Mailman endorses Sloan for coach of year award

LOS ANGELES — Jerry Sloan's Coach of the Year candidacy has a couple more endorsees.

One comes from a rather expected source. The other, not necessarily.

First, the obvious:

"No question in my mind," ex-Jazz star Karl Malone of the Los Angeles Lakers said before playing his first game against his former team. "For what he's getting out of the talent — they're talented guys, but I'm saying, when the season started I don't think anybody was expecting that."

Malone knows full well that Sloan, who has the rebuilding Jazz still contending for a playoff berth, has never won Coach of the Year honors.

"We went to the (NBA) Finals twice, and he didn't get it," he said. "So . . . it's about time that they recognize what he's trying to do."

Seemingly agreeing is Lakers coach Phil Jackson, who won himself as head coach of the Chicago Bulls in 1996.

"They're a determined team," Jackson said of the Jazz. "They take (Sloan's) characteristic and his personality, and display it on the floor. They're very determined, they fight back from situations.

"They're never out of ballgames," he added. "We know its gonna be competitive every night we play Utah."

Media members covering the NBA and its teams vote for Coach of the Year honors.

But Jackson, like all coaches in the league, has a ballot for a secondary coaching award, the Sporting News': "It's still sitting on my desk," he said. "I haven't made a decision - but I've voted for Jerry for six years in a row."

This season, Jackson suggested, may be Sloan's most-impressive body of work.

"He's done a real good job with them," Jackson said. "They've had injuries, and they've still maintained a competitiveness, capable of getting themselves in a position for the playoffs. No one would have thought that."

Sloan and Memphis coach Hubie Brown are among the leading contenders for the award this season.

BIRTHDAY BOY: Sunday was Sloan's 62nd birthday.

Heading into Sunday night's game, the Jazz were 5-1 when playing on his birthday — with wins last season (over Milwaukee), in 2002 (over Cleveland), in 1998 (over the Lakers), in 1997 (also over Milwaukee) and in 1995 (over Phoenix).

The first time Sloan coached the Jazz on his birthday, in 1991, they lost to Sacramento.

CAR TALK: Malone, speaking Saturday to the Los Angeles Daily News about his relationship with car-dealership business partner and Jazz owner Larry H. Miller: "We're fine. Toyota — I love what they do for me."

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