Last night's Bulls/Jazz game in Salt Lake City, won by the bulls 91-86, is apparently going to be Jerry Sloan's final game as Jazz coach, according to this tweet from the Deseret News:
↵↵According to KSL sources, a press conference is planned for this afternoon where Jerry Sloan and Phil Johnson are expected to resign.
Deseret News
deseretnews
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Sloan was an original Chicago Bull, taken from the then-Baltimore Bullets in the 1966 expansion draft. He was known for his tough defense; four times he was named to the All-NBA Defensive first team, and he still ranks fourth on the all-time Bulls scoring list, and 10th all-time in the NBA in assists per game. He was the first Bull to have his number retired; his No. 4 hangs from the rafters at the United Center along with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Bob Love.
↵↵He also coached the Bulls for about 2 1/2 seasons from 1979-82; his first year the Bulls missed the playoffs, but he coached them to a 45-37 record in 1980-81. They lost that year in the playoffs and when he got off to a 19-31 start the next year, he was fired and hired by the Jazz first as a scout, then as assistant coach, then as head coach.
↵↵The Jazz made the playoffs in 19 of Sloan's 22 full seasons as coach but never won an NBA title, losing twice to Jordan's Bulls in the finals. His total of 1221 wins as a coach ranks third all-time. Phil Johnson, a Jazz assistant for 18 years mentioned in that tweet, was also an assistant coach with the Bulls under Dick Motta from 1971-74.
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