I would generally agree — it sounds like Nellie’s responding as well as can be expected. My only quibble is Nellie’s repeated claim that we’re a little thin at small forward. In a Jack-less world, we still have Maggette, Morrow and Azubuike to play swing minutes. That’s far from “thin” — all three of those guys are pretty close to Jack in value, and I’d say at least one of them’s better. That’s not to mention occasional appearances at the two by Monta and Curry, which make us even deeper at the swings. We really don’t need Jack, and it’d be great if we could move him soon, because Nellie would probably realize that quickly.

The other thing is that Nellie’s absolutely right: this is a weird time for Jack to demand to be traded, considering that the team’s showing some real promise. To be clear, I think we’re a longshot for the playoffs at the best… on the other hand, it’s not like Jack is on the Kings here. If he were a truly committed Warrior, he’d see plenty to like about this roster, and be motivated to help the young ‘uns along. Whatever his beef is, I don’t think it’s team quality.

Anyway, a really interesting, candid, likeable interview… made me remember why I like Nellie so much.

Ralph doesn’t really ask Nelson those sorts of questions, mostly, I suspect, so Nelson will keep coming back and talking to him.

I suspect Nelson wouldn’t be happy about being asked that and would have repeated his “Its over. I’m not going to talk about it.” line. Nelson isn’t going to say on the radio “I wanted to let Jackson make a fool of himself” and he isn’t going to say “I thought Jackson could handle it.” He’d look like either a jerk or a fool.

The truth is probably somewhere between – he thought he’d let Jackson play through it and prove he could handle Kobe and then just said “to heck with it” when Jackson went off instead. The situation doesn’t reflect well on either Jackson or Nelson and Nelson’s desire to forgive and move past it is a very good sign.