Filed under: Hawks, Interviews, FanHouse Exclusive, NBA Coaches, NBA Finals
LOS ANGELES -- Mark Jackson played in the NBA for 17 seasons, and currently serves as a television analyst for ESPN and ABC. There's no question he knows plenty about the game of professional basketball, but he's never spent any time on the bench in a coaching role at any level of the sport. Since Jackson is currently in the interview process for a head coaching position -- most recently with the Atlanta Hawks, as reported by FanHouse's Sam Amick -- this may seem like a legitimate concern.
Share In another exclusive interview with FanHouse on Saturday, however, Jackson did his best to put those concerns to rest. While he did agree that a team would have to make somewhat of a leap of faith if it gave him a head coaching position with his lack of experience specifically in that role, Jackson also pointed out some similar cases where the lack of experience wasn't even remotely an issue.
"I think it depends on who's doing the hiring," Jackson said. "I think you've got great examples of it, just like any other hire. And then you have examples where it didn't work. Doc Rivers was hired with no experience, and he's as good as it gets as coaching goes.
"So I think it's just a question of who you hire. I understand the leap of taking that chance, but hiring anybody requires a leap and taking a chance. Unless it's Phil Jackson, or other coaches with great history."
Hubie Brown, who was a head coach in the ABA and NBA for a combined 15 seasons and who also is on the ESPN/ABC broadcasting team, said that hiring a head coach who doesn't have any experience is understandably something a team might be concerned with. But that doesn't mean that it can't work, especially if the person surrounds himself with some quality assistants.
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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/06/05/mark-jackson-fights-inexperience-in-seeking-head-coaching-job/
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