Basketball from a fan’s perspective
He was the Jazz
An alert popped up early Friday morning on my
social media page. Jerry Sloan longtime
Jazz coach had passed, he was 78 and had suffered from Parkinson’s and lewy body
dementia. After a playing career with
the Bulls Sloan became a scout later an assistant and then head coach of the
Bulls. He would be fired by the Bulls
and then became an assistant with the Jazz.
When Frank Layden resigned to become team president, he asks Sloan to
take over.
That was 1988, Sloan would coach the Jazz for
the next 23 years. His Jazz teams became
known for their tough defense anchored by point guard John Stockton and power
forward Karl Malone. Although he had
signed a contract for the following season Sloan resigned in 2011. Two years
prior Sloan along with Stockton was enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame as a
coach. Jerry Sloan a great coach who did
it his way, R.I.P., Jerry Sloan.
Why no hire?
Mark Jackson was on our television screens recently;
I did not see the entire interview. I am
not sure if coaching was discussed although it should be. For reasons unknown whenever a coaching job
opens his name is never mentioned in the discussion. Wanna know what’s crazy, Mike D’Antoni is
working on a one-year contract with the Rockets. We read the team is “considering Jeff Van
Gundy.” Didn’t that guy coach the
Rockets at one point and was fired?
The Warriors roster has changed 3 times over,
but it has been my contention Mark Jackson built the playoff Warriors. Want proof, the Warriors team in Jackson’s
first season finished 23-43. The next
season they made the playoffs with a 47-35 record, year three it was 51-31
although they lost in the first round of the playoffs. Was it the 50-win team and losing Jackson’s
downfall, better yet has he been blackballed by the NBA?
Lenny Cooke
The story of Lenny Cooke is part fact and part
fiction, we read reports he was a superior talent to LeBron James while both
were in high school. Others claim that
is not the case, similar stories surround peers Carmelo Anthony and Amare
Stoudemire. Cooke was reported to be more
talented than the duo as well, what happened to him, why don’t many of us know
his name? Cooke is 38-years old and the
prospect of an NBA career never materialized as once many believed.
Cooke ran out of eligibility changing high
schools a few times, he turned 19 at his last high school. He would have been eligible for the 2002 NBA Draft,
but he never heard his name called in either round. Every single team passed on the 6-foot 6-inch
206-pound Cooke in the draft. He played
in Europe and had several minor league stops before concluding his basketball
career in 2006. There is no single
answer why his star which shone so brightly never materialized.
MSG
Madison Square Garden or MSG is “The world’s
most famous arena.” Whether that is true
or not that is the claim. The arena at 4
Pennsylvania Plaza New York City is known the world over. Opposition players love to play in this
basketball mecca, Michael Jordan said it so did Reggie Miller plus Kobe and a
host of other famous players throughout the years. This MSG is the 4th incarnation
and opened in 1968 is the oldest NBA arena in use, it was renovated in
1989-1991 and 2011-2013.
Renovation eliminated the tunnel Willis Reed
used to enter the court for the NBA Finals in 1970 no longer exists. MSG was operating under a 10-year lease in
2013, at the end of the term a new arena location would be sought. That came to an end in “January 2016 when
Governor Cuomo announced a
redevelopment plan for Penn Station that would involve the removal of the Theater
at Madison Square Garden, but would otherwise leave the arena intact.”* Despite talk of locating to another area of
Manhattan the Garden will remain home to the Knicks for the next several
years.
*Wikipedia
