NBA Draft Analysis: GG Jackson, Chris Livingston (Patreon)

A lightning round version of Stock Up, Stock Down, analyzing players who the Pacers could select with their additional first round picks or in the second round. 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Believe it or not, the draft is this week. Apparently, times flies when you're pulling all-nighters, glued to your laptop watching film of prospects like you're cramming for finals week. When I started this endeavor, my intention was to provide analysis on the players projected to be in range for the Pacers at No. 7 who were brought in for solo workouts. With deep dives on Gradey Dick, Cam Whitmore, Jarace Walker, and Taylor Hendricks, that mission was accomplished (barring a late addition). Then, if there were rumblings connecting a player to the Pacers, like the supposed promise to Bobi Klintman, I pounded out words on those players as well. Finally, I asked you guys for requests in last month's mailbag prompt. That's why I covered Sidy Cissoko and also why I chose to look into the two players that follow. 

Because we're nearing the end of the road, with rumors about trading out, up, and everywhere in-between swirling, this format is a little different. Rather than doing another full edition of Stock Up, Stock Down, wherein I identify reasons to be both bearish and bullish about a player with context specific to the Pacers, I did more of  a lightning round. Don't worry, as you'll soon be able to see from the bulleted lists preceding both sections, I still watched full games in preparation. I just wanted to get to more of the players who were asked about before the Pacers are on the clock.

I hope that's ok, and I hope you've enjoyed this series. Let's lightning round! 

Chris Livingston, Kentucky

• Kansas State: 11 PTS, 5-13 FG, 1-4 3P, 7 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 2 TOV, 1 BLK
• Arkansas: 13 PTS, 5-10 FG, 2-3 3P, 5 REB, 2 TOV
• Kansas: 8 PTS, 4-5 FG, 0-1 3P, 2 REB, 1 TOV, 1 BLK
• UCLA: 14 PTS, 5-8 FG, 2-3 3P, 4 REB, 3 TOV, 1 BLK

Chris Livingston cancelled all seven of his remaining pre-draft workouts after visiting the Pacers. This could mean nothing, or it could mean everything. If there turns out to be meaning in conjunction with the Pacers, Livingston checks several boxes as a wing-sized wing who can defend and shoot under the right circumstances. Of course, "under the right circumstances" is the operative phrase.

According to Synergy, there's a massive swing between his conversion rate on catch-and-shoot jumpers that are unguarded (40.7%) compared to those that are guarded (21.7%), which seems to suggest that he needs time and space to tee up his shot. As of now, he also doesn't have much of a pull-up game to speak of, as he shot just 3-of-23 on dribble jumpers. This possession is an effective summary of the issues at hand. When his defender goes in to tag, he shakes up from the corner, creating a longer closeout for an open shot. Except, he doesn't shoot. Instead, he curls into the catch and immediately attacks off the bounce. In theory, given that his defender is recovering from being low and wide, that should allow him to maintain a head-start, but he never manages to turn the corner and ends up letting the ball fly  without ever getting his hips square to the basket.

In that case, if he isn't going to shoot against the initial closeout and can't overpower his man with his frame, he needs to be more aware of his surroundings.

For the time being, his defense will likely have to suffice for where his offense lags. And, it does, in certain areas. He's very proactive with off-ball switches, staying cognizant of potential mismatches, whether it be opportunistically pre-switching with bigs on the screen approach or scramming guards out of the post.

Depending upon the match-up, the Pacers assigned their bigs to low usage wings last season to keep them low and out of ball-screen coverages. When a guard got switched onto a opposing big, they would send the five-man to scram out the mismatch. Within that scheme, Livingston might be able to hold his own cross-matching onto some bigs and then switching out to the ball. He also has some flashes of defending at the point of attack against guards, which might actually be the more enticing attribute for the Pacers, seeing as how they are short on on-ball defenders who aren't ... well ... short. In that regard, Livingston doesn't often pressure the ball, staying skinny and bending around screens at sharp angles, but he will catch up to contest shots from behind, similar to Tyrese Haliburton.

Ideally, the Pacers will add someone who can blow up the ball-screen completely or switch without disconnecting too soon; however, in addition to using his length in rearview pursuit, Livingston also has more size than most of the options for the Pacers as on-ball defenders to veer into the roller when chasing over and switching.

And, here's the thing: he doesn't get crunched on the glass after doing so.

For a team that ranked last in opponent offensive rebounding rate last season, the intelligence he displays as a rebounder, even when he doesn't collect the rebound, is among his biggest selling points -- which is both a credit to him while also speaking to other areas of his game, such as shoot-or-drive decisions and finding counters, that don't currently enhance his athleticism.

GG Jackson, South Carolina

• Alabama: 19 PTS, 8-20 FG, 2-6 3P, 3 REB, 1 AST, 1 STL, 5 TOV, 2 BLK
• Tennessee: 5 PTS, 2-12 FG, 0-4 3P, 4 REB, 2 AST, 3 TOV, 2 BLK
• Kentucky: 16 PTS, 6-10 FG, 2-2 3P, 3 REB, 1 AST, 1 TOV

Like Livingston, South Carolina's GG Jackson also reportedly cancelled some workouts after his visit with the Pacers, during which he was seen chatting with Tyrese Haliburton. Again, this could be nothing, especially given that Jackson was listed among the prospects who met with the Atlanta Hawks a few days later, but there's been some reporting that he may have received a promise from a team selecting somewhere in the 20s. So, the Pacers can't be entirely ruled out, either.

Unlike Livingston, who's projected to be on the outskirts of the second round, Jackson is far more likely to find his spot and elevate, launching 32 percent of his shots as dribble jumpers. Of course, that's a bit of a double-edged sword, seeing as how he rarely finds shots he doesn't like. Just for point of reference, here's the full list of qualified players in the NBA last season who matched Jackson in posting a usage rate above 24 percent and an assist rate below eight percent:

• Jaren Jackson Jr. - 24.7% usage rate, 5.0% assist rate
• Bennedict Mathurin - 24.6% usage rate, 7.6% assist rate
• Kelly Oubre Jr. - 26.5% usage rate, 5.6% assist rate

That's it. That's the list. Mathurin, meanwhile, attempted free throws on 47 percent of his field-goal attempts, compared to just 26.9 percent for GG Jackson, who guards himself with some of the shots he takes. To be fair, there are times where it seems as though there's a "chicken or the egg" factor at play when he loses his filter. As in, does the offense stop because he stops the ball, or does the ball stop with him because the offense stops? Just look at what happened when Livingston walled him up along the baseline against Kentucky. Everyone just watches as he works himself into a lather, cycling through pivots until he has no choice but to shoot.

That said, he certainly has some possessions where he determines himself to shoot no matter what. For example, taking a baseline two after running out of real estate with 15 seconds left on the shot-clock is wild stuff. Also, wild? Never appearing in frame during the entirety of the ensuing fast-break.

The film isn't kind in that regard. Maybe it's the weight of the load that he carries on offense, but he wavers between disengaging away from the ball and appearing like he's gassed. In the universal sign of "decoy," he'll stand in the corner with his hands on his knees. When he was being face-guarded against Alabama, he didn't go set a pick to create a double screen, and if there's a switch, he can be complacent, neither diving to the block or smashing the mismatch on the glass.

The same also applies on defense, where he can be seen doing stuff like throwing up his hands when no one closes out and then just standing there while his man snatches an offensive rebound behind his back.

He was only 17 at the start of last season for South Carolina, so it's possible some of his issues with motor and how demonstrative he can be will come around with age and experience when he's in a locker room with NBA veterans, but he also makes some really loud mistakes. For example, tagging the screener from the strong-side without demonstrating much urgency to recover back out to the perimeter, where Brandon Miller shoots 40 percent off the catch, is highly questionable.

Meanwhile, when he's defending on-ball, he oftentimes stands far too upright and struggles to get through screens as a result. And yet, in spite of all those qualms (and there are many), he can punish drop coverage enough as a pull-up scorer that the opponent will change coverage to switching and he still manages to create an angle for a shot with a reverse pivot while staying on balance.

Or, in rarer glimmers, he'll force the closeout, stay low, and draw contact on a drive beginning from outside the three-point line in a way that wouldn't be replicable from anyone else his size for the Pacers.

Whether that possession is replicable for him, reining in the type of shots he takes without as much reign of the offense, will be critical in determining how his scoring talent fits on for size with a Pacers team that aims to get to the next action and already is in need of organic development on defense, where he would have to outgrow some of his current habits.