When The Music's Over

Interim Utah Jazz head coach Ty Corbin still finds himself winless in his brief and unforeseen head coaching career as of the All-Star break. While the Jazz are still expected to compete as a playoff team in the Western Conference, Corbin has some leeway when it comes to his timetable for making his team a winning one. When your predecessor has been sitting on the same bench, calling the same plays, in the same system for 23 years, there are bound to be some growing pains.

After 23 years on the Jazz sideline, coaching legend Jerry Sloan has suddenly decided to retire and leave the game of basketball behind. While Utah is about as known for jazz as New Orleans is for polygamy, rest assured, Salt Lake City is a city built around this franchise and the humble, fiery coach that represented the Jazz since 1988. Now that Jerry Sloan has gone, the music is over, and the NBA community is left in the wake of the departure of a man who had become a staple of the entire league.

Jerry Sloan's success speaks for itself. Sloan suffered only one losing season since his acquisition of the position in 1988, resulting from and understandable one-season hangover from the end of the Stockton-Malone era. Jerry Sloan led the Jazz to the NBA Finals twice. He might have won them, too, were it not for a guy by the name of Michael Jordan. Since those series in 1997 and 1998, Sloan has kept the Jazz relevant and excelling in the small market of Salt Lake City. The fact that Sloan never won Coach of the Year honors is a testament to his consistency. Jerry Sloan's teams were never to be underestimated or counted out of any contest. Sloan's teams picked up that old-school, hard-nosed toughness and never-say-die attitude from Sloan himself. This attitude, combined with basketball knowledge led to victories on the court.

After some notable offseason acquisitions in Al Jefferson and Raja Bell, the Jazz were a dark horse pick by many to emerge from the Western Conference. However, the Jazz, currently barely hanging on to the eighth seed in the West, have underachieved. This, coupled with a presumably unhappy point guard in Deron Williams, led to the sudden, controversial announcement of Jerry Sloan's decision to resign.

Concerning whether or not Deron Williams and/or management had anything to do with Sloan's departure, I have a few things to say:

1. I sincerely doubt that Williams gave Jazz GM, Kevin O'Connor, an ultimatum between Jerry Sloan and himself. Williams has publicly stated that he would request a trade before requesting Sloan's dismissal. Furthermore, I doubt O'Connor would side with Williams if that was the case.

2. I don't doubt that Williams' halftime argument with Sloan the day before the announcement had a lot to do with Sloan's decision. With that said, don't turn Williams into a monster. Jerry Sloan has had to butt heads with star players before (such as Karl Malone), and Sloan's resolve was never shaken, at least to this degree. What I'm trying to say is, you can't blame the last straw that broke the camel's back. You have to look at the big picture of 23 years of emotional and physical wear and tear that accompanies and NBA season. At some point you have to know when the hard work is not worth the result. As soon as your life's work becomes more of a chore than a passion, it's time to move on.

3. John Stockton was just as old-school as his coach, having the short-shorts to prove it. Sloan may have clashed, at times, with Malone and others, but Stockton (with, I'm sure, a few exceptions I'll never know about) was solid as a rock for Sloan and reciprocated his goals on the basketball court. Williams, clearly, did not. A conflict in basketball ideology with your floor general is a recipe for trouble. Trouble that has all too apparently come to a head.

The Jazz are left with many lingering questions. The most obvious being: Where do we go from here? How do we build upon 22 years of success? It's clear that in order to appease Williams, a free agent in 2012, the style of play in Utah will be shaken up. If the Jazz become more of a running team offensively, do they regret giving up the flourishing Wes Matthews and replacing him with an older, defensive-minded shooting guard in Raja Bell? While certainly better on the defensive end, wouldn't you rather play an up tempo game with the agile Carlos Boozer running the floor rather than the slower, more traditional big in Al Jefferson? The Jazz, though underachieving, are a team tailored entirely to the specific needs of Jerry Sloan's proven successful system. Without Sloan there to be the captain of the ship, we see nothing but a lower-tier playoff team without a true identity. An identity provided by Jerry Sloan for 23 years. Jerry Sloan's retirement signifies a changing of the guard in Utah and the end of an era in the NBA.

A sincere and heartfelt thank you to coach Sloan for giving us Bulls fans something to sweat about and being the epitome of hard-work, class, and professionalism in a way that stretches well beyond the scope of the sports world. As for the Jazz, if I may quote the late Jim Morrison:

"When the music's over, turn out the lights.