Josh Jackson would be a nice free agency addition by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Josh Jackson is a player that could be a target for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the upcoming free agency period, per a prior report, and that’d be with less than $8-9 million mid-level exception, as was suggested from Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. Before we get into that, though, we’ll touch on some brief background involving Jackson.
He was drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the fourth pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, and he averaged 13.1 points per game in his first season and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. Jackson struggled in his sophomore season, dropping his scoring average to 11.5 points per game and only starting in 29 of the 79 games in which he played, and while his on the court issues increased, Jackson also began to deal with problems in his personal life.
In May of 2019, Jackson was arrested at a concert in Florida and had a felony charge for escaping and a misdemeanor for resisting arrest, then per a report from Daune Rankin of the Arizona Republic. Also, in June of 2019, Jackson was accused of smoking marijuana around his then-five-month-old daughter and getting her high due to that, according to court filings from his daughter’s mother, per a report then from Lauren Castle of the Arizona Republic.
Then in July of 2019, Jackson was traded by the Suns to the Memphis Grizzlies. It really was a crazy three-month period for Josh Jackson. But that wasn’t the end of the craziness.
Josh Jackson, who at the time was only slightly over two years removed from being a top five draft pick, began the 2019-20 season in the NBA G-League with the Grizzlies G-League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle. Instead of starting his redemption story with the big league Grizzlies, he began his journey with the Hustle. Jackson started 26 games for them, and averaged 20.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per outing in that span.
After dealing with issues on and off of the court, Jackson once again had to earn his spot in the big league by putting in work amongst developmental players. But finally, on January 29, 2020, Josh Jackson was able to step onto the floor of an NBA game once again. In his first game back, Jackson came off the Grizzlies bench and played eight minutes and scored three points. Memphis beat the New York Knicks by 21.
Jackson was reacclimated to the league during his time with Memphis. He played 18 games and averaged 10.4 points per game. Slowly but surely, the 23-year-old Jackson was paving a path for himself to have a solid NBA career. In addition, according to former Suns general manager Ryan McDonough on an appearance on 92.3 The Fan’s “Baskin and Phelps,” as h/t Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amico, Jackson has seemingly gotten on the right path and would be a logical free agency target for the Cavs.
Ex-Suns GM Ryan McDonough on Josh Jackson: “I would tell (Cavs GM) Koby Altman he’s really turned the corner as a player and a person. ... I’d think Josh Jackson would be one of the guys they’d look at in free agency.” - @CLETalkingHeads https://t.co/20xl4gH8kT
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) June 18, 2020
While Jackson did seem to get in a good groove with the Grizz, on March 11, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the novel coronavirus pandemic, and shortly thereafter NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that the league would be going on hiatus.
Four-plus months later, the NBA is gearing up to restart with 22 teams at their quarantine bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The Grizzlies are one of those 22 teams who were provided the opportunity to join the restart, meaning Josh Jackson will get more in-game reps before the season is over.
When the season is done, Josh Jackson will be an unrestricted free agent, and there will likely be many teams interested in his potential. One of those teams should be the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers need more depth at small forward. Cedi Osman is a nice player, Dylan Windler has sharpshooter potential if he can stay mostly healthy, but he did not play in 2019-20 and other than that, the Cavs small forward position is rather shallow. Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff would love to add the defensive potential of Jackson to his rotation, and Jackson would like the increased role that he would find on the Cavaliers roster.
Josh Jackson will absolutely be a wing option that Cavs general manager Koby Altman considers, as Fedor seemingly alluded to. But if the Cavs do choose to sign Jackson, how would he fit into their rotation? What sort of lineups could Bickerstaff use to best optimize the talents of Jackson?
Here, I’ll delve into three potential lineups the Cleveland Cavaliers could use involving Jackson.
We’ll get started with that now.