For those of us who are non-millennials or Gen ex’ers the rebirth of the Utah Jazz is kind of cool. It reminds me of those great Utah Jazz teams coached by Jerry Sloan which featured John Stockton, Karl Malone, and Jeff Hornacek.
It was an era for Utah Jazz basketball when Michael Jordan was around and the Lakers were viable. It was a time when the small market Jazz were one of the league’s best run franchises.
Stockton ended up being the NBA career leader in both assists and steals. He played his entire career in Utah. On one of his contracts late in his career, he took less money to enable his front office to make the team more competitive. But he did attach one stipulation, he wanted free ice time at the Jazz arena for his son’s ice hockey team to practice on. Trust me, as someone who was a hockey coach/father you have no idea the value of ice time. How do I not love John Stockton.
Stockton never won a ring, but Utah did get to one NBA Finals where of course they lost to Michael Jordan and the Bulls.
Upon his retirement–Stockton has been involved in coaching youth teams and even became an assistant coach for his daughter’s team at Montana State. Stockton was interviewed for the Jazz head coaching job after the firing of Ty Corbin, but Quin Snyder got the job.
Stockton played his college ball at Gonzaga and was the 16th player taken in his draft class. He played on two U.S. Olympic teams and was on the Dream Team.
As we watch rookie sensation Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert take this Utah Jazz to renewed heights this isn’t unprecedented in the history of the Utah Jazz.
I hate to admit this being a Thunder fan, but part of me wants them to advance because I so much more respect their approach and mental toughness than that of this Thunder team.
So, yeah, I’m torn.