Orlando Magic: 3 reasons Justin Jackson was a bad pick

1. Injury history

Jackson appeared in only 11 games for Maryland during his sophomore season, with a shoulder injury and subsequent surgery shutting him down at the turn of the calendar year.

There have been plenty of players who have bounced back from all manner of injuries to have successful NBA careers, but was the upside of Jackson so enticing that the Magic just had to have him? He’s not exactly Michael Porter Jr., a potential top-five talent in the draft who slipped because of injury.

One theory is that Jackson, as well as being at least clued in defensively in college, was a nice spot-up shooter as well. The Magic’s struggles from deep have been well-documented and quite frankly, painful to watch for much of this decade. They could do with all the help they can get in this area.

But Jackson only shot an alarming 25 percent from deep when he was on the court last year — a steep plummet from 43.8 percent the year before. Compounding this poor figure is the fact he upped his 3-point attempts per game from from 3.2 to 3.6.

Clearly a shoulder injury is going to hamper a player’s ability to shoot the ball, but if we go back to the lack of opportunities a frontcourt player like Jackson will be afforded on this roster, waiting for him to find that stroke again isn’t really an option.

The team needs instant offensive juice throughout the roster, particularly with a trio of Bamba, Gordon and Isaac on the court together having the potential to be amazing defensively and downright ugly when attacking.

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Had Jackson continued on from his hugely promising freshman numbers, the argument could have been made to give him spot minutes in the rotation right away. Instead, the Orlando Magic are getting a player who will need time to get his jumper back and his body right, all while playing in a position they’re currently loaded in.