| History | |||
The Utah Jazz team started their early years with guard Pete Maravich. The team traded two players and four draft picks to the Atlanta Hawks for Pete Maravich. Utah Jazz also included forwards Adrian Dantley and Karl Malone and guard John Stockton. The jazz could not win a game in their first nine months of play. But later, as Pete Maravich came up with his talents of the-back passing, fancy dribbling, and frequent shooting, the team soon became famous in the league. Former Los Angeles Lakers player Elgin Baylor was appointed the club's head coach. During the 1978-79 season, the team had an awful NBA record and the owner moved the team to Salt Lake City . In 1981-82 Frank Layden, took the place of head coach for the team and signed star players, Adrian Dantley in 1979, guard Darrell Griffith in 1980 and center Mark Eaton in 1982. Under his guidance the team placed itself on the top of the Midwest Division. In 1984 Jazz Utah had its first winning season, with a 45-37 win-loss mark and followed to their first playoff appearance. Since Dantley won the scoring title, Griffith had the league's best three-point field-goal percentage, guard Rickey Green topped the league in steals and Eaton led in block shots. The Utah Jazz became the first team in NBA history to have four of its players lead the league in a major statistical group. The same year, Jazz drafted John Stockton from Gonzaga University and Karl Malone in 1985 from Louisiana Tech University . |
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The duo came up as one of the most efficient guard-forward combinations in NBA history and served as the base of a winning Jazz team for more many seasons. Both Stockton and Malone also played for the United States national basketball team at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. They were also honored with the valuable player (MVP) honors at the 1993 NBA All-Star Game. Post the 1987-88 season, Jerry Sloan took over as the head coach of the team and Layden became the club's president. Under the coaching of Sloan, the team posted a 55-27 record and also a second-place finish in the Midwest Division. Through 1989 to 1997, the Utah Jazz won more than 50 games in eight of nine seasons they played. The team made it to the Western Conference Finals three times but eventually lost to Portland Trail Blazers in 1992, the Houston Rockets in 1994, and the SeattleSuperSonics in 1996 and could not proceed to the NBA Finals. Malone and Stockton led the Utah Jazz in scoring during the 1996-97 season. Malone had an average 27.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game which earned him the league's MVP. Guard Jeff Hornacek and forward Byron Russell also led the team in shooting. The team led with a win-loss record of 64-18, thereafter defeated the Los Angeles Clippers and also won over the Los Angeles Lakers and Rockets in the playoffs. The Jazz reached the NBA Finals but finally lost 4 games to 2, to the Chicago Bulls. In 1998, the Jazz Utah again made it to the NBA Finals and earned a 62-20 regular-season record by defeating the Rockets, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Lakers in the Western Conference playoffs. In the finals the team lost to the Bulls, 4 games to 2. Jeff Hornacek who was famous through the 1990s as a free throw shooter retired in 2000. Though the Utah Jazz made 20 successive playoff appearances from 1983 to 2003, they could not win a championship. After 2003 season, Stockton retired and Malone shifted to Los Angeles Lakers. In the 2004 offseason, the Jazz included Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur to make the best offseason moves of any team. The team was also shifted to the Northwest Division with the Portland Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Seattle Sonics. |
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