Utah Jazz Notes

If you think Jazz coach Jerry Sloan is about to make sweeping changes in the wake of his team’s struggles to start the season, then you should listen to the story Sloan shared at practice Thursday in Boston.

“When things go [wrong], that’s what everybody wants to change,” Sloan said. “They want to change the offense, they want to change the defense, so it makes it easier on themselves. That’s what you hear the most.

“That’s why change is so . . . why not just play a little bit harder? It reminds me of when I was in college [at Evansville]. We had a pretty good team in college, we were undefeated, and the coach wants us to run a half-court press.

“Obviously, that’s what he wanted, so we did it. We were getting beat by 15 points - -10 points, I believe it was - - and he called timeout and one of the guys went up to coach and says, ‘You know, this press is killing us.’

“And my coach says, ‘You know what? I don’t care if you get beat by 40 points’ - - and we hadn’t lost a game. He said, ‘You’re going to run the press and everybody run it right and you get involved in it.’ 

“And in about 10 minutes later, we were 10 points ahead, running the same press. Everybody wants to change, so they can take the pressure off themselves. It makes it easier for them, instead of trying to stick with it.”

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Deron Williams is giving back to Illinois basketball in a big way by hosting the 14-team Shootout at the Hall on Dec. 12 in Champaign. The event will feature seven high school games in one day at Assembly Hall, several of which feature players that have either committed to or are considering playing at Illinois. Williams’ Point of Hope Foundation is title sponsor of the event, but the star guard will not be able to attend the event as the Jazz are hosting the Lakers that night.

--Ross Siler