When Tyus Jones was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers and later traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on the same night, there were concerns on whether or not Jones could make it at the next level.
He was on the smaller side for a point guard and an extra level of speed wouldn’t hurt. Other players picked after him might have had a higher ceiling (drink), but there Jones was, going in the late first round.
Why? If you’re from Minnesota, you know the answer to this. Jones has won wherever he’s gone. Apple Valley? State championship his junior season, along with gold medals for USA Basketball at the FIB U16, U17 and U18 levels.
Duke? Championship (sorry, Badgers). He was so clutch down the stretch, the freaking President of the United States nicknamed him “Tyus Stones.” And if Barack actually wrote that line, well, that was pretty clutch in itself.
Jones was drafted because he’s good at basketball. Let’s not forget that. But he was drafted in the first round because of all the other things that some guys just don’t have. His will to win. His work ethic. For a 19-year-old, he’s beyond his years, much like teammate Karl-Anthony Towns. You can’t teach athleticism. That’s true. But you also can’t teach someone to be a winner.
Fast-forward to Jones’s rookie season with the Wolves.
Jones started like all rookies in Summer League. In his first game against the Los Angeles Lakers, he looked a bit lost against quicker guards like Jordan Clarkson and fellow rookie D’Angelo Russell. Jones would bounce back, though, scoring 14 points the very next night against the Chicago Bulls.
Jones realized very quickly that if he played within himself, he’d be fine.
“Personally, I just want to get better every day,” Jones said in Las Vegas. “A better point guard, a better leader on and off the court… It’s just a different level. A lot of things are quicker.”
Now, to the regular season.
To say Jones played poorly to start his rookie season would be unfair considering he appeared in just nine games before Feb. 8. With Ricky Rubio, Andre Miller and Zach LaVine above Jones on the depth chart, General Manager Milt Newton decided to send Jones down to the D-League and boy, did it ever pay off (much like teammate Shabazz Muhammad two years earlier).
In six games with the Idaho Stampede, Jones averaged 24.7 points, 5.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals while playing 35.2 minutes per game. He shot 48.7 percent from the field, including a scorching 42.6 percent from the 3-point line.
“It’s been a good experience,” Jones said while in Idaho. “Just getting a chance to play and getting my game legs back and kind of getting back there in game situations has been good… I think it’s something that I definitely needed.”
After his arrival back in the NBA, the Wolves wanted to keep his confidence riding high. He appeared in the next seven games and there were mixed results. He scored five or more points four times, but had three turnovers in just 12 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 28. Then it was back to the pine for Jones – for the next 17 games. With limited practice time, it was up to Jones to watch film and stay in shape (sometimes by running sprints with assistant coach Ryan Saunders in the Target Center concourse before games).
But near the trade deadline, the Wolves changed their course when it came to playing time. With the team well out of the playoff hunt, interim head coach Sam Mitchell focused on playing and developing some of the younger guys, like Jones. This led to the team waiving Miller and Kevin Martin, opening up minutes for Jones.
His performance has been promising. Again, it hasn’t been off-the-chart, All-Rookie Team-type numbers, but given how little he played at the beginning of the season, there’s been improvement. He’s appeared in 11 of 13 games, playing more than 11 minutes in all of them. He’s averaged 5.5 points, 3.4 assists and 1.5 rebounds in about 16 minutes per game as Rubio’s backup.
This is a timely post considering Jones is coming off of his best performance as a pro, albeit in a 25-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Jones finished with a career-high 10 points to go with six assists and no turnovers. He shot 4-for-7 from the field and 2-for-4 from the 3-point line (he’s 13-for-26 from deep this season).
“I thought Tyus did a good job,” Mitchell said. “(He’s) learning the league, learning the passes that you can make. At his size, he’s got to get his shot off a little quicker, he’s gotta create space, but it’ll come. He’ll learn.”
The learning might not come as fast as it did in high school or college, but there isn’t any reason to doubt him at this level. After a nine-point performance in a win over the Boston Celtics on Feb. 22, Rubio praised Jones for sticking in there all season long, even though he wasn’t seeing it pay off instantaneously.
“He’s working his a** off and he’s a great kid,” Rubio said. “… Tonight he showed he had character and that’s why he’s here.”
The legend of Tyus Jones continues.