I'm going to rant here so, some of it might not make sense or follow a certain train of thought but here goes... What does Sloan have to do to win the coach of the year? In 1998, the Jazz won 61 games, the best in the league, who wins COY? Larry Bird. In 1999, the Jazz have the second best record in the league, but Doc Rivers wins the award for taking the worse team talent wise to a .500 record and barely missing the playoffs. In 2002 & 2003 seasons, the Jazz were predicted not to make the playoffs, yet the make the playoffs with an older Stockton and Malone and weaker talent around them, NO COY for Sloan. Now 2004, Jerry Sloan leads a team of no-names to a 21st consecutive winning streak, basically he did the most with the least, same result NO COY. This year has really got me p'ed, Hubie Brown won the COY, I have the up-most respect for Hubie and in most seasons I would say he deserved it for taking the Grizz from a 28 win season to a 50 win season, and leading them to their first ever playoffs berth. But look at his team and look at Sloan's team. Hubie had 7 lottery picks, Sloan had 7 players drafted in the second round or un-drafted players. The one lottery pick player the Jazz had was Googs and they only had him for half of a season and he only averaged about 4 pts and 4 rebs. Hubie also had two previous rookie of the years in Mike Miller and Pau Gasol. Hubie had a ten man rotation, why because his team was so deep, they had a #2 pick coming off the bench in Stromile Swift. For Sloan, Kirilenko was a first-time All-star. Matt Harpring was injured half-way through the season, the Grizz had no major injuries. I know off-court issues shouldn't weigh in to your decisions but you can't look over Jerry's wife, Bobbye, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This is hard for anyone, but Bobbye encouraged Jerry to keep on coaching because it gave joy to her. This is just amazing in its self that he could keep on when something like this was happening to someone he loved so much. And just to think Hubie's Grizz only won EIGHT more games than Jerry's Jazz. I know Sloan wouldn't care about who won this, all he cares about is a championship, but this would of been sweet. It would of been good for the fans, the team, and I know he would of really loved it.
Agreed Jerry Sloan has never got COY in his coaching career. That's amazing. He's coached the Jazz to the playoffs every single season of his coaching career but this one. He did have Stockton and Malone, but even then he was a great coach. Those close to him know this seasons coaching was no different to any other year, just different players. The secret to his sucess is being able to get players to play better than what they're meant to. It shows in the way Andrei Kirilenko was an all star, and the way just about everyone on the Jazz went from benchwarmers to good bench players or capable starters. Every single player on the Jazz overachieved (with the exception of the injury prone Curtis Borchardt). If you look at the lineup, there should be no way this team was fighting for a playoff spot at the end of the season. The Grizzlies were a team that up until recently were always headed for the lottery. What Hubie did was unleash the potential that was there. Jerry could do that easily. Jerry had a lot more things in his way, he had a team of no names, Malone and Stockton were being replaced by Ruffin and Arroyo, their leading scorer was out for 50+ games, most of the team were benchwarmers previously, they had no real leader on the court, the had no lottery picks( apart from Googs) and a whole lot more. I think that Jerry Sloan deserves the award more, even Hubie thinks so. If I were voting as a TNT employee," Hubie said, "I would vote Jerry Sloan for Coach of the Year. I hope he wins it." Rest of Article Jerry Sloan's a perfect coach for a young team, and the Grizzlies would make a great fit for him as he's not afraid to pull of the team's superstar(s) who isn't performing and put on a bench player in his place. Don't get me wrong, Hubie down a great job helping turn around the Grizzlies franchise but I don't think their 50 win season equates to the Jazz's 42 considering the factors this season for both teams. Just look at the roster, for example the Grizzlies use a 10 man rotation, ask yourself how many of the Jazz would make it in that? The Jazz are a team with a succesful history, the Grizzlies are not and I suspect the voters may have looked at the Grizzlies history a little to much. Basically, Hubie did in one season what the Jazz have been doing under Jerry Sloan for over a decade(without turning a team around), reaching their full potential and winning more than half their games.
I just had to copy and paste this from the Memphis forum. This is what I said: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Am I the only one that thinks Jerry Sloan got robbed of the award this year??? Look at what Hubie had: Posey, Gasol, J. Williams, Stro, Battier, Wells, Watson. Not to discount what he did this year because taking a team to the playoffs in the West is a big accomplishment. But how can he not win with this lineup??? These guys are all better than average players and a pretty solid team (even by Western conference standards). Look at what Sloan had: Kirilenko, Arroyo, Lopez, Ostertag, Raja Bell Everyone except for Kirlilenko is forgettable. When has Ostertag ever done anything significant? Raja Bell? Raul Lopez?? Jerry Sloan had an awful team but managed to be competitive for the playoffs till the end of the season. I can honestly say that Jerry Sloan a whole lot more with a lot less. Hubie Brown deserves his accolades but Jerry Sloan got jobbed out of the COY plain and simple. Don't give me the "he didn't make it to the playoffs" bull. To be competitive for the playoffs with his lineup is a miracle in itself.</div>Jerry Sloan got a first class slap in the face with this decision.
