He started as a consensus 1st rounder at the end of the season (with many having him as a lottery pick) - workouts and combine must have been pretty bad. Now he seems like a consensus second rounder. It will be interesting to see how accurate these mocks are. I also wonder if they all thought this independently, or if once one said something, all of them jumped on it.
GG Jackson in second round per ESPN, Yahoo, 247 and others
- Thread starter ToddFlanders
- Start date
Not a good trajectory.
From lottery pick, to mid-first round to likely second round.
I didn't see even 2nd round in his play as a Gamecock. He's tall, that's all. There are many more talented than he.
I saw an article on The Athletic. It is anonymous scouts on top 50 prospects. It seems fair:
G.G. Jackson, 6-9 freshman forward, South Carolina. “Classic high-risk, high-reward. From a talent standpoint he could be first team all-NBA someday. He’s a jack of all trades, master of none right now. Plays with a decent motor. Doesn’t have a clear position yet. Played like a guy that was trying to make it to the NBA instead of trying to win games, but remember, he should have been a senior in high school. He went into a situation at South Carolina where he had to be the guy, and I don’t know that he was mature enough to handle it. He needs a team that will be patient with him.”
G.G. Jackson, 6-9 freshman forward, South Carolina. “Classic high-risk, high-reward. From a talent standpoint he could be first team all-NBA someday. He’s a jack of all trades, master of none right now. Plays with a decent motor. Doesn’t have a clear position yet. Played like a guy that was trying to make it to the NBA instead of trying to win games, but remember, he should have been a senior in high school. He went into a situation at South Carolina where he had to be the guy, and I don’t know that he was mature enough to handle it. He needs a team that will be patient with him.”
G.G. Jackson should have stayed in college and worked on his game.
There was a segment about him on the May 26 episode of The Woj Pod (beginning at the 25:55 mark) where they discuss GG & Teams’ viewpoint on him. Some comments:
Some Teams at end of 1st Round are trying to fall in love with him
Teams in 2nd Round think he could be there
Historically inefficient
Was not ready for college
Played on a very bad team, and, “a lot of the reason they were bad was because of him”
Could not guard
Struggled to make decisions on the floor
Played selfishly at times
Pro Day in Chicago- Not a good look, out-of-shape, said he was sick later which some were skeptical of, took bad shots & didn’t make many
Reclassified after being #1 recruit
Prob 2nd Round
Was he passing his classes? Sometimes when players are ready to go pro studying is not very important. However, I have no idea.
Makes a lot of sense. I think all of the 1st Round/Lottery talk was based on potential, not performance. He clearly has the markers of an NBA star (he has the talent and size to do anything in the pros), but it also doesn’t seem like there is any aspect of his game that is NBA ready.
If a team wants a player that likes to shoot just about every time he touches the ball, well he's your guy.
In reality, he should have stayed in high school. As good as he was physically, he just wasn't ready for college. I know that means he would not have ended up at USC, but it was a worst-case scenario for him...not being ready for college ball and being thrown onto a horrifically bad team AND being expected to carry the team.
The ideal situation for him would have been to stay another year in high school to mature and then go to a top 10 college program where his skills could really shine. That probably would have solidified him as a lottery pick.
It was a very bad decision for him to reclassify. Hopefully it didn't ruin his career.
He was freshman All-SEC and had some good games. I’d say your expectation was probably a little too high, especially with no talent around him. I don’t think our fans realize just how bad we were this year. When Haden Brown is one of your best players, you’re in trouble. Period.
He definitely should’ve gone to UNC instead of South Carolina…like so many basketball players in this state have done. Especially when so many of our fans dump on the one kid that actually chose us. Until we do something completely different, they might as well go elsewhere. I don’t blame them.
Even if they did have a scholarship for him, I don’t know if he would have seen the floor at UNC. Definitely not any meaningful time.
Unfortunately, tons of playing time at USC didn’t translate into taking his game to the next level. He’ll get a couple of years in the G-League to sort it out. Again, I do think he has the natural talent, size and athleticism - he’s just got work to do to make those things NBA-level.
Having only seen him play 5-10 games my takeaways are: he is EXTREMELY OVERRATED and was not interested in the team (and winning). His body language would have cost him his dignity had Frank Martin still been coach. In fact, I don't believe he would have finished the season under Martin. Our present coach seemed to coddle him...I have already erased the past season from my memory.
As much as I want SC basketball to succeed, I would want my son to play for Tony Bennett. I am biased. I am Virginia graduate and season ticket holder. Still, I believe Bennett is a great coach, teacher, and role model. Athletes that commit to Bennett's coaching style, become better basketball players and better men. Hopefully, Paris can have similar results at South Carolina.