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.