We'll have to disagree to some degree. I see having two of the greatest players ever for 15 years and never winning a title as a separation point between a very good coach and one of the greatest coaches. Plus, now he quits at the first sign of adversity, but with his team still in the playoffs. Also, I won't argue about his accomplishments, because I see them as being 'very good', just as I view Sloan as a 'very good' coach.
Yes, stepping down after 22 years is definitely quitting. Any non-quitter would have put 50 years in with one team. Sloan has no patience. Good observation.
I don't care if he'd been there 100 years. He just quit on his team as it is struggling to stay in playoff position, and one of his lackeys went with him. Seems as if loyalty is a one-way street for Jerry Sloan. Once he got butthurt, he packed his shit and went home, leaving the team and its fans without a coach or lead assistant as it heads into the playoff stretch run. He's a quitter. He just went Sarah Palin on the Jazz.
God, you are pretentious. How do you know it's the first sign of adversity? For all we know, Sloan could have been struggling with management issues for a long time. What we DO know is that Sloan's wife died of cancer, and yet he continued to coach the team after that. That right there was a little "adversity," wasn't it? You're really a douchbag. Somebody has to say it, so I will.
I meant team adversity, this season. His wife died in 2004; he remarried in 2006. Clearly he got through that and was able to keep coaching. He quit. This is a fact. Make all the excuses you want, but if calling a quitter a quitter makes me a douchebag, so be it.
This. Sloan's teams made the finals twice with Stockton/Malone and lost twice to the 6 time champion Bulls team. Nobody in those 6 seasons won, with whatever players the teams had. No knock against Sloan. He's most definitely one of the top 3 coaches in the league for his whole 23 seasons. I'd put PJax at #1 and Popovich at #2. A huge drop off from there to #4.
I put Pat Riley, who actually had to try to beat the Bulls every year, and Larry Brown ahead of Sloan. Both did better with less, IMO. I'd also rate Rudy T. over Sloan as well. So, 6th (IMO) is where Sloan rates over that period, at least to me. I may even put Chuck Daly over Sloan.
I'd probably put Popovich at #1 and PJax at #2 but I co-sign with everything else you and Minstrel said.
No. Great is Pop, Jackson, and Riley (going back to his Laker days). Sloan simply is not in their category in terms of accomplishments and championships. My "very good" versus "great" separation for coaches weighs winning titles heavily in the equation. Sloan is a very good coach who wasn't quite great enough to push a team with 2 no-doubt Hall of Famers to a title in 15 tries. It's not Sloan's fault, but for me, it is a sticking point in considering him one of the great coaches in NBA history. I put Sloan in the Lenny Wilkens/Don Nelson category of coaches who were very good, coached some great players, coached a lot of years, but just don't quite crack into the elite club.
I disagree. He just happened to coach his best teams when Michael Jordan was playing. Just like how we had some of the best Blazer teams turned away by Michael Jordan. Those were some damn fine teams that just ran into a buzzsaw from hell. All of the coaches you mention above, work on franchises that seem to have no problem getting the talent they want, except for a couple on the list, Sloan and Adelman.
Sloan and Adelman are in the same category to me. Very good, but not 'great' in terms of all-time coaches. As for Sloan's "best teams", he managed to lose to a 6th-seeded Houston Rocket team 4-1 in the 1994 playoffs. Jordan wasn't playing that season.
When is leaving a team not quitting? Are you essentially saying that any coach who leaves mid-season is a quitter? Also, it doesn't matter that he was basically stepping down because it was apparently that or being fired?
John Stockton on ESPN on Sloan: - Honorable and long-lasting, someone the NBA will miss greatly is Sloan's coaching legacy - Described Sloan as a "very good coach"
Yes, at least in the manner that Sloan left the Jazz. I put Larry Brown in the same category, and called him a quitter as well. He quit a week after signing an extension for next season. He quit on his team because of a rift with one player. I don't find that very honorable. The situation was good enough to sign an extension last week, but last night was just too much for him?
