J-Slo and getting the most out of talent

[newey-west]

It's often been said that Jerry maximized players talent. Has anyone looked at this empirically?

There are some confounding factors that you can add as controls (e.g., minutes played, age, injuries, etc)--but I think that the data will indicate that many players had their best years under Jerry Sloan.

Off the top of my head, there are many, many anecdotes.

1) Deron Williams
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/willide01.html

2) Carlos Boozer
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/boozeca01.html

3) Andrei Kirilenko
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kirilan01.html

4) Howard Eisley
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/eisleho01.html

5) Karl Malone (kind of an outlier)
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/malonka01.html

6) Thurl Bailey
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/baileth01.html

7) Byron Russell
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/russebr01.html

....and many other examples

There are definitely some situations that go the other direction (e.g., Kris Humphries)--but on the average, I think it's true that Jerry maximized the talent available to him.

 

[CAKAR]

Ok, maybe you are right, but Karl Malone ? Dude was 40-41 when he left the Jazz and played the last season of his career in LA...

 

[homeytennis]

Shandon Anderson was another player that Jerry helped get a big contract elsewhere.

 

[Stifle Tower]

Ok, maybe you are right, but Karl Malone ? Dude was 40-41 when he left the Jazz and played the last season of his career in LA...

Agree. You need to look at players who either left in their prime and went somewhere else (like Anderson, Eisley, Russell) or who came to Utah and developed or had much better stats (like Bell or Harpring).
Boozer was a good player in Cleveland though, just never had plays run for him. But certainly his struggles in Chicago show Sloan really knew how to utilize him best. I'd knock Deron off the list as injuries are primarily responsible for his alarming decline.

 

[Biggs]

Add Blue Edwards to the list.

 

[Zulu]

David Benoit

 

[Zulu]

Jeff Malone

 

[ema]

Memo

 

[Sean]

Chris Morris, Howard Eisley, Adam Keefe (ADAM ****ING KEEFE, GUYS!), Greg Foster and pretty much everyone beyond the Big Three (and maybe Antoine Carr) from those Finals teams, as well as the entire 2004 Utah Jazz squad.

Hell, Sloan turned Todd Fuller into someone who could contribute - as well as a 90 year old John Crotty.

I miss Sloan.

 

[JimLes]

Ok, maybe you are right, but Karl Malone ? Dude was 40-41 when he left the Jazz and played the last season of his career in LA...

Perhaps the argument of the OP has nothing to do with that one year, but with the three and a bit he played before Sloan.

 

[newey-west]

Perhaps the argument of the OP has nothing to do with that one year, but with the three and a bit he played before Sloan.

Yeah--this is what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Stifle Tower]

Yeah--this is what I meant. Sorry for the confusion.

Well, hard to compare a guy just starting out his career with someone in his prime. I don't care WHO the coach is, Malone in his mid 20's to early 30's is going to be a lot better than Malone as a rookie-3rd year.

 

[newey-west]

Well, hard to compare a guy just starting out his career with someone in his prime. I don't care WHO the coach is, Malone in his mid 20's to early 30's is going to be a lot better than Malone as a rookie-3rd year.

Definitely--you can try and control for tenure...but as I indicated above...Karl is most likely an outlier.