Detroit Pistons: What Josh Jackson and Ben Simmons have in common

Josh Jackson had a bit of a resurgence for the Detroit Pistons this season, but some fans need to take a hard look at the numbers before they start getting carried away.

I recently wrote an article describing why Josh Jackson could be the odd man out in Detroit, mostly due to having a tradable contract that is expiring and having redundant skills with Hamidou Diallo.

Twitter unexpectedly went nuts in defense of Josh Jackson and I was kindly mansplained all of the things I don’t understand about basketball, while somehow ignoring the fact that the NBA is littered with guys who can score 13 points per game on inefficient shooting.

But when you dig into the numbers, it gets even bleaker for the Jackson truthers, as his 3-point shooting was not just bad, it was among the worst in the entire NBA for guards.

Detroit Pistons: Josh Jackson vs. the top 100

If you look at the top 100 guards by scoring, Josh Jackson ranks 67th, which in itself is not terrible, as he was a bench player and did play pretty good defense as well, so scoring is not all he brings to the table.

What he definitely does not bring to the table is 3-point shooting, in fact, there were only six players in the entire top 100 guards who shot the same or  worse from 3-point range as Josh Jackson.

Those players? DeMar DeRozan (who doesn’t shoot many and is known for his mid-range game.) Darius Bazley, Markelle Fultz (injured all season and has one of the weirdest shots ever), Cam Reddish, Dwayne Bacon and you guessed, it, Ben Simmons.

Jackson also shoots more of them than any of these guys except Reddish and Bazley, who should probably both have their shooting cards revoked.

Obviously there is more to the game than just 3-point shooting, and Jackson does excel in some other areas, but a shooting guard should be able to shoot, no?

I have nothing personal against Jackson and liked some of what he brought to the Detroit Pistons. He is also on a team-friendly salary, so it’s not like he’s eating up a ton of cap space or taking a roster spot from a more qualified player.

But he can’t shoot, and the Pistons were terrible as a team in this area, so I don’t think it is “crazy” or “delusional” to say that the Detroit Pistons can do better than a shooting guard who shoots the same percentage as Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz.