During Sunday's Rockets-Thunder broadcast when Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson spoke about the D'Angelo Russell saga -- here's an explainer for you -- in Los Angeles. After each commentator spoke their mind, Jackson added one more thought.
Mark Jackson used D’Angelo Russell’s situation to throw a dagger at one of his former assistant coaches
Shots fired!
“The good news for [Russell],” Jackson said, “is that he could very well one day be an Associate Head Coach in this league.”
It seemed like a throwaway comment, but Jackson, who was the Golden State Warriors coach from 2011-2014, was throwing some serious shade at one of his former assistant coaches.
Here's why: Back in April of 2014, Warriors assistant Darren Erman was reportedly fired by the Warriors for recording conversations between the team's players and coaches. Russell had secretly recorded Nick Young talking about cheating on his fiancée Iggy Azalea.
It was a clever zing from Jackson, who hasn’t returned to coaching since he was fired by the Warriors at the end of the 2014 season.
Erman hasn't had trouble finding work after being fired. The Celtics hired him as director of scouting shortly after he was let go by the Warriors and Alvin Gentry hired him as an associate head coach to direct the New Orleans Pelicans defense prior to the 2015-16 season.
That Erman has landed on his feet so quickly is a testament to his basketball intellect.
But Jackson hasn’t forgotten about Erman’s secretive recordings, and it apparently still irks him. As Van Gundy said after Jackson’s dig: “Shots fired.”
