Gregory “GG” Jackson II was considered the best collegiate prospect in the 2023 recruiting class. But his draft outlook doesn’t look great.
Jackson, who helped team Team USA to win a gold medal at the FIBA Americas Under-18 Championships in 2022, opted to reclassify and forego his senior year of high school, becoming the highest-rated recruit in program history for South Carolina.
He averaged 15.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, earning SEC All-Freshman honors, before declaring early entry for the 2023 NBA Draft. He is the youngest player eligible to hear his name called in this draft class.
By all accounts, an 18-year-old who performed at such a high level in the SEC would typically project as a potential lottery pick. But there are also valid reasons why Jackson may slide on the night of the draft.
Here is what one college coach told NBA reporter David Aldridge (via The Athletic):
“He’s got to have self-awareness as to what the next phase of his career is, because he did speed up the process. … mentally, was young, immature.”
NBA draft expert Jonathan Givony has more (via ESPN):
“He gives very little effort, looking very upright in his stance, not covering ground well, struggling to get over screens and looking lethargic with his reaction time, providing next to nothing as a rim-protector due to his poor 6-11 wingspan … South Carolina’s coaching staff hasn’t been able to coax much effort or physicality out of him, with his body language looking very concerning at times.”
South Carolina was outscored by a whopping 18.4 points per 100 possessions when Jackson was on the court, per CBB Analytics, but outscored opponents by 8.7 points per 100 when he was not. That swing (27.2) was the largest of any Division I men’s college basketball player to log at least 500 minutes last season.
Unfortunately, there were major concerns for Jackson on both offense and defense.
Jackson is a decent shooter for his size but offers very little efficiency. He averaged 0.70 points per offensive chance, per Stats Perform, which was the worst among all NBA prospects included in the latest aggregate mock draft provided by HoopsHype.
He can create his own shot but he shot just 31-for-119 (26.1 percent) on his jumpers off the dribble, per StatsPerform, also the worst among high-volume top prospects.
His defense wasn’t great, either. Opponents were 16-for-26 (61.5 percent) when defended by Jackson in the paint, per Stats Perform, and 18-for-28 (64.2 percent) when he was credited as the nearest defender in the restricted area. Both were near the worst among top prospects.
The pre-draft process also wasn’t kind to Jackson. Adam Finkelstein wrote about what he saw during Jackson’s Pro Day (via 247 Sports):
“GG Jackson’s workout led to some questions. Jackson looked noticeably winded less than 10 minutes in and, while the progression of his face-up skill-set was evident, the overall pace of the workout ended up being slower than most others. Given some of the questions that emerged at South Carolina this year with regard to his efficiency, body language, and overall maturity, this showing didn’t do anything to reassure NBA decision-makers.”
According to NBA Big Board director of scouting Raphael Barlowe, however, Jackson was dealing with bronchitis during the workout.
That was an unfortunate time for his illness, which provides helpful context to his performance, and the reality is that Jackson still has a ton of upside.
But the numbers don’t paint a positive picture of his outlook on draft night. Put it all together with the catch-all metric box plus-minus and Jackson (-0.5) had the lowest mark among all top prospects.
In fact, per Bart Torvik, there are only five players on record since 2008 to hear their name called on draft night after posting a negative box-plus minus during their collegiate careers. Only one was selected in the first round and only two were selected in the top 40.
We projected Jackson at No. 36 overall in our latest NBA mock draft.
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