Player 8: Tyus Jones (Nov. 2015 – April 2016)
The Minnesota Timberwolves added rookie Tyrus Jones during the 2015 NBA Draft. That was the draft in which the Minnesota Timberwolves landed the first overall pick, and promptly acted to select center Karl-Anthony Towns from Kentucky. Later in that same draft, the Timberwolves traded the 31st and 36th overall picks in the draft to the Cleveland Cavaliers to acquire Duke point guard Tyrus Jones.
Cleveland is trading Tyus Jones to Minnesota, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 26, 2015
In his rookie season, Jones played in 37 games and played an average of
Stats: 15.5 MPG scoring 4.2 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 2.9 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 35.9 FG percent.
While that is not exactly the type of performance that warrants more playing time, it does point to a raw prospect who simply needed more work.
Tyrus Jones arrived at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Cloud 9. Not only was he selected in Round 1 of the 2015 NBA Draft, but he was coming to play for his favorite NBA head coach, Flip Saunders. But tragedy struck, as Coach Saunders lost a battle with cancer, and passed on October 2015. As a result, Jones would not be playing for Coach Saunders but rather would be playing for new Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau.
The shock of losing a head coach and close personal friend derailed the rookie season for Tyrus Jones. Still, he competed in 37 games and continued to improve gradually over time.