Have you ever driven a car that used a stick shift instead of an automatic, at least once before? It’s a weird feeling, but oddly similar to the awkward adjustment Josh Jackson had to go through during his first four months of his rookie season.
Stepping into his role behind T.J. Warren to begin his career, there was no ample pressure immediately on Jackson to produce, but many were expecting an instant impact from one who was considered the best two-way prospect. However, the early results were surprising in the polar opposite direction.
Not only did Jackson not look one bit like the player we saw at Kansas outside of his eye-popping athleticism, but when he received the basketball, defenses already knew one of two things was going to happen: Jackson would either chuck up a low-percentage contested shot, or dribble into traffic for a turnover.