My first NBA comment of the season...

The Pacers should just release Stephen Jackson outright and eat his contract. I know he's got 27.5 mil left through '09-10, but Indy isn't winning the title this year anyway. Trying to litigate a buyout or work out a trade only exacerbates the situation. The dude has had waaaay too many chances there already. It's time for them to cut their losses and move on before he becomes a full time distraction...again.

Let's be serious about his production here. His PER last year was 13.65. According to John Hollinger the league average is 15. So he's a starter who should not be starting basically. He also ranked 82nd in 3-point shooting at 34.5% and shot 41.1% from the field overall. Not good. He's got a rep as a defender, which I guess is fine, but he doesn't bring anything else to the table besides shooting, and he's not that great a shooter anyway.

Another reason I say this is because the Pacers have plenty of players to pick up his slack now. Marquis Daniels, Danny Granger, James White, Shawne Williams and Rawle Marshall would all be candidates.

This is a rudimentary case of addition by subtraction. I can only hope that Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh heed my advice, for their own franchise's sake. Not to mention the wonders it would do for their current public relations nightmare within the Hoosier State.

Oh yeah, and Rajon Rondo (Celtics) is one funny looking dude.