Warriors dismissed Jackson after three relatively successful years as coach.
Former Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson has revealed he is upset by the way in which his firing was handled but was happy with results on the court.
The third-year coach was fired on Tuesday despite guiding the Warriors to a 51-31 regular season and a playoff showing for a second consecutive season.
While they eventually lost to the Los Angeles Clippers in seven this year, many felt that his firing was harsh as he continued to build a project in Oakland.
However, the Warriors made their decision and will begin the search for a new coach in the coming weeks, while Jackson has reflected on his time with the franchise and is disappointed with the way things ended.
“We did it without David Lee last year in the playoffs, and we were asked to do it this year without [Andrew] Bogut unfortunately,” Jackson said in a radio interview with 95.7 The Game, as reported by ESPN.
“And up one [point] in a Game 7 on the road against a No. 3 seed with two of the top 10 players in the world, the Sixth Man of the Year Award winner and a future Hall of Fame coach — I’d say we’re proud of what we’ve done on the floor.”
However, Jackson was less than thrilled with the way that his sacking was being reported as he was in a meeting with owner Joe Lacob, with reports surfacing that he would be fired before the Warriors confirmed the news in a release.
“The unfortunate thing is I go in an office with an owner and a general manager, just us three, and while in our office it’s tweeted out that I’m in a meeting and I’m about to be fired. That’s not how you conduct business,” he added.
“And if that’s how business relationships are supposed to be done, well then they’re 100 percent right, I did not conduct business the right way if that’s the right way. And that’s unfortunate.”
The former Warriors coach touched on various topics during the interview, dismissing the notion that by living in Los Angeles he created friction between himself and the organisation, while he also moved to deny speculation that he had issues with assistant general manager, Kirk Lacob.
Jackson’s final few months as coach were marred by changes in his coaching staff, but ultimately he is proud of the work he did in Oakland and believes that the pressure is on the franchise to now recruit a new coach and compete for a championship.
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