Oh the life of a Warriors fan. W’s fans have had plenty of down time over the years to reflect on bad decisions since we’ve seen so many of them. Strangely I’ve found this whole Mark Jackson fiasco entertaining, but mostly because of the reaction it got. It seemed like a lot of people around the bay area wanted heads to roll in the front office for it. I watched about 90% of their games this season, and more than a handful of times they looked unprepared and unmotivated. Especially against some of the weaker teams in the league. I’m not saying that I’m an expert, but for a guy that’s supposed be such a good motivator, you shouldn’t be losing that many of those types of games especially not 10 of them over a year in a conference as good as the West. If they won 5 of those 10 that I thought they should’ve won, they would’ve been ahead of the Rockets and Blazers in the standings. The lack of preparation showed on the offensive end as well with isolation plays taking up way too many possessions. Another thing that really bugged me was the hockey substitution pattern he had, especially when their bench was proven to be terrible. Why would you put in 5 not very good players at once? Can’t you mix and match some starters with the bench? Anyways, the only thing I was really concerned about when I heard the MJ news was, I hope they get someone that Curry likes enough to stay here when his contract is up in 3 years.
I’ve heard a lot of outrage from national media, local media, and fans, but in all honesty I think it stems back to the previous ownership group that didn’t get anything right on just about every level. I’m not the biggest fan of Lacob as a person and how visible of an owner he is, but he sure has helped them come a long way from when he first bought the team in 2010. I might be one of the few out there that truly trusts this ownership group. After someone gets fired you have to look back at the series of smart moves which gave Mark Jackson the tools to actually be a successful coach. After all, your team is only as good as your players, and without the pieces you don’t go from 27 to 48 to 51 wins. The way a lot of media seems to spin it, is that MJ was the only reason they made the improvement.
The first move they made that really got me excited about the new regime wasn’t a player signing, it was hiring The Logo, Jerry West as an adviser to the team. After years of watching the clueless Larry Riley sign bad contracts and trade players away and see them excel elsewhere, we finally had someone we could lean on and trust to make the right moves. He was instrumental in the selection of Klay Thompson and Draymond Green during the 2011 draft who look like damn good players at the moment.
They then promoted Bob Myers to the GM position. I wasn’t overly excited about that one, but the former agent has pulled off some great moves in his time here. The two players that were on that 2011 team that are still here when he was hired are David Lee and Stephen Curry. He pulled off the Bogut for Monta trade, which obviously worked out better for the W’s than it did for the Bucks. That trade also freed up the team to be Curry and Klay’s team and helped them grow into the players they are today. He made the cap sucking corpses of Andris Biendris, Richard Jefferson, and Brandon Rush turn into the swiss army knife Andre Iguodala. He found the valuable assets in Jarret Jack and Carl Landry for the 12-13 season. Oh and he hired Mark Jackson to coach this team. Sure, they’ve had some mis-steps like using the amnesty on Charlie Bell instead of Andris Biendris, but at least that move was to make room to give Deandre Jordan and Tyson Chandler offer sheets.
So why am I not bent out of shape that they let Jackson go? Because there’s starting to be a track record with this ownership group and making SMART decisions. Honestly if you told me three years ago when they took over that they’d be in back to back playoffs and have one of the best starting fives in the league, I would’ve probably thought you were on crack. It has happened though, and contrary to public opinion it seems like this ownership group has a plan, and is being tactical in the way they are making moves. I’ve never been able to say that or thought I’d be able to say that. They stuck out with Keith Smart, and did well with Jackson, but weren’t satisfied, so we’ll see if they find THE guy this time around.
By
cali4dre
chappy81
dyslecix
mceezy
Doin Work 
May 8th, 2014 at 3:14 pm
First off, glad to see Doin-Work is back…well, doing work! When I read the post the first thing that jumped out at me was your local perspective versus the national one. We in the Philly region could never get the rest of the country to understand Andy Reid was not the greatest football coach who ever lived. When Eagles fans around our parts started to finally get fed up with the premature timeouts, abandonment of plays working well and no ability to make second-half adjustments the “nationals” didn’t get it. We saw every play. They only saw highlights. I surely am going to take the opinion of someone like yourself who has seen activity on the front lines night in and night out over some NBA national reporter just looking at the won-loss records and some top clips from games played. Sounds like Mark had to go. I preferred him on TV anyway…
May 8th, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Yeah, it’s been quite a while since we’ve written on here! Can’t say for sure it will continue, but sometimes it only takes one post to get the ball rolling! I didn’t necessarily not like MJ, but he did some very frustrating things that I feel like are overlooked from a basketball standpoint. I could care less about his abilities to get along with people or what coaches he fired. The fact remains that they did have some issues on the court, and never really seemed to address them as the year went along. If I saw improvement in the offense, and his rotations maybe I’d be more angry…
May 8th, 2014 at 3:31 pm
I couldn’t have said it better myself!
May 10th, 2014 at 5:09 am
Mark Jackson’s abrupt departure given the rumors that emanated with his firing doesn’t come as a surprise . He should keep his personal feelings to himself and just get the job done after-all wasn’t that the reason he was hired by Joe Lacob and Peter Guber ?
There must be something in the water , some sort of parasite that seems to be affecting the state of California, as it relates to the basketball franchises .
tophatal ………..
May 15th, 2014 at 4:11 pm
He took everything way too personal. Sometimes being so defensive about everything makes you not look comfortable in your own skin…
May 16th, 2014 at 7:52 am
chappy
You’re so right on that and there is a time and a place for such a debate and the locker room among the players was not the time or the place .
Mark Mark Jackson is likely to find another coaching position within the NBA but the caveat, will be, that he will be asked to keep his personal beliefs away from his place of employment . I mean , we have already seen the hypocrisy of the NBA and how they deal with the owners and their outlandish behavior . Cases in point are that of Donald Sterling of the Clippers and Rich DeVos of the Orlando Magic and their repeated patterns of behavior , which were time after time ignored by David Stern and his successor Adam Silver but yet some suggest that Stern was good for the league as a commissioner ? That is simply apathy and sheer stupidity on the part NBA fan-base and media in general .
May 15th, 2014 at 2:47 pm
Was that all it took to get a peep out of you? A Mark Jackson firing?
Where the hell have you guys been?
May 15th, 2014 at 4:09 pm
Ha I was more fired up about the articles I read about why he was fired (race, coaches, etc.) instead of the basketball related deficiencies he made that frustrated me. It got me to break out a post. I’m not sure it will continue though. Besides work, I’m taking classes so studying and watching sports in my non work time has taken a toll on my blogging…
Were we lucky to miss out on SVG? I know you probably followed him closely during his time with Orlando. I didn’t really have an opinion either way with him or Kerr.
How have you been?
May 15th, 2014 at 8:29 pm
I’ve been great, man. Was worried about ya’. Stop by the Chump some time and contribute to the chatter. I’ve changed things around and have a few other things in the works we should talk about.
While I agree SVG would have done well with that team, it all depends on how the new coach (that being Kerr) can step in and earn that locker room’s trust.
It seems like most of the players had MJ’s back. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Again, what I don’t get is, as good as this team was, they weren’t as good as San Anton, OKC, or obviously even the Clippers.
So why hang MJ’s head over that series?
But I guess they’re the Warriors. That’s what they do.
Little bit of trivia for you.
Do you know what Steve Kerr’s head coaching record is?
Answer: 0-0
May 16th, 2014 at 6:35 am
I have read a few of your posts here and there, just haven’t commented. I like the new layout! MJ did have the players support, except maybe Bogut. I worry most that curry was really sad about the departure.
I do think Jackson did a good job overall, but there was some baggage with him, and no they aren’t a better overall talent wise as the Sonics, Spurs, or Clippers… Especially with the injuries they had! I think it was decided well before the series he’d be gone.
Kerr is going to have lots of pressure, but I have more confidence in him than Kidd.
May 16th, 2014 at 7:57 am
If at all interested let me know what you think of the following ?
NBA piece
http://tophatal.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/it-takes-a-village-to-raise-a-child-but-several-idiots-have-simply-ruined-the-image-of-the-nba/
NFL
http://tophatal.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/its-not-rocket-science-so-why-turn-it-into-something-it-is-not/
MLB
http://tophatal.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/its-not-the-journey-itself-but-the-first-step-taken-that-tends-to-be-the-hardest/
tophatal .. ………………