The first step in forming the Perfect Team was picking the right general manager. With Denver's Mark Warkentien, I believe I have a guy who is up to the very difficult task of forming a winning NBA roster without spending a dollar more than the 2009-10 salary cap of $57.7 million.

As noted in the first installment last Friday, Warkentien is among the best in the league at doing more with less. This isn't going to be a team of superstars; we're going to have to cut corners, find bargains and get by with minimum-salaried players in major roles. That's Warkentien's specialty. Some other things about Warkentien that should be noted: Not only is he well-liked and respected by rival GMs, but he's constantly working to get better. The guy was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2008-09 season, and what did he do? He took a class at Harvard Law School over the summer to strengthen his negotiating skills. I hope our players work that hard in the offseason.

Jerry Sloan's lack of an NBA title as a coach is not a drawback. (Getty Images)

There were plenty of outstanding coaches available for this hypothetical exercise. If you're going to have a $100 million roster stacked with talent and egos, Phil Jackson is your guy. Nobody blends divas with conflicting agendas better (Doc Rivers is a close second). But since we'll probably only have enough money for one max player, this team isn't going to be Phil's cup of tea.

If you're going to have a dominant point guard, you can't go wrong with Mike D'Antoni, a coach whose wide-open style has every potential 2010 free agent drooling over the chance to play for him. As a rival GM put it, "If I have a great point guard, I want Mike to be my jockey." But saddled with a pedestrian point guard in New York, D'Antoni's system hasn't had nearly the impact it did in Phoenix with Steve Nash. Imagine that. Plus, I don't want my coach's philosophy to dictate whether I pick LeBron James or Chris Paul as my lone superstar when it comes time to select the players.

According to Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Rick Carlisle has the best track record in the league for increasing the productivity of new players in his first year coaching them. Unless I can afford Dirk Nowitzki, all 13 players on this roster will be new to Carlisle, which makes him a tempting option. But not the best one.

It's impossible not to admire the job Rick Adelman has done in Houston, keeping the Rockets competitive and respectable without Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. (Although, in fairness, I'm not so sure McGrady's absence hasn't helped the Rockets more than it has hurt.) Gregg Popovich? A masterful coach who almost got the job based on sense of humor alone.

But to me, given the spending restrictions my team faces, there's only one coach who can get the most out this team night after night. There's only one coach who will emphasize defense, let his one superstar flourish and hold everyone accountable. There's only one coach whose mere presence on the sideline will inspire respect and admiration from our star player all the way to the last guy on the bench. And that's Utah's Jerry Sloan.

"There's only a handful of guys who impact winning, who make you win more than you're supposed to," one NBA front office executive said.

Sloan is clearly one of them. And for this team -- a team that is going to need to buckle down defensively and play a hard-nosed style with maximum effort -- Sloan is the perfect coach.

"If you just have a group of very good players who are gonna play their asses off, kind of like Utah, then Sloan might be your guy," the front office executive said.

And Sloan is my guy. When informed of this tremendous honor -- which is surely right up there with, say, getting enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame -- Sloan reacted with his typical self-deprecation.

"If you've chosen me," Sloan said, "then you've lost your mind."

That's precisely the answer I wanted and expected.

If this were a team that was going to be together for years, I would look for a younger coach. Miami's Erik Spoelstra, for example, is going to be excellent someday. But this team needs to win now, and it needs a coach who commands respect -- a coach who isn't going to panic, get freaked out over injuries or change his personality or philosophy when he gets hit with a little adversity.

Sloan has never coached an NBA champion, has never won Coach of the Year and has no ego whatsoever. He's the longest-tenured coach in the sport, so the players and their agents know to check their strong-arm tactics, diva trade requests and hissy fits at the door. In 20 years with the Jazz, his teams have had 16 consecutive winning seasons (1988-89 through 2003-04) and 18 playoff appearances. His teams play smart, they move the ball, they're tough and they defend. He's the perfect litmus test for the kind of players I want -- and don't want. If you can't play for Jerry Sloan, this isn't the team for you.

Next Friday, we'll start assembling the players. First up is a group that is of utmost importance to both my coach and my GM -- and also to me. You can't have the Perfect Team without a great bench. So that's where we'll start.