It's done. Mark Jackson has been fired.





Jackson had rubbed too many people in the organization the wrong way. It wasn't just about philosophical differences between he and co-owner Joe Lacob, or the two assistant coaches. He told assistant general manager Kirk Lacob, the owner's son, not to talk to his assistant coaches. He didn't want Jerry West at practice. Many staffers and non-basketball operatives also reported feeling uncomfortable around Jackson. Some of it was his defensiveness, some of it the religious overtones that are just part of Jackson the man, some of it his skepticism about others' agendas.


As one source pointed out, much of the discord was based on perception. But people felt like they had to choose sides. No matter who's to blame, the work environment was too uncomfortable to move forward with Jackson as the coach.

The players knew this was the environment outside of the locker room but felt like it wasn't worthy of his termination. They figured his record -- 98 wins in two years, back-to-back playoffs, a first-round upset over Denver and an improbable near-upset of the Clippers -- was enough to keep him as their coach. But the situation was too bad, per management, for their pleas to change Jackson's fate.

That on top of Lacob's concerns whether Jackson is the coach of the future, whether he would be willing to change his assistant coaches, made it an obvious move for the Warriors. Jackson could've done all that, and moved to the Bay Area, and taken a salary acceptable to the Warriors' taste. But the damage was too much, the negative attention attached to him was too great to move forward.

