Hello new Jazz fan, welcome. I can see that you chose to become a Jazz fan by putting every NBA team name in a hat and drawing randomly. If you had just turned on ESPN looking for a team to follow you’d have selected the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers. If you lived far from any geographical ties, like say Alaska, you’d choose the team that is currently paying Carlos Boozer (the great Alaskan) to recover from his most recent injury. Boy are the Jazz fans relieved it’s not continuing in Utah anymore.
If you lived in Utah, it still seems like Jazz fandom is a tough decision to come to judging by the number of Laker jerseys seen in the stands when L.A. comes to town.
The point is you’ve made the choice and we’re glad to have you. Here’s what we tell all newcomers:
1. Jerry Sloan is the only coach who really runs an NBA team, for good or bad.
Jerry Sloan is the longest tenured coach in professional sports. Don’t worry, you’ll be reminded of this fact constantly. I’ve grudgingly come to realize that he is the best thing that the Jazz franchise has going for it. I say grudgingly because I have felt extremely frustrated with Sloan’s decisions. Example: bringing Deron Williams off the bench for the majority of his rookie season behind Keith Mcleod and Milt Palacio. At no point were either of those two better than Deron in any way.
Sloan rarely lets his players get hot, the time/minute rotations are written in stone.
The Jazz regularly lead the league in fouls, I’m sure that’s deliberate. Sloan has his players whack anyone who gets into the paint with the ball. Ok, I do kind of like this.
But Jerry Sloan is in a unique position. Early on Jazz owner Larry H. Miller hitched his wagon to Sloan and basically conveyed the message that Sloan is a fixture and that players are temporary. Fortunately Sloan didn’t have to call out Malone or Stockton for their work ethic at any point, but he has been able to leverage this position to coral the headstrong rookies.
An excellent coach and well regarded by his peers, he has never made it over the hump to get that “NBA Coach of the Year” . The award will probably never happen since there is no way that Sloan can surprise anymore, it’s just fact that a Sloan led team will play hard for 48 minutes and beat you up and execute like a machine.
2. Get used to being constantly underrated.
Whether it’s being looked over in the preseason power polls, the Coach of the year award, All Star voting, National game coverage, the Jazz never get the attention they deserve.
Fortunately this plays to Utah’s advantage more often than not, at least in the eyes of the fans. It helps to get a little bit of extra coverage when you’re seen as the underdog. The Jazz are always in the playoff hunt, and almost always good to get out of the first round.
For some reason, for the first three years of Deron Williams’ career he wasn’t seen as an elite player on the level of Chris Paul. The debate continues, I’m sure this comparison will be fuel for future columns.
3. Did you know that you’re a racist?
“Have you heard that Utah is all white? Black players don’t want to come to Utah, heh heh.” Every columnist based outside Utah. This has been such a sore spot for Jazz fans. Some loud voices in the media have claimed that Utahns are not welcoming of people of color. While it’s true, the state of Utah doesn’t claim many African Americans in the general population, but the real problem was most likely tied to another black player.
Karl Malone was key to the success of the Jazz in the 90′s in case you hadn’t heard. He was an iron man type player who was not just bigger than any other PF in the league at the time, but faster too. Sloan and Stockton ensured that he was the focal point of the Jazz offense, even when other valid options were present. Jeff Malone joined the Jazz in 1990 and immediately saw his PPG decline from 24 to 18. Karl Malone was too good to deny the ball.
After Mark Eaton retired in 92 there was a constant shuffling at center, with very little scoring coming from that position. Jeff Hornacek joined in 93 and was a perfect fit without having to control the ball or take shots from Malone.
Yet the Jazz fans were frustrated seeing teams with more athletic type players having postseason success…lets face it, the whole league never figured out how to stop Michael Jordan until they put a Wizards jersey on him. This frustration was palpable, however, seeing 2nd and third tier players pass on opportunities to come to the Jazz. I’m talking about you Derek Harper and you Rony Seikaly. Ultimately players of that caliber would not have made a difference against the Chicago Bulls and Dick Bavetta…..Heyyyooohhh.
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Cold Sports Fan is a lifetime Utah Jazz and NBA fan. He also follows college and pro football and is currently working on his MBA full time. 
Great writeup, and good intro to those looking for a Utah Jazz blog to follow such as myself.
very insightful. Coaches make all the difference….as always.
totally agree with you about the jazz being constantly underrated…
Good to see someone else “enjoys” the ESPN syndrome. If it’s not from the NYC, Boston or LA it apparently isn’t worth knowing.
Been following this site off and on, and was hoping that they would find a writer that would be writing for one of the teams that I follow. Glad to see that they did. Great to have you on board!
And I so hear you on these points. I love hearing from friends back in Los Angelas how the world of basketball begins and ends with the Lakers, and I’m sure the same is said on the East Coast with the Celtics and now, Heat. Ya by all means, ignore the rest of the league, then get a crash course when your centre of the universe loses to teams like the Jazz. If only the course stuck in their heads.