Wow, 10 years ago the Warriors dumped Mark Jackson for Steve Kerr

Hey hey hey it’s Thursday, and we’ve got some great playoff basketball on the way for you in the NBA. After falling down 0-2 to the feisty Minnesota Timberwolves, the defending champion Denver Nuggets have responded back with a vengeance. They’ve won three straight games and have a chance to close this fascinating series out with a win tonight in Minnesota.

But while they duel it out, I want to bring to mind that just about 10 years ago the Golden State Warriors had to make a decision about coaches. Head coaches in fact.

It seems like just yesterday Mark Jackson was leading the Warriors from obscurity to the promised land, getting them to the 2013 and 2014 playoffs after they had been hella weak for hella long. He also instilled a defensive first mentality, and got Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson to believe they were literally the greatest shooters in NBA history.

But after Jackson rubbed ownership, members of his coaching staff, and certain players the wrong way, he was banished from the team. And the end of it absolutely felt inevitable despite the team’s success on the court, encapsulated by a Bleacher Report article entitled, “Is All This Criticism of Golden State’s Mark Jackson Deserved?”:

With their 130-102 stomping of the Utah Jazz on Sunday, the Golden State Warriors eclipsed their win total from last season.

After an impressive 47-win campaign that saw the team return to the playoffs for the first time in six years and second time in 19, the Warriors are on pace to win 51 games this season. If that were to happen, it would be the third-best regular season record in franchise history.

Mark Jackson loses MSG job after Knicks ban him from plane

The headlines should be writing themselves. “The Warriors are entering a long-awaited ‘golden’ era.” “NBA’s most loyal fans finally have a real reason to ‘believe.'”

But instead of these cute, corny, yet perfectly-fitting headlines, we’re seeing “Mark Jackson: Job Depends on Wins,” (via The Associated Press) “Will Unstable Coaching Situation Impact Warriors Playoff Chemistry?,” (via Bleacher Report) and “Why Isn’t the Golden State Warriors’ Offense Better With All That Firepower?” (via Bleacher Report).

Here’s an old vid I made back in the day about this subject; in retrospect this was a very fair and balanced take on it.