Los Angeles (AFP)
Former Utah coach Jerry Sloan, one of the best in the NBA and who led the Jazz to two finals lost in 1997 and 1998 to the Michael Jordan Bulls, died Friday at 78, announced the franchise. .
Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, Sloan, who led the Salt Lake City team for 23 years, died of complications from Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies that made him lose memory and its analytical skills.
"Jerry Sloan will always be synonymous with Utah Jazz. He will always be part of the Utah Jazz organization and we join his family, friends and fans in mourning his loss," said the club.
"We are so grateful for what he has accomplished here and for the decades of dedication, loyalty and tenacity he has shown in our franchise," he added.
With Sloan's death, a long page in the history of Jazz turns, probably the most glorious if not to have been victorious. Because if in the opinion of many the impressive collective of Jazz, which he had built around the duo Karl Malone / John Stockton, could at the time have rewarded him with a ring, the 1990s were indeed those of Jordan and Bulls.
Ironically, it was in Chicago that almost everything started for him in professional basketball. First as a player for ten years (1966-1976) and then as a coach for his first experience between 1979 and 1982.
Sloan then settled down definitively in Salt Lake City, to succeed Frank Layden, future president of a franchise which he would lead twenty times to play-offs including fifteen years in a row.
When he retired in 2011, he presented the fourth record in NBA history with 1,221 victories behind Gregg Popovich (1,272, still active), Lenny Wilkens (1,332) and Don Nelson (1,335).
© 2020 AFP