Timberwolves' coach Kevin McHale, who coached the first game of his second tenure against the Jazz on Tuesday night, admires the career of Jerry Sloan.

"I'm a big fan of his," McHale said of Sloan. "I think he and (San Antonio's Gregg) Popovich and Phil Jackson (of the Los Angeles Lakers) are the best coaches in the league. I mean, I think those guys set themselves apart. And he's a great guy too."

McHale is the 223rd coach to be hired since Sloan took over in Utah back in 1988.

"Jerry's system is a system that is really a fun system to watch," McHale said. "I mean, I hate to play against it. But it's a fun system to watch.

"His guys read and react and just play basketball. It's the way basketball, I think, should be played. They have sets, but they're not married to the sets. There's movement, and they're reading the defense all the time.

"You know," he added, "it's really a credit to him that he can get those guys to play that system that well year for after year after year after year."