Jerry Sloan, the coach who took the Utah Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998 on his way to a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame, died today. He was 78. The Jazz said he died from complications related to Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
Sloan spent 23 seasons coaching the Jazz. The team – with John Stockton and Karl Malone leading the way in many of those seasons – finished below .500 in only one of those years. Sloan won 1,221 games in his career, the fourth-highest total in NBA history. Utah went to the finals twice under Sloan, both times falling to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Sloan entered the Hall of Fame in 2009. He spent 34 years in the employ of the Jazz organization, either as head coach, assistant, scout or senior basketball adviser. ”Like Stockton and Malone as players, Jerry Sloan epitomized the organization,” he Jazz said in a statement. ”He will be greatly missed.”
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05-22-2020 08:09:05
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