San Antonio Spurs Make Bold Decision in Acquiring Stephen Jackson

One NBA team that has a reputation of making “solid” moves during free agency and in trades is the San Antonio Spurs. If the Spurs do make a trade, they have a unique way of scouting talent and make rather great “value” decisions.

At the same time, the Spurs locker room appears to be a very stable one where head coach Gregg Popovich and veteran Tim Duncan (amongst others) share a special bond with the players and nothing less than professionalism will be tolerated.

Due to this very reason, the Spurs made a rather unique move in re-acquiring veteran Stephen Jackson (expiring contract next season) from the Golden State Warriors in exchange for veteran Richard Jefferson and the contract of T.J. Ford.

Jackson was confined to the bench in Milwaukee (after not getting along with head coach Scott Skiles), which acquired the veteran during the offseason from the Charlotte Bobcats.

Jackson was then traded to the Golden State Warriors (for a second time earlier this week) but the Warriors shipped him to the Spurs as they were not interested in bringing back Jackson given his history and with the team in a rebuilding mode.

Jackson was a member of the Spurs from 2001 to 2003 where he helped the team win an NBA championship while averaging 11.8 points per game becoming a key contributor and falling into favor of Popovich.

The Spurs were interested in re-signing Jackson, but he signed on with the Atlanta Hawks.

The Spurs were having a tough time trying to overlook the struggles of Richard Jefferson. Jefferson came over to the Spurs in a trade after spending one season with the Milwaukee Bucks.

However, things just did not work out for Jefferson in San Antonio. The Spurs at times turned to Gary Neal and Danny Green to play at multiple positions.

Jefferson averaged only 12.3 points per game during the 2009-10 NBA season (the second-lowest scoring average since his rookie season). It was time for the Spurs to move Jefferson to free up playing time for Green as well as bring in Jackson, who is a tough defender in a winning system while playing for a coach that has very high expectations.

Bringing back Jackson could turn out to be a great move for a Spurs team looking to make a run at winning a possible NBA championship with its core group of veteran players and coach.