RealGM

In case you had forgotten...

But last night was a great example of how good of a coach Jerry is. After a game when our star PG threw a ball at our lottery pick, and there was a lot of talk in the media about the potential melt down of the team, the Jazz go out and murder one of the best teams in the West with arguably the second best HCA in the league.

Sloan very quietly changed the rotation, and more importantly played the starters almost 40 minutes each realizing how important of a win this was to get. Sloan almost never plays starters like this, but realizing that we needed this win Sloan alters his usually strict game play to ensure a win and gets it big time.

When the Thunder went on a big run in the third quarter and cut into the 28 point lead, Sloan didn't panic, he simply put in CJ Miles and Gordon Hayward to maintain a bigger line up with good ball handlers and they broke the press 3 times in a row and completely changed the momentum of the game. Sloan didn't have to call a time out and he knew it and made the perfect tweak to keep the game in the Jazz favor.

As much as Sloan claims that every game is the same and you can't get too high or too low for a game, Sloan orchestrates a perfect game plan and beats the hell out of a very good Thunder team and completely restores morale with in the team and the Jazz community.

He's as good at managing a team/locker room as any coach I've ever seen. Try to appreciate him while we have him.

For me, the biggest thing he did was "hint" that he might change the starting line-up. And BAM!, starters played with a lot of energy right off the bat. LOL.

I think Gordan Hayward moves into the starting line up sooner rather than later.

What that does it is allows Sloan the opportunity to sub in either AK or CJ first depending on potential foul trouble which could be a problem with Millsap being undersized, Hayward being a rookie, and Bell being asked to guard the opposing teams best wing player.

Then we have a bench of Watson, CJ, AK and Fes/Elson which is much stronger than Watson, CJ, Hayward, Fes/Elson. It also eliminates the awkard (imo) substitution of AK 6 minutes into the game for CJ, then AK back in 10 minutes into the game for Millsap.

You can simply bring AK and CJ at the 6-8 minute mark for any two of the Bell/Hayward/Millsap and be fine.

I like the idea of having another slasher ball handler in the starting line up as well after we saw the Jazz struggle with the full court press of OKC.

With memo we'll have a lot more of posibilities... I can't wait to have him back, because we can play vs smaller guys and big guys because we have players to fight every kind of teams (evans, AK, Millsap and Okur vs shoot and run teams and Jefferson, Fessenko and Elson vs slower and bigger guys)

.... and yes, Sloan is a great coach,

the thing is some times he does things you don't expect (in a negative way like don't call timeouts or being with a strict rotation) and then, when you have lost all the faith in him, he does magnifics jobs coaching.

The thing is, all non utah fans think Sloan is a hell of a coach. There's a lot of worse coaches and we only think in the better than him (and there's not many)

Great regular season coach. Maybe the best ever.

I wouldn't say he's a great playoff coach, unfortunately. He's just a good one. It's nice to have a good playoff coach and an incredible regular season coach, don't get me wrong.

cjs55 wrote:Great regular season coach. Maybe the best ever.

I wouldn't say he's a great playoff coach, unfortunately. He's just a good one. It's nice to have a good playoff coach and an incredible regular season coach, don't get me wrong.

+1

What I would really hate is to have Millsap come off the bench, as he might our 2nd best player after Williams. So far he's averaging 21.3ppg 12.3rpg 3apg 1spg .7bpg in just 33mpg.

Ming Kong! wrote:What I would really hate is to have Millsap come off the bench, as he might our 2nd best player after Williams. So far he's averaging 21.3ppg 12.3rpg 3apg 1spg .7bpg in just 33mpg.

Until 20 games in the season you really don't know what averages players are going to have.
I mean, Deron was averaging 6 apg before yesterday, right now is 9. Millsap was 17, now is 21... one great game, or one bad game and your averages are completely different.

Ming Kong! wrote:What I would really hate is to have Millsap come off the bench, as he might our 2nd best player after Williams. So far he's averaging 21.3ppg 12.3rpg 3apg 1spg .7bpg in just 33mpg.

Millsap can abuse small 4s. Green is a perfect example of that.

But he struggles against bigger 4s. If he comes off the bench, he'll matchup with smaller 4s more often, and he'll be fresher than the big 4s that are starting which can help him overcome his disadvantage. I think he's the perfect 32 mpg off the bench player.

But he'll start until Memo can play serious minutes. That may not even happen this year.

Sloan is a great man and a good coach who has improved the past 3 years. He was a terrible coach of young talent but has adjusted to it well the past 3 years. He has never been a good game manager and his substitution pattern is sometimes idiotic. He is not a great X's and O's guy. The Jazz assistants are better X's and O's guys than him. He is an ok motivator but tends to be a little hard on players in the past that question him. He has also mishandled Ak-47's carreer in the past. He has said he has made serious mistakes with the team and players in the past, and I respect his honesty. He handled the Boozer situation last year as best as anyone could have handled it.

So he has never been a great coach. He is a good coach but not near the Phil Jacksons and Greg Popovichs of the world, but few are as good as those guys. He is a great man full of integrity and honesty and wanting to do what is best for the Jazz organization. Unlike years past, I am glad he is the coach of this team because he has changed his style to reflect this team he is now coaching. I am now a Jerry Sloan fan for the first time since Stockton and Malone retired.

HolyToledo wrote:I am now a Jerry Sloan fan for the first time since Stockton and Malone retired.

Then that means you somehow missed the 03-04 season, wherein he won 42 games with AK, 4 role players and 7 nobodies. If that didn't make you a fan of Jerry, then you weren't watching.

The guy is a great coach. If you're not going to replace him with Jax or Pops, then it's foolish to fire him.

Bat wrote:
As much as Sloan claims that every game is the same and you can't get too high or too low for a game, Sloan orchestrates a perfect game plan and beats the hell out of a very good Thunder team and completely restores morale with in the team and the Jazz community.

He's as good at managing a team/locker room as any coach I've ever seen. Try to appreciate him while we have him.

Lets not forget he cured cancer and solved world hunger. I agree hes a good coach, but all this lover over one game? If people have "forgotten" as you claim, I doubt one regular season game after two embarrassing losses is going to jog their memory. Again I think Sloan is a great coach, but lets not go deity worship on him.

GP wrote:

Bat wrote:
As much as Sloan claims that every game is the same and you can't get too high or too low for a game, Sloan orchestrates a perfect game plan and beats the hell out of a very good Thunder team and completely restores morale with in the team and the Jazz community.

He's as good at managing a team/locker room as any coach I've ever seen. Try to appreciate him while we have him.

Lets not forget he cured cancer and solved world hunger. I agree hes a good coach, but all this lover over one game? If people have "forgotten" as you claim, I doubt one regular season game after two embarrassing losses is going to jog their memory. Again I think Sloan is a great coach, but lets not go deity worship on him.

haha exactly. remember okur is still on the team. i wonder if memo is a jealous one?

GP wrote:.... Sloan is a great coach, but lets not go deity worship on him.

I can't go to where I'm already are. Sloan's the best coach I've ever watched.
I certainly would prefer to (kind of) worship him than any other dude related to sports (well... to be fair John Stockton's an exception to that rule...)

The Popovich/Jackson arguments are unfair ones, as they coached the absolute cream of players during their primes; they coached those unstoppable dudes with just out-of-this-world levels of talent and toughness that are bound to be or already are living legends.

I can only speculate of course, but I'd bet my pet none of them would have won a championship in Utah... and both of them would have gone about 28-54 the season Sloan went 42-40 ("ruining franchise rebuilding" according to KOC!).

The Popovich/Jackson arguments are unfair ones, as they coached the absolute cream of players during their primes;

As opposed to Sloan? He didn't coach Stockton an Malone in their primes..... Really????

I can only speculate of course, but I'd bet my pet none of them would have won a championship in Utah... and both of them would have gone about 28-54 the season Sloan went 42-40 ("ruining franchise rebuilding" according to KOC!).

Shoulda, koulda, woulda, the fact is both of those guys have MULTIPLE championships, Sloan has NONE.......

Enough idol worshipping, for crying out loud.......

I know the guy is a great basketball mind, with plenty of credentials. But I'm kind of scratching my head with the extension. He hasn't been able to win, and with a championship roster none the less.

How many more years is it going to take? How many more years does he have in him to begin with?

As many as he wants.

If you guys are concerned about the Jazz's identity right now, I don't want to be here when Sloan leaves. I think it's going to hurt the team alot more than fans are willing to admit

seejaydeja wrote:If you guys are concerned about the Jazz's identity right now, I don't want to be here when Sloan leaves. I think it's going to hurt the team alot more than fans are willing to admit

The Jazz front office, instead of spending millions on a new coach, should spend millions on integrated holograms of Sloan for the sidelines and in the lockeroom. They can program all of his Sloan-isms to project the message most appropriate for the situation. For example, when we get beat by a team we should not lose to, we can push the button that projects a hologram of Sloan saying "we need to find out who we are a little bit. We can't do that with guys jackpotting around out there." Then, he can truly coach the Jazz forever!