Jerry Sloan - 2003-04 Utah Jazz

After the departures of John Stockton and Karl Malone, many NBA "experts" picked the 2003-04 Utah Jazz to win fewer than 10 games. Instead they shocked the league by winning 41 - mainly by adhering to the principles put in place by Hall of Fame head coach Jerry Sloan: play hard and execute. Even more remarkable, is Sloan did it while his wife Bobbye was battling pancreatic cancer - resulting in Jerry missing several games to be with her during her treatments.

With a starting lineup consisting of Carlos Arroyo, Gordan Giricek, Andrei Kirilenko, Tom Gugliotta, and Greg Ostertag and a bench of Raul Lopez, Raja Bell, Michael Ruffin, Ben Handlogten, Jarron Collins and Mikki Moore, and rookies Sasha Pavlovic and Mo Williams, the scrappy Jazz routinely outworked their opponents and finished their remarkable season 1 game shy of making the postseason.

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• Phil Johnson
• 2003-04
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