Deseret News · Jul 13, 2016
Longtime Jazz assistant Phil Johnson receives prestigious coaching award
“Throughout his NBA coaching career, Phil Johnson epitomized everything that a world-class assistant coach bring to the game.”
LAS VEGAS — Though Phil Johnson was the recipient of an NBA coach of the year award — a distinction that somehow eluded Jerry Sloan in his Hall of Fame career — the longtime Utah Jazz assistant spent most of his time in the league as somebody else’s right-hand man.
On Tuesday, Johnson was honored for his behind-the-scenes contributions over the decades.
Johnson, who retired when Sloan unexpectedly resigned in the middle of the 2010-11 season, received the inaugural Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award at halftime of the Jazz’s summer league game.