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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz will honor Jerry Sloan, the coach who lead them to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances and one of the most successful runs in NBA history.
The Jazz will hang Sloan's roster from the rafters at EnergySolutions Arena on Jan. 31 in the Jazz's game against the Golden State Warriors. The Hall of Fame head coach led the Jazz to the Finals in the 1996-'97 and ‘97-98 season with John Stockton and Karl Malone leading his pick-and-roll offense.
Sloan is third all-time in regular season wins as a head coach in NBA history with 1,221 wins, only Don Nelson, 1,335, and Lenny Wilkens, 1,332, have more.
Sloan took over for Frank Layden in the ‘88-89 season and coached the final 65 games of that regular season and into the playoffs. He coached the Jazz to the playoffs each of his first 15 years for the team, which is part of 20 straight for the Jazz the third longest stretch in NBA history.
Over Sloan's 22 years with the team the Jazz only missed the playoffs three times, from the ‘03 to ‘05 seasons. He has coached 202 playoffs games and won 98, which is fourth and sixth all-time.
The opposing team knew what offense was coming, but he ran the pick-and-roll all the time. This offense lead to Stockton becoming the all-time leader in assists and Malone as the second-highest scorer of all-time.
Sloan resigned from his post along with long-time assistant Phil Johnson on Feb. 10, 2011, following a loss to the Chicago Bulls. He played a Hall-of-Fame career with the Bulls and started his coaching career there where he coached for three seasons.
