Hiring (and firing) Mark Jackson
Sometimes, Mark Jackson does not get the credit he deserves. Other times, he gets too much credit. It’s a roller coaster dynamic that the Warriors have been accustomed to.
Jackson did a good job of taking the Warriors from a lottery bound team to a team who found themselves in the playoffs more often than not.
He was close to the team and made them a tight knit bunch. He emphasized that defense is the most important trait of a winning basketball team and made the players believe in themselves.
At times, Jackson seemed like more of a friend than a coach to the players and at times that would backfire. Shots were taken extremely early in the shot clock with little to no ball movement among the players.
David Lee was in the starting lineup despite numbers saying that the team performed better when Draymond Green was playing the four. Jackson didn’t care for that. If Jackson insisted on Lee, he should have took advantage of his passing ability. That didn’t happen.
The offense under Jackson was isolation heavy and predictable. It didn’t take a genius to slow down the team. It was unfortunate to watch because of how much talent was on the team. Jackson called Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson the best shooting backcourt of all-time, yet didn’t make it easy for them to get open during games. He lacked the fundamental Xs and Os to help the team progress. His timeout management was questionable and his rotations were also head scratchers.
Jackson had an ego. He was stubborn. He did not move to the Bay Area during his tenure as coach despite management requesting it. He often took Sundays off and the Warriors didn’t get ample practice time. He didn’t get along with many people in the front office, especially Joe Lacob’s son, Kirk.
He did not allow for certain people to attend practice, such as guys like Jerry West. It was odd and it seemed like many weren’t fond of it either.
Jackson was fired after three seasons on the job. He had a .526 winning percentage during the years and a below .500 one in the postseason.
While Jackson is still close to some of his former players, he is not too fond of the organization. He said that James Harden was his pick for MVP and constantly talks about rim protection being overrated while calling Warriors games, yet praises DeAndre Jordan for his ability to guard the rim.