Williams, Sloan put the past where it belongs

[Miggs]

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.

 

[str8line]

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.

Well said.

 

[str8line]

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?

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.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

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.*

 

[Hitman]

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.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

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.

Game 7 first round was awesome... no playoff run is overrated if we beat Houston in said run.

 

[SCS]

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 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.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

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.

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.

 

[NAOS]

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.

The heavily circulated rumors about body fat were about Boozer, not Deron.

 

[Hitman]

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.

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.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

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.

Yes, a team who just won 4 games against a 67 win team was not on fire. That makes sense.

 

[oneye]

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.

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.