mark jackson coaching style: love by steph curry but not transitive for #dubnation (Photo: BlackSportsOnline.com)
WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — The transitive property of mathematics states that if A equals B and B equals C, then A must also equal C. For whatever reason, at the moment, it’s not quite that straightforward for Warriors fans.
By now it’s no secret that the face of the Golden State Warriors franchise, budding superstar point guard Stephen Curry, loves his head coach Mark Jackson. There’s now even speculation that any Warriors management desire for a coaching change would have to involve Curry.
He’s not the first Warrior to express such sentiments. Coach Jackson’s “Just Us” culture has been well-documented and from this observer’s arm’s-length distance, Curry probably doesn’t even have the closest player relationship with his head coach. All indications are that Jackson’s bond with Draymond Green usurps even that of Curry.
And yet, that feeling of trust is all but lost among some Warriors fans in so-called #DubNation, one of most fervent fanbases on social media.
One fan on our Facebook page wrote, as is the case often times when Jackson gives a response to a certain critique or hot topic, “Cop out.” When we asked for clarification, we got a bombshell of a response.
“When they ask him about something, he never answers anything,” the commenter wrote, “He acts more like a preacher than a coach. I respect religion, I do, but he has a job to do. I want a coach that gets excited, that fires up his squad. When they asked him about it, he said I have my own way of dealing with that kind of thing. I don’t have to fit what people want me to be. I just hate that ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude. It drives me nuts and it also seems it drives the coaching staff nuts too.”
As often times happens, one controversy becomes a generalization. Again, from an arm’s length and observing the camaraderie of the team including its coaches, there have been more examples of Jackson getting along with his coaching staff swimmingly than the opposite. Reports of how Jackson holds his players accountable are also not necessarily abundant in the media.
Another commenter chimed in, “We need finger pointing. We need guys to say, ‘Hey, I need to step my game up’. We need guys to own their mistakes but instead we get, ‘We gotta be better, we gotta be better, we gotta be better.'”
Yet another commenter said that she “can’t stand his bravado. It’s fake and hides an insecure ass coach.”
On the heels of the Brian Scalabrine demotion to the D-League Santa Cruz Warriors on Tuesday, Curry’s quotes from Wednesday of his complete support of Jackson abounded throughout the media.
Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:
Independent of the controversy, Curry said Jackson was a primary reason the Warriors had elevated their status the past two seasons and added that he loves playing for him.
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“The transformation we’ve had since Coach Jackson has been here is obviously evident, and it’s raised the expectations,” he said. “We’re on pace for the best record in 20 years. That’s a sign of good change. I understand what he’s done for us being in the locker room every single day just observing from my rookie year to now. Mostly all of that is because of him. So what people say, what criticism he takes, I know he takes it on the chin and it doesn’t waver his confidence about leading us. That’s what I admire most about him.
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Lacob has to grasp how rare this opportunity is. If Yahoo.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who wrote an article about the Warriors’ “increasingly dysfunctional atmosphere,” wanted to see dysfunction, he should have dropped by any time during the past 15 years or so.
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One definition of dysfunction is “not performing normally.” In that respect this is the most dysfunctional Warriors team in two decades, because it’s not bad.
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“We’re two years removed from being a terrible basketball team,” Stephen Curry said Wednesday after practice. “The transformation we’ve had since coach Jackson has been here has been obviously evident, and it raises expectations. Yeah, we’ve lost some winnable games we shouldn’t have along the way, but that’s part of the growth process. We’re on pace for the best season in 20 years – that’s the sign of good change. I support Coach 100 percent and understand what he’s done for us. … Mostly all of (the change), that’s as a result of him.”
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Actually, Lacob brought about most of the change, including the new coach. But Curry was reacting to reports that Jackson’s butt is on the line, and the star player left no doubt about his support. From every indication, Curry’s teammates feel the same.
As far as Scalabrine is concerned, Curry tried to give his best bottom-line summation from the players’ point of view.
“I don’t think he’d be a guy to fly off the cuff,” said Curry of Jackson and Jackson’s decision while addressing the media this past Tuesday after practice, “They don’t tell us the details about what happened. We didn’t see anything, so it’s about him making a decision and us staying focused on what the task is this season.”
According to Curry, the Warriors are as focused as they have been all season, stating the team is “tight as can be at this point”.
“The goal is to get the best seeding we can going into the playoffs, playing the best basketball and go from there,” Curry said, “Coach has done a great job all year of putting us in position to be successful.”
But what of the games that should have been won?
“We’ve had some slip ups here and there and, to certain people, not live up to expectations,” Curry added, “We are who we are and that’s a great thing for us moving forward as an organization. (It’s) obviously a big month or three weeks coming up (wanting) to finish the season strong.”
Curry pointed to the firings of George Karl and Lionel Hollins, despite earning a Coach Of The Year award and a spot in the Western Conference Finals, respectively, and called those situations “kind of weird”.
“I love Coach and everything’s he’s about. I love playing for him and that’s all that matters to me,” Curry said in conclusion of the questions surrounding the recent media-driven controversies.
With “certain people” in #DubNation, it’s obviously not that simple.
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