Is Tyus Jones the answer at backup point guard for the Timberwolves?

It’s a few weeks out from the start of training camp and there are only two point guards on the Timberwolves roster. Will Tyus Jones be the top backup, or is there a better answer still out there?

A season ago, the Timberwolves drafted point guard Kris Dunn high in the lottery. Less than two years prior, Ricky Rubio inked a hefty extension orchestrated by late executive and head coach Flip Saunders.

This summer, both guards were traded by Tom Thibodeau’s regime. Thibs went from making zero trades in the first 14 months of his reign to jettisoning more than 80 percent of the prior year’s point guard minutes in a span of eight days.

Veteran Jeff Teague agreed to sign within minutes of free agency beginning and will be the starter. We’re now one week into September, and third-year man Tyus Jones is the only other point guard on the roster. Conventional wisdom would suggest that he will be the primary backup, but Thibodeau has reportedly been exploring the market for veteran point guards.

Truth be told, it would be unusual for a contender (which the Wolves fancy themselves as, and rightfully so — they very well could be competing for a top-four seed in the Western Conference) to enter the regular season with a 21-year-old backup point guard with only 1347 career minutes over 97 games under his belt.

Objectively, we don’t have a ton of evidence to suggest what Jones would provide in extended time as backup point guard. We do know that he improved quite a bit from his 37 games as a rookie to 60 games under Thibodeau a season ago, shooting 35.6 percent from beyond the arc and even showing some effectiveness on the defensive end of the floor. But it’s still a small sample size, and obvious weaknesses remain.

The main questions are a) is Jones passable enough on defense and have a high enough ceiling on offense to be the backup point guard on a playoff team, and b) is there a surefire, better alternative remaining on the free agent market?

We’ve already established that we don’t quite know the answer to the first question, although much of what we know could lead us to lean ‘yes’. But even if that’s the case, it would make sense to try and upgrade the position from a ‘maybe’ to a sure thing.

In early September, however, options are limited. Are you ready? Here’s the list: C.J. Watson, Trey Burke, Aaron Brooks, Beno Udrih, Isaiah Canaan, Ronnie Price, and Deron Williams. There’s a couple of guys who recently signed overseas that could come back at some point, such as Ty Lawson, Norris Cole, and Brandon Jennings, and some players who were out of the league last year that could resurface, including Nando De Colo and Kirk Hinrich.

Virtually all of the initial list have been connected with Minnesota in some way this offseason. Most recently, Burke and Canaan worked out for the Wolves in Minneapolis. And on Thursday, Darren Wolfson reported that Kirk Hinrich is in town.

Hinrich hasn’t been good in a few years, so it’s hard to imagine him being more than a third point guard after a year’s layoff and in what would be his age-37 season. On the plus side, he is a 37.5 percent career 3-point shooter and obviously knows Tom Thibodeau’s scheme from their time together in Chicago.

In short, none of the above players have a recent track record of playing better than Jones did last season as a 20-year-old. Canaan is intriguing from an upside/scoring perspective, but would be an even worse defender than Jones and doesn’t fit the ‘grizzled veteran’ role that Thibs apparently would like to fill. Brooks is probably the best shooter of the bunch, having shot 37.5 percent from three in 65 games just last year for Indiana, but if he signs, it would likely be as the top backup. And he isn’t better than Jones at this stage in his career.

What would I do if I was in charge, you ask? Sign either Udrih (long track record of playing minutes on winning teams, including winning two titles in San Antonio, plus a 34.9 career 3-point shooter) or Canaan to be the third point guard and name Jones the backup.

Next: Timberwolves Fans: The Importance of Appreciation

We keep saying this, but we should know what direction Thibodeau and the Timberwolves are headed in a matter of days. Or weeks. Or something.