Golden State Warriors: The Coaching Controversy

The Golden State Warriors have all expressed their desires to have Mark Jackson as their coach in the 2014-15 season. And why wouldn’t they? In three seasons, Coach Jackson has finally grabbed a winning record as an NBA coach. He even garnered praise from Greg Poppovich after the Warriors’ 76-74 loss in San Antonio without All-Star Stephen Curry.

Say what you will about Jackson, but he has the leadership and skills that it takes to lead this franchise. With all these positive things surrounding him and his career as a coach so far, why is their speculation that he might get fired? As good of a coach that he is, if the Warriors had snagged some of the more winnable games at home, they could have a record close to the Los Angeles Clippers, who just eliminated them in the first round of the playoffs.

"But some things are a little disturbing — the lack of being up for some of these games at home, that’s a concern to me– Joe Lacob in interview with Mercury News"

With a record that good, home-court advantage could be very dangerous, especially with the home crowd that the Warriors have. They could have faced off with the Houston Rockets or the Portland Trailblazers, both of which would fall victim to the Warriors’ heavy offensive game and solid defensive game. Instead, they finished sixth and fell to one of NBA’s hottest teams entering the postseason.

The reason that Jackson is such a popular figure with the players is because they have fun when playing for them. He gives them leniency, never yells, and always seems to maintain a calm disposition, of course on the court. He also has experience, playing 18 NBA seasons. He knows what it’s like to be on the court and experience some of the things that the players experience. Stephen Curry is wondering why Jackson is on the hot seat.

"Steph Curry called the scrutiny of Mark Jackson unfair and said he’ll voice his opinion to anyone who will listen all summer.— Rusty Simmons (@Rusty_SFChron) May 4, 2014"

Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala both flung their support in for Jackson as well.

"“That’s definitely what Coach has built, guys who are going to give max effort,” forward Draymond Green said. “That’s what he preaches every single day. And you fall in line, everybody. You just fall in line. If you have a great leader, you fall in line.”“His presence affects the entire team just from a respect level, from a spiritual level, making every guy a better man,” forward Andre Iguodala said. “And those are the things you’ll remember looking back on your career, not only how you grew as a basketball player but how you grew as a man. It’s a very rare trait in a basketball coach.”-Mercury News"