those years when he didn't get out of the 1st or 2nd round. Why only 2 finals? MJ retired, twice! Kobe can't win without Phil or another great player which he didn't have for a few years. He insisted on going at the Lakers front line with Milsap and Boozer. Bottom line is he didn't get the job done no matter how much you want to praise him for his win total and making it to the playoffs. Once in a lifetime opportunity passed the city by.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

Phil Jackson had the best player in the league on his team in all their matchups.

That's another thing, there have been a TON of great teams that only make the finals once or twice, if even that much. The last 2 decades have been dominated by a handful of teams.

Who the hell else was he gonna go at that with? Is there a team in this league that can rival the size of Gasol/Bynum/Odom when they are all on the court together? Phoenix couldn't, OKC couldn't, and when Perk when down, Boston couldn't. That's why the Lakers have been to the finals for the past 3 years and running. I guess all the teams they beat had bad coaches rather than the players being superior and having a major height advantage.

Bottom line is that Karl Malone didn't get the job done... And the teams he's had after the Malone/Stockton era haven't been good enough to win a championship no matter who is coaching them.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

MJ was the best player in the league and Stockton and Malone were the best duo.


And how many of those teams had two of the greatest and most durable players ever? Why weren't the Jazz one of those teams dominating?


Someone other than Fesenko that's for sure. The one quarter Koufos played he shut Bynum down and than the next game their front line all had a double double and Koufos didn't play again. Koufos hardly played after a great start to his career. One of the many head scratchers with Sloan over the decades.


Maybe not but no else is going at them with two undersized players. Sloan insisted on keeping Boozer despite the emergence of Boozer and I'm sure he wanted the Jefferson deal too. Makes little sense.


Okc youth took them down. Home court advantage also played a part against Boston.


It's one reason. They're nowhere without Phil. Jazz swept them in consecutive years before he took over.


Bad coaches maybe not? Phil Jackson caliber no. What did Doc do in the weak east before Garnett, Allen and Thibidau(sp?)? What has Gentry done? He took a Nash/Stoudamire led team to the westfinals like D'Antoni before him. Do you think Brooks will keep his job for more than two decades if Durant and Westbrook stay healthy and they don't win big?


You are right. Would Jackson or Riley have been able to get it done with Stockton and Malone though?


You are right. The idea most people seem to have of Sloan being the only guy that could have won for the Jazz the past two decades is laughable though. Pistons had their great run of finals with 3 different coaches.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

Yeah, and all they had was a little old Jordan/Pippen combination. It's not like Pippen was a top 50 all-time great and a first ballot HOF'er or anything like that.

Chicago. See above.


Yes, a 4/3 rookie would've made such a huge difference on the outcome of that series. Give me abreak.

I assume you meant to say the emergence of Millsap. But anyways, yes blame Sloan for all front office moves.


So youth was the reason for the tip in Pau Gasol got at the buzzer to take them out and the fact they got thoroughly outrebounded throughout the series?


I guess that had nothing to do with the acquisition of Pau Gasol and the emergence of Andrew Bynum.

To answer that would be pure speculation but regardless of who coached them it would be a tough matchup and at the end of the day no matter who the coach is, the players are the ones out there who have to step up on the floor with the game on the line.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

Not like he would have been without MJ and Phil either though. He wasn't in Stockton and Malone's league despite hype to the contrary. They were great players anywhere anytime. Not convinced Pippen would have been.


Chicago kept the Jazz from getting past the first 2nd and 3rd round all those years?


He did make a huge difference when he played. Amazing what a skilled 7 footer can do that a stiff or undersized pf can't.


He plays a huge part in what the front office does. He wanted them to keep Boozer. They've traded many a player cuz Sloan couldn't get along with them.


They lost close games. Yeah I'll go with youth.


You think they win titles without Phil Gasol or not? No one else can deal with Kobe's huge ego.


Players are #1 but in Utah Sloan has been. That's a big part of the problem. He gets all of the credit and none of the blame.

Re: No Appreciation thread for Sloan?!?!
 

Did you happen to watch Pippen in the couple of seasons after Jordan's first retirement? If you did, you would see he provided evidence to the contrary.


Russell Westbrook put up 20/6/6/1.6 and Durant put up 25/6/7/2/1. They both had a great series despite youth and inexperience. I'm gonna go with the fact that Krstic and Jeff Green were no match for Bynum and Gasol in the front court. The perimeter players did their job just fine, but the interior players were undersized and outskilled by a wide margin.

With Gasol and without Phil yes I do think it was possible for them to have won. He didn't contain Kobe's ego from 99-02 when they had their 3 peat, but their talent was so superior that they were able to win in spite of that. Great coaching helps, but great players make great plays with the game on the line. Do you think Doc Rivers is that great of a coach to just suddenly go from the last place team in the league to a championship?