Andre Iguodala shined some light on the Mark Jackson debacle that saw a quick end to his short-lived coaching career in the NBA, as the former Golden State Warriors head coach was fired as the team started to make its ascent through the NBA ranks.
Iguodala was very heartfelt as to what took place with Jackson, claiming that he was one of his favorite coaches, yet ultimately one not willing to play the politics of the NBA.
“He was the ultimate players' coach,” Iguodala said of Jackson while promoting his autobiography “The Sixth Man” on The Breakfast Club podcast. “I talk about it in the book, as far as he was one of my favorite coaches of all-time, he was just like ‘come in, compete and play hard.' He was gonna to put you in the best position to make the most money. Like there was players that got paid because of him that shouldn't have gotten paid. He was like ‘look, man: if you just do this, you're gonna get paid, so I'm just gonna send you out there to do it. That's all I want you to do, just do this. Just go get paid.'
Remember when he said that Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] were gonna be the best backcourt ever? They said he was crazy. This was seven years ago and then it came to fruition. But I feel it was the politics of it, man.”
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Iguodala then revealed that while Jackson was a fervent believer, he would encourage, but never forced the Warriors to come to church with him, making it a rather optional team activity.
“Once they want you out, they're gonna find something,” said the Warriors vet. “So it was the church service, sometimes he would stream his church service in the facility at night…
“One particular issue, from what I heard, was his views on gender, marriage, or what the bible says regarding your sexuality and the head of our business — he was just in the Hall of Fame — he was the brains behind the All-Star Weekend, this dude created the All-Star Weekend, Rick Welts, he's a genius in business. He's celebrated as one of the top execs in sports on the business side — and he is gay. So there was conflicts with that that was widespread.”
Iguodala wouldn't comment much further into that topic, but it seems like the decision to fire Jackson was not based on his prowess as a coach or a leader, but rather different views from what the organization had, a difference of beliefs that ultimately cost him his job.
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