SOMETIMES WE'RE NOT GONNA SEE EYE-TO-EYE

SOMETIMES WE'RE NOT GONNA SEE EYE-TO-EYE
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE ... JERRY SLOAN STEPS DOWN



Enough Is Enough


"Hello darkness my old friend, I've to come talk with you again."

Jerry Sloan is old enough to appreciate the finer things in life.  For a man who never backed down from a basketball court challenge in his life, not from Rick Barry, not from Pete Maravich, not from Oscar Robertson, Sloan was smart enough to recognize when it's time to leave with your dignity in tact.  After 23 years of coaching and more than 1,200 wins, Sloan walked away from the Utah Jazz, escaping an avalanche of discontent.

A Hall of Famer, it's ironic that Sloan reached his boiling point while coaching against the Chicago Bulls, the team he earned his hard-nosed reputation with as a backcourt bookend alongside Norm Van Lier.  At halftime of Wednesday's game, Sloan and point guard Deron Williams' rocky relationship reportedly hit the point of no return.  Sloan, upset that Williams ran a different play than he called for from the bench, blew a gasket in the lockeroom.  The old Jerry Sloan would have probably opted to settle the matter with his fists, but this is the kinder, gentler NBA.  The Williams-Sloan relationship has been percolating for quite some time.


    "Fools" said I, "You do not know, Silence like a cancer grows. 
Hear my words that I might teach you, Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed, In the wells of silence ."


There's no question Williams has got serious game.  He's certainly in the discussion of the top five point guards in the league, but has he earned the status to force a legend like Sloan out the door,  three days after Sloan signed a one-year extension?  Williams becomes a free agent in 2012 and sources indicated he was leaning toward bolting if Sloan wasn't gone.  Seems the Jazz players banded together and decided Sloan didn't know who they were anymore, the familiar chant of  "lost the team" being thrown around better than his "flex" offense was being run.

Despite losing some key components from last year's squad, the Jazz, as of this writing, are 31-23 and second in the Northwest.  When Sloan realized ownership was listening more to the inmates than the warden, it was time to take his last charging call.

Replacing Sloan, for at least the remainder of the season, will be assistant Tyrone Corbin.  I hope Williams is pleased because if memory serves me right, Sloan achieved a measure of success with a little point guard named John Stockton.  Oh, yeah, he's in the Hall of Fame too.


"And the people bowed and prayed, To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning, In the words that it was forming.
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls." and whisper'd in the sounds of silence."