Mark Jackson would like another coaching job in the NBA very much, if that hasn’t been clear by the last five years of him being in the top ESPN commentary booth. Jackson’s clear desire to get back on the bench is understandable, as he had success with the Warriors, helping to lay a foundation that became a dynasty after Steve Kerr took over for him — at the same time, there are reasons he was let go by the Warriors and reasons they reached their pinnacle after he left.
It has become a running joke that whenever a team with a potential coaching vacancy plays on a game Jackson calls that he gives a little extra breakdown and do a little light campaigning for the job. That wasn’t the case on Thursday night as the Lakers mowed down the Blazers in Game 2 of their first round series to even things up, but Jackson did find himself a hot topic of conversation on Twitter after he made a comment on the broadcast about George Karl’s coaching, namely how his teams were never great defensive teams.
Karl was watching the game and the former Sonics, Bucks, and Nuggets head coach decided he had plenty of time for Jackson, @-ing the broadcaster and asking some, well, pointed questions of Jackson’s coaching resume.
I heard @MarkJackson13 is taking shots at my defensive coaching during tonight’s broadcast.
Remind me, how many all-star teams did you coach, Mark? How many DPOYs? How many Finals appearances? How many of my teams became dynasties right after I left?
— George Karl (@CoachKarl22) August 21, 2020
There are plenty of valid critiques of George Karl as a coach — ones some of his former players will happily tell you about — but he did have a great deal of success at various stops and certainly has a stronger resume than Jackson (albeit with many more opportunities). Jackson likely isn’t on Twitter during the game so a response won’t be coming anytime soon, if at all, but it’s always entertaining to have a little coaching beef going on, even if neither of them are active coaches in the NBA still.
