Jerry Sloan

[Godzilla039]

.. has been a great coach throughout the course of his career. He's guided numerous teams to the playoffs (with an occasional deep run here and there) along with over exceeded expectations with mediocre teams.

So why can't dude win a COTY Award?

[seejaydeja]

Because COTY is only for coaches who get fired the next year. Jerry Sloan is above COTY.

[StocktonShorts]

Because COTY is only for coaches who get fired the next year. Jerry Sloan is above COTY.

COTY usually goes to the guy who exceeded expectations by the largest margin. So it either goes to a young coach with no track record (Scott Brooks, Sam Mitchell) who has a good season or to an established coach who does much more with his team than expected.

Jerry Sloan is Mr. Consistent. It's hard for him to exceed expectations at this point. Having said that, based on the criteria I've outlined he REALLY, REALLY should have won in 2003-2004. Before the season, many pundits honestly questioned if the Jazz would threaten Philadelphia's 9-win season. As it turned out Sloan coached that Jazz team to a 42-40 record, which meant narrowly missing the playoffs in the West, but would've put them as the 4th seed in the East.

The key members of that team (in order of minutes played):

Andrei Kirilenko
Greg Ostertag
Raja Bell
Carlos Arroyo
Jarron Collins
Raul Lopez
DeShawn Stevenson
Sasha Pavlovic (Rookie)
Matt Harpring
Mo Williams (Rookie)
Michael Ruffin
Gordan Giricek
Tom Gugliotta

Jerry Sloan winning 42 games in the Western Conference at that time with that lineup in my book is arguably the most impressive coaching job of the past ten years.

[HolyToledo]

Sloan was a very good coach in his first 5-10 years with the Jazz then mishandled the post Stockton/Malone teams very badly. He especially mishandled AK-47's career. He finally acknowledged his mistakes and did a great job last year. Last year is the first year I would have entertained him as a coach of the year as he handled the tough Boozer situation well. He also allowed the offense to move more freely and even encouraged a running game. I also like the way he is handling this pre-season allowing players to compete for starting lineup spots. Players know where they stand with Jerry Sloan which was not always true in the past, especially when he went into his shell after his wife passed away.

This could be the year Jerry Sloan wins and earns the coach of the year!!

[Lava Rock Kid]

I think Phil Jackson and Popovich only has 1 apiece. The COY is kind of a joke. When Hubie Brown won it over sloan in the rebuilding 9 win season year, it was a popularity contest.

[seejaydeja]

Don't kid yourself. COTY is a joke award. I'd rather seem him retire without it. I think that'd be a bigger statement than anything.

[Godzilla039]

thanks

[QuantumMacgyver]

Oh man... Toledo was doing so well over the last few months too. And then he has to go and do this.

[BarneyGumble]

Sloan definitely deserved COY in the 2004 season. It was a real shame he did not win it that year. I REMEMBER the media claiming the Jazz would not get double digit wins....how quickly they forget.

Sloan did NOT deserve COY when he was limiting Stockton's minutes.....IN THE FINALS.

Or when he nearly ruined Deron's career in just his rookie season.

Or when he let David Benoit shoot us out of the deciding first round game against Houston after we had a 2-1 series lead. Houston went on to win the Championship.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

Sloan not winning COTY in 03-04 was a complete sham. Like previous posts have stated, it's arguably the best coaching job in the past decade or more. That team had no business winning 42 games, just look at the roster they had.

I hope he never wins COTY and once he retires they rename the award after him. That would be a much better honor than him winning it for one year as a makeup for the 03-04 season.

[Ming Kong!]

Yeah 03-04 was amazing, people were saying Kirilenko was going to be a great player, at worst a poor man's KG, with even more defensive potential.

[Paper Face]

Forget COY. The real award should go to Sloan's hands:

http://sloanhands.blogspot.com/