Would Mark Jackson Have Won The 2015 NBA Championship With GS?

[Foster5k]

Steve Kerr was a rookie head coach. He inherited a team that was basically already built to succeed. If Steve Kerr was given any other team, I don't think he would have won the championship. Imagine Kerr coaching the Spurs, Clippers, or the Rockets. Do we honestly believe he could have done better than Gregg Popovich or Doc Rivers? Gregg Popovich is one of the best coaches to ever coach the game. However, his team just wasn't built to win it all, and there's no way a rookie coach like Kerr could have done any better.

Doc Rivers isn't a great GM, but he's a great coach. Given the right ingredients Doc Rivers can turn a team into a champion. We saw that with the 2008 Celtics he coached that won it all.

Kevin McHale isn't the greatest of coaches. However, do we honestly believe a rookie head coach like Steve Kerr would have done better with the Rockets? Would we honestly take a rookie Steve Kerr over an experienced Kevin McHale for the 2015 season? We can debate this until the cows come home. Some would say yes some would say no. Honestly, I just don't see a rookie Kerr doing any better than McHale did in 2015. I think they would still lose to the Warriors if coaches were reversed.

Now, to get to the point, I think Mark Jackson could have won the championship with Golden State in 2015. If you think not, then you're basically saying Mark Jackson would have a negative impact. An impact so negative that it would negate all the advantages Golden State had over other teams they faced on their road to win it all. That's hard for me to believe. Jackson was a good coach. I think most of the Warriors players liked him and respected him. I also didn't really hear anyone saying he was a bad coach. The only thing I remember reading about was that he had problems with the owner and some other people in the organization. Those problems were never really brought to light. I read the owner wanted Jackson to hire the very best, but Jackson thought he already had a great staff, etc.

Either way, it's hard for me to believe that Mark Jackson would have not won the 2015 NBA championship with the Warriors. Given that Steve Kerr came in as a rookie head coach and won it all, I would expect a good experienced coach like Jackson would have done the same.

What do you guys think?

[andgar923]

Tldr

In short... NO

[juju151111]

No he wouldn't

[Legends66NBA7]

They ran different offenses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3sC6-f3q9E

GS wasn't a Top 10 offense under Jackson. They were (really immaterial offensive difference between the Clippers) the best offensive team last year.


So I can't really see Jackson winning. Does he make the critical change in game 4 to start Iggy like Kerr did ? That move took balls and it payed off. GS never looked back.

[GoatBoy]

Steve Kerr would not have won the NBA championship if every team he faced in the playoffs didn't have a glaring injury on their roster.

[Heavincent]

Probably not. Steve Kerr exposed how bad Mark Jackson was. Yeah, he was a rookie head coach, and he was STILL far better than the preacher.

There's no other plausible explanation for the Warriors going from 51 wins to 67 wins with basically the same roster...unless you think Livingston and Barbosa make THAT much of a difference. Their offensive system was completely reworked from the ground up. They were more prepared for each game, his staff was obviously much better, and Kerr isn't an ego maniac like Jackson, etc.

You keep talking about Kerr being a rookie head coach like it actually means something...fact is he clearly did a much better job than Mark Jackson. That just makes it more embarrassing for Jackson that some new blood came in and did a much better job than him.

[Levity]

as great as he is, does anyone remember how painful it was to watch curry constantly ISO under jackson, back in the day. there were many playoff instances where he would 1v1 (without a screen) and try to break down his man for the big time shot.

that completely changed under kerr. ball movement and player movement became a staple of the team. And curry played off the ball, a lot, too. which really opened up his game.

[Heavincent]

as great as he is, does anyone remember how painful it was to watch curry constantly ISO under jackson, back in the day. there were many playoff instances where he would 1v1 (without a screen) and try to break down his man for the big time shot.

that completely changed under kerr. ball movement and player movement became a staple of the team. And curry played off the ball, a lot, too. which really opened up his game.

Even worse was the Barnes isolations. Harrison ****ing Barnes! Dude is a spot up shooter and slasher and Mark Jackson thought it was a good idea to use him like Carmelo Anthony.

[HurricaneKid]

Its a comical notion. Mark had the EXACT TEAM and they didn't make it out of the first round. I said at the time it was criminal they didn't have a top 10 offense with him based on the level of offensive talent. I routinely see middle school AAU teams with better offenses than what he was running.

OF COURSE he wouldn't. Old school mano y mano ball that Mark knows and preached is archaic strategy compared to the movement of todays better offenses.

[bdreason]

No way. It's not really about what Steve Kerr did... it's about what Mark Jackson didn't do.

[Hulk]

Only God knows.

[Indian guy]

Hell no. Only team that had better ball and player movement on offense than GS last year was SA. That was their big improvement under Kerr and what propelled them from first-round fodder to NBA champion. Under Mark Jackson GS had no plays besides isos and high pick n rolls. Jackson as a coach was basically Mike Brown with slightly better motivational skills.

[imdaman99]

I think Kerr instilled the pass the ball around system, something Mark Jackson wanted to no part of. So no, I don't think they win it all simply because I don't think they are the 1st seed going into the playoffs.

However, if they are the #1 seed going into the playoffs and Mark Jackson is the coach? Yes, they still go through because they didn't really beat any title contenders along the way. Someone else beat the 2 teams that would have given them trouble, Spurs and Clips.

[WorldWarriors]

I doubt it. Jackson didn't have the coaching staff that Kerr had and he refused to hire competent staff. It was his way or the highway.

[WorldWarriors]

I think Kerr instilled the pass the ball around system, something Mark Jackson wanted to no part of. So no, I don't think they win it all simply because I don't think they are the 1st seed going into the playoffs.

However, if they are the #1 seed going into the playoffs and Mark Jackson is the coach? Yes, they still go through because they didn't really beat any title contenders along the way. Someone else beat the 2 teams that would have given them trouble, Spurs and Clips.

How were the Clips title contenders and Houston was not? I don't get this contention.