Mark Jackson has nothing to apologize for. Stephen Curry and the Warriors need a thicker skin.
Golden State responded, rather critically, to Jackson's comments about Curry "hurting the game" that Jackson made on Christmas Day during the Warriors' win over the Cavaliers.
Mark Jackson Says Stephen Curry Is 'Hurting The Game' By Making Basketball Look So Easy
"Understand what I'm saying when I say this. He's hurting the game," Jackson said, as Yahoo Sports reported. "And what I mean by that is that I go into these high school gyms, I watch these kids, and the first thing they do is they run to the 3-point line. You are not Steph Curry. Work on the other aspects of the game."
Curry was amused and confused by his former coach's quote.
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"I have to talk to him," Curry said. "I don't know what he means by that. If you can shoot, shoot. If you can't, stop."
After Curry got the complete context of Jackson's quote, he said he knew what Jackson was saying but wished Jackson, who coached Golden State from 2011-14, has phrased his thoughts differently, according to ibabuzz.com.
"I wish he would have phrased it just a little bit differently," Curry said. "I think I'm trying to inspire people to see the game differently in a positive way ... I get what he was saying. There was a compliment in there. Knowing him personally, I think that's what he meant."
Warriors center Andrew Bogut had harsher words for Jackson, now an analyst for ESPN.
"Anything he says, you can take that with a grain of salt," Bogut said. "And you can quote me on that."
Sam Moses, an AAU basketball coach and executive director of Oakland's Jam Tow, a basketball facility, said kids will look at Curry and emulate his path to the NBA.
"The average kid now will work on having complete skill sets," Moses told Yahoo Sports. "You don't have to be big, strong and super fast anymore. If a kid comes in and says they want to be like Steph, they talk about ball-handling more than his 3-ball. He gets to the basket more than the shoots 3-pointers. You would think kids just want to work on the long ball, but they're working on their dribbling."
But the truly aspiring players would have that work ethic anyway; Curry's success wouldn't suddenly motivate a kid who wasn't already motivated. And Curry's supporting cast certainly enhances his success.
Jackson simply said he's seeing kids trying for the spectacular play by moving to the 3-point line instead of the smart play of working for an easy layup simply because they see Curry doing it, not realizing Curry has spent countless hours perfecting his craft, where the kids emulating him haven't.
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