Josh Jackson appears to be a star in the making
Speaking of stars, Josh Jackson appears to be a star in the making himself.
Oft compared to Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler by Suns television color analyst Eddie Johnson, Jackson’s season opened up a little slowly, only to have turned completely around in the second half of the year, catapulting him into the All-Rookie First Team conversation.
In the calendar year 2017, over his first 38 games, Jackson showed signs of scoring ability reaching double-digits 16 times and 20 points once. However, he averaged a measly 9.0 points per game over that stretch, with 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists. His shooting was particularly pathetic at 37.8% from the field, 23.9% from beyond the arc, and only 56.4% from the free throw line.
Hardly anything to get excited about from a fourth overall draft selection.
Since the calendar turned to January however, and following a planned benching by Head Coach Jay Triano as well as a significant uptick in video watching, Jackson appears to have taken a large step towards stardom.
Since January 3, Jackson has reached double-digit scoring 27 times including twelve 20+ scoring games.
But he has not suddenly become a volume scorer. On the contrary, his shooting percentages have all risen across the board: 44.4% from the field, 27.7% from 3, and 67.4% from the charity stripe. But not only has his scoring been higher at 16.2 points per game, but his rebounding (5.6) and assists (1.9) too are up.
In fact, if his 2018 averages were his full season averages, his scoring would be second among rookies behind only Donovan Mitchell‘s 20.3, his rebounds per game would be tied for sixth overall, and his 1.0 steals per game would be a virtual tie for fourth best.
Jackson is probably still 2-3 years away from really taking off Devin Booker-style, but should his 2018 stats carry over into next season, and even grow, then just knowing that throughout all this losing his play was slowly developing alone almost makes the final record entirely worth it.