Stephen Jackson Traded

Photo from ESPN

Golden State traded Jackson along with Acie Law to Charlotte for Raja Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic Monday afternoon.

You happy now?

Captain Jack’s wish was finally granted this morning, however this may be a case of ‘beggers can’t be choosers’. His agent insists that Jackson is thrilled with the trade but considering Jackson’s demand, the Bobcats seem like an odd fit.

Jackson hoped to be traded to Cleveland, New York or any of the Texas teams. Hmm. Jackson also wanted to be traded to a contender. Uhh.

One thing that will be in Jackson’s favor in Charlotte is that he should have free reign to shoot as often as he pleases. Gerald Wallace is the teams leading scorer at only 13.7 ppg.

Bobcats perspective:

The Bobcats average the fewest points per game in the league at 82.4. The ‘Cats are so inept at scoring, that they’ve failed to go over 80 FIVE times this season. As a reference, only two other teams average below 90 ppg: Chicago and New Jersey. Even more astonishing is the fact that six teams average 20 more ppg than Charlotte.

Okay, so it’s very clear that the Bobcats need some help offensively but the move is still puzzling on a few fronts. Let me make this clear, I think Jackson will be greatly beneficial for this upcoming season. With that said, Jack is 31 and coming off back-to-back seasons where he averaged a hair under 40 minutes per game. He also is on the books for the next four seasons at around $7 million per year. At 31, he earns every penny of his salary. At 35? I’m not convinced.

With that salary, Jackson pretty much shuts the door on any possibility of the Bobcats making a run at a free agent in the coming summers. Were they ever serious contenders to land a big-name free agent? I don’t know. I do know that the Emeka Okafor for Tyson Chandler debocle (for both teams) was a trade that was largely salary motivated. Which begs the question, why is a team that was so eager to drop one of their best players in salary dump motivated to make a trade like this? Did Michael Jordan the executive strike again? Is this a preemptive “my bad” for the Gerald Henderson pick last June? Wouldn’t it have been easier, cheaper and less risky for them to have just signed Allen Iverson this summer? He respects Larry Brown, they would’ve kept Raja Bell (dumping Radmanovic was a win, no doubt) and Iverson surely wouldn’t have been on the books for as long or as much money as Captain Jack will be.

However, I will tune into a ‘Cats game in the near future. A small lineup of D.J. Augustin, Raymond Felton, Jack, Wallace and Chandler is intriguing indeed.

Warriors perspective:

Well, they had to do it. Right? Captain Jacks complaints were getting loud enough that teammates were anonymously complaining about him to members of the media. Never a good sign. So I agree, they had to trade him. Was this the best possible package, though?

For all of Jack’s shortcomings as a leader, teammate what-have-you, he was a hell of a player for the Warriors these past two seasons. His production will surely be missed. Luckily, the Warriors are extraordinarily deep with young gunners on the wing. I would be more confindent in their ability to fill Jack’s void had Kelenna Azubuike not been carried off the court this weekend.

Raja Bell should really help the team defensively. The Warriors allow the most ppg in the NBA (113.7) and allowed the leagues Boy Wonder, Brandon Jennings to drop a 55 spot on them. As deadly as the Steph Curry-Monta Ellis back court is offensively, it’s twice as bad defensively. I trust that Curry will learn a thing or two from Bell.

The main problem with the trade is the Vladimir Radmanovic factor. I wonder how long it will be until Don Nelson takes more minutes away from Anthony Randolph and gives them to Radmanovic. Nelson seems to have a thing for tall dudes that shoot threes and don’t defend. Rad WILL be better in this offense than he was in Charlotte but he still is on the hook for around $6.5 million the next two seasons. Yikes.

Those anonymous players I alluded to earlier in the column claimed that the team would be better off when they were free of Jack’s distraction. We’ll see.