Mark Jackson (basketball)

Mark Jackson

Point guard
Personal information
Date of birth	April 1, 1965 (1965-04-01) (age 46)
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York
High school	Bishop Loughlin
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Career information
College	St. John's (1983–1987)
NBA Draft	1987 / Round: 1 / Pick: 18th overall
Pro career	1987–2004
Career history
As player:
1987–1992	New York Knicks
1992–1994	Los Angeles Clippers
1994–1996	Indiana Pacers
1996–1997	Denver Nuggets
1997–2000	Indiana Pacers
2000–2001	Toronto Raptors
2001–2002	New York Knicks
2002–2003	Utah Jazz
2003–2004	Houston Rockets
As coach:
2011–present	Golden State Warriors
Career highlights and awards
NBA Rookie of the Year (1988) NBA All-Star (1989) NBA All-Rookie First Team (1988) Haggerty Award winner (1987) Consensus NCAA All-American Second Team (1987)
Career statistics
Points	12,489 (9.6 ppg)
Assists	10,334 (8.0 apg)
Steals	1,608 (1.2 spg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Mark A. Jackson (born April 1, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. He played point guard for the New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, and Houston Rockets in the NBA in a career spanning from 1987 to 2004. Jackson has also worked as a commentator for ESPN and ABC alongside his former coach Jeff Van Gundy and play-by-play man Mike Breen. He was previously an NBA analyst for The YES Network's New Jersey Nets games and a member of the St. John's University mens basketball team in the 1980's.

Biography

Early years

Mark Jackson was born in Brooklyn, New York to an American father and Dominican mother. Jackson was regarded as one of the nation's elite point guards while attending Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn under coach Patrick Quigley. Jackson gained a reputation as a streetballer in New York and a college hoops star at St. John's University. While at St. John's, he played alongside Chris Mullin for one year. He credits Mullin with teaching him the importance of rigorous practice work in the gym. ^[1]

NBA career

Jackson was made the 18th pick of the 1987 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks.^[2] He teamed with Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley to turn the Knicks into a prime playoff team in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, before the Knicks peaked and became regular playoff contenders, he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 1992.

Jackson had a steady career with the Knicks, most notably under coach Rick Pitino, averaging 13.6 points and 10.6 assists per game in his rookie season, earning him the 1988 Rookie of the Year award, the lowest overall draft pick to win the award since Woody Sauldsberry in 1958. He is the only non-lottery pick to have won the award since the introduction of the system in 1985.

In 1989, Jackson had another promising season for the Knicks, teaming with Ewing to lead them to the Atlantic Division title and the number three seed in the east (behind Detroit and Cleveland), and making his lone All-Star Game appearance. After sweeping Charles Barkley's Philadelphia team in the opening round, the Knicks faced the upstart Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Noteworthy in the series was near the end of game two, where Jackson en route to a fast break layup in the fourth quarter looked back and stuck out his tongue at Jordan before finishing the layup; Jordan responded with a 40+ PPG average the remainder of the series, and led Chicago to a 4-2 series victory. Following a contract extension prior to the 1990 season, Jackson began to lose his All-Star form; the loss of Pitino (who left to coach the University of Kentucky) and starting the season out of shape were key factors. Consequently, he began to face stiff competition from backup guard Rod Strickland, to the point where in their decisive first round game five against Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, Dennis Johnson and the Boston Celtics at the Boston Garden, Knick coach Stu Jackson decided to bench Mark Jackson for the entire game; New York went on to defeat Boston to advance to the second round, where they lost to the eventual champion Detroit Pistons in five games.

After the 1991-92 season, he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, a trade that saw Charles Smith and Doc Rivers go to the Knicks. While with the Clippers, Jackson teamed with Danny Manning, Ron Harper (known informally as "Harp") and head coach Larry Brown to lead the Clippers to two of their few playoff appearances of the 1990s (a feat that would not be repeated until 1997 and 2006).

Jackson later was traded to the Indiana Pacers for point guard Pooh Richardson, where he teamed with Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, Antonio Davis, and Dale Davis for six seasons to make the Indiana Pacers a strong contender. Jackson was traded to the Denver Nuggets before the 1996–97 NBA season started for Jalen Rose. This trade was a disaster for the Pacers, as the Pacers fell in 10th place in the East halfway through the season and out of the playoff race. Feeling the heat, Pacers GM Donnie Walsh re-traded for Jackson at the deadline, giving up Vincent Askew, Eddie Johnson and a couple of 2nd round picks. The return of Jackson sparked the Pacers, but they still missed the playoffs for the only time in the last decade and a half. Jackson would eventually appear in his only NBA Finals as the Pacers' starting point guard in 2000, when they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

Jackson would leave the Pacers that offseason for the Toronto Raptors, who needed a floor general and had extra money to spend with the departure of Tracy McGrady earlier that offseason. Jackson would only play 54 games for the Raptors before being traded at the deadline back to the Knicks. The return was short lived, as the Knicks were knocked out of the playoffs by the Raptors.

In the offseason, he was involved in a trade back to the Nuggets, where he was immediately waived. Jackson played for the Utah Jazz for the 02-03 season as John Stockton's backup. It was this season that Jackson moved into second place on the list of all time assists leaders behind his teammate Stockton. Jackson would play every single game that season without starting one before moving on as a member of the Houston Rockets in 2004. Jackson only played in 42 games as a Rocket and, experiencing a large drop off in skills, finished his career at season's end.

He is currently ranked 13th on the NBA all-time games list (1,296), 26th on the all-time minutes played list (39,121), 77th on the all-time three-point field goals made list (734), 65th on the all-time 3-point field goal attempts list (2,213), 3rd on the all-time assists list (10,323) and 23rd on the all-time steals list (1,608). Jackson never achieved great individual success; despite winning Rookie of the Year in 1988, he only made one All-Star appearance in his career (1989).

Jackson is also notable for prompting an NBA rule change. In response to Jackson's penchant for backing down opposing point guards in the post for 15 or more seconds at a time, the league instituted the Five-second rule (basketball), sometimes referred to as the "Mark Jackson Rule," prohibiting an offensive player from dribbling with his back to the basket for more than 5 consecutive seconds when below the free throw line.

Jackson is also know around the NBA for perfecting as well as increasing popularity of the "tear drop" shot, which he used often to shoot over much larger NBA defenders. The basketball shooting technique called "tear drop" is also referred to as the floater. Both of them are very descriptive names in that the basketball shot seems to "float" over the defender and drop into the hoop so lightly as if it were a drop of tears. It is an alternate basketball shooting move in a lay up where you take the step-and-a-half early and while jumping forward, you shoot the basketball over your defender before he jumps.

Post-retirement

Jackson worked as an analyst for New Jersey Nets on YES Network, mostly with Marv Albert. He has also worked as an analyst for ABC, teaming with Mike Breen and former coach Jeff Van Gundy on these telecasts.

At the end of the 2008 NBA season, Jackson unexpectedly quit his position with the YES Network. This move fueled speculation that Jackson would be replacing Isiah Thomas as coach of the New York Knicks. ^[3] However, Jackson claimed that the rumors were untrue and the decision was based on desire to stop commuting from Los Angeles and the fact that he continued to have a contract with ABC.^[4] Rumors however, kept swirling around of Jackson returning to NY as coach of the failing New York Knicks. Those rumors, however, were dispelled with the Knicks' hiring of former Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni.

Mark Jackson was hired as head coach of the Golden State Warriors on June 6, 2011.

Film

Jackson appeared in 1996's Eddie, playing Darren 'Preacher' Taylor.

Personal life

Jackson married singer/actress Desiree Coleman on July 29, 1990.^[2] The couple have 4 children,^[5] and currently live in Los Angeles. He was the older brother of And 1 streetballer Troy Jackson, better known as "Escalade". Troy Jackson died on February 20, 2011 at the age of 35. ^[6] Jackson is also a licensed minister.^{[3] [4] [7]} He and his wife pastor True Love Worship Center International in Van Nuys, California.^[8]

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1987–88	New York	82	80	39.6	.432	.254	.774	4.8	10.6	2.5	.1	13.6
1988–89	New York	72	72	34.4	.467	.338	.698	4.7	8.6	1.9	.1	16.9
1989–90	New York	82	69	29.6	.437	.267	.727	3.9	7.4	1.3	.0	9.9
1990–91	New York	72	21	22.2	.492	.255	.731	2.7	6.3	.8	.1	8.8
1991–92	New York	81	81	30.4	.491	.256	.770	3.8	8.6	1.4	.2	11.3
1992–93	L.A. Clippers	82	81	38.0	.486	.268	.803	4.7	8.8	1.7	.1	14.4
1993–94	L.A. Clippers	79	79	34.3	.452	.283	.791	4.4	8.6	1.5	.1	10.9
1994–95	Indiana	82	67	29.3	.422	.310	.778	3.7	7.5	1.3	.2	7.6
1995–96	Indiana	81	81	32.6	.473	.430	.785	3.8	7.8	1.2	.1	10.0
1996–97	Denver	52	52	38.5	.425	.397	.801	5.2	12.3[a]	1.0	.2	10.4
1996–97	Indiana	30	30	35.1	.427	.316	.766	4.1	9.8	1.5	.1	9.0
1997–98	Indiana	82	82	29.4	.416	.314	.761	3.9	8.7	1.0	.0	8.3
1998–99	Indiana	49	49	28.2	.419	.311	.823	3.8	7.9	.9	.1	7.6
1999–2000	Indiana	81	81	27.0	.432	.403	.806	3.7	8.0	.9	.1	8.1
2000–01	Toronto	54[b]	54	33.4	.422	.345	.842	3.4	9.2	1.2	.1	8.5
2000–01	New York	29[b]	28	27.1	.411	.310	.529	4.1	5.6	.7	.0	5.9
2001–02	New York	82	81	28.9	.439	.405	.791	3.8	7.4	.9	.0	8.4
2002–03	Utah	82	0	17.9	.398	.284	.763	2.1	4.6	.6	.0	4.7
2003–04	Houston	42	3	13.7	.340	.171	.718	1.7	2.8	.4	.0	2.5
Career		1,296	1,091	30.2	.447	.332	.770	3.8	8.0	1.2	.1	9.6
All-Star		1	0	16.0	.600	1.000	.500	2.0	4.0	1.0	1.0	9.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1988	New York	3	–	42.8	.367	.417	.727	4.8	9.8	2.5	.0	14.3
1989	New York	9	–	37.3	.510	.393	.679	3.4	10.1	1.1	.3	14.7
1990	New York	9	–	9.0	.419	.000	.727	.6	2.3	.2	.0	3.8
1991	New York	3	0	12.0	.333	–	–	.0	2.7	.3	.3	.7
1992	New York	12	12	30.7	.402	.190	.815	2.3	7.2	.8	.0	8.3
1993	L.A. Clippers	5	5	37.6	.438	.500	.864	5.8	7.6	1.6	.2	15.2
1995	Indiana	17	17	32.5	.454	.400	.739	5.2	7.1	.8	.0	9.9
1996	Indiana	5	5	37.2	.353	.222	.765	5.0	6.0	1.2	.0	10.6
1998	Indiana	16	16	30.9	.417	.378	.794	4.6	8.3	1.4	.0	9.2
1999	Indiana	13	13	34.7	.495	.412	.714	4.5	8.6	1.1	.1	11.2
2000	Indiana	23	23	27.6	.392	.313	.903	3.7	7.7	.8	.1	8.1
2001	New York	5	5	31.2	.500	.250	1.000	5.2	5.2	1.6	.0	9.0
2003	Utah	5	0	16.6	.500	.556	1.000	1.0	3.2	.6	.0	7.2
2004	Houston	5	0	7.6	.167	.000	–	.6	1.0	.4	.0	.4
Career		131	–	28.8	.432	.345	.777	3.6	6.9	1.0	.1	9.0

• ^a Led the league with a total of 11.4 assists per game.
• ^b Due to a mid-season trade ended up playing a total of 83 games.

See also

• List of National Basketball Association players with 1000 games played
• List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career playoff assists leaders
• List of National Basketball Association players with 22 or more assists in a game

Notes

1. ^ "Hall of Fame Ceremony: Chris Mullin". NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/video/channels/hall_of_fame/2011/08/12/20110812_hof_speech_mullin.nba. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Desiree Coleman, Singer and Actress, Weds Mark Jackson, Basketball Player - The New York Times, published July 30, 1990
3. ^ ^{a b} [1]^{[dead link]}
4. ^ ^{a b} Mark Jackson denies he left YES to take Knicks' coaching job
5. ^ Desiree Coleman - Internet Movie Database Biography, article retrieved June 6, 2007
6. ^ "Former Cardinal Troy "Escalade" Jackson dead at 35 - WDRB 41 Louisville - News, Weather, Sports Community". Fox41.com. http://www.fox41.com/story/14067383/former-cardinal-troy-escalade-jackson-dead-at-35. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
7. ^ Dealing with NBA Downtime, Part One: Streetball, by Nick Prevenas on SportsFanMagazine.com, July 14, 2005. Article retrieved June 6, 2007
8. ^ "True Love Worship Center". Trueloveworship.com. http://www.trueloveworship.com/. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 

External links

• Profile on NBA.com
• Mark Jackson career stats
• Mark Jackson ESPN Bio

Persondata
Name	Jackson, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	April 1, 1965
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death