In Retrospect: Does Deron Williams miss Jerry Sloan?

For Deron Williams, almost everyday is like groundhog day in New Jersey. 

To put it lightly, Deron Williams must have really wanted out of Utah last season. As with most superstar players we assume their reason for leaving a team has to do with going from a smaller market to a bigger market. This gains them more exposure, allowing them to expand their brand. For example, like being sent from Utah to New Jersey[1]. Heading to a larger market also often includes playing for a team that can spend more money on players[2] and hire better coaches[3], which usually translates into more wins and ideally a championship[4]. As of right now the Utah Jazz, in the midst of a rebuilding phase, have five wins and three losses. The Deron Williams led New Jersey Nets, in the midst of a championship run[5], have two wins and seven losses. Again, Deron Williams must have really wanted out of Utah.

While in Utah and playing under Jerry Sloan, Deron helped lead the Jazz to a .500 record in his rookie season, a Western Conference Finals loss to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in his second season, followed by three more playoff appearances; all which were trumped by the Lakers, who went to the finals all three years, winning two championships[6]. Deron also claimed both his All-Star selections and was on his way to his best season yet last year, averaging 21 points and 9.7 assists per game, while playing for Jerry Sloan. Then 54 games into last season, Jerry Sloan quit.

The significance of Jerry Sloan quitting over Jerry Sloan retiring is important here. Had the Jazz, who at the time sported a 31-23 record, been on their way to an embarrassment of a season, Sloan’s exit would have made sense. Had Coach Sloan finished the season and decided he had a solid 23-year run with the Jazz[7] and, at 68 years of age, would rather relax, that would be understandable. The man had deservedly earned the right to call it a day whenever he wanted. But this was not the case. This was not a retirement, thought over thoroughly in the off-season after analyzing where his team was. This was an act of desperation, from a coach who never once in his career would be described as desperate. Deron Williams drove this man out of Utah.

In the reports following Sloan’s exit most speculated that Deron and Sloan had been clashing for a while and that Sloan felt like he had lost control of the team. But in the press conference announcing Sloan’s resignation, both Sloan and the Jazz made note that Sloan was leaving on his own terms and it had nothing to do with the players. Which is probably the same reason why assistant coach Phil Johnson, who had been with the Jazz since 1988, when Sloan became head coach, was resigning as well. A week and a half later, Deron Williams was sent packing out of Utah and was on his way to the 17-40 New Jersey Nets.

Deron claims he found out about the trade on Sportscenter and Kevin O’Connor, GM of the Jazz, claims that the Jazz made the trade because they were uncertain of Deron’s commitment going forward. You really can’t blame the Jazz for making the trade because as far as organizations go, they have been on of the most upstanding ones in the history of the league. Few coaches last 23 years with one team, few Hall of Fame duos[8] play next to each other for 18 years, and few organizations are able to rebuild on the fly as well as the Jazz have. But as for you Deron Williams, you played your cards wrong.

Instead of playing for a Hall of Fame coach on a respectable basketball team in a conference that is finally seeing it’s aging stars decline, you were sent off to the embarrassing New Jersey Nets, a team with a lackluster supporting cast in the newly stacked Eastern Conference. Instead of continuing to improve you are now averaging less assists than you did in your second season as a pro and scoring your least amount of points since your third season[9]. For a player looking to score a big contract, you have found yourself in one of the most unenviable positions possible. And I bet, deep down inside, you miss Jerry Sloan.

In the end, it might all work out. Perhaps Dwight Howard decides New Jersey/Brooklyn is the place for him and he teams up with you. Perhaps you leave the Nets and sign with another major market team in hopes of finding a championship. Perhaps you even find that championship. But if I had to bet on it, I doubt you find yourself a situation as fortunate as the one you were drafted into in Utah.

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[1] If we’re being fair, which we aren’t, New Jersey is supposed to turn into Brooklyn at some point in the Deron Williams saga.

[2] The Nets have $60 million on the books this season, the Jazz $50.8

[3] Jerry Sloan coached the Utah Jazz for 23 years and is in the Hall of Fame; Avery Johnson, in his 6^th season as an NBA coach, has his resume highlighted by an NBA Finals collapse by the Dallas Mavericks after they were up 2-0 on the Heat and losing to the 8^th seeded Warriors in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.

[4] As long as the next three best players on that team are not an injured Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries and a rookie scoring 14 points per game.

[5] As proclaimed by new owner Mikhail Prokhorov

[6] Bad luck for Deron, I suppose

[7] Which, for those of you who missed him coach Stockton and Malone, he did

[8] For those of you who don’t know, that would be John Stockton and Karl Malone

[9] In his seventh NBA season Deron is averaging 17.3 points and 6.9 assists per game.