Jaren Jackson Jr. is one of the reasons why the Memphis Grizzlies have done so great this season, but his struggle from the 3-point line is a concern.
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Even though the Memphis Grizzlies have one of the deepest line-ups in the NBA, Jaren Jackson Jr. has been vital in what they have been able to accomplish this season.
He’s not a traditional NBA center but a stretch 5 who has one of the best shooting hands among the bigs in the NBA. This season though, he has struggled to deliver it with the accuracy with which he’s done in two seasons where he played a considerable number of games.
He’s shooting 32% this year while he shot only 28% in the last one but played just 11-games. In his first two seasons, JJJ shot 38 from downtown and 48% from the field, the latter has also come down to 40 this season.
His defensive game though has taken a massive turn, the man has had more blocks than anybody else in the league this season. But it looks like he’s on a Draymond Green-like curve in his career.
Jaren Jackson Jr. idolizes Draymond Green, like completely, even his weakness is showing in Grizzlies’ big man’s game
Any Warriors fan reading this, don’t get angry, calm down, we are just talking about the 3-point shooting decline here. The Grizzlies forward has openly admitted that he idolizes Green’s game. He watches the 2017 DPOY’s game a lot and even watches his podcast to better understand the point forward’s approach to a game.
Watching this jjj interview and he says he watches draymond green a lot. He even watches his podcast to hear what he says cause he’s the best defender… interesting
— 🏀 (@onlynbalove) April 28, 2022
Well, clearly that has resulted in him becoming one of the best post defenders in the league, maybe the best, as he is the blocks’ leader of 2022 a will probably get his first All-NBA defense team honors.
But an NBA Redditor’s post made us notice that the 22-year-old might unknowingly be going down the same path the Warriors’ 32-year-old did, with his shooting. He was quite a decent shooter at the beginning of his career even shooting 39% in the 2015-16 season.
But 2-NBA titles and a DPOY award later Green had a significant drop as a 3-point shooter while becoming a playmaking as well as a defensive genius.
If JJJ can become only the latter of the two even if costs him his shooting, he’ll certainly be a much more valuable player for his team than he is currently.
