{"id":69455,"date":"2024-03-21T04:41:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T08:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=69455"},"modified":"2024-03-22T04:02:49","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T08:02:49","slug":"warriors-chris-paul-soft-spot-grizzlies-gg-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/21\/warriors-chris-paul-soft-spot-grizzlies-gg-jackson\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors \u2018Coach\u2019 Has Soft Spot for Grizzlies Building Block"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday night, Golden State Warriors floor general <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paulch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Paul<\/a> got nostalgic after facing Memphis Grizzlies rookie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jacksgg01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">GG Jackson II<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly,\u201d Paul says, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you the most fulfilling thing about tonight. GG Jackson was on my AAU team. I was his coach two years ago\u2026 GG is an unbelievable kid.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">&#8220;Honestly, the most fulfilling thing about tonight was GG Jackson.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chris Paul used to coach GG Jackson on his AAU team, and tonight they got the chance to go head-to-head \ud83d\ude4c <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JNxIfNiB1w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/JNxIfNiB1w<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBCSWarriors\/status\/1770687888919056538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>We done played in Memphis twice this year and I was hurt both of those games. So going into the game it was crazy. It was crazy. Sometimes he still me \u2018Coach.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Coach\u2019 Chris Paul Has Soft Spot for GG Jackson<\/h2>\n<p>In what\u2019s becoming a common occurrence, Jackson had another special game, this time against the Warriors. Though Golden State won handily, 137-116, he finished the night with 35 points on 11-19 shooting from the field (7-14 from 3).<\/p>\n<p>Late in the first quarter, Jackson canned a 3 over Paul as he closed out on his former student. In May, Paul will be 20 years Jackson\u2019s senior. On the one hand, this is a testament to Paul\u2019s longevity. On the other hand, it\u2019s one more example that <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/18\/warriors-klay-thompson-head-turning-admission-playoffs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a new generation<\/a> of NBA stars has arrived.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cHe hit a 3 in my face earlier, I was pissed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cOur AAU team is really like a family,\u201d Paul says. \u201cSo to see him, to be out on there on the court playing against him, is something I\u2019ll never get used to. It\u2019s kind of a surreal moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Diamond in the Rough<\/h3>\n<p>Jackson has been one of this season\u2019s hidden gems.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/07\/08\/three-takeaways-from-gg-jacksons-best-game-yet-of-his-young-pro-career\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">draft night steal<\/a> whom the Grizzlies selected 45th overall, the then 18-year-old faced questions about his maturity and shot-selection when he left South Carolina. A dynamic perimeter scorer at 6-foot-9 and 215 pounds, Jackson averaged 15.4 points per game. Earning SEC All-Freshman honors, Jackson also had the fifth-highest scoring average among freshmen. However, he shot 38.4 percent from the field, routinely forcing the issue and taking ill-advised shots.<\/p>\n<p>Now that he\u2019s had other scorers to play off of, he\u2019s been much more efficient. His seeing the ball go through the net as much as it has lends itself to his confidence. The self-assurance he plays with manifests itself in controlled drives and balanced 3s.<\/p>\n<p>Just 36 games into his career, Jackson\u2019s game looks like it\u2019s progressing nicely. He\u2019s been particularly productive since the All-Star Break, scoring 17.2 points per game. Over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/players\/traditional?TeamID=1610612763&amp;LastNGames=6\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last six games<\/a>, five of which have been starts, he\u2019s averaging 25.2 points on 50.0 percent shooting from the field (39.0 percent from 3),<\/p>\n<p>There are few benefits to star players being out, but Jackson\u2019s evolution has been one. When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/moranja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ja Morant<\/a> returns next season, there\u2019s one more player that he\u2019ll view as a scoring threat. Now it\u2019s not just him, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jacksja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/banede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Desmond Bane<\/a>. It\u2019s him, Jackson, Jackson, and Bane.<\/p>\n<h3>Cream of the Crop<\/h3>\n<p>As Paul mentioned, Jackson played for Team CP3 in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (Nike EYBL) in 2022 alongside Auburn guard Aden Holloway and Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham.<\/p>\n<p>In 20 games, he averaged 12.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game, per <a href=\"https:\/\/gamecocksonline.com\/sports\/mbball\/roster\/player\/gregory-gg-jackson\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the official website<\/a> of the South Carolina Gamecocks men\u2019s basketball team. His rebounding average was a league-high. Jackson also shot 49.5 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from 3.<\/p>\n<p>A five-star prospect, Jackson was so eager to join the NBA that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mens-college-basketball\/story\/_\/id\/34285534\/former-north-carolina-tar-heels-commit-gg-jackson-reclassifies-2022-class-commits-south-carolina-gamecocks\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he reclassified from<\/a> the Class of 2023 to the Class of 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday night, Golden State Warriors floor general Chris Paul got nostalgic after facing Memphis Grizzlies rookie GG Jackson II. \u201cHonestly,\u201d Paul says, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you the most fulfilling thing about tonight. GG Jackson was on my AAU team. I was his coach two years ago\u2026 GG is an unbelievable kid. &#8220;Honestly, the most fulfilling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":69460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,25,32,3],"tags":[229,4933],"class_list":["post-69455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-warriors","category-grizzlies","category-news","tag-chris-paul","tag-gg-jackson"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}