Minnesota Timberwolves: 5 Goals For Tyus Jones

Improving Basketball I.Q.

This can go along with not trying to do too much. Basketball I.Q., if you couldn’t guess, is all about playing with smarts. Both on offense and on defense.

The team struggles more so on defense if you weren’t already aware. Jones should be honing in on Jimmy Butler to show him his ways as a lock-down presence on defense. However, his overall basketball I.Q. focuses on his game as a whole, not one dimension of it.

I.Q. is about playing the game as a coach. Offensively, think about where teammates will be before they are there, know situations, put up smart shots, give smart passes and so on. On the defensive side it is about learning Thibs’ style and rotation to perfection, as well as projecting where opponents will be before they are there. Also, reading the eyes of the ball-handler, feeling out screens and jumping passes shows mental growth.

Again, the overall idea of this is being able to play the game thinking like a coach. Tyus has learned from two of the best thus far with Coach K at Duke and now Thibs professionally. He will mature over time and his IQ will grow, hopefully doing so starting this year.