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Williams, Sloan put the past where it belongs

I don't think Williams' jersey should be retired as he wasn't here long enough for my liking, but I wouldn't think it's a travesty either. He was the man on a team that made the WCF once. I also don't seem to hate him as much as others do either. Yeah, he probably forced Sloan out but Sloan was probably leaving soon anyway, or should have.
 
Douchebag K said:
Deron Williams has proved himself to be a bigger man than anyone would have thought. I respect the hell out of what he did, anyone who wants to continue holding a grudge now is a petty little man.
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Loved him as a player... was devastated on trade day... never booed him and rooted for him when he wasn’t playing us. Dude grew up and was man enough to own his ****.

Really was rooting for a reunion when he was released by Dallas. No spot for him now but just wanted him to get a short stint here prior to hanging them up... hope he comes to a game and gets cheered this year. He can be an ambassador for the franchise and can help guys know it ain’t always greener outside of Utah.

Glad both guys closed this chapter before Sloan’s health deteriorates to a point where he can’t communicate effectively.

BTW... have had a few people I know have personal experiences with Sloan and they were shocked how friendly and generous he was with him taking time to connect with them. He was an ornery mfer on the court but a friendly class act off it.
 
Could someone help me understand all that Deron did to piss off Sloan? This article seems to be pro-Williams, and only mentions a couple of relatively minor things: calling a play to the opposite side, discussing defensive strategy with teammates, and being slightly disrespectful in a half time conversation.

It seems like there has to be more to this, and these are the pieces of straw that broke Sloan's back. Does anyone have any more details.

Based on what this article describes I can't see how Sloan would hold a grudge for this long?
 
I still remember when Deron supposedly had 6% body fat lmao. Zero chance he ever had that.

Archie probably recalls because I seem to remember him and I laughing about it.
 
JimLes said:
Again, sorry if I find apologies self-serving. Vast majority of them are. From you apologizing to your little brother for pushing them so your mum wouldn't ground you, to politicians apologizing for any number of misdeeds. I don't think Williams is apologizing for Jerry's sake, but for his own sake. That's just how people are. I find it hard to believe sudden changes of heart. Just like I don't believe that Tim Hardaway is suddenly a friend to the gay community. If Williams really wanted to apologize, it wouldn't have taken Steve Starks calling him and suggesting it. He knows how to contact the Jazz. This just reeks of someone trying to apologize to a dying man to make themselves feel better.

And you ought to remember that this set the Jazz as an organization back a decade. A player refusing to acknowledge the basic concept that players play and coaches coach and nothing good ever comes out of trying to mess with that. Especially in a situation where the freaking team has a .675 record. The team won 53 games in 2010. They were on a pace to win roughly that many in 2011 before Williams decided to stage his rebellion. If luck with injuries serves us, we may win 53 again this year. 9 years later, and almost a decade of rebuild later. Think about it. That's a quarter of this franchise's history in Utah.

And while you and Williams try to pin what happened on youth(I love apologies where someone says they were young and/or stupid), he was 26 at the time. He was also the the leader of the team. Or he was supposed to be, anyway. Rudy is our current captain. Compare and contrast. And I hate this idea that as long as you offer an apology(contrite, no less!), forgiveness should follow. I think certain things can't be undone. A decade in the wilderness for our franchise is one of those things. We all make choices and we have to live with them. I still don't think Williams realizes how much damage he did. He just feels bad that his career went off the rails and that he has no home, in basketball terms, anymore. Oh, and that people blame him for making the last season of a HOF coach's career a sad spectacle.
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Well said.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
Could someone help me understand all that Deron did to piss off Sloan? This article seems to be pro-Williams, and only mentions a couple of relatively minor things: calling a play to the opposite side, discussing defensive strategy with teammates, and being slightly disrespectful in a half time conversation.

It seems like there has to be more to this, and these are the pieces of straw that broke Sloan's back. Does anyone have any more details.

Based on what this article describes I can't see how Sloan would hold a grudge for this long?
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He turned into a prima donna long before the final incident. He acted like he was above the team many times that season. Didn't he chuck a ball at Haywad too? The way his career turned out almost makes one believe in karma.
 


Watching this game. There isnt anything better in Jazz history than a D-Will crossover.

*Just finished the game. Always crazy to watch old OKC games when they had Harden/Russ/KD. This was an all-time regular season Jazz game.*
 
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That trip to the WCF is massively overrated. We were given an easy ride when the 42-40 GSW upset the 67-15 Mavs in the first round, giving us an easier match-up in the semi-finals than we had in the first round.
 
Hitman said:
That trip to the WCF is massively overrated. We were given an easy ride when the 42-40 GSW upset the 67-15 Mavs in the first round, giving us an easier match-up in the semi-finals than we had in the first round.
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Game 7 first round was awesome... no playoff run is overrated if we beat Houston in said run.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
Could someone help me understand all that Deron did to piss off Sloan? This article seems to be pro-Williams, and only mentions a couple of relatively minor things: calling a play to the opposite side, discussing defensive strategy with teammates, and being slightly disrespectful in a half time conversation.

It seems like there has to be more to this, and these are the pieces of straw that broke Sloan's back. Does anyone have any more details.

Based on what this article describes I can't see how Sloan would hold a grudge for this long?
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I don't have details. But if I had guess, Deron and Jerry probably had several arguments and disagreements prior to what was covered in the article. Everything just eventually reached a boiling point where Jerry didn't want to do it anymore. I don't think there was one instance where Deron did anything that was awful. Probably just a culmination of a bunch of small things + Jerry being tired of coaching after 26 years.
 
Hitman said:
That trip to the WCF is massively overrated. We were given an easy ride when the 42-40 GSW upset the 67-15 Mavs in the first round, giving us an easier match-up in the semi-finals than we had in the first round.
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That Warriors team was on fire and they beat one of the best regular season teams ever. I wouldnt say it was easy, they were still a dangerous team.
 
Wes Mantooth said:
I still remember when Deron supposedly had 6% body fat lmao. Zero chance he ever had that.

Archie probably recalls because I seem to remember him and I laughing about it.
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The heavily circulated rumors about body fat were about Boozer, not Deron.
 
Saint Cy of JFC said:
That Warriors team was on fire and they beat one of the best regular season teams ever. I wouldnt say it was easy, they were still a dangerous team.
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They weren't on fire at all. Nelson totally got into Avery Johnson's head that series. It was - and still is - the biggest post-season upset in NBA history. We had to win Game 7 on the road to beat the Rockets - that was a good win - but we rolled over the Warriors easily.
 
Hitman said:
They weren't on fire at all. Nelson totally got into Avery Johnson's head that series. It was - and still is - the biggest post-season upset in NBA history. We had to win Game 7 on the road to beat the Rockets - that was a good win - but we rolled over the Warriors easily.
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Yes, a team who just won 4 games against a 67 win team was not on fire. That makes sense.
 
JimLes said:
Again, sorry if I find apologies self-serving. Vast majority of them are. From you apologizing to your little brother for pushing them so your mum wouldn't ground you, to politicians apologizing for any number of misdeeds. I don't think Williams is apologizing for Jerry's sake, but for his own sake. That's just how people are. I find it hard to believe sudden changes of heart. Just like I don't believe that Tim Hardaway is suddenly a friend to the gay community. If Williams really wanted to apologize, it wouldn't have taken Steve Starks calling him and suggesting it. He knows how to contact the Jazz. This just reeks of someone trying to apologize to a dying man to make themselves feel better.

And you ought to remember that this set the Jazz as an organization back a decade. A player refusing to acknowledge the basic concept that players play and coaches coach and nothing good ever comes out of trying to mess with that. Especially in a situation where the freaking team has a .675 record. The team won 53 games in 2010. They were on a pace to win roughly that many in 2011 before Williams decided to stage his rebellion. If luck with injuries serves us, we may win 53 again this year. 9 years later, and almost a decade of rebuild later. Think about it. That's a quarter of this franchise's history in Utah.

And while you and Williams try to pin what happened on youth(I love apologies where someone says they were young and/or stupid), he was 26 at the time. He was also the the leader of the team. Or he was supposed to be, anyway. Rudy is our current captain. Compare and contrast. And I hate this idea that as long as you offer an apology(contrite, no less!), forgiveness should follow. I think certain things can't be undone. A decade in the wilderness for our franchise is one of those things. We all make choices and we have to live with them. I still don't think Williams realizes how much damage he did. He just feels bad that his career went off the rails and that he has no home, in basketball terms, anymore. Oh, and that people blame him for making the last season of a HOF coach's career a sad spectacle.
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Okay...you don’t have to forgive him, but it still takes something to finally have the meeting and face to face apologize. It means something when it seems like not long after Deron left he was speaking fondly of his time here. Sometimes you don’t know what you got tell it’s gone and you actually do have some growing up to do.

Even had things with Deron went smoothly, the rebuilding would have happened. I think pinning that entire horrible period of franchise history on him is naive and unfair. Was he part of it? Certainly. Fully to blame? No.

Deron did things within the community, charity events, lives here during the summers, is in and around Park City and SLC and has been since he was traded. There were also great times with Deron, and you could always sense that chippiness it, compounded with growing arrogance during that time caused him to act like an *******, which he’s owned up to being and apologized for. I think Deron gave quite a bit to fans here and this organization, and its overshadowed by yes, the darkest time in franchise history.

I forgive Deron, doesn’t mean I’ll forget the BS he did, but there’s days I really miss prime D-Will in a Jazz uniform. It was a fun time.

If we had to go through that near decade of hell to end up with Rudy and DM and this team.....we’ll I wouldn’t change a thing. I hope Deron will attend a few games, and I hope he’s given a warm welcome. The reason you want peace is yes, partly for you. But the reason Deron wants peace with coach Sloan, the Jazz, and to warm back to fans here is also likely because it all meant something to him.

Prior to this meeting being set up by Starks Deron had mentioned in articles here and nationally the funnest and best times of his career were here and he wished things had gone differently. He’s been saying that for years. Yes, Deron wants some closure with this fan base, the organization, and coach Sloan, but you don’t want closure unless it bothers you how things ended, and it bothering him would very much indicate it meant something to him.
 
I don't think Deron was ever a true Primadona. He was a little cocky, and stubborn, but he was never that bad.

I met him after a game in OKC, after I got what was essentially a back stage pass. It was all the players, and a lot of their families.
Deron was super chill. Took a picture with my wife, and talked and hung out the whole time. We clearly stood out being the only fans there.
Everyone was super nice to us. Brewer and CJ in particular.

Deron was crusified by some for daring to not bow to the master of all Sloan. Both men didn't handle it at all that well but I think Sloan was more of a "Primadona" in
that situation than anyone. "1, 2, 3, good luck". But I'll give him a pass. He was a legend, and gave us his all for decades.

Thrilled Deron is back with the us in some sense! He was the Mitchell of that era. Our player everyone knew all around the NBA, and had national fame.
He was also cool, and it was okay to be a Deron fan. Now I think Mitchell is even better, and an even bigger star, but Deron was pretty awesome in his prime with us.
Too bad he didn't play a couple more years with us he could have had his number in the rafters for sure.
 
Wes Mantooth said:
Nope. I remember it vividly, pics of him in the locker room.
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Well then, it was Boozer AND Deron.

Normally I wouldn’t trust your memory, but I know how much you enjoy (and probably download) vivid pictures taken from locker rooms. We’re right in your wheelhouse.
 
There was an article in a Chicago paper about the resignation. DWill ran the wrong play 21 times in that game and Sloan said John Stockton ran the wrong play once in his career. Sloan wanted DWill suspended, management balked and that was that.
 
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