Photograph by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Pictures
In October of 1999, Stephen Jackson was waived in coaching camp by the then-Vancouver Grizzlies, together with Wealthy King and Antwain Smith, although the latter two wouldn’t make Vancouver remorse it, as neither performed one other minute within the NBA after that.
Jackson, then again, would go on to play 14 seasons within the NBA, successful one championship in his profession as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. Apart from enjoying a task in San Antonio’s 2002-03 championship, Jackson additionally earned Most Improved Participant votes twice and even MVP votes (a really small quantity) in 2009-10.
In fact, it’s exhausting to present Vancouver an excessive amount of grief for waiving Jackson, as he performed for eight NBA groups in his profession, bouncing round rather a lot – virtually definitely due to his perspective – and didn’t even play within the NBA in 1999-00, the season after the Grizzlies waived him.
It’s a little bit of a troublesome search for the Grizzlies, nevertheless, contemplating Vancouver wasn’t precisely a powerhouse on the time Jackson didn’t make its roster, with the staff going 22-60 that yr. The Grizzlies did have loads of wing depth on the time, although, together with one-time All-Star Shareef Abdur-Rahim and veterans Antoine Carr and Dennis Scott.
Jackson did fail to make the staff over one other younger guard, Felipe Lopez, who the staff had simply invested a first-round choose on a yr prior. Lopez wound up enjoying simply 4 seasons within the NBA. That makes the Jackson waiving look a bit political within the sense that even when Jackson did outplay Lopez in coaching camp, Vancouver nonetheless needed to go together with Lopez on its roster because it had made a giant funding on him and had him on his rookie contract for one more two years.
The identical applies for one more younger guard on Vancouver’s roster on the time, Michael Dickerson, a late lottery choose in 1998 who the Grizzlies had acquired in a commerce for eventual All-Star Steve Francis. To Vancouver’s credit score, Dickerson did at the very least common 18 factors the season after Jackson was waived.
Regardless, in a statistical sense, nobody has produced extra after being a coaching camp lower than Jackson. In hindsight, it clearly doesn’t actually appear like resolution, particularly contemplating Vancouver had fairly weak younger guards on the time. However possibly Jackson wanted to get his priorities straight and pay his dues in lowly leagues earlier than getting one other shot within the NBA to blossom into the participant he ultimately grew to become.
