Ex-Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson has had a rough relationship with the organization, especially since they fired him.
The latest feud between Jackson and the team came on Thursday, when he said in a radio interview on The Dan Patrick Show(per CSN Bay Area):
“If you twisted my arm today, I would probably vote for James Harden. And the reason why is because he singlehandedly has put that Houston Rockets team in position that they’re in today.
“It’d be tough. I think Steph Curry, I’m totally fine with, obviously, he’s my guy. I’m fine with selecting him. The season that he’s had has been incredible. Westbrook with 10 triple-doubles and carrying that team, injury prone, into the playoffs. LeBron being the best player in the world. But I think right now I would go with James Harden for what he’s done. And he’s stepped up his game defensively. He’s not a great defender, but he’s competing on the defensive end.”
Mark Jackson picking Harden over Curry is surprising considering that Curry defended Jackson when the rest of the organization was against him. Back when Jackson was the Warriors’ coach, and there were talks of his job being in jeopardy, Curry said, per Diamond Leung of San Jose Mercury News
“I love Coach more than anybody, and I think for him to be in a situation where his job is under scrutiny and under question is totally unfair,” Curry said. “And it would definitely be a shock to me if anything like that were to happen.”
Curry responded to Jackson’s endorsement of Harden(per ESPN’s Ethan Strauss):
Curry's thoughts on Mark Jackson's MVP take, this time with a typo fixed pic.twitter.com/cBAoUyeFK9
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) April 3, 2015
Andrew Bogut also talked with Strauss about Jackson’s comments.
Hilarity when Bogut talked Curry for MVP: "Well what's his name said no. What's that guy's name? Mark? I don't remember his name"
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) April 3, 2015
Jackson certainly has a rocky relationship with the Warriors, and this incident hasn’t helped with that. However, he is entitled to his own opinions, and as he is no longer affiliated with the organization, he can say what he wants.
