Jerry Sloan and All That Jazz

The Utah Jazz are one win away from making the Western Conference Finals. Read that again.

This team was not supposed to compete this year. Even beyond the dominant troika of San Antonio, Dallas, and Phoenix, there were teams who should have had more success than Utah. Kobe's Lakers were supposed to take the next step after blowing a 3-1 lead to the Suns in last year's playoffs. The Clippers were looking to build onto their first playoff appearance in 340 years. The Warriors' new head coach was supposed to take a run and gun team up the charts of the Western Conference. The Rockets would finally have their two uberstars healthy and ready to make a run at the championship trophy. The Nuggets frontline was deep, talented, and the roster was bolstered with the addition of Allen Iverson. These were the teams that were supposed to compete.

But the Utah Jazz??? In a year where their previous best player, Andrei Kirilenko, was a complete shell of his previous self? Did anyone who's not a Mormon see this coming?

The lesson: Once again, we are reminded that there is indeed an important component to winning beyond the players on the court. A coach is a crucial element to all teams in the three major sports. Jerry Sloan is proof.

Jerry Sloan constantly has the Jazz overachieving. Sure, maybe he never won the championship with two of the greatest 50 players of all time on his team, but let's be fair. His team peaked in the era of Jordan, Pippen, and Hakeem. No coach could have won those series, with the possible exception of Bill Belichick.

Yet, I feel as if Sloan slips under the radar when we discuss great coaches. We know about the active all time greats: Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Don Nelson, Doc Rivers. But what about Sloan? Isn't the true measure of a coach how well he can get his players to play. How often he can get his roster to overachieve? How can he get the very most out of a squad of guys who, on some teams, look like they're just showing up to collect their paycheck and eyeball the dance team? Sloan consistently gets his team to play their best - year in and year out.

So, Saj, I want your thoughts on this. Also, are there any other coaches in the three major sports that you feel are overlooked by the average sports fan?


There's that football coach guy who nobody really talks about. Bill Belichick. Kidding. It's tough to say what individual coaches are overlooked but I will say that basketball coaches tend to be underrated and baseball managers tend to be overrated. No explanation because it's late and Robert Horry just body-checked Steve Nash across the Mexican border. Note: Don't get roped into a Western Conference playoff series when you're tired. You're just going to have nightmares about Gregg Popovich's hair. Hey Gregg, Malcolm McDowell called...