The Milwaukee Bucks' best perimeter defender is still chained to Doc Rivers' dog house to start the season, and if Donovan Mitchell's performance in this latest loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers isn't proof enough, it's finally time to let him out.
Against Cleveland on Monday night, the Bucks had no answers against a surging Donovan Mitchell. They gave up 37 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds while none of the matchups they threw at him even made a dent on his scoring and playmaking.
The Amir Coffey experiment didn't work out. Kyle Kuzma isn't quite there yet when it comes to discipline and technique. AJ Green and Ryan Rollins just aren't big enough. There are no more options left to try except the one that's been staring them in the face all this time.
Donovan Mitchell just proved Bucks need to dust off defensive ace
Jackson proved last season he can guard on the perimeter at a legitimately high level. He's got the size at 6-foot-6, the wingspan, the lateral quickness, and most importantly, the defensive instincts that can't be taught.
When Andre Jackson Jr. was the primary defender on forwards last season, said wings were limited to just 34-of-86 on field goals, or 39.5 efficiency, according to matchup data on NBA.com/stats. And yet he went from starting to losing his rotation spot altogether, because his offensive limitations were deemed insurmountable and too detrimental.
And even with Coffey losing his rotation minutes, that spot seems to have gone to Gary Harris instead of Jackson Jr. despite the former's poor showing in the preseason.
This writer has long argued that Jackson Jr.'s offensive limitations should not be the be-all and end-all when evaluating his role as a player. He struggles spacing the floor, absolutely, but he also could benefit from more motion on offense that maximizes his ability to handle, move off the ball, set screens, and initiate handoffs. It only takes a bit of offensive imagination that doesn't relegate him to the corners and force him to make shots despite admittedly clunky mechanics.
Rivers keeps talking about needing more from the wing position and needing his guys to buy in to his defensive ethos built on ball pressure, yet the answer is sitting right there in a Bucks uniform barely getting garbage time run. At some point, this stops being about evaluation and starts being about pride. And Rivers is refusing to admit he was wrong about your initial rotation decisions.
Milwaukee's championship hopes might come down to whether Rivers swallows that pride before it's too late. They need Jackson's defense more than they need whatever marginal offensive contributions they're getting from the guys playing ahead of him.
To their own detriment, the Bucks' best defender has had the shortest leash, and it has to stop now. The experiment phase is over.
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