RIP Jerry Sloan, One Of The Absolute Greatest Coaches In NBA History
I know it's cliche to say fuck 2020, but man fuuucccckkk 2020. There have been so many notable deaths already this year when you look at Kobe, David Stern, Jerry Stiller, Howard Finkel, Don Shula and John Prine. And now we add Jerry Sloan, an NBA Hall of Famer and an all-time great coach. I know people will argue about whether you need a title for that, but the fact is Sloan could coach his ass off. He just happened to run into MJ twice.
Sloan coached the Jazz for 23 years after spending 3 years with the Bulls. He's still the 4th winningest coach in NBA history, going 1,221-803. He missed the playoffs just three times with the Jazz. That's pretty fucking unreal. Obviously people remember the way he left the Jazz and his riff with Deron Williams. There was always a question as to who was at fault but that's just how it goes when you've been around as long as Sloan.
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All that aside, my favorite thing might be the part of his Wikipedia:
Sloan is known to wear John Deere hats,[6] collected antique furniture and dolls, and to collect and restore tractors as a hobby. After amassing a collection of tractors that numbered 70, Sloan decided to sell all but two of them after a 35-year-old Allis-Chalmers tractor was stolen.
Something just perfect about that.
Sloan battled Parkinson's Disease and a form of dementia, which he announced in 2016. He was 78 years old. RIP to one of the all-time greats.