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"I don't feel desperate to make a change, maybe I should." Jerry Sloan.
My palms were sweaty, my heart was racing and for better or worse it was just him and me.
Or is it he and I?
All other reporters had left and I was in the lonely hallway of EnergySolutions Arena.
Jerry Sloan vs. Dave Noriega, man to man, mano e mano.
It was a difficult question to ask a head coach. Especially a head coach that was inducted into the Hall-of-Fame WHILE HE'S STILL COACHING.
But there's one thing I've learned about the longest standing head coach in sport. If you have a question, ask it. I've seen reporters get eaten up by Jerry Sloan by beating around the bush while asking questions.
Nothing will get Jerry "sideways" like saying "some people are asking" or " do you think maybe, possibly there was a better, I mean do you think that..."
Ask your question like a man and you'll get a response like a man.
"Coach, with these slow starts really becoming habitual, at what point do you start thinking that a change in the starting lineup is needed?"
Now let's be honest. You can't ask this question to a thousand-win coach without some pretty hard data to back it up.
This was my stat: The Jazz have played 35 games and won the 1st quarter 8 times. That's not even an acceptable batting average and baseball revels in its constant failure. The Mendoza line is unacceptable, even if you are the Clippers.
Jerry's reaction confirmed that my question wasn't preposterous. "I like what we have coming off the bench, that's why I haven't changed. I've thought about it on a number of occasions and discussed it with the coaches about changing some and giving somebody else a chance and having some veteran players come off the bench."
"We need to fix something and we need to fix it now." Francisco Elson
The slow starts are especially glaring when the second unit is playing so well.
Tasmanian Devil Ronnie Price is one of the many whirlwinds of energy to come off the bench. "The one thing we can control is the way we play defense. If you can have a great defensive stand like that, offense doesn't really doesn't matter."
All-World point guard Deron Williams sees the difference from the bench and notes that the second unit's energy is contagious. "I wish the first group could do that. That way we could just keep it going."
Is it time for a shake up to the starting lineup?
"It's not up to me," said Williams.
Second team stud Francisco Elson knows that it's time to right the wrong, even though he doesn't specify exactly what needs to be changed.
"We need to fix something and we need to fix it now. We're a good team. We have a future Hall-of-Fame point guard, we have a great coach and he teaches us a lot, but we can be better. We can be much better than we are right now... we got to change it." said Elson.
Sloan points to the many injuries the Jazz have suffered, both to their starting squad and their reserves, as part of the early game woes, but he thinks that soon enough the players will make the decision an obvious one.
"Right now I don't feel desperate to make a change, maybe I should," said Sloan, "but, I've always been pretty patient with guys out there that play themselves in or play themselves out (of the lineup)."
35 games is a pretty strong sampling, Sloan indicated that he's had more patience with the struggles of the starting unit because there are so many veterans.
Between Williams, Bell, Kirilenko, Jefferson and Millsap there are 34 years of league experience.
How much longer will age and treachery overcome youth and skill?
With youngsters like C.J. Miles, Gordon Hayward, Jeremy Evans and Kyrylo Fesenko playing well, Jerry's patience may just run out.
