Wait, shouldn’t the title read “Stephen Jackson brings sanity to the Bobcats”?

You have obviously not been paying attention to the Stephen Jackson story. Golden State was more than happy to get rid of a team chemistry problem. Why Larry Brown at his age would want to take on Stephen Jackson is beyond me, but you know the NBA, if you can put the ball in the hoop with any regularity then some team owner will pay you millions of dollars no matter how you act in public.

So it is time for a quick review. Why would Charlotte take a chance on Stephen Jackson after the owner publically stated he would not embarrass Charlotteans which are not to be confused with Alanteans or any other Teans?

Jackson brings two qualities the Bobcats need – proven scoring ability and the versatility to play multiple positions. But he also brings a history of bad behavior that seems to conflict with majority owner Bob Johnson’s promise at the franchise’s outset.
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Why the Bobcats took Stephen Jackson

Now for the pop quiz. Why did they do it? We just went over this, because Stephen Jackson can put the ball in the hole and the Bobcats suffer from a disease called “can’t put the ball in the hole”. It is that simple.

Stephen Jackson wanted out of Golden State

You would think the Malice in the Palace and the gun shooting thing and various other sundry items would make Stephen Jackson untouchable, but such is not the case.

Now here is the reply you have all been waiting for, why do it, for real? You are the Bobcats! Look in the mirror and realize that the playoffs are a long ways off and there is no reason to rush into a contract with a player that is going to cause problems. Why do it? You had an expiring contract with Bell, the survivor to play in Golden State, and now you have a long term contract with problems.

Ahh, but they never learn. Gotta go, that is Allen Iverson on the phone and he is looking for another team.

Image: Zuma Press

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The National Basketball League took to the outdoors in Indian Wells, California and played a game of basketball. It was the Golden State Warriors playing against the Phoenix Suns under the sun. How cool is that?

We can’t do that stuff in Michigan, because it is already down to the low 40’s during the day. We did have the largest crowd ever at an outdoor college hockey game, but that is not the same thing.

Warriors 104 Suns 101

The Warriors are a team that is a complete mess with the latest problem coming from Stephen Jackson, big surprise. 5 fouls and 1 technical and 10 minutes into the game against the Lakers and Stephen Jackson left the bench and went to the locker room and simply never returned.

Jackson agreed to a three-year, $28 million contract extension with the Warriors last November, but now he wants out – and the former combatant in the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl in the Auburn Hills stands is making it known in various vocal ways.
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Classic members of the malice at the Palace - Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson

It is getting so bad that fans are begging the owner to just get it over with and sell the team. The owner, Chris Cohan, is asking so much money that even Larry Ellison, yes that Larry Ellison of Oracle fame, turned him down.

And again, we say, “It ain’t got nothin’ to do with it.” Cohan will sell when his price, already judged exorbitant by Larry Ellison, whose wallet could eat Cohan’s entire house, is met. Or when the Internal Revenue Service decides to bring the noise to his ongoing tax issues.

Are there people who would love to buy the team and move it, maybe to San Jose, maybe to San Francisco? Yes, and there have been – but Cohan isn’t what real-estate people call a motivated seller, even with all the horrific embarrassments he has instigated and allowed instigated in his name. Apparently, the man simply cannot be shamed.
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What is next for this team? They have no players. They have an owner that wants to sell. Don Nelson is their coach and Stephen Jackson is their best player. Wow, it is no time to be a Warriors fan.

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Golden State.
Oh yeah, that is a mouthful. Think of all the recent titles Golden State has achieved. Uh, think of any titles…how about Conference titles? No? Uh, think of all the good parking places in their parking lot. You can park your car right beside the stadium.

How about all the tremendous players on their roster. Let’s see, there is…um, there is… Don’t they have Baron Davis? He left? Chose to go to the Clippers? He chose to go to the Clippers? No one made him go?

Now they did make some huge deals today.

Moore, a 33-year-old 7-footer who averaged 1.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 6.6 minutes a game during the playoffs with Boston, is expected to sign a one-year contract midweek for the veteran minimum $1.3 million. Watson, a restricted free agent, alerted his Twitter flock that he is re-upping with the Warriors for a one-year qualifying offer of just more than $1 million

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Ok, maybe not too huge.

We are getting sidetracked here. Face it, Golden State stinks. If Stephen Jackson wants to leave the team and go somewhere else then let him. They need to rebuild anyway. Find a better team player that wants to be there.

Think Stephen Jackson is upset?

Stephen Jackson was with the Pacers when Ben Wallace and Ron Artest got into it. He also went through suspension for the Malice at the Palace. His legacy will be marked by it.

Now he is demanding a trade and stating it publicly, which under National Basketball Association rules you cannot do.

The league fined Jackson $25,000 on Tuesday for public statements “detrimental to the NBA.” Players aren’t permitted to make trade requests publicly, and Jackson is the first player fined for such statements since Ron Artest, then of the Indiana Pacers, during the 2005-06 season.

Players are allowed to and have, on occasion, requested a trade through their teams’ hierarchy. The players, however, are not allowed to make said mandates through the media.

“It’s against league rules to request a trade publicly,” vice president of NBA communications Tim Frank said. “Therefore, a fine was issued.”
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The return of James, your basketball author. Now the good and the bad. The good is that my most excellent boss and coworkers filled in quite nicely and that is most appreciated.

The bad is that James is diagnosed with Cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. Fear not, they say the cancer is one that is curable, so let us move forward with our dreams of basketball!

Who you calling senile?

The Warriors are wild and crazy guys!

The thing about the Warriors is they make no sense. Basketball at the professional level isn’t supposed to work this way. In the mixed-up Warrior World, one-on-four pull-up jump shots are encouraged, not punished; a player who has been suspended six times is a source of inspiration and stability; and guys called Mully and Nellie are considered the masterminds of the operation. source

Now how many coaches tell you to shoot the ball? Now years ago while coaching amateur teams your intrepid author used to tell players if you get your shot take it or expect to come out of the game, but Don Nelson tells his players to just shoot the ball. That will get the defense to spread out.

“It’s a lot more organized than what it seems,” Baron Davis said.

It starts with rule No. 1 from coach Don Nelson: Shoot the ball.

“He actually said, ‘Don’t worry about making it,’” Austin Croshere said. “You have to take that shot in order to get the defense to extend to open things up. It’s within certain parts of our offense. To get the ball into the corner, you have to get that guy out there.”

GM Chris Mullins thinks it makes their version of small ball work. Chris was one of the all time great long range shooters, by the way. His shot was smooth and easy.

There’s nothing you can do to stop their style. You know how you don’t want to fight a crazy guy, because you don’t know what he is going to do? The same thought applies here. If the Warriors are going to shoot the first 25-footer they see, is there really any way to defend against it?

Oddly, their best player is Stephen Jackson, the prime suspect in the Malice at the Palace against the Pistons.

With the Warriors, he’s a source of inspiration. He plays with confidence, and it spreads.

“The guys on my team know that, the best player on their team, I’m going to make him work,” Jackson said.

The Warriors were 1-6 while he served a seven-game suspension for the shooting incident. Since he returned, they’re 9-2. Going back to the end of last season, the Warriors have won 25 of their past 32 regular-season games in which Jackson has played.

The Warriors play a game even stranger than the Suns, but will it be enough to win a championship?

NBA Basketball Fan Question Do you like watching the Warriors play?

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