Suns draft Josh Jackson at #4

[Superbone]

This is just a fun, silly interview but you can tell Jackson is a smart kid. He interviews better than most 20 year olds.
https://twitter.com/Suns/status/878795145780514816

[JCSunsfan]

I know, its the free throw shooting. Scottie Pippen shot .576 free throws his first nba year. But he was a four year player. He gradually improved hitting over 80% some seasons and ended up with a 70% career average.

Pippen's rookie FT% was an aberration. He shot .695 in college, including .719 as a senior.

What did Puppen shoot as a freshman? Anyone know what free throw percentage Jackson shot in high school? Can't find that info anywhere.

[3rdside]

I like his ability to put the ball on the floor. He could develop into a point forward with his handles and court awareness. He's going to elevate the overall talent on the team. So can we put a starting lineup of ulis, Booker, jj, tj, and chriss or Bender on the floor?

I've been saying he's Scottie Pippen 2.0 for months.

He very well could be.

As long as we're talking Pippen the offensive player and not pippen the overall player I could probably get behind that.

6'10" wingspan for Jackson vs 7'2" for pippen means they're two very physically different specimens.




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[ShelC]

https://twitter.com/chadfordinsider/status/877625130310086658

[Cap]

I know, its the free throw shooting. Scottie Pippen shot .576 free throws his first nba year. But he was a four year player. He gradually improved hitting over 80% some seasons and ended up with a 70% career average.

Pippen's rookie FT% was an aberration. He shot .695 in college, including .719 as a senior.

What did Puppen shoot as a freshman? Anyone know what free throw percentage Jackson shot in high school? Can't find that info anywhere.

.684 FT% as a freshman.

[O_Gardino]

I know, its the free throw shooting. Scottie Pippen shot .576 free throws his first nba year. But he was a four year player. He gradually improved hitting over 80% some seasons and ended up with a 70% career average.

Pippen's rookie FT% was an aberration. He shot .695 in college, including .719 as a senior.

Pippen was a Iguadalaesque ft shooter. His shooting was up and down throughout his career, and didn't follow much of an arc. It was generally higher at the end of his career than at the beginning, but he had big ups and downs throughout.

[Superbone]

https://twitter.com/chadfordinsider/status/877625130310086658

Jackson must be awful good at cupping a basketball then as he goes up and throws the ball down with authority.

[TOO]

If Jackson gives me Pippen defense, rebound, passing, I dont care what he offers on the offensive end. Booker, Chriss, Bledsoe, Warren will be our main scoring threats, Jackson, Bender, Chandler can do the defensive work, and we build from that.

[Split T]

I know, its the free throw shooting. Scottie Pippen shot .576 free throws his first nba year. But he was a four year player. He gradually improved hitting over 80% some seasons and ended up with a 70% career average.

Pippen's rookie FT% was an aberration. He shot .695 in college, including .719 as a senior.

What did Puppen shoot as a freshman? Anyone know what free throw percentage Jackson shot in high school? Can't find that info anywhere.

Not high school, but he shot 47, 59, and 64% in '13, '14, and '15 for USA basketball. Very small sample size though. Took between 14 and 17 free throws each year.

[Ring_Wanted]

If Jackson gives me Pippen defense, rebound, passing, I dont care what he offers on the offensive end. Booker, Chriss, Bledsoe, Warren will be our main scoring threats, Jackson, Bender, Chandler can do the defensive work, and we build from that.

Chances are he won't. I'd be happy if he was just close to Iggy. Still the perfect piece next to Booker (if character is not a real issue).

[TOO]

If Jackson gives me Pippen defense, rebound, passing, I dont care what he offers on the offensive end. Booker, Chriss, Bledsoe, Warren will be our main scoring threats, Jackson, Bender, Chandler can do the defensive work, and we build from that.

Chances are he won't. I'd be happy if he was just close to Iggy. Still the perfect piece next to Booker (if character is not a real issue).

I don't think character will be a problem, and if he's close to Iggy, we did well. Shoot, I'd take an athletic PJ tucker with the ability to handle the ball and lead the break.

[jonh]

If Jackson gives me Pippen defense, rebound, passing, I dont care what he offers on the offensive end. Booker, Chriss, Bledsoe, Warren will be our main scoring threats, Jackson, Bender, Chandler can do the defensive work, and we build from that.

Chances are he won't. I'd be happy if he was just close to Iggy. Still the perfect piece next to Booker (if character is not a real issue).

I don't think character will be a problem, and if he's close to Iggy, we did well. Shoot, I'd take an athletic PJ tucker with the ability to handle the ball and lead the break.

I will be extremely disappointed if Jackson turns out to be PJ Tucker with a couple more assists.

[n4th4n]

Here is something I have been thinking about recently. How does Josh Jackson compare to Wiggins as a prospect coming out of college? If you were to ask a random NBA fan that question, I am sure they would say, without hesitation, that Wiggins was a much better prospect. But really, is that true? Certainly, Wiggins has a better shooting form, but other than that, I actually think Jackson is a better prospect. First, let's compare their college stats.

Wiggins: 17.1 PPG 5.9 RPG 1.5 AST 44.8% FG 34.1% 3PFG 77.5% FT 21.4 PER

Jackson: 16.3 PPG 7.4 RPG 3.0 AST 51.3% FG 37.8% 3PFG 56.6% FT 24.1 PER

Then, their physical profile.

Wiggins is 6'8" 200 lb with a 7' wingspan

Jackson is 6'8" 207 lb with a 6'10' wingspan

They are very similar physically and Jackson is at least Wiggin's equal as an athlete. I would say Jackson is Wiggins' superior as a ball handler, finisher, defender, and passer, with a higher BBIQ and more competitiveness. Wiggins is clearly a better free throw shooter. I think we are all still trying to figure our what we should take from Jackson's shooting % from 3-point land in college. Projecting prospects is difficult. You have to look at their entire skillset and imagine how it will translate to in NBA court in terms of overall play. Jump shooting is a massive part of that. If Jackson can't improve as a shooter, he will no doubt stagnate. Shooting just opens up so many other parts of your game. It makes you less predictable as an offensive player and unlocks this massive flowchart of possibilities. Anyway, that got a little rambly here.

What are other peoples thoughts on how Jackson and Wiggins compare to each other as prospects? If we had somehow drafted Wiggins #1 overall in 2014, I'm sure we would have been over the moon excited. But did we possibly end up with a better prospect here in 2017?

[O_Gardino]

Here is something I have been thinking about recently. How does Josh Jackson compare to Wiggins as a prospect coming out of college? If you were to ask a random NBA fan that question, I am sure they would say, without hesitation, that Wiggins was a much better prospect. But really, is that true? Certainly, Wiggins has a better shooting form, but other than that, I actually think Jackson is a better prospect. First, let's compare their college stats.

Wiggins: 17.1 PPG 5.9 RPG 1.5 AST 44.8% FG 34.1% 3PFG 77.5% FT 21.4 PER

Jackson: 16.3 PPG 7.4 RPG 3.0 AST 51.3% FG 37.8% 3PFG 56.6% FT 24.1 PER

Then, their physical profile.

Wiggins is 6'8" 200 lb with a 7' wingspan

Jackson is 6'8" 207 lb with a 6'10' wingspan

They are very similar physically and Jackson is at least Wiggin's equal as an athlete. I would say Jackson is Wiggins' superior as a ball handler, finisher, defender, and passer, with a higher BBIQ and more competitiveness. Wiggins is clearly a better free throw shooter. I think we are all still trying to figure our what we should take from Jackson's shooting % from 3-point land in college. Projecting prospects is difficult. You have to look at their entire skillset and imagine how it will translate to in NBA court in terms of overall play. Jump shooting is a massive part of that. If Jackson can't improve as a shooter, he will no doubt stagnate. Shooting just opens up so many other parts of your game. It makes you less predictable as an offensive player and unlocks this massive flowchart of possibilities. Anyway, that got a little rambly here.

What are other peoples thoughts on how Jackson and Wiggins compare to each other as prospects? If we had somehow drafted Wiggins #1 overall in 2014, I'm sure we would have been over the moon excited. But did we possibly end up with a better prospect here in 2017?

Very interesting.

[Mori Chu]

That's good perspective, n4th4n. It's all relative, and we have the tendency to get sucked into the hype of each draft class. A #1 pick in one class could be a #10 pick in another. And we tend to remember where these guys are drafted for a long time and have wildly different opinions and expectations about players based on that memory.

One difference I hope to see in Jackson vs Wiggins is that I hope Jackson embraces his role as a defender and shoots jumpers only sparingly when wide open. He can take it to the basket to try to score, or facilitate by passing to teammates; but I don't want him to think of himself as a primary shooter and scorer in our offense the way Wiggins does in Minny. Wiggins seems to be trying to do too much, and his FG% is low because of it. If Jackson lets the game come to him and embraces being a different kind of player, he may fare better for it.

[Split T]

I think Wiggins is a slightly better athlete and a more polished scorer. Jackson is the better all around player though. I think had Jackson been in the 2014 draft, he would have been in the mix for #1. His aggressive style of play and non stop motor might have given him the edge. The biggest knock on Wiggins was he didn't seem to care enough about basketball.

Although if we're talking 2017, I take Jackson, no question asked. I've been pretty underwhelmed by Wiggins. He's a bad defensive player, doesn't rebound, and doesn't pass.

[ShelC]

I think Wiggins is a bit more athletic but the biggest difference to me is mentality. Wiggins has a scorer's mentality. He's improved his jumper since coming into the league and has extended his range. But the rest of his numbers haven't moved much and he doesn't have a great defensive reputation. Jackson seems more focused on making plays in general and playing defense/playing hard. Scoring doesn't seem to be a natural instinct. And I'm not even stating that as a bad thing, just noting the difference. I definitely don't think Jackson will be useless or a liability on offense, I just don't think he'll ever be a consistent jumpshooter/scorer.

[Split T]

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/th ... ters-ball/

Possession by possession, there are a few defenders who are as bad as Wiggins. When Wiggins contests a shot, opponents have a 56.1 effective field goal percentage; when they are unguarded, they have a 56.4 eFG percentage. Fundamentally, getting a shot up against Andrew Wiggins is the same as getting an open shot.

[TOO]

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/th ... ters-ball/

Possession by possession, there are a few defenders who are as bad as Wiggins. When Wiggins contests a shot, opponents have a 56.1 effective field goal percentage; when they are unguarded, they have a 56.4 eFG percentage. Fundamentally, getting a shot up against Andrew Wiggins is the same as getting an open shot.

Gross. This is why Minny has a long way to go before they are a real threat to anyone. Their best players are bad defenders. Butler is a huge add on that end, but I dont think its enough to get them any higher than maybe 7th seed.

[bajanguy008]

Some of the adjectives describing Josh might be a lil excessive lol but there's no doubt he has a good feel on the offensive end and players who can see and make the extra pass are always good for a team

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2017 ... ns-offense