This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I talked to ex-Jazz coach Jerry Sloan about a couple of things before his resignation last week. I guess there's no point in saving this stuff.— Sloan on an NBA team's mental and emotional battle when it is struggling: "... I played enough to know when those things happen you are saying to yourself, 'I think I'm doing as much as I can.' But you usually have more in you than what you think. That's when you try to push a little bit more and come out of it."— Sloan on getting more effort from his team: "Fight if the ball is on the boards, even if you have to knock somebody out of the way to go get the basketball. ... When things fall apart a little bit for us, it seems like we're the team that's picking ourselves up off the floor. But you have to try to match that. That's when you show your competitiveness."— Sloan on his team not being "nasty" enough: "You can't make people that way. That's who they are. I think everybody playing [basketball] would want to be a little nasty. I sure don't have a problem if all 12 guys out there on the floor are nasty, as long as its within the rules. ... Push yourselves to the limit each time you play. But that comes within yourself."