It should be Sloan's turn
With his program back on track after the team he tore down and rebuilt won the gold medal in Beijing, USA Basketball czar Jerry Colangelo now has the chance to right of the true wrongs in his sport's history.
Colangelo should reach out to Jerry Sloan and try talking him into accepting the job as head coach of Team USA in the 2012 Olympics in London.
While most of the speculation on the successor to Mike Krzyzewski will center on Gregg Popovich and Mike D'Antoni, who are both deserving, Colangelo should recruit Sloan for the job that somehow eluded him in 2000.
Over the years, I have written quite a bit about the unsavory turn of events that ended with Rudy Tomjanovich -- not Sloan -- coaching Team USA at the Olympics in Sydney.
I won't rehash the whole thing for you, but the bottom line is Sloan was the lead assistant for the 1996 Olympic team. Everyone figured he would get the top job in 2000, given USA Basketball protocol going back to the Dream Team days. But Sloan was bypassed in favor of Tomjanovich for the head coaching job in Sydney.
The snub was a result of politics, personalities and backroom maneuvering and left the veteran Jazz coach as upset and disillusioned as I have ever seen him, mostly because he did not know what he did wrong.
The fact is, Sloan did nothing wrong.
That's why Colangelo should do the right thing and try to convince Sloan to coach Team USA for the next four years.
Sloan has told me that being the Olympic coach no longer interests him -- not after what happened to him almost a decade ago. But time heals most hurts, and I'm guessing Sloan would consider coaching the national team, if Colangelo comes calling, which he should.
It's interesting.
During the run to the gold medal, the Team USA traits that received most of the attention were professionalism, work ethic and commitment to the task at hand. Sloan, it seems to me, would be the perfect coach to continue that foundation, which was constructed by Colangelo and Krzyzewski.
Listen to Britton Johnsen, the former University of Utah star who played on the Jazz's entry in the Rocky Mountain Revue summer league.
I know Britton fairly well, and he doesn't blow a lot of smoke, even when it would benefit him to do so. That's why I was surprised when -- unsolicited -- he talked glowing of Sloan and his coaching style.
"The Jazz have been great. Coach Sloan has been great," Johnsen said. "I've gotten to know him a little better the last couple of weeks and it's been awesome. I can see why their program here [in Utah] has been so successful.
"I've known coach Sloan was a strong disciplinarian; I watched the Jazz while I was growing up. But I just love the way he commands his practices -- the way he teaches guys. I'm loving every second of that."
If Colangelo does the right thing, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and the rest of the 2012 Olympic team will get a chance to see and experience the same kind of coaching that made such an impression on Johnsen during the summer league.
--Steve Luhm
Colangelo should reach out to Jerry Sloan and try talking him into accepting the job as head coach of Team USA in the 2012 Olympics in London.
While most of the speculation on the successor to Mike Krzyzewski will center on Gregg Popovich and Mike D'Antoni, who are both deserving, Colangelo should recruit Sloan for the job that somehow eluded him in 2000.
Over the years, I have written quite a bit about the unsavory turn of events that ended with Rudy Tomjanovich -- not Sloan -- coaching Team USA at the Olympics in Sydney.
I won't rehash the whole thing for you, but the bottom line is Sloan was the lead assistant for the 1996 Olympic team. Everyone figured he would get the top job in 2000, given USA Basketball protocol going back to the Dream Team days. But Sloan was bypassed in favor of Tomjanovich for the head coaching job in Sydney.
The snub was a result of politics, personalities and backroom maneuvering and left the veteran Jazz coach as upset and disillusioned as I have ever seen him, mostly because he did not know what he did wrong.
The fact is, Sloan did nothing wrong.
That's why Colangelo should do the right thing and try to convince Sloan to coach Team USA for the next four years.
Sloan has told me that being the Olympic coach no longer interests him -- not after what happened to him almost a decade ago. But time heals most hurts, and I'm guessing Sloan would consider coaching the national team, if Colangelo comes calling, which he should.
It's interesting.
During the run to the gold medal, the Team USA traits that received most of the attention were professionalism, work ethic and commitment to the task at hand. Sloan, it seems to me, would be the perfect coach to continue that foundation, which was constructed by Colangelo and Krzyzewski.
Listen to Britton Johnsen, the former University of Utah star who played on the Jazz's entry in the Rocky Mountain Revue summer league.
I know Britton fairly well, and he doesn't blow a lot of smoke, even when it would benefit him to do so. That's why I was surprised when -- unsolicited -- he talked glowing of Sloan and his coaching style.
"The Jazz have been great. Coach Sloan has been great," Johnsen said. "I've gotten to know him a little better the last couple of weeks and it's been awesome. I can see why their program here [in Utah] has been so successful.
"I've known coach Sloan was a strong disciplinarian; I watched the Jazz while I was growing up. But I just love the way he commands his practices -- the way he teaches guys. I'm loving every second of that."
If Colangelo does the right thing, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and the rest of the 2012 Olympic team will get a chance to see and experience the same kind of coaching that made such an impression on Johnsen during the summer league.
--Steve Luhm
11:52 AM
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2 Comments:
are you dumb? deron williams play for coach sloan every night...
Hell yes, Steve Luhm! You even made TrueHoop. See what happens when you write about something other than rookies we never drafted or washed up has beens who played here several years ago?
I don't know about Sloan, but then again, from a pure basketball standpoint, I thought this team won IN SPITE of Coach K and D'Antoni. The biggest thing those coaches had going for them was their collective ability to keep things simple and loose. I'm not sure Sloan has quite the same acuity for creating positivity; which may be very important when dealing with the talents and egos of a Team USA. I do think though, that he'd be a much better coach in terms of preparation and offensive craftsmanship. In any event, I don't see Sloan being offered the job or taking it if it were to become available.
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