Jaren Jackson Jr. is a 6-11, 242 lbs freshman center for the Michigan State Spartans from Caramel, Indiana. Jaren just recently finished up his freshman season averaging 10.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks per game in 21.8 minutes per game. His freshman season just came to a conclusion in a heartbreaking 55-53 loss to Syracuse in the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.
I believe Jaren Jackson Jr. is the best big man in this years 2017-2018 freshman class. You may be asking yourself why ? Well for a couple of reasons. For one, he shoots the 3-point shot at the highest percentage from the rest of the top freshman centers in Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley, and Mohamed Bamba. He averages close to double the attempts from the rest of the big men while still shooting the best percentage out of all the freshman phenoms.
My next reason I believe JJJ is the best big man out of this center dominated class is because he also averages the most blocks out of all these freshman. Jackson has a 7’4 wingspan so you can imagine his shot-blocking ability is far above subpar. His individual block percentage is No.2 in all of NCAA Division 1, at a 14.6% rate (Sagaba Kanote of West Virginia leads with 15.8%) which is very impressive. In 2017 Michigan State was 52nd in team block percentage. While in 2018 with Jackson and the help of others, MSU became the number 1 overall leader in team blocks percentage as a team. Jackson also has very quick feet and nice agility so I think his transition to the NBA should be fairly smooth.
I truly believe Jackson will become a valuable addition to any NBA team that he lands on in this upcoming draft (if he declares for the draft). Oh and let me not forget, Jackson just so happens to be the youngest of all in this star studded group and will still be 18 by the draft rolls around.
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