As tough and complicated as the decision of the Golden State Warriors' front office on the future of Mark Jackson has become, it all boils down to one thing: the status quo.

I have very little doubt that the 2014-15 Warriors coached by Jackson would be very similar to this year, accounting for differences in personnel and health which are obviously pivotal. What I mean by that is that the Warriors would be a team that plays incredibly hard with plenty of talent that stands a good chance of making the playoffs even in a stacked Western Conference.

If you think that sounds great, it makes full and complete sense to be on board with bringing Jackson back and I do not say that to cheapen or denigrate this stance in the slightest. The Warriors have enjoyed greater success these last two seasons than in any part of their recent history and how hard the guys play for their coach has clearly been a part of that equation.

The question then becomes whether this team can be better than what they have been. While Jackson has most, if not all of his team motivated, his stubborn insistence on following his own instincts makes him the current ceiling for this team. I wrote that after Golden State’s thrilling win over Oklahoma City on November 14, 2013 and stand by it now. When I watch the Warriors, I see a team that does not play particularly prepared or well-coached either in the larger picture or the smaller one. This can come in the form of quick decisions like having Draymond Green on the floor in an obvious fouling situation with five fouls late in Game 7 or broader ones like rotations and play-calling. In particular, the offense could work so much better even with the existing talent.

Over the course of the 13-14 season, the four-man unit of Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson and Andrew Bogut played 977 minutes together- quite a lot when considering the time missed due to injuries for that top four. Only 7.27% (71) of those 977 minutes came with Draymond Green as the fifth man, just 39 more than they played with Jermaine O’Neal and 22 more than with Harrison Barnes. The conversation centering on the #FullSquad of Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Lee and Bogut was a hot topic in the early part of the season and they did well together but the extensive minutes they logged came at the expense of finding something different and possibly even better.

The #FullSquad outscored opponents by 16.3 points per 100 possessions this season, an excellent total. That difference actually grew to 17.2 points per 100 possessions when you swap Lee out for Green. Of course, we only saw 71 minutes of the Green alternative – not a big enough sample to draw any strong conclusions. The fact that we have not seen enough of that group together to make a definite statement may say more than the stats ever could here.

Jackson’s commitment to his own judgement and strategies generated consequences off the court as well. The two assistants firmly outside of his circle and also not coincidentally most critical of Jackson’s coaching could not be seen on the sidelines during Saturday’s Game 7 loss. Earlier in the season, the team reassigned Brian Scalabrine and justifiably fired Darrin Erman. While Erman’s purported conduct made his dismissal the proper decision, the insecurity that may have fueled his poor judgement may have a legitimate foundation. It is telling that the Warriors organization retained Scalabrine and that despite his poor decision being known Erman still got immediate and sustained interest from his former team and former head coach. These two examples of discord also lend credence to Adrian Wojnarowski’s reporting that there was a rift between Jackson and lead assistant Mike Malone last season. An extension would strengthen Jackson’s command and commitment who what has brought him so much success.

I also wholly reject the argument made by some that Jackson deserves a ton of credit for how hard this Warriors' team plays. The core of the franchise in the short and long terms consists of players with high character whose motors ran well before Jackson’s influence and should continue to for quite a while. Curry, Green and Bogut in particular stand out as quality players who will scrap and claw even if they have less love for the person calling the shots. Beyond the effort part, putting players like Draymond and Harrison Barnes in better situations in terms of lineup construction and strategy could and should have a far larger impact than the effort gap. I am also concerned that Thompson stands as the only young Warrior who plays with substantially more skill than he did earlier in his career- talented individuals like Barnes and Jeremy Tyler have not exactly blossomed or even markedly improved during their time in Oakland.

That does not mean that the Warriors are sure to improve under a new coach next season. In fact, there are not many candidates that stand as a clear upgrade over Jackson and there are many potential pitfalls. I think of the head coaches in the NBA as falling into three categories: clear positives (Popovich, Spoelstra, and few others), clear negatives (I will refrain from naming them), and a vast majority in the middle with a less dramatic effect on their teams in either direction. Mark Jackson fits somewhere in the middle group and fair arguments exist to put him at various points in that section.

However, that means that there are extremely few individuals that Warriors fans and front office types alike can identify as absolute improvements, especially since most of that top group do not exactly get many opportunities to change addresses if they even want to.

Steve Kerr has tantalizing coaching potential but he also carries both a risk of being worse than expected or simply taking a little while to get it when the Warriors’ window of contention gets narrower as Iguodala, Bogut, and Lee move away from their physical primes. In fact, I would be critical of a Kerr hire for nearly the same reasons I did not like the Jackson choice when it happened, with an even bigger problem due to the narrower timeframe the team has now. The Warriors committed to an older core around Curry that yielded immediate benefits but also shortened the peak since Father Time will remain undefeated.

A small group of coaches are good enough to make jettisoning Jackson the right call. Gregg Popovich, Tom Thibodeau, Rick Carlisle and Jeff Hornacek are all monumentally unlikely to leave their current employers while Phil Jackson ain’t walking through that door either. While Frank Vogel and Doc Rivers could see crazy circumstances lead to them becoming slightly available, in all likelihood the clear upgrade camp boils down to one potential name: Stan Van Gundy. He combines the intelligence and scheme to maximize the existing talent (as Adam Lauridsen and I discussed on the RealGM Radio podcast this week, the Warriors could look like Orlando’s 2009 NBA Finals team with better defensive talent on the perimeter and Stephen Curry) with the emotional core to keep the team playing hard. Stan’s brother Jeff Van Gundy could work too but may grind this team a little much and Jeff’s very close connection with Jackson makes the position harder for him to accept.

After all that sound and fury, it basically boils down to one name that would make a huge positive difference unless some other team screws up. Even if my opinion that Jackson stands as the greatest limiting factor on this Golden State team is correct, the Warriors' front office should understand and appreciate both how lucky that makes them and how insanely difficult that can be to improve.