National Basketball Association

Did Andrew Bogut take a subtle jab at Mark Jackson?

Published Feb. 12, 2015 11:49 a.m. ET

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Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut and former coach Mark Jackson never exactly hid their distaste for each other over the last few seasons. Bogut's business-like approach to basketball never quite jibed with his coach's religion-tinged motivational style, and that incompatibility exposed itself on a few occasions, most notably when Jackson seemed to question the veracity of Bogut's shoulder injury last season that caused him to miss a number of games.

Bogut hosted a Twitter Q&A, taking questions from fans, and one seemingly innocous response might have been a subtle poke at Jackson:

There's nothing out of the ordinary about the comment itself, but consider this context. ESPN broadcasted the Jan. 9 game between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, for which Jackson was on the call along with Jeff Van Gundy. The conversation, of course, steered toward the instant results Steve Kerr has produced as Jackson's successor, and Jackson took the opportunity to talk up his role in the franchise's turnaround, commandeering a team mired in mediocrity in the Western Conference and turning it into a perennial contender.

"You cannot disrespect the caterpillar and rave about the butterfly," Jackson said.

Jackson's point was obvious, and it's clear that Bogut was making a clever reference to it. But was his intention to mock the former coach? Taking his words literally, Bogut might actually be defending Jackson. Whether Bogut's crediting Jackson, or delivering a tongue-in-cheek jab, it's not likely they'll ever quite mend fences.

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