WHY ISN’T JAREN JACKSON JR LEADING IN BLOCKS PER GAME?

The NBA is currently stacked offensively with each night bringing 30+ point games from individual players, sometimes with two of them even. The total scores at the end of games too have reached high levels, with each game offering close to 250 points in total. We are witnessing an offensive revolution that keeps on growing exponentially.

What we haven't seen in the league growing defensively, at least not since the prime 2015 warriors, where Draymond Green reinvented the defensive man. Standing at 6 foot 6 (198 cm), Draymond led the defense by telling the players where to position themselves and where to go mid plays. Nowadays, the defensive big man came back into play, with the dominance of Rudy Gobert who won DPOY three times in a row. Two seasons ago, Myles Turner led the league in blocks per game with 3.4 to his name. Last season was a bit underwhelming blocks wise, as Jaren Jackson Jr led the league with 2.3 per game. But this season we are witnessing a blocks fest, as Nic Claxton is currently leading in blocks with 2.7 per night, who is followed closely by Brook Lopez with 2.5, Myles Turner with 2.4, and the rookie Walker Kessler with 2.0 blocks per game.

Now these numbers are impressive, especially compared to last season as the top 3 players on the leaderboard average higher amounts of blocks than last year's blocking leader in Jaren Jackson Jr. But that's the thing, there's a player missing. You might ask yourself, where is Jaren Jackson Jr (JJJ)? JJJ is currently averaging 3.2 blocks this season, and he is yet to find himself in the block leaderboard. Jaren Jackson blocked a total of 108 shots this season, the 3rd most overall behind Claxton and Brook Lopez. As JJJ missed the first 10 or so games at the beginning of the season, his average is an astonishing 3.2. But again, he cannot be found on the leaderboard. So why is that? Well that's just it, he doesn't have enough games for him to be eligible to make the leaderboard, but should qualify for it in the next couple of weeks.

After taking all of this into consideration it's normal to assume that by the time JJJ is eligible for making the leaderboard, that his average will decrease and Nic Claxton will remain the leader. To put into perspective, triple J's effect on the floor, he blocked 7.4% of all 2 point shots while he was on the floor last season, which led him in blocks last season. Compared to this season, JJJ is blocking a staggering 11.3% of 2 point shots! In comparison, Nic Claxton has 8% of shots blocked while he's on the floor.

It is more than possible, in fact it's inevitable that Jaren Jackosn Jr will surpass Claxton in shot blocks as soon as he qualifies for the number of games played this season. And even then, he might just continue to get more blocks per night as a young and talented Memphis roster is coming back from injuries, and a 5 game losing streak.