SH Blog: Warriors greatly interested in Kerr and Stan Van Gundy, Lin wants to have Ginobili’s mentality

So what now with Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson?

After nearly taking the San Antonio Spurs to the brink in the second round of the playoffs last season, the Warriors came into this season with the highest of expectations after signing Andre Iguodala in the offseason.

Unfortunately, with expectations come disappointments. The Warriors weren’t who they thought they’d be. They finished the regular season with a relatively disappointing sixth seed in the West and ultimately failed to come out of the first round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers – though they came pretty damn close.

Maybe the script of this story changes if Andrew Bogut didn’t miss the playoffs due to a broken rib just days before it all began. No one expected the Warriors to beat the Clippers without their defensive anchor. That they almost managed to do so says something about their resiliency and the job Jackson did to get them to that state. In the end, though, the NBA is about getting results. Whatever the reasons were, the result was a first-round exit.

For Jackson, who has faced plenty of scrutiny as the season went on due to questionable coaching decisions at times and some unexpected internal turmoil within the coaching staff, it may all come down to how Joe Lacob feels about all of this. From what we’ve seen from the owner throughout the season and all the reports that have surfaced in recent weeks, that’s probably not a good thing for the pastor, from Marc Stein of ESPN:

Yet the whispers persist, and grow louder by the day, that Lacob prefers a new (and possibly more experienced) voice in charge, someone who meshes better with the front office personality-wise. NBA coaching sources insist that this strays far beyond mere fallout from the respective flare-ups that led to the departures of assistant coaches Brian Scalabrine and Darren Erman. The gulf between management and coach, by all accounts, is wide.

The Warriors are known to have strong interest in two particular names:

To give Jackson any hope of avoiding a repeat of what Curry describes as a “circus” filled with “distractions” that were “unlike anything I’ve seen,” Golden State would surely have to extend Jackson beyond next season as opposed to merely letting him stay for the final season of his contract.

Which is really tough to envision after the tension of the past few months.

Two coaching names known to interest Golden State greatly, sources say, are Steve Kerr and Stan Van Gundy. I find it equally tough to picture Kerr turning Phil Jackson down now, as far as Kerr’s dalliance with the Knicks has gone, so look for the Warriors to explore the SVG option hard if (when?) Jackson’s reign is brought to an end.

Kerr is all but out as a candidate, as he appears to have his sights set on the New York Knicks, and who knows with Van Gundy. He’s certainly an intriguing option, but we’re looking relatively far ahead without seeing what comes of the Jackson situation. Jackson is incredibly loved by his players, which could play a role in deciding his fate. No matter how popular he is with the players, however, this is a business in which coaches and players move on from teams all the time – just ask Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry.

Lacob will have to look at this as objectively as he can and decide if some of the issues the Warriors had on the court can improve with a different coach. One of the biggest issues with Golden State has been their ineptitude on offense – they were ranked the 12th best offense in the league, just behind Mike Woodson’s Knicks. Credit has to go to Jackson for changing the culture and turning them into the fourth best defensive team in the league (it helps to have players like Bogut, Iguodala, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green on that end), but for a team with that much offensive talent, the overall results can probably be considered questionable at best.

In Game 6, Jackson elected to post up Harrison Barnes for two consecutive possessions with the game basically on the line in an elimination game – the same Barnes who can probably be considered one of the worst post-up options in the entire league. In Game 7 with the game dangerously close and in desperate need of a basket with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Warriors went to an isolation play for David Lee, who basically played scared against DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin all series long. Lee turned the ball over almost immediately on that possession. It’s those kinds of head-scratching play call that drives everyone watching the Warriors go crazy, and Jackson’s decision-making on the offensive end and the limitations he puts on it is ultimately what may end his notable tenure with the team.

PAUL PIERCE EXPLAINS WHY HE LIKES MATCHUP AGAINST HEAT:

The Brooklyn Nets are confident heading into the second round. Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce, in particular, explained why they see an advantage against the team they went 4-0 against in the regular season, from Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN NY:

“I think we match-up great,” Joe Johnson said of facing the Heat. “Because having Paul [Pierce] at the four, I think they’ll have more of a smaller four, and probably not as physical. So I think it could kind of play into our hands a little bit, but we’ll see what happens.”

“I think we are unpredictable,” Pierce said of what might present an issue for the Heat. “For the simple fact that even though Joe, he’s our leading scorer, but on any given night we’ve got guys that can step up and be that guy.

“A lot of the contenders, you pretty much know what they present,” Pierce added. “Especially with Miami. It’s going to be a lot of LeBron, a lot of Wade, a lot of [Chris] Bosh. With us, I think we have about five, six, seven guys that on any given night [can be the guy]. … So I think that makes us tough to scout and very unpredictable.”

“The goal hasn’t changed since the beginning of the season,” Pierce said. “Our goal when we came in here at the beginning was to win a championship. We understand that in order to do that, you’ve got to go through the best.

“Miami being that team over the last couple of years, we figured this was going to be a test for us, this was going to be a series that we would have to see if we are going to accomplish our goal. As far as saying at least matching up with them, we feel like we are ready for whoever.”

This will be far from an easy series for the Heat, which some seem to believe will be the case.

NOTABLE QUOTES:

Dwyane Wade is surprised to be facing Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett again in the playoffs, from Joseph Goodman of Miami Herald: