Draft Profile: Pierre Jackson Goes From Juco to the Pros

In the run-up to the 2013 NBA Draft on June 27, the BDD staff will be profiling several projected lottery picks and other draft entrants. Next up: Pierre Jackson.

Like many point guards in this draft, Pierre Jackson is small but physical. (USA Today Sports)

Position: Point Guard
College: Baylor
DraftExpress Prediction: No. 2 in the second round, No. 32 overall to the Oklahoma City Thunder

Synopsis: In just two years in the conference, Pierre Jackson became one of the most decorated active players in the Big 12. Jackson, who earned numerous preseason and all-conference awards, emerged as Baylor's motor and one of the most important junior college transfers in recent history as a junior. Living in the heart of Big 12 country, I can personally attest Jackson is the real deal. It was not often that he encountered a defense he couldn't shred with pinpoint passes and precise, deceptive dribbles, enhanced further by his quickness and athleticism.

Among NBA-size frontcourts, some may worry about Jackson's court vision and finding his way through the trees or, rather, finding his teammates in between them. The 21-year-old fires off 7.8 assists per 40 minutes, pace adjusted, but that column should be the last of scouts' worries. Jackson's strong first step will command respect and his effectiveness in the pick-and-roll will allow him to facilitate and affect the game without scoring himself. His diminutive size will make it tough for Jackson to score baskets inside the paint, but he posted a 40.8 three-point percentage in his first year with the Bears and, although it dipped by nearly five percent as a senior, Jackson has shown a returned efficiency on perimeter jumpers. Not only is he able to create these shots for himself off the dribble, he can also serve as an effective catch-and-shoot performer, making a pairing with a passing big man ideal and two-PG sets possible for whichever team selects him. His scoring prowess is not relegated to behind the three-point arc, however, as he led Baylor with 19.8 points per game as a senior using a mixed bag of tricks.

All that being said, Jackson is nowhere near ready to take a seat at the helm of an NBA squad. He must control his turnovers (3.7 per 40, pace adjusted) and, as an extension, improve his decision-making, particularly in clutch moments when he is prone to forcing shots or moving with impatience. The most glaring hole in Jackson's game coming into pre-draft workouts was his defense and it continues to be an issue, as Jackson himself admits (see below). While at Baylor, he exhibited lackadaisical and sometimes unconcerned defensive play, which will only be magnified once he rises to the professional level of play. His sub-6' size doesn't help in the slightest on this end of the floor, either.

If he stays on the defense-optional path he currently travels, Jackson could be an archetypical bench player, supplying an offensive spark to a second unit teeming with other one-way oriented players. There is an upside to Jackson that, if placed on the right team, could make him a starter before his rookie year expires. It is contingent on the incumbent point guards, yes, but much of it also relies on Jackson's commitment to improving his all-around game.

Quote to Note: "I feel like [lack of size] shouldn't be an issue at all. You know, Nate Robinson and Isaiah Thomas have proved that throughout this past year. Like I said, I think I can play with the best of them. The taller guards gotta guard us, too. That's all I got to say about that." - Jackson disregarding the negative connotation of being a shorter guard in the NBA.

Bonus Quote(!): "Mediocre. I'm still working on it. Once I get the chance to play against the best, my competitive level is gonna get that much higher. Like I said, I'm still working on it... I'm just enjoying this [combine] process and just trying to get better." - Jackson offering the kind of honesty prospects rarely show during pre-draft interviews. Both quotes via DraftExpress.

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Rise of the JUCO Transfer

Cleanthony Early has been integral to Wichita State's success this season. (Peter G. Aiken/USA TODAY Sports)

I am a fan of exposition. Some people want the one-sentence explanation and prefer to move on as quickly as possible, but I have no problem with taking time to get to a destination. My writing has a tendency to veer into wordy territory and I am constantly critiqued for the speed at which I eat, do work around the house and so on.

Before we get into the meat of this entry — about how the addition of traditionally non-blue-chippers, lacking five-star and often four-star ratings as high school seniors, can drastically change the on-court presence of a Division I basketball program during their relatively short stay — let me share a brief anecdote.

Following four years in high school that yielded a good cumulative GPA in spite of effort that was often lacking, I made the decision to stay close to home and enrolled at Cowley County (Kan.) Community College (now Cowley College, for what it's worth). The same attitude paired with adequate work allowed me to float through classes while committing a majority of my time on campus to work on the student newspaper as co-editor of the sports section, eventually assuming the title of Managing Editor heading into sophomore year.

Soon, that "majority" of time spent on publication duties topped 85 percent of all school-related activities, though I found time to intern at a local radio station and parlayed that opportunity into a color commentary position with the college's basketball teams. My single season as an on-air personality during Cowley Tigers broadcasts coincided with the year of Steve Eck's arrival as head coach of the men's team. With Eck came five sophomore transfers, mostly from his former institution. It was apparent early on that they were all very good basketball players — a fact that was not lost on a group of my friends who once found themselves in a pick-up game with the most physically domineering of transfers — and this obviousness continued when all five were granted scholarships by Division I schools at the season's end.

The clear leader of these five young men was Montrell McDonald, a transfer from George Washington University. He fit the prototypical profile of a junior college player, having a scoring prowess but with a problem that offset this talent (in McDonald's case, a temper that often led to fouls). He was also lanky; a bit under-muscled, if you will. But what separated him from the two-year pack was that he was a great defender. McDonald, without hyperbole, is one of the best shot-blockers I have ever seen. His positioning and anticipation of an opponent's movements allowed him to sag a bit on defense, letting the other player get confident and attempt a shot that, inevitably, McDonald would swat, sometimes — literally — over several rows of spectators.

Before the Cowley season even began, McDonald was being recruited by several major programs including Kansas and Kansas State, fresh off Michael Beasley being the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 draft. In the end, McDonald's next step led him to join the Arkansas Razorbacks, playing in four games before being suspended indefinitely. During the suspension, McDonald was also barred from practicing with the team by then-coach John Pelphrey. McDonald was a Razorback for a total of eight games before leaving the program.

Pierre Jackson plays for his juco. (Drew Nash/Times-News)

He entered the 2010 NBA Draft and went unselected, but McDonald's story is common among the ranks of junior college basketball players. Just as usual, if not more so, are the juco players who can't find an in with a program, D-I or otherwise.

That's what makes a player like Cleanthony Early so special. The 6'8" forward spent two years at Sullivan County (N.Y.) Community College before transferring to Wichita State University, racking up averages of 24.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game on his way to to being named a NJCAA Division III All-American last season. So far in 2012-13, Early is averaging 15.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg and 0.9 bpg for the Shockers and keeping the team afloat despite a rash of injuries to other important players. WSU is 15-2, boasting a 4-1 conference record that includes Early's 39-point firecracker in a six-point win over Southern Illinois on Jan. 9.

Just as Early's jump from a small junior college to a NCAA Division I school was supposed to be much harder than it now looks, Wichita State's was slated to endure a season in which they fell from their usual spot near the top of the Missouri Valley Conference to middling or even bottom-rung status after the departure of a group of seniors who were responsible for much of the Shockers' recent success. Head coach Gregg Marshall was seemingly prepared, having steadily brought in a slew of junior college recruits to provide veteran leadership in just such a scenario. Currently, six of the 15 players rostered by WSU are juco transfers. Impact players like forwards Carl Hall (a first-team NJCAA All-American at Northwestern Florida State College in 2010-11) and Chadrack Lufile, guards Nick Wiggins and Malcolm Armstead, and center Ehimen Orukpe all played at two-year schools before being clad in WSU's black-and-yellow gameday attire.

Early and his teammates are not the most well-known players to formerly play in the NJCAA, though. That distinction belongs to Baylor point guard Pierre Jackson, another former NJCAA All-American. Voted onto the preseason All-Big 12 Team and selected as the conference's preseason player of the year, Jackson is the undeniable leader of a Bears team that, instead of making the national noise expected from a squad ranked inside the top 20 before the season tipped off, has struggled to an 11-5 record. Going 3-1 to this point in conference play will help Baylor's regard as a team, but Jackson has been the one consistent bright spot for fans in Waco.

Jackson has yet to dip under double-digits in scoring this season while leading the Bears in minutes played (he's 75 ahead of head coach Scott Drew's second most-used player, freshman center Isaiah Austin). Maybe not surprisingly because of his position and night-in-night-out numbers, Jackson leads the Bears in assists (98) and scoring, hits the glass often enough to be the team's fifth-leading rebounder, and is three steals away from leading the team in that statistic, as well.

For all intents and purposes, Jackson is the essence of Baylor basketball at this point in time. It is only his second year with the program, which, given past success, could have found a fresh-faced high school senior to come in and run the show last season.

Steve Forbes — who began coaching at NWFS just before Hall left the school to become a Shocker — summed up Jackson's experience best in a tweet after the Bears upset Kentucky, 64-55, in Rupp Arena, ending the Wildcats' 55-game home court winning streak.

You see, Forbes knows what it's like to manage a basketball program that does not have the financial luxuries afforded to a Kentucky or a Duke. So do Early and Jackson, and so did I, as as college sophomore sitting at watching tape from the back of a bus as Eck called his Cowley players out for miscues and celebrated them for instances of excellence. Montrell McDonald knows that after a game — win or lose — juco players get off the bus and line up to get food served with the purpose of speed instead of quality.

For every player that finds themselves under the lights in crunch time, surrounded by a roaring crowd, there exists a McDonald. But, with the likes of Early and Jackson propelling their respective teams to meaningful victories, junior college transfers are steadily becoming a more important facet of recruiting to Division I programs big and small.