NBA: Wolves considering D-League for Tyus Jones

By Marcus R. Fuller
St. Paul Pioneer Press
MINNEAPOLIS - Tyus Jones was preparing for his freshman season at Duke a year ago, and now he’s trying to make an even bigger transition as a rookie in the NBA.
The Apple Valley native, who started his first Timberwolves training camp Tuesday, is eager to soak up all he can from experienced point guards Ricky Rubio and Andre Miller.
“I feel like I’ve prepared pretty well this summer, just working hard, staying in the gym every day and getting up a lot of shots,” he said. “I’m just excited trying to contribute to this team as much as possible.”
After playing in the NBA summer league, Jones noticed the difference in the speed of the game compared to college.
“Just the overall adjustment to the pace and the quickness,” Jones said. “The windows are smaller. You’ve got to make reads quicker. The guys are bigger and stronger. I just think there’s an adjustment period everybody has to go through.”
Wolves general manager Milt Newton said Monday Jones could be sent to the NBA Development League this season to get more playing time. It will come down to whether the team can get him enough playing time to develop.
“We haven’t really used (the development league) in the past, and that’s something we’re trying to rectify,” Newton said. “If there’s an opportunity for us to use the D-League, we will do that, with Tyus especially. But it can be a position where you send him to the D-League and he plays only 14, 15, 20 minutes a game, which was the situation last year.
“For us, we wanted to utilize the D-League. But the team we were associated with, they couldn’t guarantee that our guys would get the minutes that we felt they needed to develop, and so we felt it was better to keep our players here and let them practice and get developed from our coaching staff. If we can fix that situation, while we’re in the situation without a D-League team, that’s a decision we’ll have to make.”
Getting sent to the D-League wouldn’t be a bad thing for Jones, who was drafted 24th by the Cleveland Cavaliers and then traded to Minnesota.
Fourteen first-round picks from the 2014 NBA draft played in the D-League last season, including point guards Marcus Smart (No. 6 pick), Tyler Ennis (No. 18) and Shabazz Napier (No. 24).
Wolves forward Adreian Payne, drafted No. 15 by the Atlanta Hawks, averaged 12.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 17 games for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Austin Spurs in the development league last season.
Jones, who was the Final Four Most Outstanding Player in Duke’s NCAA championship run in April, has been a star at every level. But he is willing to be patient about getting a chance to play for the Wolves as a rookie.
“You’ve just got to be a professional about it,” he said. “You’ve got to approach it the right way. It’s just an honor to be in this league and be a part of this organization. For myself, I have no problem with taking a back seat and learning and just trying to get better. Learning this league and follow the leads from guys like Andre Miller and Ricky Rubio, because they’ve been here before, and they’ve done it.”
Jones respects Miller because the 16-year veteran never relied on athleticism or quickness to be successful in the NBA.
“He’s a very crafty guard, someone who is not going to jump over you or who is not extremely quick or explosive, but he gets the job done night in and night out,” Jones said. “That’s exactly why I’m excited to learn from him and play with and against him every day, because I’m not the quickest. I know I’m not going to jump the highest, but I’m going to outthink you. That’s something he does extremely well and has done for a number of years.”
There might be talk about the D-League for Jones, but Miller said Jones “will surprise a lot of people.”
“He’s way more advanced than a lot of people think, more advanced than I was at 19 years old,” Miller said. “I think he’s going to step in and have a lot of NBA years under him as far as being a point guard in this league.”
The Pioneer Press is a media partner with the Forum News Service