- Following up on March comments that suggested Jazz forward Joe Ingles might avoid a return to league play this season due to safety concerns, Ingles clarified his stance on the matter in a recent tweet. “When it’s safe to go back and play, I will not let my teammates down!” he said, in part.
Former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has passed away due to complications from Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia, the team announced today in a press release. Sloan was 78 years old.
“Jerry Sloan will always be synonymous with the Utah Jazz,” the club said in a statement. “He will forever be a part of the Utah Jazz organization and we join his family, friends and fans in mourning his loss. We are so thankful for what he accomplished here in Utah and the decades of dedication, loyalty and tenacity he brought to our franchise.”
After a two-and-a-half-year stint coaching the Bulls from 1979-82, Sloan took over as Utah’s head coach during the 1988/89 season. He remained in that role for 23 years, compiling a 1,127-682 (.623) regular season record with the franchise during that time. He also won 96 postseason contests with the Jazz, leading the club to two NBA Finals appearances against Michael Jordan‘s Bulls in 1997 and 1998.
Sloan’s 1,221 wins as an NBA head coach place him fourth in league history, behind only Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, and Gregg Popovich. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
Prior to becoming an NBA coach, Sloan was a standout player, having been drafted fourth overall by the Baltimore Bullets in 1965. He spent most of his playing career in Chicago, earning a pair of All-Star berths and six All-Defensive nods for the Bulls.
We at Hoops Rumors send our condolences to Sloan’s family and friends.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Bojan Bogdanovic originally injured his right wrist in a late November game, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. The Jazz swingman will undergo wrist surgery on Tuesday and won’t return if the season resumes. Bogdanovic had an MRI after the original injury and tried to play through the pain but aggravated it at various times throughout the season, Jones adds.
We have more on the Jazz:
- The team won’t immediately seek a replacement for vice president of player personnel Walt Perrin, Jones reports in a separate tweet. Instead, the current staff will divide up his responsibilities. Perrin is joining the Knicks as an assistant GM after being in Utah’s front office since 2001.
- Recently retired forward Trevor Booker has become a fan favorite in Utah despite only playing two years with the Jazz, as Sarah Todd of the Deseret News details. Booker was playing in the Chinese Basketball Association but returned to the U.S. to undergo foot surgery. He decided to retire after the pandemic. When Booker announced his retirement on social media, he received an outpouring of well wishes from Jazz fans.
- Georges Niang provided details about the precautions being taken at the team’s training facility. Get the details here.
1:24pm: Confirming that Bogdanovic will undergo season-ending surgery on Tuesday in New York, the Jazz announced in a press release that the procedure will repair a ruptured scapholunate ligament. According to the club, Bogdanovic actually first injured his right wrist “sometime in 2019.”
12:40pm: Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic will undergo a surgical procedure on his right wrist, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the surgery will end Bogdanovic’s season. He’s expected to be fully recovered for the start of the 2020/21 campaign.
With the remainder of the ’19/20 season and the start date for next season still very much up in the air, we don’t know exactly what Bogdanovic’s recovery timeline will look like. Still, based on Woj’s report, it sounds like it’ll be a multi-month process, extending through the summer.
As Wojnarowski explains (via Twitter), Bogdanovic injured his right wrist in January and played through it for the rest of the season. Sources tell ESPN that his discomfort re-emerged during the NBA’s hiatus, prompting the team to decide to shut him down and have him undergo surgery. The Jazz have an eye toward the long term, since the forward is in the first season of a four-year deal.
Bogdanovic, who is under contract through 2023, will earn $18.7MM annually for the next three years. The 31-year-old enjoyed a career year in his first season with the Jazz, averaging 20.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 2.1 APG with a .447/.414/.903 shooting line in 63 games (33.1 MPG).
Assuming the ’19/20 season can be completed, Bogdanovic’s injury will put a serious dent in Utah’s chances of making a deep playoff run. He was a key part of the club’s success this season — the Jazz had a 113.5 offensive rating when Bogdanovic played, compared to just 105.0 when he sat.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Knicks are finalizing the hiring of Jazz executive Walt Perrin, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Perrin will be an assistant general manager in New York.
Perrin, who has spent nearly the last two decades in Utah, was initially hired as the team’s director player personnel before eventually being promoted to vice president of player personnel. Prior to joining the Jazz in 2001, he was a scout in Minnesota and Detroit, holding the title of director of college scouting with the Pistons.
John Hollinger of The Athletic, formerly a Grizzlies executive, praised the hiring for the Knicks, referring to Perrin as someone who’s a “fixture at every event with an even remotely relevant prospect” (Twitter link).
Perrin will be the second noteworthy addition to the Knicks’ front office since Leon Rose assumed president of basketball operations duties in March. The organization previously hired away capologist Brock Aller from the Cavaliers to be the Knicks’ VP of strategy. Rose also elected to retain GM Scott Perry for at least one more year.
- Jazz forward Georges Niang gave insight into his first workout at Utah’s practice facility, which was recently reopened amidst the coronavirus pandemic, as relayed by Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune. “The guy that is on our training staff has to be in full [personal protective equipment] — whether that’s a mask, gloves; I know he’s carrying around a spray bottle and a towel,” Niang said. “So, basically every step that I take or wherever I go, that place is getting sprayed down.”
A pair of early entrants out of Duke have signed with agents who aren’t NCAA-certified, officially signaling that they’ll go pro and remain in the 2020 NBA draft. Tre Jones has signed with BDA Sports, according to the agency’s Instagram account, while Cassius Stanley has joined ISE Basketball (Twitter link).
Both Blue Devils prospects had been expected to keep their names in the draft, so their moves to secure representation don’t come as a surprise. Both players are ranked in the top 50 on ESPN’s big board for 2020, with Jones coming in at No. 33 and Stanley at No. 50.
Here’s more on the 2020 draft:
- A couple more players on this year’s early entrants list have signed with agents and will remain in the draft. Minnesota big man Daniel Oturu has joined BDA Sports, per the agency (Instagram link). Meanwhile, DePaul’s Paul Reed has opted for Ron Shade of Octagon, tweets Evan Daniels of 247Sports.com. Oturu and Reed place 36th and 51st respectively on ESPN’s list of 2020’s top prospects.
- Arizona forward Zeke Nnaji has had virtual meetings with the Pelicans, Wizards, and Hornets so far, and has one lined up with the Jazz later this week, says Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). A possible first-round pick, Nnaji is ranked 34th overall on ESPN’s big board.
- The NBA has sent teams ballots to vote on prospects they’d like to see participate in the 2020 draft combine, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The combine, originally scheduled to take place next week, has been postponed indefinitely, but the league still hopes to hold it in some revamped form, either in-person or virtually.
A handful of Jazz players participated in voluntary, individual workouts on Monday at their practice facility, the Zions Bank Basketball Campus, Aaron Falk of the team’s website reports.
The Jazz entered their team’s practice facility for the first time since the NBA suspended play after March 11. Utah’s game at Oklahoma City was postponed prior to the opening tip that night after game officials were informed Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The Hawks also reopened their facility on Monday after the Trail Blazers and Cavaliers reopened on Friday, the first day the NBA allowed teams to return to their practice gyms for controlled workouts.
The workouts were done in accordance with Utah Department of Health and NBA regulations, including the prohibition of more than four players inside the facility at any one time. Practices and scrimmages are also barred.
The Jazz strength staff has conducted individual and video workouts over the past two months but many of their players do not have home gyms or access to basketball courts, Falk adds.
- The Jazz will be affected by furloughs announced Friday by the Larry H. Miller Sports and Entertainment group, writes Art Raymond of The Deseret News. There will be a 40% reduction in staff throughout the organization, but a spokesman said all employees are expected to return to work when coronavirus restrictions are lifted.
Speaking today to reporters, Jazz executive VP of basketball operations Dennis Lindsey downplayed the idea that the relationship between All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell remains icy.
“They’re ready to put this behind them, move forward, act professionally,” Lindsey said of the recent rift between Gobert and Mitchell (Twitter link via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon). “… We’re very pleased with the collective makeup of our group, Donovan and Rudy in particular. We look forward to moving forward.”
Lindsey added that Gobert and Mitchell “know they need each other,” as Sarah Todd of The Deseret News tweets.
There was said to be tension between the third-year guard and the two-time Defensive Player of the Year in March, stemming from their positive coronavirus tests and the cavalier attitude Gobert reportedly showed with teammates and their belongings in the days leading up to his diagnosis. Although there was a perception that Mitchell was upset with Gobert, at least one report indicated that both players had issues with one another.
That rift still existed a month later, but a subsequent report suggested the two Utah stars had begun working on repairing their relationship. Gobert confirmed at that time that he had spoken to Mitchell, adding that both players were “ready to go out there and try to win a championship” for the Jazz.
While the Jazz may eventually have to consider a major roster shakeup if they can’t break through and make a deep playoff run, the idea that coronavirus-related tension between Gobert and Mitchell would result in a blockbuster trade always seemed far-fetched. We’ll have a better sense of where things stand when teams reunite and Mitchell publicly addresses the situation, but Lindsey’s comments today indicate the organization doesn’t expect it to be an issue going forward.