Utah Jazz: Dantley finally inducted into Hall

Tom Nissalke, the former Utah Jazz coach, minces few words when talking about the impact Adrian Dantley had on the Beehive State's favorite basketball team.

"It if wasn't for him," Nissalke said, "the franchise wouldn't be here."

Heck, for most of his seven seasons here — from 1979 through 1986 — Dantley was the franchise. He won two NBA scoring titles in Utah, averaged 30-plus points four years in a row, and he helped the Jazz win their first division title and make the playoffs for the first time in 1984.

If it weren't for what Dantley did in Utah, the franchise's first star on the Wasatch Front wouldn't be where he currently is — in Springfield, Mass. As of Friday, Dantley now has a permanent residence of sorts there as a newly inducted member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

It's about time this recognition happened, Nissalke insists.

Despite a prolific career at every level — from his All-American days at legendary DeMatha Catholic High School and Notre Dame, to winning a gold medal in 1976 as Team USA's leading scorer to a prolific NBA career with the Jazz and six other teams during which he scored 23,177 points — it took Dantley seven times as a Hall of Fame finalist to earn an entry ticket into hoops immortality.

Getting his No. 4 jersey retired by the Utah Jazz in 2007 — a move that might have helped him finally get the Hall of Fame recognition — was another honor that fit in the better-late-than-never-but-still-too-late category.

"For years when you thought of the Utah Jazz, you thought of three people — John Stockton, Karl Malone and Adrian Dantley," Nissalke said.

Nissalke said he "lost interest" in the Hall of Fame process when Dantley went so many years without making it.

"To me, he was everything you want in a player — a competitor, a hard worker, trained hard, practiced hard," he said. "He was just an absolute amazing player and also a very, very tough guy."

Nissalke laughs recalling the group of players the Jazz brought on what he called "the march into the desert from New Orleans." So he was thrilled when the Jazz traded Spencer Haywood to the Los Angeles Lakers to get Dantley prior to the 1979-80 season.

Dantley played under Nissalke for 2 1/2 years, during which they formed solid professional and personal relationships.

"A.D. is one of the hardest-working guys (that it was) my pleasure to coach," Nissalke said. "He kept himself in immaculate physical condition."

Nissalke said he couldn't understand why Dantley picked up a bad rap as a player — the most famous feud, of course, being with coach Frank Layden — or someone who was "surly" or selfish.