Celtics hire Darren Erman as NBA Scouting Director

[Eddie20]

Didn't Mark Jackson cause problems in his playing days with Utah? Tried turning the team against Stockton? Or was that someone else?

Yes, it was him.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1028560/index.htm

The NBA's alltime assist leader may be getting a push out the door by his new backup this season and the No. 2 man on the career assist list, 38-year-old Mark Jackson. Three members of the Jazz organization now understand why Jackson has been traded seven times in his 16-year career: They say that over a period of weeks, he succeeded in turning several teammates against Stockton by repeatedly remarking that those players would be better off if Jackson were the Jazz's floor leader. Other players rallied around Stockton, who, because of his quiet nature, was vulnerable to the locker room politicking. The rift on the Jazz was mended, though not before Stockton's pride had been wounded. "There was no question it hurt John, because you could see him withdraw," says a high-ranking team official. "But he'll never talk about it, just as he won't talk about injuries, because then he feels like he's making excuses for himself."

Jackson says his actions were in no way aimed at Stockton. "I'm a born leader, and if people take that as manipulation, then maybe they haven't been around leaders," he says. "I make no apologies for embracing people and talking to people and making them feel like they're important. Maybe in the past those stray dogs have been left on the side, but that's not the way I treat people."

[Lucky17]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-silver-hammer-the-banning-of-donald-sterling-and-unrest-in-these-playoffs/

The Warriors in the last six weeks demoted one assistant and fired another, and ESPN.com?s Chris Broussard today reported that the team fired Darren Erman after learning Erman had recorded at least one coaches? meeting. Multiple league sources confirmed the gist of Broussard?s report, and that Erman was concerned Mark Jackson and other coaches loyal to Jackson were insulting Erman to other players behind Erman?s back.

The team had no choice but to fire Erman. However, the front office is fond of Erman and was upset at having to let him go, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The Erman firing and demotion of Brian Scalabrine have raised tensions throughout the Warriors? organization.

Jackson made a show of firing Scalabrine in front of players and other coaches, but he had no real grounds, and the front office made Jackson find a compromise, per a source familiar with the matter: demoting Scalabrine to the D-League. In addition, Jackson has asked that Jerry West, a high-level adviser in Golden State, not attend most practices and team activities, sources say.

The tension with Erman got weird. Midseason, the team moved Erman?s parking spot to a less convenient place, likely at the behest of Jackson or one of Jackson?s allies on the staff, per multiple sources familiar with the matter. They began changing his duties in strange ways.

The atmosphere has bordered on poisonous, though to the credit of Jackson, his staff, and his players, it has not spilled onto the court. The team plays hard, they?re very good, and they have a chance to make noise in the playoffs despite the ill-timed injury to Andrew Bogut. The players have almost universally spoken up, and quite loudly, in Jackson?s defense. But Jackson has continued to play five-man bench units, and the Dubs? offense, mediocre all season, goes through stretches in which it is over-reliant on isolation. A full 52 percent of Golden State?s possessions this season ended after two or fewer passes, the highest such share in the league, per Sport VU data provided to Grantland.

The consensus around the league is that Jackson is very unlikely to return next season, barring a longer-than-expected playoff run from the Warriors. That is always subject to change, and the team has not made a final decision yet. They have not reached out directly to any potential replacements, per sources around the league. Jackson can still save his job, but the smart money is on Golden State having a new coach next season.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

For those that don't know the details.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10855864/former-golden-state-warriors-assistant-fired-secretly-recording-conversations

When Golden State Warriors assistant coach Darren Erman was fired earlier this month, the reason given was a "violation of company policy."

It turns out that Erman's violation was secretly recording conversations between the team's coaches and players, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Sources said Erman, who was coach Mark Jackson's second assistant, would record coaches' meetings, meetings between the coaches and players, and informal discussions among coaches that took place in the team's coaches room -- all without the participants' knowledge.

"He was taping everything," one source said. "Taping pregame speeches wouldn't have been that bad, but he was taping guys just sitting around talking in the coaches' office."

Sometimes Erman would be present during the tapings. Other times, he would leave the room and leave his phone behind to record conversations the other coaches were having.

It is unclear what Erman did with the recordings. The sources weren't sure whether he shared them with the club's owners or front-office executives.

"Was he taping it for himself or was he taping it for management? That's not known," a source said. "But he had a lot of communication with members of the front office."

The Warriors' other coaches began noticing a change in Erman's demeanor and behavior in March, a source said. A few weeks later, they discovered that he was recording them. After being caught, Erman told the club he had been recording the conversations for three weeks. Jackson kept Erman on his staff for another week before Warriors' management fired him on April 5.

Erman's dismissal was the second bizarre event involving Jackson's staff in less than two weeks. On March 25, management demoted first-year assistant Brian Scalabrine to the club's D-League affiliate in Santa Cruz.

Sources say the team made the move because Scalabrine exhibited a consistent pattern of disrespect toward Jackson and the other coaches. Mainly, he ignored and refused to speak with the other basketball coaches. At one point, Scalabrine went five weeks without speaking to Jackson, one source said.

Scalabrine even avoided the coaches on the team plane, sitting in a separate section, according to one source.

The odd behavior of Erman and Scalabrine is emblematic of the dysfunction that has recently engulfed the Warriors franchise. Although he led the Warriors to 51 wins this season and consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in 22 years, Jackson's job is widely rumored to be in jeopardy.

One source insists that Jackson's relationship with owner Joe Lacob and general manager Bob Myers is fine, which makes his shaky job status hard to understand.

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!