The San Antonio Spurs officially selected Tre Jones with their 41st pick in Wednesday night’s draft. While we did not have an initial prospect watch, here is your chance to get to know his game better. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound guard out of Duke stuck around for a sophomore season and made the most of it.
Jones was able to improve his draft stock and his stats by not leaving early. He addressed his three-point shooting woes and proved just how good a defender he was at the collegiate level. Here are some of his stats from his last season at Duke.
- 16.2 PPG, 1.8 SPG, 6.4 APG, 4.2 RPG
- 42.3 FG%, 36.1 3P%, 77.1 FT%
- 113.2 ORtg, 94.6 DRtg
The former Blue Devil was a safe pick for the Spurs even if it means there’s going to be a bit of a crowded backcourt. He can defend and he can run an offense efficiently. He has NBA pedigree with his brother already playing in the league for several years and he knows what it will take to make a team.
He has to get a little stronger, but Jones can absolutely crack the rotation in San Antonio down the road. His ACC Player of the Year and ACC Defensive Player of the Year trophies make an argument that it shouldn’t be a problem.
Jones can run an offense for you without the worry of too many turnovers. As long as he isn’t asked to consistently go out and create offense for himself, then he will be fine. Once he tries to do that he becomes a little less steady and become reliant on his mid-range game. He got better in the pick-n-roll since he had a big like Vernon Carey to throw to on it and should have good options with the Spurs as well depending on what happens in free agency.
What Spurs fans will appreciate most about Jones is his tenacity on defense and his unwillingness to take any play off when he is on the court. He’s competitive, intelligent and won’t be a negative when he’s on the court. While he might be described as a “game manager” on offense, the same holds true on defense. He’s always talking and making sure he and his teammates are in the right position. He stunts off the ball well and knows when to help without giving up too much to his own man as well as reads passing lanes well.
He will have to work on the offensive end of the court if he wants to find himself cracking the NBA rotation. He has to get stronger to finish with contact and in the paint. He struggled from them there while at Duke, but did develop a nice little floater to help him avoid the trees in the paint.
Jones should immediately challenge Quinndary Weatherspoon in Austin and that could become a fun 1-2 punch for that team as well. Jones will likely take a year to get to San Antonio, but is a good investment to replace Patty Mills or Bryn Forbes should they leave San Antonio.
