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Star guard Williams says he had nothing to do with coach of 23 years’ decision to quit.
Tyrone Corbin, Utah’s new head coach, replaces Jerry Sloan, who coached the Jazz for 23 seasons before retiring on Thursday.
Ap photo
SALT LAKE CITY — New Utah Jazz coach Ty Corbin admitted his head was still spinning from Jerry Sloan’s shocking resignation yet expressed confidence Friday the team and star guard Deron Williams were moving forward together.
“Right now the guys’ heads are spinning like mine is and we’ve got to find some way to get some stability through the game tonight and the next couple of games,” said Corbin, 48, who was chosen as Utah’s new head coach Thursday. “Then maybe we can catch our breath a little bit.”
Williams, meanwhile, was doing his best to squelch speculation that he forced out Sloan, 68. But he did acknowledge having a halftime argument Wednesday night with Sloan in an emotional 91-86 loss to Chicago.
“Maybe arguing was the last straw, so there I am, guilty of that,” Williams said. “But I think anybody who believes I could force coach Sloan to resign is crazy. He’s stronger than that and personally if I said that to him, he’d probably go tell me to go do something.”
Williams laughed at the thought.
Earlier Friday he admitted the rumors were not funny.
“Never once did I say, ‘It’s me or him,”’ Williams said. “That didn’t happen. I haven’t even had a meeting with any of our management this year. So where all this stuff is coming from I have no clue.
“I’d be interested to see who the sources are. When I see one stand up in front of a camera, then I’d be interested in talking about it. But it’s not a funny situation at all because we lost our coach. But I think it is funny all this stuff gets out there. I can’t control that nor do I care.”
Teammates Andrei Kirilenko and C.J. Miles also refused to believe rumors that Williams gave management an ultimatum.
“As long as he’s been here, to have one altercation be the reason he retired … over nothing, I definitely doubt it,” Miles said.
None of the players had doubts that Corbin was ready for the challenge, even if Corbin admitted he was nervous and only slept two hours Thursday night.
“The guys have responded well,” he said after Friday morning’s shootaround. “We’ll see how we respond tonight.”
Corbin, who has been a Jazz assistant the last seven seasons, said his message to the players was simple.
“Status quo,” Corbin said. “We’re a good team. We’re expected to win. We’ve got to get back to work and get past this adjustment process as soon as we can.”
Corbin already has made one change, indicating that Jeff Hornacek will have more input as an assistant. He likely will add one more coach to the bench.
“The guys are fragile right now, so you don’t want to shake things up too much before we get through the adjustment process,” Corbin said.
Kirilenko had fond words for Sloan, who had been in the NBA as either a player or coach for the last 45 years. Assistant Phil Johnson also joined Sloan in retirement Thursday after 23 seasons with the Jazz.