Jerry Sloan: He blocked Yao Ming, but he could n’t stop the years

　　The old, hard-blooded "hard-nosed" old man withdrew his fiery temper, no longer insisted, no longer struggled, and left along with the years that kept going.

　　It was about midnight, and the phone popped up with an agitated irritability.

　　I looked at the screen, frowned, and typed Jerry Sloan's name in the search engine. After tapping Enter, it was found that new content has been added to the information column that has not been updated for a long time-at the beginning of the life information, it is still his birth date, "March 28, 1942"; but after the dash , The original blank space was filled with "May 22, 2020".

　　Opening the Utah Jazz website, the long time old coach takes up almost the entire screen. The familiar side nose bridge is still tall and has gray hair, and the whole person looks younger than the image in memory. Just the number "1942-2020" in the lower right corner and the huge "Rest easy, coach. (Rest, coach)" remind you that this "reunion" is to say goodbye.

　　The old, hard-blooded "hard-nosed" old man withdrew his fiery temper, no longer insisted, no longer struggled, and left along with the years that kept going.

　　"Jerry Sloan will always be synonymous with the Utah Jazz. He will always be a member of the Utah Jazz. We will mourn his passing away with his family, friends and fans. We are for his achievements in Utah And his deep gratitude for the decades of dedication, loyalty, and perseverance he brought to us. "

　　As the Jazz mentioned in the statement, if you want to find a representative for this "Crescent City" born in the South Bay of the United States, but longer than Northwest Salt Lake City, it will not be 46 years of team history. Any player, but this veteran who has been stationed on the Colorado Plateau for 23 years, is irrefutable.

　　Sloan's 1223 victory hung on the dome of the Jazz home.

　　This is not just because he has printed the Jazz for 23 years, and once set the record of the four major North American leagues coaching the same team consecutively. During this period, the rest of the league changed coaches 245 times; not only during his coaching, the Jazz Instructed 133 players to win a total of 1,223 wins. This number is also regarded as Sloan's number, and is accompanied by the remaining 5 retired jerseys. It is suspended as a glory on the dome of the Jazz home.

　　This is not just because he is the first coach in the history of the league to lead the same team to 1,000 victories. It is not that he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 as an active coach. It is not even that he won the reputation as a "coach Chuck Daly Award for Lifetime Achievement Award ...

　　The significance of Jerry Sloan to the Jazz is that he spent 23 years describing the style of the Utah Jazz.

　　Sloan was a tough defender during the Bulls.

　　For 23 years, Sloan used his blood to pour the team. As a player, Sloan was a tough and unyielding character. His No. 4 jersey is the first Chicago jersey to retire.

　　Since he became the coach in 1978, he has brought this blood to Salt Lake City, and since then he has found his color on the Colorado Plateau. From Malone, Stockton, Ostertag to Deron Williams, Boozer, Kirilenko, Okur, or Brewer, Matthews, who was promoted at the end of his coaching career, All are tough and fierce generations.

　　The Jazz opponents, from Jordan's Bulls, to Yao Ming, McGrady's Rockets, to Kobe Bryant's Lakers, the small ball market, the star is not strong Jazz never backed down.

　　People still remember the team that stood opposite to the "God of Basketball" and the pattern of snowy mountains on their bodies, and remember that Kirilenko, Brewer, and Matthews were destroyed by Kobe in turn and stood up again. In those years, Oku and Boozer's invincibility was like a prisoner's lock, which repeatedly made Yao Ming and his team helpless, and became a difficult situation for many Chinese fans.

　　The fierce defense of the Jazz.

　　Tie Shuai Sloan and his iron army never won the final championship, never ended the season as a winner. However, true heroes need great opponents. Although Sloan and his team have never been the heroes who laughed to the end, for him and his team, people have never lost respect, and the Utah Jazz has long been branded with fierce and powerful. s Mark. And this label is almost entirely from Sloan.

　　However, the reason why Tie Shuai left is so emotional is that the iron-blooded determination is like Sloan, and it is always unable to resist the torrent of the times and the erosion of the years.

　　In 1997 and 1998, the peaks of the careers of Stockton and Malone. Sloan led the Jazz to the finals for two consecutive years, but twice hated the O'Brien Cup because it belonged to Jordan's era. The god of basketball made Judah a background of historical classics. Jordan paused for a moment after Russell hit the "The last shot". What was fixed was the sorrow of the coach quickly returning to the bench after making a pause gesture.

　　Jordan's "last shot" put the Jazz in the background.

　　The ten-year climb of Sloan, Malone and Stockton eventually became the most powerful and cruel footnote of a legendary era. Sloan lost to his favorite team and fate.

　　By 2010, Sloan, who had walked from the Iron Age, still adhered to the classicism of "I don't need him to like me, I just need him to play for me seriously", and he severely treated new Generation core. But the league is no longer like it used to be. After insisting for 23 years, Sloan resigned with tears.

　　"My time is up, it's time to leave." Sloan announced tearfully.

　　Sloan announced his resignation in tears.

　　The alliance in the 21st century is an era of entertainment. Sloan's blood and toughness may still be effective, but sometimes it is no longer accepted. When he announced his departure, he said nothing about the dispute between him and the team's core players. Everything he does is just to make the team better, as always.

　　"Your energy bars are full, I'm not at the same level as you, and I'm already going downhill, so I can't survive." It's like he didn't do anything wrong, but the times can't accommodate him Idealistic.

　　After resigning, Sloan still maintains a relationship with the Jazz as a consultant and scout-everyone knows he is upset. But in 2016, the year he won the Chuck-Daly Award, he announced that he had Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia.

　　In a subsequent interview, he said in an unclear pronunciation: "What I don't like most is that my hands are shaking all the time, and I slowly forget some things I have always loved."

　　Sloane returned to the Jazz main scene with haggardness.

　　As a rebellion, Sloan would watch the Jazz game in front of TV whenever he had the chance, and appeared on the court several times. He would struggle to tie his shoelaces every day with trembling hands and walk the dog for several kilometers.

　　This is a tough guy who has tried his utmost to resist fate.

　　However, Sloan appeared in the camera one time thinner and haggard than the other. He is an out-and-out warrior, but he cannot withstand the years and times.

　　Tie Shuai is gone, and with it is a seal of an iron-blooded era.

　　Author: Lee Hyuk