Discerning whether Mark Jackson’s remarks about Jason Collins led to his firing involves a reasoning process that can’t possibly be 100 percent objective.
The contextual complexities simply won’t allow it.
On one side you have Jackson: A highly productive former NBA point guard and self-professed Christian man who conducts his life based on traditional teachings found in the Bible.
On the other side lies Collins, a less accomplished but still longstanding player who courageously announced to the world in February that he is gay. Homosexuality is a “way of life” that biblical scripture—and those who subscribe to it—don’t necessarily condone.
And in the middle, one finds the Golden State Warriors, team management and the overarching Bay Area culture.
The Warriors are a modern, progressive and fundamentally accepting organization that sets its roots in the equally forward-thinking and socially liberal Northern California. Its president, Rick Welts, remains the NBA’s only openly gay top-level executive, and was the first of his position in professional sports when he came out in 2011.
So, when Jackson responded coldly with, “not in my locker room,” to a reporter’s question over Collins’ possible fit with Golden State back in February, the potential ramifications being applied to his job security wasn’t a hard connection to make.
The perception of sheer and total intolerance toward homosexuals couldn’t be ignored.
Now, in interest of full disclosure, Sarah Todd of SFBay.ca reported that Jackson and Welts had a “conversation about it” soon after the situation became public.
She provided excerpts of an interview with KQED’s Scott Shafer in which Welts revealed that he was indeed “disappointed.” But he also said they “talked it out” and emerged “in a good place.”
Yet fast forward to today, which marks one month after the Warriors fired Jackson and three weeks after they hired Steve Kerr, and the cause-and-effect seems as logical as ever.
Jackson was outwardly intolerant and team brass wouldn’t tolerate it.
But, like most other controversies, such clear-cut deductions are rarely the case.
Jackson the coach lacked technical expertise and offensive ingenuity. And Jackson the supposed leader of men failed to do so several times, contributing to multiple blown games at home and costing the Warriors a much-needed higher playoff seed.
He also oversaw a coaching staff that epitomized controversy and dysfunction.
From total non-communication with top assistant Michael Malone in 2012, to Brian Scalabrine’s forced reassignment to the Warriors’ D-League affiliate in March, to Darren Erman secretly recording conversations between coaches and players—there was no shortage of unnecessary disorder among the coaching ranks under Jackson’s watch.
Owner Joe Lacob touched upon all of these conflicting dynamics in an interview with the Bay Area News Group’s Tim Kawakami, Rusty Simmons and Monte Poole.
Suffice it to say, despite being uncharacteristically PC, Lacob ultimately “took all that [into] account,” and cited a major “difference in philosophy.”
Did that philosophy include Jackson’s religious beliefs and their implications toward Collins?
Lacob rejected the notion—after all, what else could he have said?
So, from the outside looking in, this comes down to Jackson hitting his ceiling.
He did commendable work developing the backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. But the offense continually stagnated due to improper utilization of these two upper-echelon shooters.
He instilled a sustainable defensive mentality that earned top-four status in points allowed per 100 possessions this year. Yet this unit lacked focus and discipline at the most inopportune of times.
And Jackson did lead Golden State to the third-highest win total in franchise history.
But, again, he could—and should—have won “five or six or seven [more] games.”
The question, then, is whether newly minted head coach Steve Kerr will succeed where Jackson did not—be it coaching, philosophy or otherwise.
Said Lacob to USA Today’s Sam Amick: “We went out and we wanted to find the best guy to lead this team to the next level…That’s what we’ve got.”
Seeing as Kerr and Welts once thrived together for three years in Phoenix, let’s just say a first-round playoff exit won’t necessitate a return to the TNT broadcast booth.
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