Chapter 506: A Different Basketball World and Jerry Sloan’s Dream

"Jerry, are you still watching the Sonics game tape?"

"Are the kids out to play now?"

Jerry Sloan, who was watching the Sonics game video attentively, saw Phil Johnson walking in, and turned his attention to the laptop in front of him again.

It was as if the big screen in front of him was extremely attractive to him.

Seeing Jerry Sloan like this, the expression on Phil Johnson's face was also a little helpless.

This is not the first day.

Since last week, Jerry Sloan has been frantically studying the Seattle SuperSonics' games over the past two seasons.

It's really hard to imagine that Jerry Sloan would need to study a team and a player to such an extent during the regular season.

Such targeted research usually only appears in the NBA during the playoffs.

And now, Jerry Sloan is for the Sonics for Yes, and that's it now.

Looking at Jerry Sloan, whose brows are currently staring at the laptop screen, Phil Johnson can really only sigh now.

Jerry is under too much pressure now!

He began to serve as the assistant coach of the Utah Jazz in 1982, and went to other places for four years in the middle. Counting from 1982 to now, he has been working in the Utah Jazz for twenty years.

Speaking of which, no one may believe that he was the reason why Jerry Sloan came to the Utah Jazz in the first place.

He and Jerry Sloan were both disciples of Dick Motta.

When Dick Motta was coaching with the Bulls, he was an assistant coach and Jerry Sloan was a player.

Jerry Sloan loved coaching when he was a player and has been learning from Dick Motta like him.

After Jerry Sloan retired, Dick Motta left the Bulls and went to the Washington Bullets, and Jerry Sloan became the head coach of the Chicago Bulls.

He was Jerry Sloan's assistant coach when Jerry Sloan was the head coach of the Bulls.

Jerry Sloan's coaching performance in the Bulls during his three years was terrible.

In his third year of coaching, he was fired by the Bulls before the regular season was over.

After Jerry Sloan was fired, Jerry Sloan chose to rest, and he left the Bulls to serve as an assistant coach with the Jazz.

As a native of Utah, after he became stable with the Jazz, he recommended Jerry Sloan to the team to come to the Jazz as a scout.

For a former NBA head coach, no matter how bad his coaching performance is, it is very humiliating to work as a scout for another team.

That was the toughest moment in Jerry Sloan's life.

A person who was born in Illinois, grew up in Illinois, and became famous in Illinois ended up having to leave his hometown and go to a remote countryside to work in a seemingly low-cost job.

If he hadn't known that Jerry Sloan had not given up on basketball and his dream of coaching, he would never have invited his best friend and best brother to Utah.

Jerry Sloan's coaching success at Utah later proved him right.

In the past 25 years from 1983 to 2008, Jerry Sloan has grown from a small scout to the most respected head coach in Utah.

And he also followed Jerry Sloan and became the best assistant coach in the NBA now.

In the past twenty-five years with the Jazz, they have witnessed a lot together.

In addition to the time with the Chicago Bulls, they have experienced a lot together in the more than thirty years they have been together.

In all his experience and witnessing, he had never seen Jerry Sloan so anxious.

Even when he was dismissed from the Chicago Bulls and faced with the rupture of his basketball career and coaching dream, Jerry Sloan had never been so anxious.

As Jerry Sloan's closest comrade, he can understand Jerry Sloan's current mood.

The Utah Jazz's record this season is really unexpected.

Before the start of the season, no matter how harsh the media is on the Utah Jazz, they will rank the Utah Jazz in the top five of the most terrifying Western Conference in history.

The Jazz played seven games with the Spurs in last season's playoffs.

In the regular season last season, the Jazz defeated Yes, who led the team to the Western Conference Finals, five times.

As long as the Jazz can improve step by step this season, this team's combat effectiveness in the Western Conference is worth looking forward to.

However, the final result is that all these prospects and expectations are just dreams!

Right now the Utah Jazz are not ranked in the top five in the Western Conference, not even the top eight in the Western Conference.

The Utah Jazz are now ranked tenth in the Western Conference!

A very bad ranking.

The Utah Jazz's record in the past few seasons after the disintegration of the Utah Jazz has not been very good.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to have a lottery pick to select Deron Williams.

In the past few seasons, the Jazz's regular season position was even worse than tenth in the Western Conference.

But, can the ranking at that time be the same as this season?

He knows exactly what Jerry Sloan expects from the team this season.

Not to mention such illusory goals as the championship, Jerry Sloan's goal this season has always been to lead the team to win a series!

Lead the team to win a series in this so-called scariest Western Conference season in history!

Jerry Sloan knows very well that for a team that pursues championships, winning a series is the first step. If you haven't even tasted the taste of winning a series and just call for championship, then it's really just... Just a slogan.

As long as Jerry Sloan can lead the team to break through the first round of the playoffs this season, he can lead the team to shout championship slogans next season.

At this time, Jerry Sloan and the Jazz have really never considered what Yes and what Sonics is.

What can a team that they killed five times last season have to consider?

But this season, the Jazz have been beaten by the Seattle SuperSonics!

Tomorrow's game against the Seattle SuperSonics, which has attracted much attention from the Western Conference teams, is the third contest between the Utah Jazz and the SuperSonics this season.

Before this game started, among the top ten teams in the Western Conference, the Suns ranked first with 47 wins and 4 losses, the Rockets ranked second with 46 wins and 5 losses, the SuperSonics ranked third with 42 wins and 8 losses, and the Lakers ranked with 40 wins and 11 losses. Fourth, the Spurs and Nuggets ranked fifth and sixth respectively with 39 wins and 11 losses, the Grizzlies ranked seventh in the Western Conference with 37 wins and 13 losses, the Thunder ranked eighth with 34 wins and 16 losses, the Mavericks ranked ninth with 33 wins and 18 losses, and Utah The Jazz ranked tenth with 30 wins and 20 losses.

Why do the strong teams in the Western Conference pay so much attention to this game?

As one of the best assistant coaches in the league, Phil Johnson certainly knows.

The outcome of this game involves many things in the sprint period after the All-Star Game.

Fight for three, fight for six, fight for eight...

All of these have a huge relationship with this game!

Phil Johnson can be sure that the Lakers, Spurs and Nuggets definitely hope that the Jazz, the former Yes killer, can defeat Yes and the SuperSonics in this game.

The Thunder and Mavericks definitely hope that the Sonics can beat the Jazz in this game.

As long as the Jazz lose this game, the Jazz will no longer pose a threat to them.

For the team's hopes for the playoffs and for the team's ever-increasing attitude, the Jazz are under pressure to win this game.

The Jazz are a young team now.

What a young team needs most is the attitude of always improving and moving forward.

When a team is full of hope, the team's young players will have goals and expectations, and they will progress faster.

When a team loses hope, the young players on the team are the most explosive. These young people are active in thinking and jumping in ideas. No one knows what they will do, and no one knows. I know if they will hurt the team.

For the strong teams in the West, this game is a turning point in their season and a game for them to formulate their next strategy this season.

For the Jazz, this game will be a game that determines the team's next ten years and Jerry Sloan's future coaching career!

Phil Johnson always knew what Jerry Sloan's dream was.

That golden NBA championship trophy!

If this generation of Jazz players loses the direction to move forward because of this game, then Jerry Sloan will not be able to cultivate a new generation of Utah doubles.

It can be said that Jerry Sloan placed all his dreams and hopes on Deron Williams and the others.

If that dream ends up being dashed...Phil Johnson can't imagine what will happen to Jerry Sloan.

Because the result of this imagination is so terrible, so terrible that he is already trembling a little now.

"Phil, the SuperSonics have changed so much this season..."

Just when Phil Johnson was thinking about the possible consequences of failure in this game and felt extremely terrible, Jerry Sloan's faint voice came over.

"Compared with last season, Yes this season has lifted his pass seal. When he takes half of the ball back from Rondo's hands, we will never beat the Sonics again..."

Phil Johnson could hear the bitterness in Youyou's voice.

The expression on Phil Johnson's face was one of shock after listening to this bitter speech.

Is this what Jerry Sloan has been working on day and night for more than a week?

"Phil, today's basketball has really changed... Because of the emergence of Yes, today's basketball is no longer the basketball we once thought..."

Jerry Sloan seemed to be talking to him, but also seemed to be talking to himself, and what made Jerry Sloan produce such a powerless, bitter and desperate voice was the game playing on the laptop.

Last game between Phoenix Suns and Seattle SuperSonics!

That game where the Phoenix Suns used the 'Yes Rule' in the game.

Phil Johnson certainly watched this game.

In this game, the Suns' defense against Yes was to the extreme.

If the Suns still want to win, this is the strongest defense.

It is difficult for ordinary players to get data under such a defense.

But Yes almost hit double 20 in this game.

And Not only did Yes almost hit a double-20, Durant scored a career-high 65 points with his strongest passing game in history.

In this game, Yes showed the world how terrible his three-point ability was, scoring 21 points in 6 shots, and also showed the world how terrible his passing was.

Surrounded by three players from the Suns, he can still pass passes that are impossible for others. He can directly find Durant without transition. This seems to be a fantasy. Yes, in this game done!

Before the emergence of Yes, no one would ever believe that a team like the Suns could win the championship, and no one would brag that a team like the Suns could be the strongest team in history.

Before the emergence of Yes, no one would have believed that a player was such a big threat from the three-point line, and absolutely no one would have believed that one person could use his speed and quick offense to bring a team to such an extent. !

Even he and Jerry Sloan, the inheritors and successors of small ball tactics, would not believe it.

Maybe many people won't believe it.

He and Jerry Sloan are the inheritors of small ball tactics.

Their teacher, Dick Motta, was a pioneer of small-ball tactics in the NBA.

He is a 'small ball pioneer' that even Nelson is highly sought after.

In the world's perception, he and Jerry Sloan should be defensive and iron-blooded, but in fact, their origins are offensive and gorgeous.

This is actually not a contradiction.

If they didn't really see the powerlessness of offense and gorgeousness in the NBA, how could they give up their origins?

They are different from Nelson.

Nelson's dream is to see more scenery. What Nelson pursues has never been a championship.

Because the championship has no appeal at all to Nelson, who is a disciple of the Cardinals, at least not as attractive as the unknown basketball scenery.

And what about them?

They don't have the luxury of Nelson, they want a championship to leave their name in the history of basketball.

When offense and gorgeousness fail to bring them this, they can only seek change.

Changes to the present, when they have almost forgotten their origins, the world suddenly tells them that basketball today is no longer the same as before...

This sense of despair, this sense of powerlessness, this sense of bitterness is so painful.

Phil Johnson looked at the SuperSonics No. 35 on the computer who broke through Stoudemire with the ball and completed a dunk. Phil Johnson's scalp was numb.

Before, he had never seen a championship team give another team such a big space and opportunity in the game.

The game between the SuperSonics and the Suns told them that in the latest basketball philosophy, defense may still be important, but it is no longer that important.

What really determines the outcome of the game has become scoring.

If you can score more points than your opponent in every game, you are the championship!

"Phil, this game may be our farewell to the past twenty-five years."

Jerry Sloan's voice was still faint, but Phil Johnson could no longer hear any bitterness and despair.

"I don't want to mess up this game that says goodbye to my past!"