Los Angeles Lakers: Three reasons why Lakers should not draft Josh Jackson

Discipline

One of Josh Jackson’s biggest knocks would be his discipline. Jackson will often wear his heart on his sleeve. Now, that by itself is not necessarily a bad thing. However, that coupled with lack of discipline is a bad combination. A good example of this would be Jackson’s issues with technical fouls last season. It’s not bad to be emotional, he just needs to be able to keep it under control.

Jackson would consistently rack up the fouls. Last season, he had 11 games out of 35 with four or more fouls. He averaged around three fouls per game and almost 4 fouls per 40 minutes. These kind of numbers will get you into trouble in the NBA. Wings and guards will be quicker and faster at the next level, thus Jackson really needs to cut down on the avoidable fouls.

Jackson can also be undisciplined in regards to his decision making. He does have a tendency to put his head down and not the whole floor, particularly in transition. Jackson had a 20.2% turnover percentage in transition, which is way too many turnovers.

And, of course, the elephant in the room. Jackson did have some legal issues towards the end of the college season. Whether or not that is an isolated incident remains to be seen, but it is something to keep on eye on.