End of an Epoch?

Jerry Sloan has been the coach of the Jazz for quite a while.  For perspective, Norm Nixon was the backup point guard for the Clippers during Sloan's first win as head coach of the Jazz in 1988.  But his team, and specifically Deron Williams, have played listless basketball over the past month:  they are 4-10 in their last 14 games.  Adding these struggles to the impending free agency of Deron Williams, plus rumors of a malcontented relationship between Sloan and Williams, and the once unthinkable -- a forcible end to Sloan's tenure -- becomes a much more plausible reality.  


Speculation may be premature at this point, but there seemed to be hints coming out of SLC via Twitter that something unusual is underfoot.  The locker room was closed to the media much longer than usual, and general manager Kevin O'Connor was in the room during that time.  Here are some of the tweets leaking the signs:

• @DJJazzyJody (Jody Genessy -- Deseret News)

-- Sloan took an unusually long time to leave his coaching office to conduct the postgame interview and admitted he'd been talking to the GM.

• @tribjazz (Brian T. Smith -- Salt Lake Tribune)  

--Fellow SLT writer said Sloan has never failed to appear for postgame interview. Took him about 35 minutes to come out of locker room.  

--Definitely a very weird, unique vibe after Jazz loss to Bulls. Sloan was not himself. Still polite and attentive with media, though. 

--Jazz were originally scheduled to practice Thursday. Has now been canceled.

--Jazz's Sloan appeared shaken up after game. Said he had a conversation with GM O'Connor. Would not discuss it.

--(Sloan) "We just had some things we had to discuss and we'll talk to you later on about that."

• @saltcityhoops (Spencer Ryan Hall -- Salt City Hoops)

-- I asked (Kirilenko) what was said in the locker room. He said it was just about it being a tough loss and they've got 3 games to the All-Star break.

--Tim Buckley specifically asked if a trade or "shakeup" was coming and Sloan said, [paraphrasing loosely] it's part of the game, but no.

• @slcdunk (slcdunk.com -- SB Nation)

-- No practice. Sloan late coming out first time ever. no interview with KOC. something is going down tomorrow.
-- re: Sloan. An announcement will come tomorrow. that means something has been decided already but nobody wanted to stay up late 4 questions
-- and if it's something trivial, why wait until tomorrow? and when are the contents of coach/GM meetings ever made public?


So we wait until tomorrow to see the fallout.  As hard as it is to picture Sloan leaving a team midseason, his decision may not be the one that matters.  And one last Tweet: