Keeping to the code. (AP/Jeff Chiu)
Prior to last week, the focus of the Golden State Warriors’ offseason focus had largely been limited to four players: Anthony Randolph, Stephen Curry, Monta Ellis, and Amare Stoudemire.
Stephen Jackson, the Warriors’ captain and arguably their best player, was all but invisible. That all changed last Friday, when Jackson reportedly announced that he is seeking a trade.
Having signed a three-year, $28 million contract extension with Golden State less than a year ago, Jackson’s trade request is a quick one, even by Warriors standards. The fact that he received an extension at all is incredible, given that there were two years remaining on his current deal at the time.
Stephen Jackson may be crazy, but he isn’t stupid.
The Warriors were the only team foolish enough to hand out such a contract to a non-superstar, and he took full advantage. Given the current economic state of the NBA, Jackson would have had no chance at a similar deal had he elected to test free agent market after this season.
It now appears that Jackson played the Warriors the entire time, armed with a simple plan: get paid first, find a way off the team later.
Not only was Captain Jack clever enough to ignore outgoing general manager Chris Mullin and deal instead with an embarrassingly inexperienced, in-over-his-head team president Robert Rowell, he also worked out the contract on his own, saving himself millions of dollars that would have otherwise gone to an agent.
Eager to show off his new prize, Rowell worked with Jackson last summer to rehab his public persona, which was painfully in need of repair. And now that his image has been polished and his bank account made healthier, Jackson is ready to leave the Warriors’ nest and head back out into the world of NBA playoff contention.
The market for Jackson figures to be limited due to his contract, but at 31 he's still young enough that a win-now team might be willing to take him on. The Warriors on the other hand, are perpetually stuck in win-never mode, which is precisely why Jackson wants to relocate.
Extending Jackson didn’t make sense at the time for Golden State, and it looks even worse now. Rowell vetoed a Mullin-negotiated contract extension for Baron Davis last summer, then turned around and personally signed Jackson.
Given the makeup of the team and the emotional fragility of Davis and Jackson, the Warriors needed to either keep both players or let go of each of them. Keeping one or the other was never a sound strategy.
If the team had held off on re-signing Jackson, he’d be heading into the final year of his contract, and the Warriors would be holding all the cards. With free agency looming, Jackson would be forced into his best behavior, and his reasonable salary would have made him an appealing trade target.
But with $35 million now owed to Jackson over the next four seasons, the Warriors are likely to receive cap relief and little else should they decide to deal him. Compounding the problem is the fact that trading Jackson would limit Don Nelson to a mere nine swingmen, crippling the coach’s ability to tinker with individual matchups.
Golden State should have known better than to extend Jackson in the first place, and now they’re paying the price for it.
Any business savvy possessed by Robert Rowell hasn't extended to on-court transactions, and owner Chris Cohan is now living proof that a fool and his money are soon parted.
If the Warriors and Rowell truly bought into Jackson’s happy camper makeover once his contract was finalized, then they have no one to blame but themselves.
After all, the veteran’s “Captain Jack” nickname is appropriate in more ways than one.
If Rowell were to call out his team’s captain for cheating the franchise and attempting to jump ship, you’d half expect Jackson to shrug, shoot Rowell a smirk and offer a one-word explanation: “Pirate.”
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Comments
hilarious.
bravo
Well now the Warriors should not trade him. Checkmate. He starts whining, suspend him. This team is about Randolph, Morrow, Buike, Curry, Biedrins and (if he does not demand a trade) Ellis.
One less ball hog. The further into the season we wait to trade the more we will get back for him. Some young guy starts having a bad year or someone pulls a Jackson and wants out because they are not getting playing time, boom make the trade. Until then Jackson can play solitaire for all I care.
man F**K Jackson!!!!
spot on. and i agree with the comment from "crustyrim". if trade jax it's good because we've opened up space on the floor. if we don't trade him and he gets the al harrington treatment then it's also great because we open more space on the floor. however the warriors are likely to trade him for a slender forward who takes minutes from randolph. this team is too predictable.
by the way, hilarious title for article. training day was on tv this weekend - is that where you got it?
Great article! I agree with Crusty too, get Jackson outta here. Curry, Morrow, and Monta need minutes. Plus Maggette is pretty much Jackson anyway except maybe a bit better imo. Jackson showed his true colors last season by not playing any defense once he got the contract and offensive number up. Plus the guy takes so many ridiculous shots and that is something that plagues the Warriors. Let's put a team together that takes good shots.
I dont get it the Captain Jack nickname? Where'd that come from? Pirates of the Caribbean?
CrustyRim I like your idea! If we don't get a great offer now I think waiting is a solid decision. I like Jackson as a player but after this F**k him! I'd like to see the Warriors package him with Acie Law, Speedy Claxon or Brandon Wright and trade for Carlos Boozer. Either that or package him with Biedrins and go for Amare and Earl Clark or whoever. If those options aren't there I'd wait like CrustyRim said! The Warrior front office needs to commit to Ellis or Curry, Randolph, Morrow and Biedrins. Those should be our only untouchables, cause they are all good young players who could become great!(with the exception of Biedrins, but hey he's solid as hell and probably one of the top 10 centers in the league).
Why are we blaming Jackson, we knew all along he was a thug. Did you think he was going to change? If a man looks like a thug, walks like a thug and acts like a thug, he is a thug. The only thing I'll miss about Jackson if he gets traded, is for him to do a Latrell job on Nelson.
Jackson is not getting traded so lets stop this!
In my opinion the GSW's priority is not winning the championship, but more on how much money they can make each year. History has shown that, teams like the Lakers and Celtics' main objective is to win it all. Spurs, Pistons, and the Bulls also have winning records the past couple of decades. It's obvious which teams really want to join the elite, Cavaliers and Mavericks. And there are teams that say a lot of things, but in the end do very little....we know who those teams are. I will not spend money on a team that is not serious about winning. For free?, why not!
In my opinion the GSW's priority is not winning the championship, but more on how much money they can make each year. History has shown that, teams like the Lakers and Celtics' main objective is to win it all. Spurs, Pistons, and the Bulls also have winning records the past couple of decades. It's obvious which teams really want to join the elite, Cavaliers and Mavericks. And there are teams that say a lot of things, but in the end do very little....we know who those teams are. I will not spend money on a team that is not serious about winning. For free?, why not!
Somewhere tonight Chris Mullin is smiling.
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