Overshadowing a nice Warriors outing against Phoenix on Saturday was the news that the Warriors have suspended Stephen Jackson for 2 games for ‘Conduct detrimental to the team.” This coming on the heals of his $25,000 fine from the league for making a trade request.
Considering Jackson’s play in the previous pre-season games, it really isn’t a loss. In his mind, Jackson is the #1 option all the time, and he has been playing like it. Ball movement comes to a halt, numerous drives into the teeth of the defense, then a turnover. Erratic, frustrated, emotional, sloppy play that reeks of a ‘me first’ attitude.
Combine Jackson’s selfish play with Corey Maggette then you have 2 black holes on the team, each creating their own unique gravitational pull of suck. The young W’s squad needs to get minutes for Morrow, Curry, Ellis, Randolph. This doesn’t leave starting minutes for Maggette and Jackson. One needs to go, and Jackson called ‘shotgun’ on the first seat out the door.
Warriors media roundup
Adam’s Blog “Conduct detrimental”
Essentially a no-win situation, for the Warriors to get any trade value out of Jackson, he needs to come back and play well, big minutes, limit turnovers and be a team player. If he does it will take minutes away from the younger players, and he will dominate the ball and the team. The alternative is for the Warriors to sit him down until he can be traded, but that depresses his value. Best option, try to get him on board, have him play well and within his limits, distribute the ball, and then at the trading deadline he has the max value.
Tim Kawakami “Warriors are the talk of the league”
Warriors for sale, potentially moving to SF, which would be awesome, I had heard that there was talk of building a stadium next to ATT Park in SOMA. Cohan has the team for sale, but no one has met his price yet. As the pain of the current downturn in the economy, and attendance play out this year, we will see what pressure that puts on him to lower his price.
Wojnarowski “For Warriors, turmoil starts with the boss”
Bad ownership ruining good markets. Can’t argue that the Warriors are ruining the perception of the NBA among bay area residents. As a long time Warriors fan, when I mention my allegiance, normally the response is laughter. I don’t go as overboard as Wojnarowski in blaming Cohan for the mess. My impression of Cohan is that he is a non-resident owner, not too involved, and outsourced his management of the team to others. His biggest crime is bad hiring decisions.