Update On Mark Jackson Rumors: Joe Lacob Relationship, Plus Banning Jerry West A Lie

Update On Mark Jackson Rumors: Joe Lacob Relationship, Plus Banning Jerry West A Lie (Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account)

WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY — On the heels of a possible elimination from the playoffs, more sparring has occurred on the topic of Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob‘s impending off-season decision on whether or not to retain head coach Mark Jackson for the long-term future.

After Zach Lowe mentioned in an article about the Donald Sterling situation that Jackson banned Warriors adviser Jerry West from attending team practices, Sam Amick of USA Today reported the following:

In response to a Grantland report indicating he had asked that Warriors adviser and Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West not attend most practices and team activities, Jackson chose to go on the offensive.
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“That’s a lie,” Jackson told USA TODAY Sports after the Clippers’ 113-103 Game 5 win Tuesday. “Come on. That’s a lie. That’s disrespectful.”
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When asked directly if West — who joined the team when the group led by Joe Lacob took over ownership in the summer of 2010 — was welcome at his practices, Jackson said, “Absolutely. He has been at the practices. He’s there. That’s a flat-out lie.”

LetsGoWarriors.com frequently attends practices and we have seen West at two or three practices this season. On January 27th, West was seen talking to Harrison Barnes. On February 5th, West was seen talking to Stephen Curry as well as Jermaine O’Neal.

Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group has written two articles since this past Tuesday, April 29th, when the news broke on former Warriors assistant coach Darren Erman‘s secret taping of conversations at the Warriors practice facility.

In the first, Kawakami wrote:

What I’ve written from the day Erman was fired is what I believe: This plus the reassignment of Brian Scalabrine, reportedly for insubordinate actions towards Jackson and other staffers, is illustrative of an unstable situation.
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You can blame Joe Lacob and the front office for this (exerting pressure on the team and the coaching staff to show more signs of improvement) or you can blame Scalabrine and Erman for acting in a way that forced their dispatching.
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Or, as I believe the Warriors front office is generally judging this, you can point out that Jackson is the one who put together this staff, and if two of his top guys splinter off in other directions — again, while the team is WINNING — there could be tough conclusions made about Jackson’s tenure.

In that post, Kawakami also reiterated Lacob’s ties to potential coaching candidates Steve Kerr and Fred Hoiberg.

In the second post, Kawakami revealed “strains and fissures” in the relationship between Lacob and Jackson:

Mark Jackson coaches the Warriors in Oakland but keeps his home base in Southern California, which is a small detail but the details matter.
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They especially matter when team ownership has expressed a desire for Jackson to establish at least partial residence here.
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That issue was raised when co-owner Joe Lacob and Jackson’s agent held brief contract extension talks last off-season, according to an NBA source.
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Lacob’s request was dropped even before the contract discussions were tabled, the source said, and neither side has ever acknowledged that the conversations happened at all.
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But now, with Jackson possibly coaching the Warriors for the final time Thursday in Game 6 against the Clippers, those aborted talks last summer can be viewed as some of the first cracks in this relationship.
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They’re fissures now, widening by the week, even after a 51-victory regular season and back-to-back playoff appearances.
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If the Warriors keep Jackson, they will almost certainly have to avoid a lame-duck situation next year and give him an extension this summer.
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And Jackson will not come cheaply as he did three years ago, I guarantee you that.
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Maybe that’s exactly what Lacob found out last off-season, by the way, and maybe that’s what stopped everything back then.
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And why the odds are currently pointing to Jackson’s departure at the end of the playoff run, I’d say.
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The two sides aren’t in love with each other any more, and I think they first started to realize the big and little details of that last summer.

Finally, in an under-the-radar post, SeaDubsCentral.com’s Adam Johnson, a beatwriter for Golden State’s D-League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, reported that there was a requirement for the NBA Warriors to reach the Western Conference Finals, otherwise Jackson would be fired:

Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson needs his team to reach the Western Conference Finals to keep his job, multiple sources told Sea Dubs Central.
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Management wants to see a marked improvement, and anything less than that will be seen as a step backwards, according to one source.
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Another source said the situation with management and Mark Jackson is ‘cut and dry’.

Here’s a general timeline of Jackson’s “hot seat” status:

• Kawakami’s interview with Lacob, posted on February 11th. The Warriors were 31-21 at the time.
• Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Brian Scalabrine has been demoted and calls Jackson’s staff “dysfunctional”.
• Erman is fired for “violating team policy” and Kawakami also uses the word “dysfunctional” to describe the current stretch of Jackson’s coaching tenure.
• ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard reveals the reason for Erman’s firing an hour before Wojnarowski reports that Erman will join the Boston Celtics as Director of Scouting, while saying, “The odd behavior of Erman and Scalabrine is emblematic of the dysfunction that has recently engulfed the Warriors franchise.”

On April 10th, Bay Area News Group beatwriter Diamond Leung reported the following after interviewing Lacob:

Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob declined to assess the job coach Mark Jackson has done this season, saying it would be evaluated after the season whether or not the team meets expectations.
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“We’re having a good year, and it’s not over yet,” Lacob said after being honored Wednesday with an award at a fundraiser for First Graduate. “Interim results do not matter. Remember this: What matters is at the end of the year. We take a look back at how we did and see where we can improve.”
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Asked about Jackson, Lacob noted general manager Bob Myers already addressed the issue with a vote of confidence and that he would “let those words suffice.”
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“Mark and I get along very well,” Lacob said. “This idea that Mark and I don’t get along, I will just address that and say that’s not true. We get along very well.
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“Bob gets along with Mark. I get along with Bob. We all get along, so we’re all driving in the same direction, and hopefully we’re going to keep our goals this year moving forward.”
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“It’s a couple of disagreements within the coaching staff which at the end of the day those are minor setbacks,” Lacob said. “They’re things that we will deal with and move forward and to the extent there’s any problems we’ll fix them, but that’s after the year’s over.”

After the 2012-13 season ended, Golden State’s front office picked up the team option on the fourth year of Jackson’s four-year, $8-million-dollar contract, in July 2013. He is guaranteed his NBA coaching salary, one of the lowest in the NBA, until the end of the 2014-15 season.

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