From Deseret News archives:
Utah Jazz nominate Jerry, John for Hall of Fame
"You ain't in there yet, coach?" Boozer asked.
"Hall of shame," Sloan quickly fired back.
"You should've already been in there," the power forward told the 21st-year Jazz coach after practice Saturday (referring to the Hall of Fame, not shame, of course).
That honor could happen for both Sloan and John Stockton in 2009.
If the Jazz organization gets its way, the NBA's winningest coach with one team will join the league's all-time leader in assists and steals in Springfield, Mass., next summer to receive well-deserved spots where hoops immortality happens.
Jazz brass recently submitted applications to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for two of the franchise's most familiar faces who so happen to both shy away from the spotlight. They'll do the same for Karl Malone next year.
If you ask Kevin O'Connor, Utah's vice president of basketball operations, both Sloan and Stockton should be considered slam dunks to be inducted as first-ballot Hall-of-Famers.
"I think everything that they've done certainly speaks for a unanimous — and I mean a unanimous — decision to be in the Hall of Fame," O'Connor said. "I couldn't fathom why they wouldn't be."
Sloan's resume includes winning 1,000 games with the Jazz (and 1,094 overall victories), two Western Conference championships, seven division titles and 18 playoff appearances. He'll celebrate — OK, endure — his 20th anniversary as Utah's head coach on Dec. 9.
Stockton's lengthy list of accomplishments includes being named one of the NBA's 50 greatest players, earning 10 All-Star trips, winning two Olympic gold medals (1992 and '96), and notching more assists (15,806) and steals (3,265) in his 19-year career than any other player in league history.
"John belongs in the Hall of Fame for his basketball career," Sloan said.
Sloan, whose Chicago Bulls' player jersey was retired by that franchise, isn't about to campaign for himself.
"That's not something that I'll ever really think about," he said. "They'll never know the difference down on the farm."
Boozer says Sloan belongs in the Hall of Fame no matter what it means on the farm.
"Damn right he does," he said.
"And," Boozer added, "he should've been coach of the year already a couple of times."
To become part of the 2009 class, their nominations must be screened and receive seven of nine votes from the North American Committee. The Board of Trustees then determines if the "individual has damaged the integrity of the game of basketball." After that, an applicant must earn 18 of 24 votes from members of the Honors Committee to become enshrined.
The finalists will be chosen during the All-Star Weekend festivities, and future inductees will be revealed at the Final Four.
Four former Jazz players have been inducted: Adrian Dantley (2008), Gail Goodrich (1996), Pete Maravich (1987) and Walt Bellamy (1982).
E-mail: jody@desnews.com
