From Deseret News archives:
Utah Jazz notes: Sloan hopes Grizz stick with Iavaroni
The Grizzlies also have lost 14 of their last 15 games, and they are just 1-12 since trading franchise cornerstone Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, however, hopes the franchise has the sense and patience to stick with first-year coach Marc Iavaroni, the ex-Utah forward whose staff includes longtime Jazz assistant Gordie Chiesa.
"I hope things go well for him," Sloan said of Iavaroni, who played four seasons for the Jazz in the mid-to-late 1980s.
"You deserve an opportunity to have a chance to succeed, and that doesn't always happen," Sloan added. "Coaches, you know, are the most expendable guy. But it should be the other way around. That's what (retired Jazz coach) Frank Layden always said: 'Players should be expendable.' And I always believed that after I heard him. ... Because if a player knows you're expendable, you've got no chance — unless you have the greatest talent in the world."
Time, Sloan suggested, is critical to rebuilding a struggling franchise like the Grizzlies.
"That's the biggest thing with any franchise — the ability to be able to stick with people, and say, 'OK, this is the way it's gonna be,' " he said.
"They haven't been together very long. Their coaching style hasn't been there. People haven't had a chance to experience that," Sloan added. "Some coaches, it takes two or three years to find out who guys are. People say, 'Well, you should know.' But you don't know what they're gonna do in a certain situation. You don't know how they're gonna react to good, bad and all the other stuff that comes along."
Such is especially the case after the trade of a franchise player like Gasol.
"To me," Sloan said, "that's devastating — because you lose a player of that caliber, how do you get him back?"
Iavaroni, for his part, is preaching patience too.
"I told (Memphis players) that Utah wasn't always great," the Grizzlies coach said. "They struggled a couple years ago and didn't make the playoffs. People tend to forget that."
HEY 'BRO: Jazz backup center Jarron Collins played his first game against his twin brother since Jason Collins was traded earlier this season from New Jersey to Memphis.
Jason, as it turns out, is living at the same Memphis hotel in which the Jazz stayed. Moreover, his room is on the same floor that Jazz players were on Friday night.
"It was a little weird," Jarron said.
Jarron played two scoreless minutes Saturday and Jason was scoreless in eight minutes.
MISC.: Jazz point guard Deron Williams' double-double was his 35th of the season, pulling him to within five of teammate Carlos Boozer — who started the night tied for second with Minnesota's Al Jefferson and behind Orlando's Dwight Howard among NBA leaders in that stat category. ... The Jazz's 37 assists Saturday were a Memphis season opponent-high — topping the old mark of 34 set by Utah in a win last Nov. 10. ... Memphis was without injured swingman Mike Miller (sore back). ... The Jazz swept their season series with the Grizzlies for the time since the team moved from Vancouver to Memphis; last time they swept was the 2000-01 season. ... Memphis' Rudy Gay led all scorers with 20 points, but shot just 6-of-17 from the field. ... Jazz shooting guard Ronnie Brewer's old AAU coach brought about 80 kids from the Arkansas Hawks program to Saturday's game. The first NBA seen by Brewer, incidentally, was the first one in which he played.
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com
