Utah Jazz extra: A weird week in team history

Five things that made this past half-fortnight one of the weirdest weeks in Utah Jazz history:

1. Take this job and shift it to Ty

Waking up Friday morning and realizing that Jerry Sloan was no longer the head coach of the Utah Jazz was extremely bizarre. I almost expected to wake up Saturday morning and see that the Wasatch Front mountains had disappeared as well.

Phil Johnson's tag-along resignation made it all the more strange. But how the best buds, who'd coached together here for the past 23 seasons, had each others' backs until the bitter end makes it pretty poetic. And you know they're genuinely happy that Ty Corbin got his dream job.

2. They booed who?

Who would have ever guessed that in back-to-back games, both Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams would receive loud boos at EnergySolutions Arena. Boozer might tell you fans were giving him the positive "BOOZ!" treatment every time he touched the ball, which obviously wouldn't be true.

But hearing Williams get significant boos during introductions, well, nobody could've predicted that before Thursday when reports and rumors linked the beloved All-Star with being responsible for Sloan's unexpected departure. Both Williams and Sloan admitted they had a locker room blowout in Wednesday's loss to the Bulls, but both sides also denied that that was the Hall of Fame coach's raison d'exit.

3. The Mailman delivers a speech for the ages

Karl Malone didn't return any phone calls Thursday, because he wanted to come to the ESA and personally pontificate on what made Sloan leave. His old coach, Malone insisted, would never quit. That statement suggested that players and/or the front office were behind the midseason retirement.

And that was just the beginning for Malone, who ranted that the players need to play old school, that the problems he'd heard were going on couldn't even be fixed if Dr. Naismith and John Wooden were put in charge, and that players need to do their homework (e.g. watch game film) and work hard on their own instead of bagging on Sloan for giving them light workouts and leniency.

Malone also said one day he will carry on Sloan's legacy as a coach, and lamented that the Jazz had never called him for help since he left the organization eight years ago. Wow. It was epic.

4. Talk about a coincidence