Mark Harris
Videos by OutKick
It did not take long for someone to scream racism after the Phoenix Suns decided to part ways with head coach Monty Williams after their postseason exit. Former NBA player Stephen Jackson gladly ran with the narrative that Williams’ skin color played a part in his firing.
Phoenix calling it quits with Williams was absolutely a surprise. He led the Suns to the NBA Finals in 2021 and punched back-to-back trips to the Western Conference semifinals over the last two seasons.
On top of that, Phoenix’s ‘big three’ of Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, and Devin Booker barely shared a cup of coffee together after Durant was acquired at the trade deadline and Paul was in and out of the lineup with injuries.
But, two things can be true at once: Williams’ firing is surprising and it also has nothing to do with the color of his skin.
READ: STEPHEN JACKSON DOUBLES DOWN ON IGNORANCE AND JEWISH STEREOTYPES
“Give this team another year to have a whole season of training camp and all this together to see if they could pull it off,” Jackson said on the ‘Paper Route‘ podcast.
“I didn’t think they were gonna get rid of the coach. I think he was the right coach for the job. But you know how they do. When teams come together like this, they’re quick to go and find a white coach somewhere around, just throw him in that position so he can get all the credit.”
This is a grown man in the year 2023 making the argument that an NBA franchise fired a black head coach just so they could hire a white head coach to make them look good if/when the team succeeds.
Ty Lue, who is black, is being linked as the favorite to fill the coaching vacancy in Phoenix. Don’t expect to see Jackson walk back his comments if the Suns hire a black coach to replace Williams, or Doc Rivers who was also fired for that matter, he’ll likely just ignore any criticism that comes his way.
I have self-awareness of my own personal biases, worldview, blind spots, etc., and I’m open minded to different perspectives… However… when public figures throw out these accusations with no substance to back it up, it makes other cases that may be real racism easy to dismiss. Steven Jackson undermines the cause he believes in by throwing this bag of dog shit out there.
There have only been two instances I can recall in my life where a black coach was fired and a white coach took the team soon thereafter to the pinnacle. 1) Tony Dungy/Jon Gruden & 2) Mark Jackson/Steve Kerr. The former got another opportunity and won a Super Bowl. The latter got a great gig in calling games for a broadcast network. And if Mark Jackson wanted back in to coaching the opportunity would be there.
Lot of racists in the NBA. I don’t understand White people watching. They must be self loathing.