The news of the release of Marc Jackson from his actual team Olympiacos Piraeus was quite a surprise today. The US born Center, who is actually the seventh-ranked player overall in the performance rating index for the entire Euroleague, will not be playing the Euroleague playoffs that begin Tuesday next week.
What came up in the different forums in the afternoon has been published officially by the euroleague website tonight. The former NBA player, who was one of the biggest transfers in the summer is now officially a free agent again. But what happened?
According to different sources, the new coaching style of Panagiotis Giannakis is one of the reasons why the playing time of Jackson has been reduced in the last games. The Center was also not one of the most motivated defenders, and even Olympiacos had to play a lot of zone defense as Jackson was unable to guard a European big on man-to-man defenses.
So after the loss in the Greek Cup Final yesterday and some discussions between the coach and the player, the organization decided to part ways with the former Temple player. This means now for Olympiacos that they have to defend their basket with the only Bourousis and Tsakalidis unless the improbable comeback of Big Sofo for the Quarter Finals next would give them the necessary firepower inside to have a chance to defeat CSKA Moscow.
Coaches love having these kind of “built in excuses” ready if they lose. Perfect situation for Giannakis – if they win he is a hero, and if they lose, well it wasn’t his fault!
of course … this is how it works everywhere Jonahan
Had you bothered to read my comments on Jackson from the very early days of his Olympiakos career even with Gershon as a coach, you should know that he was really weak in defense.
I mean his guy Tsartsaris (who is 2.12!) scored 4!!! threepointers in the Final, all unmarked from the corner!
Same things were happening regularly. If a team bases their game on defense and each point counts it is not wise to have a man who scores 10 and concedes 10+1 from his personal opponent…
In teams of Gershon style where its all about outscoring the opponent, he fits perfectly. I wouldn’t worry about Jackson. Getting his fat cheque (like Gershon) and finding another job can’t be that hard for him.
Plus Olympiakos can now register Woods to the Greek A1 games… Olympiakos is already 0-3 down to Panathinaikos with Jackson, why not try out Woods?
I don’t know why Jackson now is free agent when he was one from the best players in the Olympiakos.