Stephen Jackson Disses Hawks

[Diesel]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nugg...2164164,00.html

Jackson leans to Nuggets

But veteran's asking price might be too much for Denver

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News

August 7, 2003

Stephen Jackson likes Denver. But do the Nuggets like him enough to meet his price?

Jackson is perhaps the top free-agent shooting guard still available, and the Nuggets need help at that position. But a source said Jackson, who averaged 11.8 points last season for San Antonio while making about $700,000, is seeking a long-term contract in excess of $4 million a year.

Jackson wouldn't comment on his salary demands in a telephone interview Wednesday. But he did discuss how much he would like playing for the Nuggets.

"It's definitely a great place," Jackson said. "They're putting together the pieces. I definitely would like to be part of that process. They took some knocks on the head (last season), but now they're putting together the pieces of the puzzle. I would love to be there."

Jackson's agent is Dan Fegan, who is known for asking for a lot of money and usually getting it. The Nuggets balked when Fegan wanted a deal for Gilbert Arenas that started at $9 million, and Arenas ended up getting nearly that much from Washington.

Fegan did not return a message Wednesday. In a brief interview Tuesday night, he said it was "premature" to comment on negotiations involving Jackson.

Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe did not return a message Wednesday. But he did discuss Jackson last Friday.

"You really look at the individual," Vandeweghe told reporters when asked about Jackson's visit to Denver last week. "You have to look at the fit. Does the guy really believe in what you're saying, or is he just after the dollars? Not everybody's going to fit here."

So now the Nuggets, who also are considering shooting guards Steve Smith, Voshon Lenard and Jon Barry, must decide whether Jackson, 25, is worth his asking price. After being drafted in the second round in 1997, he was waived twice by NBA teams and played in minor leagues and overseas before hooking on with New Jersey in 2000-01.

The 6-foot-8 Jackson averaged 8.2 points with the Nets before signing with San Antonio. After averaging 3.9 points with the Spurs in 2001-02, Jackson emerged last season, starting 58 games.

But that wasn't enough for the Spurs to pay a hefty price to keep him around. Coach Gregg Popovich recently said the Spurs didn't want to be "held hostage" by Jackson in negotiations, so they traded for shooting guards Ron Mercer and Hedo Turkoglu.

Jackson also visited Utah last week, but he canceled a trip this week to Atlanta. Asked if that means the finalists are the Nuggets and Jazz, Jackson said, "I can't really answer that." He did say he wants to find a team in the "next week or so."

If Jackson ends up with the Nuggets, he'll go from the NBA champions to a team that tied for the NBA's worst record. He insists that would not be a problem.

[Playmaker0017]

FOUR MILLION?!

Wow! He really overvalues his skill and talent.

If we sign him to four million a year, I'd disown the Hawks.

Play.

[phoostal]

Who's Stephen Jackson? Who gives a $&*^ about that guy. He's garbage anyways. Would he be in an improvement? Yes, but a slight one. He's not as good as he thinks he is.

[Playmaker0017]

His big claim to fame is playing with Tim Duncan.

Play.

[jezmund]

He's definitely not a difference maker. I don't think he'd improve our team any more than having both Dion Glover and DerMarr Johnson for instance.

[Guest]

Well, he's not as good as he thinks he is.However, it's

bad that Denver can draw alot more interest.I'm not

surprised at all by the diss.It appears the "Atlanta

nightlife" isn't enough to bring him here.

We were ala Greg Anthony.

[capstone21]

Denver can draw a lot more interest because they have a lot of cap room to fill. If Atlanta had a lot of cap space we would have a lot of people wanting to come here.

[JTFan31]

Yea Jackson wouldnt be that bad, but definitely not 4 million, who he thinks he is?

Dion, Dj and Newble will fill the same void he will. He got alot of open 3's because Duncan getting doubled and tripled team. So bye-bye Jack, we arent worth 4mil.

[Traceman]

Why would he come visit when NO ONE knows what the [censored] the Hawks are doing? I'm sure that his agent has been told that we would not be interested in signing him to a deal longer than 2 years (at least I would hope so). That being said, why come for a visit when other teams will likely give you at least 3 years and maybe more?

Jackson is a decent player but he's not going to take you from pretender to contender status and therefore, he makes little sense for us for anything beyond a 2 year deal. Considering that he is probably the best guard/forward other than Odom (and we won't be getting him either) left on the FA market, it doesn't look good for our SG/SF prospects. At this point, I hope we resign JT to a longterm deal, bring back DJ and Glover on 2 year deals and bring in a guy at the vet minimum and call it a day. Right now, I'm not even confident we'll get that much done. Worst off season in the last 20 years for the Hawks and maybe EVER.