Singin' the Blues: Moving On Without a Hall of Fame Coach and a Franchise Point Guard

The Utah Jazz are a great franchise. The last 2 or so decades have been characterized by outstanding point guard play, primarily by Deron Williams and John Stockton, and a strong post presence like Carlos Boozer, Al Jefferson, and Karl Malone. But the biggest part of this team for the last couple of decades has been their undoubtedly deserving Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan. But, in two deft moves, the Jazz have cut ties with both their coach and their franchise player Williams.

The Jazz also sustained the loss of many good players like Boozer, but with Paul Millsap in the ranks, they felt that Boozer was unnecessary and that role players like Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver could be replaced. They were partially right as they played very well for about half of the season. Then, everything went downhill. The Jazz knew that Williams was not exactly fond of Sloan, which began when he was benched as a rookie. But it reached a breaking point when Sloan was fired after a supposed argument between both the coach and the star player. Ty Corbin, an apt replacement, stepped in and looked to take over Sloan's former team. But then the next big bombshell dropped. They traded Deron Williams.

The Jazz can certainly recover from this. They got Devin Harris, who is good, but not great, and lottery pick Derrick Favors, a young player with loads of potential. But Ty Corbin is no Jerry Sloan. Devin Harris is no Deron Williams, who is definitely no John Stockton. The Jazz must move on, but they don't have the pieces in place to return to the Finals, to return to the glory days. That is why the Jazz are fittingly singing the blues.