The Golden State Warriors dynasty is something that many never saw coming, but very few people knew that there was something special about the talent they had drafted. One of the people that knew that it was a special team was former coach and now NBA commentator Mark Jackson.
Jackson coached the Warriors from 2011 to 2014, getting fired because the team felt that they needed a new coach to win a title. This led to Steve Kerr winning an NBA Championship with the team in his first year with the squad. However, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green were all very close to Jackson as he believed in them and their unique playing style before anyone else. Green spoke about Jackson’s coaching on the ‘Checc-N-In’ podcast.
“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.” (Source: Caffeine TV)
Did Mark Jackson Deserve To Get Fired?
Mark Jackson was fired after the 2014 Playoffs because the Warriors wanted to hire a new coach to get over the championship hump after Jackson developed the Warriors’ core into All-Star caliber players. They had lost to the eventual champions San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs that season.
On ESPN spiking Mark Jackson stories https://t.co/PfNTRY9Si4 pic.twitter.com/k7CA22oegX
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) May 10, 2022
Jackson’s firing was mainly related to his controversial religious beliefs and homophobic behavior. Everybody is free to practice what they want and believe what they want, but any of it spilling over onto a professional setup will raise eyebrows and cause dire consequences.
Despite everything, Jackson has enjoyed a great broadcasting career with ESPN since. While he hasn’t gotten a head coaching job in the league again, he is one of the most recognizable broadcasters in the game. The Warriors are not kicking themselves over firing him for Steve Kerr, considering Kerr just won his 4th championship as coach of the Warriors in 2022.
