NBA legend Jerry Sloan passed away at the age of 78 on Friday, and many around the league are paying their respects to the Hall of Famer.

Commissioner Adam Silver released a statement on Sloan, raving about Sloan for both his 11-year playing career between the Baltimore Bullets and Chicago Bulls and his 23-year coaching stint with the Utah Jazz:

Current Jazz head coach Quin Snyder also released a statement, noting how big Sloan's shoes are to fill in Salt Lake City:

Sloan entered the NBA with the Bullets in 1965 but spent just one season there before heading to the Bulls in their inaugural campaign.

The McLeansboro, Il. native proceeded to spend the next decade with Chicago, earning a couple of All-Star selections and leading the Bulls to nine playoff appearances. Sloan led Chicago as far as the Western Conference Finals in 1975.

Following his playing career, Sloan was named the head coach of the Bulls in 1979 and spent two and a half seasons at the helm, going 94-121 with just one trip to the playoffs.

Then, in 1988, Sloan was named head coach of the Jazz and went on to propel the franchise to 15 straight postseason appearances, logging 10 50-win campaigns and three 60-win seasons. Most importantly, Sloan led Utah to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 1997 and 1998, falling to Michael Jordan's Bulls both times.

Overall, Sloan went 1,127-682 in 23 seasons with the Jazz, making 19 trips to the postseason. He stepped down midway through the 2010-11 campaign.

Sloan was also the first player in Bulls history to have his number retired by the organization.