Report: Mark Jackson lies led to teary confrontation between Warriors' Ezeli, teammates

In the aftermath of the Golden State Warriors' first championship in 40 years, praise for rookie head coach Steve Kerr has been met with praise for Mark Jackson, who instilled a defense-first mentality with the young Warriors over his three years at the helm.

Of course, that praise, in turn, has been met with further criticism of how Jackson handled his team, and the downfall that led to his firing last year despite back-to-back postseason appearances.

Grantland's Zach Lowe expanded on the toxic environment that existed under Jackson in a Wednesday column on the Warriors:

Kerr overhauled a team culture that had grown poisonous, for well-documented reasons, under Jackson and his assistants. In his zeal to motivate players, Jackson fostered resentment among them and toward the front office. He fired two assistants, requested Jerry West stay away from practices, and asked a younger front-office official to stop rebounding for players, sources have said.

When Ezeli was injured last season, Jackson and his staff told the healthy players that Ezeli was cheering against them — so that he would look good, according to several team sources. Players confronted Ezeli in a meeting, and he wept at the accusation — which he denied.

Many rushed to Jackson's defense when the Warriors relieved him of his duties last May, citing unrealistic expectations from the team's ownership, but a 67-win, championship season that saw Kerr's team dominate on both ends of the court certainly validated the decision to move away from Jackson.

While often lauded as a great motivator and a classic 'players' coach,' Jackson's X's and O's simply weren't up to par, and he wasn't enough of an overall difference-maker on the sidelines for a team whose title aspirations proved to be well founded. Throw in reported horror stories like that of Ezeli's and the dysfunction that existed within his coaching staff and it's no wonder Joe Lacob and Co. made the decision they did.

Not to mention, entrusting Kerr, who thereby entrusted high-powered assistants like Alvin Gentry and Ron Adams to help him build a second-ranked offense and top-ranked D, seemed like it worked out well for the organization.