Mark Jackson: Picking Steph Curry as MVP would have been 'easy route'

The grapes, they are so, so sour.

Former Golden State Warriors head coach, and current NBA analyst, Mark Jackson continues to sound like a jilted lover when it comes to discussing the Warriors and the NBA's Most Valuable Player Steph Curry.

Not only did Jackson warn Gregg Popovich that losing a Game 7 can cost you your job, as if Popovich is in any trouble of that, and as if the Warriors didn't take a huge step forward with Steve Kerr as coach this season - but he also said in April that James Harden, not Curry, was the MVP.

Asked Thursday about that choice, which surprised Curry, Jackson stood by his selection but paid Curry his due in a roundabout way:

The easy route was to go and say Steph. That's easy. I'm not saying he wasn't worthy. I'm not even saying he didn't deserve it. I just had to make a pick.

I love him. I'm happy for him. I'm proud of him. Tremendous speech. Tremendous accomplishment. I wish him nothing but the very best and we move on.

So, Curry would have been the easy pick - and therefore, probably the right pick - but he chose Harden why, exactly?

I'm going to do my job to the best of my ability. And that's not saying James Harden didn't deserve it. So anybody that thinks I'm shading or hating, or all of that, I picked the guy that wound up No. 2 in the voting.

OK, then.

Luckily, Jackson didn't actually have a vote for the MVP award. Selecting Harden would have been completely justifiable, as he had a terrific season and a great MVP case. Selecting Harden because Curry was too easy a choice would not have been justifiable, and even if it wasn't the wrong pick, the optics are such that Jackson comes off looking poorly here.