For even a healthy percentage of players whose busts occupy space in the Naismith Hall of Fame, the early years of their career arc feature something other than an uninterrupted upward sweep. If Jaden Ivey’s bust winds up there someday, he’ll look back on the start of his second season as a critical building block.
For all of the hand-wringing about how, when or how much Jaden Ivey is or has been used this season, none of it has come from Jaden Ivey. And that, as much as anything, put him in a place where he was arguably the best player on the floor Wednesday night when the Minnesota Timberwolves, sitting atop the Western Conference and with three certifiable All-Stars in the lineup, had to bring their A game to hold off the Pistons.
And it was Ivey who kept the Pistons on Minnesota’s heels all night with 32 points on 13 of 22 shooting, 4 of 6 from the 3-point arc, plus six assists against two turnovers, one a sketchy offensive foul on one of Ivey’s many drives of controlled fury.
But it wasn’t the way Ivey made the scoreboard dance all night that Monty Williams wanted to first address afterward – and, in that, was a thread that’s woven its way into the mature relationship coach and ascendant star have formed since Williams’ hiring last summer.
“You look at the offense and you see unreal numbers,” Williams began, “but I’m really proud of the way he defended tonight. There were times he was guarding a bigger guy – 2, 3, 4 inches – and he just stood in front of him and walled up and contested the shot or made the guy pass the ball. That’s something we feel he can do on a consistent basis.”
Williams sees what Ivey does and admires it – the speed, the athleticism, the skill level. He also sees what Ivey can be and that’s on another plane. Call it tough love if you will. But Ivey would reject the modifier. He’s been all-in on Williams since the day he was hired.
At media day on Oct. 2, Ivey got choked up when asked to assess what he believed would be the impact of having Williams as his coach.
“First and foremost, I’m blessed to be able to say he’s going to be my coach this year and for a long period of time,” Ivey said. “Personally, I have so much gratitude that I would get to learn from him, build a relationship with him. It’s kind of leaving me speechless. He’s such an amazing person and that’s why I’m kind of speechless talking about it. The charisma and just the gift that he has to lead us … I’m really looking forward to building with him and learning from him, just being the best player I could be for him.”
A few days later, as Williams singled out Killian Hayes for his play and spoke of the synergy he foresaw for Hayes in tandem with Cade Cunningham, it seemed Williams was foreshadowing a potential move of Ivey to the bench to spearhead the second unit. There shouldn’t be any stigma any longer about coming off the bench – minutes played and closing lineups are more telling indicators of a player’s status – but it still matters to fans and, yes, many players. But Ivey swatted down the notion that it wouldn’t sit well with him.
“Not at all,” he said about the need to start to feel validated. “The goal is to help the team win. No matter if you’re coming off the bench or you’re starting. I have to be disciplined and that’s what we put up there” – a nod to signage on the walls at the Pistons Performance Center – “having that discipline. You have to be that way as a starter and coming off the bench you have to bring the same intensity and the same discipline when you’re out there. That doesn’t matter if you start or not.”
Whether Williams wanted to see more defensive focus or better decision-making from Ivey or if it was merely a belief that Ivey would be best maximized by having the ball in his hands more with the second unit than he’d be in line to get next to Cunningham, the bottom line is Ivey never emitted a whiff of disgruntlement with the decision.
And here we are. In eight January games before Wednesday’s 32 points, tying his career best, Ivey sported averages of 17.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists on 45 percent shooting. Even before Cunningham suffered his left knee strain at Denver on Jan. 7, Ivey was on a decided upswing. But, yes, the Cunningham-Ivey pairing is still in its infancy – they’ve overlapped in 43 games, essentially a half-season – and Ivey admits there is still much for them to explore before the idea of them becomes fully weaponized.
“It’s just learning,” Ivey said. “Figuring out what’s best. I feel when Cade’s out there, there’s a lot of go-to things we like to go to and we’re still figuring it out together. We’re still trying to learn from each other. Once he gets back on the court, we can get going together and build off each other.”
That learning process extends beyond the principals, Cunningham and Ivey. Williams, whose candor is rare among his peers, admitted last week he’s also learning how best to use Ivey and made the call to give him the ball more at the top of the key where his lethal explosiveness has maximum space to operate out of pick and rolls.
Ivey proved ready for added responsibility, you could argue, precisely because of the way he responded to his environment. While others were busy wringing hands, Ivey focused on the obstacles to winning greater trust.
“I’m trying to learn. Every single day is a learning opportunity for me,” he said after Wednesday’s tour de force. “Just like he’s trying to figure out everybody and the system, I’m still trying to figure out and learn as much as I can. We’re a growing team. Sometimes you find growth in the losses, not necessarily in the wins. I’m just continuing to learn.”