It was widely considered as little more than a minor personality clash, a way of letting off a little steam, but it may have been a pivotal moment in the Utah Jazz's season.

It also offered evidence of why Jerry Sloan is an underrated coach.

The incident was the much-publicized practice encounter between Sloan and Karl Malone. You'll recall that Malone had gone public about "people" being too negative regarding the team's performance, specifically their penchant for committing turnovers by the bushel — comments directed squarely at Sloan, though the coach was never named.

Sloan's response, made during the team's next practice, was to offer to discuss any complaints. That led to some jawing between Sloan and Malone.

It also led to a sudden upturn in the Jazz's intensity, which was evident in wins over Dallas, Memphis and Houston. Once again, they were on the same page and seemingly capable of knocking off any opponent on a given night — except the Spurs, of course, but that's a subject for another column.

Anyway, this latest incident underscores something that's been obvious for a long time — that Sloan doesn't get the credit he deserves.

Many coaches, faced with the prospect of contradicting a vocal superstar, back down. That's usually one of the first signs they're not long for that particular job, but they're unable to recognize that fact while trying to dodge pressure from players, ownership, media and fans.

But Sloan met this particular challenge head-on, which sent several messages to his team: (1) that he was willing to "discuss" issues; (2) that team issues should be dealt with in-house instead of in the media; and (3) that no one player is above the rules.

Sloan has his detractors, of course, mostly among those who always seem to know better than he how to dole out minutes. There seems to be a hard core of people out there who choose to overlook Sloan's contribution to a string of playoff appearances second only to the Blazers, who have done it under roughly 37 coaches.

They seem to think that not only would the Jazz have done all they've done without Sloan, they might have done better.

People often make note of the fact that the Jazz seem to get more out of players than most teams. They point to guys like Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson as examples of players who thrived in the Jazz "system" but failed to be anywhere near as productive elsewhere.

Oddly, though, some of those same people refuse to give Sloan any credit for that either. Do you seriously think it's just coincidence that the Jazz have been to 14 straight playoffs under Sloan? That they've finished first in the Midwest Division in six of those seasons?

Naturally, Sloan won't get serious consideration in coach of the year balloting. Each year he finishes somewhere behind that season's coach du jour, usually a guy who takes over a team that had good talent but didn't play well the year before, and in the process of getting the team to finish somewhere near its potential comes out looking like a genius.

The media types who vote for the award especially love to give it to one-year wonders, rookies who come in and look like coaching savants.

Last year, for instance, the award went to Detroit rookie Rick Carlisle, and two years ago it went to Orlando rookie Doc Rivers.

There have been other oddities in coach of the year balloting, such as when Don Chaney won it after his Houston Rockets finished third in the Midwest Division during the 1990-91 season. It was one of two times in nine seasons as a head coach that a Chaney team has finished ahead in the win column. His career winning percentage, after four teams and 710 games, is .401.

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Anyway, this year's award already seems to be destined for Isiah Thomas' trophy case, considering the way he started stumping for it way back in November and the way certain segments of voters are likely to fawn over him.

Sloan probably will finish in the top five, because he just about always does.

And that's something. It's just not enough.


E-mail: rich@desnews.com

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