Gordon Hayward spent the first seven years of his career with the Utah Jazz before moving on to the Boston Celtics.
Hayward broke into the NBA as the No. 9 overall pick out of Butler in 2010, so he spent some time around Jerry Sloan, who passed away at the age of 78 on Friday.
After Sloan's passing, Hayward took to Twitter to reveal the impact that the former Jazz coach had on his career:
“I didn't get to spend a lot of time playing for Coach Sloan, but coming in as a rookie he had a major impact on my transition to the NBA,” wrote Hayward. “I'm grateful for that. Prayers to his family, friends and loved ones. May he Rest In Peace.”
Utah went 31-23 over the first 54 games of the 2010-11 campaign before Sloan stepped down.
Sloan became head coach of the Jazz back in 1988 and made the playoffs in each of his first 15 years at the helm, leading Utah to 10 50-win campaigns and three 60-win seasons throughout that stretch.
Most importantly, he led the Jazz to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 1997 and 1998, falling to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls both times.
Sloan spent 23 years as Utah's head coach overall, going 1,127-682 during the regular season. He propelled the Jazz to the playoffs 19 times overall.
The McLeansboro, Il. native also had an 11-year playing career beginning with the Baltimore Bullets in 1965. After spending just one season with the Bullets, Sloan headed to the Bulls, where he played the next decade.
Sloan also coached Chicago for three seasons afterward.
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