Disgrace.

Randy Rigby on Mar. 21:

We’ve had conversations with Jerry on [honoring him], and there will be a time that Jerry will be honored and recognized. We have felt like it should be a time that is right for both the organization and for Jerry, and right now we have both thought that that time isn’t yet. So we want to honor and respect Jerry’s request of when we do that, so it’ll be probably sometime forthcoming in the future. But it will not be this season. (KFAN)

I find it a complete disgrace that Jerry Sloan has yet to be honored by the Utah Jazz. It is also completely not in line with how the organization likes to portray itself (loyalty, values, etc.) I’m also not a fan of how Rigby said they’re looking for a time that’s right for first the organization, and second for Jerry. As far as the organization is concerned, the right time should have been yesterday.

Anyone that knows Jerry Sloan knows he is never going to say, “Yes, I would like a ceremony. I want to be honored. I want you to hold an event for me.” I don’t know Jerry, but the people in the organization do, which makes this even more of a travesty. For them to say that they’re waiting for Jerry to decide when the event should be is a complete, not to mention insincere, cop-out. If they’re waiting for Jerry to say, “I want a ceremony,” Jerry Sloan will never be honored by the Jazz. And they know this.

Does anyone think John Stockton wanted a retirement ceremony? He wanted nothing to do with one, and had to be tag-teamed by his wife and Larry H. Miller into agreeing to it. He would’ve been more than happy to disappear into the woodwork. John only relented after Larry explained that the fans needed it, to honor him.

Then again, given the way the front office and management handled the events leading up to Jerry’s departure, why am I even surprised? Can anyone see Greg Miller playing the Larry H. role of wanting to do something like this for Jerry? Let me put it another way. Can anyone imagine the organization dragging its feet on this front if Larry were still around?

Jerry Sloan has been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Let’s go back farther. He’s been inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame. The Evansville Athletics Hall of Fame. The Illinois High School Basketball Hall of Fame. He’s had his jersey retired by the Chicago Bulls.

He resigned from the Utah Jazz over a year ago, and that the organization remains conspicuously missing from the list above is a disgrace.

Quit jackpotting around, Utah Jazz.