Brian Scalabrine’s stint as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors did not go well last season. Scal was demoted midseason and head coach Mark Jackson said there was a difference in philosophy between the two. Scal confirmed that was the case, and he says the difference is that he believes a coach should be pushing his players harder.
Scalabrine talked about his time with the Warriors in an interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Toucher & Rich” program Tuesday.
“Mark gave me a great opportunity to be on the bench, and then when I got there, I think to win in this league you have to drive and push, and I feel like the players will respond to that,” Scalabrine said via BANG’s Diamond Leung. “And I think that was the biggest thing about this disappointment in our staff as a staff, right? We could have done more, and we didn’t, and I think he kind of sensed that.
“At the end of the day, to say it was a difference of philosophy, a difference of opinion, I mean, that’s really what it was. And I’m so used to seeing like a Doc Rivers and a Tom Thibodeau (his former coaches), and it kind of threw me for like kind of a loop and a surprise that it was not as hard-pressing as I thought it was going to be.”
Scal also says the Warriors ownership group offered him the chance to interview for a position after Jackson was fired, so it’s clear they still liked him.
We knew that Jackson didn’t get along with ownership, and this might have been a reason why. Could Jackson pushing his players have resulted in better results for his team? Maybe, but it’s hard to argue with the success he had. There is more than one style of coaching, you know?
[Related: Mark Jackson was disinterested in game preparation, reluctant to practice]
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