Durant and Westbrook Injuries Will Prove How Much Thunder Need Reggie Jackson
The Oklahoma City Thunder could use a hero right about now.
No, not you, Enrique Iglesias—unless a hefty helping of Latin pop can substitute for the on-court stylings of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
The Thunder lost Durant to a broken bone in his foot during the preseason and saw Westbrook go down with a fracture in his hand during the second quarter of the team's 93-90 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center on Thursday.
"It's tough," Serge Ibaka said after the game, per USA Today's Sam Amick. "We were not ready for it. ... We have a lot of guys with injury, and we need to just figure (it) out. We need to just keep playing the way we did tonight, to keep fighting. ... We've got guys. We've been there before."
With The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry reporting that Westbrook could miss four to six weeks, OKC's superstar duo might be out of commission until December, leaving head coach Scott Brooks to cobble together a competent squad with the likes of Ibaka, Perry Jones III, Andre Roberson and Sebastian Telfair, just as he did in L.A.
Which is all the more reason the Thunder should be clamoring for Reggie Jackson's return—and hoping that he doesn't skip town next summer.
Jackson, who sprained his ankle in practice just prior to the start of the season, could be back in action this weekend, when OKC plays host to the Denver Nuggets. The high-flying guard is due for an evaluation when the team returns home.
By then, the Thunder should also have a much clearer picture of Jackson's future with the franchise. According to Mayberry, general manager Sam Presti is unlikely to work out an extension with Jackson's agent, Aaron Mintz, before the deadline to do so (midnight Eastern on Halloween).
To be sure, Jackson isn't likely to rescue the Thunder from the depths of despair into which they may soon fall all on their own. Nor will he be the team's conquering hero in the years to come. Those designations will belong to Durant and Westbrook for as long as they call the Sooner State home and will fall to Ibaka first before anyone else gets a crack at it in their absence.
That being said, Jackson has proved that he can be a pivotal part of this team's success, be it as a placeholder or a full-blown starter.
Fortunately for the Thunder, Jackson is well-versed in the ways of filling Westbrook's role. Jackson may not be the same freak of nature that Westbrook is (who is, really?), but at 6'3 and 208 pounds, with his strength, athleticism, fearlessness and combo-guard skill set, he's about as reasonable a facsimile of the three-time All-Star as OKC could hope for.
Jackson demonstrated as much during Westbrook's previous injury-related sabbaticals.
His first audition for the role of "Russ Light" came during the 2013 playoffs, when Houston's Patrick Beverley collided with Westbrook's knee. In nine games (all starts) following Westbrook's ouster, Jackson averaged a respectable 15.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 36.2 minutes while shooting 47.2 percent from the field.
He posted similar numbers (14.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists in 32 minutes) during the 27-game stretch that followed Westbrook's third knee procedure shortly after Christmas Day last season. OKC won 20 of those contests, though Durant's MVP-boosting play had plenty to do with that.
Jackson and the Thunder won't have that luxury this time around, not until KD's foot has recuperated from surgery. If past performance is, indeed, at all predictive of future results, though, OKC might be able to hold its own.
According to NBAwowy.com, the Thunder have essentially played their opponents to a stalemate (100.9 points per 100 possessions for, 100.9 points per 100 possessions against) whenever Jackson has played without either member of the team's dynamic duo on the floor, dating back to Westbrook's first contest in which he did not play in April 2013.
That's no small sample, either. We're talking more than 1,000 minutes, into which OKC has squeezed upwards of 1,900 possessions.
How have the Thunder done it? The same way they have ever since they emerged as legitimate title contenders: with stifling defense. OKC's held its opponents to 41.7 percent shooting and a more-than-respectable rate of .301 free throws per field goal attempts in those non-KD-and-Russ minutes with Jackson. In short: They defend well, and they do so without fouling.
The Thunder don't need their superstars in order to play stifling defense. They combined to limit the high-octane Clippers to a mere 93 points on 39.1 percent from the floor while dominating them on the boards, 47-33. OKC has the infrastructure, the experience and the attitude to play a tough, physical brand of defense, albeit one that struggles to force turnovers without the length and agility that Durant and Westbrook bring to the table.
Jackson can certainly help in that regard. He notched 1.4 steals per game as a starter last season and has shown himself to be a capable bulldog at the point. If nothing else, Jackson should be a clear upgrade over Telfair, whom Chris Paul tortured for most of his 22 points amidst a string of physical post-ups, hesitation dribbles and quick pull-up jumpers.
With so many good floor generals patrolling the Association these days, the Thunder will need all the help they can get at that spot so long as Westbrook is out.
Where Jackson can (and probably will) have the most noticeable impact, though, is on OKC's offense. At the very least, Jackson should be able to take better care of the ball than the Thunder's other ball-handlers did in L.A.
Of OKC's 27 turnovers against the Clippers, 16 came after Westbrook exited the game in the second quarter, with Jones III racking up all five of his miscues sans Russ. Beyond that, Jackson has shown himself capable of creating opportunities off the bounce, for both himself and his teammates.
Not that he'll have to once Durant and Westbrook return. Whatever Jackson can provide as a playmaker in the interim will be more of a boost to his own resume, as a likely restricted free agent, than anything else.
Perhaps Jackson will play well enough to earn back the starting nod he snagged during the 2014 postseason, once Thabo Sefolosha fell out of favor. In his first two starts, Jackson helped OKC pull even with the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals at two games apiece. In the deciding Game 6, Jackson poured in 21 points—more than any other Thunder player not named Westbrook or Durant.
To be sure, Jackson needn't start to have an impact on the fortunes of a healthy Thunder team. His series-saving 32-point outburst in Game 4 against the Memphis Grizzlies came as a reserve, as did his back-to-back 16-point showings in Games 6 and 7 of that same first-round tilt.
Above all, Jackson represents an important part of OKC's rotation—one that can't afford many more losses if the Thunder are to hang with the NBA's best for the foreseeable future.
Since their promising run to the 2012 NBA Finals, the Thunder have parted ways with a passel of dependable parts, most notably James Harden, Kevin Martin (who arrived in 2012 from Houston via the Harden trade) and Sefolosha. As a result, they've been left to rely on a mix of slow-developing youngsters (Jeremy Lamb, Jones III) and bargain-basement finds (Anthony Morrow, Telfair, Lance Thomas) in support of their own Big Three.
In the Thunder's defense, they've done remarkably well to replace most of their former cogs with younger, more upside-laden ones, of which Jackson, 24, is a prime example. And, truth be told, so long as Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka are in town, OKC should have a solid foundation on which to fashion a title contender.
That's no guarantee. Durant will be an unrestricted free agent in 2016. Westbrook and Ibaka will get to test the waters in 2017. Bleacher Report's Dan Favale pondered whether losing another piece of Jackson's caliber could hurt OKC in its quest to keep the core constituents of its band together:
"How will Durant react if the Thunder let another valuable player head elsewhere? Will it impact his thought process two summers from now? How will Westbrook and Ibaka feel when they hit the open market?"
Situations like the Thunder's current predicament lay bare the team's ongoing talent drain. It's one thing for older players who've already tapped their full potential to skip town, but it's another entirely for those not yet in their prime to reach their respective ceilings elsewhere.
You don't have to squint to see the similarities between what's going on with Jackson and what the Thunder went through with Jeff Green in 2010 and Harden in 2012, when those two hit restricted free agency.
There's no telling whether Jackson will meet the same fate (i.e., a trade out of town) those two did. Either way, Presti is still months away from being pressed into a resolution with Reggie's camp.
Until then, Jackson will have every opportunity to demonstrate his value to the Thunder once his ankle heals—first as a pseudo-savior, then as a key cog in what should once again be a dangerous basketball machine.
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