He’s a Grizzly, but also a unicorn.
Jaren Jackson Jr. was banged up for part of his first NBA season, but the voters saw enough of his game to name him first-team All-Rookie.
JJJ received 60 first-team votes out of a possible 100 despite only playing on 58 games this season. He was chosen on the second-team on 39 ballots and was left off only one (odds are a voter accidentally left him off because yes things like that happen), giving him the fourth highest point total among rookies.
Jackson averaged a shade under 14 points and five rebounds per game for his rookie season, despite only averaging 26 minutes a contents. JJJ continued his defensive prowess and long range shooting he showed at MSU, racking up 1.4 blocks per game and shooting the three ball at a 36% clip.
An interesting quirk with this year’s All-Rookie class, it is the first time in NBA history that all five members of first-team All-Rookie were the first five picks in the previous NBA Draft.
Jackson also represented Team USA at this year’s Rising Stars Challenge during the NBA All-Star weekend.
Former MSU star Miles Bridges also received some first-team and second-team votes, but not enough to make the cut for either honor.
