7 revealing moments from Andre Iguodala’s memoir “The Sixth Man”

Mark Jackson was a true players’ coach

Mark Jackson is often credited with turning around the losing culture in Golden State.

He turned a sub-500 team into a playoff squad, implementing a defensive mentality that had been lacking for what felt like decades.

Just the season before the Warriors’ won the title, Jackson was let go in rather mysterious fashion. Rumors were flying around as to why, which ranged from his religious views to an odd struggle for power within the organization.

Andre Iguodala even went as far as suggesting that he thought the NBA blackballed Jackson from coaching on the Breakfast Club radio show due to his religious anti-gay views.

However, Iguodala makes one thing very clear in his memoir: Jackson was beloved and respected by the players. It’s something that is easy to forget if you get caught up in all the rumors surrounding his firing.

"(Jackson) was honest, but incredibly supportive. Sometimes during the season, I would pass up a shot and Mark would pull me aside and give it to me straight. “C’mon, man,” he’d say. “I can’t have you out there passing up shots. I can’t have you out there not attacking. Do you.” That kind of attitude empowered us and gave us confidence. To this day I contend that Steph and Klay would never have turned into the Steph and Klay who set the record books on fire if it weren’t for this attitude by Mark Jackson. It was a good year overall, even though Coach Jackson had what turned out to be a chaotic relationship with the organization. I don’t know all of what happened there, but I know that for many of us, it was an uncomfortable situation. We really liked Coach, and the organization had been good too… When it came down to it, we wanted to support Mark Jackson because he was the guy who had, day-in and day-out, supported us. So in the media we made it clear. We support our coach."

The Warriors’ definitely owe credit to Jackson for turning a bad team with high potential into a future juggernaut.

Unfortunately, Jackson went on to join TNT broadcasting along with Jeff Van Gundy to form perhaps the most obnoxious on-air duo that the world of sport has ever seen. I can’t stand those two together.