Posing the question of whether there existed a rift in the Golden State Warriors’ front office would have garnered an incredulous reaction of the most sincere kind just a few weeks ago.
Despite not receiving a contract extension after last season’s playoff run, head coach Mark Jackson maintained more than amicable relations with majority owner Joe Lacob and general manager Bob Myers.
The Warriors were winning, Lacob was seen smiling on the sidelines and Myers was off handling customary managerial duties in the background—all without any notable drama.
Then Lacob offered up some candid—and rather critical—remarks about coach Jackson.
In a February interview with Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News, Lacob conveyed his frustration with the Warriors’ inconsistency, especially against inferior squads at home.
Said the team’s owner: “The road’s been fine. But at home we’ve lost…four games that we just absolutely should’ve won.”
“The team wasn’t ready in those games,” added Lacob, referring to matchups with the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Charlotte Bobcats.
“But if we had (won those games), that’s the difference between…35-17 and being 31-21 now. We could be tied essentially with the Clippers for fourth.”
He specifically addressed Jackson’s performance later on in the interview.
“I do think our coach has done a good job—we have had some big wins, a lot of wins on the road,” said Lacob.
But?
“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.”
Let’s now fast forward to March 25 where some additional disturbing developments surfaced—ones that trace back to the time of Jackson’s original hiring in 2011.
Veteran scribe of Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski broke the story of Jackson’s forced reassignment of assistant coach Brian Scalabrine. The Warriors later revealed that Scalabrine would report to their D-league affiliate in Santa Cruz, CA.
Despite “ownership and management [being] strong advocates of Scalabrine and his performance on the job,” they deferred authority to Jackson on his choice of assistants.
Such a demotion wasn’t a significant move in and of itself. But its reflection of recent historical actions by Jackson was anything but.
Wojnarowski highlighted that he and former top assistant (and now head coach of the Sacramento Kings) Michael Malone went “weeks without speaking to each other a year ago.”
Imagine if San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh did the same with offensive coordinator Greg Roman. Cross-sports analogies notwithstanding, that lack of communication would utterly doom a football team.
Wojnarowski then encapsulated the controversial situation with this statement:
“Jackson’s difficulty with managing his coaching staff and creating a functional work environment has developed into one of the issues that threatens his future on the job.”
Couple that remark with Jackson’s deficient strategic know-how near the end of games, the Warriors’ latest inexcusable loss to the miserable New York Knicks at home and a report that “there have been no conversations about an extension”—what emerges?
An undeniable rift between Jackson and Golden State’s front office.
He may in fact have an “ownership group and a management group that allows [him] to pick [his] staff,” per an ESPN article that cited Jackson following Scalabrine’s demotion.
There’s also no denying the entire squad’s collective support for the head coach. They respect him, play hard for him and in the words of team superstar Stephen Curry, “I know everybody in that locker room supports him 100 percent.”
But when the Warriors lose games they shouldn’t, when fans know it and the owner vocalizes it, a legitimate problem exists.
If Lacob’s goal at the start of the season was “to get into the top four in the West and get home-court advantage in (the first round of) the playoffs,” it’s not going away anytime soon.
Jackson must advance to the conference finals if he desires a new contract.
Otherwise, his time in Oakland could end prematurely—much like any potential early postseason exit in 2013-2014.
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