Properly (?) Double Buffered Applet is really Choppy

Question

Hi all. I looked around here for the proper way to double buffer an applet, and I think I've got it, but it's realllly choppy when it runs. (It's a little 2d jump 'n run game with not much in it yet). If you have any idea why, please tell =) Thanks!
public class Game extends JApplet implements KeyListener, Runnable
     //doublebuffer stuff
     Graphics bufferGraphics;
     Image offscreenImage;
     Dimension dim;
     //constants
     int SCREEN_WIDTH = 800;
     int SCREEN_HEIGHT = 600;
     int SPRITE_SIZE = 64;
     Color BGColor = Color.white;
     int PLAYER_SPEED_X = 10;
     int PLAYER_JUMP_SPEED = 20;
     int GRAVITY_ACCEL = 1;
     //directional constants
     int LEFT = -1;
     int RIGHT = 1;
     int STOPPED = 0;
     int UP = -1;
     int DOWN = 1;
     //images
     Image playerImage;
     //movement
     boolean freeFall = true;
     int playerDirX = STOPPED;
     int playerVelY = 0;
     int playerPosX = 0;
     int playerPosY = 0;
     //game control variables
     boolean gameIsRunning = false;
     Thread t;
     int i = 0;
     public void init()
          addKeyListener(this);
          gameIsRunning = true;
          //prepare offscreen image for double buffering
          setSize(800,600);
          dim = getSize();
          offscreenImage = createImage(dim.width,dim.height);
          bufferGraphics = offscreenImage.getGraphics();
          playerImage = getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/playerRight.gif");
          t = new Thread(this);
          t.start();
     public void run()
          while(gameIsRunning)
               try
                    t.sleep(33);
               catch (InterruptedException e) {}
               playerPosX += playerDirX*PLAYER_SPEED_X;
               playerPosY -= playerVelY;
               if(freeFall)
                    playerVelY -= GRAVITY_ACCEL;
               //wraparound
               if(playerPosX < 0)
                    playerPosX = 0;
               if(playerPosX > SCREEN_WIDTH - SPRITE_SIZE)
                    playerPosX = SCREEN_WIDTH - SPRITE_SIZE;
               //stop at the floor
               if(playerPosY > SCREEN_HEIGHT - SPRITE_SIZE)
                    freeFall = false;
                    playerVelY = 0;
                    playerPosY = SCREEN_HEIGHT - SPRITE_SIZE;
               repaint();
     public void keyPressed(KeyEvent e)
          //move right
          if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT ||
                    e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_D)
               playerImage = getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/playerRight.gif");
               playerDirX = RIGHT;
          //move left
          if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT ||
                    e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_A)
               playerImage = getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/playerLeft.gif");
               playerDirX = LEFT;
          //jump
          if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_SPACE ||
                    e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_W ||
                    e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_UP)
               //allow jumping if we're standing on a surface
               if(playerPosY == SCREEN_HEIGHT - SPRITE_SIZE ||
                         playerPosX == 0 ||
                         playerPosX == SCREEN_WIDTH - SPRITE_SIZE)
                    if(playerPosX == 0)
                         playerDirX = RIGHT;
                         playerImage =
                              getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/playerRight.gif");
                    if(playerPosX == SCREEN_WIDTH - SPRITE_SIZE)
                         playerDirX = LEFT;
                         playerImage =
                              getImage(getDocumentBase(),"images/playerLeft.gif");
                    freeFall = true;
                    playerVelY = PLAYER_JUMP_SPEED;
     public void keyReleased(KeyEvent e)
          //stop moving right
          if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_RIGHT ||
                    e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_D)
               if(playerDirX == RIGHT)
                    playerDirX = STOPPED;
          //stop moving left
          if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_LEFT ||
                    e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_A)
               if(playerDirX == LEFT)
                    playerDirX = STOPPED;
     public void keyTyped(KeyEvent e)
     public void paint(Graphics g)
          //clear screen
          bufferGraphics.setColor(Color.white);
          bufferGraphics.fillRect(0,0,SCREEN_WIDTH,SCREEN_HEIGHT);
          //draw the player
          bufferGraphics.drawImage(playerImage,playerPosX,playerPosY,this);
          g.drawImage(offscreenImage,0,0,this);
     public void stop()
          t.stop();
    public void update(Graphics g)
         paint(g);
}

Answer 1

It looks fine to me, but don't reload the player images every time. If you need a different image you should read up on AffineTransform and do some rotations etc, or at least have the 4 images in an array or something.
P.S. stop is deprecated for threads. If you are done with the thread null it. That being said, if you are making this as an applet, make sure you can restart or reload it properly by testing it with the appletvier.
Good luck in your work.