Thunder Draft Rewind: Quality Over Quantity in 2011
The Oklahoma City Thunder took quality over quantity in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Entering the night with only one selection, the 24th overall pick, Sam Presti didn’t have much to work with.
But he made his pick count by selecting Reggie Jackson.
Playing his college ball at Boston College, Jackson was a 6-foot-2 point guard who had flashed great playmaking ability.
Though he wasn’t expected to come in and start, obviously slotted behind Russell Westbrook, Jackson was a nice insurance piece for OKC at the time, as Eric Maynor was nearing the end of his run off the bench for the franchise.
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Due to the loaded backcourt, Jackson was slow to make an impact on the floor for the Thunder.
Appearing in 45 games as a rookie, Jackson only averaged 3.1 points per game while only putting up 3.5 shots per contest. But he did show that he could find his teammates in the offense, dealing out 1.6 assists per game.
His numbers got a little better in his second year in the league, but then he took a leap in his third season. Playing 28.5 minutes per game, almost doubling his minutes from his second year, Jackson delivered. He averaged 13.1 points per game, pulling down 3.9 rebounds and dishing out 4.1 assists while shooting 44 percent from the field.
While he continued to develop on the court, so did his confidence off of it. Jackson believed he was good enough to be a starter in the NBA, but it wasn’t going to be with the Thunder.
He was shipped off to Detroit during the 2014-15 season, where he would go on to get his with. Jackson continued to put up good numbers for a bad Pistons team before finding his way to the Clippers for the past season and a half.
His performances in the playoffs alongside Paul George after Kawhi Leonard went down helped keep the Clippers alive, advancing past the Utah Jazz and staving off elimination a bit longer against Chris Paul’s Suns.
