Amid constant clashes with Milwaukee Bucks Head Coach Scott Skiles, forward Stephen Jackson was traded back to the Spurs via Golden State last season, napalming the bridge out of Milwaukee as he left.

“I just wanted to be around a positive organization that’s used to winning and plays the game the right way,” Jackson says now. “Milwaukee, they’re not used to winning. I just wasn’t going to go for it at the end of my career.”

Jackson, 34, returns to Milwaukee tonight for the first time since his March 13 trade, unmoved by the chilly reception he is sure to receive on the shores of Lake Michigan.

“It just wasn’t a good situation for me,” said Jackson, who still keeps in touch with former Bucks teammates Drew Gooden and Brandon Jennings. “I didn’t want to be a part of no rebuilding team.”

Averaging 7.2 points and shooting 37.3 percent, Jackson is not the same player he was in 2002-03, when at age 24 he helped push the Spurs to their second NBA championship. But the 12-year veteran has found contentment in a consistent role on coach Gregg Popovich’s bench.

“Being with great players, a winning team and a winning organization, everybody respects us,” Jackson said. “It’s definitely what I wanted to be a part of. I came into the game a winner. I want to go out a winner.”

via Jeff McDonald of Spurs Nation