Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CLEVELAND — Legendary Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan never won an NBA coach of the year award.
He could have — many would say should have — won two or three, possibly more.
But on Wednesday during halftime of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the NBA awarded Sloan the top honor from the National Basketball Coaches Association.
Sloan was named co-recipient of the 2016 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award alongside former Boston coach K.C. Jones, the league announced Wednesday.
“Like coach Daly, I loved coaching and did my best to approach the job with professionalism, the concept of team effort and always playing hard,” Sloan said. “I thank my fellow coaches and all of my friends from the bottom of my heart for this special honor.”
Sloan, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia last fall, spent 23 seasons with the Jazz, guiding the Utah team to 19 playoff appearances, seven division titles, 16-straight winning seasons, 13 seasons with at least 50 wins and three seasons with 60 or more wins.
Since joining the Jazz as head coach in 1988 until his retirement in 2011, Sloan’s teams finished with a losing record just once. He’s one of nine coaches in NBA history with more than 1,000 career regular-season victories, ending his tenure with 1,221 — joining San Antonio’s Greg Popovic as the only coaches to do it with one franchise.
Sloan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
“Jerry Sloan is a coaching icon because of his longevity, adaptability and creativity,” said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle, president of the coaches association. “Jerry’s run of 23 years in Utah is the longest in NBA history and a testament to his competitive greatness. K.C. Jones and Jerry Sloan embody what the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award is all about.”
A native of McLeansboro, Illinois, Sloan played his 11-year NBA career with Baltimore and Chicago, then served as head coach of the Bulls from 1979-82. He moved to Utah as a scout in 1983, was named an assistant to head coach Frank Layden in 1984, and became the franchise’s sixth head coach after Layden’s resignation in December of 1988.
The former farm boy from Illinois tends to eschew the media spotlight, and that’s how he was during his introductory press conference.
“I thought this thing was over when (Carlisle) got through,” Sloan joked. “That's how anxious I am to get away.
“I’m not one that liked to be in the shadows of what goes in this business. But I’m really honored that I would be thought of at this stage of my life. I always thought awards should go to the team, and not to me … I think the assistant coaches deserve to be recognized as much or more than the head coaches.”
