There seem to have been real problems there not concerning the play of the team on the court. He seemed at quiet war with half the organization. Wouldn't use one assistant coach. Another had to resign as part of some sort of scandal. Apparently was not on talking terms with Malone by the end. When I heard he had banished Jerry West from watching their practices that was...I mean who but an egomaniac does that?
None of the stories are clear enough to really know what was going on, but the distinct impression as that Mark Jackson was a jerk. Or at the very least insubordinate. Maybe kind of like what the Niners have been dealing with.
indeed. while i question the firing from a purely basketball standpoint (mostly because jackson had those warriors absolutely LAPPING UP his kool-aid, a rare thing in the contemporary nba), there was certainly still enough burning rubble to damn him to the offseason heap of fired head coaches: clashes with ownership, clashes with management, clashes with assistant coaches, banishing an
nba legend from practices? couple those factors with his outsized personality and his outspoken religiosity, and you can effectively sketch the image of an egotistical, fairly inexperienced head coach who draws far too much [negative] attention to himself, considering the talented roster he was given to work with...
i tend to agree with the notion that jackson successfully took an overrated warriors squad about as far as it was going to go during his tenure. but i don't necessarily agree that he was going to be the right coach for that team going forward, apart from the fact that he was able to inspire unusually fierce loyalty from the majority of his players (acolytes?). as a motivational speaker, jackson could be considered a first-rate "leader of men." but as a head coach, he is a woefully limited tactician (scotty brooks has likewise been drawing heat for the same during a series of postseasons in which he's largely failed to adjust to the more imaginative schemes of his competition)...
point is, the
right kind of hire in a post-jackson landscape may very well be enough to salvage the unexpected mess they're sorting through in oakland. i find them to be a fragile, injury-ridden, overrated bunch, but the warriors have a bevy of assets to throw on the trade block when it comes time to make the necessary moves to climb further up those brutal western conference standings. regardless, they're certainly an attractive destination for any prospective head coach...