In order to get Jarrett Jack, a veteran who has played for seven teams–including the Nets–in his 10 NBA seasons, Brooklyn gave up Marcus Thornton, and that’s basically it.
When you think back to how the Nets traded Jason Terry and Reggie Evans for Thornton, Billy King got one of the league’s most reliable backup point guards for an over-the-hill guard and one-dimensional big man. I’m no executive, but I would think many team’s front offices would line up for an exchange such as that one.
Jack has been a journeyman throughout his career, never finding a permanent spot with any of the franchises he was with. His first NBA team, the Trail Blazers, kept him around for three years as he found his way in the league but parted with him in the deal that brought Jerryd Bayless to Portland.
He had one good season with the Pacers, scoring 13.1 points per game and playing 33 minutes per. He was a big part of that team and certainly played like it, but after the season, he found himself a free agent and headed north of the border to the Raptors. He spent the whole 2009-10 season–posting a career-high .481 FG%–and part of the next year with Toronto before being traded to the Hornets for–you guessed it–Jerryd Bayless.
The Georgia Tech product didn’t do much for the rest of the 2010-11 campaign with the Hornets but had the best statistical season of his career in 11-12. He averaged 15.6 points with a .456/.348/.872 slashline although he was hurt for half the games. When New Orleans made the playoffs, though, he wasn’t nearly as effective.
That summer, he was involved in a three-team deal that landed him in Golden State with the Warriors and gave Dorell Wright to the 76ers. He was a vital bench player for Mark Jackson and had another solid season and had an amazing playoffs. In 12 games, he averaged 35.5 minutes, 17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and made over 50 percent of his field goals and nearly 90 percent of his free throws.
This enabled him to sign a lucrative deal with the rebuilding Cavaliers, whom he muddled through the 2013-14 season with in a down year. Then, like clockwork, he ended up in yet another three-team deal which landed him here in Brooklyn with the Nets, which is where he is now.
The Nets couldn’t be happier about getting Jack (and Sergey Karasev) for what equated to Marcus Thornton and some draft rights to foreign players with no intentions of coming to the NBA. A certifiable steal in most regards.
But what does he bring to the table for Brooklyn?
First off, the Nets needed a replacement for Shaun Livingston at backup point guard. Livingston signed with the Golden State Warriors this summer after he had a career year in 2013-14 with the Nets. That left a major vacancy on the Brooklyn roster for Billy King to replace one of the team’s more valuable pieces.
When the opportunity presented itself for King to pull the trigger on the deal for basically no risk, he had no choice but to say yes.
Secondly, he provides a veteran presence to a reserve unit that doesn’t have too much experience outside of Andrei Kirilenko and Alan Anderson. Depending on Lionel Hollins’ starting lineup, the Nets will be relying on Mirza Teletovic (entering his third year in the NBA), Bojan Bogdanovic (rookie), Mason Plumlee (second year) and Markel Brown (rookie) among others to produce off the bench.
Lastly, Jack has been fairly underrated for much of his career. Pigeonholed by many teams into a backup role, Jack has been viewed with that as his ceiling even though he has proved that to be untrue countless times. Just three seasons ago, he scored 15.6 points per game. I doubt many people would have known that about him.
Sometimes, the best move a general manager can make is the non-high profile one, the move that falls just enough under the radar to be classified as smart and just above it to be considered a possible risk. Some could say that Jack won’t pan out for Brooklyn, but it appears as if it a perfect fit for both parties.
Also, there really weren’t many other options for the Nets to look at on the market, either via a trade or free agency. Rodney Stuckey, currently of the Pacers and formerly of the Pistons, and Darren Collison, of the Kings and formerly the Clippers, come to mind as possibilities as do Jose Calderon and Raymond Felton, who were traded for each other between the Mavericks and the Knicks.
However, the truth is that for what the Nets need, Jack probably makes the most sense. They don’t need a big scorer or someone who can’t do much other than pass. They need someone who can do it all, just not as a part of the starting lineup. Also, his past experience with starting allows him to be a solid insurance policy for Brooklyn and Deron Williams’ injury history.
He’s only 30 years old too, so he certainly has a lot of good games left in him. Hopefully a lot of those games come in Brooklyn.
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