GG Jackson Thread

[Catchall]

The most 'Paul George-like' prospect in this draft might be Ausar Thompson, assuming he's 6'7" in shoes.

i thought the knock on thompson was that he can't shoot. PG has always been a shooter.

Yeah, the 3p shooting and FT shooting are still a problem for Ausar at this point.

[Catchall]

GG Jackson with 22/5 and 2 blks today. Good shooting splits -- 57/50/75. His 3FG% should be up to over 38% for the season so far.

Here he is shooting a Tatum-style, side-dribble, pull-up 3pt with confidence. Turns 18 next month.

Read on Twitter

[Catchall]

Another Tatum-like move and finish.

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The rushed, off-balance stuff isn't good, but some decent plays here.

Watch on YouTube

[K_chile22]

He's been better than I thought he'd be. May end up top 5 by the time the draft rolls around

[Catchall]

GG backing out of UNC could hurt his draft stock. His team was down 27-10 after 11 mins or so tonight to George Washington, and it never got better from there. His team couldn't get any traction and was never in the game.

[The-Power]

GG backing out of UNC could hurt his draft stock. His team was down 27-10 after 11 mins or so tonight to George Washington, and it never got better from there. His team couldn't get any traction and was never in the game.

It all depends on his play. If he shows up and performs, it won't hurt his stock even if his team record sucks. This is not what scouts are looking for. Just look at Fultz, for example.

The gamble you make as a player is based on the question: how ready am I to lead a team with most of the attention on me? If you do well individually and put up big numbers, people will notice and rank you highly no matter what how your team does. But if you don't, there's no bonus from all the attention that better college teams get throughout the year and the benefit of a smaller role when you're not quite ready for consistently taking over games (where flashes make scouts wonder whether you may be able to handle a larger role once drafted).

The problem I see for Jackson currently is: there are a bunch of things he does well compared to most combo bigs but not compared to combo Forwards – and vice versa. What will his role be at the next level, and what ability can he hang his hat onto? The current profile isn't exactly awe-inspiring: very little playmaking, underwhelming FTr, not a dominant finisher or rebounder, solid but not great shooting indicators, pedestrian STOCK numbers.

To me, it really boils down to how you evaluate his age. Is the fact that he is so young for his class enough to project him to be much further along in a year, and do you therefore already price that in when comparing him to other Freshmen in this draft? It's defensible but we're also not talking about a Giannis, AD or even Wembanyama situation where you just look at the player before the draft and think ‘just give him another year or two to fill out and he'll be even more of a beast’. He'll get stronger and improve athletically, but he won't transform I don't think; so that leaves us with with an improved skill-set but that's usually not subject to transformation either but rather marginal improvements (especially outside of shooting and decision-making, where some larger jumps are possible albeit far from typical).

[Catchall]

GG backing out of UNC could hurt his draft stock. His team was down 27-10 after 11 mins or so tonight to George Washington, and it never got better from there. His team couldn't get any traction and was never in the game.

The problem I see for Jackson currently is: there are a bunch of things he does well compared to most combo bigs but not compared to combo Forwards – and vice versa. What will his role be at the next level, and what ability can he hang his hat onto? The current profile isn't exactly awe-inspiring: very little playmaking, underwhelming FTr, not a dominant finisher or rebounder, solid but not great shooting indicators, pedestrian STOCK numbers.

To me, it really boils down to how you evaluate his age. Is the fact that he is so young for his class enough to project him to be much further along in a year, and do you therefore already price that in when comparing him to other Freshmen in this draft? It's defensible but we're also not talking about a Giannis, AD or even Wembanyama situation where you just look at the player before the draft and think ‘just give him another year or two to fill out and he'll be even more of a beast’. He'll get stronger and improve athletically, but he won't transform I don't think; so that leaves us with with an improved skill-set but that's usually not subject to transformation either but rather marginal improvements (especially outside of shooting and decision-making, where some larger jumps are possible albeit far from typical).

I agree with this, but think that GG has shown enough to show that he can be an impact big wing at the next level. He has enough size. He has enough athleticism. He has enough handle and aggressiveness getting downhill. He has enough self-creation. He has enough ability to finish in the paint. It fits together in a coherent package. The one stat where I'm looking for improvement is his FT%. It's got to get above the mid-70s for me to be comfortable.

Now whether all this translates to a guy who turns out to be Jeff Green, Pascal Siakam or Jayson Tatum in the longterm will be determined by how well he improves everything incrementally, and, in part, the situation he's placed in.

When Jayson Tatum came out of Duke, a lot of people were comparing him to Tobias Harris--e.g., a combo forward who likes to dominate the ball, score in isolation and shoot from mid-range, good athlete though not top-shelf. He hadn't shown elite 3pt shooting (34%), or ability to get all the way to the rim, or elite defense. Tatum wasn't dominating. So there had to be some projection with him as well.

I would also point out that Tatum had guys next to him like Luke Kennard, Frank Jackson and Grayson Allen, who could draw defenders and deliver assists. GG isn't getting much support at South Carolina. A high percentage of GG's offense has been unassisted so far.

[The Moose]

Admittedly very early, but the appallingly low USG/AST rate is a major red flag for me, he’s at Shabazz Muhammad UCLA levels with that right now

[EMG518]

Admittedly very early, but the appallingly low USG/AST rate is a major red flag for me, he’s at Shabazz Muhammad UCLA levels with that right now

SMH, stats without context are useless.

1. You are comparing a 17 year old to a 20 year old in college.

2.You are comparing vastly different sized players.

3. Maybe his assist rate would be higher if his team wasn't 42.6% from 2 and 32.3% from 3

4.Maybe it's a small sample size and he has just been unlucky with his teammates converting at a lower percentage.

[The Moose]

Admittedly very early, but the appallingly low USG/AST rate is a major red flag for me, he’s at Shabazz Muhammad UCLA levels with that right now

SMH, stats without context are useless.

1. You are comparing a 17 year old to a 20 year old in college.

2.You are comparing vastly different sized players.

3. Maybe his assist rate would be higher if his team wasn't 42.6% from 2 and 32.3% from 3

4.Maybe it's a small sample size and he has just been unlucky with his teammates converting at a lower percentage.

As I said, it’s very early, so the numbers might stabilize to a normal number, especially if his team is shooting unsustainably poor. If he corrects that , my opinion will change.

Also I’m aware he’s 17, but I’m not just going to hand wave all his flaws because of that.
But to clarify, I’m not comparing him as a player to Muhammad, just that he’s a wing that comes to mind with that ratio of USG/Ast/TO in the NCAA. It’s a red flag for me in prospects, and just not my cup of tea stylistically.

[Catchall]

GG with a good game against Georgetown after a slow start. I love that he plays with consistent energy. He's got a motor for a guy that size and skill level. He's learning to attack off the dribble in a variety of ways. He also had a couple nice passes for assists. I think he'll pick up more playmaking as he matures.

Read on Twitter

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Here he is spinning out of a double-team to score. Jazz fans would call it a Jordan Clarkson move.

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[clyde21]

i don't know how anyone can watch GG right now and not have him in the top10 conversation tbh (or even higher, actually). there are issues but the ball skills, positional versatility and two-way potential at a legit 6-9 are pretty absurd, and the dude can't even buy a pack of stogies legally yet.

people don't understand that once you cross the 6-8/6-9 range it's a different ball game, this is an actual threshold in the NBA, ball skills and creation scalability at that size become a much higher premium.

again, there are issues there that you hope will be developed enough in time, but if you think you can find this package in the middle of the first round good luck to you.

[EvanZ]

i don't know how anyone can watch GG right now and not have him in the top10 conversation tbh (or even higher, actually). there are issues but the ball skills, positional versatility and two-way potential at a legit 6-9 are pretty absurd, and the dude can't even buy a pack of stogies legally yet.

people don't understand that once you cross the 6-8/6-9 range it's a different ball game, this is an actual threshold in the NBA, ball skills and creation scalability at that size become a much higher premium.

again, there are issues there that you hope will be developed enough in time, but if you think you can find this package in the middle of the first round good luck to you.

Have to make sure he's not Kevin Knox.

[Catchall]

i don't know how anyone can watch GG right now and not have him in the top10 conversation tbh (or even higher, actually). there are issues but the ball skills, positional versatility and two-way potential at a legit 6-9 are pretty absurd, and the dude can't even buy a pack of stogies legally yet.

people don't understand that once you cross the 6-8/6-9 range it's a different ball game, this is an actual threshold in the NBA, ball skills and creation scalability at that size become a much higher premium.

again, there are issues there that you hope will be developed enough in time, but if you think you can find this package in the middle of the first round good luck to you.

Have to make sure he's not Kevin Knox.

Kevin Knox never had much handle, shiftiness or self-creation.

[clyde21]

how u gonna do that?

i'd bet GG measures much better than Knox too, Knox wasn't as big as everyone thought, couldn't even clear a 7 foot W/S and without shoes was like 6-7.5, also small hands, and his ball skills plateaued extremely early.

GG will test way better athletically too.

GG is not bust proof by any stretch but that's the type of bet you make in the top 5-7 as a GM and sleep well at night even if it doesn't work out.

[Hal14]

The most 'Paul George-like' prospect in this draft might be Ausar Thompson, assuming he's 6'7" in shoes.

i thought the knock on thompson was that he can't shoot. PG has always been a shooter.

Yeah, the 3p shooting and FT shooting are still a problem for Ausar at this point.

Ausar is shooting 43% from 3 so far this season.

[Catchall]

Here's GG Jackson taking down the mighty Blue Hose of Presbyterian. He's showing some aggressive drives and convincing end-to-end speed. If you knew you were going to get a Siakam-level offensive player, you'd probably have to take him top 6 -8 range.

Watch on YouTube

[Catchall]

South Carolina got run out by UAB. SC was down 10-0 after just 90 seconds and were down 20 most of the night. GG salvaged his individual stats to finish with 20 pts on 7/17 and 3/8 from 3pt, but it's hard to judge the value of it in a game that was never really competitive.

[JTG_92940618]

He must have some huge hands to palm the ball like that all the time.

[clyde21]

He must have some huge hands to palm the ball like that all the time.

he does, people are underestimating this kids physical pro, he's a prototype, and I don't throw around that word too often. i don't see a scenario where he's not a top 5 pick unless GMs are sleeping at the wheel.

impact metrics are not catching up yet b/c he's on a bad team but he's averaging 31/13 per 100 poss, that's absurd for a guy that hasn't turned 18 yet in the SEC.

people are looking for a Paul George comp, he's probably the closest thing we've seen.