推 CarlosBoozer:這篇有繞口令 10/06 17:54
Utah's Sloan remains his own toughest critic
By Chuck Nunn/South Idaho Press
SALT LAKE CITY ─ While many of the Utah Jazz players had very busy offseasons
in one way or another, and a lot was being said and done both on and off the
basketball court, Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan spent a great deal of time on
his back porch in Illinois ─ sitting and thinking.
So what did the future Hall of Fame coach think about during those quiet
country evenings? The man who often evaluates his players with a
no-holds-barred frankness doesn't hold back when he evaluates himself.
"I don't know if anybody gets things right in this business on a daily basis,"
Sloan said. "But you try to think about things that you would like to see done
and like to try to do, and can we do it or can't we do it, those things are
always in mind."
But no mater what gets said or written, Sloan's toughest critic is often the
one he faces during his times of self-reflection.
"There's nobody harder on me than me," Sloan said. "There's never been anybody
harder on me than me. So if anybody thinks they can be hard on me, they
haven't come close. I've always said and always felt that you have to know
that getting into the business, otherwise you're going to have your feelings
hurt all of the time."
Indeed, everything that has been said to his detriment over the years ─
like how anyone can coach a winner with Karl Malone and John Stockton, the
aforementioned problems in relating to players, or how he's never coached an
NBA champion ─ would likely have driven a lesser man into seclusion long ago.
But even as his career coaching wins continue to climb this season, and even
as another year is added to his coaching tenure ─ the longest in major
professional sports ─ Sloan will not sit back on his laurels or be content
until he meets the highest bar of all ─ the one he sets for himself.
"I've never been pleased," Sloan said. "I think there's a certain level of
success, but that's not anything to be pleased about. I still have a job,
that's the biggest thing."
And ultimately, it will likely not be an NBA title or a Coach of the Year
award or any other personal accolade that will allow Sloan to be satisfied
with himself. It will only come in seeing his players become the best that
they can be.
"The bottom line is we want the team to get better, and if I can help that,
fine," Sloan said. "But it ends up, this is a players' game ─ always has
been a players' game ─ and they're the ones who make it work. We have to
work with them and do the best we can. And they have to work. That's the
goal; that's what it all boils down to."
And Sloan knows, no matter what was said in the months before, what really
matters now as the Jazz prepare for the new season ─ what will really speak
the loudest ─ is how they perform on the court.
"That's what it's all about," Sloan said. "Talking doesn't do anything. You
can talk all you want, but it’s what you do out here on the floor. That's
the bottom line. We can all answer questions and all that stuff, but the
bottom line is we have to come and perform and see who we are. And if its not
good enough, somebody else does it."
http://www.southidahopress.com/articles/2007/10/05/sports/local/9981jazz.txt
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