Alec Burks and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Alec Burks and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Ryan Aston

The legendary former Utah Jazz coach and Boston Celtics great K.C. Jones were co-recipients of the 2016 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.

During the glory years of the Utah Jazz, three things were absolute certainties for fans. Death, taxes and Jerry Sloan Coach of the Year snubs. On Wednesday, the National Basketball Coaches Association did their part to knock out the latter.

During a press conference ahead of Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, league commissioner Adam Silver and Coaches Association president Rick Carlisle, announced Sloan and longtime Boston Celtics player/coach K.C. Jones as co-recipients of the 2016 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sloan and Jones’ son were both on hand to receive the honor. With Sloan by his side during the award announcement, Carlisle proudly proclaimed, “Jerry Sloan is one of the all-time ass kickers in this league.”

One of the best things at The Finals: Chuck Daly Award presented to K.C. Jones (his son accepted) & Jerry Sloan. pic.twitter.com/4TQGENlyjR — David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) June 9, 2016

The award, which honors the memory of Daly, who coached the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990, serves to recognize contributions made by recipients to the sport of basketball throughout their NBA careers by building bodies of work that have had a major and lasting impact on the coaching profession around the league.

During his storied tenure in Utah, Sloan undoubtedly did just that.

The longtime Jazz headman won 1221 regular season games and 98 playoff games over the course of a coaching career spanning more than two decades. He also led the Jazz to two NBA Finals appearances.

For Jazz Nation, the occasion undoubtedly serves as validation for a coach who exemplified the best of his profession, yet never received a year-end award for his efforts.

Now, finally, he has some hardware to recognize those efforts.

Of course, in typical Coach Sloan fashion, the Jazz legend diverted credit for his accomplishments, saying, “I always thought the awards should go to the team and not to me.”

We appreciate your modesty Coach, but this one’s on you.