- Joined
- Apr 2, 2004
- Posts
- 36,758
- Reaction score
- 16,525
Early on I was of the same mind about Jackson... but then I watched him and saw that his rep as a defender is more hype than substance. He has the physical tools to be good but he doesn't have the mentality at present. One of his common lapses is to run back on D with no clue of where is man is on the floor. He makes some brilliant anticipation moves but he's just as likely to gamble and get burned - as one reviewer remarked, he's either two steps ahead or two steps behind. While he doesn't get hung up on screens, he doesn't work hard at cutting his man off when he's turning the corner off the screen - he'll took along behind him and hope for a block from behind. I don't know if he can deny or not but I haven't seen him working at it - an important skill in the NBA.
Not to add to his "legend" but I get the feeling that someone like Pop could turn him into a great defender. But he needs a lot of work and I'm not sure we have the staff to make that happen. On top of that though, his off the court problems may seem minor on the surface but they are very concerning IMO. Normally I can at least understand the motivation for crossing certain lines but his actions defy reasonable explanation.