This article is part of our The Prospect Post series.
Demetrius Jackson and Melo Trimble have not been covered until now, primarily because they are both fringe lottery picks who, in all likelihood, will be either career backups or among the bottom third of starting point guards in the NBA. However, it is entirely possible that one or both will have more aptitude for the pro game than prognosticators foresee. After all, point guard is a tricky beast to evaluate. Elite athleticism is nice, but not necessary. Elite three-point shooting certainly helps, but only Stephen Curry, Jerryd Bayless, George Hill, Matthew Dellavedova, Jeff Teague, Jose Calderon and Patrick Beverley are shooting above 40 percent from three-point range among qualified point guards, and of those Curry is the only one who is a consensus top-10 point guard in the league. Getting teammates involved is essential, but it's also tricky to judge point guards based solely on their assists, as Rajon Rondo and Ricky Rubio are always near the top of that leaderboard and nobody is confusing either of them with being pillars of the position. It is nice to have a great defender at the position, but far too often the best defensive point guards are well below-average offensive players.
Demetrius Jackson and Melo Trimble have not been covered until now, primarily because they are both fringe lottery picks who, in all likelihood, will be either career backups or among the bottom third of starting point guards in the NBA. However, it is entirely possible that one or both will have more aptitude for the pro game than prognosticators foresee. After all, point guard is a tricky beast to evaluate. Elite athleticism is nice, but not necessary. Elite three-point shooting certainly helps, but only Stephen Curry, Jerryd Bayless, George Hill, Matthew Dellavedova, Jeff Teague, Jose Calderon and Patrick Beverley are shooting above 40 percent from three-point range among qualified point guards, and of those Curry is the only one who is a consensus top-10 point guard in the league. Getting teammates involved is essential, but it's also tricky to judge point guards based solely on their assists, as Rajon Rondo and Ricky Rubio are always near the top of that leaderboard and nobody is confusing either of them with being pillars of the position. It is nice to have a great defender at the position, but far too often the best defensive point guards are well below-average offensive players.
Being a great point guard in the NBA requires a special combination of these traits that is always uniquely weighted depending on the player, which is what makes evaluating point guard prospects so difficult. Jackson and Trimble both have some special qualities that could translate to the next level, which is why they will be selected in the middle of the first round.
Here are their measurements:
| Player | Age | Height | Weight | Wingspan | Standing Reach |
| Demetrius Jackson | 21 | 6'1" | 198 | 6'4.75" | 8'0" |
| Melo Trimble | 21 | 6'2" | 185 | 6'2" | N/A |
This is a pretty telling juxtaposition of the two players. Trimble is taller, and might therefore be considered a better bet to make it in the NBA, but Jackson is longer, stronger and more athletic. His quickness and athleticism allows him to freelance and create gems out of nothing in the halfcourt. He keeps his dribble in traffic and uses his physical gifts to get by guys and create space for himself.
View post on imgur.comView post on imgur.comHe is not just an athlete in the sense that he plays high-level basketball well. Jackson has legitimate hops for a player his size, which is where the Nate Robinson comps come from.
View post on imgur.com However, he is taller than Robinson and is more of a legitimate point guard. Robinson was always a shoot-first player who loved nothing more than to try to take a game over by scoring. Jackson is also at home in that environment, but he seems to better understand the demands of the position. While Robinson was athletic enough and could shoot well enough from beyond the arc to survive in the NBA, Jackson has the handle, leadership and decision-making acumen to be a legitimate showrunner in the halfcourt. That's not to say Jackson will ever be a high-volume assist guy at the next level, relative to the position, but he will be better in that area than Robinson ever was.
Jackson has also been dubbed "The Russell Westbrook of College Basketball" by ACC shills, which is completely unfair and unnecessary. There will never be another athlete like Westbrook, and physically the two don't stack up. Westbrook is kind of like Bo Jackson, where evaluators should simply not be allowed to use him as a comparison for a prospect. That said, the comparison does a solid job of getting across what Jackson's game entails. He is a much better shooter than Westbrook was at 21 years old, but it's debatable how much better he will get in that area in the NBA.
Here is how Jackson and Trimble stack up statistically this season:
| Player | MPG | FG% | 3PT% | FT% | REB | AST | STL | PTS |
| Jackson | 35.2 | 47.3 | 35.7 | 79.0 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 1.4 | 16.6 |
| Trimble | 32.0 | 43.8 | 33.3 | 85.8 | 3.0 | 5.4 | 1.3 | 14.2 |
It is important to note that Trimble is playing with a much more talented roster and Maryland has had an easier schedule, so the fact that he is still shooting a lower percentage is a little more glaring in that context. That said, it is clear that they bring similar attributes to the table.
They should each be able to shoot well enough to survive at the next level. What is not really measured here is their defensive capabilities and their handles. Relying on the eye test, both have pretty advanced handles, so that shouldn't be a problem in the NBA. Relying on advanced metrics, neither player profiles as an above average defender in the pros, but they have good motors and good basketball instincts, so that will go a long way toward keeping their defense at a level that allows them to stay on the court.
Trimble is an excellent pick-n-roll point guard, which is a nice starting point for any floor general in the NBA.
View post on imgur.comView post on imgur.comView post on imgur.comA lot of his success is based on the fact that Maryland's bigs are massive targets relative to other college players, and in this particular game, North Carolina's pick-n-roll defense is borderline laughable. Still, Trimble is very under control when reading and probing the defense, and he is great at determining the perfect time to hit his cutting big man. In the NBA, teams will start by taking away the roller and cutting off Trimble's drive, so he will have to be able to pull up from 15 feet and hit open mid-range jumpers at a satisfactory clip in order to force the defense to switch up the way they defend the pick-n-roll. So far, in college, there has been no stopping him.
Maryland PG Melo Trimble leads the NCAA (HM) in PTS created on the pick & roll. He's shooting 53% while the players he passes to shoot 58%.
— Synergy Sports Tech (@SynergySST) January 9, 2016
Both players have played in a ton of big games against good opponents, and there will be a lot more of that in the coming 6-7 weeks. Neither player looks like anything close to a star, but neither has any glaring weaknesses, so they could step into a 20-25 mpg role fairly soon on a team in need of depth at the position. As is the case with most prospects, where they are drafted and how they are coached will be a huge determining factor in their career success. These two prospects are incredibly close in my eyes, but if I'm picking one, I'm taking Jackson and his athleticism edge. It will be a lot easier to determine their potential fantasy value over the next couple years once we see what team they end up on. Make no mistake, these are two players to watch closely as the NCAA tournament approaches.
