As Sloan gets older and older, it seems that Williams finally decided to make peace. After the suggestion of current Jazz president Steve Starks, Williams met with Sloan along with Greg Miller, the Jazz CEO, and Starks himself to sit down and clear the air. Williams sat down and apologized to his former coach for the disrespect and insubordination that had taken place during their time working together. Sloan wasn’t exactly receptive to the apology at first, and took the opportunity to air out some further grievances. However, after talking a bit further the two were able to shake hands and continue forward. UtahJazz.com quotes Williams further:
“He doesn’t forget a lot of things, instances where I pissed him off, things I did to upset him,” Williams said. “He definitely told me about that—and rightfully so. He was great about some other things. It was kind of typical Coach Sloan, really. If you know him, he’s never been one to shy away from telling you the truth and how he feels.”
Finally, they shook hands.
“Eventually, I think Jerry came around,” Miller said. “He never really said, ‘Let’s put it behind us’ or anything, but maybe in Sloan speak he did.”
As Williams has retired from basketball and looks to forward his legacy and how the fans will remember him, this was one important step to being cemented as a Utah Jazz favorite.
