TYUS JONES professional point guard.

[DCZards]

Poole may be the new star in town that everyone is watching to gauge how much potential this new Wizards roster really has, but it may just be Jones who surprises the most, and in a relative sense, increases optimism about the future more than any other on the team.
Https://www.si.com/nba/wizards/news/wizards-trade-for-pg-tyus-jones-underrated-move-from-2023-nba-offseason

[DCZards]

Here’s an article by Josh Robbins about Tyus Jones that is in today’s The Athletic. Of all the Zards new additions this season, I may be most excited about Jones because I really value PG play and the Zards may have a bona fide one in Jones.

Link to the full story is below…although it’s probably behind a paywall.

Tyus Jones relishes his Wizards opportunity: ‘This is what I’ve been working for’

The verdict is already in.

Without needing to play a single minute of the preseason, Washington Wizards players and coaches know exactly what newcomer Tyus Jones will bring.

“Calmness,” Kyle Kuzma said.

“He is a professional point guard, and he is a professional set-up guy,” Corey Kispert said.

“He’s essentially a coach on the floor,” Wes Unseld Jr. said.

As the Wizards prepare for the first year of their rebuild — with all that entails, including all that could go right and all that could go wrong — Jones ranks as one of the team’s few near-certainties. His new teammates and coaches envision him as a connecting force who, because of the cerebral and unselfish way he plays, will bind together a roster flush with go-to guys such as Kuzma and Jordan Poole and youngsters such as Bilal Coulibaly, Deni Avdija and Johnny Davis.

“He’s not going to turn the ball over,” Unseld said of Jones. “He’s steady. He’s going to give you a sense (of leadership) and a presence, essentially being an extension of myself and the coaching staff. But also, he can score the ball.”

The 2023-24 season will be a transition year for Jones almost as much as it will be for his new team. About to begin his ninth year in the NBA, the former backup to Ricky Rubio or Jeff Teague in Minnesota and to Ja Morant in Memphis will enter a preseason as a projected starting point guard for the first time in his pro career.

“It feels great,” Jones said Monday, during the Wizards’ annual media day. “This is what you strive for. You always want more, right? If you’re not striving and working towards more responsibilities, I feel like you’re in the wrong profession. So, this is what I’ve been working for going into Year 9 for eight seasons now. But, at the same time, the work’s just getting started now. (There’s) more responsibility, more pressure — all those things.”

Jones came to the Wizards in the three-team trade headlined by Kristaps Porziņģis going from the Wizards to the Boston Celtics and Marcus Smart moving from the Celtics to the Grizzlies. The deal also sent Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala from Boston to Washington.

For the Wizards, Jones was the true prize in the trade.

https://theathletic.com/4923470/2023/10/02/tyus-jones-washington-wizards/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983

[Frichuela]

Advanced stats appear to love Tyus:

1) He has had a positive +/- differential in every season of his career, with the exception of his rookie season. His last two seasons are actually his best in this department.
2) He has had a positive DBPM every season of his career, also with the exception of his first season. Despite his small size, this is not too surprising, given he has averaged a whopping 1.8 steals/per 36 in his NBA career.

[nate33]

Tyus Jones has, by far, the worst on/off rating on the roster:



Seriously, a minus 44.4? Have you ever seen a number that bad? I realize some of this is because our entire starting lineup is getting consistently creamed, and Tyus has the misfortune of having to share a lot of minutes with Poole; but still, his impact has been pretty underwhelming.

His individual stats have been okay, but not great. Per 36, he is averaging 14.1 points, 7.1 assists, 3.7 boards, 1.3 steals and 1.3 turnovers with a TS% of .542. He has been a pretty steady hand on offense, but his lack of size on defense is a real bad mix with Jordan Poole. Jordan Poole's inability to fight through screens inevitably results in the Wizards having to switch or help from the weakside, and Tyus is too small to have much impact in help D.

I still like him, but I'm starting to think that the pairing of him and Poole just can't work. They need to be split up. Either start Wright in place of Tyus, or start Kispert or Shamet in place of Poole. I prefer the latter because I think Tyus is the best PG to pair with Gafford.

[DCZards]

I think a big part of the problem, at least on offense, is how little Jones is actually allowed to play PG. Kuz is given far too much playmaking responsibility, imo, (he brings the ball up most of the time) forcing Tyus to play off the ball more often than not.

I was hoping that Jones would be allowed to truly be a playmaking PG.

[nate33]

I think a big part of the problem, at least on offense, is how little Jones is actually allowed to play PG. Kuz is given far too much playmaking responsibility, imo, (he brings the ball up most of the time) forcing Tyus to play off the ball more often than not.

I was hoping that Jones would be allowed to truly be a playmaking PG.

I don't think this is much of an issue. The way the offense is structured, anybody but Gafford can bring the ball up the court. They then make the first pass to Gafford about 5 feet above the top of the key and then the actual offense initiator curls around to receive the short pass or handoff from Gafford. The offense actually starts with whomever receives that first pass from Gafford. And that guy is Tyus Jones more than anybody else.

[Jay81]

Dude is horrible. Rethink your scouting methods gentleman

Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk

[Jay81]

Dude is horrible. Rethink your scouting methods gentleman

Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk

Start bilal and move deni to pg

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[gambitx777]

Every one needs to chill lol he's not terrible. He's just a back up as we continue to try and make starters out of back up PGs

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using RealGM mobile app

[payitforward]

Time to maybe eat some crow on Tyus Jones, what do you think...?

In the month of December, Tyus has scored 97 points on 68 shots & 4 FTAs for a TS% of .695 -- unheard of for a guard!

His 3 pt. % for the month so far is .464.

Tyus had an absolutely amazing game in our close loss to Phoenix. He scored 22 points on 15 shots. He had 11 assists & 6 steals -- he even blocked a shot.

Tyus Jones is playing his axx off.

[NatP4]

Great. Now trade him for a late 1st and an expiring contract.

Makes the Porzingis trade slightly better.

[nate33]

Great. Now trade him for a late 1st and an expiring contract.

Makes the Porzingis trade slightly better.

Exactly.

Will Dawkins should be on the phone seeing what he can get. I'm not saying Tyus should be traded tomorrow because he might be worth more if we wait until there's an injury or some other circumstance whereby Tyus is more desperately coveted; but Dawkins should definitely be having conversations to gauge the market.

Another consideration is that there will be some decent young free agent guards available this summer, including Quickley, Fultz, Monk and maybe Bruce Brown (Indy has a rather expensive team option on him). There's also Maxey, but I'm not counting him because he's a restricted free agent that Philly is guaranteed to match.

[payitforward]

Agree entirely with both Nat & nate.
& I feel sure it's happening -- & not only about Jones.

I bet the GMs of pretty much all the teams are on the phone with most or all other GMs at least once a week & probably more often. They are likely to be talking through the value of any/every player in a trade for any/every other player!

You check with one guy to get an idea about what some other guy might give you.
You check about players you don't want to trade (or trade for), because an outlandish response might make you change your mind. Etc. etc. etc.

Or to see how your brethren value their own players. You want to know that, because it might facilitate deals involving multiple teams. Or give you reason to re-evaluate someone on your own roster.

[nate33]

From an article by Josh Robbins in the Athletic primarily about Kuzma trade talks with Dallas, but there was this tidbit:

Many rival executives expected the Wizards to trade point guard Tyus Jones, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. But Washington retained Jones, with the clear hope of re-signing Jones in July.

All indications are that Winger and Wizards general manager Will Dawkins had an ongoing dialogue with Jones and Jones’ primary agent, Kevin Bradbury, in the days leading into the trade deadline about possible trades.

“They were open and honest with me and my agent, honestly, from the beginning and just more so down the stretch closer to the deadline just because stuff picks up,” Jones said. “But I appreciate Will and Michael for that just because they don’t have to do that; they have a job to do.

“But at the same time, them just kind of keeping us in the loop and keeping us informed and kind of seeing where our heads were at and just letting us know what they were thinking, what they were hearing and certain conversations they were having — it was a blessing. And it was much appreciated. Ultimately, them keeping me here was appreciated as well. I’m glad to be here, glad to put on a Wizards uniform and continue to build with these guys and try to lead. I take a tremendous pride in being a leader in this locker room and being a leader on this team and for this organization. So, for the front office to continue to trust in me and believe in me, I appreciate that, and we’re going to continue to take steps forward here.”

It sounds like Tyus resigning in DC is a strong possibility. Judging from his MO, My guess is that Dawkins has told him that they want him back, and has told him the price they want to pay. And it sounds like Tyus is probably willing to accept the offer, but is going to do his due diligence and confirm that there isn't a substantially better offer out there from another team.

[tontoz]

Nice to see things being handled professionally. I never understood teams saying "we will never trade him" which just makes them look bad when they do.

I would be fine with it if they resign him.

[Frichuela]

Nice to see things being handled professionally. I never understood teams saying "we will never trade him" which just makes them look bad when they do.

I would be fine with it if they resign him.

Agreed. At this point, we must resign him as otherwise we lose him for nothing.

[nate33]

Read on Twitter

This sets the market for Tyus. Tyus is almost exactly the same player, both in stature and statistically.

I figure there’s a bit of a contender discount on the Conley deal, so I’d say my suggestion of paying Tyus just over the MLE, but on a descending contract, sounds about right.

[dckingsfan]

I figure there’s a bit of a contender discount on the Conley deal, so I’d say my suggestion of paying Tyus just over the MLE, but on a descending contract, sounds about right.

If that does happen, we are in a pretty good place, IMO (compared to where we were).

If we do draft a PG, #1 Pick/Tyus. If we get Sarr, then next season we get Tyus/Buter.

And we have the rotation of Kuz/Avdija/Coulibaly at F and we still have Bagley/Homes at C (who are both on expiring contracts).

Yeah, that isn't a championship team but it is the start of the rebuild.

[payitforward]

Makes good sense.

I wonder whether Conley's being 36 complicates the comparison, i.e. the fact that his new deal will almost surely be his last one.

Conley's kind of a wow. He's in his 17th season & has played over 37000 NBA minutes. This year, he's playing just about 30 minutes a game at a level that puts him in the top handful of PGs in the league! Hand it to him for sure!