Gary Sheffield, Jr
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Mark Jackson has been given the shaft ever since the Warriors let him go after building the Steph/Klay duo. Steve Kerr practically walked through the door to a ready-made roster meanwhile Mark Jackson spent the next decade on TV as a broadcaster. Plenty of players vouched for Jackson to make a return, and now he’s finally making headway. The problem? He might get hired by the Sacramento Kings. Yikes.
Probably don’t have to dig too deep into why this job stinks — we’ll do it for fun, though.
Also covered: Mark Jackson has impressed Kings owner Vivek Ranadive in the interview process to date and appears to have his best shot at an NBA coaching job since his Golden State ouster eight years ago –> https://t.co/t2E8SwNy5L https://t.co/GVPhBGlKTB
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 2, 2022
Steph Curry and Klay Thompson have endorsed the job Mark Jackson did with the Warriors between 2011 and 2014 that made everyone feel like he’d be back in the league at some point. High-profile organizations like the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers have held multiple coaching searches yet Jackson never peaked anyone’s interest. And obviously it’s still debatable if he’s a great coach, because if he was, why wouldn’t he have been hired in any of the past eight offseasons?
Doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not worth hiring, but it does raise the question. We know for sure that the players like him as a person.
But the Sacramento Kings? Talk about an impossible job. A team that just traded young studs Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield to the Pacers, and then the team’s best player is De’Aaron Fox. Not a bad player — also not a guy you want leading your franchise. And when you’re looking around the NBA that is very much controlled by star talent, the Kings look more dead than a Chick-Fil-A on Sundays. Poor Mark Jackson.
The Kings, however, would be pretty lucky they’re getting any coach that knows how to build a culture to potentially live in Sacramento, arguably the worst city on earth behind San Francisco and probably Portland. Why can’t we throw Mark Jackson a bone and let him live in Orlando with beautiful weather and lenient taxes? Least we could do is let the man live comfortably coaching an underwhelming squad that’s not getting any help from that front office.
