Jackson emerges as a Warriors leader -- and X-factor

With coach Don Nelson's willingness to employ small lineups, Stephen Jackson has found himself playing everything from shooting guard to power forward this season. AP

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With a pointed index finger toward the nameplate above Stephen Jackson's locker before a recent game in New York, Golden State's Mickael Pietrus spoke volumes about what one of the NBA's poster boys for bad behavior means to this Warriors team.

Everything.

To Pietrus, "Jack," as he is commonly referred in NBA circles, is the difference between starting the season 1-6 and winning eight of the next 10 games with Jackson in the lineup.

To coach Don Nelson, the 6-foot-8 swingman is "the heart and soul of our team," whose seven-game suspension to start the season limited Nelson because Jackson is "one of our smartest players and one of our best players."

And to Warriors forward Austin Croshere, who also played with Jackson in Indiana, the eighth-year veteran is proof that leadership is expressed "in lots of different ways. Baron [Davis] is our best player, and by nature of being the best player you are a leader. There are guys on a team who do things by example, and then there are guys who have a dominant personality, and [Jackson] is just the dominant personality on this team. When you don't have that on the court, sometimes there's a little bit of a void; sometimes that's harder to fill than it is scoring baskets."

Most important, Jackson, 29, is helping transform the Warriors from spring fling to seasonlong contender. Though a seemingly slight 218 pounds, Jackson's height and speed allow him to guard four positions while also making him a beast offensively in the post against wing players. Through Tuesday, Jackson was averaging a career-high 21.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.9 steals. Beyond the box score, Jackson's return also got the Warriors talking to each other more, on the court and off, a role Nelson recognized before the season in naming Jackson a tri-captain along with Davis and forward Matt Barnes.

"I don't think Jack is the picture of a typical team captain," Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said, "but when Nellie did it, I thought it made a lot of sense. He'll go all out for his teammates; he'll do anything for them. That's infectious. After Golden State's playoff [series] win last season, you could see how they rally around that."

Team leader isn't exactly the role most would associate with Jackson given the trouble he has found in the past few years. In November 2004, Jackson was suspended 30 games by the NBA and later was sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery charges stemming from the brawl in Detroit. Almost two years later, Jackson fired a gun outside an Indianapolis strip club during an incident where he was hit by a car. He pleaded guilty to criminal recklessness in June and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. The league, meanwhile, suspended him for those seven games.

"It's just part of me growing up," Jackson told SI.com. "Things happen. I don't blame anybody. I take full responsibility for everything that's happened.

"At the same time, I know who I am as a person and as a teammate. I was always a leader; I just think I'm leading more by example now."

Sounds great, but after a season in which he had 13 technical fouls before being ejected from two playoff games, Jackson has a lot of examples to set before he'll convince those fans who booed him out of Indiana that he remembers some of his lessons from his days as a church choir boy.

"Look, he gets technicals and he's going to get flagged by the league for some of the things he does, but it's not over-the-edge stuff," Walsh said. "It's reactionary, but it doesn't make him a bad guy. There are times you wish he didn't do it, but that's his M.O., and it's also what makes him great. He's a very emotional guy. If something happens with his teammates, he's going to be the first one in there -- it's just his nature.

"As a matter of fact, I think the problems he had [in Indiana], in each case, had something to do with him coming to the aid of his teammates. Obviously, the fight in Detroit was like that, and in the incident at the strip club, he came back to make sure his teammates were alright, and that's when he got run over by a car. It wasn't as if Stephen was out looking for trouble; it came to him and he reacted to it."

That's the problem with reactions, especially the kind for which Jackson has gained notoriety; the incident that prompts that retaliatory move is often a footnote to the player's public perception.

No one cares about the tenacity Jackson showed in being waived by two NBA teams and playing a season in Venezuela before catching on in the NBA full time with the Nets in 2000. Lost are the 11.8 points he averaged for title-winning San Antonio in 2002-03. And the school he started for young children in his hometown of Port Arthur, Texas, is an easily missed line in the team media guide. (The school is presently closed for renovations.)

Unfair or not, what matters most is what happens on the floor and in front of the TV cameras. And given a chance to rewrite his basketball life by the Warriors, Jackson also has a chance to remake his reputation.

Proving his value during the Warriors' early-season rebound is a good start. Even better would be getting selected to the All-Star Game and leading the Warriors back to the playoffs for a second straight year, a feat they haven't accomplished since 1992.

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