Grizzlies rookie Jaren Jackson Jr. has quickly taken to the NBA game, becoming a quality contributor to a starting lineup that’s been bludgeoning teams, especially on the defensive end.
The Grizzlies starting unit of Mike Conley, Garrett Temple, Kyle Anderson, Jackson, and Marc Gasol has a net rating of +9.7 thanks to their incredible effort on the defensive end, allowing just 91.9 points per 100 possessions. In a year where teams are putting forth record-setting offensive numbers, it’s especially impressive what Memphis has been able to do to this point of the season on that end of the floor and for Jackson to be a positive contributor is even more astounding.
Defense tends to be the area that requires the most adjustment for rookies, but the Michigan State product has come in and immediately made an impact for the league’s best defensive team, helping them to a surprising 12-7 record. On Sunday, Jackson set a new career-high with seven blocks in a 103-98 loss to the Knicks, and on Monday explained how NBA 2K19 has helped him work on his timing when going up for shots.
After recording 16 points (6-6 FGM, 4-4 3PM), 6 rebounds and a career-high 7 blocks, Jaren Jackson Jr. talks about how @NBA2K has helped him with his timing on blocks. pic.twitter.com/1tA3ZWQaet
— Alexis Morgan (@alexismorgan) November 26, 2018
Jackson isn’t the first player to note the use of NBA 2K in an effort to help them on the court, but typically we’ve heard of players (like LeBron) using it to try and figure out how their new teammates can work with them. Jackson, on the other hand, is using the realism of having to be perfect with the timing of a block in the game to help him get extra reps to mentally lock in on when to go up when he’s in a similar situation in a game.
Entering the draft, Jackson was, without a doubt, the best defensive player of the top tier of big men in the immediate and he’s proven why he had that label to this point, and is only getting better — with a little help from a video game.
