By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Sasa Pavlovic spent his rookie season in the NBA with the Utah Jazz and under the late Jerry Sloan. Following Sloan’s passing, Pavlovic talked about the “great coach and a great man” to Serbian website Nova and remembered how the Hall of Fame coach helped him when he made his beginnings in the NBA.
“You know what it’s like when you’re a kid, aware that you have the talent and yet you have no experience, you enter something completely new, without knowledge of the [English] language. In front of you stands the coach, an NBA pillar,” Pavlovic said. “And then he slowly sits down to talk to you with great understand and respect. He was a huge authority, similar to European coaches but with serious respect for each player and their personalities.”
“You may have found out [that Sloan was so highly-paid] on the internet or in the newspapers because that information is public in the United States,” Pavlovic added on Sloan. “However, Sloan never showed any arrogance, nor did he show that anything is measured by money. I always remember the pictures of him coming to training in a truck, like the rest of the world.”
Pavlovic gave an example of Sloan’s diverse influence to his players.
“Of course, he knew the order. He took care of almost everything in detail, pointed out mistakes, tried for us to not only be better players but better people. He took care of us, even outside the court. One example is this: At one time when there was no code in the NBA on wearing jerseys, he always warned us to wear them adequately. During games, he was immediately drawing our attention to pulling our jersey into the shorts. It may seem insignificant to some on the outside, but it actually speaks of a serious system of values that were established by Sloan and is still highly regarded today. It remains a pity that his work wasn’t rewarded with a championship ring. But his work is bigger than any championship ring, we know best who trained us.”