Jerry Sloan and Ty Corbin discuss what Sloan will do

SALT LAKE CITY — Karl Malone is coaching, a new video system is being built and now Jerry Sloan is back in the fray for the Jazz in what is one of the more memorable months for the Jazz.

Sloan and Ty Corbin have come full circle as once again they will be working together to coach the Jazz. Ty is the head coach and Sloan will be a consultant. Whatever it is exactly is up in the air, but it will be helping out Corbin.

"I don't know what this job is going to entail or how it's going to evolve but we'll work at it and see what we can do to help each other," Sloan said.

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This move has sparked a few different ways, but one of the keys was Sloan getting back into Energy Solutions Arena and watching games.

"I enjoyed the games, I never thought I'd enjoy the games as much as I did," Sloan said. "You'd like to see what's going on and what's happening with the team and you want to see them win. Even though I wasn't attached to the Jazz I still was attached."

Sloan was in the stands, with a desire to find out what was going on, and Corbin was on the court knowing that Sloan could probably help out.

"I wish I could have called him down to sit beside me at times when things weren't going right," Corbin said.

Sloan was very complimentary about what he saw from Corbin as he coached.

"I thought it was very interesting. First of all I thought he did a great job coaching," Sloan said. "He's a young coach like all of us have been. He did a terrific job keeping guys together in really a tough situation. Guys with free agent contracts and all those sorts of things. People think that's just walk out there and it happens. It doesn't happen that way."

He went on to say that while people should expect teams and coaches to win every game they also need to be fair. Sloan said that Corbin wasn't treated fairly by the press and that he deserves better than that. He said part of the duties he sees is to keep the media off Corbin's back.

Sloan's return shouldn't just help the team, but it will be nice for fans and the team to see him at Jazz games.

"To have him back working with us is a tremendous thing," Corbin said. "For him to be around for the fans to see and for us to be able to go to him and talk about different things that may be going on."

Corbin said he was glad to have him around to help him through any similar situations that Sloan might have gone through. He also understands that part of this will be Sloan making sure he doesn't do dumb things.

"If I'm screwing up I want him to tell me, 'look you're screwing up,'" Corbin said.

The exact parameters of the job still aren't known yet, will Sloan be at every practice?

"If they have them too early I won't," Sloan said.

Will Sloan travel with the team?

"I hope so," Corbin said.

"Again if Ty can get me out of bed," Sloan said.

What does Sloan believe the Jazz's greatest need is?

"Patience," Sloan said. "Patience, we need patience with young guys. Some guys can adapt a lot quicker than others, but some players can take two, three, four years sometimes to be the kind of player that you hope they'd be."

Sloan's overall message to fans and media could be summed up with patience. He said that the teams in the Finals are old. He said that the Jazz never made it to the Finals until Stockton and Malone were 37 and 38 years old. He talked about Enes Kanter and Derrick Favors and what they need.

"Well, they are young and it sounds like they are already All-Stars," Sloan said. "I think that's a little bit unfair sometimes to put guys in positions like that. Because of expectations and things don't go right then the coach isn't playing you right. And a lot of this just depends on the players, what they're about. They have tremendous talent, they have to do the work to make themselves better. It's as simple as that."

He said that Gordon Hayward is better than when he got there and that he has done the work and needs to continue to do work to keep getting better.

While the game has changed over the past two decades or so while Sloan has been coaching he told a story about how the game is more similar than it might seem. He was asked about how teams are playing smaller lineups and going without centers and how that has changed.

He had Malone, Mark Eaton and Thurl Bailey in the front and a team went small on him and it might have changed the course of Jazz history.

"We played Golden State and they put a small lineup against us," Sloan said. "We tried to adjust to that, but we couldn't adjust because we didn't have any smaller people. If we went small we weren't good enough. That is one of the reasons why Tyrone ended up being here because we needed somebody to play the three-position and be able to guard some smaller people or larger people."

Sloan is an old-school coach. The Jazz always played inside-out and hitting a 3-point shot was last resort instead of a set play. Last season Randy Foye crushed the record for 3-point shots, but Corbin isn't worried about Sloan trying to push the Jazz back to his system.

"As I said before I understand that coach would do what ever he think and say what he feel," Corbin said. "I trust that will be for the best for what we are right now and what he thinks is the best for this team. Some things he may not agree with, some things I'll do he won't agree with. It's just part of the business."

Sloan's job will be with the Jazz, exactly what it is will be determined over time. He isn't the coach, but might be the coach's coach.

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