Will Oklahoma City Thunder Regret Not Re-Signing Reggie Jackson?
When it comes to retaining their young talent, it’s safe to say the Oklahoma City Thunder have had a mixed bag. Over the years, general manager Sam Presti and his staff have done an outstanding job of finding gems in the NBA Draft and Scott Brooks has helped them develop into something special.
Take Russell Westbrook for example. Coming out of UCLA, he had all the physical needed to be an elite player in the NBA, but often played out of control. Now, he has reined that in somewhat and has become one of the best point guards in the NBA. Ditto for Serge Ibaka.
The 24th overall pick in the 2008 draft has transformed from just being an athletic shot blocking machine, into a well-rounded, two-way player having developed a deadly jumper, which stretches all the way to the 3-point line.
Those two put pen to paper on lucrative deals at the end of their respective rookie contracts, and have become crucial figures within the Oklahoma City Thunder organisation. However, not everyone gets a rosy ending where all parties involved get what they want.
Case in point: Jeff Green and James Harden.
By the time they were entering their contract years, both Green and Harden had established themselves as significant pieces to the championship puzzle in OKC. However, both players were traded away before they even had a chance to test the free agency pool.
While Thunder fans may not be hurt so much by Green’s departure, the same certainly can’t be said with regards to Harden. They refused to give him the max contract he so desperately desired, traded him to the Houston Rockets and now he his (arguably) the best shooting guard in the game.
Sadly for the Oklahoma City Thunder faithful, a similar sequence of events could be happening once again, this time with Reggie Jackson.
Selected with the 24th overall pick back in the 2011 draft, the Boston College product has horned his game and developed into one of the bright sparks for the Thunder over the past few years.
This season, though, he has taken his game to a whole new level having taken full advantage of Westbrook and Kevin Durant‘s absence to lead Oklahoma City by averaging almost 20points per game, along with 7.7 assists and 4.9rebounds — which is a very impressive mark for a point guard.
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Jackson also happens to be leading the NBA in minutes per game with 40.2 and that in itself goes to show how much Brooks relies on him. After all, he is currently the only player he has available that can create his own shot, but also make things happen for others.
Furthermore, in addition to his offensive duties, he has the unenviable task of guarding high caliber point guards on a nightly basis. but thanks to his athleticism, he can hold his own.
And to top it all off, he doesn’t waste a lot of possessions when he is on the ball either.
Granted that may be hard to accept considering he is accumulating over three turnovers per game, but stick with me for a second.
Jackson is playing over 40 minutes per game and he has been relied upon to keep the scoreboard ticking, even though all the defensive attention is on him since he is pretty much the only consistent playmaker. Yet somehow he his only turning the ball over just 3.3 times — which, when adjusted to 48 minutes per game goes up to 3.9.
That’s better than Westbrook’s eye popping six turnovers per 48 minutes last year, as well as Durant’s 4.4. Not too shabby, eh?
So let’s recap: He is a reliable playmaker, who is also good defensively and he’s a been a huge reason Oklahoma City have been competitive during games – sure sounds like a keeper to me.
To be fair, OKC did try to re-sign the 24-year-old on a long term contract before the Oct. 31 deadline, but the two parties couldn’t find common ground. As such, Jackson will be hitting the free agency pool this summer — unless he is traded away like Green and Harden, but that doesn’t seem likely.
And if he continues to play anything like he has done thus far, teams will be lining up with lucrative offers.
The good thing for the Oklahoma City Thunder is that he will be a restricted free agent so they have the chance to match whatever offer he receives. Plus, a lot of teams are already set at the point guard position, so that reduces the number of competitors.
Having said that, teams aren’t averse to playing two point guard sets, a la the Phoenix Suns, so just because there’s already a high quality starter in place, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for another.
As for matching his offers, Yahoo Sports‘ mystery general manager summed it up best by saying:
"“Bottom line, how much are they [OKC] willing to pay for Westbrook’s backup?”"