Meet
Do I smell Coach of the Year? NO!
Posted by: Chad Phillips on November 29th, 2010
The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.Is this Jerry Sloan’s year to win the coveted (uh-hem) Coach of the Year award? I hope not. Why? Because Jerry Sloan would just as soon cuss out a referee as win that over-rated pink slip.
The Coach of the Year award should be renamed to “The nobody on Earth thinks you will ever have a semi-successful season again Award,” or to the “Since we can’t give your superstar two MVP awards I guess you can have this.”
If Sloan did win the award he would then have his name etched in history next to the previous six winners of Coach of the Year who aren’t even qualified to shine his shoes. What happened to the previous six winners? Mike D’Antoni (FIRED), Avery Johnson (FIRED), Sam Mitchell (FIRED), Byron Scott (FIRED), Mike Brown (FIRED), and Scott Brooks (Not Yet Fired).
The formula for winning COTY is pretty similar to my wife having a successful Valentines Day … keep the expectations low … I mean really low. If the Nets win 14 games this season Avery Johnson will likely win another Coach of the Year award.
They don’t give awards to guys like Jerry Sloan. They give awards to marshmallows who want to win awards … who want to be acknowledged. Jerry Sloan doesn’t want to be acknowledged … he wants to sit in the back of the room and and then tough guy shoulder you as he leaves.
Jerry Sloan is the coach who, know matter how special you may be, he reminds you that still aren’t that special. Look at John Stockton, undeniably the greatest point guard to ever play the game, and after playing for Jerry Sloan for 19 seasons he looks like he has self esteem issues!
Jerry Sloan is the maker of men … too bad they don’t make an award for that.
Replies: 9
Views: 664
9 Responses
If I were superstitious I’d agree with you but I’m not so here we are. Regardless of what happened to previous coaches who one the award, Jerry Sloan deserves the award. No one is going to fire Sloan, Sloan will leave when he’s ready. which will probably be sometime in the near future.
In my opinion the leagues probably waiting for Sloan to announce his last season and give it to him that year as more of life time achievement award rather than an actual coach of the year award.
Either way, there is no other coach in the NBA who deserves the award more than Sloan. and no other team who deserves a championship more than the jazz.
The difference between Sloan and those other coaches. Is Sloan as two decades plus of excellence. your right when you say the other coaches don’t deserve to shine his shoes. If Sloan were to win it would be two decades of good play that earned him it. If he were to somehow go into the next year with a losing record or get dismissed (highly unlikely, very much doubt he’ll ever be fired from utah) it wouldn’t even put a smudge of uncertainty that he is and has been one of the best coaches this league has ever seen. And he is a Hall of Famer.
This season, Jerry Sloan has led the team’s ongoing excellence, as we expect. But he’s also been a great situational coach, switching to zone defense, then switching back. Double-teaming Kobe Bryant when it counted. Getting great results on in-bounds plays with 2 seconds on the clock. And making full use of all the new talent, like Jefferson, Watson, Elson and Bell.
So far, Jerry Sloan IS having a Coach-of-the-Year season. He’s out-coaching his rivals, game in and game out. Never mind the reputation and the life-time achievement stuff – Sloan is earning it with every game.
Well said Cam, what has always frustrated me about Sloan was his inability to make game time adjustments. Sure game to game he could fix obvious problems, but never could seem to on the fly. This year he’s a bit different of a Coach. Just like Cam said, he’s coaching the situation not the system and he’s out couching opponents. It seems to me that Sloan sees an opportunity with this new team. Maybe it’s only me, but it seems that fire under his seat has been re-ignited this year after sputtering the last few seasons.
But I agree a Coach of the year award would be a hell of a nice paper weight for Jerry… not much else.
I would only be happy if he got it this year if we win the finals
I don’t think Sloan will ever announce at the start or during the season that it is his last. After the end of the season when he is ready he will do so. Much like Stockton did. And when Sloan does this Phil will say make that a double.
I just want to talk about my love for your avatar pic.
okay, I’m done.
Sloan is not into individual awards. He would be much happier if the Jazz won the NBA championship. So, would I. Then, he might accept the Coach of the Year honor.
Sloan does make real men. To hell with the COY award. I think Sloan loves basketball, loves teaching, loves seeing a perfectly executed crisp offense and a foul that leaves an opponent wary to ever come back in the paint. He’s a man’s man and as such has made the Jazz organization consistent winners for 20 plus years.