NBA
Yesterday, Jerry Sloan resigned as Head Basketball Coach of the Utah Jazz. The currently longest tenured Coach in American professional sports just quit. Yup, one of the most respected (and defensive-minded) coaches stepped down during the middle of his 23rd season. This doesn't sound like the third "winningest" coach in NBA history, nor the most loyal (longest to coach for one team in NBA history), nor someone who just signed a contract extension (this season for the next). Sounds Fishy. Probably is...
Any further discussion of this particular issue is merely my opinion (speculation?) and by no means 100% the truth. The media have attempted to get a more conclusive response to why Sloan resigned. The best they're are going to get is the current response of "It's time to move on." That's because Sloan is classy, and despite being thrown under the bus himself, he won't do the same to someone else. You can't always fight fire with fire. Sometimes you're so powerless you can only hope it burns itself out.
Time to stop beating around the burning bush. Pop Quiz: What was my one "hate" in my most recent post? The Superstar Treatment. In case you're a newcomer, it's when players gain more leverage than the coach. Usually it's because of the extra zeros attached to the player's paycheck. Another instance of letting money ruin the sports that we truly love. Some alternatively defend the Treatment and say the player is more popular to the fans than the coach. Well, if we went by popularity, then American Idol would epitomize how we should run things. God help us! Others argue and claim the player is better than the coach. This argument is plain stupid.
Everyone knows that two heads are better than one (assuming they work together). In team sports, the players put in countless energy and time practicing, achieving tip-top shape, and learning how to play the game usually via a playbook. Who writes the playbook? The coach (duh!). Unsurprisingly, countless hours go into that as well. That playbook serves as the coach's bible and he religiously preaches it to his players so that THE WHOLE TEAM is on the same page. I'll use algebra to explain what wins championships (other than defense): Teamwork > Individual-work. Unless you are Peyton Manning and command control of all your troops, you're going to need an eye in the sky to coordinate the show. In fact, Manning only touches the clouds because of the structure of football allowing for game-breaks. It is much more difficult to both play and coach with efficiency unless you have ample time to coordinate with everyone. This is harder to achieve in the more free-flowing team sports like basketball, hockey and soccer. In these, coordination is best achieved beforehand by listening to one cooperative philosophy.
Unfortunately, the structure of basketball falsely highlights "what works". Fans, coaches, owners, etc. all observe individual stars dominate a team sport that is limited to five on-court players per team. When superstar players play in the K-12 or collegiate levels, their individual talents outclass what their competitors are prepared to stop. As a result, the player and the team benefit. This leads to inflated heads; sadly many won't deflate until they have washed-out, waking up to the realization that "me-first" doesn't translate to team success. This life lesson is too often too late, after a forfeited education and thus hopes for an alternate future.
Alternatively, the "successful" juiced-up egos lead into conflicts between coach and player. While not a new phenomenon, it is novel to see the roles reversed: Individual > Team (aka coach). Our media and society have idolizes individuals to such a degree that we crown Kings from undeserving men. If you haven't already done so, read my second-ever post, "No Defense for a King," to understand more clearly what individuals and entire cities sacrifice when they give in to false idols. I'd hate to see Salt Lake City follow Cleveland's blueprint for downfall, but I'd love to see Jerry Sloan lead another team to a title with a fortified defense. Leadership comes few and far between, but leads to far more impressive results than misguided shortcuts. If you believe in the God-gene, think of it instead as a leadership-gene and stop hating.
Not going to name the superstar? I will. D-will. They never got along. The fear of the Jazz losing Deron Williams to free agency pushed the higher ups in the Jazz organization to make Sloan leave.
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel you JD. I feel the same way about players growing bigger then the team, and even bigger then the city. And there is no question that if things we'rent tense between Deron and Sloan, he'd still be around. I also agree that the management beginning to side with Deron must have added to it as well, especially considering how close the Jazz franchise been with Sloan. Yet one other fact definitely adds to this too, and I'd love your take. This kind of tension between Sloan and Deron has been going on for a while. Maybe this was just too much, but also, being such a small market franchise, and the way things have gone in the last 5 years with players just not going to the smaller market teams, there doesn't seem much hope for the Jazz to get players in the future. That being said, I just cant imagine Sloan stepping down if his team was a CONTENDOR. If he had a team in the locker room that was better then the perennial 50 win team they have every year, that gets through the first round and is just another mid market team, he would have a lot more incentive to deal with all this drama (that undoubtedly doesn't help) and stick around. Sadly, the Jazz just don't seem to be going anywhere anymore and I think that has a lot to do with his inability to stick around with all this tension anymore.
ReplyDeleteNimo, nice to hear from you again. To me, I think it's less about a particular beef with a player and more about the inability to do what Coach Sloan likes to do: coach basketball. He's had player coach conflicts before, but I believe this time his coaching hands were tied. I'd understand if Sloan wanted to discipline his star player for his disobedience by benching/suspension. However, this call may not fly with management. If that's the case, then it's a situation that will continue to snowball until coaching is officially less important than individual stardom/winning. It's tragic and I believe Sloan got out before he was personally destroyed by it. A man of his stature and success doesn't quit DURING a season because he's got no title shot.(if that true, then he's a coward) I think it's got to be worse, like feeling he's become a moot point.
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