999 ... and counting: Through it all, Sloan's priority remains winning

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — With his 1,000th NBA coaching victory one win away, and three days on the calendar open until his club played again, Jerry Sloan took a day off.

He did not call a practice. He did not review scouting reports with his assistants. He did not meet with media or even grumble about what went wrong in the last win.

Instead, the head coach of the 15-4 Jazz went hunting on Tuesday.

For pheasant.

In Idaho.

Suffice it to say that the farmer from Illinois — not an avid hunter, truth be told — was not about to reveal how many he hit.

"I'm such a good shot," Sloan laughs, "they jump in my bag."

To a man as obsessed with a solitary focus as Sloan is, the count did not matter. It never has. Nor does it mean much to him that with a win tonight at Minnesota he will become just the fifth man in NBA history to reach the milestone plateau, joining Lenny Wilkens, Don Nelson, Pat Riley and Larry Brown.

"I've really never thought about numbers," Sloan — who in his 19th season with the Jazz and 22nd as an NBA head coach has a career record of 999-662 — said this week.

"People talk to me about, 'How many points did so-and-so score in a game?' I really don't even know most of the time. Because numbers are not important. There is only one thing that is important if you're going to be involved in it, as far as I'm concerned. I'm only thinking about one thing. And that's winning."

Winning games.

Winning the right way.

Winning, ultimately, the one thing he never has during an NBA playing and coaching career spanning four decades.

"The only one thing that's important," Sloan says, "is to win a championship. And I haven't done that yet."

Deseret Morning News graphicMillenium milestoneRequires Adobe Acrobat.

Whether he ever will remains uncertain. At age 64, Sloan assumes nothing.

Never has.

Never will.

"The only way I can look at it, and it's the way I've always looked at it," he says of his employment status, "is it's kind of a day-to-day thing."