Tyus Jones taken with 24th pick, dealt to Minnesota Timberwolves
Duke point guard Tyus Jones was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 24th pic of the 2015 NBA Draft. Cleveland did not keep him long though, shipping him to the Minnesota Timberwolves for three second round picks.
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Jones is the third and final Duke player taken in the draft as senior Quinn Cook went undrafted. Jones is from Minnesota, so his destination is fortuitous in that regard. He can build up a hometown faithful and attract more people to Timberwolves games as they try to improve with all of these young players.
Jones will come in as the backup point guard to Ricky Rubio, and that will give him some time to develop before he is ready to captain his own team. When he does step on the court, he will be looking at passing options like last year’s number one pick Andrew Wiggins on the wing and this year’s number one pick Karl-Anthony Towns down low.
Jones should also be an upgrade as a shooter over Rubio. There may even be lineups where the two share the court at the same time. That kind of small ball seems to be popular in the NBA these days. Flip Saunders is known for creative offense.
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The Timberwolves now have a young nucleus to build with, but the ladder looks more menacing in the West than it would be in the Eastern Conference next year. It will be interesting to see if they bring Kevin Garnett back for one final season, or if Garnett retires.
The other team involved in Jones’ selection, the Cleveland Cavs, were looking to free up any cap space they can. They are looking at re-signing LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson to max or near max level deals. Every little bit of money they can save helps even if they did not manage to trade Brendan Haywood’s contract on draft day.