5. Hometown Hero
Starting off with a relatively well-known piece of information, Tyus Jones is in fact from the Twin Cities. He was born in Burnsville, MN, and later attended Apple Valley High School.
During his time with Apple Valley, he led them the 2013 Minnesota State High School League championship, as well as winning a plethora of individual awards for himself. He received many awards from local Twin Cities newspapers, including being named Pioneer Press player of the year an impressive three years in a row, as well as being named Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year in 2012 and 2014. During his senior season, he was also named Mr. Basketball Minnesota.
His 2014 season will go down as arguably one of the best seasons in Minnesota High School history. In addition to winning all local awards possible, he also won several accolades at the national level. Jones was named to the McDonalds All American team as well as being named to the USA team in the Nike Hoops Summit, where he tied the game’s record with 5 steals.
In an interview with the Charlotte Observer before Jones’ draft night, he was quoted saying,
"“As a kid you dream of playing in the NBA, but especially the hometown team. My family would love that.”"
On draft night, Flip Saunders was working overtime to try to get a deal done for Jones, and eventually, he was able to strike up a trade with Cleveland to select Tyus Jones with the 24th pick of the night. Saunders said,
"“We had to do a lot of stuff to try to get the pick. What he is, he’s a leader.”"