Over and over, the drill goes on. Luke Jackson shoots a 20-foot jump shot, runs to the midcourt line and returns to catch a pass and shoot again.
The drill changes, and Jackson runs to the corner, touches the sideline and reverses to the basket, catching a pass and dunking. Then to the other corner, and back to finish with a dunk. Then at an angle to the three-point line, and back to the basket.
For 90 minutes, the workout continues. The only break between the drills is to shoot free throws. Before the workout, he stretches. After it, he lies exhausted on the court.
This day, Jackson is in the student recreation center at the University of Oregon. That night, he's at the Downtown Athletic Club lifting weights and shooting. Another day, the workout will be in McArthur Court. For the past few days, Jackson has been in Los Angeles, testing himself against other NBA players in pickup games.
For a player who finished his Oregon career as the school's No. 2 all-time scorer and was the 10th pick in last June's NBA draft, the comeback from winter back surgery is one day at a time, one drill after another, one exercise leading to another.
"I'm just trying to climb the ladder every day," Jackson said. "You take it to a new level every day and gain more confidence. Then your body gets strong as you start getting better.
"You don't get better in a couple of days ... you have to give yourself enough time and you have to work out pretty diligently. That's when you see yourself get a lot better, and I feel like I am."
Jackson had planned on taking his comeback public at a "Barnstorming" game at McArthur Court next week matching former collegians against high school standouts, but the NBA declined to sanction the game, forcing its cancellation. Jackson will go ahead with his fund-raising golf tournament for area high schools on June 29 at Shadow Hills Country Club.
Not that golf or basketball seemed possible for a time prior to his winter surgery.
Jackson's back problem, he said, went back to last summer. He thought rest would ease the pain and restore full feeling in his right leg, but taking time off from playing left him woefully behind when he reported for preseason workouts with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"It was a joke, I was in such bad shape," Jackson said. "Sometimes when you're hurt, you don't realize how bad it is. ... It had been my mentality to play through injuries. You do the physical therapy and ice all the time and you think your body is going to heal itself."
Instead, Jackson said, "there were times in practice where the only thing I was thinking about was how my (right) leg was numb."
On and off the injured list, Jackson's rookie season ended up lasting 10 games in which he scored 29 points. It was hardly what Cleveland expected when the Cavs selected Jackson.
"It was frustrating for me not to be able to prove myself," Jackson said. "I feel like if I would have been healthy, I would have given myself a lot better chance."
Time off and treatments offered scant relief.
"It was to the point I couldn't even put my socks on in the morning," Jackson said. "I wanted my life back, let alone being able to play basketball."
Jackson underwent surgery in January, and the feeling in his leg returned the next day. If only everything had been solved so quickly.
"I had two months where I did nothing," Jackson said. Then it was exercises and stretching, and finally lifting weights and working out on the basketball court.
Jackson put himself into informal scrimmages with current Oregon players.
"I was weak. I feel like now I can be competitive again and in another month, I hope I'll be back to where I can dominate, be really strong and have my game where it needs to be," he said.
Jay Anderson, one of Jackson's teammates at Oregon who has joined in workouts, said "Luke's a hundred percent better than a couple of weeks ago."
That sentiment was echoed by Cleveland assistant coach Wes Wilcox, who said Jackson "has made huge strides."
The importance of Jackson's rehabilitation to the Cavs might be best illustrated by the presence of Wilcox. He arrived in Eugene the first week in May to direct Jackson's workouts and won't leave until the end of this month. Wilcox went with Jackson to Los Angeles to monitor his player's progress, and he is in daily contact with the Cavs, "from the owners and management on down," Wilcox said, giving updates on Jackson.
"He is a major priority to us," Wilcox said. "He's a big piece to our puzzle for the future, and we're very confident he's going to be a good player for us in seasons to come."
During the past week in Los Angeles, Wilcox said, Jackson "performed beyond what anyone expected" in daily pickup games against NBA players.
"He's been great," Wilcox added. "He's been going hard and doing the things we needed to see Luke doing again."
As Cleveland restructures its front office and has a new coach on board for next season, Jackson's importance probably increases because the NBA team doesn't have a pick in this month's draft.
Jackson is scheduled to play on Cleveland's summer team, if the league allows it with the looming threat of labor problems leading to a lockout of players. If not that, Jackson said he would spend some time in Seattle with former UO teammate Luke Ridnour, finding pickup games to further advance his game, and possibly then moving on to Chicago, where every summer there is a gathering of NBA players seeking offseason competition.
All along, the daily workouts will continue. One drill after another, one session following the last. Wilcox took input from Cleveland's trainer and also the strength and conditioning coach, and combined that information with his knowledge of the basketball moves Jackson had to master again after a rookie season that consisted of 43 playing minutes.
"He really hasn't played in a year," Wilcox said. "It's one thing for a rookie to not be in the rotation, then practices are where rookies have their game day and can show us what they can do. Luke didn't even have that."
So if not back to being a rookie, Jackson is back playing basketball. And trying not to look back at what he missed last season.
"I'm focused right now on the future," Jackson said. "You can't dwell on the disappointments in the past. I use that as a motivation for next season because I still have faith that I can be really, really effective in the NBA."
