by Grizzlies star ahead Jaren Jackson Jr. found himself at the center of a controversy in NBA online circles Saturday morning through no fault of his own when a Reddit user stirred the pot with a provocative post suggesting that the Defensive Player of the Year candidate benefited greatly from a home goaltending bias. . Although the post quickly became the main topic of basketball discourse for the weekend, Kevin O’Connor – a senior basketball writer at The caller— provided his own evidence to dismiss the Reddit post as inaccurate.
The conspiracy theory first began gaining traction Saturday morning when the user claimed they had evidence that the Grizzlies goaltender “put up fake numbers” for Jackson to make him a more compelling candidate for the NBA’s highest defensive honor. The in-depth post used both statistics and video clips, included rather glaring home-away splits for blocks and steals, to make the point and then create quite a stir on social media.
While some were quick to latch on to the idea that Jackson’s case for DPOY may simply be the result of shady statistics, O’Connor was less convinced. To prove his point, the Ringer analyst went back and watched every one of Jackson’s 66 home runs this season in slow motion.
By his estimate, only three of the forward’s 66 home blocks were misregistered by a goaltender, which he called “a completely insignificant amount.” Here is more about what O’Connor discovered during film studies.
ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry, a former vice president of the Spurs’ front office and analyst for Team USA, did a similar breakdown and came to the same conclusion as O’Conner.
Trying to dismiss Jackson’s Defensive Player of the Year case as fraudulent because of some glaring home-and-away splits would not only be negligent, but it would also be just plain wrong. Jackson would lead the league in blocks if he had played enough minutes with 3.1 sacks a game, and the Grizzlies boast the best defense in the league since Nov. 15 — when Jackson made his season debut after returning from injury — big seen because of that. part to the 23-year-old roaming the middle.
The one aspect that could hinder Jackson’s case for his first DPOY would be availability, as the 2021-22 league leader in blocks has missed 16 of the Grizzlies’ games this season and struggles to stay out of foul trouble when he’s in the lineup. But when he’s on the court—whether playing at home in Memphis or in an away arena—Jackson is a dominant defender, capable of asserting himself as the NBA’s best.
