The young players off of the New Orleans Pelicans bench have been sharp in four games of preseason play, including an easy-scoring Frank Jackson.
There’s been scoring, there’s been defense, and most importantly there have been wins. By all accounts, the New Orleans Pelicans are off to a sizzling start in the preseason.
The most impressive group, however, have been their guards, seemingly all of whom have stepped up, made big plays, and helped boost their case for minutes. However, one of the few holdovers from the 2018-2019 Pelicans, Frank Jackson, continues to give Alvin Gentry a lot of reasons to feed him minutes headed into the regular season.
Seemingly set-up for a break-out year before the team’s roster overhaul, Jackson has become overlooked on a roster brimming with talent.
Averaging 8.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while shooting 43.4% from the floor, Jackson’s stat line from a year ago doesn’t give anyone much of a reason to write home. Even with that line, he played really hard defense and the team was 0.3 better with him on the floor a season ago.
However, after pre-draft foot surgery kept the 31st pick from the 2017 NBA Draft from playing a single minute of basketball during his first season in the NBA, it’s been encouraging to see Frank rise into a valuable role player.
Frank Jackson does fit into Alvin Gentry’s offensive concept. The team wants to play downhill basketball and attack everything; Jackson was a part of the team that finished second in the league in pace a season ago.
In addition, his hard work and intensity on both sides of the floor should give him the ability to easily fit into Jeff Bzdelik’s defense this season.
As an attentive rebounder, attacking scorer and playing with an overall hustle, there are a lot of teams around the league searching for players like Jackson.
Year two of Frank Jackson could give the New Orleans Pelicans one of the best bench units in the NBA this season.
Entering the second year of his career, Jackson does have some obstacles in his way. The Pelicans have a really talented depth chart of guards.
Players like Lonzo Ball, Jrue Holiday, and J.J. Redick have already all established themselves as starting-level guards with some years under their belts and will command minutes. Josh Hart and Nickeil Alexander-Walker seem like candidates for healthy minutes respectively from their league status and preseason showing.
Not that Jackson isn’t ripping it up in the preseason. Averaging 11.8 points and playing great defense, tack on a +8.5 plus/minus and you’ve got yourself a nice baseline performance on the preseason as the team’s fifth-leading scorer in the team’s exhibition play.
Jackson’s 12 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal performance in the team’s comeback win against the Chicago Bulls gave us a big clue that he might be a factor this season. The fact that his points were a result of his 4-for-4 performance from three might be an even better indicator.
Scoring 30 points in his lone Summer League game was pretty impressive in its own right. The New Orleans Pelicans didn’t see a reason for him to keep proving it when he was destroying younger defenders with ease.
Maybe it’s an old formula, but if Jackson can simply provide this team an awesome three-point-and-defense point guard off the bench, he’ll be worth his weight in gold.
When I see Frank Jackson, I can’t help but think of Fred VanVleet, who was a catalyst to the Toronto Raptors‘ run to the NBA Championship last season.
While he was actually drafted out of college, unlike VanVleet, the young guard was a little older coming out of Duke University, with questions about his ability to run a modern offense in the NBA. Instead, he’s found a way to make himself into an essential piece of a really good bench.
VanVleet is a 39.4% career three-point shooter and much more proven defender. Jackson should look to a player like that to guide him to a boost in his own standing in the league.
If the New Orleans Pelicans find anything like what Toronto found in their own bench bulldog, they’ve found something that could be the difference in the playoffs. Guys that can provide an attitude off of the bench are highly valuable in this league.
With a full year already under his belt and two years of training in an NBA facility, Jackson already has a lot of time experiencing life in the league. Now, he’ll have the chance to find a role on a team that could make a playoff push if their players can gel.