Mark Jackson might be getting his shot at redemption as a head coach in the NBA.
Following former Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer’s dismissal, Jackson reportedly is one of the candidates for the vacant coaching spot.
After spending three years serving as the Golden State Warriors’ head coach before their dynasty, and in the ESPN broadcasting booth ever since, Jackson is ready to pick up the clipboard and coach again.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Sunday that the Milwaukee Bucks are interviewing Mark Jackson as one of several candidates for the vacant head coaching spot.
In three years with the Warriors, Jackson only had one losing season with the team. In his first year the only won 23 games, but the turnaround was swift and the Warriors more than doubled their wins, going 47-35 the next season. Jackson had arrived as an elite team-constructor and coach.
When Has Mark Jackson Last Coached In NBA?
The last season Jackson coached the Warriors, they won 51 games but were bounced out of the playoffs in the first round. Three years of improvement but nothing to show for it in the postseason wasn’t good enough for the Golden State higher-ups, and they fired him after that first-round exit.
Similarly, Budenholzer was fired by the Bucks after top-seeded Milwaukee was defeated in the first round by the Miami Heat, who won the series in five games. Milwaukee is pretty much built around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton when healthy, and they have a formidable team already that underachieved this season.
Jackson wouldn’t have to do as much with a ready-made championship-caliber squad. Some fine-tuning and gain the respect of the locker room.
The Bucks have established themselves as Eastern Conference and NBA juggernauts with arguably the best basketball player in the league, and just two years removed from a championship led by Budenholzer, who ultimately paid the ultimate price for an embarrassing “gentleman’s sweep” after being the favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.
Mark Jackson Built Warriors Dynasty, Can He Win Big In Milwaukee?
Jackson was the architect behind the early development of the “Splash Brothers,” Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, helping them gain confidence in their three-point shots before former marksman Steve Kerr took over and put all the missing pieces together to turn the Warriors into the machine they are now.
Many believe Jackson’s firing from Golden State was unwarranted and unfair, and he should be able to have another coaching job.
He was a candidate for the Sacramento Kings job last year before they went on to hire Mike Brown, who would go on to lead Sacramento to their first playoff appearance in 16 years and nearly edged the defending champion Warriors before losing in seven games.
Brown was also named Coach of the Year for turning the Kings into a heavyweight in a stacked Western Conference, so they can’t be faulted for that hiring.
Who Will Hire Mark Jackson?
But Jackson has also interviewed for jobs with teams like the Lakers, and the New York Knicks, a team he formerly starred on.
Hopefully, Jackson can get the Bucks job and pick up where he left off. It would be a shame to see a coach with so much to offer remain off the radar in the coaching world after a short but mainly successful stint with the Warriors.
