Mark Jackson used a variety of different approaches to help motivate his Golden State Warriors teams, but did the ESPN analyst really throw one of his own players under the bus, to satisfy his own goals?
According to Zach Lowe of Grantland, Festus Ezeli became a pawn in the game played between Jackson and Warriors brass last season.
Kerr overhauled a team culture that had grown poisonous, for well-documented reasons, under Jackson and his assistants. In his zeal to motivate players, Jackson fostered resentment among them and toward the front office.
He fired two assistants, requested Jerry West stay away from practices, and asked a younger front-office official to stop rebounding for players, sources have saidWhen Ezeli was injured last season, Jackson and his staff told the healthy players that Ezeli was cheering against them — so that he would look good, according to several team sources. Players confronted Ezeli in a meeting, and he wept at the accusation — which he denied.
It would appear Jackson was trying to motivate his team, and employed a really cheap and insensitive approach to the process. The bevy of problems that occurred under Jackson, are probably the main reason he’s void of any credit for the Warriors championship season.