Nearly 17 years after the infamous “Malice at the Palace” incident, Stephen Jackson is revealing the one thing he regrets about the whole situation.
Netflix released an episode of their new docuseries “Untold” this week that focused on the notorious Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2004. The episode told the story of the incident from the perspectives of those who experienced it, including Jackson and Indiana Pacers teammates Ron Artest, Jermaine O’Neal, and Reggie Miller.
Jackson said in the episode that his one regret was that the brawl cost Miller perhaps his best opportunity to win an NBA championship.
“If the brawl wouldn’t have happened, we would have been champions,” said Jackson. “No question about it. No question. That’s the most f—ed up thing about it. That’s the only thing I regret about the whole situation is not being able to do what we said we were going to do for Reggie.”
The Pacers were 7-2 at the time of the incident and looked poised to contend for the NBA title after making it to the Eastern Conference Finals the year before. But the brawl led to Artest being suspended for the remainder of the season, Jackson drawing a 30-game suspension, and O’Neal receiving a 25-game suspension (which was later reduced to 15 games on appeal). That effectively derailed Indiana’s season, and they failed to make it out of the second round that year. Miller retired at the end of the season, hanging up his sneakers without ever winning a championship.
Earlier in the episode, which is well worth watching in its entirety, Jackson said that he was happy that he was able to come to Artest’s aid when Artest charged into the stands. He also generally does not apologize for much. But the effect the brawl had on Miller’s career is clearly something that still bothers Jackson to this day.
Stephen Jackson and Kwame Brown have been going at it via social media and podcasts this week, and Jackson is ready to have a face-to-face discussion with Brown about it. Well, maybe even more than a discussion.
In a YouTube video he published earlier this week, Brown blasted Jackson, Matt Barnes and Gilbert Arenas for some comments the three former NBA players made about Brown on the “All the Smoke” podcast. Arenas, who was teammates with Brown with the Washington Wizards, described Brown as a “show pony” who had his confidence destroyed by Michael Jordan.
Brown fired back by calling Barnes “Becky with the good hair.” He told Jackson to put down his blunt and “act like a grown a– man instead of a little boy.” He then accused Arenas of taking money from him via their contracts. Brown later called Jackson a “fake Black Lives Matter activist.” You can see a video of some of the comments here.
That brings us to Sunday, when Jackson took to Instagram to let Brown know he is in Atlanta and tell him to “pull up.” Jackson insisted he was not threatening Brown but told him the two should settle their dispute in person before “people who love me do something I can’t control.” Jackson deleted the post, but you can see a screenshot below:
Brown is a former No. 1 overall pick who will always be known as a draft bust. He’s used to people criticizing him, but he said he doesn’t understand why Jackson and others won’t let things go.
As for whether or not Jordan ruined his confidence, Brown also tried to clear up some information about that situation.
H/T Bro Bible
Kwame Brown had a vicious response to Gilbert Arenas, Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.
Arenas was a guest on “All the Smoke” for an episode published on May 13. In the lengthy interview, Arenas talked about Brown, who was his teammate for a season in Washington.
During the interview (57 minutes in) Arenas analyzed where Brown went wrong as a former No. 1 pick who’s regarded as a bust.
Arenas believes that Michael Jordan destroyed Kwame’s confidence, which then hurt Brown’s development. Arenas said that Kwame’s confidence was so shaken that he didn’t want to play home games because he was booed by the fans (1 hour, 5 minutes in) Brown would play better on the road, where he wasn’t booed.
Arenas described Brown as a “show pony” who looked good but didn’t produce so well. Arenas believes that Brown could have become an Anthony Davis-type player if his confidence weren’t shot.
Well, Kwame apparently heard some of the comments they made about him and was not happy.
The 39-year-old responded on Instagram and YouTube, saying he was confused why people keep talking about him the way they do.
Brown said that the guys didn’t know what they were talking about. He called Barnes “Becky with the good hair.” He told Jackson to put down his blunt and “act like a grown a– man instead of a little boy.” He accused Arenas of taking money from him via their contracts.
You can see a clip of Brown’s response below, but beware of offensive language.
The full video is here.
Brown is 39 now and was the No. 1 pick in the 2001 draft. He topped out at 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in his third season and did not surpass that again. But he still had a 12-season NBA career.
Keep in mind that Arenas isn’t the first person to say this about Brown. The late Kobe Bryant said something similar about Kwame. A few years ago, Brown also denied that Michael Jordan made him cry.
Former NBA player Stephen Jackson ripped James Harden for his late arrival to Houston Rockets camp, accusing him of undermining new coach Stephen Silas.
Jackson posted audio of himself to his Instagram, stating that Harden is avoiding accountability and is hurting a young Black coach’s career to “chase rappers around.”
“James Harden don’t want to be held accountable. [Mike] D’Antoni is the worst defensive coach in NBA history, ain’t gonna win s—, ain’t won s— as a head coach. He easy to run over. So James is trying to continue to be around close to D’Antoni so he can’t be held accountable,” Jackson said. “The Rockets finally get a young Black coach. A young Black coach get an opportunity, and you don’t want to show up to camp. You don’t want to play for him. How that look? And you wonder why every time a Black coach get a job, they put him in a bulls— situation. Look what you doing.
“What a real one would do is go play for that Black coach and make him look good and build with John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, some real ones. But obviously you want to chase rappers around.”
Silas spent his first press conference of camp answering questions about Harden’s absence, so it is fair to say Harden put Silas in a tougher situation than necessary. Jackson is also clearly unimpressed with what Harden was doing instead of showing up to camp. The longer Harden keeps quiet about it, the more we’ll likely hear.
Photo: All-Pro Reels/Flickr via cc by-sa 2.0
Stephen Jackson has been criticized for defending DeSean Jackson’s anti-Semitic Instagram posts, but the former NBA star does not appear to be in danger of losing his job over the stance.
Stephen Jackson hosts a digital show on Showtime with fellow former NBA player Matt Barnes called “All the Smoke.” The network released a brief statement this week distancing itself from Stephen’s defense of DeSean, but Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that Showtime is not planning to cut ties with Stephen.
“We are aware of Stephen Jackson’s recent statements,” a Showtime spokesperson said. “Regardless of his intentions, Stephen’s comments were hurtful and inconsistent with the values espoused by this network.”
There has been no word yet on whether or not “All the Smoke” will return for a second season.
DeSean shared some anti-Semitic messages on Instagram that he has since apologized for multiple times, and Stephen said he does not feel DeSean should have apologized. Stephen justified his reasoning by saying NFL owners are racist and that there is a double standard when black people criticize white people versus the other way around.
Former NBA player and current Showtime host Stephen Jackson backed DeSean Jackson’s anti-Semitic Instagram posts in problematic social media postings on Tuesday.
Stephen Jackson, 42, played in the NBA from 2000-2014 and launched a digital show on Showtime with fellow former NBA player Matt Barnes last year called “All the Smoke.”
In a Twitter post on Tuesday, Stephen called NFL owners “racist” and said that was a fact. He also lamented that you can’t say anything about Jews or white people because it gets called “hate”. He said DeSean shouldn’t have to apologize for anything (DeSean issued two apologies on Tuesday).
“NFL owners are racist. Just the facts. U speak on anything involving Jews or Whites is hate. That say s– about us it’s kool. Fu- dat. I wouldnt apologize for s—. I love every race and can’t nobody say or tell me…,” Stephen wrote in a Twitter post (profanity edited by LBS).
Stephen Jackson’s tweet is troubling for numerous reasons.
One, he groups all owners together and makes a sweeping categorization about them. Two, he cites zero proof and shares a harmful, defamatory accusation without a shred of evidence.
Then, he seems to be complaining about what he believes is a double-standard that white people can say things about black people without punishment, while if a black person says something bad about Jews or white people, the speech is considered “hate.” He must have missed this story last month.
Putting that aside, the list of troubling issues with Jackson’s line of thinking continues.
He is more concerned that DeSean didn’t escape accountability for spreading anti-Semitic messages than about the fact that DeSean was spreading anti-Semitic messages. And much like how DeSean behaved at first, Stephen seems to not recognize what about DeSean’s messages were problematic. Why is that? Probably because he is consuming the same type of Louis Farrakhan Nation of Islam content as DeSean has been, as evidenced by them posting the same image on Instagram and Stephen showing off a book from Farrakhan, whose Nation of Islam has been categorized as a hate group.
If Stephen loves every race as he claims to, why would he endorse DeSean smearing Jews and saying they blackmail and extort America? Why would he be cool with DeSean quoting what he thought was Adolf Hitler when talking about Jews? Hitler is responsible for leading the Holocaust, which killed an estimated six million Jews in Europe, and is quite likely the biggest crime in human history.
How can Stephen possibly defend DeSean for espousing what he thought were Hitler’s thoughts and then complain when people call the message hateful? Furthermore, how can someone like Stephen, who has been at the forefront of demanding equality, defend someone for spreading a harmful and hateful message about a different group of people, and then lament being called out for it as a bad double-standard?
Stephen later posted a note on Instagram that further magnified his ignorance on the matter.
Stephen seems to be … arguing that black people should have the right to be bigots and trash others?
Put aside the fallacy of arguing that Jews, who were enslaved in Egypt and mass exterminated in the Holocaust, have not endured the “devastating” “hardships”.
The notion that Stephen is striving for equality in the realm of bigotry misses the whole point of an equality movement. Those seeking equality should be striving for Americans to receive equal rights as listed in the Constitution, and humans to receive basic human rights. We should never be striving to spread hate and a desire to escape consequences for doing so.
Stephen Jackson turned 42 on Sunday and got a nice custom cake for his birthday.
The cake had the No. 42 on it to reflect Jackson’s age. It also had a few marijuana leafs because we all know Stack Jack enjoys his weed. There were some mock bills and blunts decorating the cake as well.
Hopefully the cake tasted as good as it looked.
Jackson played 14 seasons in the NBA, including four with the Spurs and four with the Warriors. He won a championship in 2003 with San Antonio and averaged 15.1 points per game during his career. He now hosts a podcast with Matt Barnes called “All the Smoke” where they often light up during the show. The show is enjoyable and has made some headlines over the past several months.
Stephen Jackson was teammates with Tony Parker on the San Antonio Spurs for four seasons over two separate stints. Jackson has suggested in the past that he has issues with Parker, and he elaborated on these issues recently.
The Los Angeles Times’ Arash Markazi hung out with Jackson and Matt Barnes on the set of their new show “All the Smoke” for a column published on Thursday. In the column, Markazi included comments from Jackson about the former Spurs forward’s issues with Parker.
“I don’t have a reason to talk to Tony Parker and I don’t want to talk to Tony Parker,” Jackson said, via Markazi. “My beef with Tony Parker is a basketball beef. I didn’t like the teammate he was. Tony would look me off on purpose. I don’t want to disrespect him as a man but I had a problem with him on the court.”
Jackson has taken an aggressive stance towards Parker in the past. Last year he ripped Parker over the guard’s comments about Kawhi Leonard’s quad injury.
Jackson has also said in the past that he’s the only one with the balls to call out Parker for being a selfish player.
Both players are now retired. Parker is a legend in San Antonio, and Jackson is too, to a lesser extent. Jackson clearly has issues with Parker to this day.
Andrew Wiggins has come under some scrutiny in the wake of teammate Jimmy Butler’s request for a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, and now he’s clapping back.
Retired former NBA champion (and current ESPN analyst) Stephen Jackson posted a video Wednesday shading Wiggins in the context of a controversial tweet that Wiggins’ older brother Nick sent about Butler’s trade request.
Jackson responded to the since-deleted tweet by talking about how the former No. 1 overall pick should have reacted to what his brother said. The 40-year-old criticized Wiggins for having “no heart” and ended his remarks by saying, “Keep that same energy.” Here is the video, but beware of the foul language.
In a post to his Instagram Story later in the day, Wiggins appeared to hit back at Jackson.
“Old dudes stay hating like he was anything special bum a–” the 23-year-old wrote. “I keep that same energy everywhere I go.”
Wiggins and Butler have reportedly had issues since they became teammates last year, and some thought the former’s Instagram post was actually meant for the latter (as Butler had an interesting response to Nick’s original tweet). In any case though, the drama in Minnesota probably won’t be dying down any time soon.
Ex-San Antonio Spur Stephen Jackson is coming to Kawhi Leonard’s defense.
Appearing Monday on FOX Sports 1’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” the retired player-turned-analyst ripped former Spurs teammate Tony Parker for his recent comments critical of Kawhi Leonard’s mysterious quad injury.
“For Tony to come out and make the statement about his hamstring or quad was 100 times worse than Kawhi’s is so low,” said Jackson. “And the timing of it is even worse. You talk about this meeting, y’all want him on the team, is he gonna be with us or not, and now all of a sudden this last week, you and [Manu] Ginobili both come out and talk about it at the same time. I played on this organization. They came at me sideways before when Pop [head coach Gregg Popovich] asked me to say other people was better than me, so I know.
“I know how selfish Tony is because he’s the reason why we lost in ’12 against OKC,” Jackson continued. “Because he didn’t wanna pass the ball in Game 6 after I hit six threes in a row. So I know the type of person Tony is. He can be selfish, and by this comment, I won’t be surprised if this makes Kawhi wanna leave. Because when your teammates go against you in the media, not having your back, you know that’s coming from up top, why would you wanna be there … By the fact that came from Tony like that, that’s super low. I lost a lot of respect for Tony because they always say, ‘Well this is a class act, this is a class organization.’ That was low coming from one of your teammates.”
Jackson, 39, played for the Spurs for two seasons from 2001 to 2003, winning the ’03 title with them. He then returned for two more seasons from 2011 to 2013 (with the OKC game he hinted at actually occurring in the 2012 playoffs).
As for Leonard, his quad injury has been an increasing source of tension with his teammates, as he has reportedly been medically cleared but is opting to remain out. Parker’s comments indeed did not sound at all sympathetic, and they came just days after the Spurs supposedly held a players-only meeting where they implored Leonard to return. Regardless, Jackson knows the San Antonio way as well as anybody, so there probably are in fact two legitimate sides to the story here.
