Minnesota Timberwolves: The alarming inconsistency of Tyus Jones

Tyus Jones is on the final year of his Minnesota Timberwolves’ rookie contract. Heading into his contract year, it was uncertain whether the Wolves would be able to afford him for future seasons. But through the team’s opening month, the question now is whether the team has a place for him.

The Minnesota Timberwolves‘ Tyus Jones has always been a quiet achiever. However, Jones seems to be the glue of the team at times, even if he doesn’t necessarily stuff the stat sheet.

In terms of offensive rating, Jones was the team’s floor general in six of the ten highest-rated lineups last season, and he was a member of the top three lineups in overall rating.

But looking at Jones’ individual stats, you may not expect such a fact. Jones’ career high in points throughout three seasons stands at just 17, and he’s only totaled 10 or more points on 19 occasions.

For a guard that has been a solid member of the team’s rotation – that’s not a whole lot.

In terms of assists, Jones’ career high is 12, the only time he’s tallied into the double digits. Rebounds stands at six, while blocks stand at two. Perhaps the most impressive is steals, in which Jones managed seven in his first ever NBA start.

While most players may make a significant jump with a new contract to follow in the upcoming offseason, Jones looks unsure of his style of play this year.

While Jones is actually averaging a career-high 6.3 points throughout his eight appearances, he’s also averaging his most minutes, and posting his worst field goal percentage.

I’m not surprised the Wolves have encouraged Jones to shoot more, his role as a facilitator is often quite helpful for the team. However, his lack of scoring likely keeps him from gaining consistently high minutes in Thibs’ rotation, and is most likely one of the reasons Thibs has chosen to keep Teague with the starting lineup, especially early last season.

Jones has shown his ability to score, both from range and in the paint, however consistency and volume have always been an issue for the young guard.

Combined with all this Derrick Rose resurgence, Jones may be looking at a decrease in minutes very soon, and possibly missing out on a contract offer from his hometown Timberwolves in the offseason.

Jones is unlikely to be a big-money signing wherever he goes, but some decent play this season, and a proven ability to also be able to contribute scoring to an offence outside of playmaking, would push Jones’ market a little wider.

Personally, I still think the Wolves should look to keep Jones.

If Rose can continue his resurgence this season, he’s likely to have a few options to consider in free agency. Whether or not he’d consider Minnesota or not is his decision, and Jeff Teague has a player option for next season, although I’d expect him to opt in for his $19 million salary.

With Jones signing a long-term contract, there’s a possibility he could take over the role as Minnesota’s lead facilitator, however in today’s league it’s unlikely that would be possible with a player averaging less than 10 points a game.

If Jones is to stay in Minnesota long-term, it seems like he needs to find his shot consistently and effectively this season. Jones proved in college he was able to keep up with the best of them, so with plenty of work, there’s no reason Jones shouldn’t be able to lift his scoring ability without sacrificing other facets of his game.

It seems to me that Jones has already taken steps in a direction to fix his shot, however he’s yet to reap the benefits. Jones has lifted his field goal attempts to 7.3 attempts per game, up from last seasons’ 4.

If Jones has changed his shot – or at least resolved to be more aggressive with the ball – it’s fine that it might not be super effective, or efficient straight away.

Take a look at Markelle Fultz for example. After his issues his first season, he still isn’t looking fantastic in his second season, yet is looking more comfortable in his shot motion….. sometimes.

Okay, maybe Fultz was a bad example, but lets remember Jones isn’t undergoing a major shot remake like the former is.

Jones is likely to just be retooling offensive skills that he already possesses, and working on being more aggressive. He’s already proven he can do that last point, do I need to remind you what happened after he was blocked by Lebron last season?

Probably not – but I’ll link to it anyway because it’s great to watch.

I’m expecting to see a breakthrough in Jones’ shooting at some point this season. It may not be this week, or this month, but If Jones has been working on his shot, his rhythm will kick in eventually – and it’ll be great to see when it does.

Tyus Jones has already proven his ability on the offensive end for the Timberwolves, if he can add a consistent shot to his arsenal, he could be Minnesota’s go-to sooner rather than later.