Unhappy Jackson a familiar sight in Indiana

As Stephen Jackson attempts to escape the confines of his $9 million-a-year prison, it’s fitting that the Warriors arrive in Indiana to play the Pacers tonight.

While Inmate Number One does everything short of challenging Keith Smart to games of three bullet mow mow, there is no team more familiar with this side of Jackson than Indiana.

After all, the Pacers saw far too much of this from Jackson three seasons ago, which is why they couldn't wait to ship him to Oakland.

The Warriors knew the deal with Jackson coming in; his attitude was the reason he was available in the first place. Outside of Robert Rowell, everyone seemed to know that this was a fling, not a marriage.

In trading for Jackson and Al Harrington, Chris Mullin swung from his heels, desperate to propel his inept franchise into the postseason. And just as he did with the Baron Davis trade, Mullin hit a home run.

Golden State made the playoffs, upset the Mavericks in the first round, and played two seasons of the most exciting basketball the Bay Area has ever seen.

So when Harrington complained his way out of town last year and openly celebrated Jackson’s offseason trade request, Warriors fans couldn’t muster much more than mild boos.

Even as Jackson continues to demand a trade and occasionally blows up at the head coach, Warriors fans don’t blow their tops. Not that anyone likes these antics, mind you, but a playoff berth is worth quite a bit around these parts.

And while Pacers fans may be happy that Jackson is no longer their problem, his presence has to be an unwelcome reminder of what might have been.

Before the Malice in the Palace, the Pacers may have been the best team in the Eastern Conference. Led by a healthy, in-his-prime Jermaine O’Neal, the Pacers had a stellar supporting cast of Jackson, Ron Artest, and Reggie Miller.

Looking back, Pacers fans must wonder how far that team could have gone, while everyone else wonders how Jackson and Artest were ever allowed to be teammates in anything other than a penal league.

But ever since that fateful night in Detroit, the Pacers have been in stuck in the mud, forced to sell off their veterans for scraps while hoping to unearth gems late in the draft lottery.

Jackson’s return, in the midst of his one-man revolt, only serves to remind Indy fans of the Stephen Jackson they knew, the one who helped ruin their big chance.

That was the “before” Stephen Jackson, the one who badly needed the reinvention he eventually found in Oakland.

The “after” Stephen Jackson helped transform a 19-21 Warriors team into a squad that finished 42-40 and pulled off one of the most exciting playoff upsets in NBA history.

The trade only changed four spots on the Warriors’ roster, but the trade with Indiana transformed Golden State from a team of tense, frustrated players into a fearless group who'd shoot a three from outside the building if the rules allowed it.

Taken off their leash in Don Nelson’s offense, Jackson was free to launch his knuckleball jumpers with twenty seconds on the shot clock, while Harrington ran the court with the kind of ear-to-ear grin usually reserved for elementary school playgrounds.

For the Warriors, the arrival of Jackson and Harrington will always represent the team’s painfully brief transformation from doormat franchise to NBA darling. That trade powered the “We Believe” engine, and if nothing else, the resulting lineup gave Warriors fans a chance to shine.

The players themselves were the perfect counterpart for the Golden State faithful; as much credit as Warriors fans get for their part in the playoff run, it was the players themselves and Nelson’s freewheeling offense that galvanized them.

Tonight, the Warriors are right back where Jackson found them, downtrodden and directionless.

Just two and a half years removed from their playoff blitz, only four players remain from the “We Believe” roster. Soon they’ll all be gone, and the Warriors will be forced to rebuild, as they are wont to do.

Of the seven players involved in the Warriors-Pacers deal, only Stephen Jackson will play in tonight’s game.

He does so knowing that history will likely repeat itself, that he’ll soon be dispatched to a new contender.

And when that day comes, there will be two franchises who know all too well that when building a team, Stephen Jackson makes for a dangerous foundation.

The Oakland Sports Examiner.