Phoenix Suns: 3 goals for Josh Jackson in 2018-19

After an up-and-down rookie year, here are three goals for Phoenix Suns wing Josh Jackson to target in 2018-19.

Even if the 2018-19 Phoenix Suns roster didn’t offer more wings than a Buffalo Wild Wings, Josh Jackson would have plenty to prove heading into his second NBA season. Such is life for any fourth overall draft pick, but that’s especially true for one who counterbalanced every moment of promise with a reminder of how far away he still is.

In the first half of Jackson’s rookie year, he mostly looked like a bust. He forced the issue at every turn, taking ill-advised long 2s, offering little playmaking from the wing and careening to the basket with such reckless abandon that when, by some miracle he actually got there without turning it over first, he was usually swallowed up by the defense.

In the second half of his debut NBA season, however, Jackson finally slowed down, and a Suns team playing for long stretches without Devin Booker and T.J. Warren suddenly relied on him fully. Phoenix obviously didn’t win many games, but Jackson posted good individual numbers as the No. 1 or No. 2 option — even without a reputable 3-point shot or much help around him.

The question is, after a disappointing outing at NBA Summer League that tempered expectations from his strong close to the 2017-18 campaign, have Josh Jackson’s signs of life been flashes of future brilliance, or simply flashes in the pan?

With more competition for minutes than last year, a new head coach to impress and an entire fanbase in need of convincing, here are three goals Josh Jackson should target in his second year to establish himself as a franchise pillar for the Phoenix Suns.