From the Charlotte Observer Coach Larry Brown approached Stephen Jackson in the locker room, after media was let in, to talk about attitude. Sounds like Brown wants Jackson listening more receptively. As Brown is fond of saying to players, “it’s not criticism, it’s coaching.” Jackson is shooting the ball a lot, but not at a high percentage, while turning it over some. Apparently coach Brown feels he is a player that needs some coaching at this time.
I guess there’s something pent up inside me that is still bitter on the Stephen Jackson fiasco that led to his departure from the Warriors. I’m still happy we got rid of him, and love what team we gave him to (a non-winning team, opposite of his trade request). I’m loving the fact that he’s already causing problems in Charlotte, and he hasn’t even been there for a year. I guess I understand why he’s a fun guy to follow now that he’s not on my team. Shooting too much, and having a poor attitude, are they really surprised!?! It sounds exactly like what he was doing when he dumped the “Captain” tag in Oakland. He did those same things for the Warriors, but you couldn’t tell as much since they are arguably the fastest team in the league, and many others had the opportunity to make up for his off nights. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, they are finding out that he is at the center of his own world, and being on a non-contender will only make him pout about even calls more (causing technicals), and dominate the stat sheet in missed threes and turnovers. Moving to the slowest paced team in the league has made his sometimes ugly stat lines un-miss able. At least it’s given the local beat writers a fresh topic to complain about. Good luck Jack, I’ll continue to follow your awful time in Charlotte from a distance with a smile!

If the refs are indeed Stern’s puppets, playing with teams and players abilities to make the playoffs we may as well get Vince McMahon in there setting up the plotline for the season. We could turn these great athletes into a show instead of a sport, wouldn’t that be great. Are we heading to a league that resembles the Globetrotters vs. the Admirals? I figured that the refs had bias’s against players, teams, or coaches, but didn’t want to believe that they were truly effecting the outcome of the games. I know, it sounds nieve, but maybe I got used to it being shoved in my face for the past decade, so why didn’t I see it as a flaw? A) I guess I just accepted that some guys are going to get calls, and when it comes down to it, these refs I’m sure get caught up in the heat of the moment. B) I didn’t want to see in writing what I’d obviously already suspected, like the excerpt on the 2002 Western Conference Championship game 6 or the Spurs and Suns playoff series. C) Aside from the Lakers getting gifts like Pau Gasol and Artest for nothing, they are getting calls in crucial games, because the league hinted the refs should give them more calls in their favor. The Lakers seem to be one of the most hated teams in the league, and could this be a reason why? 