Stephen Jackson: How the Warriors Can Make Him More Effective

Stephen Jackson is the unquestioned leader of the Golden State Warriors and the number one option for the team. It's been that way since the start of the reason and I believe there are three things that need to be done to make him more effective and get his shooting percentage up to at least 40 plus percent. 

It's not that Jackson can't pass the ball—he can—and it has shown because he's leading the Warriors in assists with six per game. The problem is that when he's tired he tends to throw bad passes and subsequently he's also leading the team in turnovers at 3.9 per game.

First, take the ball out of Jackson's hand. The point forward position for Jackson has failed. Too many times this year Jackson has dribbled into traffic been stripped only to have the opposing team come back with an easy layup or three point opportunity. 

That also means relegating Jamal Crawford to the bench and putting C.J. Watson in the starting lineup who's been quite possibly the most consistent player the Warriors have had this season. Plus, coming off the bench could possibly wake Crawford up from his slumber so he can start making his shots too, but that's a totally different story. 

The second thing that Jackson needs to do is become a little more selfish. I'm not talking in a bad way though. I believe that Jackson needs to get back to the point where he is attacking the basket and taking people off the dribble. 

Jackson is a very good free throw shooter so taking his player to the rim would definitely help the Warriors. So, the drive opens up for his mid-range game and if he doesn't have to worry about a hand in his face he may get his shooting percentage up—and more trips to the free throw line.

It also takes away from Jackson trying to pump-fake and initiate contact where the refs will not call a foul because they know it's not really the defenders fault that the contact occurred. It's usually Jackson instead jumping into the defender after they left their feet and no foul is called and it upsets Jackson to the point where sometimes he's getting a technical foul. 

The third thing that the Warriors need to do to get Jackson going is post him up. He seems to do well posting up players. He can shoot over his defender, pass the ball out and re-post, or get the ball to the rim. 

If Jackson and the Warriors do these three things it will help Jackson become more effective. The turnovers will go down and Jackson's scoring goes up along with his shooting percentage.