Sloan, Jazz success NBA constant for two decades

So much has changed since Jerry Sloan coached the Utah Jazz for the first time on Dec. 9, 1988 -- 197 other NBA coaching moves in the meantime, for starters -- except for this one thing: His teams just keep winning.

Whether it's Stockton and Malone or Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, the Jazz has remained successful, so much so that NBA Commissioner David Stern stopped by Salt Lake City earlier this month just to say so after the franchise, in fairly short order, rebuilt following the retirement of its two future Hall of Famers.

Owner of the NBA's best home record (32-4) and a proven system of play, the Jazz still is something of an afterthought when it comes to serious Western Conference title contenders.

"They've got a 20-and-10 guy and nobody mentions him," Wolves forward Ryan Gomes said, referring to Boozer's averages of 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds. "Utah may be so far out in the mountains that nobody's really thinking about them."

Or maybe it's just the Jazz's system over style in a league that Sloan -- the longest-tenured head coach with one team in any of the four major pro sports -- still insists is all about players and not coaches.

"You have to understand you don't win in this league unless you have players," said Sloan, who was hired two years before Bobby Cox became the Atlanta Braves manager. "All the coaches do is try to have a little semblance of order and a little philosophy to play by. It's hard to play this game by yourself and expect to win. Some guys can do it better than others, but there's not many Michael Jordans.

"Sometimes young players come in and think they have to do it their way because it's the only way they know how to do it. And it takes them a while to figure out there's four other guys out there playing with them."

The Jazz drafted Kris Humphries and Kirk Snyder with the 14th and 16th picks in 2004 -- sandwiched around a player Boston chose named Al Jefferson -- and traded both players away within two seasons. Snyder now finds himself teammates with Jefferson in Minnesota. He learned through trial and mostly error what the pundits mean when they say the Jazz builds with Sloan's kind of players.

"His kind of player -- he always used John Stockton as an example -- is a guy you could hit in the face with a board and he'd still be able to keep his concentration and poise and not break down," said Snyder, who now says he was privileged to play one season for Sloan. "That's championship basketball."

It also is, presumably, figurative speech. "He didn't actually have a board," Snyder said. "That would have been scary if he had brought a 4-by-4 to practice."

The Jazz completes its season series with the Wolves with two games -- this afternoon at Target Center, Wednesday in Salt Lake City -- in four days. Wolves coach Randy Wittman will know what to expect, which doesn't mean he can stop it. The Jazz is 32-9 since it acquired shooter Kyle Korver from Philadelphia in December, but it lost to the Wolves last month in its first visit to Target Center.

"He's been there 20 years and they've run the same offense for 20 years," Wittman said. "That's why they're good. They get continuity with players who stay within that system for a number of years and that's why they execute so well. They have stability."