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Jay Jackson's Draft Day

By Seth C

It's NBA Draft day and the only Red Raider who has the potential to be picked, barring an absolutely joyous occasion where Daryl Dora and Jon Plefka are drafted, is Jay Jackson. LAJ's Jeff Walker has an article on Jackson and his prospects of being drafted. Jackson has worked out for the Wizards, the Heat, the Trailblazers, the Rockets and the Warriors:

"They were all pretty much the same but some of them were different," Jackson said Wednesday after he arrived back home in Louisiana. "There were shooting drills and drills to see you move without the ball. Then, we did some 1-on-1 and 2-on-2 before ending with some more shooting drills."

From most of the mock drafts I've perused Jackson's name isn't mentioned in either first two rounds and from reading Walker's article, Jackson understands that it is what it is.

"If I get taken in the second round, I hope it's a good fit, but I've still got to make the team," Jackson said. "If I go undrafted, then I'll look at everyone and see where I fit with the best chance of making a roster."

According to DraftExpress, Jackson did not perform up to Jackson's lofty standards at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Jackson's workouts in Portsmouth weren't necessarily bad, but he didn't really show the scouts the range of his game.

Jarrius Jackson had a very quiet game for his standards, not taking many shots and often just going through the motions on the offensive end. It wasn't as if he was trying to prove he can be a point guard either, as he wasn't the primary ball-handler or trying to create for teammates; he just wasn't really consistently assertive as he is on Texas Tech.

The folks at DraftExpress do give credit to Jackson for not trying to do too much, which I would imagine that a number of draft hopefuls do when playing in these types of tournaments, but the point of course is to separate yourself from the rest of the crowd.

The Portsmouth tournament was in early April and Jackson worked out again in late May in the Mid-West Workouts where according to DraftExpress he had a much better showing.

Jackson is a bit of a forgotten name these days despite having a stellar four year career at Texas Tech, mostly because of the poor showing he had at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Watching him in this setting reminds you of the many things he does well when you aren't trying to evaluate him as a pure point guard.

Jackson looked fairly decent in the drills for the most part, particularly shooting the ball, but once the competitive things kicked off, he really shined. He was the best player in the one on one games, using his body extremely well and hitting some extremely difficult shots with a hand in his face. That probably isn't really a shock considering he shot 44% from behind the arc this season, despite the intense defenses he drew. He also used the threat of his shot to keep his man off balance and either punish him from mid-range with a pull-up jumper, or slash into the paint and finish with a tear drop.

The bottom line is that it's great that Jackson is even being considered as one of the 60 most talented players eligible to be drafted. I think that Jackson's best shot to get to the NBA is to head overseas where I think he'll be able to hone his game and make himself a real commodity to NBA teams. Plus, I would think that playing overseas will allow him to make more coin than he would if he were to play for the NBDL.

I wish Jay luck tonight we're all pulling for you.

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