Jarrett Jack played only one season with the Golden State Warriors , but his experiences with the franchise, especially playing alongside Stephen Curry , are deeply treasured. A 6'3″ combo guard who had previously played for four other teams before joining Golden State, he was brought in to provide stability off the bench, whether that was through setting the offense up or making timely buckets.
Now an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons , Jack looked back on his time with the Warriors fondly, describing it as the "best basketball" he'd ever been a part of.
Before the Warriors became the biggest dog in the yard, they were considered chihuahuas, a team that made the playoffs once in an 18-year span. So, upon his arrival, he immediately identified one crucial task: to change how people thought about the Warriors. And the best way to do that was simple – get wins.
"When I had got there, the biggest thing for me, I just was like, I think from an identity standpoint, you had to change the narrative of what people thought the Golden State Warriors were," he said . "For me, playing against Golden State was always a stat game."
"They going to play fast. They going to score a bunch of points, and they gonna let you score a bunch of points, and they just see who runs out of, you know, shot-making at the end," Jack added. "But if we can be offensively equipped and then defensively equipped, now we're having a, you know, a different conversation."
The rugged coaching style of head coach Mark Jackson also factored into the change the Warriors went through. As great as their free-flowing offense was to see, they also buckled down on defense, finishing the 2012-13 regular season with a 47-35 record. After stunning the third-ranked Denver Nuggets in the first round, the Warriors scared the mighty San Antonio Spurs in the second before folding in six games.
Jack averaged 12.9 points and 5.6 assists per game that season, finishing third in the Sixth Man of the Year award race. The thing that stood out most to him was witnessing Curry come into his own and gain confidence after seemingly every game.
"It was the best basketball I ever been a part of," Jack asserted. "And to say I knew what Steph was going to turn into, um, all along, I'd be lying."
"Over the course of that season, he just started doing stuff. I'm like, 'I don't really think I've seen anybody do that before.' I've been around the game for a while, and I watched it, and man, he's starting to do this, like, consistently all the time now, right?" he continued. "And this is, like, regular. But we had the same point of view, but not regular at the same time, right?"
"And you just started to slowly see his wings emerge, and the man turned into a superstar, icon, and one of the best players we ever seen."
Jack signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers in July 2013. A few seasons after his departure, the Warriors climbed to the top of the NBA mountain, winning the first of what would eventually be four titles in eight years and establishing themselves as a modern-day dynasty.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Sep 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
