During the NBA Christmas Game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors, Mark Jackson, who had coached the Warriors not so long ago, made a statement that could be taken several ways despite him picking his words super carefully.
Jackson talked about his boy Stephen Curry, who’s influence to the game has confirmed the new form of basketball the NBA will take for the next generation. Because of the influence, Jackson thinks that kids today will look up to Curry and focus solely on shooting and not accounting for the rest of the game.
Curry has recently responded to his former coach’s comments.
“After I heard all of what he was talking about, I understand where he’s coming from – that being for the youth of today and how they watch us play or watch me in particular, and they want to go out and try to do the same thing,” Curry said Saturday. “It’s all about practice and routine and repetition that can help you get to that point, so you can’t skip that part of the process.
“I wish he would have phrased it just a little bit differently. I think I’m trying to inspire people to see the game differently in a positive way…I get what he was saying. There was a compliment in there. Knowing him personally, I think that’s what he meant.”
Now when I wrote about Jackson’s initial comments, I said I understood where he was coming from, like Curry does. But even if kids look up to him it’s not like coaches in the high school/college ranks will just give in and go with the Grinnell system of jacking up shots all the time.
