Warriors fire assistant Darren Erman

OAKLAND, Calif. -- For the second time in two weeks, the Golden State Warriors have parted ways with an assistant coach.

The Warriors fired assistant Darren Erman on Saturday for "a violation of company policy," general manager Bob Myers said. He said that "this is the type of decision that would be made across the board and irrespective of position within the organization.

"Obviously, the timing is unfortunate, but we hold all of our employees, whether in basketball operations or other aspects of the business, accountable for their actions and to the same standard. We move forward and thank Darren for his contributions."

Erman is the second member of coach Mark Jackson's staff to be removed in the past two weeks. Jackson reassigned assistant Brian Scalabrine to the team's NBA Development League affiliate in Santa Cruz on March 25 because of what Jackson called a "difference in philosophies."

"He made a mistake," Jackson said of Erman, according to the Bay Area News Group. "He owns it. He's done a lot for me. He's done a lot for this organization, and I'm pulling for him to make a comeback. I'm pulling for him to move on and become a great coach, and I believe that can happen.

"It's just tough. I'm pulling for him. The right decision was made, and we move forward, but certainly I'm pulling for him to bounce back and get back on the road that he was on."

Erman was in his third season with the Warriors after spending four years with the Boston Celtics, where he worked under Doc Rivers. He also coached the Warriors' summer league championship team in Las Vegas last year and spent most of his time during the season reviewing video and studying opponents.

"This is not the norm," Jackson said. "That's OK because really in both decisions, the right decisions were made. You move forward. To me, I think it's a great time for us as a team and an organization. To still be standing, this isn't new. It's new to you guys. It's not new to us. So to still be standing, still winning and still in our right minds says a lot about this culture."

The Warriors (47-29) enter Sunday's home against Utah sixth in the Western Conference standings with six games to play. They are 1½ games behind fifth-place Portland and 1½ games ahead of seventh-place Dallas.

"A great pastor said, 'You cannot fix the foundation in the middle of a storm. It's too late then.' The foundation has been laid, and it's going to hold up," Jackson said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.