NY Knicks: Justin Jackson viewed as potential target in B/R’s latest piece

The NY Knicks had themselves an unbelievably impressive 2020-21 campaign, and this success has seemingly flowed right along into the offseason where Leon Rose and co. have managed to make the franchise one of the busiest in the association, especially during the free agency period.

Kicking off their open market transactions with the decision to re-sign a few key players from last year (Derrick Rose, Nerlens Noel, Alec Burks, & Taj Gibson), the Knickerbockers followed these familiar names up with two rather underrated acquisitions in Evan Fournier (4-years, $78 million) and Kemba Walker to even out the roster.

Now, as we hit the mid-way point in week two of the 2021 free agency period, the signing frenzy has obviously slowed down a bit, but this does not mean that more moves are not on the horizon.

Like many fans and other media outlets, we at DK have our thoughts on who the NY Knicks could still consider pursuing this offseason. Recently, the folks at Bleacher Report jumped into the conversation discussing who the front office may wish to sign from the current crop of available ballers and, ultimately, landed on one specific player.

Justin Jackson.

Now yes, by no means is the man a top-billed talent or a household name. That said, this fact has not swayed writer, Andy Bailey, away from believing Jackson could be a solid addition to New York’s roster.

In fact, his lacking reputation and very raw talent is exactly why B/R believes he could be a sound grab for the franchise:

"With the rotation pretty much set, it may make sense to take a flier on a theoretical shooter.Justin Jackson has only hit 32.1 percent of his three-point attempts in the NBA, but he was drafted in large part due to the outside shooting he flashed during his junior season at North Carolina.If the Knicks and Jackson devoted some time and energy to his consistency from the outside, he still has a chance to be an NBA rotation player."

For the entirety of his NBA career, the former 15th overall selection from the 2017 NBA Draft boasts averages of 6.6 points and 2.5 rebounds on 43 percent shooting from the floor and 32 percent shooting from deep.

Though he has spent his time in the association suiting up for four different franchises in four years and has seen minutes logged in the G League from time to time, this past season Justin Jackson showed glimpses of why he was considered to be one of the best scorers in his draft class when coming into the league.

Especially during his tenure with the OKC Thunder, the wing saw numerous games in which he was one of his team’s better scorers, dropping double-digit points in nine of his 33 outings played and even had a month-long stretch back in February where he averaged eight points on 36 percent shooting from deep while logging north of 20 points twice during this stretch.

Look, are we suggesting that Justin Jackson will develop into a true difference-maker should he wind up signing with the NY Knicks?

No!

However, as Bailey correctly insinuated in his piece, New York is not exactly a top-tier title-contending team that should only be focusing on bringing aboard win-now players.

Because of this, development is still a key component of this organization’s gameplan, and taking a chance on a guy who shot 37 percent from deep on seven attempts per game during his final season in college and is still only 26 could be a low-risk, solid reward move worth making.