The new NBA coach that has me most anxious for the season to start (fingers crossed!) is the Golden State Warriors' Mark Jackson. He's never coached, he's spent a few years being paid to argue with Jeff Van Gundy and yell catchphrases and he had a long career in which he was one of the game's smartest point guards. His coaching inputs are like a chemistry set a room over from a meth lab.
His pre-preseason comments aren't hurting his growing aura of insanity, either.
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Jackson will become pretty much the only NBA head coach who won't be dropping F-bombs left and right during games.
Jackson hasn't used a curse word in more than 20 years, and he doesn't plan to start anytime soon.
"You'll never hear that," he said. "I'm going to treat (refs and players) with respect, and I'm going to be demanding. ... I truly believe that you coach the guys in practice ... but you let the guys play the games."
Marcus Thompson II of the San Jose Mercury News has quotes that are sure to send any number of Warriors' fans into panic.
He said he doesn't put much stock in getting to the building at 6 a.m. and staying all day. His stance is the same for film study.
"I've played for coaches that used it above and beyond, even out of control," Jackson said. "I'm a guy that will use it to show examples. I'm not a guy you're going to see with bags under my eyes because I've watched film all night long."
It totally worked for Reggie Theus. Oh, wait ...