NBA Rumors: Jerry Sloan Should Return to Pursue Elusive Championship Ring

Jerry Sloan isn’t done retiring.

Sloan is such an elite head coach that he’s ringless and still regarded as a legend. Not many coaches at any level of any sport can say the same. Sloan may just feel the urge to eliminate himself from that rare category, though.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick, Sloan isn’t 100 percent sold on retirement like he was last February, as the former Utah Jazz head coach said, “I think if the right situation came along, whatever that is. I don't know what the right situation is. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.”

Allow me to translate the 69-year-old’s statement into modern terms: “I think if Mike D’Antoni continues to stink up the Big Apple or if Kobe Bryant runs out of patience with Mike Brown, I’m all in.”

Sloan further explained the difference in his opinion of a possible return to coaching, saying:

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“My energy level has changed a great deal since I quit coaching. It's changed a lot now.  I've had time to work out. I feel better.

"I had a chance to relax, to do something that I haven't had the time to do in 30 years. That's rewarding. You have time to spend with the family and have Thanksgiving and things like that. I enjoyed all of that. But [returning to coaching] is a decision where, if somebody talked to me, I'd review the situation like anybody else and take it from there."

...

"I live my life day by day like I always have and haven't spent a lot of time worrying about a job. If somebody called me, I don't know what my answer would be.”

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Now, a job offer from NY or LA obviously isn’t guaranteed; in fact, they’re highly unlikely.

But as long as Sloan draws interest from a team that has a legitimate shot at winning a title in the near future, and doesn’t have Deron Williams on the roster, he wouldn’t be able to turn them down, and he shouldn't. Sloan has come too close to winning a championship too many times to give up.

As a Hall of Fame competitor, he has to be itching to get back to the hardwood to pursue that elusive title.

David Daniels is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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