Sloan

[Multipaul]

He's not being forced out. He wants out.

Optics brotha.

Just like Larry Brown "resigned"

[Deadallus]

Unfortunately Toronto never had a good coach. The problem in Toronto is that there is no pressure, we just went through 13 game losing streak, we are starting another one and it's "business as usual", most of the media is blind folded, they are on the Raptors payroll one way or another, so they can't speak their mind openly. Years ago fans of one of the best Croatian soccer teams got very angry because players were not trying at all and thought only about their contracts and fancy sport cars. So they entered into a team practice and took off the jerseys of some of the players, saying that they do not deserve to wear them. Needless to say, the team played much better and became multiple champions in following years. How many Raptors players would have kept their jerseys if we had more Croatian fans around here?
I'm sure that Triano is a nice guy, but it takes more than that to lead NBA team successfully. Toronto is probably the only franchise in NBA that never had a coach over .500 during his years with the Raptors (the best one, believe it or not, is Lenny Wilkens who was .459 beween 2000-2003). I can't remember any game we won because our coach "outcoached" the opposition, but on the other hand there were hundreds of close games we lost due to elementary coaching mistakes (this was the case not only with Triano, but also under Mitchell, O'Neal, Wilkens…)
Getting Sloan is too good to be true, but having someone like him will bring some accountability and stop the street ball attitude (scoring is the only thing that matters around here). It will help develop the talents of Davis and DeRozan, clear the wasted space in the locker room and put the franchise on the right track towards the ultimate goal – to win the championship. Wasn`t that the goal of Colangelo when he took over, to build a championship team (or at least a contender)? How many more losing seasons can this fan base support? It's time to do something right and start the building process. The good side of the basketball is that there are only 5 players on the team, so with a couple of good moves you can quickly turn around the franchise. It can be done, just remember that the Celtics were much worse than the Raptors few years ago, but KG and Allen brought the championship almost "overnight" to Boston. So, it's possible to do it without consecutive lottery pick years. It just takes some sharp eyes to recognize the players who can impact your team in such a way, and most of all, get players who have strong will and do whatever it takes to win games (to adjust their play even if it means that their stats will decrease, for the benefit of the team).

I don't care about the age nonsense, the can coach and he's not going to tolerate lazy play. I do understand that he probably won't want to come here, unless highly overpaid which is not too much of a concern for me. We have been overpaying players for years, why not overpay for a respected coach.

[Employee]

From what im reading he wanted to step down (and taking his assistant with him). Didn't like how the owners was siding with players *Deron Williams cough cough* instead of him.

[Apollo]

To the guy who says all the people who cover the Raptors are on payroll and don't hold the team accountable, dig deeper. As in, look beyond Raptors.com.

[Deadallus]

Optics brotha.

Just like Larry Brown "resigned"

I don't know. Have you read the reports? Seems like this is a Sloan decission. Most of the time it is optics I agree but this time it seems legit.

[Balls of Steel]

What did Sloane do to deserve a suggestion of coaching this team? You can give him 10 Mil a season and he won't come here. Why should he? He's 70 years old and deserves to enjoy the rest of his life. Hall of Fame coaches do not deserve to coach a "Summer League" team. In the odd situation that he does agree to come, the first order of things would be to ship Andrea back to Italy for some home-made pasta sauce.

[Deadallus]

What did Sloane do to deserve a suggestion of coaching this team? You can give him 10 Mil a season and he won't come here. Why should he? He's 70 years old and deserves to enjoy the rest of his life. Hall of Fame coaches do not deserve to coach a "Summer League" team. In the odd situation that he does agree to come, the first order of things would be to ship Andrea back to Italy for some home-made pasta sauce.

It would be nice to see a hard nose coach come in and chastize some of these players like young school boys, and he would be the man for the job.

[smushmush]

Really? You clearly have the internet, because you're talking to us, and yet you can't just go to NBA.com? haha ..Just saying.

But ya, I thought the same thing though, about the 1 year extension being a bit odd. But me and Apollo were talkin, and I'm thinkin it's the franchise trying to make it look they wanted him reeal bad, but then HE "chose to leave".. I think they fired him, but tried to make it look at well and good.

+1 plus the extension was probably a ``gratitude``contract to Jerry Sloan for what he has done and the services rendered.

[smushmush]

Aside from the typical musings about weather it works or not, Mr. Sloan deserves the time to himself more than anything else. The more significant thing to ponder is how poorly the Jazz have treated him in backing Deron Williams rather than a man who is synonymous with NBA basketball in Salt Lake. This is like Scotty Bowman, Sparky Anderson, Tom Landry or Chuck Noll getting hung out to dry in favour of a prima donna. An organization that has any sense of what kind of presence they want to have ought to know better. In letting Sloan go, the Jazz part with a huge chunk of their reputation and class in their community and in the league. A setback that they may never recover from.

+1 about Utah going for the primadonna ahead of Jerry Sloan but you have to realise that every NBA franchise is a business(and Utah Jazz is an undesirable small market team - a team that loses franchise players to the large market teams in a ``players-powerful`` NBA) and losing a franchise player leads to loss of profits and winning a la Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and in extension, the fans which will most likely lead to a contraction or a move out of the city by the owners. Hopefully, the next CBA can give back power to the owners(especially those of the small market teams) through a hard salary cap, partially guaranteed contracts(including voidable contracts a la Randy Moss` contract with the New England Patriots) and franchise tag a la the NFL(because not implementing this will lead to an exodus of franchise players from small market teams a la Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony imo).

[smushmush]

Unfortunately Toronto never had a good coach. The problem in Toronto is that there is no pressure, we just went through 13 game losing streak, we are starting another one and it's "business as usual", most of the media is blind folded, they are on the Raptors payroll one way or another, so they can't speak their mind openly. Years ago fans of one of the best Croatian soccer teams got very angry because players were not trying at all and thought only about their contracts and fancy sport cars. So they entered into a team practice and took off the jerseys of some of the players, saying that they do not deserve to wear them. Needless to say, the team played much better and became multiple champions in following years. How many Raptors players would have kept their jerseys if we had more Croatian fans around here?
I'm sure that Triano is a nice guy, but it takes more than that to lead NBA team successfully. Toronto is probably the only franchise in NBA that never had a coach over .500 during his years with the Raptors (the best one, believe it or not, is Lenny Wilkens who was .459 beween 2000-2003). I can't remember any game we won because our coach "outcoached" the opposition, but on the other hand there were hundreds of close games we lost due to elementary coaching mistakes (this was the case not only with Triano, but also under Mitchell, O'Neal, Wilkens…)
Getting Sloan is too good to be true, but having someone like him will bring some accountability and stop the street ball attitude (scoring is the only thing that matters around here). It will help develop the talents of Davis and DeRozan, clear the wasted space in the locker room and put the franchise on the right track towards the ultimate goal – to win the championship. Wasn`t that the goal of Colangelo when he took over, to build a championship team (or at least a contender)? How many more losing seasons can this fan base support? It's time to do something right and start the building process. The good side of the basketball is that there are only 5 players on the team, so with a couple of good moves you can quickly turn around the franchise. It can be done, just remember that the Celtics were much worse than the Raptors few years ago, but KG and Allen brought the championship almost "overnight" to Boston. So, it's possible to do it without consecutive lottery pick years. It just takes some sharp eyes to recognize the players who can impact your team in such a way, and most of all, get players who have strong will and do whatever it takes to win games (to adjust their play even if it means that their stats will decrease, for the benefit of the team).

+1. However, as long as the fans continue paying to watch this terrible product on the court(instead of at home), the profits will keep rolling in for MLSE and they will not feel like they need to make changes(why spoil a good thing).

[TheGloveinRapsUniform]

+1 about Utah going for the primadonna ahead of Jerry Sloan but you have to realise that every NBA franchise is a business(and Utah Jazz is an undesirable small market team - a team that loses franchise players to the large market teams in a ``players-powerful`` NBA) and losing a franchise player leads to loss of profits and winning a la Chris Bosh and the Toronto Raptors and LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and in extension, the fans which will most likely lead to a contraction or a move out of the city by the owners. Hopefully, the next CBA can give back power to the owners(especially those of the small market teams) through a hard salary cap, partially guaranteed contracts(including voidable contracts a la Randy Moss` contract with the New England Patriots) and franchise tag a la the NFL(because not implementing this will lead to an exodus of franchise players from small market teams a la Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony imo).

100% agree. if the whole gaffe with williams is true then its just disgusting what the NBA has come to. unfortunately, players bring in money, not coaches. and i think sloan did the right move here, although his prided has been trampled on because management sided with deron and not him, he did the right thing. fighting and screaming about this will just make him look like the bad guy, so good on him for leaving the team. see how theyll fare now on their own.

although sloan would be an upgrade over triano, i think triano being among the new generation of coaches will be much better for a younger toronto team than sloan. surely with sloan's strictness and being hardnosed players will learn off of him, but i think the new generation of players need a different approach, and i think triano is more relateable.

the way i see games, triano seems to be doing different combinations on the floor, getting players exposure during crucial stretches and just getting a feel for what each player can really do on the floor. i dont see it as bad coaching, but rather experimental coaching.

[golden]

Basketball Canada should try to get Sloan to coach the Canadian Olympic team. That would be a nice, easy part-time job for him. An upgrade over Leo Rautins anyway. If he doesn't want to coach, then make him a consultant.

[albertan_10]

Sloan resigned because he lost his energy and couldn't keep up with it.

[mcHAPPY]

Sloan resigned because he lost his energy and couldn't keep up with it.

I have to disagree. There have been numerous reports about major conflicts and a growing rift between them. Here is my speculation of what went down:

Constant struggle between the way Sloan has always done things and Williams wanting to play more creative and open.
Management and owner have been trying to pacify both parties and have been fairly successful until lately.
Sloan calls a play or says to do things 'his way' at halftime vs. Bulls and Williams does the exact opposite.
SLoan has been undermined as a coach.
Has a meeting with GM and says this is unacceptable.
(I don't believe he would have ever said, "He goes or I go.")
Looking for repurcussion (fine?) and show of support for the coach - as Larry Miller always did before.
Wasn't going to happen.
Sloan said, "Screw this. I'm the coach and if he isn't going to do things my way - and management/ownership won't stand behind me 100% - I have a farm that needs attention."

[Tim W.]

Now, keep in mind, Jerry Sloan is one of my favourite All-Time coaches. I was a Utah Jazz fan before he was the coach there, and remember when he took over for Frank Layden. I think the way he was the system in Utah is how you should build a franchise. I loved his approach to the game and his belief in how to win. I think he's one of the few coaches out there that actually has an effect on the team's win/loss record and I think Utah and the NBA are poorer for him leaving.

That said....

Let's say you were one of the most successful coaches of all-time, coming from one of the best run franchises in the league with one of the best young PGs and some very talented players.

And you're 79 years old.

If Bryan Colangelo called and offered you a spot as head coach for a franchise that isn't well regarded, for a GM that has never shown much of an appreciation for hard-nosed defensive players, with a roster that includes one of the worst defensive and rebounding centers in the league and is THE worst defensive team in the league.

And you probably had a choice of several other teams on better organizations with better rosters...

What would you do?