Scouting Report: Donovan Jackson
Donovan Jackson is having a great season in Poland for Polski Cukier Torun and he is averaging 18.3 points per game with amazing shooting percentages (41.1 % for three) while also dishing a little more than 4 assists per game.
BACKGROUND INFO
Position: G
Height: 188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Date of Birth: 9/2/1996
Nationality: American
Previous clubs:
2018–19 BK Pardubice
2019–20 Kolossos Rodou
After two years playing for Iowa Wesleyan Tigers in JUCO, he went to Iowa State Cyclones where he played with guys like Monte Morris (Denver Nuggets), Matt Thomas (Utah Jazz), Nick Weiler Babb (Bayern Munich) and many others. He was averaging 6.4 points and shooting 45.4 % for three in his first season and 15.0 points and shooting 40.1 % for three in the second season for the Cyclones. His rookie season in Europe was in Czech Republic where he played for Pardubice in Czech League and also in the FIBA Europe cup. Last year he played in Greece for Kolossos Rodou.
VIDEO REPORT:
OFFENSE
Shooting: His shooting motion isn’t exactly from the textbooks and is unique with his body twisted and not parallel with the rim but his numbers and percentages are telling a much better story. In the last three seasons combined he was shooting 159/416 (38.2 %) for three, so the sample size is high enough, and was also a 41 % three point shooter in his college days.
He doesn’t need much space and also can create some separation with his moves. Likes to have the ball in his hands and create his own shots so there are a lot of tough off the dribble shots from all positions. Also takes a lot of contested mid range shots and is not really efficient in those shots and probably the percentages won’t get better on higher level. His shot selection is sometimes a little questionable and could look for better shots.
Pick & Rolls: A lot of his game consists of the pick & roll game. He is great in pick & rolls and needs just a step of advantage to create something — be it points or assists. Jackson is such a dangerous scorer from all positions so the defense needs to gravitate towards him otherwise he will punish those open looks but on the other hand if they put too much attention on him, he will find the open roller or shooter on the weak side. His court vision is limited mostly to the first level passes but sometimes capable of delivering some nice whip passes. Solid passer overall and most of his 4 assists per game are coming out of his pick & roll game.
Slashing: With his handles he can break the defense and get to the rim. In my opinion, he could try that more often and relies too much on his shot from distance. Jackson is strong enough to absorb some contact and also has the length to go for some advanced finishes. His touch at the rim is solid and he is a pretty good finisher at the rim but as said before, he should attack the rim more often and put more pressure on the rim.
Transition: Also an area where I see some space for improvements is his transition. He is quick and should try to look for easy points in transition more often. In some possessions he proved that he can be hard to stop when going down the lane especially when he is handling the ball. Should run without the ball more often too and also look for more points at the rim and not just rely on shots from distance in early offense.
DEFENSE
The evaluation of his defense wasn’t the easiest task because Torun plays a lot of zone defense but from the games that I’ve seen, there is a lot to improve on that side of the court.
Perimeter defense: Gives up too soon after the defense gets by him. Rarely recovers and also not showing much effort on the defensive end in most occasions. Sometimes his reactions and lateral movements look solid but that’s too rarely and needs to improve his defense and show more effort in defense. Has long limbs and definitely should make more deflections and steals than he makes at the moment.
Pick & Roll Defense: Similar story in his pick & roll defense. He has good footwork and should maneuver around the screens better than he does. Needs to initiate more contact and don’t leave so much space for the operator to do whatever he wants. If he would just play more aggressive and with more contact he could hide a few of those weaknesses.
SUMMARY
Donovan Jackson is an interesting player with great scoring potential. In my opinion the best role for him is a secondary ball handler or as a player coming from the bench and bringing some scoring punch to his team.
He can make things happen with the ball in his hands and score some points out of almost any situation. On offense I think he needs to improve his shot selection and decision making, also capable of bringing his passing game to a higher level and be a complete offensive player.
There is a lot more to improve on the defensive end because he has the athleticism and length to be at least a decent defender.
He could move to a higher level in the off season to some teams that play in international competitions or in the top leagues in Europe but probably not in the top teams.
