Pierre Jackson back with Sixers after long, strange trip

The short player looked down the long road of his basketball career and agreed it has been a strange one.

"Tell me about it," said Pierre Jackson, a 5-foot-10 point guard who is trying to land a spot with the 76ers, a team that is a little short on point guards, too. "I never doubted myself. Never. I've been confident the whole time."

That confidence came in handy as Jackson took a journey that has gone like this: Las Vegas; Twin Falls, Idaho; Waco, Texas; Philadelphia (very briefly); New Orleans; Villeurbanne, France; Boise, Idaho; Istanbul, Turkey; Philadelphia; and, on Thursday, back to Las Vegas with the Sixers' summer league team.

Overlooking Jackson is easy, literally and figuratively. He doesn't stand out in a crowd and NBA teams are not given to believing in players of his stature - and his listed height might even be generous by an inch or two. What is difficult to overlook, however, is that Jackson has won everywhere he has played and he has scored against taller opponents his whole life. It's true that those opponents didn't happen to be playing in the NBA, but the man can shoot.

"His NBA talent and skill is that he can put the ball in the basket," said Sixers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce, who will coach the Las Vegas portion of the summer league schedule. "It doesn't matter if you've got a 7-footer guarding him or a 6-foot guy. With his quickness and his shiftiness, he can get his shot off anywhere, anyhow, and he's done it on different levels."

This opportunity was supposed to arrive for Jackson at exactly this time last year, but things are never quite that easy for him. The chance is here now, however, and all he has to do is what he has always done - make baskets.

"We'll see if I can knock some shots down," he said.

For Jackson, the road began at Desert Pines High School in Las Vegas, where he led the state in assists, and continued at the junior-college level for the College of Southern Idaho, where he led his team to a national championship and earned recognition as the NJCAA player of the year.

That got Jackson to Baylor University for his final two seasons of eligibility. The Bears made it to the Elite Eight in 2012 before losing to eventual national champion Kentucky, and were NIT champions in 2013, with Jackson leading the Big Twelve in scoring (19.8 points per game) and assists (7.1).

All of that was wonderful, and for most players it would have set up a decent shot at their professional careers. That was also the case for Jackson, except for one thing: He was still short.

The Sixers selected Jackson early in the second round of the 2013 draft and he was immediately packaged and sent to New Orleans as part of Sam Hinkie's first blockbuster deal, the one that swapped Jrue Holiday for Nerlens Noel and a first-round pick. With the Pelicans, Jackson played in the summer league but didn't earn a roster spot. He signed a contract with the French team but left before playing a single game.

"I did play some preseason games, but it was the language barrier and my living conditions weren't up to par," Jackson said.

He signed on with the Idaho Stampede of the Development League, against the wishes of his agent, and led the league with a 30-point average, along with seven assists per game. On Feb. 4, 2014, he dropped in 58 points (24 for 33 field goals, 7 for 13 three-pointers) to set a D-League single-game record.

Later that month, Jackson accepted an offer to finish the season in Turkey, but that lasted only six games when the coach didn't use him and the team president bought out the contract.

"I wasn't playing much and I was getting paid a lot," he said.

Back in the United States, Jackson's NBA rights were traded again between New Orleans and the Sixers on draft day in 2014, this time back to the Sixers. As he suited up soon after for the first summer league game in Orlando, Jackson was finally in the right place at the right time - and then he tore his Achilles tendon in the opening half of that game.

So, here we are one year later. Jackson rehabbed the Achilles and watched every Sixers game so he could learn Brett Brown's system. He says that he is more explosive than before - and he was a pretty good dunker in college - and that he is a better shooter, thanks to endless hours alone in a gym hobbling around with a boot on his foot.

"He's always had supreme confidence," Pierce said. "And his ability to make baskets is why he'll succeed at this level."

So many twists and turns, with the most recent a slight groin strain that limited his practice this week. But he's going home with the summer league team, back to where he started this long trip, and he's confident of one more thing.

"Oh, I'll play," Jackson said. "It's the perfect situation for me."

Maybe so. Maybe it just took a while to locate it.

@bobfordsports