Top Dogs: Andre Jackson, UConn PG?

[HuskyWarrior611]

I'll skip the obvious example of first half of 2022 Andre Jackson to second half of 2022 Andre Jackson since I know my audience. For another UConn-centric example Sterling Gibbs played off the ball his freshman year at Texas and then become a very good PG at Seton Hall and serviceable at UConn. Jalen Adams also played off the ball freshman year alongside Gibbs before moving to PG his sophomore year and looking much better

Jalen Adams was the #5 POINT GUARD in the country coming out of high school.

Jalen Adams, Connecticut Huskies, Point Guard

Jalen Adams is a 6-1, 170-pound Point Guard from Ashburnham, MA.

247sports.com

Sterling Gibbs was also a PG coming out of high school. These are terrible examples.



Again, name me one example of someone who was not ever a PG make a successful transition to PG in college or the pros.

Andre Jackson SG

Andre Jackson, Connecticut Huskies, Shooting Guard

Andre Jackson is a 6-6, 180-pound Shooting Guard from Albany, NY.

247sports.com

Not to mention all these examples didn’t have any tournament or NBA success. Which makes me ask what is your standard for success?

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'll skip the obvious example of first half of 2022 Andre Jackson to second half of 2022 Andre Jackson since I know my audience. For another UConn-centric example Sterling Gibbs played off the ball his freshman year at Texas and then become a very good PG at Seton Hall and serviceable at UConn. Jalen Adams also played off the ball freshman year alongside Gibbs before moving to PG his sophomore year and looking much better

I don’t even get the argument people are making. If you have a ball dominant PG he better be Kemba, Baz level. But ideally you don‘t have a ball dominant PG at all. Cole was a bit too ball dominant. Alterique was way too ball dominant. I don’t want one unless he’s the best player on the team by a big margin.

You put the ball in the hands of creative offensive players. I sure hope Newton is one. I know Andre will be one. I expect Hawkins to become one. I have high hopes for Alleyne and Diarra. Even Sanogo and Johnson at times, although they should mostly be finishers. If there is anybody on this team standing around dribbling and looking for an opening, then the offense isn’t working as intended. We aren’t running crappy ISO basketball anymore.

 

[navery12]

Jalen Adams was the #5 POINT GUARD in the country coming out of high school.

Jalen Adams, Connecticut Huskies, Point Guard

Jalen Adams is a 6-1, 170-pound Point Guard from Ashburnham, MA.

247sports.com

Sterling Gibbs was also a PG coming out of high school. These are terrible examples.



Again, name me one example of someone who was not ever a PG make a successful transition to PG in college or the pros.

Andre Jackson SG

Andre Jackson, Connecticut Huskies, Shooting Guard

Andre Jackson is a 6-6, 180-pound Shooting Guard from Albany, NY.

247sports.com

Not to mention all these examples didn’t have any tournament or NBA success. Which makes me ask what is your standard for success?

We're talking about someone successfully playing the PG position, so that's how I define success is a player having individual success. In any event, I figured start of the season was time to clean up the ignore list and take everyone off. Took a whole 2 days to remember why you were on ignore, it's hard to keep up with the moving goalposts and disingenuous arguments when talking to you. All good though, won't cloud up the board with anymore back and forth, back on the list you go

Also, since you've decided 247 recruiting profiles are the deciding factor on what a guy's position was and not where he played freshman year, this guy turned into a pretty good PG for us

 

[gtcam]

It won't. He's going to let Sanogo handle the ball and attack off the dribble, and take 3's. Because Adama has to show that. But it won't be most of what he does. He has to let Andre show his PG skills. Not full time, but scouts need to see enough to project him. Hawk has to show what he needs to show, but we aren't worried about it because it's what we need. Newton was talked about for the NBA too, so yeah, he's got to show his skills as well. What Andre really needs is to show his ball handling and passing is more controlled, better game and situational awareness, so we can expect he will focus on that.

It's not new. Calhoun did it and let Freeman go outside as a senior when it wasn't really what the team needed from him.

The experimenting should be limited to the lesser opponents at first
I'm not at all sold on AJ being the point guard
I thought that according to many Newton is the next super PG at UConn?
My thoughts are that, while not a PG, Diarra might be the best xfer

 

[bigknight3]

Jalen Adams was the #5 POINT GUARD in the country coming out of high school.

Jalen Adams, Connecticut Huskies, Point Guard

Jalen Adams is a 6-1, 170-pound Point Guard from Ashburnham, MA.

247sports.com

Sterling Gibbs was also a PG coming out of high school. These are terrible examples.



Again, name me one example of someone who was not ever a PG make a successful transition to PG in college or the pros.

Andre Jackson SG

Andre Jackson, Connecticut Huskies, Shooting Guard

Andre Jackson is a 6-6, 180-pound Shooting Guard from Albany, NY.

247sports.com

Not to mention all these examples didn’t have any tournament or NBA success. Which makes me ask what is your standard for success?

Why are you ignoring that Ajax's passing ability and PG-like skills weren't already a part of his game coming out of high school?

Why are you ignoring that Ajax's favorite player is Pistol Pete and he envisions himself a distributor in a point-whatever you want to call it role?

Why are you ignoring that Hurley has talked about AJax running point for two years and that it'd be his best NBA position?

Why are you ignoring that after Cole, AJax was our only effective player running the point last season?

Why are you ignoring that AJax significantly cut down on turnovers and wild passes and playing out of control the half or third of the season, when those metrics have already be presented several times on the 'Yard?

Why are you ignoring that AJax running point was probably discussed on exit meetings with Hurley and he's had an entire off-season to work on improving his point-specific skills along with his outside shooting?

Why are you ignoring that we'll have our answers either way in a few weeks (longer now due to his injury)?

 

[Mr. French]

Lavine was a scorer and very natural shooter in college though. He wasn’t no where near as good as he is now but you could see the skill and tools. His NBA Draft combine was amazing. Andre Jackson isn’t close to that right now. Even his jumpshot form needs a complete makeover.

I dno why I am justifying this, especially when you're arguing about other stuff currently, but Lavine was not a very natural shooter in college.

 

[bigknight3]

I'm baaaaaack. Maybe I missed it on here, but have we had the conversation about Andre Jackson, UConn PG, on here yet? Because if we haven't, I think we need to.

Good thing @RobDauster is reporting that we have another PG prospect in Tristan Thompson...

 

[Huskyforlife]

I dno why I am justifying this, especially when you're arguing about other stuff currently, but Lavine was not a very natural shooter in college.

38% on almost 4 attempts as a 19 year old with a pretty stroke isn’t a natural shooter? You must have a high bar for shooters.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The experimenting should be limited to the lesser opponents at first
I'm not at all sold on AJ being the point guard
I thought that according to many Newton is the next super PG at UConn?
My thoughts are that, while not a PG, Diarra might be the best xfer

What? How is Diarra not a PG? He’s a classic PG. Newton will be good. I expect him to be a knock-off lesser version of Ben Gordon, enough PG skills to play it, but a multi level scorer. AJ is a facilitator. His job is to help disrupt the defense in whatever way is necessary. So he needs the ball in his hands quite a bit. He’s scary as hell for opposing teams. Do we ever stop and think about that?

I‘m not sure how people don’t find this exciting. This team is wild. How the hell do you game plan for this? A 6’5 scoring PG and a 6’6” athletic freak PG with preternatural vision as a two PG lineup. With the best center in the country, a deadly shooting wing and a 6’10“ or 6’8” shooter/dunker PF. Who can guard that? Not any team I’ve seen. Good luck to them.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Why are you ignoring that Ajax's passing ability and PG-like skills weren't already a part of his game coming out of high school?

Why are you ignoring that Ajax's favorite player is Pistol Pete and he envisions himself a distributor in a point-whatever you want to call it role?

Why are you ignoring that Hurley has talked about AJax running point for two years and that it'd be his best NBA position?

Why are you ignoring that after Cole, AJax was our only effective player running the point last season?

Why are you ignoring that AJax significantly cut down on turnovers and wild passes and playing out of control the half or third of the season, when those metrics have already be presented several times on the 'Yard?

Why are you ignoring that AJax running point was probably discussed on exit meetings with Hurley and he's had an entire off-season to work on improving his point-specific skills along with his outside shooting?

Why are you ignoring that we'll have our answers either way in a few weeks (longer now due to his injury)?

I can give you a very long list of good passers who aren’t necessarily good point guards and never tried to be a point guard. I’m still waiting for you all to give me one good example of someone who was never a point guard make that switch.

I’ll give you a UConn centric example of that too. Daniel Hamilton. Was probably the best passer on our team during that time and best in the pick and roll. Still didn’t try to make him a point guard.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

We're talking about someone successfully playing the PG position, so that's how I define success is a player having individual success. In any event, I figured start of the season was time to clean up the ignore list and take everyone off. Took a whole 2 days to remember why you were on ignore, it's hard to keep up with the moving goalposts and disingenuous arguments when talking to you. All good though, won't cloud up the board with anymore back and forth, back on the list you go

Also, since you've decided 247 recruiting profiles are the deciding factor on what a guy's position was and not where he played freshman year, this guy turned into a pretty good PG for us

View attachment 79736

Combo guard = point guard/shooting guard. You can’t be this basketball dumb can you.

Yes guys played out of position because they were good enough to play but had another guy playing the position. Didn’t make them not a point guard. Again you can’t be this basketball dumb. Was Shabazz or Kemba not a point guard at the time they both played together? Boatright? Etc?

Also the goal would be preparing Andre Jackson for the NBA so how is that not the standard for success? But I’m moving goal posts lol.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

38% on almost 4 attempts as a 19 year old with a pretty stroke isn’t a natural shooter? You must have a high bar for shooters.

I feel like I’m going crazy here having to explain what should be obvious stuff lol

 

[Huskyforlife]

What? How is Diarra not a PG? He’s a classic PG. Newton will be good. I expect him to be a knock-off lesser version of Ben Gordon, enough PG skills to play it, but a multi level scorer. AJ is a facilitator. His job is to help disrupt the defense in whatever way is necessary. So he needs the ball in his hands quite a bit. He’s scary as hell for opposing teams. Do we ever stop and think about that?

I‘m not sure how people don’t find this exciting. This team is wild. How the hell do you game plan for this? A 6’5 scoring PG and a 6’6” athletic freak PG with preternatural vision as a two PG lineup. With the best center in the country, a deadly shooting wing and a 6’10“ or 6’8” shooter/dunker PF. Who can guard that? Not any team I’ve seen. Good luck to them.

He doesn’t know…

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I don’t even get the argument people are making. If you have a ball dominant PG he better be Kemba, Baz level. But ideally you don‘t have a ball dominant PG at all. Cole was a bit too ball dominant. Alterique was way too ball dominant. I don’t want one unless he’s the best player on the team by a big margin.

You put the ball in the hands of creative offensive players. I sure hope Newton is one. I know Andre will be one. I expect Hawkins to become one. I have high hopes for Alleyne and Diarra. Even Sanogo and Johnson at times, although they should mostly be finishers. If there is anybody on this team standing around dribbling and looking for an opening, then the offense isn’t working as intended. We aren’t running crappy ISO basketball anymore.

I think people are caught up on the PG label. I know I am. I don’t think there’s any way Andre Jackson plays PG at the next level. Making a plan for him to do so is setting him up for failure. Scottie Barnes by all means was a much better “PG” in college a few years ago and he’s playing the 3/4 now in the NBA. Do we really believe Andre Jackson is going to be better than him?

I like this team a lot and think we have the pieces. But Andre Jackson should not be prepping to be an NBA PG.

 

[bigknight3]

I can give you a very long list of good passers who aren’t necessarily good point guards and never tried to be a point guard. I’m still waiting for you all to give me one good example of someone who was never a point guard make that switch.

I’ll give you a UConn centric example of that too. Daniel Hamilton. Was probably the best passer on our team during that time and best in the pick and roll. Still didn’t try to make him a point guard.

AJax has more athleticism, better handle, better passing, and more natural Point instincts that Hamilton. And could his athletic ability projects that he could guard the opposing teams 1 or 2 on the defensive end. Where you slot as a defender also is a factor in whether it's advantageous for you to be full time PG or if you're a SF who runs the point occasionally. (Note about this is included in the article below as well)

The Westbrook example was already provided.

Does this article on Tyreke Evans satisfy you?




Article discusses his shift between PG, SG and SF throughout his career, where he excelled with the bar in his hands and slashing to the basket but his biggest shortcoming was his lack of skill and interest in passing.

Ajax, has the size and athleticism and passing ability to be a big PG. To reach his full potential, he needs improved outside shooting, tighten his ball handling, and improve his bbq and aggressiveness when opportunities for him to dunk or score at the rim are presented.

We're not saying it'll definitely happen but it's intriguing enough a prospect to give it a chance to come to fruition this season.

 

[bigknight3]

Link won't load...

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

AJax has more athleticism, better handle, better passing, and more natural Point instincts that Hamilton. And could his athletic ability projects that he could guard the opposing teams 1 or 2 on the defensive end. Where you slot as a defender also is a factor in whether it's advantageous for you to be full time PG or if you're a SF who runs the point occasionally. (Note about this is included in the article below as well)

The Westbrook example was already provided.

Does this article on Tyreke Evans satisfy you?




Article discusses his shift between PG, SG and SF throughout his career, where he excelled with the bar in his hands and slashing to the basket but his biggest shortcoming was his lack of skill and interest in passing.

Ajax, has the size and athleticism and passing ability to be a big PG. To reach his full potential, he needs improved outside shooting, tighten his ball handling, and improve his bbq and aggressiveness when opportunities for him to dunk or score at the rim are presented.

We're not saying it'll definitely happen but it's intriguing enough a prospect to give it a chance to come to fruition this season.

I don’t agree with the Hamilton comparisons but it’s subjective so there’s no clear debating that really. I can show you Tyreke Evans recruiting profile that calls him strictly a PG though.

Tyreke Evans, American Christian School , Point Guard

Tyreke Evans is a 6-5, 205-pound Point Guard from Aston, PA.

247sports.com

You all keep comparing him to guys who scouts called a PG coming out of high school and played PG the moment they got to college. Andre Jackson is a junior who might be experimenting with having full time PG duties for the first time. I’d bet any amount of money if he makes the NBA he will never see the court as a PG. He is a wing player who can playmake like Lebron, Iggy, and so many others.

He’s not Lonzo Ball, he’s not Tyreke Evans (a 17 PPG scorer), Shaun Livingston, or Ben Simmons. He’s what Andre Iguodola was during the GSW run. Amazing defender, terrific athlete, iffy shooter, and can be a great playmaker for the team to open up the floor for your scorers. Which works great with a team that has Tristan Newton and Jordan Hawkins on it to operate as Steph and Klay. Not saying those guys are them talent wise just role wise.

 

[mauconnfan]

Link won't load...
View attachment 79739

Andre is not Tyreke Evans. People are out of their minds in this thread.

He’s AJ, he’s a great helper handling the ball when needed. He can get a rebound and go coast to coast in a couple seconds. He has excellent vision sometimes to a fault last year turning it over, yet showed he could see the floor very well. He was our best interior passer getting it to Sanogo where he needed it.
He also took it from the perimeter to the hole hardly ever, he had a weak floater and maybe dunked off a set twice. He’s not going to dribble off a pick and stop and pop, he’s a catch and shooter. Kids good, potentially really good but....
He’s not our “PG” he’s our all around combo guard, swing man. If he’s “running” the point the staff failed in their quest to find capable ball handlers, team leaders.

Simple.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Boneyard life would be better if the words "point" and "guard" weren't able to be used together.

 

[Mr. French]

38% on almost 4 attempts as a 19 year old with a pretty stroke isn’t a natural shooter? You must have a high bar for shooters.

He had a pretty stroke? He was what, 6th man as a frosh and worked with trainers on his shot form for like 4 years, but ya he was already Ray Allen.

He got drafted because of his insane potential and athleticism. He showed very little in college other than potential.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think people are caught up on the PG label. I know I am. I don’t think there’s any way Andre Jackson plays PG at the next level. Making a plan for him to do so is setting him up for failure. Scottie Barnes by all means was a much better “PG” in college a few years ago and he’s playing the 3/4 now in the NBA. Do we really believe Andre Jackson is going to be better than him?

I like this team a lot and think we have the pieces. But Andre Jackson should not be prepping to be an NBA PG.

There is a lot more flexibility in these roles than we seem to appreciate. Andre is an athletic playmaker who can guard 1-3 and maybe 1-4. He's not much of a scorer yet and has to improve to make the next step.

I thought this was a good analysis. My sense is that teams have to do a better job of roster construction. Because you put different guys around Chris Paul than you do Steph Curry. You need a blend of playmakers and finishers, no matter what positions they play.

The Rise of Neo-Positions in Basketball

By: Ved Phadke and Ollie Pai

www.bruinsportsanalytics.com

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

He had a pretty stroke? He was what, 6th man as a frosh and worked with trainers on his shot form for like 4 years, but ya he was already Ray Allen.

He got drafted because of his insane potential and athleticism. He showed very little in college other than potential.

His draft workout after his freshman year.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

There is a lot more flexibility in these roles than we seem to appreciate. Andre is an athletic playmaker who can guard 1-3 and maybe 1-4. He's not much of a scorer yet and has to improve to make the next step.

I thought this was a good analysis. My sense is that teams have to do a better job of roster construction. Because you put different guys around Chris Paul than you do Steph Curry. You need a blend of playmakers and finishers, no matter what positions they play.

The Rise of Neo-Positions in Basketball

By: Ved Phadke and Ollie Pai

www.bruinsportsanalytics.com

I can completely agree with this. Andre is definitely the type of player who would play around a Steph Curry or Dame Lillard as oppose to a Chris Paul or John Wall. His playmaking is definitely going to be a big plus at the next level. I just don’t think full blown PG would be the way.

 

[BlueMAB]

I just don’t think full blown PG would be the way.

We know.

 

[superjohn]

He had a pretty stroke? He was what, 6th man as a frosh and worked with trainers on his shot form for like 4 years, but ya he was already Ray Allen.

He got drafted because of his insane potential and athleticism. He showed very little in college other than potential.

You know who else was a 6th man for his one year in college? Devin Booker.

LaVine showed a much smoother offensive game and shot in his one season at UCLA than Jackson has in his two seasons. Jackson can jump like him, he can play D, pass, and rebound but he hasn't shown any smoothness in his offensive game.