Estimated read time: 4-5 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 Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information.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.
SALT LAKE CITY — Quin Snyder rose from the bench, marched furiously to the scorers table and shouted “Wake up, Wake up!” looking at sophomores Trey Burke and Rudy Gobert. The Utah Jazz were trailing by 12 to a badly undermanned Oklahoma City Thunder team, close to the end of the first half.
The Jazz responded to Snyder’s outburst by cutting the Thunder lead to 2 before the break and outscoring Oklahoma City by 19 points in the second half to win comfortably.
Synder’s in-game barking has been missing from this Jazz organization since the retirement of Jerry Sloan, and even in Sloan’s later years, the fire had noticeably dimmed. But while the fire seems to burn bright with Snyder, the first-year head coach must temper his attitude, both in public and behind the scenes, or risk melting the wings of wax that keep the rest of his coaching philosophy aloft.
Coaching young, impressionable players is one of the more difficult tasks in the NBA, second only perhaps to juggling the world’s best talent on a team competing for a championship. The difference of course, is winning, and winning cures all ills. The Jazz have opened this season with a respectable record, winning tough games at home over the Phoenix Suns and the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers, while finding elusive road victories with late-game execution over the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks. With these wins, Snyder has earned the right to show his fire. But to keep the fire, he must keep winning.
The Jazz have two last-second victories this season, buzzer-beaters against the Cavaliers and Knicks accounting for nearly half of the team’s early victories. Without these miraculous baskets, this encouraging start to Snyder’s career might not look so promising. The victories afford Snyder extra room to discipline his team, as they signify the success that can be had in his system.
However, with the modern coaching carousel, today’s young player may be more willing to tune out a head coach, if the coach’s system begins to churn out more losses. Gordon Hayward, the leader of this roster is playing for his third head coach with the Jazz. While he’s been here, Hayward has seen Jerry Sloan retire over disagreements with Deron Williams, and Tyrone Corbin, another longtime Jazz man, sent packing after a 25-win season. Despite early promise, it’s unlikely the Jazz will finish with a record much better than last year’s 57-loss campaign.
Last Tuesday’s slow start won’t be the only bad performance from the Jazz this season, it likely won’t be the worst start we see this calendar year, which begs the question, how will Snyder respond next time? While the explosion from the coach certainly ignited his team, it was also met with poor play by the Thunder. Against the New Orleans Hornets, Snyder’s encouragement may have sparked his team, but did little to slow superstar Anthony Davis down.
Over-the-top discipline is welcome, when it works, as it did against the Thunder. When it doesn’t work, it can be tuned out, and when a coach is tuned out, his presence in the locker room disappears.
Jerry Sloan was known for his outbursts, even provoking Greg Ostertag to throw a bag of ice at his head coach during one locker room disagreement. Sloan, however, had two seemingly ego-less superstars in John Stockton and Karl Malone willing to carry his flag for the majority of his career, overwhelming any negative backlash.
While I wouldn’t expect any backlash from the team against Snyder this year, as he’ll surely be granted a season long honeymoon period to grow accustomed to his job, future altercations wouldn’t surprise me. Dust-ups are inevitable in a high-stakes business like the NBA, and this roster doesn’t have a Stockton or Malone to back him.
The Jazz are several years away from the 50-win plateau, and while Snyder looks like a coach capable of getting them back to that level, it may be wise to temper his fire. The occasional outburst is acceptable, it may even be beneficial, but it’s a delicate card, and Snyder needs to play it accordingly.
Ben Anderson is the co-host of Gunther in the Afternoon with Kyle Gunther on 1320 KFAN from 3-7, Monday through Friday. Read Ben's Utah Jazz blog at 1320kfan.com, and follow him on Twitter @BenKFAN.
