Steph Curry: Firing of Mark Jackson, quick hire of Steve Kerr was ‘kind of a shock’
By Mike Dyce
The Golden State Warriors fired head coach Mark Jackson despite what was by all means a successful season that just unfortunately ended in the first round of the playoffs in a tough Western Conference. While accepting the the NBA’s year-long community assist award, Curry addressed the quick moves saying it was “kind of a shock” and that he disagreed with them.
“There’s no sugarcoating it — it was a weird, expedited situation that we didn’t see coming,” Curry said, via ESPN. “And guys are human. You have to be able to adjust to it and have some time to respond. That’s kind of what happened. I think we’ll be fine once we have a clear picture of what’s going on next year.”
He did go on to try to explain or understand the moves, crediting the organizations commitment to winning.
“One thing I can say about this organization, they want to win,” Curry said. “Each decision is geared toward winning. That’s something that flies well with a lot of players — that they’re going to try to put us in the best position to win. Obviously, I had a certain opinion of Coach Jackson that they made a decision otherwise, and I heard the reasons, but I won’t dwell on it.
“As long as we’re focused on winning and taking advantage of the roster we have and the opportunity we have with this window to try to continue to get better, I’m just looking forward to next year and getting back to making that happen,” Curry said. “I haven’t lost faith in that at all. As much as I supported Coach Jackson and loved everything about playing for him, I think they’re about winning.”
Jackson was 23-43 in his first season with the team, and last season they were a strong 51-31 in a tough conference. Had they been an Eastern Conference team they could’ve competed for the top seed possibly.