Who doesn't like a list, especially on a Monday morning when that's about all you can handle?Less than 10 months after receiving a three-year contract extension worth approximately $27 million, Stephen Jackson now says he doesn't want to play for the Warriors anymore.
It's a pretty sudden turn for Jackson, who said at the time of the re-signing that he wanted to play the remainder of his career in Oakland. That kind of fickleness, when it comes from your captain and best player, can be a real headache for a team.
It got us to thinking about some of the NBA's high-maintenance players, the needy and delicate ones you must handle with extreme care. Whether it's their personality or game, here are five players who can make it very difficult for any franchise.
Ron Artest: His talent is undeniable, but you still need to walk on eggshells around him. At his best, he is among the league's best perimeter defenders and a terrific third option on offense. But he makes teammates edgy and his erratic nature is always a concern. So is his penchant for going beyond his means offensively.
Allen Iverson: He is a certain Hall-of-Famer and one of the toughest players to ever play the game. But that doesn't mean Iverson has been easy to play with over the years. He's always had a tendency to leave teammates out for long stretches then be overly demanding when finally giving them a shot. Recently, playing alongside Iverson has gotten even trickier. His skills are declining, but he doesn't want his role to.
Stephen Jackson: He can dominate the ball and the locker room, which isn't the worst thing in the world when things are going well. But sometimes they don't, like when he's shooting 40 percent from the floor and turning the ball over entirely too much.
Shaquille O'Neal: A few years back, we wouldn't have dreamed of putting O'Neal on this list. A more inclusive superstar you couldn't find. But things have changed and so has O'Neal's game. These days, O'Neal just never seems to be involved enough ... at least according to O'Neal.
Tracy McGrady: It got to the point last season where Houston was better without McGrady simply because it was more used to doing it that way. McGrady is too integral a part of the Rockets' offense to play a couple, skip a few, play another one or two, then miss another handful. He's got to be in or out, and quite frankly, it's legitimate to wonder if he'll ever be in for a full season again.
(Sixth man) Baron Davis: Something tells me Davis is going to have a nice 2009-10. Of course we know he had a pretty awful 2008-09 for a variety of reasons. That's why he had to get on this list.
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Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Here's a name you didn't include! CARLOS BOOZER.
Making 12 million a year, has been "injured" about half the time he was in Utah. Now demands a trade to a contender after the JAZZ have endured years of bad attitude, selfishness, and GREED.
Boozer could not hold the MAILMAN'S shoes, let alone be considered a premier big man in the NBA.
You forgot Marbury and Rasheed Wallace. Of the retired ones I would put Spreewell and Pipen.
Yes, Rasheed Wallace is #1 at only one thing, technical fouls. He floats away from the basket to shoot 3s, so no chance at offensive boards that far out. Shaq tends to lead the association in FG%, adequate proof he is right, he isn`t getting nearly enough shot opportunities. With Yao, Ming, out injured, O`Neal, Shaq, is the only true center any good in the association. All the other all star center candidates are weak side or strong side power forwards. And two different types of high maintainence are being wrongly treated as the same. Some guys get injured more than others, physical maintainence, while others, like Wallace is, RodMan was, are head cases. Though Roddy was mainly a head case off court, as a publicity hound, transvestite, etc. He was fairly team oriented ON court, left scoring to Thomas and Jordan, etc., pretty much. His last couple of years in Minnesota, you could have put Garnett on the all whine team, off court, though he played well on court, he just isn`t a center/muscle guy, but that is why they have five positions not one. Glad he finally got a championship. Wallace shouldn`t have. His techs dropped in half when Brown went to coach him, but he was committing MORE, they just weren`t calling 2/3 of them anymore.
*Heck, I'm amazed anybody even attempts to narrow down this list, because the REAL list should be HUGE! Every year it gets a little worse, with all the pitiful "look at me, ain't I the greatest" attitudes out there: they're never paid enough, they're never respected enough, they're never given the ball enough, they're never worshipped enough, they're always "misunder-stood", when they're caught doing something wrong (which is often), they were "just kidding around", and on and on and on... Breaking this list down to five is basically a matter of pulling names out of a hat, because the next hundred fit just as easily.
Really,Shaq? Pity the non-believers.I mean,what Cavs team have you guys been watching?They're starved for an offensive presence in the low post.Shaq better get his fingers taped up because he's gonna have passes zipping to him from all over the floor.With 2 point guards and a point forward,he'll get all the shots he wants.He'll easily be their 2nd leading scorer behind LeBron.Surely there are 2 dozen other names that could be on this list ahead of Shaq.