Detroit Pistons: Why Josh Jackson’s offensive outburst is sustainable

The Detroit Pistons have found a delightful surprise in former No. 4 draft pick Josh Jackson. Here’s why his offensive outburst is sustainable.

Hard work pays off. It’s beginning to look like that’s the moral of the story for Josh Jackson, freshly signed by his hometown team, the Detroit Pistons.

Jackson was the fourth overall pick by the Phoenix Suns in the 2017 NBA draft, a class that contains plenty of stars like Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, and a handful of solid role players like Lonzo Ball, Jarrett Allen and OG Anunoby.

When the Suns selected him, they had reason to believe that he’d at least end up in the latter category, and high hopes that he might end up in the former. It turns out that was simply not meant to be and thanks to woefully unimpressive on-court play and poor off-court behavior, the Suns essentially dumped him to the Memphis Grizzlies after his second season.

The Grizzlies assigned him to their G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle, to start the 2019-20 campaign, and it seems like that might have been the jolt the young man needed. He was second on the team in scoring, averaging 20.4 points to go with 7.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.

Jackson played well enough in the G League to earn a call-up to the Grizzlies in January and he finished out the season with them, even joining them in the NBA bubble in Orlando. He entered free agency in the offseason and was quickly snapped up by the Detroit Pistons at a bargain rate for a top-4 pick going into just his fourth season.

While some of his compatriots like Tatum, Mitchell and Adabayo signed max extensions this offseason, Jackson signed a two-year, $9.8 million deal to basically make good and work his way back into the NBA’s good graces.

So far, so good.

Jackson earned his way into the heart of the Pistons rotation with a strong preseason, and he’s made it virtually impossible for head coach Dwane Casey to keep him off the floor. He has started the last two games at shooting guard, and that looks like his position from this point forward if his production continues as it has so far.

In four games he’s averaging 17.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks in 26.3 minutes with an effective field goal percentage of 56.6. It’s only been four games, but he’s blowing away his best numbers in each of these categories, and there’s reason to believe that this production is not only sustainable but could increase with expanded opportunities and responsibilities.