June 11, 2023
The Sixers are hiring former Kings guard and G-League head coach Bobby Jackson in an assistant role on Nick Nurse's staff, a source confirmed to PhillyVoice on Sunday afternoon. Marc Stein of The Stein Line was the first to report the news on Sunday.
Most people will remember Jackson from his tenure in Sacramento as a player during the early 2000s, when Jackson was an important bench piece for the last period of success for the Kings prior to this season's breakthrough. Jackson was named Sixth Man of the Year for the Kings in 2002-03, providing Sacramento with a reliable source of offense off of the pine. He would bounce around the league a bit following that run in Sacramento, but would eventually find his way back to the Kings for a final season in 2008-09 before transitioning to coaching.
Jackson has been with the Kings in multiple capacities (and working under different head coaches) over the last decade-plus, and as Sixers fans should realize after watching assistants come and go under different regimes, that makes Jackson somewhat unique compared to his peers. Following the completion of his playing career, he worked as a special assistant in the basketball operations department, aiding the Kings with NBA draft prep and scouting, then made the leap to a coaching role in 2011 under then head coach Paul Westphal. Jackson would go on to work under Keith Smart, Dave Joerger, and Luke Walton.
But Jackson's most notable coaching experience to date actually came at a lower level, serving as the head coach of the Kings' G-League affiliate, the Stockton Kings. Under Jackson's leadership, Sacramento has had a fair bit of success in recent years — the Kings were the champions of the Vegas Summer League in 2021, with Jackson leading a hard-charging defense spearheaded by Davion Mitchell in an environment that doesn't often feature much defense. Jackson's Kings had a G-League leading 25-7 record in 2022-23, earning an opening-round bye for the developmental league's playoffs.
Presumably, Nurse and the Sixers are bringing Jackson in to aid with the player development side of the organization, with Jackson having plenty of hands-on experience bringing along young talent. Jackson already has familiarity with some of the players in the pipeline, having coached Sixers two-way player Louis King during his time in charge of the Stockton Kings. And more development-focused hires sound like they could be in the pipeline for Nurse and the Sixers, as Stein also reported on Sunday that Raptors coach Rico Hines could re-join Nurse on his new staff in Philadelphia.
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