Summer League Game 6: Kings vs. Suns

[The_Jamal]

Also the Cooley "ANNNNDD ONEEE" scream play was awesome. Love watching dudes who really can't hold a candle to everyone else's athleticism, but he just outworks and outmuscles everyone to make the play.

 

[Blob]

THERE it is.

I've been trying to think of a comp for him the last few days on what his ceiling might be and this one is as solid as any. Seems like he's comfortable in any role on offense and I haven't seen anything in his game yet where I'm like "Ok, so he doesn't have ___ ability yet." Looks comfortable both spot-up shooting or playing on-ball as a playmaker. Good handle, gets up the floor well and pushes the break. Looks fluid on the floor like he knows where to be; no "chicken with the head cut off" syndrome. Several "right" passes where he found the open man for a good look. Floater looks absolutely lethal and I like his quick release on spot-up 3s. Defense is so hard to evaluate in SL because no one really has any defensive sets or coaching or familiarity with their teammates to make a well-reasoned assumption, so I'll leave that alone.

Otto Porter is my comp for Justin Jackson but I can go with Batum too. Defensively Jackson plays angles and slides his feet but can be overpowered. What he has going for him is a scoring mindset. He doesn't waste time looking or getting his shot. He curls off screens. He goes right and left with one dribble or two. He doesn't draw contact when he gets D at disadvantage. He floats it up instead of drawing fouls. The floater can be double edged sword. You have the D to the side or not set in front of you. If you exploit this you get the free throws. If you toss it up on the move it is a 40% FG attempt for someone skilled at it. My point is the floater it is a lovely shot to have in your repertoire, but as Jackson game evolves, he will want to look for opportunity to get to the free throw line (like Malachi does instinctively) to improve upon his scoring efficiency. If you think about the perfect scorer, say Kevin Durant as the closest model, he settles for the floater only when the D is relatively set in front of him. Let me see if I can quantify this:

• Justin Jackson FTA per 40 minutes in college as a Junior was 4.1 FTA.
• Kawhi Leonard FTA per 40 minutes in college as a Freshman was 6.5 FTA
• Kevin Durant FTA per 40 minutes in college as a Freshman was 8.2 FTA.

Now perhaps it's not fair to compare him to the best in the world but these stats make my case, 50% to 100% less FTs for a player with two years more college experience. So in addition to improving on three ball like Jackson did from sophomore to junior year from 29% to 37% he needs to improve on getting to line to be potent scoring force with good effeciency. To be an elite scorer in the NBA or just a microwave player off the bench you have to get share of easy points as all the best scorers in the league exemplify.

 

[pshn80]

Otto Porter is my comp for Justin Jackson but I can go with Batum too. Defensively Jackson plays angles and slides his feet but can be overpowered. What he has going for him is a scoring mindset. He doesn't waste time looking or getting his shot. He curls off screens. He goes right and left with one dribble or two. He doesn't draw contact when he gets D at disadvantage. He floats it up instead of drawing fouls. The floater can be double edged sword. You have the D to the side or not set in front of you. If you exploit this you get the free throws. If you toss it up on the move it is a 40% FG attempt for someone skilled at it. My point is the floater it is a lovely shot to have in your repertoire, but as Jackson game evolves, he will want to look for opportunity to get to the free throw line (like Malachi does instinctively) to improve upon his scoring efficiency. If you think about the perfect scorer, say Kevin Durant as the closest model, he settles for the floater only when the D is relatively set in front of him. Let me see if I can quantify this:

• Justin Jackson FTA per 40 minutes in college as a Junior was 4.1 FTA.
• Kawhi Leonard FTA per 40 minutes in college as a Freshman was 6.5 FTA
• Kevin Durant FTA per 40 minutes in college as a Freshman was 8.2 FTA.

Now perhaps it's not fair to compare him to the best in the world but these stats make my case, 50% to 100% less FTs for a player with two years more college experience. So in addition to improving on three ball like Jackson did from sophomore to junior year from 29% to 37% he needs to improve on getting to line to be potent scoring force with good effeciency. To be an elite scorer in the NBA or just a microwave player off the bench you have to get share of easy points as all the best scorers in the league exemplify.

If you are fouled when shooting and you make the shot you get 1 FTA. If you don't make the shot you get 2 FTAs. Maybe JJ makes more of these shots and gets half as many FTAs.

 

[VF21]

I caught this game on the replay (recorded it in the middle of the night) and was glad I did.

I am more and more impressed with Justin Jackson, who just seems to get it. I loved seeing the kids come back and fight for the win, although I will be honest and admit if they hadn't I most likely wouldn't have watched the whole game.

We're gonna have fun this year.

 

[bajaden]

I'm very impressed with Jackson. Spent one game just watching him. Very smart player that knows how to slide to the open spot on the floor. Knows when his man turns his head for a sec. He has better lateral quickness than I thought. He does a good job of staying in front of his man. Dennis Smith made a couple of shots on him, but he was very well guarded. That was a good player making a tough shot. About the only thing Jackson could have done to stop him was tackle him. Jackson also has very good handles. If he can add about 15 pounds of muscle, the Kings might have their SF of the future. Very impressed.

It's a shame that Fox tweaked his ankle again against Smith. That was going to be a great match up. But that's a duel we'll see many times in the future. Speaking of Smith. If he can continue to play like that, he's going to be an excellent player. He and Fox are the quickest players in this draft. As I said, I never doubted Smith's ability, just his attitude. It was reported here that he didn't get along with his coach. While I guess you could use that as an excuse, I don't think it's a good one. However, I'm willing to chalk it up to immaturity. We will see. He's exciting to watch.

Skal was a disappointment. He was trying too hard to fit into the offense. Not a bad idea, but it is if it stifles your aggressiveness, and that's what appeared to happen. At least I hope so. I have to say that to some degree summer league was a little disappointing with a lot of the main players I wanted to see go down with injuries. But I had a great time with the Capt, Uncia03, and for a brief moment, Cruzdude, who had a rather bad experience. I don't know if he's related it here or not, and if not, I'll leave it to him to decide if he wants to tell his story.

I thought Sampson made a case for a training camp invite. He's a very good athlete, with a physical style of play. His shot has improved. I'd say he's at least in the running for a two way contract. I see the Lakers quickly signed Caruso to a two way contract. Ball's whatever injury gave him a chance to show off his tool box. He was outstanding in that game against us. Naturally! As I already posted, Ball was just horrible in his first game. Better in his second, although the Celtics defense in that game was terrible. His third game was very very good.

However, right now he's not a good defender, and I'm being kind when I say it that way. The delivery on his shot is a big problem in traffic, which means he doesn't have much of a mid-range game. His 3 pt shot is also suspect. Everyone goes under the pick on him, and they don't guard him very closely on the perimeter. His end to end speed is a little better than I thought, and in transition, he's outstanding. It's his halfcourt game that I would worry about. So he has some holes in his game, but most are correctable. I think he's going to be a very good PG in the league. I wouldn't put him in the HOF just yet though.