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Warriors coach Don Nelson said today that he wasn't going to strip Stephen Jackson of his captaincy because of his comments earlier this summer about wanting out of Golden State. Of course Nelson is not going to strip Jackson of his captaincy. Nelson's not an idiot.
In case you didn't know, Nelson needs 24 wins to pass Lenny Wilkens on the all-time win list among NBA coaches. You think he really wants to head into 2009-10 by alienating one of his best players, not to mention the most volatile?
Of course not. Look, Nelson has gone out of his way during his tenure with the Warriors to accommodate Jackson, and for good reason. Basically, if you don't accommodate Jackson, you're pretty much on your own.
Last season, in the wake of Baron Davis' departure, Nelson gave Jackson more freedom than Jackson's ever had in his career. Nelson put the ball in Jackson's hands most of the time, and Jackson responded in kind – with more points, assists and turnovers than ever before.
Nelson has long tolerated Jackson's sometimes questionable shot selection and Jackson's unwillingness to get back on defense after turning the ball over or thinking he got fouled on a drive.
For goodness sakes, Nelson watched Jackson get 18 technical fouls last season -- including the one-game suspension for going over the limit -- and never once addressed it. Or at least not in a meaningful enough way that anything changed.
If Nelson had a player or two on the roster better than Jackson, it might be different. But he doesn't, and so he faces a tough choice: Live with Jackson and try to be competitive or alienate Jackson and risk the whole thing coming apart.
See, Jackson is perhaps the only player on the team Nelson has to be leery of. Nelson's got to be very careful when it comes to how to handle Jackson. Particularly when Nelson knows Jackson's coming into camp with an issue.Oh, sure, Nelson can come down rookie Anthony Randolph's road and he can be ruthless to players such as Brandan Wright and Anthony Morrow.
As we all know, Jackson is another story. And for Nelson's sake, he's got to keep Jackson as close to his side as possible.
More Steinmetz on Twitter: @matt_steinmetz
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