Nellie has his faults, the main one being he should be retired and sipping mai tai's at his home in Hawaii instead of coaching in the NBA. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...ug=aw-nelsonjackson101509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Fragile partnership linked Jackson, Nelson Adrian Wojnarowski By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports 4 hours, 46 minutes ago He had lost his cool with Kobe Bryant(notes), a replacement referee and ultimately the disdain that Stephen Jackson(notes) has for the Golden State Warriors turned onto Don Nelson. From outside the huddle over the weekend, Jackson had screamed to his coach that he never supported Jackson the way he should a star, that Nellie was obligated to take up his case with the refs. Sources with direct knowledge of the exchange insist Jackson’s diatribe included the plea, “If you aren’t going to support me, why don’t you get me out of here?” All along, the Warriors had misjudged his capacity for captainship, something the rest of the NBA had called the moment Nellie had that “C” stitched onto Jax’s varsity jacket. Eventually, Nelson gently touched his arm and told Jackson he needed to leave for the locker room. Jackson grew more livid, sources said, and warned Nellie that he should never do that again. Related Coverage That’s all the Warriors’ front office and coaching staff needed to hear. When the Warriors suspended Jackson for two games, two league sources said, part of the reason was to make sure that Jax-Nellie didn’t turn into a Latrell Sprewell-P.J. Carlesimo sequel. This isn’t to suggest Jackson ever threatened bodily harm – there’s no evidence he did – but Warriors management didn’t dare risk the possibility, if even remote. Jax was hot and had to go. So, Jackson returned to practice and told his bosses he no longer wants to be a captain. Warriors general manager Larry Riley has been working the phones for a trade, but there’s nothing out there. Privately, the Warriors have said they’ve just been offered “garbage” for Jackson and four years and $35 million left on his contract. For now, the Warriors are privately griping that Jackson’s belligerence could dramatically impact Monta Ellis(notes), the player whom management believes can be most easily influenced, sources said. The Warriors are stuck with Jackson and his contract, and deservedly so. Behind the back of now deposed GM Chris Mullin, Golden State’s meddlesome president Robert Rowell cut a contract extension directly with Jackson. Those close to Jackson believe Rowell convinced Jackson to terminate his high-powered agent, Dan Fegan, and do a deal directly with ownership. As much as ever now, Jackson could use Fegan’s stewardship, but he’s on his own. The Warriors had lost Baron Davis(notes) to free agency in the summer of 2007, and Mullin knew that spring’s historic playoff run was a vapor, that the franchise would be wise to move Jax with his value peaked. Mullin had a trade in the works to an Eastern Conference team, but was told to forget it. Rowell told the GM that Jackson was untouchable, and then rewarded Jackson with a cap-crippling $28 million extension to make him the face of the franchise. Now, Jackson is 31 years old and largely untradeable. Two years later, the Warriors are back to an impasse with a franchise player. When Golden State ended up in circumstances where they had to move stars Chris Webber(notes) and Sprewell, the team’s two best players fetched the modest returns of Tom Gugliotta and John Starks, respectively. The market for Jackson is marginal. So far, sources say Golden State hasn’t received one offer worth serious consideration. Yes, the Warriors are stuck with a problem of their own creation. This is what happens when ownership overrides a GM and creates an organizational structure where a coach and a player can bypass the chain of command and get contract demands met. In so many ways, Jackson and Nelson have manipulated that dynamic that led to so much dysfunction in Golden State. Back in the fall of ’07, these two were a most improbable partnership. After beating the top-seeded Mavericks in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, coach and star returned with a mandate to do something that neither man’s DNA wired him to do. Yes, they tried. Jackson says now he never cared about the title of captain, but that isn’t true. He loved the legitimacy that it lent to a wayward career. Back then, Jax and I were sitting in a New York City gymnasium where he talked about the moment that Nelson had called him with word of his promotion. “Coach, you’re going to make me cry,” Jackson told him. Mostly, Jackson remembered that on the afternoon of Nellie’s phone call, “My whole day stopped. It was like I just won a championship.” Jackson popped champagne with some friends and celebrated the honor with style. Jackson would tell me that day, “It’s amazing that an older white guy understands me more than anybody I’ve been around in my whole life. He sees through all the tattoos and all the stuff people say about me. He knows how I love the game.” Jackson was serious about the task. He was determined to grow into it. He told me about a book that Baron Davis had given him to read. John Maxwell’s “The Difference Maker: Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset.” Sure, it sounds perfectly absurd now, but Jackson was never, ever the right player to commission as the elder statesman for a team soon to be turned over to late teenagers and twentysomethings. “I don’t want to be a role model,” Jackson said this week. In a lot of ways, Nelson set him up to fail. This way, it would be easy for Nelson to shirk his own responsibilities of lording over this young team. From Brandan Wright(notes) to Marco Belinelli(notes), it’s fair to wonder: Where’s the player development come under Nellie? What young guys are getting better? Anthony Morrow(notes) was a terrific undrafted find out of Georgia Tech, but let’s face it: Mullin invited Morrow to summer league, and he was a good player upon arrival. As Nelson pushed more and more responsibility onto his assistant coaches, it was clear he had lost spirit in coaching these young Warriors. So many NBA executives believe he’s merely hanging around to catch Lenny Wilkens’ record for career victories, and maybe most of all, cash his checks. For now, the Warriors are stuck with Stephen Jackson and it could be sometime until that changes. They gave him a contract that paralyzes the team and a captainship that paralyzed the player. They’ll say Jax isn’t heeding his coach, but they’ll be wrong. He watched closely and learned well the lessons of life with the Golden State Warriors. There’s no staying power here, and rest assured that didn’t start with Captain Jack turning in his badge.
About a month ago, Captain Jack was back in his home town with Shaq, handing out free groceries to a mile-long line of us poor Port Arthurans. He, of all people, should be happy with what he has. As far as I know, basketball is the one skill he has that separates him from being on the receiving end of that charity. How he--Captain Jack-- has the audacity to carry on like that is beyond me. And in this economy!
Doesn't surprise me at all if you look at the composition of that team. A bunch of young guys with no leadership skills or backbone. Others including former players and coaches have said very positive things about Jackson. Popovich has praised him, Duncan said he was the best teammate he ever had, and former teammates like Baron Davis, Artest, etc.. have said good things about him as well. If the Rockets continue with the T-Mac/Yao experiment, and it looks like they might, (which I think they shouldn't), I would trade Battier in a heartbeat for Jackson. His contract is manageable, defensively you don't lose anything, offensively you gain a great deal, and Jackson has toughness, championship experience, and clutch shooting ability. His durability isn't an issue either since he's just coming off a career year where he led the NBA in mins played.
Jackson's comments about the role of captain were just going to look bad. Why all the description, just lose the title and go on about your business and no one would notice. Still to me this really does look like an organizational issue, not entirely a Stephen Jackson thing. Some people simply have issues with the fact that there are issues, and they dont hold back they express it. The discontent is seen as "cancerous". Some guys just want to know that going into battle people have their back. Whats wrong with that, isnt that in range of what a team captain is supposed to want? He probably felt both that his captain role was being marginalized where it meant nothing. And he was being less and lesss a good example so he didnt want the pressure and the blame. People are mad cuz they cant scream at their boss at work like athletes allow themselves to do. And thats not good to do its lame. But if you have a good organization, IMO warts and all Jackson might be a player you'd want to have
I would take Jackson if we didn't have to give anything up. Therefor, i came up with this trade scenario: Stephen Jackson for Brain Cook Brent Barry (do we still have his rights?) Joey Dorsey Why Houston? Rockets free up roster space and get a legitimate scorer to hold it down until T-Mac and Yao come back. Rockets are basically giving up nothing as all three guys being traded most likely won't make the rotation. Jackson is also from Texas so I'm willing to bet he stays on behavior if he wants to play near home. I think if we can handle Artest, then that makes Jackson look like a model citizen. Why Golden State? They get rid of Stephen Jackson while acquiring small expiring contracts. Rockets new lineup: PG - Brooks SG - S. Jackson SF - Battier PF - Scola C - Hayes Ariza Landry Lowry Chase Andersen Taylor Pops Conroy Yao T-Mac Looks fine until T-Mac comes back and it starts to look a little cluttered. Would both Jackson and Ariza be fine with coming off the bench? Then again, another trade could fix all that.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Good Ole Nellie keeping the fire stoked. Nellie is at home drinking a Budweiser and laughing up his sleeve at SJax. A sign of things to come. He'll run him ragged until they trade him or fire Nellie. That is hillarious. 48 minutes in a preseason game. So when will the Players Union file a grievance?
They would. The question is why would we? LOL you want to build jailblazers part two, except on the Rox? Why don't we get back Artest and Wafer to while we're at it?
I year rental. Artest and Wafer got the team to the 2nd round for all their issues. Stephen Jackson would be Mad Max part 2 (Mad Jax) if he came to Houston... Okay so he went into the stands to fight fans while with the classy Pacers. Then fired gun shots and then got hit by a car at a strip club. He wouldnt do that HERE though...
