Without Miller, something’s missing for Jazz

When the Utah Jazz takes the court on Thursday at Salt Lake City, against the Lakers in Game 3, there will be an empty, lost feeling, a sentiment having absolutely nothing to do with an emotional state of the series.

The emptiness won’t only come from a courtside absence of a khaki-clad, auto-sales mogul but a loss of a larger-than-life, excitable presence in the huddle, and, at times, in the locker room.

Larry Miller, who owned the Jazz for 24 years, died on Feb. 20 of complications related to diabetes. He was 64.

“It is tough,” said Jazz guard Ronnie Brewer. “Sometimes you still look over there where he used to be sitting and don’t see him.”

Brewer was talking Tuesday at Staples Center shortly before the regular-season finale against the Lakers. He told stories about how Miller was the antithesis of a detached corporate executive.

The team was not some fancy toy.

“A lot of people don’t understand,” Brewer said. “It was hard when he passed because, to me, a lot of owners in the NBA don’t come to games or are they in a suite.

“You might see them if you make the playoffs, or a big game on ESPN or something like that. He was front row every game, screaming and cheering, getting on the officials.”

That passion wasn’t merely directed at the officials or the other team. Through the years, he would get after a Jazz icon such as Karl Malone, airing his discontent through the media, or Jerry Sloan, the old-school coach with a Clint Eastwood-like bearing.

“If we weren’t playing well, he came to the locker room at halftime. If we weren’t playing up to our potential,” Brewer said. “He’d come in there and let us know. Even when Coach Sloan was talking, he’d cut him off.

“Coach Sloan did it because, I mean, that was his boss. And Coach Sloan would pick up from where [Miller] left off, ‘Hey, I’m not just getting on you. Everybody sees it.’ ”

There wasn’t just passion from Miller. Patience forged an interesting if, at times, uneasy alliance with his passion for the team.

All you need to do is look at Sloan’s resume. He just finished his 21st season with the Jazz and was recently elected to the basketball Hall of Fame.

Sloan brought up Miller when he was talking with reporters in the hallway at Staples Center before Tuesday’s Lakers game, noting he felt blessed to be able to operate with such longevity in what has become such a knee-jerk, quick-fix society.

“How many owners have stuck with a guy 20 years?” Sloan said. “That was his doing. He wasn’t intimidated by the press or anybody else whenever it got tough. He stuck with us. I think any coach having that kind of support could have been there and stayed in there and done a good job.

“When you have that kind of support, it makes it a lot easier when you’re not looking over your shoulder every day.”

Stability is not a word you often hear in the NBA or any other league for that matter.

“I’ve seen a lot of franchises destroyed just by changing a coach,” Sloan said. “You send a message to the players all the time, that the players are going to be there, the coaches are expendable. Our owner sent a message that the coaches are going to be here, and players are expendable.”

The message created such a level of respect for Sloan, that when he did go through some hard times, his marquee players supported him with Miller.

“One year Sloan was supposed to be in trouble,” recalled Jazz radio broadcaster “Hot” Rod Hundley. “John [Stockton] and Karl [Malone] went to Miller, ‘If you fire him, we’re out of here.’ ”

Said Sloan: “He’s always been a very loyal guy to the people who worked for him. He was very difficult and tough to work for, but he’s always fair. And that’s all you can ask of anything you do in life.

“You may not like it at the time, but you step back away from it, and realize people have been fair to you.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com