What Happened to Josh Jackson and Dennis Smith Jr.?

Andy Hoops

Two elite prospects who were drafted in 2017, but now...what's going on with their NBA careers? They haven't accomplished much in their young careers so far, and it's not getting any better. Hope you enjoy the video!  I make all kinds of NBA videos which include trivia, analysis, player stories, countdowns, conspiracies, and mysteries. Make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video!  ► Instagram: @Andy93y ► Twitter: @AndyHoopsYT  ► Music:  Floating Cities by Kevin MacLeod Eternity by Kevin MacLeod  Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Find all of his songs and download them for free here: http://incompetech.com  ► Sources: Stats and box-scores from Basketball-Reference.com http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Josh-Jackson-7239/ https://www.nba.com/suns/blog/growth-and-rise-rookie-josh-jackson# https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/suns-trade-former-no-4-pick-josh-jackson-to-grizzlies-in-four-player-deal-including-kyle-korver-per-report/ https://arizonasports.com/story/2095171/former-suns-josh-jackson-start-season-grizzlies-g-league/ https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanced/?Season=2018-19&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1610612742 https://nypost.com/2019/10/27/knicks-growing-dennis-smith-jr-mystery-may-benefit-frank-ntilikina/ https://www.foxnews.com/sports/phoenix-suns-josh-jackson-daughter-high-marijuana-use-report  #nba

Transcript

00:03Just over two years ago, back in 2017, it was supposed to be one of the greatest draft classes

00:09in recent history. When it comes to hype, when it comes to expectations, there was certainly a lot

00:16of it. And not just from the top guys either, all the way down the lottery actually, many players

00:21were looked at as future stars. However, it was a slow start for some guys, including of course

00:28Markel Fultz, who battled a shoulder injury for the first two years in Philly, but it looks like he's

00:34finally recovered. Then there's others like Jason Tatum and Donovan Mitchell. Both of them have

00:40continued their excellent play. However, then we come to Dennis Smith Jr. and Josh Jackson,

00:46two guys who started off their careers pretty well and many fans expected them to build off of that,

00:52but that just did not happen. Instead, they went in the opposite direction and drastically fell off.

00:59Now, it doesn't even look like either of them are going to be part of their team's rotation.

01:04In this video, I'll break down their first two years in the league so far and what's happening

01:09right now in their current situations. How's it going folks? My name's Andy and let's get started.

01:16First things first, let's start with Josh Jackson, the fourth overall pick of the 2017 draft.

01:23Some even had Josh Jackson going higher than that, sometimes even being put in the same category as

01:29Lonzo Ball or Jason Tatum. Jackson found immediate success dominating the 2017 NBA Summer League,

01:36and his play would continue as we transition into the regular season. For most of his basketball career,

01:43Jackson was labeled as a wild card. According to his Draft Express scouting report, he was described

01:49as, quote, an edgy, explosive, often emotional prospect with an erratic jumper and a mentality

01:56that straddles the border of intensity and instability. Jackson is a bit of an enigma. When he's at his best,

02:03Jackson looks like a potential number one pick, a star in the making. His initial NBA comparison was

02:10Andre Iguodala, as it was expected that Jackson would have a similar game. The similar role of

02:16being the primary defender on other stars, but on offense, a relentless slasher, a playmaker who does

02:22all the little things to support his team. And from the looks of it, throughout his rookie season,

02:27he certainly looked that way. Defensively, he definitely made his mark. From the eye test,

02:33he looked amazing for a rookie, playing the passing lanes, hounding others in one-on-one situations.

02:38It was quite impressive. However, just like what the scouting report said, his inconsistency and

02:45erratic play, especially with his jump shot, was an issue throughout the season. And it got even

02:50worse in his sophomore season. Additionally, he would get benched at random times, sometimes very

02:56early in the games because he wasn't performing well and the coaching staff was kind of impatient.

03:02When talking about this frustration, Jackson said,

03:06I feel that's natural as a rookie, coming in and having early struggles. But I felt I kept a strong

03:11head, stayed strong-minded, and I stayed working hard. However, his work ethic did not translate to

03:18tangible results on the floor. In his second year, the Suns already gave up on him, sending him in a

03:24trade package to the Memphis Grizzlies. Now, besides the fact that barely anyone even cared that Jackson got

03:30traded over the summer, the more surprising thing is, he was essentially a throw-in in the trade.

03:35The Suns got rid of him simply because they didn't want to pay him. A 22-year-old prospect,

03:41the fourth pick of his draft class, and yet, he wasn't even good enough to warrant an extension

03:46from the team that drafted him. In return, the Suns received Javon Carter and a 38-year-old Kyle

03:53Corvard, whose contract got bought out immediately after. So, what really went wrong? This is not a

04:01normal occurrence for a former fourth overall pick. Well, just like with most things on the

04:05Phoenix Suns over the last decade, nobody really knows. However, we could probably assume what they

04:11were thinking. Jackson did get into a lot of off-court issues during his two years in Phoenix.

04:16He got fined by the organization for refusing to make a public appearance. He got arrested at a

04:23music festival in Florida trying to enter the VIP area without a pass, and then he got arrested again

04:29for running away while being handcuffed. Then, he got accused of exposing his five-month-old daughter

04:34to marijuana. Combine all of those off-court issues with his lack of improvement, and you can probably

04:41guess why the Suns traded him. But what's even more surprising than all of that is, after the

04:46getting traded to Memphis, Josh Jackson started off the season playing for the Memphis Hustle,

04:52their G League team. As of right now, he's not even part of the Grizzlies roster yet. He's not

04:57even in the NBA. While the Grizzlies claim that it'll give him more opportunities to prove himself,

05:03that's got to be demoralizing. He went from being at the top of the draft boards to this. I mean,

05:10there's no shame in playing in the G League, many players go through it, but for the fourth pick in

05:15his third season, it's very rare to see. Next up, let's talk about Dennis Smith Jr. Now, personally,

05:24I've been watching him way more than Josh Jackson over the last few years. On the court, their problems

05:30are relatively similar, in that they're both very erratic players and you have no idea what you're

05:35going to get. After a few missed jump shots, their respective coaches get impatient and pull them from

05:41the game. However, DSJ's situation is different in that he was kind of forced out of his own team

05:48that drafted him. Maybe forced is not the right word to use, but that's essentially what happened.

05:53After DJ's rookie season, things were looking up. He was drawing comparisons to a young Russell

05:59Westbrook and Derek Rose, an explosive point guard with ridiculous athleticism but also a shaky jump

06:06shot, and he still has to learn the ropes of being an actual point guard. However, in 2018, when Luka

06:13Doncic got drafted and joined the Mavs, it was quite clear within the first month of the season that it

06:19became Luka's team. Luka was the better scorer, the better decision maker, the better passer,

06:25had better handles, and overall, he was not only the better player but also the better point guard.

06:32By the numbers, the Mavs were much better when Luka had the ball. They were much worse when DSJ

06:38ran the offense and they were also much worse when both players were on the floor at the same time.

06:43Looking at the lineup stats in the 2018-19 season, the Mavs' most played five-man lineup included both

06:51DSJ and Luka, and their net rating was putrid. They only had an offensive rating of 98.4, but when

06:59they

06:59replaced DSJ with Jalen Brunson, their team looked so much better, and the numbers reflect that too, and with

07:06Brunson on the floor, the Mavs had an offensive rating of 112.3. That's kinda crazy how they could just

07:14switch

07:14DSJ for Brunson, and their offense goes from the bottom of the league to the top of the league. When

07:20you look at it

07:20this way, it makes perfect sense why the Mavs traded him halfway through his sophomore season.

07:26While there were some reports of DSJ being unhappy with his new role and taking a backseat to Luka,

07:32those rumors have not been confirmed and the two of them got along fine off the court.

07:37However, there was a player who was unhappy. Christaps Porzingis, who was still rehabbing and

07:44recovering from his torn ACL. During that time, he requested a trade from the New York Knicks.

07:50The Mavs would send DSJ to New York as the main piece of the team. Initially, his first few games

07:57with the Knicks were very good. I mean, they were still losing games, but DSJ had back-to-back games

08:02where he scored 25 points and then 31 points. But afterwards, it didn't take long for him to

08:08return back to his usual self. Now, in his first full season with the Knicks, it's been pretty rough.

08:15In his first three games, he only made one field goal and the New York crowd showered him in boos.

08:21No, not that kind of boos. This.

08:36They were mainly chants of We Want Frank as DSJ brought the ball up the court numerous times.

08:42That's what they would chant. Knicks fans don't have the best reputation of giving their players

08:47confidence, but this was not only about DSJ. It was the accumulation of everything that happened

08:53in the last few years. All of the losing, all of the bad management, the fans are on edge.

09:00Also, keep in mind, Porzingis was an all-star before his injury, and fans were expecting them

09:06to get, you know, a great deal for him in return. DSJ was expected to be the new man of

09:12the franchise,

09:13but he obviously has not lived up to it. While he is young, the Knicks have been so bad for

09:19such a

09:19long time that everyone there is getting impatient. I don't think it's fair to DSJ and how he got

09:25treated, but the truth is, he probably isn't an all-star caliber player. And he's never shown the

09:31ability to carry a team on his back for an extended period of time. I think the expectations of him

09:37are

09:38way too high, and I think the pressure got to him, as his confidence got shattered. In response to all

09:44of the boos, DSJ tried to ignore them and said, all we got is us in this locker room. That's

09:50what

09:50we've got to focus on. To make matters worse, his stepmother passed away a day after the game.

09:57Dennis was very close to her, and this broke him. It would take him a while to regain his composure

10:03as

10:03he separated himself from the team for about two weeks. In addition to all of this, the Knicks

10:09point guard situation is quite awkward. They have three young point guards who are all fighting for

10:14minutes, trying to prove themselves. If DSJ cannot get it together, Coach Fisdale can just replace him

10:20in the lineup with Frank or Payton. When he was asked about the Knicks point guard rotation and where

10:26DSJ fits in, that's the battle. You're trying to stay competitive in the game and at the same time,

10:32you're trying to give Smith enough time to fight his way into rhythm. But ultimately, I always pick

10:37trying to win over that right now. So, it's unclear of what the future holds or if Smith is going

10:44to

10:44even remain a New York Knick. Nothing is certain. This was a guy who used to be a super hyped

10:50up

10:50prospect. Some even believed he had the highest ceiling out of every point guard of the 2017 draft

10:56class. However, his career has been a roller coaster with zero stability. While I'm still

11:02pulling for him to succeed, you never know what's going to happen in New York. Stability is the

11:07opposite of what you'd expect out of this organization. And that's all folks, that sums up

11:12the story of what happened with Dennis Smith Jr. and Josh Jackson. It's been rough so far in the early

11:18years of their career and it's hard to say if they'll ever bounce back. We've seen many top tier

11:24prospects never fulfill their expectations. But hopefully, these two don't fall into that

11:29category. Let me know in the comments your thoughts on these two players and what's your opinion on

11:34their situation so far. I hope you enjoyed the video and as always, I'll see you next time. Peace.

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