This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Except for the part about Jeff Hornacek agonizing through two-thirds of a horrible season and being fired in Phoenix in February, everything is playing out nicely for Hornacek and the fans who became attached to him during his Jazz career.
Hornacek soon will be named the New York Knicks' coach, giving him another immediate opportunity in the profession after the Suns crumbled. He'll follow another former Jazz guard (Derek Fisher) in New York after being replaced by another former Jazz guard (Earl Watson) in Phoenix, where injuries and a flawed roster resulted in a downward spiral after Hornacek's spectacular start in 2013-14.
The Suns went 48-34 that season and Hornacek finished second in the NBA Coach of the Year voting. Meanwhile, the Jazz were going 25-57 in Tyrone Corbin's final season, so absolutely every Utahn — yes, I polled them all — was lamenting how the team ever could have let Hornacek get away.
The reality is the Jazz simply couldn't have hired Hornacek, who was not even a full-time assistant coach as of February 2011, when Jerry Sloan walked away. But that didn't stop anyone from wishing the team would have given him the job, or at least wondering how he would have performed as head coach in the arena where his retired No. 14 hangs in the rafters.
In another what-if scenario, the Jazz could have made Corbin the interim coach and then promoted Hornacek after the 2010-11 season. The level of regret certainly increased when Hornacek emerged as a coaching star with the Suns and the Jazz struggled under Corbin, during their radical rebuilding phase. So in a weird way, his troubles in Phoenix with a 14-35 record in 2015-16 (he finished 101-112 over three years) should be reassuring around here. Hornacek has proved to be an imperfect coach, and the Jazz wouldn't have found Quin Snyder without having gone through the Corbin tenure.
And now that Hornacek is getting another shot with the Knicks, Jazz fans freely can cheer for him in the Eastern Conference — without worrying about how his performance affects their team in the standings.
Hornacek will succeed in New York, I'm certain. This will become another case of a coach responding well to a second opportunity after circumstances conspired against him in his previous job. His hiring is being viewed as a significant step for Knicks executive Phil Jackson, who's apparently willing to move away from his signature triangle offense and embrace Hornacek's fast-paced approach.
Jackson became an admirer of Hornacek in the late 1990s when his Chicago Bulls faced Jerry Sloan's Jazz teams twice in the NBA Finals. And if hiring a Sloan disciple seems like an extreme departure from Jackson's background, considering their caricatures as a Zen philosopher and a crusty Midwestern farmer, someone who played for each of them — Fisher, coincidentally — once described Sloan and Jackson as more alike than they may appear.
"After spending a year with Jerry, I started to understand the similarities more so than the differences," Fisher said in 2008, during a Jazz-Lakers playoff series.
Knicks star Carmelo Anthony has told multiple outlets that he's encouraged by the prospect of Hornacek coaching him, with a higher tempo and more freedom. If the Knicks can sign a top-tier point guard such as Memphis' Mike Conley in free agency, Hornacek should be able to get the team into the playoffs after three seasons in the lottery.
Assuming contract negotiations are completed this week, Hornacek will resume his quest to become the most successful NBA coach among former Jazz players of the franchise's Utah era. The best winning percentage (.526) belongs to Mark Jackson, even though he was fired by Golden State and even though his team once tanked by losing 22 of its last 27 games in 2011-12, keeping a draft pick that would have gone to the Jazz.
Allan Bristow also barely posted a winning record, during his five-year tenure in Charlotte in the early 1990s. Oklahoma City's Billy Donovan would top the list, except the Jazz cut him at the end of training camp in consecutive years in the '80s and he never played in a regular-season game in Utah.
Hornacek is by far the best Jazz player ever to become an NBA head coach, and he deserves this second chance. He's sure to take advantage of it, without harming the Jazz in their quest to return to the Western Conference playoffs.
Twitter: @tribkurt —
Jazz coaching tree
The records of former Utah Jazz players as NBA head coaches:
Coach, team Record Pct.
Mark Jackson, Golden State 121-109 .526
Allan Bristow, Charlotte 207-203 .505
Jeff Hornacek, Phoenix 101-112 .474
Tyrone Corbin, Utah/Sacramento 119-167 .416
Larry Krystkowiak, Milwaukee 31-69 .310
Derek Fisher, New York 40-96 .294
Earl Watson, Phoenix 9-24 .273
Jacque Vaughn, Orlando 58-158 .269
Marc Iavaroni, Memphis 33-90 .268
Kenny Natt, Sacramento 11-47 .190