An End of an Era

Sad news has hit NBA fans from the late 80s and 90s, Jerry Sloan announced today his resignation from head coach of the Utah Jazz after having led the team for 23 years. 21 of those 23 years, Sloan led the Jazz to winning seasons, the highest number of winning seasons by any coach ever. 2 years in a row in the 90s they went to the NBA Finals where they lost twice to the Chicago Bulls in two 6-game series. Sloan has had the privilege of coaching two of the most talented point guards ever, John Stockton and Deron Williams. Sloan retires as the coach with the 3rd highest amount of wins as an NBA coach, 111 games behind Don Nelson.

With Sloan's retirement, the longest tenured coach in the NBA now goes to Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, having coached the team since 1996. After Phil Jackson retires at the end of the 2010-11 season, Popovich will be the final coach currently in the league who experienced any type of success in the 90s. Truly, Sloan's surprise decision to retire now rather than at the end of the season is going to be viewed as a huge blow for the Utah Jazz organization, right now struggling to maintain a playoff berth. There are confirmed reports that the main reason Sloan retired is because he simply cannot get along with Deron Williams and he hopes that by retiring, Williams will be more willing to re-sign with the Jazz rather than become the next LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony.

It's a move that speaks of how unselfish Sloan always has been and always will be. As a player, most notably for the Chicago Bulls for 10 years, Sloan racked up 10,571 points, 5,615 rebounds, and 1,925 assists. Sloan today is still ranked 10th in steals per game, with 2.15 spg, just behind John Stockton's 2.17 spg. Sloan's play was good enough for him to be selected to 2 All-Star games, and he helped earn the Bulls' only division win before the Jordan era.

Here's to hoping this is only a partial loss for the NBA and Sloan continues to live a long and healthy life for many years to come. He's only 68, so hopefully we can look forward to Coach Sloan joining TNT or ESPN as an analyst.