Mark Jackson was just fired!

[JustOneDennisBergkamp]

Jackson always, in so many words, let us know that the success of the Warriors was an act of god, so his firing must have been approved by The Almighty as well.

Adios jive preacher. Can't wait for a new teacher who knows the game inside and out and doesn't embarrass the franchise with his silly bible thumping. These are the Golden State Warriors, not the Christian Warriors. I only hope that he gets another coaching job so I don't have to hear his inane comments on the air, like his dumbass former partner, van Gumby.

 

[HammerDown]

Jackson always, in so many words, let us know that the success of the Warriors was an act of god, so his firing must have been approved by The Almighty as well.

Adios jive preacher. Can't wait for a new teacher who knows the game inside and out and doesn't embarrass the franchise with his silly bible thumping. These are the Golden State Warriors, not the Christian Warriors. I only hope that he gets another coaching job so I don't have to hear his inane comments on the air, like his dumbass former partner, van Gumby.

Love this post and agree.

Not many as obnoxious as Van Gundy but when Jackson gets that Southern Baptist preacher tone in his voice, he's even worse.

I'm disappointed because I thought he was the man to do this job. He's not.

Go somewhere and thump the Bible and drone on and on about racism. Just not here.

 

[JustOneDennisBergkamp]

If Doc Rivers wants out of Sterling's house, Lacob should make him the highest paid coach in The Association.

 

[HammerDown]

If Doc Rivers wants out of Sterling's house, Lacob should make him the highest paid coach in The Association.

Please do. The further Doc gets from Boston, the more he's exposed for being the overrated coach he is. A failure in Golden State would be the first nail in his coffin.

Doc ain't all that.

 

[JustOneDennisBergkamp]

Please do. The further Doc gets from Boston, the more he's exposed for being the overrated coach he is. A failure in Golden State would be the first nail in his coffin.

Doc ain't all that.

I detect just a bit of Laker bias toward an ex-Celt there. Doc is a fine coach with a tremendous record, and he's a vast improvement over Jackson.

His last Celtic team was comprised of old men running on fumes, and they still gave the Heat all they could handle. Doc now has his current team up 1-0 after going into OKC last night and humbling the Thunder. Overrated? No, he is rated highly for a reason.

 

[ColinCoby]

Why? This team should have been a top four team in the west and better than a one and done, they have enough talent to compete deep into the playoffs Jackson isn't capable of getting them there. We had one assistant fired and one reassigned within two months of the playoffs starting, it's been a damn clown show under Jackass and now it's ended the franchise can move forward and not be held back.

Even with all the injuries?

 

[sjballer03]

Mark Jackson reached his ceiling. All the preaching and motivating can only get you so far. Time for another guy to finish the job.

 

[bigjoerico]

Dennis always seems to run to Christian bashing. The whole team is Christian so if you hate them that much then pick a new team to follow. You almost sound like the racist Sterling without the money.
The clear hate you have for Christians is the same type of ignorant hate that got KKK Sterling booted out the NBA.
Grow up you racist bastard you sound ignorant!

 

[clyde_carbon]

Sorry fellas, had to be done. If it wasn't this year it would've been next year, or the year after next.

 

[southernfriedwarrior]

This isn't a championship roster top to bottom, and no coach is getting this team as currently constructed to the promised land. Jackson was fired because he didn't seen eye to eye with management. It's a simple as that.

Because this franchise has been so moribund, and Jackson has been so successful over the past two years, the rumors of his firing (and now his actual firing) have been discussed in the national media in depth. I've read dozens of articles, listened to sports talk radio and television, where coaches, former players and experts have voiced their opinions, and not one of them sees this team as having a championship quality roster and I agree. Very good, but not good enough.

The pressure is now on Myers to actually construct a team that has quality and depth top to bottom. A bench that ranked 23rd or 24th out of 30 teams in points scored and points differential and dead last in the NBA in fg % just isn't going to cut it.

For a significant portion of this year, Jackson's laughable selection of backup pg's were Toney, Nedovic and Bazemore. Toney never has been a floor general, Nedovic is really an undersized shooting guard, and Bazemore was a wing forced to play out of position.

34 year old Blake was an improvement, but is a mediocre offensive player, has alot of miles on him, and is an average defender at best. He was useless in the playoffs. Myers needs to beg, borrow or steal to upgrade this position as a start. Now that Jackson is gone, the pressure is really on Lacob/Myers to improve upon a 51 win season. How many of those have we had in the past 30 years? It's going to be interesting to say the least.

 

[clyde_carbon]

From Woj:

Jackson clashed constantly with management and struggled to manage his coaching staff during his Warriors tenure. Jackson’s disinterest in game preparation and reluctance to practice despite a mostly young and gifted roster played a part in management’s reluctance to commit long term to him, league sources said.

Jackson relied on an assistant coach, Darren Erman, to build a top-five defense, but Erman was fired late in the season after an incident that involved the taping of a conversation among the coaching staff.

From PBT

I will confirm some of this from my sources — Jackson was seen as a motivator, he had a strong personality and put his religious beliefs front and center (which worked for key players on this team), but not good at Xs and Os, he left that to his assistants then clashed with them over it. Both Brian Scalabrine, who was demoted to the D-League after Jackson tried to fire him in front of the team, and Erman (who felt so undermined by Jackson that he started surreptitiously recording conversations, which led to his dismissal) were favorites of owner Joe Lacob and management.

Yeah, dude had to go.

 

[JustOneDennisBergkamp]

Dennis always seems to run to Christian bashing. The whole team is Christian so if you hate them that much then pick a new team to follow. You almost sound like the racist Sterling without the money.
The clear hate you have for Christians is the same type of ignorant hate that got KKK Sterling booted out the NBA.
Grow up you racist bastard you sound ignorant!

Fanning the flames of ignorance with hyperbole and untruths just like you did during the playoffs last year, big joe (sorry, you get no upper case after this rant no matter how large you are in real life)?

Where have I said or have I indicated that I hate Christians? The only thing that I have assailed is Jackson for taking to the pulpit far too often while on the clock for my favorite NBA franchise. I guarantee you the FO felt similarly uncomfortable with his hyper-religiousness. I called him a "jive preacher," because from what I understand about his behavior both in and outside the workplace, many of his actions have been anything Christian in nature. On top of that, he ain't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.

As to my feelings about Christianity and Christians in general, I'm actually one of the tribe. Baptized Roman Catholic, Catechism, Confession, Communion and almost an altar boy. Intellectually, I consider myself an agnostic, but I have no hatred for either Christians or the Catholic Church, though I am so vehemently opposed to a few of their key doctrines (anti-choice, anti-gay) that I no longer go to church.

There are many men of faith for whom I have great admiration: Gandhi, King, Arch Bishop Romero, to name a few. Mark Jackson is neither a great Christian nor a great coach. To compare that opinion as expressed to racist hate speech is ignorance in its lowest knuckle-dragging form.

PS - I hadn't read your last sentence before piecing this response together, so allow me to add, "fuck off you moron."

 

[69er]

All I know, Lacob and FO got a lot of splainin to do if they dont take this team further than Jackson did.

I get where they were coming from. Jackson was fantastic in developing the young players and giving them the green light, not many coaches would have the patience like he did with these guys.

Its too bad the guy is stubborn and stuck in his old ways, he just doesnt seem like the type thats open to ideas which is too bad because hes a very young coach with no experience prior to GSW.

But a HUGE thanks to Mark Jackson, he did a hell of a job. He wont get enough credit for taking this undermanned, less talented team and I cant even imagine the best coach taking this team far as he did.

 

[sjballer03]

When there is a lack of communication and a lack of respect shown toward ownership by an unrepentant employee he usually gets fired and I think that was the case here. I bet we'll know a lot more about the situation in the next few days.

And what makes it worse is that this a 1st time head coach we're talking about. 2 years into his job and one playoff appearance later, it seems he already got full of himself and didn't think he needed any more help from others.

 

[sjballer03]

Mark Jackson's way and the highway - Ethan Sherwood Strauss, May 6, 2014

Mark Jackson's way and the highway - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN

Mark Jackson placed enough oomph behind the metaphor to make it seem almost literal.

“I’m fighting for my life,” Jackson said after the Golden State Warriors' Game 6 win against the Los Angeles Clippers, before clarifying: “basketball life.”

Five days later, Jackson suffered basketball death by the hand of an ownership group that had enough. He was smart, funny and charismatic, but also stubborn, abrasive and bellicose. Jackson thrived on having enemies. Eventually, he’d made the wrong ones.

The 2013-14 Warriors coaching staff has ended like a Shakespearean play, with plots and counterplots leading to death for all. Not even the video guy survived the final act.

Mike Malone was able to escape Jackson’s ire with a head-coaching gig in Sacramento, but others were not so lucky. Jackson and Jackson’s loyalists (Pete Myers and Lindsey Hunter) clashed with Brian Scalabrine, which resulted in Scalabrine’s D-League exile. Then Jackson’s group clashed with Darren Erman, leading to Erman secretly recording what became his own pink slip.

Jackson isn’t to blame for everything that happened in these quarrels, but his “us against them” ethos likely exacerbated the rifts.

While it’s true Jackson got the players on his side -- valuable allies to have -- Jackson’s other alliances may have hurt him.

The September introduction of Hunter, a friend of Jackson’s, was regarded as a destabilizing force, according to multiple sources. This marks the third consecutive time his hiring has coincided with a head coach getting fired within a year. Hunter had a reputation as an undermining individual from his days in Chicago and Phoenix. While he did not sabotage Jackson specifically, he made life difficult for others on staff.

It’s quite possible Jackson couldn’t have survived even with a cohesive coaching staff.

It all started off on the wrong foot, with Jackson deciding to coach the Warriors while living in Los Angeles and presiding over his church as pastor. Management found this arrangement less than ideal, but Jackson flat out refused to reconsider.

Being a pastor meant a lot to him, and he wasn’t giving it up for anything. Though he claimed an Oakland apartment, his family lived in Los Angeles and he spent a majority of the offseason there. It was the first of many instances when ownership perspective was met with a firm rebuke.

Jackson just wasn’t a compromiser, and perhaps his players loved that about him. With ownership, such an attitude could only go so far. Bosses generally like to have their input listened to at the very least.

The firing has taught us a few things about Joe Lacob's group, if not a few things about the new class of NBA owners in general. We’ve learned 51 wins is not enough for everybody. Lacob is heavily involved in team operations and expected a top-four playoff seed.

We’ve also learned that the Warriors aren’t the New York Knicks. Stephen Curry might be a budding superstar, but he doesn’t get to hire and fire coaches. Perhaps this Jackson firing will harm the relationship between Curry and management, but Warriors brass is willing to take that risk. That’s bold, maybe hubristically bold, but Lacob didn’t buy this team to live in fear of his employees.

The Lacob group wanted to be in charge of the operation that it, in theory, controls. It isn’t alone, either. To quote Kevin Arnovitz’s annual rundown of the top coaching candidates, “League execs insist there is no consideration more important in hiring a head coach than whether he conforms to the sensibility of ownership -- not personal background, whiteboard skills, media relations, city or even pedigree.”

Jackson didn’t conform, and now he’s gone. Is that fair? Fairness is beside the point in a hypercompetitive environment where tenures are short and glory is fleeting.

Jackson probably could have avoided the fork in the road that led to this, but he chose to do it his way. He worked a second job in Southern California, emphatically flaunted his faith and hired less than highly regarded friends. Maybe he needed to make these kinds of choices to be successful, but he wasn’t successful enough to validate his decisions in the eyes of management.

If you’re going to do it your way, you need to win big. Jackson didn't.

 

[DonyellFreak]

Even with all the injuries?

Sounds like an excuse for not getting better seeding though the season when the team was healthy, I thought Jackson was a no excuses guy.

 

[bigjoerico]

Jackson always, in so many words, let us know that the success of the Warriors was an act of god, so his firing must have been approved by The Almighty as well.

Adios jive preacher. Can't wait for a new teacher who knows the game inside and out and doesn't embarrass the franchise with his silly bible thumping. These are the Golden State Warriors, not the Christian Warriors. I only hope that he gets another coaching job so I don't have to hear his inane comments on the air, like his dumbass former partner, van Gumby.

Yeah I know Dennis this is exactly what you said last year too. Adios jive preacher, this isn't the Christian Warriors and he's running a cult. It's obvious what your saying. Sterling never said he hated black people either, but we all know he's a racist bastard just like you.
You try and use your big words but your just and Old Ignorant Fuck!

I hope you're not teaching your son this type of ignorant crap....
There's NO difference if your hating Blacks, Gays or Christians! It's all bad you jackass!!!!

 

[JustOneDennisBergkamp]

Yeah I know Dennis this is exactly what you said last year too. Adios jive preacher, this isn't the Christian Warriors and he's running a cult. It's obvious what your saying. Sterling never said he hated black people either, but we all know he's a racist bastard just like you.
You try and use your big words but your just and Old Ignorant Fuck!

I hope you're not teaching your son this type of ignorant crap....
There's NO difference if your hating Blacks, Gays or Christians! It's all bad you jackass!!!!

As hysterical as you are obviously stupid (the bigger ones tend to be). I have expressed no hatred for Christians, not even big, dumb ass ones like yourself, joe.

BTW - Which words did I use that were too big for you to understand. If it will help your comprehension (was that too big?), I can dumb things down a bit for you.

 

[tzill]

I hope these guys know what there doing and I don't want Steve Kerr.

Now drop and give me my 20 push ups!

 

[tzill]

He was definitely not an idiot....
He was improving as a coach and starting over with someone like Steve Kerr doesn't make any sense.
Now if we get a coach who has credentials and experience then maybe it'll work out.

He's not an idiot, I agree.

He wasn't improving as a coach, so I disagree.

Top candidates are Kerr (who looks like he will go with the Knicks), Van Gundy, and Hollins.