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Phoenix Suns: Josh Jackson looks like a top-5 rookie

By Gerald Bourguet

Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images /
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After a horrid start to his first NBA season, Phoenix Suns rookie Josh Jackson looks like a top-five draft selection and crucial part of The Timeline alongside Devin Booker.

Heading into the 2017-18 NBA season, the Phoenix Suns only had one good thing going for them: Devin Booker. Even in the case of their phenom shooting guard who wouldn’t turn 21 until the seventh game of the season, it took a still-developing career year to cement him as a sure thing to the doubters within the fanbase and the outside NBA community.

Dragan Bender was untapped defensive potential at 7’1″, but also a raw, injured teenager who missed half his rookie season. Marquese Chriss was unbridled athleticism and upside, but a poor rebounder and an even worse defender. Eric Bledsoe was an overlooked star, but one who was injury-prone and felt like the team’s most tradable piece before his infamous “I dont wanna be here” tweet.

That left Booker and Josh Jackson, Phoenix’s most recent youngster thrown on top of a pile of unrealized potential. As the No. 4 pick in the draft, the Suns got their man out of Kansas when Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball and Jayson Tatum were the first three players off the board.

While Booker represented a go-to scorer and face of the franchise, Jackson was expected to be the stifling defender and secondary offensive option who could attack the basket, make up for Booker’s defensive shortcomings and hopefully one day, develop a respectable outside jump shot.

He was supposed to be the second franchise pillar for The Timeline.

For the first two and a half months of the season, he looked more like a draft bust, especially with Tatum — the wing selected right before Jackson — thriving on the No. 1 team in the East.

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In those early months, Jackson put up 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.3 blocks and 1.7 turnovers in 21.6 minutes per game on atrocious .378/.239/.564 shooting splits — numbers that screamed “raw,” “draft bust” and “project,” depending on one’s level of optimism.

Meanwhile, Tatum was turning heads while starting for the best team in the East, averaging 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks in 31.1 minutes per game on .508/.471/.824 shooting splits to conjure up early Rookie of the Year buzz.

It was easy to wonder if the Suns should’ve targeted Tatum all along. He always figured to be the more NBA-ready prospect between the two wings, but the immense gap between them was a shock to both fanbases.

Jackson and Tatum are likely to be linked and compared throughout their careers, not only as the best wing prospects from their draft class who went one right after the other, but also because of Jackson’s cancelled workout with the Celtics, which all but assured they would select their guy in Tatum.

Once again, it appeared as though general manager Danny Ainge had swindled his former protege, Ryan McDonough. The Suns just couldn’t have nice things, and by December, Devin Booker’s ascension to stardom figured to be the only silver lining in yet another tanking season.

Fortunately, a funny thing happened in 2018: Josh Jackson finally started looking like a top-five draft pick.

In 23 games since the calendar flipped, the 21-year-old rookie is averaging 16.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. Despite upping his minutes to 27.5 per game in that time, he’s decreased his turnovers from 1.7 per game in 2017 to 1.6 per game in 2018. He ranks third among all rookies in scoring, seventh in rebounding and 11th in blocks since the new year began.

Jackson is also shooting 44.6 percent from the floor, and though his 29.6 percent shooting from long range isn’t anything to be proud of, it is an improvement compared to the first two and a half months of the season.

"“He’s got more energy than anybody,” interim head coach Jay Triano said. “He’s just able to attack. I think he’s starting to be where he’s supposed to be defensively more times than not, and that’s a positive. His ability to play in the open court gives us a chance to run in transition.”"

As for Tatum? Though he serves a completely different role on a vastly more competitive team, it appears as though he’s run into the dreaded rookie wall.

On the season, Jackson is now averaging 11.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.5 blocks per game on .411/.266/.624 shooting splits. Those numbers hardly scream “future superstar,” and they certainly don’t compare to Tatum’s averages.

However, despite such a horrid start, Jackson ranks seventh among all rookies in scoring, 10th in rebounds, 27th in assists, 16th in steals and 19th in blocks on the season, and he’s only getting better.

Triano believes the game is slowing down for him thanks to an uptick in minutes. The addition of a pass-first point guard in Elfrid Payton certainly doesn’t hurt either.

"“I think just the minutes, and he’s starting to figure out when he can core and when to back cut,” he said. “And I think that will improve as he plays with a guy that he becomes more familiar with [in Elfrid Payton].”"

Since the start of the new year, Jackson’s 10 20-point games trail only Donovan Mitchell (15) in that category, and his 11 20-point games on the season puts him in some rarified air among Suns rookies.

He’s set a new career high in scoring three times in the last two months, including a 29-point, seven-rebound, four-assist, two-block, two-steal performance in Phoenix’s most recent game, a win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

To be clear, Jackson isn’t a star just yet. He’s still prone to reckless, overconfident drives to the basket, out of control turnovers, spotty help defense and ill-advised step-back jumpers. He’s not a good shooter yet either, even if he’s making progress in that area.

However, in a season where seemingly everything has gone wrong, Jackson’s individual progress is promising. Though it was only against the lowly Grizzlies, watching Jackson and Booker (34 points) dice up the opposing defense and lead the Phoenix to victory is what will hopefully become a regular sight for Suns fans.

It wasn’t just the team’s most recent game providing that kind of glimpse though. Jackson put up 20 points and 12 boards in a competitive loss to the New Orleans Pelicans two days before that, teaming up with Booker’s incredible 40-10-7 line.

Jackson also had 22 points and seven rebounds in a loss to the Utah Jazz the week prior, complementing 28 points from Book.

Then there was his 20-7-5-4 line in a competitive loss to the Denver Nuggets that came without Booker on the floor, not to mention his former career-high performance with 23 points against the Charlotte Hornets — and those are just the February games.

For a franchise that seemingly hasn’t had anything nice since Steve Nash left town, Jackson’s ugly start prompted immediate concerns.

His complete turnaround has not only reaffirmed his draft standing and put those worries to bed, but it’s also breathed life back into the dream that he could be the best wing — or even the best overall player — from this loaded 2017 NBA Draft class.

It should be noted that despite Jackson’s individual progress, the team is as bad as it’s been all season. Phoenix had to beat Memphis on Wednesday to snap a 10-game losing streak and avoid the first winless month in franchise history. Since the start of 2018, the Suns are 5-20, and they’re smack dab in the middle of the league’s most epic tank race in years.

With that being said, considering the youth, nagging injuries and inexperience of this team, it’s promising to see Jackson not only come into his own and let the game come to him, but also learn how to complement Booker on both ends of the floor.

Next: 2017-18 Week 20 NBA Power Rankings

Watching the two laugh on the sidelines during the waning moments of Phoenix’s first win in almost a month, it was hard to view Jackson’s career night as anything less than his confirmation as the second pillar in The Timeline. If the 2018 NBA Draft can provide a third, the Suns may finally be back in business.

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