Jaren Jackson Jr's Defensive Brilliance has Catapulted the Grizzlies into the NBA's Best Defense
The Grizzlies defensive rating ranked 24th just over 6 weeks ago, and ever since Jackson Jr. returned, the defense has drastically improved every week
In the 2020 NBA Draft, the Memphis Grizzlies used their 4th overall pick on an 18 year old stretch power forward from Michigan State University. The Freshman was coming off of a stellar season where he blocked 106 shots and hit 40% of his threes in only 22 minutes per game. Just a year before that, this 6-11 prospect anchored La Lumiere, a powerhouse basketball high school in Illinois, to a National Championship. That player is Jaren Jackson Jr., who was widely viewed as the best two-way player and big in the 2021 NBA Draft, though he gets unnecessary criticism for being selected in between Luka Doncic and Trae Young (neither of whom are good defenders despite their offensive capabilities) for whatever reason.
In his rookie season, Jackson Jr. averaged 13.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game with a 3PT% of 35.9. and a TS% of 59.1 before taking his scoring up a notch in his second season, where he averaged 17.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game with a 3PT% of 39.4 on 6.5 3-point attempts per game and a TS% of 59.3. The sky was the limit for the young two-way star as many evaluators predicted Jackson Jr. would become a DPOY candidate with an ability to stretch the floor on offense.
However, the following year and a half proved to be difficult for Jackson Jr., who only played 11 games in 2020 before a season-ending knee injury that derailed his progression dramatically. Last year was Jackson Jr.’s first full season back as he averaged 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and a career best 2.3 blocks per game with a 3PT% of 31.9 (career low) and TS% of 53.5 (also a career low) helping the Grizzlies secure the 6th best defensive rating of 108.9 in the NBA and the 2nd seed in the Western Conference. Though his offensive efficiency took a step back, Jackson Jr. elevated his defensive reputation to “dominant” level as he finished 5th in DPOY voting and helped the Grizzlies get past the first round for the first time in his tenure.
This season, Jackson Jr. has taken his defensive dominance to a whole other level, as the Grizzlies had the 24th ranked defensive rating in the NBA before he returned from an injury suffered in last year’s postseason run. In the 25 games since Jackson Jr. returned, he has averaged 16.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game with a 3PT% of 37 (up from 31.9% last season) and a TS% of 62.3 (career best) while catapulting the Grizzlies once 24th-ranked defensive rating into the best mark in all of basketball at 109.7.
Jackson Jr. also boasts the highest block percentage in the NBA as he blocks 6% of opposing players jump shots and also ranks in the top five for opposing players shooting percentages when guarded by him. His steal percentage of 1.6 also ranks in the 95th percentile for bigs, and the Grizzlies also have the highest rebounding and offensive rebounding percentage in the NBA thanks to Jackson Jr. and Steven Adams (who is averaging over 14 rebounds per game over the last two weeks).
With Ja Morant (27.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game with a TS% of 56) and Desmond Bane (21.2 points and 5 rebounds per game with a 3PT% of 41.4 and a TS% of 57.7) back and both healthy to anchor the 12th best offensive rating of 114.6 in basketball (which will undoubtedly improve the more Morant and Bane play together) alongside Jackson Jr., who is anchoring the best defense in the NBA, the Grizzlies have won 8 straight games and are tied for the best record in the Western Conference. Jackson Jr. has already become what most NBA evaluators thought he would become in his prime, but he is still only 23 years old and should continue to get drastically better each season, especially on the offensive end of the floor.
For history purposes, 11 of the last 12 NBA Champions have had a top 11 defensive rating and the most dominant of those NBA Champions had either a top 2 offensive or defensive rating. Jackson Jr. becoming the best interior defender in the NBA has raised the ceiling of this Grizzlies team dramatically as they not only could be heading to their first NBA Finals appearance in the history of the franchise this season, but have also become perennial championship contenders for years to come.
Note: Advanced Statistics used in this article are gathered from Cleaningtheglass.com, Statmuse.com, and NBA.com and are updated as of Thursday, January 12th, 2023.