Stephen Curry Defends Mark Jackson, Calls Owner's Comments a 'Distraction'
Stephen Curry still has Mark Jackson's back.
It's been months since the Golden State Warriors canned Jackson. But Curry, long considered one of his former coach's most ardent supporters, still has respect for the head honcho that guided the team to consecutive playoff berths for the first time since 1991 and 1992โhence the reason he took exception to owner Joe Lacob's recent comments.
โI think itโs unfortunate, just the distraction from what is going on right now,โ Curry said, per the Bay Area News Group's Diamond Leung. โObviously, weโre playing well, and you can nitpick of whatโs the difference between this year and last year, but youโre talking about two great coaches."
Curry's thoughts come in response to Lacob shedding light on why he replaced Jackson with first-time head coach Steve Kerr at a venture capitalist luncheon earlier this month. Though he listed a number of reasons why the organization needed to move on, the decision boiled down to Jackson's deficient likability.
"Part of it was that he couldn't get along with anybody else in the organization," he explained, via Leung. "And look, he did a great job, and I'll always compliment him in many respects, but you can't have 200 people in the organization not like you."
Lacob has since apologized for his sentiments in an email to Leung, calling his judgment "poor" and reiterating that he has the utmost of respect for Golden State's departed head coach.
Cruelly candid though Lacob's comments were, there didn't appear to be any spite behind them. He drew parallels to his NBA ownership in a completely unrelated setting, the aim of which, while shortsighted, wasn't malicious, as ESPN.com's Ethan Strauss argues:
Intentions and, perhaps, situational ignorance aside, Curry has taken exception to what Lacob said, so it will be interesting to see if this incident will have any impact on the team.
Golden State is eighth in offensive efficiencyย and first in defensive efficiency, owns the league's best record and has rattled off 12 straight victories, establishing itself as the NBA's team to beat. The last thing the Warriors need is something like this to mess with their psyches. Kerr has them firing and executing on all cylindersโwhich, without question, contributed to Lacob's comments in the first place.
But this is a squad that has navigated internal drama in the past, beginning with last season and ending with Jackson's exit itself. Kerr isn't an extension of Lacob, either, and he hasn't said anything publicly that would marginalize Jackson's time with the Warriors.
He's touched on just the opposite, in fact.
"We have the best record in the league. That didnโt happen because our staff showed up," Kerr said, via Leung. "Itโs happened over the course of several years, and a lot of people deserve credit for that, including the previous staff.โ
As long as Kerr continues to dole out credit where credit is due and admit what Lacob himself even knows, there's little to see here.
The Warriors are going to be just fine.
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