Mark Jackson Comments on D'Angelo Russell, Nick Young Leaked Video
Broadcaster Mark Jackson turned some heads during Sunday’s telecast of the game between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder when he made comments apparently comparing Los Angeles Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell's current situation to the one of former Golden State Warriors assistant head coach and current New Orleans Pelicans associate head coach Darren Erman.
Matt Moore of CBS Sports noted Jackson said, “The good news for [Russell] is that he could very well one day be an associate head coach in this league.”
Jackson was likely referring to Erman, who was fired in 2014 when Jackson was still the head coach of the Warriors. Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reported in April 2014 that Erman was fired for a “violation of company policy,” but his “violation was secretly recording conversations between the team's coaches and players, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.”
Broussard cited sources and said it was unclear what Erman did with those recordings, but they were done without the knowledge of the participants. Some wondered if Erman shared the recordings with the Warriors’ front office executives.
Bleacher Report shared video of Jackson's comments:
While he was fired in Golden State, he was quickly hired to be the Boston Celtics’ director of NBA scouting for the 2014-15 campaign. He then agreed with the Pelicans to become the associate head coach before the 2015-16 season—hence, Jackson’s comments.
Moore couldn’t believe Jackson was still bringing up the incident in 2016:
NBA fans will surely see a parallel between Erman and the lingering drama between Russell and Nick Young. According to Baxter Holmes and Marc Stein of ESPN.com, the trust between Russell and his teammates was “eroding” after the rookie recorded a private conversation he had with Young.
The conversation surfaced in a video in which Young talks about being with women outside of his fiance, Iggy Azalea.
Holmes and Stein said it wasn’t clear how that video leaked, but “sources say the resulting tension in the Lakers’ locker room in recent days was among the factors that contributed to L.A.’s limp showing in Salt Lake City on Monday night, a 48-point pounding from the Utah Jazz.”
Holmes and Stein also cited ESPN.com’s Ramona Shelburne, who quoted a source who said that “it’s about as bad as it can get. There were trust issues already. Now there’s no trust.”
The good news for the Lakers is things appeared to take a brief turn for the better on Wednesday when they beat the Miami Heat, 102-100, in overtime. Russell scored 16 points during the victory in Los Angeles’ first game since the embarrassing showing against the Jazz.
Russell is still only 20 years old and figures to be a major part of the rebuilding efforts in Los Angeles. While his future may or may not include an associate head coaching position as Jackson suggested, he can help heal some of the tension in the locker room by playing winning basketball and establishing himself as a force in the NBA.
It will likely take some time, but the Lakers will be depending on the young playmaker to help them return to the postseason in the future.
