Sloan did not need to consult to players about retiring. Why would he? I think there could only be one person who might have changed his decision to resign: LHM. Larry could have convinced coach Sloan to stay until a certain time. And that, itself would be a big if. He has always had the luxury of giving up coaching whenever he wanted. Players got the news anyway. That's just not his style.
I'm about to go nuts reading some "expert" articles about "Deron and team wanted to push the ball, Jerry Sloan wanted a half-court, slow paced offense". Hell, F you. The Jazz have never played this slow. The Jazz of '04-10 seasons, for example, would always look for the transition opportunities. They would like to run, and SCORE in bunches. I vividly remember reading a comment of coach after a win this season which was about trying to run a little bit and learning playing how to execute the sharp offense at a high pace. BigAl, Raja and all the players should get the biggest part of blame when it comes to "not improving as a team offensively", "not being able to learn and apply the sets". WTF? They are paid to play basketball. If they cannot learn the plays, then they just can stop claiming that they are pros and better stop earning the buckets they get. Fact is Deron wants to push the ball, coach Sloan has never had a problem with high pace offense, as long as the sets are played properly and accurately. This just shows how disinterested with the jAzz national media is. If coach's "problem" with "some" players is lack of knowledge about the system, not running the plays, then I would say that that "problem" is likely to remain for a long time.