Conflicts with upper management, and by that I mean just being himself + a complete lack of ass-kissing.
He was petulant with the front office and the owner. It's pretty well documented he and the Owner had a falling out mid season because he wasn't given an extension. I also suspect this didn't help either: After Jason Collins came out:
Although I do not like Jackson, he did a better job than McHale who still has his job, and is labeled as a great coach by Morey. Likely theory is that Jackson did his job by his way, and McHale did his coach job just following the direction from Morey and Les, so both Les and Morey know that it is not total coach problem. Another theory to keep McHale is his impact on the player recruiting (Love?), hope that it is the second one.
Making your boss happy should be winning games. Jackson definitely did that. Golden State is stupid and will regret letting a coach go that the players loved. Some organizations priorities are not always on winning. The Rockets and Warriors have both shown why they haven't been championship caliber teams with terrible coaching decisions
Their roster talent got them this far. 2011-2012: Jackson's first year as head coach. Team finished: 23-43. Steph Curry played in only 26 games. Monta Ellis was traded in the middle of the season. Andris Biedrins was masquerading as a starting center. Klay Thompson was just a rookie. 2012-2013: Jackson's second year as head coach. Team finished: 47-35. Their three best players (Curry, Thompson, and David Lee) were pretty healthy and missed only 7 games among them. They got Andrew Bogut midseason to replace Biedrins' corpse and had ridiculous depth on the bench with Carl Landry, Draymond Green, Jarrett Jack and Harrison Barnes. 2013-2014: Jackson's last year as head coach. Team finished: 51-31. Again, Steph Curry and Thompson managed to stay healthy for the entire season (missing 5 games between them). Lee, Bogut and Iggy each missed at least 12 games each. Those thinking that Mark Jackson made this team great probably skimmed over the fact that the team before Jackson's arrival Golden State had a blackhole playing at SG named Monta Ellis. Despite having Ellis ballhogging, that team coached by Keith Smart was only 6 games under .500. Replace him with a more complementary player in Thompson, remove Biedrins and replace him with Bogut, swap Dorrell Wright with Andre Igoudala and I'd say "Yea that sounds like a team that can win 45-50 games a season".
Jackson's firing isn't a total surprise given the drama that surrounded the Warriors this past season, but if Golden State was willing to cut ties with him now rather than letting him finish his contract--he had one year remaining--it's possible they're already well into negotiations with a potential replacement, someone who represents a clear upgrade over Jackson. Jackson did well during his Warriors stint and should easily get another job if he wants to continue coaching, as there are several jobs open to him. He has ties to the Knicks organization, having played two separate stints in the Big Apple. Another interesting possibility is Indiana, as Frank Vogel's job appears to be in jeopardy if the Pacers finish anywhere short of the NBA Finals. Jackson played for Larry Bird and helped the Pacers reach the Finals in 2000. Vogel is reportedly well-liked by his players but also has a reputation for being too nice to them. Jackson would likely bring a much-needed firmer hand to a team that has had its own discipline problems during the second half of this season.
At least the Rockets are out of the playoffs already.......in case he gets on tv for games again.....
Please allow him to go back to ESPN. I gotta here MAMA, THERE GOES THAT MAN! and Hand down, man DOWN.
Warriors effing it up. Mark Jackson is a great motivator and gets guys to play as hard as they can when on the floor. I do like McHale as a teacher but I think this is the biggest thing lacking in the Rockets coaching staff.
Kinda Thinking Mark Jackson Might end up in OKC if the Thunder don't get back to the Championship. There or NYC
