Buck Harvey: Sloan beats Knight at being Knight
Web Posted: 12/09/2006 11:07 PM CST
San Antonio Express-News

Jerry Sloan is one win from 1,000. Bob Knight, after Saturday, is two wins
from tying the Division I record.

They are also one strand of DNA from the other. Sloan and Knight have thrown
around curses, as well as a few chairs, and they've ranked among the best in
both coaching and intimidation.

But it's the differences that define them. Sloan has never slapped a player,
never been the subject of a made-for-TV movie, never attacked the media ─
has never done anything to draw attention to himself.

That's why, when these two men reach their milestones, Knight will get the
spotlight.

And Sloan will get ready to coach another game.

Knight's achievement is certainly deserving of a larger headline, since
passing Dean Smith for most wins is historic. Knight has also won
championships, as well as Olympic gold.

Forget never winning a title. Sloan has never been the NBA's coach of the year.

This year may change that, since Sloan's Jazz are tied with the Spurs for the
league's best record. But none of it matters to Sloan. He's been hesitant to
sit down with Salt Lake City media to talk about reaching 1,000 wins because
he's uncomfortable with the publicity.

He thinks the game is about the players, and he cares more about his locker
room than his image. Sound familiar? Gregg Popovich's DNA may be even closer
to Sloan's.

Knight is similar, though, because both impose discipline and teamwork
through the force of their personalities. Knight has noticed. Google them,
and there's Knight talking about one of his players being defensively soft.

"He's no Jerry Sloan," Knight laments.

The ultimate link between the two came in the late '80s. Then, Knight coached
Sloan's son, Brian, at Indiana.

Still, even that showed the differences. According to newspaper stories,
Sloan's late wife, Bobbye, "wondered out loud more than a few times why her
son continued to play for Knight."

Brian, now a doctor, credits Knight for teaching him discipline "and other
lessons." But several years ago, Brian admitted, "There were things (Knight)
did that I certainly can't defend."

Did anyone have to add an asterisk when talking about Brian's father?

There was a mistake a few years ago, when Sloan pushed a ref and drew a
seven-game suspension. Sloan admitted crossing a line and apologized
publicly, and Knight is not known for doing the same.

Also, in his first coaching job in Chicago, Sloan reportedly threw a chair in
the direction of ex-Spur Larry Kenon. But that was in private, in the locker
room, and news of that was leaked.

Knight's notorious chair-toss came on the court ─ as in front of the cameras
as his news-conference performances. Knight has always been as brilliant at
coaching as he has been at making himself the story, and that was true when
he coached the 1984 Olympic team.

On a stage with Michael Jordan, Knight grabbed the microphone and dictated
the dialogue. Knight became bigger than them all.

Knight cut both John Stockton and Karl Malone from that Olympic team. Sloan
later embraced both and pushed them, and now he's doing it with another
group. He's willed his system on men, not college boys, lasting longer than
any current coach with the same franchise. Popovich is second.

Sloan demands from his players, yet he remains friendly to those on the
outside. He's done this without promoting himself, and that's why Stockton
thinks the 1,000-win plateau is important.

"It re-justifies what a great coach he is," Stockton told a Utah newspaper.

Ten years ago, after Latrell Sprewell grabbed current Spurs assistant P.J.
Carlesimo by the neck, the Jazz president joked: "Nobody fights with Jerry
Sloan because you know the price would be too high. You might come out the
winner. At his age, you might even lick him. But you'd lose an eye, an arm
... everything would be gone."

Sloan wouldn't choke or be choked.

That's him. The best of Knight without the worst.



http://www.mysanantonio.com/columnists/
stories/MYSA121006.01C.COL.BKNharvey.sloan.2f9bee6.html

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