I've avoided looking at the standings for about the past month. I didn't know where the Jazz stood from night to night other than we were sinking fast. I stopped looking right after I thought the Jazz had a shot at the 2 or 3 seed after their start less I jinx them. Well, that didn't work. Here are the current standings (avert your eyes to #2 if you don't want to know)
Western Conference
| Team | GB | |
| 1. | * San Antonio | -- |
| 2. | Dallas | 7.5 |
| 3. | * LA Lakers | 8.5 |
| 4. | * Oklahoma City | 10.5 |
| 5. | New Orleans | 14.0 |
| 6. | Portland | 15.0 |
| 7. | Denver | 15.5 |
| 8. | Utah | 15.5 |
| 9. | Memphis | 16.0 |
| 10. | Phoenix | 18.0 |
Yikes. The only thing that gives me a bit of solace is that only Denver is sucking worse than the Jazz are. New Orleans is even worse. So while he Jazz are clinging, let's get to the break with a win tonight and hopefully get some momentum, however slight, to start the second half.
Great story from Hollinger on Sloan (Insider),
Before we go, two favorite Sloan stories. First, the guy always greeted me and asked how I was doing. This came as a bit of a surprise to me. As you know, I write for an Internet site, and have my whole career. As you may also know, Sloan doesn't own a computer. To this day, I have no idea how he knew who the hell I was.
He also states that the Clippers could be a possible destination for Deron and talks about what Corbin might do.
How big of a black hole is Deron? Should be be more of one? Basketball-reference.com also looks at the guards who pass the least that have at least 30 MPG. He's tied for third with Paul (behind Rondo and Nash) for touches per minute at 2.18. Of those four, Deron shoots the most and passes the least. His turnover percentage is on par with Nash and Rondo who both handle the ball and pass a lot. He gets some grief for turnovers but it's right up there with the best. Only the freak Paul has a better turnover percentage.
Now that that the Sloan resignation news has worn off a bit, expect to see more people venture out and start attacking Sloan. From Charles Grodin the NY Daily News (via BDL),
Personally I would have difficulty in having fondness for someone, who screams at his players and rants at referees - not unusual in that profession. Jerry Sloan once pushed a woman referee, which got him a seven day suspension.
As Dan Devine pointed out, he didn't shove a female referee, he shoved Courtney Kirkland, a very male referee that happens to share a name with some females.
More people will come out and say/write things about the other side of Sloan once sufficient time has passed. We all know that Sloan was far from perfect. He's admitted a bunch of times that he's made mistakes in a game; I'm sure he'd admit the same about things off the court as well.
It's low hanging fruit stuff frankly.
Wednesday poll,