3 things suggested free agency target Josh Jackson could bring to Cavs

#2: Jackson would bring added youth to the Cleveland Cavaliers

With the Cavaliers’ 2019-20 season now at an end, it marks four seasons since they won that first championship in franchise history. Of that 2016 championship team, only three remain on the roster in Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, and Matthew Dellavedova, who was brought back as a piece in a trade sent over by the Milwaukee Bucks in a deal that included the Washington Wizards, too.

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Of this trio, only Love is signed through next season. The nail in the coffin for the Cavs was LeBron James’ departure in 2018 and since then, the Cavaliers have been in rebuild mode, looking to find a new identity.

The Cavaliers have also been on a youth movement, going from the oldest team to start the 2017-18 season to now having the fifth-youngest team in the NBA. Seeing as the Cavs are looking to add young potential, trying to bring in Josh Jackson makes sense.

As of July 24, 2020, Jackson is 23 years and 165 days years old. This would make him the fourth-youngest player on the team.

This is convenient for the Cavaliers as this also gives him the ability to gel and grow alongside the Cavaliers’ young core.

Jackson’s young age and low mileage in the league means that he still has tons to work on and grow upon. With more opportunities, the Cavaliers could be the team that Jackson takes off on.

Jackson has always seemed to improve as the season went on. There are some variables to this however, being that as the season goes on, teams look to rest their players and not try as hard game-to-game. Nonetheless, his late-season statistics are still promising.

Looking at his career statistics, from January-April, Jackson averages a combined 15.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game for those four months, albeit on below average shooting splits for someone of his size. Diving deeper into these statistics, it seems as if Jackson is someone who does well as the workload increases. In games where he plays 30-39 minutes, he averages 17.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game for his career.

Again, these stats may be skewed due to the context of when his play increases but, they should be something for Jackson to build upon, and at just 23 years old, Jackson’s late-season play could become something that he does all season.