On Thursday, Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy made a statement regarding the tragic passing of Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević.
“I want to start by offering my condolences to Dejan’s family and the entire Warriors organization,” Hardy said. “What they’re going through is unimaginable and our thoughts and prayers are fully behind all of them as they begin mourning of [a] truly wonderful man. He is as advertised. One of the most joyous, positive, happy people I’ve ever been around in my life. I kept in touch with him over the years. You know, I was lucky to be able to call him a friend. I wish I could of got to know him better, but I know he made a tremendous impact on everybody he’s been around his basketball life. You guys are seeing a lot of that, the outpouring of support is because of the type of person he was.”
The Hardy-Milojević connection goes back to Hardy’s days with the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich. The pair helped coach the Spurs in the Summer League and have crossed paths numerous times since leaving San Antonio.
Utah’s game versus the Warriors was canceled with no makeup date announced. Also, the Jazz had a moment of silence before their contest versus the Oklahoma City Thunder to honor the well-respected coach.
The Warriors matchup versus the Dallas Mavericks has also been postponed. On Friday night, ESPN will now televise the Brooklyn Nets at the Los Angeles Lakers contest. As for Hardy and the Jazz, they’ll travel to Texas to take on the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
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