No. 3: Report: Ex-Warriors assistant taped conversations – The Golden State Warriors’ coaching staff under Mark Jackson has seen its share of changes since the season began. On March 25, assistant coach Brian Scalabrine was demoted to the NBA D-League because of what was called a “difference in philosophies” with Jackson. On April 5, Warriors assistant coach Darren Erman was fired for, as GM Bob Myers put it, a “violation of company policy.” Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reports that Erman’s firing may have had to specifically do with him secretly taping conversations between the coaching staff:
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 if 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.
