Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Jerry Sloan, the Hall of Fame coach who was a fixture for decades in Utah and took the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998, died Friday. He was 78.
The Jazz said he died from complications of Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia. Sloan had been in failing health for many years.
Sloan spent 23 seasons coaching the Jazz. The team — with John Stockton and Karl Malone leading the way in many of those seasons — finished below .500 in only one of those years. Sloan won 1,221 games in his career, the fourth-highest total in NBA history. Only Lenny Wilkens, Don Nelson and Gregg Popovich have more victories.
Great coach... Stockton and Malone were always the #1 foil of the Rockets. Still waiting for that clock to start...
As a player he was one of the earliest players in Chicago Bulls history. He also was the first player whose number was retired by the Bulls 0rganization. In the late 60's/early 70's the Bulls had a great team and sadly when they got to the playoffs it seemed that it was always the Los Angeles Lakers that knocked them off. In one of Wilt Chamberlain's books Wilt was quoted as saying that at times he wished the Bulls could get to the finals instead of the Lakers because "we would do a choke job" and the Bulls would battle you for every single minute of the game even if they were down by 20 and little time left.
Part of the reason for that was Sloan had "Stormin'" Norman Van Lier with Bobby Weiss coming off the bench. They then traded for the 76ers Chet Walker who still had a couple years left in him and also had Bobby Love as the other forward. The weak part was Tom Boerwinkle at center, not that he was a bad player. He just always had problems with the best centers of the league; Russell, Wilt, Unseld, Thurmond, Willis Reed. Of course, so did the other centers in the league.
Great, hard-nose coach. As a 90's kid (teen in the mid/late 90s), he's one of the many iconic coaches that I grew up with. Am too young to really know much about him as a player, but I heard he was a good player too.
He fit the mold of a "real coach." No disrespect to the current coaches, but they don't make them that way any more.
He really only had 2 bonafide stars in Stockton and Malone, and everyone else was role players (including some really good ones like Hornacek). If they could have ever landed just one more legit scorer, they would have definitely won a championship. The fact they were so competitive with the team they had for all those years is a testament to his coaching.
I will always think of Jerry Sloan and Norm Van Lier playing on those tough Bulls teams of the 70s. Two great characters.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
