The Milwaukee Bucks are reportedly set to interview ESPN analyst Mark Jackson for their head coaching position.
That’s according to a report from Shams Charania:
The Milwaukee Bucks are interviewing former Golden State coach Mark Jackson for their open head coaching job, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Jackson, who had a .526 winning percentage in three seasons as Warriors coach, was a finalist for the Kings job last year.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 14, 2023
Jackson is set to call Sunday’s Game 7 between the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. As Shams notes in the tweet, Jackson had a three-season spell in charge of the Golden State Warriors, a tenure remembered more for how as soon as he left Steph Curry and Klay Thompson took off and Golden State became a dynasty thanks to the free-flowing, overpowering shooting and offense that many felt Jackson didn’t allow.
Regardless of the on-court opinions, though, it was the off-court side that makes Jackson a questionable choice now. After his departure, reports emerged of plenty of infighting among Jackson and his staff and a shaky culture marred by random firings and demotions of assistants.
Most recently, Jackson made headlines for apparently conflating his MVP ballot with an All-NBA ballot, resulting in Jackson not voting for Nikola Jokic.
Analysts can become coaches, and successful ones. Especially if they have prior coaching experience. (Jackson himself was of course replaced by then-analyst Steve Kerr.) Jackson clearly has more of an uphill battle to overcome given his coaching record and all of the off-court noise.
That said, he certainly has experience and a long playing career to point to in an interview setting, and oftentimes teams making coaching changes seek out an opposite style or personality to work with, and Jackson would certainly be a departure from Mike Budenholzer in a variety of ways.
Maybe Mike Breen will find a way to work the news into today’s broadcast.
About Jay Rigdon
Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.