Fairly cheaply, the Warriors were able to make their Stephen Jackson problems disappear by dealing him to the Charlotte Bobcats for Raja Bell's expiring contract and Vladimir Radmanovic. Golden State possibly could have received more usable assets had they waited into December, January or even February when a true contender became unbearably desperate to add Jackson, but the risk wasn't worth the reward; particularly because their current season was in dangers of becoming unsalvageable while the disconnect lingered.
For Jackson, he goes from one 3-6 non-contender with an aging, legendary, sometimes cantankerous coach to another 3-6 non-contender with an aging, legendary, sometimes cantankerous coach.
The Bobcats will absorb Jackson's $7.65M contract for this season, along with $8.45M in 10-11, $9.26M in 11-12 and $10.06M in 12-13, while Golden State will merely owe Radmanovic $6.88M next season.
For a fairly average starter who is firmly 31-years-old with a history of being unpredictably volatile, I don't see the reasoning from the Bobcats' perspective unless they believe he can legitimately take them to the playoffs this season. Charlotte must leapfrog over three of the six teams ahead of them (Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto, Indiana, Philadelphia) while remaining ahead of the other playoff contender (Washington) behind them. Even with Jackson, I think they are only marginally better than two or three of those teams.
Jackson has always been a high volume scorer, with a career True Shooting Percentage of .523 and career field goal percentage of .418. At any given time, he is capable of being an excellent scorer, imaginative passer, solid rebounder and disruptive defender, but he rarely pieces all of those components together at once.
His skill-set on the wing complements Gerald Wallace very well and with their size, they will become a nightmare on both ends of the floor for opposing wings. With Jackson as your B wing defender, scoring against the Bobcats has gone from very difficult (currently ranked 6th in defensive efficiency) to slap a chair during timeout frustrating.
Even though Bell was currently leading the team in True Shooting Percentage, Jackson will be a decided upgrade for an offense that is currently last in offensive efficiency. Their depth is dismal, but a starting five of Raymond Felton, Jackson, Wallace, Boris Diaw and Tyson Chandler could actually become interesting and will certainly grind out it's fair share of close games, at least in part to that excruciatingly slow pace Larry Brown has been using.
Wisely and unsurprisingly, the Bobcats stood firm on refusing to trade Diaw for Jackson so they deserve a notch up there. Another potential windfall for Charlotte is that Jackson can potentially take Gerald Henderson under his wing, who may compare more closely to the veteran (strictly in terms of athletic standing and ability) than any other young player in the league.
Acie Law was the throw-in to complete this trade and he has actually given the Warriors some decent minutes over the past week. His sample size is just 66 minutes, but has a True Shooting Percentage of .752. Even though it feels like he was just a lottery pick, he is already 25 since he came out of Texas A&M as a senior and doesn't have room to develop into a starter, but could sneak into a backup point guard role after Felton assumedly leaves this season.
The Bobcats have clearly improved in the short term, but I see no possible scenario in which Stephen Jackson retires with this team and put the odds of him going to the playoffs with Charlotte at 40%. Alternatively, I wouldn't be shocked if the Bobcats trade him before the deadline, possibly for more in return than they gave to Golden State.
Grade for Charlotte: C+
It was only a matter of time before Radmanovic played under Don Nelson. Nelson has always liked players like Radmanovic, but also has a way of hating them when they underperform (Al Harrington comes immediately to mind). Radmanovic has struggled horribly with his shot this season, with a career low True Shooting Percentage of .437. He is much better suited for a free flowing, fast paced offense, but he is a 20 minute per night player maximum at this point in his career.
I'm not completely sure how Nelson will use Bell, whom he coached one season in Dallas back in 02-03. He has slowed down defensively, but is still effective and an upgrade over Golden State's incumbents. He also will be the antithesis of Jackson in the locker room as a safe and sane veteran.
The Warriors were approaching a scenario where they almost had to send Jackson away from the team not unlike what the Knicks did last year with Stephon Marbury, but the inherent risk there is the plummeting of his trade value. Regardless of what happens with Bell and Radmanovic, this is an addition by subtraction and the needless extension they signed Jackson to last year now only costs Golden State one more season of Radmanovic.
Even though the Warriors could have waited and received more in return, they should just feel fortunate not to have been forced to take back a horrible contract in return.
Grade for Warriors: A-
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