Report: Fired Warriors assistant Darren Erman secretly taped conversations

Darren Erman and Brian Scalabrine were both removed from the Warriors' coaching staff in a two-week span. (Garrett W. Ellwood and Tim Cattera/NBAE via Getty Images)

Warriors assistant coach Darren Erman was fired for secretly taping conversations between the team's coaches and players, according to ESPN The Magazine.

Erman was dismissed three weeks ago for a "violation of company policy," according to the Warriors, who did not provide details. ESPN reported that Erman was terminated for recording meetings without the participants' permission.

"He was taping everything," one source said. "Taping pregame speeches wouldn't have been that bad, but he was taping guys just sitting around talking in the coaches' office."

Sometimes Erman would be present during the tapings. Other times, he would leave the room and leave his phone behind to record conversations the other coaches were having.

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"Was he taping it for himself or was he taping it for management? That's not known," a source said. "But he had a lot of communication with members of the front office."

Per Chris Broussard's report, Erman -- after being caught -- confessed to having recorded conversations for three weeks.

Erman, 37, was hired by the Warriors in 2011 as a coaching assistant for player development under coach Mark Jackson. He was promoted to assistant coach one year later and led Golden State's 2013 Las Vegas Summer League championship team. Erman is well regarded around the league for his basketball acumen. According to Yahoo Sports, he already has landed his next job as director of scouting for the Celtics, with whom he worked from 2007-11. (Yahoo Sports reported that Erman's firing "stemmed from a single taped conversation of Warriors coaches who had been working to undermine his game preparation and relationship with players.")

Meanwhile, ESPN also shed led light on the Warriors' earlier demotion of assistant coach Brian Scalabrine, who was reassigned to the team's D-League affiliate last month for what Jackson described as a "difference of philosophies." Broussard reported that a rift developed between Scalabrine and other coaches, including Jackson.

Sources say the team made the move because Scalabrine exhibited a consistent pattern of disrespect toward Jackson and the other coaches. Mainly, he ignored and refused to speak with the other basketball coaches. At one point, Scalabrine went five weeks without speaking to Jackson, one source said.

Scalabrine even avoided the coaches on the team plane, sitting in a separate section, according to one source.