Miami Heat: 5 storylines to watch in the 2017 NBA Draft Combine

2. Is Justin Jackson’s shooting for real?

North Carolina’s small forward is one of the draft’s fastest-rising prospects.

From mid-second round to late lottery on DX’s mock-ups, no one has helped themselves more in 2016-17 than Justin Jackson.

Miami Heat

He’s got great size for a 3 (reportedly 6-foot-8) and can score from anywhere. Jackson’s great in transition, can get to the basket despite semi-questionable ball handling, and can finish in traffic. His stock has risen most, though, thanks to his improvements from three.

After shooting sub-30 percent from deep as a freshman and sophomore, he improved that mark to 37 percent as a junior.

Two porous years and one good one from beyond the arc. Is that enough to accept Jackson being a capable three-point shooter as an absolute? Probably not.

What’s more, in postseason play (in both the ACC and NCAA Tournament), he regressed back to hitting 31.7 percent of his threes. As the competition got tougher, he was still able to average over 18 points per game, but his three-point prowess wilted.

That makes the combine vitally important for him. If he can prove to NBA teams that he can really shoot it, he’ll go in the lottery; if he doesn’t, he may fall back to the 20s.

Early on, he’s apparently been impressive.

Take it for what it’s worth, but currently, DX has Jackson going to Miami at No. 14, giving us even more reason to watch him closely over the next few days. He would give the Heat size on the wing, scoring and defense so yes, I’d be very much okay with that coming to fruition.

As long as his three-point shooting is real.