By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

If the Warriors were hoping that Tuesday’s return of Stephen Jackson would be the end of the now-ex-Captain Jack saga, they were sorely disappointed.

Just like “The Pirates of the Caribbean” movie series, there are still plenty of sequels that lie in wait for Golden State.

Jackson reported back to the team after a two-game suspension and left no doubt with his quotes that the status is still very much quo: He wants to be dealt, he wants to be dealt now, and he won’t be doing anything above and beyond fulfilling the bare minimums required by his contract.

That whole listening to Don Nelson thing once the game is over? Yeah, you can forget about that. Oh, and your captaincy? Thanks but no thanks.

Scott Ostler said in today’s San Francisco Chronicle that Jackson’s complaining had drastically decreased his trade value, but he already had no trade value — that evaporated the moment he was handed the $27.8 million extension.

Since that deal makes him prohibitively expensive for contending teams that would have been calling after his services, Jackson has been trying to apply pressure on the other end. He wants to make the Warriors so uncomfortable that they feel like they have to deal him, even if it is for a fraction of his worth — i.e., a player of far lesser skill with a similarly outsized contract.

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I didn’t see it, but based on the coverage coming out of the Arena last night and the highlights in the box score from the Warriors’ 108-101 exhibition victory — nine assists, five steals and a team-high plus-12 — I expect the Stephen Curry bandwagon to gain some speed this morning.

– Geoff

TWITTER

matt_steinmetz One thing Stephen Curry does that most of his teammates don’t: Goes out of his way to find the guy who has the hot hand (i.e. namely Morrow)

matt_steinmetz: Reason No. 1 why Curry has to play: 6 assists in 12 first-half minutes vs. LAC

matt_steinmetz: Was asked yesterday who Warriors’ best passer was. My reply: “I don’t know.” Ask me tonight and the answer seems pretty obvious … Curry

gswscribe: Curry has six assists in 12 minutes. Monta has one in 21 minutes.

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The Warriors just announced that forward Brandan Wright has had an MRI which “did confirm damage to the capsule of his left shoulder” and that surgery is required, although it hasn’t been scheduled. I would assume the damage stems from another dislocation of the shoulder that was originally hurt back in January, but I’m not at the Arena, so I can’t follow up with Warriors PR staff to check.

The team said that “no timetable has been set” for Wright’s potential return, but most conservative estimates of the recovery time from surgery to correct a shoulder dislocation is four months, at a minimum. If that’s the case, Wright would miss at least two-thirds of what was to be his third NBA season, if not all of it.

– Geoff

PRINT MEDIA

Orlando Sentinel (Brian Schmitz, Josh Robbins): Orlando Magic GM Otis Smith told the Sentinel that “I think it got personal” in talking about the Magic’s failed attempts to acquire C.J. Watson from the Warriors this summer via a sign-and-trade deal.

Smith played with the Warriors for a season and change before being selected by the Magic in their expansion draft. After his playing career ended, Smith returned to the Warriors and spent three seasons working in Community Relations before becoming Executive Director of Basketball Operations in 2002-03. He left after that season to rejoin the Magic as Director of Player Development.

My first thought was that Smith is suffering collateral damage from the fallout between Chris Mullin and Robert Rowell, but Smith worked under Garry St. Jean in ‘02-’03, not Mullin, who back then was just a special assistant learning the ropes in preparation for taking over. So who knows. Maybe the Warriors just really, really like Watson.

(BTW, in researching Otis Smith’s time in the Warriors’ front office, I stumbled across this account of Mullin’s ascension to power in 2004:

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(UPDATE — Marc J. Spears is reporting that an NBA source says Wright’s injury “could require surgery and keep him out four to six months.” Which is basically a shorter way of saying everything I put below. Not to dissuade you from reading or anything.)

By Geoff Lepper
48minutes.net

I’ve been reading up this afternoon on shoulder dislocations after the initial report that Brandan Wright had suffered Friday another injury to his left shoulder — the same one he originally dislocated on Jan. 7.

Wright came back after an absence of more than two months in the wake of the original injury and, importantly, he did not undergo surgery, although it was discussed as a possibility and dismissed.

We’re going to veer into the ream of pure speculation in just a moment. It’s possible that Wright’s scheduled MRI on Monday will reveal nothing other than a bruise. It’s possible that he’ll be back in a matter of days.

But — and here’s where the speculation comes in — given Wright’s history with the shoulder and a second injury to the same joint in the space of 10 months, it’s worth discussing the possibility that surgery could be required this time around.

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