Utah Jazz: Sloan could hit 1,000th win with Jazz tonight

It doesn't take a tractor specialist to know there are a few things Jazz coach Jerry Sloan likes.

Muscular mailmen who moonlight as power forwards. Short shorts-sporting point guards from Jesuit colleges who think it's better to give than to shoot. Hustling players. Defensive-minded athletes. Really tall guys who don't loaf and/or have Fred Flintstone tattoos on their legs. Farm work. John Deere equipment.

One thing Sloan obviously doesn't embrace?

OK, not counting whistle-happy referees?

Try hype and hoopla about his own accomplishments.

Which is why the longtime Utah coach might be in for a painfully uncomfortable time after tonight's game against Oklahoma City. Though he certainly wasn't the one who brought this to anybody's attention, Sloan will notch his 1,000th win as head coach of the Jazz with his team's next victory.

"That'll be great," said Jazz forward Carlos Boozer. "For us, it's an honor to be part of the team that'll get it for him. We'd like to get it (tonight) at home and celebrate a little bit. ... You've got to take your hat off to coach Sloan."

Yes, that sound you just heard was Sloan groaning. Should the 21st-year Jazz coach achieve that monumental milestone tonight at EnergySolutions Arena — a feat no other NBA coach has ever achieved — the only people less enthused than the 66-year-old might be those wearing Thunder uniforms.

"It's not something I'm going to do cartwheels over," Sloan grumbled.

Not to be a party pooper, but Sloan is openly and unapologeti-

cally unimpressed that he's on the verge of hitting the victory millennium mark in Utah. He's even borderline grumpy when asked about the subject.

"I really don't care. It's not a big deal. I'm not here for that," he said. "I never played for those sort of things when I was a player. ... I'm not interested in being honored."

He'd rather prepare for the Knicks game Sunday or be poked in the eye by Greg Ostertag. That almost crotchety attitude toward personal recognition brings a smile to the face of one of his former star players, who deeply admires Sloan in part because he is more interested in doing the dirty work than being placed under the spotlight.