Written By Zachary Bennett
Nobody can deny that the Minnesota Timberwolves generated excitement during last week’s NBA Draft. Inside Target Center, roughly 8,000 fans roared with approval when the Wolves took Karl-Anthony Towns. Shortly thereafter president-coach Flip Saunders addressed the crowd, announced his intent to move back into the first round and headed back to the offices inside Mayo Clinic Square — the Wolves later traded two second rounders in exchange for the rights to Tyus Jones. Needless to say the crowd was thrilled to know that Jones, the Apple Valley grad, is returning to Minnesota to play for the hometown Timberwolves.
The pursuit and eventual capture of Jones is not without repercussions; motives fueled by such apparent and potentially obvious parochialism should provoke concern. Knowing Saunders has already admitted he believes the acquisition will help sell tickets, some see this as another contrived move to score points with locals. (After all, the return of Kevin Garnett was thought to be one big hoax, right?) There’s also the notion the draft yielded a hometown problem for Ricky Rubio, who will now, as Chip Scoggins writes, get to hear “how great Tyus Jones is every day.”
Moreover, Jones did not become a first-round prospect without having merit, and possesses a respectable amount of upside.
***
The quintessential game manager in one season at Duke University, Jones was at his best directing traffic, coordinating the offense and stepping up in big moments. He was a huge reason why Duke defeated Wisconsin in the national title game. Sure, such success was not achieved without help from Mike Krzyzewski, as well as top-tier prospects Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow — the third and tenth players taken in the draft, respectively. But as Tim Faklis points out, Duke didn’t win the national championship riding the coattails of just one player. It isn’t entirely fair to chalk up what Jones did in college as a byproduct of legendary coaching and great teammates, though the presence of Coach K, Okafor and Winslow certainly didn’t hurt.
The unfortunately popular conviction that Jones is capable of immediately replacing Rubio is absurd, if not comical, to say the least. Granted, Saunders firmly believes intrasquad competition helps get the most out of players, but when the season begins, Jones will undoubtedly be the backup — if not the third — point guard on the roster. He has the tools to become a serviceable backup point guard and possesses skills that will translate to the professional level, some of which should help his new teammates become more productive.
The NBA is a pick-and-roll dominated league, and Jones shows promise in this area but needs to turn into a viable scoring threat if he’s going to be effective. Buckets are much harder to come by against the size and speed of NBA players. Lacking quickness to blow by defenders as well as size necessary to shoot over them, Jones (the second most efficient P&R player in college last season) must continue to work on his shooting stroke and find ways to craft half court sets. Developing a floater will help immensely as he connected on just 44 percent of shots from inside the painted area.
What Jones has going for him is his shooting ability. His field goal percentages at Duke were respectable, and Jones connected on 43 percent of pull-ups last season, leading to 1.13 PPP in these situations, third highest among DraftExpress prospects.
This is encouraging, no doubt, but Jones still has a lot to prove at the next level.
***
Advancing the ball upcourt after missed and made baskets is an undervalued skill. Take Kevin Love, for example, who was a monster on the defensive glass during his stay with the Wolves. But if Love doesn’t have the vision and awareness to notice Corey Brewer leaking behind the defense, his outlet passing is rendered unprofitable.
A knack for looking ahead in fastbreak situations helped Jones produce 301 points (7.5 per game) points during transition possessions, the eighth highest rate among his draft class. He also led the NCAA in transition assists (82). Take a look at the images below to better grasp how Jones accomplished this.
While he may not be Corey Brewer, Shabazz Muhammad is one Wolves player who should profit from Jones’ ability to find teammates running the court in transition. In college, Muhammad recorded 4.8 possessions per-game in transition and scored 0.98 points per-possession (PPP) in such opportunities. Though he wasn’t very efficient — the 0.98 PPP ranked second worst among DraftExpress prospects — his 4.8 possessions per-game in transition were more than anyone at the small forward possession.
In his second season with the Wolves, 16.5 percent of Muhammad’s possessions ended after transition opportunities, where he scored an impressive 1.22 PPP. Many of these plays ended in layups and dunks, such as the one below.
Much like Muhammad, Zach LaVine was at his best at the college level in the open floor — 32.1 percent of his possessions came in transition, more than any other player in his class. He was not afforded these opportunities last season because Saunders played him at point guard.
That changes with Tyus.
Yes, passing ahead in transition is a simple, fundamental skill that isn’t flashy and less-than-impressive to the naked eye. But at the college level Jones was the one of, if not the best at it, and he should receive credit for that. It’s worth noting that he wasn’t careless with the rock, either. Jones’ 2.3 turnovers per 40-minutes was the third best rate among DraftExpress prospects; he also recorded the third highest assist to turnover ratio, as well as Pure Point Rating.
***
Like any incoming rookie, Jones is not without flaw. He’ll immediately find himself undersized at the NBA level. That’s his biggest caveat. Seeing that he’s just over 6-feet tall and weighs only 185 pounds, Jones will probably be a liability at the defensive end, although a lengthy wingspan (6’5’’) and instincts (awareness, anticipation) could somewhat alleviate these shortcomings. It will be interesting to see how the Wolves attempt to deal with opponents who try to take advantage of these deficiencies.
It’s reasonable to doubt that Saunders would have dealt assets in order to obtain another prospect — one without any hometown connections; R.J. Hunter, for example.
Regardless of the process, though, there’s plenty of reason to believe Jones can find a niche with the Wolves.
In this instance, that’s really all that matters.
*Stats Via DraftExpress, Synergy Sports Technology
Zachary Bennett isn’t sure if he should be writing in the third person. He’s a contributor to Cold Omaha, covering the St. Paul Saints, Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. Bennett can also be found at Canis Hoopus and Hardwood Paroxysm.