Scott Skiles brushes off Stephen Jackson outburst

Things have not gone quite as planned for Stephen Jackson in Milwaukee this year. After the

Charlotte Bobcats traded him to the Bucks before the lockout, he showed up for camp out of

shape, struggled badly on the floor, took a suspension from the team for missing a bus and

from the league for arguing with a referee. He was knocked out of the starting lineup and

then out of the rotation, to boot.

He raised some eyebrows two weeks ago when he told Hoopsworld.com that his relationship with

coach Scott Skiles was irreparable.

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“To not be playing, and not have any reasons behind it, it’s kind of disrespectful,”

Jackson said. “At the end of the day, I’m 33 years old. I’m not a 22-year-old guy that

you’re coaching. I’m a grown man who’s probably done more than a lot of people in this

locker room in this league, including coaches.”

The Bucks, obviously, would be very willing to deal Jackson before the March 15 NBA trade

deadline. But he’s a guy who is shooting 35.7 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from

the 3-point line, and is owed $10.6 million next year. He also carries a reputation as a

royal pain in the neck, as he has shown with his Milwaukee experience. The logical next

step, assuming no trade can be made, would be the Bucks buying Jackson out or waiving him

outright.

Despite the rocky first two months of their relationship, Skiles said he still thinks that

the team can get something out of Jackson, currently out with a hamstring injury, this year.

Skiles said Jackson talked with team trainer Marc Boff, and that he could return in a week

or two. From there? Well, who knows.

“I am hopeful we can turn the whole thing around and he can be part of that,” Skiles said.

“We’ll see. When he can get cleared to go, hopefully, it’s not—with the way the schedule

is, dealing with these injuries, typically a guy will get kind of cleared, you’ll work him

in with a practice day and the play in a game. With not much practice time, sometimes guys

will get cleared and you’re putting them out there in a game. We’ll have to see what

happens.”

But, I reminded Skiles, Jackson said their relationship was broken beyond repair. He had

also said that the Bucks had not spoken to him about changing his role, though, and that was

simply not true, Skiles pointed out. “Look, I am not going to get in a (expletive) contest

about it,” Skiles said. “We’ve had many conversations. I also read that he hadn’t been

talked to and, you know, I’ll let other people judge that.”

Either way, Jackson’s remarks have not done much for his trade value. “You’d never say

never, of course, but it is hard to imagine anyone taking him on,” one general manager

said. “He still thinks he can play like he is 28. He can’t. That might be news to him, but

I don’t think it is news to the rest of us.”

The Bucks had hoped that Jackson could do for the team what John Salmons and Corey Maggette

before him had failed to do—provide a consistent scoring outlet for point guard Brandon

Jennings. While it may be that Jackson has already played his last games for the Bucks,

Jennings joins Skiles in his belief that Jackson can still come back and contribute.

“He has been positive in the locker room and in practice,” Jennings said. “That hasn’t

been a problem. He goes hard in practice, he goes hard every day. He is waiting to get

another chance and when he does, he is going to do his thing.”

What Jackson’s “thing” is these days is difficult to determine—he did average 18.5

points last year, so theoretically he can still score. But he dropped off this season, even

before his attitude problems surfaced. Skiles might think he can still draw something out of

Jackson, but there doesn’t seem to be much evidence of that.