Sometimes you have to make qualitative assessments. If you watch him play and you don’t see the talent then there’s no point in trying to convince you. Players his size rarely move like him or have ball skills like he has.
2023 NBA Draft Megathread
- Thread starter Ferguson_Mellochill
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If self-creating means bricking a ton of shots then he might be the best self-creator in the draft.
Dude GG Jackson is 6'9 215 pounds. He can self create and score at all 3 levels. Yes his defense currently is not great but with his body type and size he has potential to be a great defender if he puts in the work. Is he a polished finished product? Absolutely not. But guys with his size and skills don't usually fall past the top 5. GG's bust potential is there no doubt. But I don't want to play it safe in the draft anymore. I don't want to take nice role players like a Grady Dick or Cason Wallace. Let's shoot for the stars. If GG busts will it set the Jazz back? Yup it will. But if he hits you have a player who can become one of the top wing players in the NBA. That's kind of important right now in today's league. Stop settling on safe prospects that don't move the needle. Go big or go home. If GG Jackson is there at 9 you happily take him and don't look back.
One simple exercise y'all can do is look at players who were drafted their Sophomore/Junior/Senior seasons. Not every great player in the history of the NBA was a good player their Freshman seasons.
What if Donovan Mitchell went to South Carolina and tried to be a first option his Freshman year? What would have happened? Do you think that scenario completely changes his future and prevents him from developing further? I would say no. Part of this game is projecting off **** that isn't clear.
So yeah, you can be completely married to college production for your projections, but that isnt going to get you 100% accurate results (nothing will to be clear). You have to look past a lot with GG, and I get why that's hard. The dude played like a moron at South Carolina. The team was very bad, but he could have done more to make his teammates better. He just isnt there yet. IDK if he will ever be TBH, but I see the talent for scoring and defense and it's enough to bet on because I don't really see that level of talent anywhere outside the top 5 or so prospects
What if Donovan Mitchell went to South Carolina and tried to be a first option his Freshman year? What would have happened? Do you think that scenario completely changes his future and prevents him from developing further? I would say no. Part of this game is projecting off **** that isn't clear.
So yeah, you can be completely married to college production for your projections, but that isnt going to get you 100% accurate results (nothing will to be clear). You have to look past a lot with GG, and I get why that's hard. The dude played like a moron at South Carolina. The team was very bad, but he could have done more to make his teammates better. He just isnt there yet. IDK if he will ever be TBH, but I see the talent for scoring and defense and it's enough to bet on because I don't really see that level of talent anywhere outside the top 5 or so prospects
I don’t see the obvious skill. Or at least skills that are not once removed from actual production.
Like you can say he’s good at creating his own shot? But that is useless if you are creating awful offense. His ballhandling is good….but again one of the worst passers in the draft and also doesn’t get to the rim well. What does it amount to? Nothing at all really. Physical tools good (kinda) but completely awful at things those physical tools are supposed to help you with (finishing around the rim, defense, rebounding, stocks).
If GG makes it in the NBA, I think it will be as a spot up shooter/guy who attacks closeouts. But he’s also not a great shooter, and he has to make major developments outside of scoring related things to be NBA level. When you look at guys who really hit later on in the draft, they are almost never of this archetype (the guy who has “talent” but stunk it up). When these guys do make it, it’s as a role player. There are for more guys who become stars that ironically fell because people thought they had low potential. I really do think we have this talent/potential thing a little backwards….or that it’s very easy to miss on.
And to add to this, remember GG's Freshman year age is the typical prospect senior year of HS, hell junior year for some of these dudes.
This is really the best point you can make about GG. He’s super young which is intriguing for sure.
If the Jazz don't draft GG then I suspect Dallas will. The Danny Ainge mindset is not draft super do it all scrubs like Black. He wants scorers usually even flawed ones. Brown has some bad numbers in college but he went with him. If for Black we are going to put in a lot of effort to get him to shoot then Ainge would probably think why not do that kind of effort for GG instead?
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I don't like GG, and really hope we don't draft him 9. I think the end of the lottery is when teams start to reach for potential, and end up drafting busts more often than not.
That said, I think this post is why GG would be in the conversation for me at 16 if he is still there. I understand he might not be there.
The overwhelming majority of players who suck their freshman year do make the incredible improvements needed to make it in the NBA. You know about the ones who do, but you don’t consider the overwhelming majority of freshman players who aren’t good and also don’t improve enough to be NBA players. Exceptions are exceptions for a reason.
GG is the same age as as Miller when he was a junior or whatever. Ok…well it would be an insane, incredible development to get to Miller’s level as a college player two years from now. And it’s not just Miller who he would need massive improvements to get to the same level. He would need massive improvements to get to Hendricks level, or Dick, Brice, Jett etc. These improvements do happen sometimes, but not often.
If GG had a ready made skill the NBA that could get him on the court I’d feel differently. Maybe his spot up shooting is that thing, but his defense was also downright horrendous and nowhere near NBA level.
And if you want exceptional talent sometimes you have to make some exceptions happen.
Reads like something you find on a suburban mom's coffee mug.
If you're drafting GG in attempt to get a star, you're betting on exceptions piled upon more and more exceptions. Better bets out there to become stars.