Guess who wants to come back to coaching? It is Jerry Sloan. Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune talked to Jerry and he did confirm that he is ready to be back. Of course the one and only Moni is right on top of the story. Check out her post
Sloan on his interest in coaching the Bobcats from Moni's post
Jerry told the Trib’s Steve Luhm (who’s the one guy that seems to have the inside track with Jerry) that he had spoken with Bobcats ownership (i.e. Michael Jordan) about the vacant coaching position and that the two sides could meet this week. In regards to the disaster of a season the Bobcats just had and the rebuilding job that it would be, Jerry said, "It’s not always about starting at the top." Somewhere, Phil Jack*** ears are burning. (Trib)
It is no secret that I love Jerry Sloan. Jerry's comments about how " its not always about starting at the top" make me miss Jerry so much. What other coach with Jerry's credentials would be willing to start with a team that just set the record for the lowest winning percentage in NBA history? Jerry stated that shows how much he loves the game. Jerry wants to be back in the league to teach, do things the right way and help others win.
Sloan also has interest in the Magic head coaching position :
Jerry also told Fox Sports Florida today (from his farm in Illinois) that he’d be interested in the Orlando Magic’s coaching vacancy ("It’d be very intriguing") if the job was offered to him.
(Please go read Moni's post if you haven't already for great Jerry Sloan quotes)
It breaks my heart to think of Jerry coaching another team. I need to not be selfish though and be happy if Jerry finds a team to coach and know that he'll be happy again.
Who would you rather see Jerry coach the Bobcats or the Magic? Would you automatically become a fan of that team?
Its old news by now but is still very Downbeat newsworthy. The LHM group bought 1280 the Zone. There had been rumors for the past few weeks, rumors that were confirmed by the Trib last week. Yesterday was 1280's last day on the air with the old ownership. There is a new lineup with a few changes but mostly still all the KFAN guys. Out of the on-air personalities only Gordon Monson and Jake Scott will be joining the LHM owned Zone.
To get the complete story on the new lineups check out the story on the old 1320/new 1280 website. Here's quickly the new schedule:
On 1280 AM (960 AM in Utah County)
- 6-10 a.m.- DJ and PK
- 10-1- Jim Rome
- 10-1 on 97.5 FM- Jake Scott and Tony Parks
- 1-3 p.m.- Jake Scott and Scotty G
- 3-6 p.m. - "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts and Gordon Monson
We wish you luck Ben.
How does everyone feel about these changes? It seems like many think its great that there wasn't room for two major sports radio stations in this market. Others think that the Jazz owning the only major sports radio station (there is KALL 700 still) is bad for the fans as we will not have the opinions of those that are not forced to feed us the company line.
Is there a show you are most excited for?
Amar did a post about the All-Rookie team yesterday. As I was putting the voting results in the paper last night I had a chance to just think about our rookies. Alec Burks got two second place votes and Enes received one second place vote. Its kind of sad that the 3rd pick in the draft only got one vote and a second place vote at that.
I was not excited about Enes as our 3rd pick but after watching him and getting to know more about him this season, I am a big fan. I don't think that Enes had enough opportunity for us to really know what we are going to get from him. He did show that he can rebound, he plays hard and when he has the chance he is not half bad at defense. We also know that he has the cutest personality on the team.
Is it on Ty and the Jazz that our 3rd pick didn't even make the All-Rookie team? Shouldn't he as the 3rd pick? Was it just circumstances that prevented Kanter from getting more minutes? Would you have liked to see him get more minutes? Or was Ty smart with limiting Kanter's minutes since Kanter didn't play the previous year at Kentucky?
Here is an interview with Kanter shortly after he was drafted. Kanter was prophetic in that about 2:43 into the video he said if the Jazz work harder they'll make the playoffs
Jeremiah Jensen asked Kanter what he can bring to the team. A few of the things that Kanter listed was toughness, rebounding, and his post game (playing back to the basket). Kanter mentioned that he was working on his shot.
I think Kanter will prove why he was taken 3rd in the 2012 draft. Kanter didn't even pick up a ball until five years ago. Look how much he has done in five short years.
(Blerg Editing Note: As I was going through the homepage to see what number we were on the downbeat I just noticed Amar's post on Enes. Sorry I didn't it notice before I wrote this)
About a week ago while watching the Thunder vs Lakers game I got to thinking about ages of NBA players. I think one of the announcers must have said "young Andrew Bynum". I wanted to do a search of how many NBA players were younger than Andrew Bynum. I was not able to find a list of all the players by ages. It seems like most ages are shown in relation to their team. While on my search I found an interesting post at hoopism.com
The post show the true age of NBA teams based on playing time and not just average age. The Jazz are the 13th youngest team in the league and their adjusted age is ........ the 13th youngest team in the league. So we have old guys and young guys and play them both.
The average age of the Jazz when the post was written (Jan 9, 2012) was 26.61 and their age weighted for minutes played was 26.72.
Granted that was very early in the season and we saw the young guys get more minutes as the season rolled on but all the talk for a young team 13th youngest doesn't seem "that" young. I imagine if we don't have Bell and Howard with us next year that will go down. Not that I think oh we need to be so young, young is best but we are told that our team is young.
A week from today is the draft lottery. Will we get the Golden State pick?