Justin Jackson (UNC) Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Justin Jackson To Enter NBA Draft

April 13th, 2016 at 5:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

North Carolina sophomore small forward Justin Jackson intends to test the waters and enter the 2016 NBA Draft, reports Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Jackson isn’t expected to hire an agent immediately, which will allow him to return to school should he choose to withdraw prior to the May 25th deadline, Goodman adds.

The 21-year-old comes in at No. 11 overall among sophomores and is ranked No. 63 overall by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com slots him at No. 125 overall. The main knocks against Jackson are that he is a year older than the average sophomore, which limits his ceiling somewhat, and that he isn’t as strong or athletic as the majority of NBA wings, according to Ford.

In 40 appearances for the Tar Heels this season, Jackson averaged 12.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 28.4 minutes per contest. His slash line on the year was .466/.292/.667.

Draft Notes: Jackson, Towns, Okafor

April 2nd, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Draft decisions among underclassmen have been coming at a fast pace this week, and we’re tracking all of them with this post. The draft is still nearly three months away, but there’s plenty of focus on it already around the league. Here’s the latest:

North Carolina freshman small forward Justin Jackson will remain in school rather than enter the draft this year, as he revealed via Instagram (hat tip to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress). Chad Ford of ESPN.com had him listed as the 37th best prospect, though he indicated in a chat with readers Wednesday that he was in line to go in the late first round. Givony already has him slotted at No. 19 on his 2016 mock, so it looks like he stands to gain from another year with the Tar Heels.
Karl-Anthony Towns has surpassed Jahlil Okafor as the top prospect in Ford’s and Givony’s rankings, but It’s not as if Towns has become the consensus top pick amongst NBA teams, Ford also writes in the chat. A slight majority of teams have Towns on top, according to Ford, and scouts are “praying” that Kentucky and Duke meet in the NCAA final so the two can match up. It’ll probably come down to which player is better in the context of the team picking first, Ford believes.
An NBA executive who spoke with Zach Braziller of the New York Post agrees with the assessment that the choice between Okafor and Towns is a matter of which player is a better fit for the team with the No. 1 pick. Still, you couldn’t go wrong with either, the exec added.