Should Jaren Jackson Start ?
When your enjoying the kind of year Memphis is with a new young core you don't want to do anything different until you have to. Its still fair to ask the question should Jaren Jackson be starting or playing more ? He currently is getting 27 minutes per game which is 3 less then Clarke and Jonas. When asked for comment Bubba said "we always plan to play all 3 guys the same minutes sometimes things happen and the starters play a little more. The plan going forward is to get Jaren more minutes."
We wrote a article early in the year saying Clarke was 3rd member of the young core and turns out that may not be enterally true yet. Here are the per 36 minute stats with all 3 averaging less then 2 assist.
JJJ - PPG 18.8, REB 9.3, STL 1.3, BLK 2.3 - 49/42/85
Clark PPG 18.9, REB 11.6, STL 0.9, BLK 1.6 - 50/41/76
Jonas - PPG 15.1, REB 16.1, STL 0.6, BLK 2.0 - 53/26/80
Jaren and Clarke have similar stats with Jaren getting more blocks while Clark gets more rebounds. Jonas is a different type of player and is grabbing a incredible 16 rebounds per 36 minutes one of the best in the game at that. Jaren struggles at rebounding still and that's not something you can just overlook. Memphis currently ranks 2nd to last in rebounds so starting him at the C would only make that more of a issue.
When you look at the per 36 stats from last year you will see Jaren is much improved across the board in points, rebounds and all 3 shooting stats. If your going just off the overall grade then his is the 2nd highest on the team. If your looking at what the scouts call badges it goes Jonas 15, Clarke 10 and Jaren 7.
It's not a issue now and Jaren admits he wants to win 6th man of the year which he has a real chance at doing. When you look at the new perimeter centric offense then Jaren and Clarke starting together is a dream on the offense side. Its going to be hard to keep him out of the starting lineup for long. What say you ?
