NBA lost a man who put his heart and soul in it, says Malone
While others are giving personal opinions and insights into the event that has created uproar in the National Basketball Association since Jerry Sloan resigned on 11 February, there is one person who seemed to side with the 68-year-old entirely. That person
was Karl Malone aka Mailman, a person who not only respected but loved Sloan. The twice
Most Valuable Player winner said that Sloan was a person who would never quit on anything. He emphasized that the coach had grown tired of what was happening in the team and that is why he took this decision.
The 47-year-old said that the team had changed the floor and the uniform to old school. The agitated Malone added, “Somebody tell the d**n players to start playing like old school,” This comment was quoted before Utah had a game against the Phoenix Suns
at home that they lost. “It may work. They spent a lot of money on the rest, now how about you tell the players. I’m just calling it like I see it.”
The 13 times NBA All-Star, Malone, who has been in touch with the resigned coach through phone messages defended the coach against analysts who were not treating him the way he should have been, considering his calibre.
Deron Williams, one of the bluntest players, was also partly held responsible for the coach’s resignation as the two of them had a heated argument on Wednesday. The reason they got into a clash was that the player was questioning the coach regarding his
practice schedules and study demands. Malone said that the player was a professional and added, “If you want to stop the guy you’re playing, they pay you millions of dollars.”
Malone is one of the many people deeply moved by this whole situation. He was irritated by the questions that were flung at him and responded to them in a furious manner. He shrugged them off by saying that he did not even need to tell if he would have been
present at the press conference that the coach and his assistant Phil Johnson gave after the resignation. None of Utah Jazz players attended the press conference given by the two.
Malone was even asked if he thought that the coach was forced to take the decision and that it was not his sole opinion. To that he replied with the same answer that described Sloan as a man who won’t quit on anything like that.
Williams who is at the other side of every headline against Sloan has refused the “me or him” defiance. Even Williams himself said the same thing when asked; he said that a person of Sloan’s strength and will-power would never give up on anything like that.
Everybody is still connecting links on the matter and the story takes new turns every day, but Malone’s words were heart touching when he said, “The whole NBA lost a man who put his heart and soul and everything else in it.”
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