Stephen Jackson would rather be anywhere but Golden State, and his play is showing it. Whatever trade value he had before, it’s lower now.

Seems to me that a deal could be made that would benefit both teams. Stephen Jackson ($7.65 million this year) for Wright and Posey ($8.03 million).

Here’s what I like about this deal:

• Jackson makes New Orleans wildly better. CP3 and David West have a 3rd banana that fits at either the 2 or the 3. Peja still comes off the bench, and if Posey can somehow find the energy and desire, he could start at SF.
• Jackson won’t be dragging down his team in Golden State anymore. Honestly, the Warriors need another promising young player (Wright) like they need a hole in the head, and Peterson is going straight to the end of the bench. However, Wright is going to be easy to package with some of the other youngsters for a good veteran at the trade deadline (Amare, I’m looking at you).
• The Warrior’s cap situation is much improved. There’s still the anchor that is Corey Maggette , but losing Jackson brightens the cap situation in Golden State.
• It’s as good as anything Golden State has been offered up to this point. If I were New Orleans, I’d try and pawn off Posey instead of Mo Pete…but Golden State isn’t that dumb (are they?). A decent youngster and a smallish contract is a better offer than Big Z (who won’t re-sign and won’t help Golden State win).
• If they make the move now, Golden State’s season has more potential. Getting rid of Jackson will help this team a lot…maybe even enough to put them on track to get the 8th seed.

Here’s what I don’t like about this deal:

• Unless New Orleans includes a draft pick, this is cheap-selling Jackson. It’s true that as of right now, there aren’t any great offers for Jackson on the table…but that might not be the case in February. Patience is a virtue when evaluating NBA trades.
• New Orleans is still screwed cap wise. This deal has to make them a championship contender, because if it doesn’t they’ll need to dump somebody good for cap relief. If New Orleans holds on to both of these players, they’ll have 2 expiring contracts that can be easily dumped next summer for cap relief.

Bottom Line – It’s too early to move Jackson, but if Byron Scott can sell his ownership on the idea that Jackson makes them unbeatable, it’s entirely possible these teams will be discussing a trade in the next few months. I’m pretty confident that Peterson, Posey, and Wright will be in the discussion…so it’s worth keeping an eye on.

If you’re an NBA player in a contract year, the last thing you want to be described as is a “malcontent.”

JR Smith has shown moments of greatness in his brief professional basketball career. On a Dec. 8, 2006, game against the Heat, Smith hit 7 of 9 from behind the arc and outscored Carmelo Anthony with 37pts to Melo’s 32. As a rookie in New Orleans, Smith lit-up the Memphis Grizzlies in March of 05′ scoring 33 pts and stroking 6 of 9 from behind the three point line. The fact is, JR Smith has a lot of talent and he can be a very good player. Unfortunately, that’s not the whole story.

In his second season, JR clashed with coach Byron Scott. Scott disliked Smith’s poor defense and his overall lack of effort. According to Scott, Smith was often late to practice, ignored his coaches, and was unwilling to work on his game. When Scott and Smith couldn’t resolve their differences, JR was parked on the New Orleans bench and eventually traded to the Nuggets.

Smith’s career with Denver started well enough, but Denver’s acquisition of Allen Iverson in Dec. 2006 signaled the beginning of Smith’s troubles. Smith’s minutes dropped steadily, and it was clear that George Karl was irritated with Smith’s lack of defense and poor shot selection. Karl’s frustrations with Smith boiled over in the playoffs, when Karl benched JR saying that he was a “good/bad player” that had “insulted the dignity of the game.”

JR Smith will start his fourth NBA season in less than two weeks, and in that time two different coaches have derided him for poor defense, poor shot selection, poor attitude, and a lack of maturity. Granted, both George Karl and Byron Scott aren’t known for being “player’s coaches”. Karl is known as one of the grumpiest coaches in the league, and Byron Scott had a well-publicized personal problem with future hall-of-famer Jason Kidd. Neither of these coaches are known as “easy going”. Nonetheless, JR Smith wasn’t able to get along with either one of them.

Even though Smith doesn’t get along with his coaches, that isn’t enough to kill his career. But when you combine his malcontent reputation with his off-court problems, Smith’s days as an NBA player could be numbered. In a highly publicized accident earlier this year, Smith ran a stop sign and caused an accident that ultimately resulted in the death of one of his passengers, childhood friend Andre Bell. Accidents happen, but Smith’s culpability in his friend’s death is hard to ignore. Smith’s reputation also suffered when he started a fight with NY Knick Mardy Collins, leading to a brawl and suspensions for Smith, Carmelo Anthony, and others.

So – if you haven’t been keeping score, here’s the bottom line:

1) Smith doesn’t like to play defense – Not a terribly unique trait in the NBA, but one that serves to diminish his value.

2) Smith makes poor choices on offense – Both of his coaches have sighted poor shot selection and poor decision making with the ball as reasons to bench JR.

3) Smith is uncoachable – According to Byron Scott and George Karl, Smith doesn’t listen.

4) Smith is very immature – If his on-court troubles weren’t enough, his off-court persona, decision making, and his tendency to become emotionally involved (sulking in New Orleans, fighting in NY), all point to someone who needs to grow up.

So, ask yourself, if you’re an NBA general manager, are you going to take a chance on someone who’s a poor defender, a poor decision maker, takes terrible shots, is uncoachable, and generally immature? Don’t get me wrong, JR Smith has a tremendous upside, but there are a lot of question marks surrounding him. We’ll have to wait and see just how valuable Smith is this summer when he becomes a restricted free agent, but my guess is that he’ll have a hard time finding a deal better than your average role player. That’s too bad, because Smith has the talent to be a big-time player. If only he had the brains to go along with it…

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