Mark Jackson -- LeBron Stooge?

[Shrinkucci]

Mark Jackson is no stranger to weak commentary and questionable takes... but my ears definitely perked up when he likened Ivica Zubac to a young Marc Gasol last night. I was like, "wtf?"... I even commented on it in the general thread.

SVG immediately chimed in and said something like, "That's a nice sentiment and all, Mark... but Zubac is going to have to show a lot more in terms of defense and passing to earn that kind of comparison."

It all makes sense now, though... Jackson is in bed with Klutch and LeBron, and is probably eyeing the LAL head coaching job. Also: Jackson has no integrity or ethics.

 

[Shrinkucci]

I think Mark Jackson is not only guilty of weak commentary, but is one of the laziest basketball analysts currently doing games. He rarely does his job. An analyst's primary job is to explain overall strategy, e.g., reasons for momentum shifts, reasons for rotation choices, explanations for specific defensive and offensive coaching moves, etc. He rarely does this. He limits his contributions as analyst to mini-descriptions of a given play. He is a best described as a limited, tactical describer, not a strategist. He was a coach so he must understand strategy; so I can only assume he is lazy and just doesn't bother. I could live with his defensiveness, rigidity and predictable personal cliches about players' work ethic, etc, if he would do the job he is hired for. He contributes so little as an analyst, I turn the sound down when he is on in order to better tune his unnecessary play-by play additions out. Thank god for Hubie and Doris Burke. They get what a basketball analyst is all about and they never loaf.

 

[tlance]

Gasol has some of the slowest feet in the league though, a big reason why he's not as effective in this latest version of the NBA. Zubac does a great job of typically going straight up with good results. He's a solid post defender. He's always going to struggle on switches, and got destroyed on a few in that Warriors game. His team has to help him out with those; very few centers are going to match up with Curry and not get embarrassed.

Honestly,

if Gasol were a 22 year old up and coming player today, he probably never develops the way that he did.

Don't get me wrong, he would still be good, but I am not sure he would have been an all NBA center either.

The game has changed a lot in 10 years.

 

[tlance]

We'll see what LeBron's decision is on that front.

That's a separate issue, though... what about Jackson and journalistic ethics?

LeBron would defintely favor Jackson because he checks all 3 boxes:

1) former NBA player
2) he is black
3) Klutch client

The question is whether Magic would actually hire LeBron's or make the decision for himself?

 

[Gman]

LeBron would defintely favor Jackson because he checks all 3 boxes:

1) former NBA player
2) he is black
3) Klutch client

The question is whether Magic would actually hire LeBron's or make the decision for himself?

I think a #4 or something that needs to be explicitly stated in any such list is that LeBron would want a 'Yes Man' for himself.

Otherwise, I completely agree.

 

[Ojb81]

LeBron would defintely favor Jackson because he checks all 3 boxes:

1) former NBA player
2) he is black
3) Klutch client

The question is whether Magic would actually hire LeBron's or make the decision for himself?

AND, every time Lebron would walk out of the room, Jackson could say out loud, "Mama! There. Goes. That. Maaaaaan!!"

 

[trojanfan12]

Did you note the veterans that were in that discussion? It's a group of guys lucky to have a job due to their questionable histories.

That said, I was furious watching with Walton as left guys like Lance and Beasley in there in the fourth as any chance at the game faded away from them. Put the right guys in the game already. Walton's substitution patterns have been confounding at times.

To be fair to Luke, it's hard to have any kind of set rotation when a team has as many injuries as the Lakers have had.

No one was bitching about rotations when the Lakers were healthy and sitting in the 4 spot.

 

[seattlefan75]

To be fair to Luke, it's hard to have any kind of set rotation when a team has as many injuries as the Lakers have had.

No one was bitching about rotations when the Lakers were healthy and sitting in the 4 spot.

I agree because the lakers actually looked good early in the season before LeBron and ball went down they seemed like an up and coming team

 

[trojanfan12]

I don't remember Gasol (when he was younger and before injury issues) being quite the defensive liability that Zubac is... some of that is how the NBA has changed since then, but some of it Zubac being a complete stiff (IMO)... that aside, fair enough.

Here's the thing with Zubac and this is what I've said about him all along.

Zubac would have been a good to very good starting center about 10 years ago. He definitely can play, especially on the offensive end of the floor.

The Marc Gasol comparison works because as @tlance pointed out, if Gasol were coming up today like Zubac is, he likely doesn't develop the same way.

It's unlikely that Zubac becomes as good as Gasol either way, but he's better than most give him credit for.

Imo, in today's NBA, Zubac is a good backup/spot starter and that's about it. There is definitely a place for him in the league, but it's not the place it likely would have been if the league were the same as it was when Gasol came into the league.

 

[dtgold88]

To be fair to Luke, it's hard to have any kind of set rotation when a team has as many injuries as the Lakers have had.

No one was bitching about rotations when the Lakers were healthy and sitting in the 4 spot.

That's how fans are when it comes to coaches. If they don't like the guy they will blame him for anything that goes wrong and never credit him when things go well (especially if Lebron is there).

 

[trojanfan12]

I agree because the lakers actually looked good early in the season before LeBron and ball went down they seemed like an up and coming team

Yeah, some commentators were predicting they would go to the WCF.

 

[shopson67]

That's how fans are when it comes to coaches. If they don't like the guy they will blame him for anything that goes wrong and never credit him when things go well (especially if Lebron is there).

I don't have a problem with Luke other than his substitution patterns. I think he's gotten a bad rap this year, and who would the detractors have the Lakers replace him with? The Lakers likely would go for a retread, which isn't a viable plan IMO with the changes in the style of play in the NBA over the past decade.

 

[dtgold88]

I don't have a problem with Luke other than his substitution patterns. I think he's gotten a bad rap this year, and who would the detractors have the Lakers replace him with? The Lakers likely would go for a retread, which isn't a viable plan IMO with the changes in the style of play in the NBA over the past decade.

Can't say I've seen enough of their games to know, but I do know what it was like here for 4 seasons, especially the last 3. Anything went wrong and it was Lue's fault. But same people gave him no credit for the title.

Not to say he's anything special. I think most NBA coaches are the same. Give them talent and they might win. Don't and they wont.

 

[trojanfan12]

I don't have a problem with Luke other than his substitution patterns. I think he's gotten a bad rap this year, and who would the detractors have the Lakers replace him with? The Lakers likely would go for a retread, which isn't a viable plan IMO with the changes in the style of play in the NBA over the past decade.

I don't really even have a problem with his substitution patterns. Most of the inconsistency in them was early in the season when he was trying to see who played well together and more recently because of injuries.

The bold is pretty spot on, imo. I've always said that it's fine if you want to fire the coach, but you need to have someone better in mind to replace him and know that you have a great chance at getting him.

It's funny that when you hear the pundits talk, they all say that Luke is "dead man walking" and Jeanie backing him is the only reason he's still the coach...yet they also say that he has done a good job and doesn't deserve to be fired.

 

[dtgold88]

I don't really even have a problem with his substitution patterns. Most of the inconsistency in them was early in the season when he was trying to see who played well together and more recently because of injuries.

The bold is pretty spot on, imo. I've always said that it's fine if you want to fire the coach, but you need to have someone better in mind to replace him and know that you have a great chance at getting him.

It's funny that when you hear the pundits talk, they all say that Luke is "dead man walking" and Jeanie backing him is the only reason he's still the coach...yet they also say that he has done a good job and doesn't deserve to be fired.

Both of you are spot on and this is true in most sports. Fans say they want to dump the coach and when you ask who should be the replacement they either don't answer or name a guy with as many warts.

 

[trojanfan12]

Both of you are spot on and this is true in most sports. Fans say they want to dump the coach and when you ask who should be the replacement they either don't answer or name a guy with as many warts.

Or they will name someone who either used to be a great coach or a coach who they have zero chance at getting.

Case in point, I was talking to a guy who was talking about how Luke should be fired...

So, I asked, "If the Lakers fire Luke...who do you think they could get that would be better?"

His answer? Phil Jackson or Greg Popovich.

I just shook my head and walked away.

 

[dtgold88]

Or they will name someone who either used to be a great coach or a coach who they have zero chance at getting.

Case in point, I was talking to a guy who was talking about how Luke should be fired...

So, I asked, "If the Lakers fire Luke...who do you think they could get that would be better?"

His answer? Phil Jackson or Greg Popovich.

I just shook my head and walked away.

And while I do believe they are exceptional coaches (especially Pop), even Pop is struggling a little now that the talent isn't as good. Barely even ahead of LA.

But I get your point. That deserves a "wow".

 

[trojanfan12]

And while I do believe they are exceptional coaches (especially Pop), even Pop is struggling a little now that the talent isn't as good. Barely even ahead of LA.

But I get your point. That deserves a "wow".

Yeah, I couldn't even voice a "wow".

I was telling a friend of mine about it and we were laughing at the idea of Phil coming and telling Lebron..."Yeah, we're gonna run the triangle".

And Pop? Aside from the fact that San Antonio isn't letting him go to the Lakers. He hates the Lakers so much that about the only way he'd become the coach would be to destroy them from the inside so badly that it would take at least another decade to recover. lol

 

[dtgold88]

Yeah, I couldn't even voice a "wow".

I was telling a friend of mine about it and we were laughing at the idea of Phil coming and telling Lebron..."Yeah, we're gonna run the triangle".

And Pop? Aside from the fact that San Antonio isn't letting him go to the Lakers. He hates the Lakers so much that about the only way he'd become the coach would be to destroy them from the inside so badly that it would take at least another decade to recover. lol

Really not many coaches I'm enamored with to be honest. On the other side of Walton are guys like Stevens and Kerr who most like and in their eyes can do no wrong (as opposed to most coaches who are blamed for everything). Kerr's OK but didn't they go something like 29-2 with Walton and then 12-0 with Brown in the playoffs (41-2 between them)?

If I had to pick a guy for a year I might actually take Larry Brown.

 

[shopson67]

Really not many coaches I'm enamored with to be honest. On the other side of Walton are guys like Stevens and Kerr who most like and in their eyes can do no wrong (as opposed to most coaches who are blamed for everything). Kerr's OK but didn't they go something like 29-2 with Walton and then 12-0 with Brown in the playoffs (41-2 between them)?

If I had to pick a guy for a year I might actually take Larry Brown.

Not sure a 78 year old is the best choice for the new style NBA. I don't think he would fare well with Lebron either.