Unless you have an unexpected fall or injury complications, Jaren Jackson Jr. looks to be on track to win his first NBA Defender of the Year award. The inner youth of the solo 23 years old it has dominant performance in some Memphis Grizzlies that they have the best performance in the league from that side and there is one statistic in particular that explains this historical of Jackson.
Although there are different ways to qualify a player’s block field performance, perhaps the most accurate is to call percentage of plugs or block percentage. This is nothing but percentage of opponent’s 2-point shots blocked by a player while on the court. That is, if someone gives 2 blocks out of 50 doubles attempted by the opponent, his rate will be 4%.
Why is it better than other metrics? Because it works in any context of the league. The average number of blocks per game It is obviously limited by the number of minutes a player spends on the court (the more he plays, the more blocks he can give). The on average per minute he has against him the pace of play of every era: it is not the same (in terms of pace of possession) to play a minute in 2023 than it was in 1996. While the average per possession It has against not differentiating doubles vs. threefold. An average possession from 2023 is much harder to block than one from 1980, simply because there are fewer rim shots and more perimeter shots attempted today. With the block percentage none of these problems were found.
Now, having explained the matter, to the important thing: right now, Jaren Jackson Jr has the best block percentage of all time. The Grizzlies’ interior rejects it 11.2% from your opponents’ two-point attempts while on the field. A completely unprecedented number.
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The historical table of this statistic is so far Manute Bol, with four seasons between 10.6% and 10.8%. Only outside the giant bowl Alonzo Mourning, in 2005-2006 with Miami, and Mitchell Robinson, in 2018-2019 with New York they exceeded 10%. Jackson would be the first in history to surpass 11%.
| Player | Club | Time | % plugs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaren Jackson Jr. | grizzly | 2022-2023 | 11.2% |
| Manute Bol | warriors | 1988-1989 | 10.8% |
| Manute Bol | Bullets | 1986-1987 | 10.8% |
| Manute Bol | Bullets | 1987-1988 | 10.6% |
| Manute Bol | Bullets | 1985-1986 | 10.6% |
| Alonzo Mourning | Heat | 2005-2006 | 10.2% |
| Manute Bol | warriors | 1989-1990 | 10.0% |
| Mitchell Robinson | hits | 2018-2019 | 10.0% |
The interesting thing about Jackson is that unlike Ball, it is not a static interiorwhich is just dedicated to lip and paint protection, but is a athletic and versatile player, able to get out to mark the perimeter without much hassle. And while he still needs to fix the offense department (he’s having his season with fewer offenses so far, but they’re still frequent), his performance has been key for him. Memphis has the best record in the Western Conference (30-13 with the Nuggets).
Welcome to the block party, JJJ 😤 pic.twitter.com/OAvphBClq5
—Queen City Control Room (@QueenCityCtrlRm) January 10, 2023
this monday Grizzlies beat down Phoenix Suns 136-106 and Jackson had another terrific defensive night, with 6 blocks, plus 8 rebounds and 2 stealsin just 25:35 minutes on the field.
If nothing changes overnight, the 2022-2023 DPOY already has an owner.
The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA or its organizations.
