G.O.A.T Squad Spokesman
Logic Is Absent Wherever Hate Is Present
Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob praised coach Steve Kerr at a time when the team is off to its best start in franchise history and listed the reasons he fired Mark Jackson in a speaking appearance before venture capitalists in Menlo Park this week.
While crediting Jackson for changing the Warriors' culture, Lacob said he didn't think the team "could be great" without removing a coach he characterized as unwilling to hire better assistants and disliked by many in the organization."Right now, (Kerr) looks great," Lacob said at the Western Association of Venture Capitalists/National Venture Capital Association luncheon Wednesday. "I think he will be great. And he did the one big thing that I wanted more than anything else from Mark Jackson he just wouldn't do, in all honesty, which is hire the very best."Carte blanche. Take my wallet. Do whatever it is to get the best assistants there are in the world. Period. End of story. Don't want to hear it. And (Jackson's) answer . . . was, 'Well, I have the best staff.' No you don't. And so with Steve, very, very different."Lacob praised associate head coach Alvin Gentry and assistant coach Ron Adams, whom Kerr hired for their experience. Lacob said he thought at the time when he hired Jackson that the key for an inexperienced
"You can't have a staff underneath you that isn't that good," Lacob said. "And if you're going to get better, you've got to have really good assistants. You've got to have people that can be there to replace you. We all know this from all of our companies. It's . . . Management 101. A lot of people on the outside couldn't understand it when we (fired Jackson)."
Only one of Jackson's five assistants last season, Darren Erman, remains in the NBA. He was fired during the season for violating company policy shortly after Brian Scalabrine was reassigned to the team's NBA Development League affiliate in Santa Cruz.Lacob, who said he thinks Kerr is "going to be spectacular" at a time when the Warriors are 16-2, also gave another reason for Jackson's dismissal after back-to-back playoff appearances.
"Part of it was that he couldn't get along with anybody else in the organization," Lacob said. "And look, he did a great job, and I'll always compliment him in many respects, but you can't have 200 people in the organization not like you."
Jackson, now an ESPN broadcaster who did not immediately return a message seeking comment, had successes Lacob said made the decision to fire him "a really tough call."
"We all make the decision to change the CEO too late, right?" Lacob said. "No matter how many times you've done it, we're always in the situation. We're always waiting longer than we should wait. And I'm very cognizant of that after all those years (as a venture capitalist). And in sports, it's no different than a business. You really kind of have to get ahead of it."
Lacob declined to predict a wins total for this season while saying the goal for the Warriors remains the same as it was last season -- clinching a top-four seed in the playoffs in the Western Conference.
"We're on top of the world right now," Lacob said. "If we lose in the first round of the playoffs, I am going to be crap (to the public)."
Lacob's ultimate goal is an NBA championship, and he said this year's team will contend for it.
"I think we have a shot," Lacob said. "We are really good. Everything is falling into place. If we can keep people healthy, we have a chance to be competing for it, and that's all you can ask because you never know what's going to happen."
Lacob also said it was possible the team's San Francisco arena could open for the 2017-18 season even as the official target date is the following season. Lacob said the arena project costs $800 million and that including office and retail space the price tag in privately financed dollars is "well over a billion."
"We're going to put a shovel in the ground, assuming the bureaucrats don't slow us down any more next summer," Lacob said. "And it'll be built in 24 months. We've hired the contractors already, and we'll open hopefully in fall of '17. We told the world fall of '18. We're trying to move it up to fall of '17, and it's a real possibility we could do that."
http://www.insidebayarea.com/warriors/ci_27078013/warriors-co-owner-lacob-lists-reasons-firing-mark#
While crediting Jackson for changing the Warriors' culture, Lacob said he didn't think the team "could be great" without removing a coach he characterized as unwilling to hire better assistants and disliked by many in the organization."Right now, (Kerr) looks great," Lacob said at the Western Association of Venture Capitalists/National Venture Capital Association luncheon Wednesday. "I think he will be great. And he did the one big thing that I wanted more than anything else from Mark Jackson he just wouldn't do, in all honesty, which is hire the very best."Carte blanche. Take my wallet. Do whatever it is to get the best assistants there are in the world. Period. End of story. Don't want to hear it. And (Jackson's) answer . . . was, 'Well, I have the best staff.' No you don't. And so with Steve, very, very different."Lacob praised associate head coach Alvin Gentry and assistant coach Ron Adams, whom Kerr hired for their experience. Lacob said he thought at the time when he hired Jackson that the key for an inexperienced
"You can't have a staff underneath you that isn't that good," Lacob said. "And if you're going to get better, you've got to have really good assistants. You've got to have people that can be there to replace you. We all know this from all of our companies. It's . . . Management 101. A lot of people on the outside couldn't understand it when we (fired Jackson)."
Only one of Jackson's five assistants last season, Darren Erman, remains in the NBA. He was fired during the season for violating company policy shortly after Brian Scalabrine was reassigned to the team's NBA Development League affiliate in Santa Cruz.Lacob, who said he thinks Kerr is "going to be spectacular" at a time when the Warriors are 16-2, also gave another reason for Jackson's dismissal after back-to-back playoff appearances.
"Part of it was that he couldn't get along with anybody else in the organization," Lacob said. "And look, he did a great job, and I'll always compliment him in many respects, but you can't have 200 people in the organization not like you."
Jackson, now an ESPN broadcaster who did not immediately return a message seeking comment, had successes Lacob said made the decision to fire him "a really tough call."
"We all make the decision to change the CEO too late, right?" Lacob said. "No matter how many times you've done it, we're always in the situation. We're always waiting longer than we should wait. And I'm very cognizant of that after all those years (as a venture capitalist). And in sports, it's no different than a business. You really kind of have to get ahead of it."
Lacob declined to predict a wins total for this season while saying the goal for the Warriors remains the same as it was last season -- clinching a top-four seed in the playoffs in the Western Conference.
"We're on top of the world right now," Lacob said. "If we lose in the first round of the playoffs, I am going to be crap (to the public)."
Lacob's ultimate goal is an NBA championship, and he said this year's team will contend for it.
"I think we have a shot," Lacob said. "We are really good. Everything is falling into place. If we can keep people healthy, we have a chance to be competing for it, and that's all you can ask because you never know what's going to happen."
Lacob also said it was possible the team's San Francisco arena could open for the 2017-18 season even as the official target date is the following season. Lacob said the arena project costs $800 million and that including office and retail space the price tag in privately financed dollars is "well over a billion."
"We're going to put a shovel in the ground, assuming the bureaucrats don't slow us down any more next summer," Lacob said. "And it'll be built in 24 months. We've hired the contractors already, and we'll open hopefully in fall of '17. We told the world fall of '18. We're trying to move it up to fall of '17, and it's a real possibility we could do that."
http://www.insidebayarea.com/warriors/ci_27078013/warriors-co-owner-lacob-lists-reasons-firing-mark#
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