Jaren Jackson Jr vs Trae Young

[freethedevil]

JJJ isn't even a generational talent on either end, much less on both ends.

Nice analysis bro. Here's mine.

JJJ, already is one of the best shooters ever for his age, and one of the best shooting bigs ever. Additionally, he shoots at an elite level from every kind of three which gives him great gravity. That's compounded by him already taking big strides in terms of off-ball movement which means he potentially weaponize his gravity and shooting to move defenses to devestating effect. He's also progressed and shown flashes of decent passing vision at a young age which suggests he can be a decent to good passing, When you pair high volume, effecient versatile self-creation AND off-ball scoring from range with solid passing you can get top tier teammate creation. That's worth noting, because "creation" is probably where he projects the lowest.

Additionally, he has the speed, driving, srength(potentially, and explosiveness to exploit the massive defensive attention he will warrant from outside, with a strong interioir game giving him the cieling as of of the league's top scorers. When you pair great scoring with solid-decent passing, you get a viable engine for a great offense. His capcity for offensive rebounding and putbacks is also useful.

Finally, he has a great jump, great positional iq, a great second jump, a massive wingspan, great explosiveness, great timing, is quick, and very fast. He fits the profile of a future defensive centerpiece which means he could rack up the value of a fringe superstar on defense alone. His failings defensively are almost entirely atrributable to his lacking strength However, that is common for young defensive greats(draymond green/ron artest/ad alos posted high foul rates before filling out.) Fortunately, JJJ has wide shoulders meaning he can fill out to have massive strength which would near instantly make him one of the best defenders in the league. The other issue is his footwork, at times, but that's just par for the course for 19 year olds with a low center of gravity(something which filling out will fix). The only reason to doubt JJJ, aside from potential injury, would be him inexplicably not filling out, but as that's basketball development 101, I'd be shocked if he didn't.

If he does, that gives him fantastic perimiter d, shot contesting, AND rim protection giving him best defender in the game potential, as well as an elite interioir game, potentiallly all time shooting, great gravity and solid passing which would make him one of the best attacking players in the game.

There's no prospect in the game who potentially matches that combination of skills save for maaybe zion.

Tell me where I'm wrong.

. Calm down scout. An entire analysis based on hypotheticals. Too predictable.

No u.

[Jamaaliver]

No, you misunderstand, I'm saying JJJ alone can be both. His ceiling is hilariously higher tham morant or trae

Well that's just crazy talk.

If you don't understand player growth, then sure.

But why does player growth only apply to JJJ and not Ja or Trae?

[CP War Hawks]

Got love for JJJ, but even if you project him as Garnett which he won't reach, that still is not good enough to build solely around. Trae has his warts too, but he's figured how to play at an elite level at the hardest position.

[freethedevil]

Well that's just crazy talk.

If you don't understand player growth, then sure.

But why does player growth only apply to JJJ and not Ja or Trae?

Because JJJ adding to his wide-ass frame should happen. Trae getting taller and ja getting a semi-comprable wingspan isn't going to.

A common-place improvement makes JJJ one of the interioir scorers, rebounders, man defenders AND one of(if not) the best rim protector in the game. Trae/Ja can add, and augment their playmaking/shooting, but they really have no pathway to the multiple potentially seismic improvements JJJ does.

And so really here's how their cieling compares:
JJJ:
-> Elite interioir scoring
-> Elite rim protection
-> Elite man defense
-> Elite shot contesting
-> ATG shooting(from everywhere)
-> decent passing


Trae:
-> ATG shooting(from everywhere)
-> ATG passing

You'd have to have the most bizarely constructed roster ever to benefit more from JJJ's cieling than Trae's cieling

[freethedevil]

Got love for JJJ, but even if you project him as Garnett which he won't reach, that still is not good enough to build solely around..

KG was vastly easier to build around than Nash, who would be trae's "garnett"

[MemphisX]

JJJ is Kevin Garnett with a 3 point shot. Pretty easy choice.

This is not what JAren JAckson is and when I see this I know that people do not watch him play much. THe correct comparison would be Dirk with rim protection. JAren JAckson is going to be an elite offensive option that can rim protect, switch a little and maybe top out as an average rebounder. I ranked TRae higher than Jaren pre-draft because someone that can control the ball is much more important. HOwever, I think it will be infinitely harder to find an approximation to what JAren can do vs what Trae can do.

[MaceCase]

Got love for JJJ, but even if you project him as Garnett which he won't reach, that still is not good enough to build solely around..

KG was vastly easier to build around than Nash, who would be trae's "garnett"

Nash at his peak was a 10 point worse scorer than Trae is currently so I'm not sure that's an apt comparison. Trae is more of a hybrid of both Curry and Nash in that he's elite at being both a lead scoring guard and a table setter. Given the large number of successful teams that both Curry and Nash were a part of as the primary stars I have doubts as to the difficulty of building a team around them.

Yes, Garnett was probably easier to plug and play into numerous rosters, but at a reduced role which begs the question of building "around" him as opposed to building "with" him. And with all of that, Trae already has a much shorter road to match Nash's passing and Curry's shooting than JJJ has to match Garnett's rebounding and playmaking.

[Stillwater]

Come on.
Trae Young has already proven he is franchise player material. JJJ, while showing a lot of promise, doesn't project as a elite 1st option.

Idk about jjj becoming a first option or anything, but to actually believe Trae is a proven franchise player lowers the bar significantly from what that used to mean.
I take jjj 2 way ability and remaining upside over the odds young ever defends well enough to win

[Dacost]

If you see JJJ on a regular basis you know why his rebounds numbers are so low.

1.He plays with Jonas Valnajunas a really good rebounding big.

2.JJJ is already one of the best switching bigs in the game.Basically he spends all his time outside the paint guarding guards or 3 point shooting bigs.

3.His body is not yet develop dude is still 20.

So this whole he is not a good rebounder is bs to me.

[GeorgeMarcus]

If you see JJJ on a regular basis you know why his rebounds numbers are so low.

1.He plays with Jonas Valnajunas a really good rebounding big.

2.JJJ is already one of the best switching bigs in the game.Basically he spends all his time outside the paint guarding guards or 3 point shooting bigs.

3.His body is not yet develop dude is still 20.

So this whole he is not a good rebounder is bs to me.

I think it's fair to say rebounding isn't a noteworthy strength of his, but it isn't a noteworthy problem either. A lot of rebounding comes down to scheme.

[NO-KG-AI]

If you see JJJ on a regular basis you know why his rebounds numbers are so low.

1.He plays with Jonas Valnajunas a really good rebounding big.

2.JJJ is already one of the best switching bigs in the game.Basically he spends all his time outside the paint guarding guards or 3 point shooting bigs.

3.His body is not yet develop dude is still 20.

So this whole he is not a good rebounder is bs to me.

Eh. You can make those excuses for a ton of guys. Less than 5 rpg is Bargnani territory. Jonas Val isn’t Dennis Rodman, and plenty of top rebounders have had guys average more than 5 rpg next tothem.

[Young gun 6]

Rebounding is one of the most useless stats going around. Are Hassan Whiteside and Drummond better players because they literally camp inside the paint grabbing board after board and don’t defend anyone out on the perimeter or shoot outside of 3 feet most of the time? God no.

Brook Lopez is one of the best defending bigs in the league, Milwaukee are no.1 in the league for rebounding and he averages 4.7 a game.

Rebounding is an ok stat to look at in isolation but it is way way way down the list of useful stats when comparing players or looking at how ‘good’ an NBA player is.

JJJ is basically a 7’0 SF who can play inside and out and defend the perimeter great against guys playing 1-5.

Anyone that tries to bring him down heavily for a minor issue for only averaging 5 boards a game either hasn’t watched him play or doesn’t understand how team basketball works in the NBA.

[xfactor99]

I agree that rebounding is totally overrated. My bigger concern with Jaren is that he hasn't shown the ability to be a impact/lockdown defender or effective deterrent at the rim yet, and you can usually tell if a big man is going to be by year two. Guys who were pretty suss on D early on like Drummond or Towns never really became great defenders, whereas guys like Embiid and Gobert, you could tell really quickly that they were gonna be monsters on D.

[Buzzard]

Anyone that tries to bring him down heavily for a minor issue for only averaging 5 boards a game either hasn’t watched him play or doesn’t understand how team basketball works in the NBA.

Its only useless if he is surrounded by other great rebounding players. I have already posted this once; there have only been two champions in the past 25 years that were not in the top ten in rebounding; and those two were at least in the top 15. So yes, you can have a weak rebounding PF, but you better have some really good ones at your other positions. Just as Trae needs a couple of solid defenders playing with him, JJJ is going to have to have some excellent rebounders next to him.

Every player has a weakness. Its obvious what Trae's is; and its just as obvious rebounding is one of JJJ's.

[YouthMovement]

I’ll say it again...the trae young hate is something else.

Kid’s a stud.

[tmorgan]

I'm really looking forward to watching JJJ (and Trae, for that matter) develop further, but those that are taking Jackson Jr. over Trae, based on what we know right now, are pretty crazy in my opinion.

Jackson is a foul machine, soft on the boards, and super streaky. He'd be the Pistons best player, don't get me wrong (we suck!), but he's got a LOT to work on to live up to all this hype I'm reading in this thread.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Anyone that tries to bring him down heavily for a minor issue for only averaging 5 boards a game either hasn’t watched him play or doesn’t understand how team basketball works in the NBA.

Its only useless if he is surrounded by other great rebounding players. I have already posted this once; there have only been two champions in the past 25 years that were not in the top ten in rebounding; and those two were at least in the top 15. So yes, you can have a weak rebounding PF, but you better have some really good ones at your other positions. Just as Trae needs a couple of solid defenders playing with him, JJJ is going to have to have some excellent rebounders next to him.

Every player has a weakness. Its obvious what Trae's is; and its just as obvious rebounding is one of JJJ's.

Averaging a low number of rebounds doesn't make you a poor rebounder. It all depends on the defensive schemes the team uses.

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

[Buzzard]

Anyone that tries to bring him down heavily for a minor issue for only averaging 5 boards a game either hasn’t watched him play or doesn’t understand how team basketball works in the NBA.

Its only useless if he is surrounded by other great rebounding players. I have already posted this once; there have only been two champions in the past 25 years that were not in the top ten in rebounding; and those two were at least in the top 15. So yes, you can have a weak rebounding PF, but you better have some really good ones at your other positions. Just as Trae needs a couple of solid defenders playing with him, JJJ is going to have to have some excellent rebounders next to him.

Every player has a weakness. Its obvious what Trae's is; and its just as obvious rebounding is one of JJJ's.

Averaging a low number of rebounds doesn't make you a poor rebounder. It all depends on the defensive schemes the team uses.

Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

It is a team game but my point rings true. Most championship caliber teams are also championship caliber rebounding teams. Some of the starters at Memphis need to be really good at it.

[UcanUwill]

I just want to brag how my 3 favorite players by far in that draft was JJJ, Luka and Trae. Feeling good man.

[The-Power]

Its only useless if he is surrounded by other great rebounding players. I have already posted this once; there have only been two champions in the past 25 years that were not in the top ten in rebounding;

Good thing Memphis is a top 10 defensive rebounding team. Already, with 20 y/o JJJ. The notion that you need to grab a certain amount of rebounds or you're a poor rebounder is so antiquated. It's also lazy analysis. If you want to make the case for JJJ as a poor rebounder, look at rebounding performance at the team level. Does JJJ's presence hurt the team's rebounding? This year, there's no indication of that.

I couldn't care less if the big grabs the rebound as long as he's doing his job boxing out and taking the board when needed. Brook Lopez has always been ridiculed for his rebounding numbers but he actually has a positive impact on his team's rebounding. This is not to say that JJJ cannot or should not improve in this area. I think he has to improve as a rebounder down the road. But this has nothing to do with the number of boards he pulls down; he can be a positive defensive rebounder and never even come close to double-digit individual rebounding averages.