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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Jazz fans already had the script written in stone when former star Jeff Hornacek became a part-time shooting coach.
Hornacek learned how to coach from Jerry Sloan, bringing former teammates back into the fray as position coaches. He aimed, when Sloan retired, to become the head coach of the Jazz. That plan appeared air-tight until it sprang a massive leak when Sloan abruptly retired in February 2011. It was Tyrone Corbin, not Hornacek, who was thrust into the coaching spot, and Hornacek left for the Phoenix Suns job this past offseason.
Hornacek, whose Goran Dragic-less Suns fell to the Jazz 109-86, said he has tried to emulate Sloan in his time on the bench.
“There are a couple times I get a little upset in games,” Hornacek said, referencing the famously fiery Sloan. “When you’re a competitor, just like Jerry that played the game, sometimes you get a little animated. He was a great role model as a way I can coach and try to push guys.”
Hornacek also credits Sloan’s system in helping him develop a coach’s mindset.
#JH
“In Jerry’s system, you had to think a couple steps ahead,” he said. “You can’t get to the top level in this league as a team if you’re not thinking two, three steps ahead. Everybody tries to take away the first steps, a lot of times they already know the second step; it’s when you get to that third step you can take advantage.”
Phoenix’s franchise has long been associated with playing an up-tempo game style, and Hornacek reinvigorated that approach after getting the Suns coaching job. While the Suns have a roster built perfectly for it, the former Jazz shooting guard said he is building his system to match the talents of available players.
“If we had a bunch of post-up guys, we would walk the ball up the court,” Hornacek said. “We looked at our team, and what our strengths would be, and we felt we could use those guys to run up and down the court. … So, I think it was personnel because I like to play that way, and we just happen to have guys that fit that.”
Corbin has been a variety of things to Hornacek — teammate, colleague, employer. Yet, through it all, Corbin said Hornacek’s knowledge of the game has propelled him as both a player and coach.
“Phoenix and here (Utah), (Hornacek’s) understanding of the game,” he said. “Understanding where he may not have been the most athletic guy, how to get a shot off, (and) how to be effective on the floor. So, he had to not only understand his position but understanding all of the other positions on the floor on the offensive side. And then, defensively, where guys are going to come off and how you can get an advantage to get a shot off there.”
Corbin was also quick to note that even though he and Hornacek remain friends, both coaches view games where they face each other competitively.
“If you’re a competitor, you compete,” he said. “Once the game’s over, game’s over. He (wants) to win, I (want) to win. Xavier McDaniel and I went to high school together, and we played in the pros against each other for years. We understood that after the game, we’ll go to dinner, but during the game, you’ve got a different uniform on.”
With Phoenix now on a three-game losing streak after the loss to Utah, Hornacek was quick to note the defensive intensity has to improve for Phoenix for the Suns to get back to their winning ways.
“Defensively, (we’ve) got to use the energy to get better,” he said. “We’re a fast-breaking team that relies on getting stops, getting steals and when you don’t do that, you struggle. When you’re short-handed, you almost have to try and win the game defensively, and we didn’t do that.”
