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PHOENIX — Phoenix rookie small forward Josh Jackson is not like the Suns’ two other recent high selections in the NBA Draft.

Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss were selected with the understanding that development would have to come offensively and it might not be pretty for them early in their NBA careers.

That has been the case thus far, and while Jackson needs to grow like any other rookie, he was seen as one of the more “NBA ready” players near the top of the 2017 draft class.

Jackson, though, is a rare case where his certain skill-set might be more of a detriment to him as he tries to learn.

Twenty-one games into the season, Suns fans know what Jackson is about. He plays with an “eff you” mentality, a relentlessness without hinting at lacking confidence.

What the Suns wanted to do with this at the start of the season is rather than harnessing it, they had him push farther than what he was capable of.

“I have this thing that fast isn’t fast enough,” former head coach Earl Watson said in early October. “And Josh was like, ‘coach, I went as fast as I could and I kept falling down’ and I said that’s OK, you’ll learn to keep your feet in and make the right plays, but don’t stop. Keep going faster.”

To no surprise, that mindset has led to a lot of turnovers for Jackson. Per Cleaning the Glass, Jackson is turning over 16.5 percent of the possessions he uses. His turnover ratio of 15.1 ranks the second-highest among the 21 rookies who are playing at least 15 minutes a game and have a usage percentage of at least 15 percent, per nba.com.

These turnovers are simply Jackson running out of control and trying to do too much.

Jackson has had at least three turnovers in nearly half of his first 21 games.

The reason he needs to keep going at this pace, though, is because Jackson is at his best when he’s attacking the basket. He’s got a good first step and is a crafty finisher around the rim.

As seen in the last two clips, Jackson is encouraged to push the ball — even off makes — because of his speed and ability to hang in the air.

The challenge, as it is in getting past the first step of taking care of the ball, is reading the right situations to slash into the lane.

He’s struggling at the rim, shooting 51 percent, per Cleaning the Glass. He is in the lowest 15th percentile among the forwards grouping.

Take a look a those three previous clips again. See how Jackson gets a good angle on the rim on all of them?

Now, watch Jackson on all five of these misses either run right into a defender and/or take a difficult angle on the finish as a result.

This is something interim head coach Jay Triano has discussed extensively about Jackson.

“That’s the one thing where we saw him, a lot of times it was head down, out of control, running at the basket and we talked about not wanting to stop that, but harness it a little bit,” Triano said before the Nov. 22 game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

As far as his jumper goes, Jackson looks for the midrange game consistently. That’s a bit notable considering his shaky shooting form, but, once again, he’s not shy.

The numbers, to this point, haven’t been so bad. He’s taking 35 percent of his shots there, which is in the 61st percentile of his position, and is making 34 percent of ’em, in the 38th percentile.

So, yes, he’s been more efficient in the midrange than at the rim when compared to the players at his position.

A theme of Jackson’s jump shot, and his game in general, is when he’s set and in control, it’s money.

Watch these two hits: One is coming off a designed play and the other is taking a natural step-back dribble with space over the big because of an expected switch coming.

But to get repetitive, if he’s forcing and rushing, it’s not great, Bob.

This has led to a predictable downward slope of his 3-point percentage, at 25 percent a fourth of the way through the season.

If you believe the man writing these words, the numbers back up he’s a much better shooter when he’s set. Jackson is shooting 28 percent from deep in catch-and-shoot situations while he’s 1-for-10 in pull-up situations.

An impressive play he had against the Bulls to show this was goofing up by turning down a wide-open corner three, realizing this, and taking a dribble to step back and shoot. Once again, under control and composed.

The reason why cutting down the turnovers, reading the floor better, being a good finisher and having a reliable jumper is so important is because it all together unlocks his best offensive skill: Passing.

Jackson is a smart and instinctual passer. That second descriptor is important because some passers are good and can make the right reads, but Jackson makes passes that stand out from ones you don’t constantly see, and most importantly, he has the skill to execute those passes.

From finding Alex Len after the defense collapses on him to using his left hand to find T.J. Warren in transition to executing a bullet pass give-and-go with Devin Booker by the basket, he’s the real deal.

Once again, like the rest of his game, there’s a bit of a reason to worry there. He only has 24 total assists in 21 games. This, however, I attribute to him finding his footing at such a high pace of play and I expect those numbers to rise drastically over the course of the season.

If you want to be optimistic, this overall issue of harnessing all his offensive talent together will come with time, as Jackson is only a rookie.

If you want to be pessimistic, his overall play style is too much of an issue as it relates to what he tries to accomplish on the offensive end.

Either way, one thing is for sure: If/when Jackson figures out NBA defenses, he’s going to explode and that’s the potential and upside he has as a top-5 pick.

All video clips courtesy of 3 Ball.

Follow @KellanOlson