CAMDEN, N.J. — The familiar faces Reggie Jackson sees as he joins the Philadelphia 76ers will make it much easier to acclimate to the fifth squad and 14th season in the NBA.
While perhaps not an explicit goal of the front office, and perhaps something unavoidable when targeting NBA veterans, Jackson is yet another bench addition who has overlapped careers with some of his new teammates. Time to mesh is not a luxury the Sixers have had in recent years. Fast-tracking the chemistry around the team's nucleus of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George with role players who have played together elsewhere might be pretty helpful.
Jackson played with Andre Drummond in six different seasons with the Detroit Pistons. Only two more players, Serge Ibaka and Marcus Morris Sr., have played more NBA games with Jackson than Drummond has. As the big man returns to a team he loved playing for, his former co-pilot of the rebuilding Pistons will surely help him feel secure in his new home.
“That guy,” Jackson said, pointing to Drummond in response to a question of why he joined the 76ers. Before speaking to the local media, the two former teammates worked out together on the team's practice court.
“That's my brother so it makes it easy,” Jackson said. “We've stayed in touch always, ever since our Detroit days. He knows my highs and lows, same here. Family is connected. So, yeah, I was excited to be able to play with Andre again and, hopefully, the connection looks well on the court.”
Jackson also played with George on the Los Angeles Clippers. At 167 games over four different seasons, the 76ers' newest star comes in 16th on the leaderboard of games played alongside the confident guard who earned the nickname “Big Government” for his ability to bail out his team with timely buckets. Teaming up once again with George, who he credited with saving his career and is “one of the most confident players in the league” and “probably the smoothest player in the league,” is a dream scenario for Jackson.
Jackson was dumped by the Denver Nuggets to the Charlotte Hornets in an offseason trade and later waived. The 34-year-old's inefficiency on two-point shots and lackluster history of drawing fouls will only be exacerbated by his age. Still, his confidence and durability — he played in all 82 games last season and no fewer than 67 games in the prior three seasons — show why Philly targeted him as a third-stringer.
“Reggie is a playoff-tested veteran who brings leadership and experience to our backcourt,” 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said in the team’s official announcement of the Jackson signing. “He’s been a dynamic offensive player throughout his 13 seasons in the league.”
Playing time won’t come easy for Jackson. With Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. starting in the backcourt and three guards around Jackson's size coming off the bench, he could be the deepest on the depth chart he has been since his earliest days in the league. At this stage in his career, he's content to help the team in whatever form it takes.
“My mindset is just to come in and do whatever it takes: playing, cheering on, just trying to be a great teammate and enjoy the process,” he said. “That's the fun thing [about] getting older in this game, you start to enjoy the process more and that's the biggest thing I look forward to — just trying to help the locker room be great, trying to be a great team, just try to do all I can to find ways to win.”
Reggie Jackson joining 76ers' crowded guard room
With Jackson, Maxey, Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon and Jared McCain, the 76ers have five players listed at 6-foot-3 or smaller on Basketball Reference on their current roster, which will eventually feature 14 players once they make their final offseason addition and retain an open roster spot. Only two other teams currently have four: the New York Knicks (Jalen Brunson, Miles McBride, Cam Payne, Tyler Kolek) and the Sacramento Kings (De'Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Devin Carter, Jordan McLaughlin).
The listed heights of these players aren’t all-encompassing definitions of their abilities but they serve to illustrate their positional limitations, which will make Philly’s lineup combinations very rigid or comprise heavily of three-guard lineups. Size is going to be a glaring weakness for the Sixes coming into the season, both around Embiid in the frontcourt and in the backcourt options off the bench.
What the 76ers' guards lack in size, however, they make up for in shooting. Despite the varying amounts of NBA experience and respective likelihoods of being consistent contributors for Philly, all of them can shoot the three-ball well. While it may be hard to play three of them together, whatever pairing Nick Nurse chooses should provide ample spacing from the guard spots for Embiid and George.
Jackson, who helps make up for his lack of height with a seven-foot wingspan, will have to get his three-point percentage back up. He has made just 33.7 percent of his threes over the past three regular seasons. In the three prior seasons, he made 39.3 percent of them. The players around him will get him open, so he'll be expected to knock down more than a few.
Jackson pointed to Maxey, who is “definitely deserving” of an All-Star nod and max contract extension, and Lowry, who he said is a future Hall of Famer, as two players he's looking forward to teaming up with. It'll take time, he said, to mesh with them, Embiid and his other new teammates. The bulk of the chemistry he'll generate will come in practice or the scarce opportunities he serves as an injury replacement. Accepting whatever role comes his way is a product of his tight inner circle and his upbringing.
“Being a military kid prepared me for this life,” Jackson said. “Always moving around, always trying to figure it out, find ways to acclimate yourself to a new situation, just trying to find a way to be effective.”
The chance to join a team with an appealing roster and reunite with some of his favorite teammates was too much for Jackson to pass up, even if he wouldn’t see the court as much as he would have in other places. After experiencing the intensity and passion in Detroit for over half a decade, he's ready to take on Philadelphia.
“I play for my teammates, play for my family, and, honestly, just try to represent the name on my back and do all I can to help the name on the front,” Reggie Jackson said.
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