Friday, February 11th, 2011 at 9:00 am  |  64 responses

Deron Williams Denies Running Jerry Sloan Out


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

The NBA world is still reeling from Jerry Sloan’s shocking resignation. When the longest-tenured coach in American professional sports informed the world that he was done, most of the blame seemed to fall on Deron Williams’ shoulders.

According to several media reports, Sloan and his star point guard — who’s repeatedly voiced his displeasure with the state of things in Utah — had been clashing all season long, and a heated argument at halftime on Wednesday night in the midst of a tough home loss was the final straw for Jerry.

Deron Williams responded to the speculation, angrily accusing the media of trying to paint him as the scapegoat in all of this.

From KFAN 1320 (via CBS Sports):

“It sucks. I didn’t think he would ever retire in the middle of the season,” Williams said. “I watched the press conference and he said it was his time.”

Williams then took a swipe at reporters claming that he had a role in Sloan’s departure. “All those guys, Ric Bucher, Chris Broussard, they’re all in our locker room everyday,” Williams deadpanned. “I’ll let them report what they want to report, that’s what they are paid to do. That’s why I’m always short and rude with the media, because they’re your friend. Ric comes in and sits by me every time I see him, acts like he’s my friend, but the day they find something they want to spin, they jump on it. That’s why I am the way I am and will continue to be the way I am.”

Williams denied a report that he had approached Jazz management saying that he wouldn’t re-sign with the team when he’s a free agent if Sloan was still the head coach. “That’s not true. I would never force coach Sloan out of Utah. He’s meant more to this town and organization than I have by far. It’s not my place.”

We’ll likely never truly know what happened in Utah to force Sloan out — maybe the problems with DWill were too much to handle, perhaps he knew the Jazz were doomed this season anyhow, or maybe it was simply time for him to walk away from the game after so many years.

One thing is certain, though. The NBA is a much poorer place today without Jerry Sloan.

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  • Hambone

    Can see mike brown in Utah.he has experience taking ish from superstars and letting them run the game on court

  • http://sdfklf.com Jukai

    Deron Williams forced Sloan out, but not directly. Sloan realized he just couldn’t coach this team. It wasn’t fun.

  • Dagger

    Wojo doesn’t do “fair.” He takes a controversial position and then spins a melodrama around it using a hundred unnamed sources and a thousand hyperboles. As for Deron Williams: I’m sure Sloan has clashed with other players in the past, but it might have been worse this time around because I’m sure it was clear to both that the Jazz are a (slowly) sinking ship. Meanwhile, let’s face it: NBA players are as much celebrities as athletes. Engaging with the media is a necessity; Williams should suck it up and get on with it.

  • LA Huey

    I can’t see Sloan stepping away because of a player. The man was the definition of Utah Jazz basketball. If I have to cast blame on someone, I would believe that Sloan didn’t like the way management was playing him.

  • http://www.twitter.com/kevinchung Kevin

    without getting into semantics, that Woj Yahoo article was as fair and unbiased as one could probably be about the subject.. seemed like a pretty accurate assessment of the situation, even if it’s just his opinion – it’s an opinion most people would agree with. and outside of that, Sloan’s resignation is pretty sad news and i didn’t even like the Jazz.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    One unnamed source says Jerry Sloan never really retired and continues to pull the strings for Utah behind the scenes. Another source says Adrian Woj’s “anonymous sources” are really just Adrian Woj. And finally, a third source says the Earth is flat. We now live in the Scott Templeton age, folks.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Have a nice life, coach Sloan. One of the greatest coaches in American sports.

  • T-Money

    Melo is a cancer by the way.

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Deron to me is the best point guard in the league, but him acting a fool in the locker room, lost him a great coach. I agree with Deron the offense sucks and the players around him are sorry, but why in the Heck the management let Brewer, Korver, Matthews and Boozer go. If Jazz still have them, they are 3rd best team in West and Deron is considered best point guard in league. Jazz management is the blame and Jefferson is not built for that type of offense. BOOK IT!!

  • http://sdfklf.com Jukai

    Funny, when the Suns struggle, it’s “Nash can’t do anything without talent around him” but when the Jazz struggle, it’s “Deron simply doesn’t have the right players”
    Oh, gotcha!

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Well, the Jazz ARE still in the playoffs though.

  • Chang T

    It’s Al Jefferson. Dude is not a winner. Where ever he goes, the team sucks.

  • the truth

    i really wanna see him coach somewhere else

  • http://slamonline.com Ugh

    “He’s the best coach I’ve ever played for in terms of his technical ability. And without a doubt, he’s the worst the person I’ve ever met in my entire life, in terms of dealing with people. Jerry raged against players whom he thought didn’t play hard enough, claiming they were undermining coaches across the league. If we lost two or three in a row, he would stride into practice yelling, ‘You (expletives) are trying to get me fired. I’m not losing my job because you guys aren’t hustling.’ During one of these job-insecurity diatribes, Karl (Malone) looked at me and smirked, ‘If only we were so lucky.’ Then he went back to the posture he’d long ago adopted: working diligently on his game while pretending Jerry didn’t exist.”
    - John Amaechi.

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