Mark Jackson about to be fired

Vin2k2 · May 10, 2014

Nook said: ↑

Mike D'Antoni, Nate McMillan and Alvin Gentry are upgrades?
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Heck no, but I'd say Thibs, Hollins, Karl, SVG, and Sloan (as much as I hate his guts) would be. Don't know much about Hoiberg (other than him vouching for Royce White) or Ollie.

As A_3PO said though, I don't see Chicago letting Thibodeau out of his contract unless they get some pretty good compensation. Of course, GSW doesn't have any really enticing future picks as they sent them all to Utah to jettison the corpses of Richard Jefferson & Biedrins in their pursuit of Iggy & Dwight.

smoothie · May 11, 2014

their coaching search includes SVG, thibs, lionel hollins...

if they get one of those guys, they will be better than us next season. Mcfail won't even land us home court in the playoffs.

J.R. · May 12, 2014

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Hearing Stan Van Gundy's first formal Warriors interview is "imminent." ESPN reported Saturday that SVG is "closest thing" to GSW top target</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/465719059422515201">May 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Warriors haven't had serious talks w/ Kerr in days, w/ owner Joe Lacob rapidly joining management in believing Stan Van Gundy's best choice.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/465741529957818368">May 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>If the Dubs hire SVG and stay relatively healthy, I think we'll all forget about the Jackson strangeness pretty quickly.</p>— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/statuses/465845725851430912">May 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Haymitch · May 12, 2014

SVG would be a good get for GSW. I hope it doesn't happen.

Aleron · May 12, 2014

If they get SVG, they become better than us.

pippendagimp · May 12, 2014

J.R. said: ↑

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Hearing Stan Van Gundy's first formal Warriors interview is "imminent." ESPN reported Saturday that SVG is "closest thing" to GSW top target</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/statuses/465719059422515201">May 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Warriors haven't had serious talks w/ Kerr in days, w/ owner Joe Lacob rapidly joining management in believing Stan Van Gundy's best choice.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/465741529957818368">May 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>If the Dubs hire SVG and stay relatively healthy, I think we'll all forget about the Jackson strangeness pretty quickly.</p>— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/statuses/465845725851430912">May 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Les, you ****ing suck.

J.R. · May 12, 2014

http://www.nba.com/2014/news/featur...iring-wizards-qa-with-derek-fisher/index.html

He wore black to what he believed was his own funeral.

Yes, Mark Jackson was thumbing his nose at his bosses before Game 7 of the Warriors' first-round series with the Clippers. Yes, he was whistling past the graveyard. Yes, he knew the cameras were rolling when he spoke in the huddle about how people thought he was through, and was going to be summarily fired as the team's coach.

Gee, I wonder where he'd get such a cockamamie idea?

The great tragedy of Jackson being fired last week by the Warriors -- after winning more regular-season games this season than last, despite having more injuries, with greater expectations placed on him and the team by owner Joe Lacob -- is not the simple fact that Jackson was fired. Coaches, and lots of them, get fired every year in the NBA, many in head-scratching turn. George Karl got fired last year, the same month he was named NBA Coach of the Year. Lionel Hollins and Vinny Del Negro got fired, after accomplishments no other coach of their respective franchises achieved.

Joe Lacob and his partners spent $450 million to buy the Warriors. They have the right to hire and fire whom they like, and they have the right to have a hierarchy with which they're comfortable.

The tragedy is that Lacob is setting himself up. Hoisting himself up on his own petard, if you will. And he's taking the fans who have waited so long for a winning team up for the ride as well. Because of insecurities -- Jackson's and Lacob's.

It's so, so hard to win consistently in this league. You need great, dedicated talent, and great coaching, and more than a little luck. I'm not saying Mark Jackson was yet a great coach. Others have noted what they viewed as poor substitution patterns and decisions. And Golden State played some clunkers at home, in front of what's the NBA's best home crowd.

I'm saying he got his team to buy what he was selling, and that's all coaching in the NBA is. Do they buy in? Do they believe? It doesn't mean they have to like you, but they have to respect you. (I don't think every Chicago Bull likes Tom Thibodeau. In fact, I know that. But they respect the hell out of him, and they bust their butts for him.)

The Warriors, with Jackson coaching, won more the last two years than they had in any season in the previous 20. Jackson's players respected him. They went out of their way to go to bat for him. That should have told Lacob something. Players are the ultimate BS detectors; if they think a head coach is full of it, they drop him like Olive Oyl dropping a 20-pound weight.

That did not happen at Golden State. From Steph Curry on down, almost all -- not all, to be sure, but many among the team's core -- praised Jackson. David Lee praised him. Klay Thompson praised him. Draymond Green praised him. Harrison Barnes may not have, given that he couldn't get the minutes he wanted after closing last season with a bang. But that decision was not Jackson's alone; the team opted to give Andre Iguodala big free-agent dollars last summer, though it was Jackson's call to move Barnes to the bench.

In firing Jackson, Lacob and general manager Bob Myers -- who, Lacob took great pains last week to say, made the call -- have ground the slow, steady progress of the last three seasons to an abrupt halt. They may well find the coach they believe can get them to the next level, and maybe Stan Van Gundy or Steve Kerr or someone else can do what Jackson didn't. But the west is murderous, and it's not going to be any easier next season. The Spurs aren't going anywhere. Neither is OKC. Neither are the Clippers, despite the events of the last fortnight. Houston's still got room to add another meaningful side to the Harden-Howard two-piece this summer. With Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Blazers are going to be very good for a long time. Dallas and Memphis are too well-coached and too veteran-laden to fade quickly. Phoenix and New Orleans are coming on, fast. The Lakers are down, but no one expects that to last for very long. And we don't even know who's going to wind up with what young, dynamic piece(s) in the Draft. It is hard to win, and sustain winning.

Why, then, did Lacob/Myers do it?

I'm going to type slowly, and repeat myself, so there is no misunderstanding.

I do not think Joe Lacob, or Bob Myers, are racists. I do not think Mark Jackson was fired because of his race.

Let me repeat that.

I do not think Joe Lacob, or Bob Myers, are racists. I do not think Mark Jackson was fired because of his race.

And, once more.

I do not think Joe Lacob, or Bob Myers, are racists. I do not think Mark Jackson was fired because of his race.

I know Bob Myers a little, and I know his reputation more. It is sterling. A former big-time agent, the protégé of uber-agent Arn Tellem, Myers was the rare agent with whom teams actually enjoyed working. (I don't know Lacob, other than a couple of conversations last season -- when Jackson's lack of coaching chops was held up by Lacob as a refreshing break from the past practices of hiring retread after retread. Lacob, not me, compared his hiring of Jackson to when the Celtics hired Doc Rivers out of the TV booth. Lacob was a minority owner in Boston before buying the Warriors.)

But I do think there were parts of Mark Jackson, including his race, that made Golden State's front office uncomfortable. Not in the sense that they didn't like or respect him because he was black, but that they didn't understand him, where he was coming from, what may have made him uncomfortable. And while they may think they tried to understand, it is very hard, sometimes, to understand where people of different backgrounds are coming from.

Mark Jackson is an African-American man, from New York City, who is deeply religious. All three of those characteristics played a part in this. How much? We'll probably never know. But you can't tell me they weren't factors.

First, the elephant in the room. Black coaches do better in the NBA than in any of the other major team sports played in the United States. Of late, black coaches who've failed at one stop get second (and, sometimes, third) chances to be head coaches. But black coaches -- especially those who weren't stars -- still feel like they have to wait longer, and get fewer plumb jobs, than their white counterparts. You may not like that, but it's the truth. You may disagree with them, but that's how many -- not all -- of them feel.

Jackson waited a long time after he retired as a player before becoming a head coach. He had to wait, in part, because he was adamant that he wouldn't start his coaching career as an assistant, like almost all ex-players of all races have to do as they break into the ranks. When you asked him about it during his ABC/ESPN days, he would always have some variation on the sentence, "Danny Ainge didn't have to be an assistant." The inference was clear: Ainge got the Suns' head coaching job two years after he retired as a player, having never before been a coach at any level. If he was good enough to step right in as a head coach, Mark Jackson certainly felt he was good enough to do the same.

And when the Warriors gave Jackson the job, he believed the same rules should apply. So, he didn't listen or take suggestions from management well, because he was the head coach, and he thought the chain of command should be the same whether it was Golden State or San Antonio. You never heard about Peter Holt suggesting things to Gregg Popovich, did you? And if it wasn't the same, why wasn't it the same?

Take the now-infamous disclosure (by those unnamed "sources" that everybody in the organization swears isn't them) that Jackson told Jerry West, the Hall of Famer working as an adviser for the team, not to come to practice. I doubt it was said in that manner. My guess is Jackson made it clear he would rather not have people, even in the organization, watching him work. Regardless of what actually was said, no one is denying that Jackson was uncomfortable with West being at practice. The question is, why?

Was it because it was Jerry Freaking West, the Logo? Who has never been shy about expressing his opinions? Who is, occasionally, very frank with his opinions? Is it possible that a young coach might be just a tad nervous or apprehensive about working with his players with one of the top 20 players of all time sitting up in the stands? You may say, hey, why wouldn't you want to have someone of that magnitude to bounce ideas off of? Why not pick the brains of the best? Is it possible that a young African-American head coach may not have viewed having Jerry West at his practice as benignly as many white people would view it?

Again: you can think a black person who's a little nervous or apprehensive about such things is reaching, is crazy. It doesn't mean they are because you think they are. (If you want to read someone who really threads the needle about race and Jackson and the Warriors, read Marcus Thompson's take in the San Jose Mercury News. This is first-rate stuff.)

I would say Mark Jackson was, and is, learning how to be a head coach. Maybe the next time, he'll be more accommodating. I don't think it was a fireable offense. I don't think moving Darren Erman's parking space, reported ad nauseum, was a fireable offense. I don't think Jackson living in Los Angeles while coaching in Oakland, while unusual, is a fireable offense -- unless Joe Lacob said, "Mark, you have to move to the Bay Area for me to feel comfortable retaining you," and Jackson said, "No."

Is Jackson insecure? Probably. Name me a first-time head coach who isn't. For that matter, name me any coach whose last name isn't Popovich who isn't.

Jackson is from New York. I love New Yorkers. I'm related to many of them. But they have no problem not only telling you why they are right, but why you are wrong. They are not shy about expressing themselves, forcefully. Jackson has no problem doing it, either. He did not acknowledge mistakes easily or quickly. And I don't doubt that, on occasion, he could be abrupt with people that he didn't feel knew as much about pro basketball as he does -- including people in the organization. Again, water is wet. Did Phil Jackson welcome Jerry Krause's opinions? I can't recall.

Jackson is, also, a born-again Christian. And this may be the touchiest part of all. It is impossible to talk about religion without someone being greatly offended. I don't think the Warriors are anti-Christian. I do think, because I've spoken with many Evangelical Christians, that they feel their views are often distorted and maligned by those who are not Evangelical Christians. In this context, Jackson's less than complete embrace of Jason Collins after Collins disclosed he was gay last year may have been taken badly within the organization -- which has, for a long time, been among the best in the league at embracing gay causes and events.

God, we haven't even gotten to Scalabrine yet.

Jackson was criticized most for how he dealt with assistant coaches, starting with Mike Malone (now the Kings' head coach) last year, and Brian Scalabrine and Erman this year. It was not a secret last year that Jackson didn't mind Malone leaving to take the Sacramento gig. Malone clearly had designs on being a head coach and was just about ready when Golden State hired him as Jackson's top assistant. Jackson bristled at the suggestion that Malone was the "defensive coach" responsible for the Warriors' jump in most of the defensive metrics last season. (Degree and form: Malone got the same kudos and rose petals while Mike Brown's top assistant in Cleveland during the LeBron days. If Brown minded, he still hasn't said so. Different people think differently.)

As noted elsewhere, Jackson didn't care much for Scalabrine. The Warriors' front office did -- he wasn't fired from the organization after his last confrontation with Jackson, but reassigned to the Warriors' D-League team. He was still listed as an assistant on the team's media notes during the Clippers series, while Erman's name was removed. I think both Jackson and management have some truth on their side: It is not good for a head coach to constantly have problems with his assistants, for whatever reason. It is not good for assistants to think they can challenge the head coach when they themselves are not the head coach.

That's the problem here. Everyone wants a villain identified. To his detractors in the building and their media allies, Jackson was a stumbling charlatan who had next to nothing to do with the team's meteoric rise from 23 to 48 to 51 wins. To his supporters in the building and their media allies, Jackson was the only thing saving Golden State from certain Lotterydom, and Lacob was Steinbrenner incarnate -- a dilettante meddler in a world he didn't belong.

And that was the problem with Mark Jackson and Joe Lacob. They fought a proxy war instead of going down the hallway to the other guy's office, closing the door, and figuring out how the hell to coexist with one another until each had more experience at his respective job. It's not easy. But it does happen. The Heat didn't give up on Erik Spoelstra when Miami lost the Finals to Dallas in 2011, even though winning the title was the only reason Riles brought LeBron and Wade and Bosh together. They stuck with him. Spoelstra grew into the job, changed how he used James, and the rest is history. Every championship team in every sport, from the Yankees to the Patriots, the Penguins to the Lakers, has some level of creative organizational tension. When it works to the ultimate, you win rings and have parades down the Canyon of Heroes.

In fact, you really can't win without it.

Joe Lacob is about to try. Good luck with that.
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LosPollosHermanos · May 12, 2014

man, SVG should be coming here!!

Da Wink · May 12, 2014

yeah...i want SVG for our Rox

cheke64 · May 12, 2014

A lot of people sleeping on Mark Jackson. I don't think SVG is an upgrade. IWhy again did they fire Mark Jackson.

Haymitch · May 12, 2014

cheke64 said: ↑

Why again did they fire Mark Jackson.
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J.R. posted an article about this just a few posts above.

B-Bob · May 12, 2014

Haymitch said: ↑

J.R. posted an article about this just a few posts above.
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Not to mention that most of the nine pages of this thread discuss it as well.

I guess his question was rhetorical.

Amel · May 12, 2014

Lol at people having high regards of SVG or JVG. Laughable.

Precision340 · May 12, 2014

Amel said: ↑

Lol at people having high regards of SVG or JVG. Laughable.
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the defense on that Lillard game winning shot was laughable

J.R. · May 13, 2014

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>NBA source: Stan Van Gundy told the Warriors he wanted total control of basketball decisions. They declined. He could get that in DET.</p>— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) <a href="https://twitter.com/timkawakami/statuses/466258726060445697">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I don't know if the Warriors and Van Gundy can re-open discussions. Doesn't sound like they will.</p>— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) <a href="https://twitter.com/timkawakami/statuses/466261156722921472">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Yahoo Sources: Detroit's pursuing Stan Van Gundy to oversee basketball operations and coach. <a href="http://t.co/Ip1Zgx80Pk">http://t.co/Ip1Zgx80Pk</a></p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/466254001894195202">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Stan Van Gundy's seriously considering Pistons offer of full control, torn on that opportunity vs. coaching Warriors, sources tell Yahoo.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/466263482694782976">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Awesome · May 13, 2014

JR is up on the news!

Nook · May 13, 2014

J.R. said: ↑

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>NBA source: Stan Van Gundy told the Warriors he wanted total control of basketball decisions. They declined. He could get that in DET.</p>— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) <a href="https://twitter.com/timkawakami/statuses/466258726060445697">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I don't know if the Warriors and Van Gundy can re-open discussions. Doesn't sound like they will.</p>— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) <a href="https://twitter.com/timkawakami/statuses/466261156722921472">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Yahoo Sources: Detroit's pursuing Stan Van Gundy to oversee basketball operations and coach. <a href="http://t.co/Ip1Zgx80Pk">http://t.co/Ip1Zgx80Pk</a></p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/466254001894195202">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Stan Van Gundy's seriously considering Pistons offer of full control, torn on that opportunity vs. coaching Warriors, sources tell Yahoo.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/statuses/466263482694782976">May 13, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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LMFAO I guess it doesn't hurt to ask Stan but you had to know that wasn't happening.

Liberon · May 13, 2014

Mark Jackson would be a perfect coach for this team. Jeff or Stan Van Gundy as long as Dwight is cool with them are good as well. Anybody besides McHale or Mike Brown please.

Nook · May 13, 2014

Liberon said: ↑

Mark Jackson would be a perfect coach for this team. Jeff or Stan Van Gundy as long as Dwight is cool with them are good as well. Anybody besides McHale or Mike Brown please.
Click to expand...

Did you read the thread?

SVG won't be the Rockets coach anytime soon because he wants total control, and the Rockets are not going to kick Morey to the curb.

Mark Jackson is a train wreck.

Liberon · May 13, 2014

Nook said: ↑

Did you read the thread?

SVG won't be the Rockets coach anytime soon because he wants total control, and the Rockets are not going to kick Morey to the curb.

Mark Jackson is a train wreck.
Click to expand...

Morey should of presented Steve Kerr with an offer sheet then. He knows the game very well....

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