Grading the Nets: Jarrett Jack

Once considered one of the top options off of the bench when he was with the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets point guard Jarrett Jack has fallen quite a bit since his stay in the Bay Area. Prior to his time with the Warriors, he was a reliable starting option with the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors, among others, which makes his fall even more surprising.

While he was at that high point in his career years ago, his drop off in production didn’t begin with the Nets. After his stay in Golden State, Jack flopped with the Cleveland Cavaliers after signing a 4-year, $25 million contract with them in the 2013 offseason.

After just one season, they shipped his contract off to Brooklyn in a deal that also brought Sergey Karasev into the fold. His season last year was an improvement from the time that he spent with the Cavaliers, but it still wasn’t anywhere near his peak nor did it amount to much by way of team success.

Heading into this year, many fans had clamored for the team to acquire a better option than Jack, who has become known as a bit of a ball-stopper. The team opted instead to sign former first round pick Shane Larkin, a move which merely solidified Jack’s starting position.

Though he had been the brunt of intense criticism over the past couple of years, the Jack that came to play this season looked improved despite some numbers speaking to the contrary. His 39% from the field stands out, but in the context of the Nets offense he was able to keep the ball moving and was actually averaging a career-high 7.4 assists per game.

His shot was certainly off throughout the course of the season, but he still had the capability of going off on any given night. That point was reinforced early on in the season against his former team, the Warriors, as he had a team-leading 28 points against Stephen Curry (who shot 13-31 from the field) in what amounted to just an eight point loss.

Defensively, he was pretty reliable on the ball, but it’s when he’s off the ball that he gets into trouble. He showed an inability, much like the rest of his career, to stick with shooters as they ran around the court and it led to a boatload of open looks for the opposing team.

Even with his defense, the season was seen as a bit of a turnaround for Jack; that is until an ACL tear ended his season after just 32 games. The injury, which also resulted in a torn meniscus, will be an uphill battle to return, especially given that he’ll be 33-years old by the start of next season.

It was a bit of a surprise to see Jack play the way that he did throughout the year, with a mind more towards setting his teammates up rather than looking to get his own shot. That type of skill set could be valuable as a bench point guard, but the knee injury may be too much to overcome.

The injury sets his grade back quite a bit, as do his struggles both shooting and defensively, but the improved passing and team-first mentality was enough to prevent this season from being a complete failure for Jack.