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This season marks the Spurs' fiftieth year of roots in San Antonio. In the five decades of the NBA's upheavals, insistence on team culture and stability has always been the label of the San Antonio Spurs, and the key to displaying these qualities lies in the generations of Spurs players. In addition to the three epoch-making superstars George Gervin, David Robinson and Tim Duncan, the Spurs are also known for developing and discovering international players ahead of the curve, a model that has made them one of the most successful teams in NBA history. As we begin the countdown to the new season, we'll look back at the Silver and Black Army's top 50 stars in history. Every day countdown, we launch a big 50.
He was one of the heroes of the Spurs' second title, and after storming the league and setting off countless storms, he returned to San Antonio to find that he did not belong to this team
28th: Stephen Jackson
The Spurs of Gregg Popovich's era rarely had rodman's stabbing head again, but Stephen Jackson was an exception. With the help of spurs and Popovich, his career was on track, and he also made a remarkable contribution to spurs' 2003 championship. When he returned to San Antonio again in the twilight of his career after countless storms, the "martial saint" who was full of thorns and unwilling to compromise all his life could not integrate into the Spurs family after all, and the reunion of the two sides ended in a rupture.
Born in the bottom of Texas, Jackson was a typical basketball genius who led Lincoln High School to state championships in his junior year of high school and was named to the All-American Team after transferring to the prestigious Oak Hill College. At the 1996 McDonald's National Classic, he overpowered talented high school students such as Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O'Neal to become the top scorers. However, his academic performance was too bad to meet the admission standards of many universities, including his promised Arizona. In the end, he could only enter the 1997 draft as a high school student, and was selected by the Suns with the 42nd pick. In the pre-season training camp, he was cut and committed to the CBA (Continental Basketball League) and wandered overseas leagues such as the NBL, Dominica and Venezuela in Australia.
After dozens of jobs-layoffs-re-employment, Jackson was awarded a short-term contract with the Nets in 2000, and in the face of hard-won opportunities, Jackson did well, becoming the team's main player in his first NBA season, but was reduced to a substitute in the second half of the season, playing 77 games (including 44 starts) and averaging 8.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. However, despite his good performance on the field, he often got into trouble off the court, and the most interesting one was when the police searched the car and found a gun, he defended: "I don't know how to shoot!" "It was a joke. At the end of the season, the Nets didn't leave him behind, and Jackson was once again in danger of losing his job. At this time, the Spurs, who are good at treasure hunting, issued an invitation to him, but Popovich had a word first, "You may have to spend a year on the bench first!" Desperate, Jackson readily agreed and began his first Spurs career.
In his first year at Alamo City, Jackson was either on the injury list or was not activated, playing only 23 games, averaging just nine minutes per game, and ultimately failing to make it to the playoff roster. According to then-assistant coach Mike Brown: "Most of the time he was put on the injury list or sent to the reserve team. At first, he didn't understand why, because he was probably one of the most talented players in the team, but we wanted him to be a little more mature, so we left him there and see how he would cope. This year he was the best teammate on the team, energetic in training, ready to play and compete, and to make the starters better. When he had the opportunity to play the following year, it all helped him and allowed him to prove his importance to the team. ”
After a year of off-the-court trials, Jackson began to explode in the 02-03 season, and as last season's main shooting guard Steve Smith aged, he quickly took the starting position. Throughout the season, he played 80 games (including 52 starts), averaging 11.8 points (third on the team), 3.6 rebounds (fourth on the team), 2.3 assists (fourth on the team), and 1.6 steals (first on the team), becoming an indispensable workhorse for the team. Jackson, who stood on the playoff stage for the first time, had no fear, he scored 20+ in the first three consecutive games, and 5 of 9 from three-pointers in the sixth game, helping the team eliminate the Suns 4-2 in the first round, and revenge for giving up his own arrow in the first round. After a poor first game in the Western Conference Finals, he scored in double figures in five consecutive games, including a sixth game in which he scored 24 points on 5-of-7 three-pointers to help the Spurs beat the Mavericks and end the series.
In the Finals, facing another old club Nets who gave up on him, Jackson did not give up, and in the crucial sixth game, he cut the team's second place, second only to Duncan's 17 points, and finally the Spurs successfully won the second championship trophy in team history. Throughout the playoffs, Jackson started all the time, averaging 33.8 minutes per game (behind Duncan and Parker), third in 12.8 points per game, and in the four-round series, he scored second on the team in two rounds, in addition to contributing the team's second 1.4 steals and the team's first 38 three-pointers. After a nearly perfect season, Jackson turned down a three-year offer of ten million dollars, determined to test the waters of the free market. The Spurs quickly found a replacement — The then-obscure Turk Hidu Turkgeru, while Jackson, who misestimated the market, had to sign a one-year contract with the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks.
In ruins at Atlanta, Jackson played all-Star stats, averaging 18.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.8 steals per game. In the offseason, he was signed by the Pacers on a six-year, $38.3 million contract. Indiana had just finished first in the East in the 203-04 season, with the best interior lineman in the East, Ron Artest, attacking and defensive power forward Ron Artest, and legendary scorer Reggie Miller with excellent organizational skills and Shangke, and the ambitious Pacers hoped that the tough Jackson would help them against the defending champion Detroit Pistons. However, the Pacers soon saw Jackson's "toughness", and he won himself the title of "Martial Saint" with his fists in the "Auburn Hill Palace Incident", and also shattered the Pacers' dream of winning the title.
The heavily injured Pacers eventually fell to sixth in the East and lost to the Old Rival Pistons in the second round of the playoffs, with Jackson averaging 18.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, but only played 51 games due to suspensions. In the 05-06 season, a generation of legends Miller regrettably retired, the core O'Neill Jr. and many others were plagued by injuries, but Artest, the initiator of the Auburn Hill Palace incident, made a transfer application, and the Pacers finally fell apart. Atay was sent to the Kings in the middle of the season, and Jackson was sent to the Warriors in an eight-man trade in the middle of the next season. Coming to the bearded Baron Davis led the Warriors, Jackson was so successful that he was soon appointed as one of the captains. Led by coach Nelson Sr., Captain Bearded and Captain Jack, the Warriors, who have not made the playoffs in twelve years, returned to the playoffs as eighth in the West and faced the Dallas Mavericks, who were number one in the regular season league in the first round.
Under the banner of "We Believe" flying all over the field, Jackson burst out of the series with unprecedented combat strength. Despite being sent off in both Games 2 and 4, he averaged 22.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, shooting a team-high 47.5 percent of three-pointers and greatly limiting Dirk Nowitzki's play. The 50.2 percent regular-season MVP threw a career-low 38.3 percent shooting under Jackson's defense. In the final sixth game, Jackson made 7-of-8 three-pointers, setting a Warriors playoff record at the time, while only allowing Dirk to score a pitiful 8 points. The Warriors, who had completed the Black Eight feat, failed to go any further, and they were easily defeated by the Jazz in the semifinals.
The Warriors won more in the following year, but in the heavily inward-rolling West, 48 wins didn't get them into the playoffs. The team that created the Black Eight legend quickly fell to the bottom, but Jackson's own performance reached its peak, averaging 20+ per game for two consecutive years, especially in the 08-09 season, he won a luxury stat of 20+5+6. With the arrival of young talents such as Stephen Curry, the Warriors chose to rebuild, sending Jackson to the Charlotte Bobcats. As a newcomer, he immediately helped the Bobcats reach the first playoffs in team history and averaged a career-high 21.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 72 regular-season games. However, because of the decision to rebuild the salary structure, the Bobcats first sent the team boss Gerald Wallace, and then sent Jackson to the Milwaukee Bucks.
In Milwaukee Jackson showed his stinging qualities, a fierce clash with coach Skyles, coupled with a growing injury, which made his performance in the Bucks plummet, and he was quickly sent to his former owner, the Golden State Warriors. Jackson didn't make a appearance for the old club because he quickly got a call from another old club — at the invitation of Spurs president RC Buford, he was determined to return to San Antonio after communicating with Popovich and Duncan. The deal was quickly struck, and the Spurs, who had just suffered the humiliation of the Grizzlies' black eight, were desperate to increase the team's hardness, and after getting Kawhi Leonard in the draft, they sent Richard Jefferson, who had been unable to adapt, back to Jackson, the veteran who won the championship in 2003.
"My goal in the league is to win, and San Antonio is the only place where I've ever won a championship. Every day when I pick up a basketball and walk into the court, I think of the wonderful memories of that time, which makes me want to win the championship again," Jackson, who returned to the Spurs, said at the time: "I remember my mother also shed tears of joy at that time, which was probably the most exciting moment he saw me playing, and I hope I can still have the opportunity to make her proud of me." ”
The heavily loaded Spurs recorded a 50-16 record in the league in a shrinking season and a staggering 20-game winning streak at the end of the season, but when they won a 2-0 advantage in the Western Conference Finals, the team was reversed by the Thunder. In the sixth game of life and death, Jackson, who came on as a substitute, hit 6 consecutive three-point shots and took the initiative to keep an eye on the fiery Kevin Durant, but unfortunately failed to reverse the defeat. The losing Jackson also set a Spurs record, becoming the first player in franchise history to shoot a 50-40-90 shooting percentage (53.5%-60.5%-93.3%) in the series.
The two years of 2012-14 were like a fairy tale of revenge for the Spurs, with the team successfully beating the Thunder in 13 years and the Heat and dismantling the Big Three in 14 years, however, these have nothing to do with Jackson. In the 12-13 season, he was dissatisfied with his position in the Spurs' squad and had a sharp conflict with Popovich. When Popovich announced that jackson was being cut for "team interests" on the eve of the playoffs, the latter also tweeted: "Thank you to all the fans for their support and love for me." And when I know that someone is inferior to me, I will never say that he is better than me. Absolutely not! After leaving the Spurs, Jackson also tried to play the residual heat of the Clippers, but he was no longer the domineering Captain Jack he used to be, playing only 9 games and was quickly abandoned. In 2015, he announced his retirement.
Jackson did not sit idle after retiring, he joined the Big 3 League composed of retired players in 2017, in this "old man fight" event, Captain Jack not only proved that his sword is not old, but also fully demonstrated his mouth kung fu, was named the "king of garbage words". In 2021, he became one of the team coaches of this competition, continuing to play his lip service on the sidelines. In addition, Captain Jack, who has experienced fourteen seasons and nine teams, is full of stories on and off the field, and has become a guest in the media, participating in various programs non-stop. Of course, his championship experience with the Spurs and popovich's grudge have also become one of the topics he talked about in front of the media.
Although many Spurs fans and Jackson himself have fantasized that if the Spurs left him in the summer of 2003, would the weak forward strength of the GDP era be greatly enhanced? But in fact, it may just be wishful thinking. The two are not the same person at all, and the thorny martial saint is more like a street gangster who cares about the righteousness of the jianghu, and does not believe in the San Antonio-style fairy tale and family atmosphere from the bone. He never fully integrated into Popovich and his Spurs — even when he won the title in 2003 — it was just a momentary mutual need that made a good memory of a victory, and perhaps the memory would have been even better without the later reunion.
Next issue: He may be the best partner of Tim Duncan after David Robinson, not only has a beautiful rebound, but also is jokingly called "the first in the world of standing defense" by Spurs fans.
(Text/Mu Yan 1199)