Stephen Curry is usually given credit for changing the modern-day game of basketball with his amazing three-point shooting.
But former NBA superstar Isiah Thomas believes that Mark Jackson deserves huge credit for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson changing the game of basketball. Zeke shared his views in the recent episode of ‘All The Smoke’ podcast.
“The guy who doesn’t get credit for changing the game in this so-called evolution of the game, his name would be coach Mark Jackson,” Thomas said. “Now let me tell you why Mark Jackson changed the game. Because Mark Jackson saw a guy by the name of Steph Curry and a guy by the name of Klay Thompson, and Mark Jackson as a coach, he made it acceptable for Steph Curry and Klay to shoot from that range.
“Mark Jackson alone accepted it, and when he accepted, that changed the game. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson would not be Steph Curry and Klay Thompson getting credit for the evolution if there wasn’t a teacher and a master saying you can do that.”
(Starts at 28:20)
Mark Jackson was the head coach of the Golden State Warriors from the 2011-12 to the 2013-14 NBA season.
In just three seasons, he made it acceptable for the young duo of Curry and Thompson to launch shots in volume from the three-point line. Unfortunately, Jackson doesn’t get the credit that he deserves for backing the Splash Brothers. As the two superstars etched their names on the list of the best three-point shooters of all time.
Draymond Green On How The Warriors Players Reacted To Mark Jackson’s Firing
After Mark Jackson developed the young core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond into NBA All-Star caliber players, the organization decided to fire him after the 2014 playoffs.
The Warriors wanted to get over the championship hump and trusted Steve Kerr to get the job done. Kerr certainly lived up to those expectations, as he has led the Warriors to four NBA Championships during his tenure.
However, that doesn’t mean the players weren’t affected by Jackson’s departure. In fact, Draymond Green revealed that everyone was crushed after Jackson’s firing.
“We were all crushed when [Mark Jackson] got fired because, again, we went from 23 wins to 46 wins to 48 or 49 wins the following year. We all felt like we were building towards something. You take a team who hadn’t been to the playoffs but one time in the last 20 years or something – and we went to the playoffs in back-to-back years – and then he got fired. So none of us knew what to think… what you have to remember is, it’s not like it’s year 10 Draymond, year 11 Klay [Thompson], year 13 Steph [Curry]. It’s year two, year three, and then year five. None of us know what to even think. Like what’s going on? This is really our first experience of the business side… We were just young and out here playing.”
Green and the rest of the Warriors roster at the time believed they were building something special and wanted Jackson to be a part of it. Unfortunately, Jackson couldn’t see the results of the seed that he planted with the Warriors from the sidelines.
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