Phoenix Suns wing Josh Jackson struggled in his rookie season, but his skillset brings to mind that of NBA veteran and former All-Star Andre Iguodala.
There’s this thing Lakers fans on Twitter love to do. They’ll point to Lonzo Ball‘s historically bad shooting numbers (36.0 percent from the field, 30.5 percent from three, 45.1 percent from the foul line) and compare them to Jason Kidd‘s rookie numbers, which were also poor.
By entirely broken logic, these Lonzo stans believe that since Kidd turned into a good shooter, Ball has to as well. Can he improve? Sure. Is it likely? Not at all. So I’m not going to do that thing with Josh Jackson.
Jackson’s upside seems to be a poor man’s Andre Iguodala. And that’s nothing to scoff at. Iguodala’s often thought of as just a bench player on the Warriors, but his resume is actually extremely impressive.
He’s a three time NBA champion, a Finals MVP, an All-Star, an Olympic Gold Medalist, a FIBA Gold Medalist, and a two time All-NBA defender. He was named to the All-Rookie First Team after being drafted ninth in 2004. He’s top 100 all time in Win Shares. And while he can’t seem to find his range these days, he shot 39.4 percent from three in 2011-12.
Jackson will probably never put up that kind of resume, defend quite that well, or shoot the three at such a high clip. Hence the comparison being a poor man’s Iggy. But their skillsets are very similar.
Jackson has the potential to be a well above average NBA defender. He also may be able to find a shot some day. He converted the three at 37.8 percent in college, but based on his inconsistent form, it’s not all that surprising his transition to the NBA’s further three point line wasn’t a smooth one. With more experience, Jackson figures to get his 26.3 percent up to around the mid 30s.
Both guys are tremendous athletes with the capacity for highlight reel dunks. Both are average ball handlers who, given some space, are able to get to the hole and finish.
Iguodala was never good enough to get it done as the Sixers’ best player and main scorer. In an ideal situation, he’s the third or fourth best player on a team. In an unfair situation resulting from Kevin Durant joining up with the 73 win team that just came back from a 3-1 series deficit to knock his team out of the playoffs, he’s a sixth man backing up five other All-Stars.
Jackson does have the potential to be a back end starter on a competitive team. His defense will improve. His shooting has to improve. Better teammates will bring a significant improvement in efficiency as a result of higher quality looks and less forced shots. Hopefully, Jackson can get comfortable in his role this season.
But there is no guarantee. Jackson needs to put in the work, and the Phoenix Suns need to put him in the right situation. Unfortunately, their moves this offseason haven’t done much to make Jackson’s life easier.
To play his best, Jackson needs a creator and two other scorers on the floor. That leaves a lot of uncertainty this season. Maybe Brandon Knight can be the creator. Maybe Deandre Ayton can be the second scorer alongside Devin Booker. But none of that is necessarily likely.
Unfortunately, with Jackson’s style of play and the current state of the Suns’ roster, we might not get a chance to see him find a niche this season. The worst case scenario isn’t Jackson not succeeding, it’s the Suns giving up on him and then him succeeding somewhere else. Due to the abundance of wings on the roster, that’s definitely not out of the question.
But if Josh Jackson isn’t asked to do more than he’s capable of, he has a legitimate role on the Phoenix Suns. He can be the team’s best perimeter defender and an auxiliary scoring option. His floor is as low as an energizer off the bench, but his ceiling is as high as a lite version of Andre Iguodala.