Summer Quandaries 4: Perry Jones III—Enigma or Afterthought

SQ4 Perry Jones III—Enigma or Afterthought

By Lee Lauderdale







It is hard not to get excited about a free trial of a player with such alluring physical assets. That said there are certainly a number of aspects to his game, and person, to encourage one to pump the brakes. Interestingly, some of the most criticized parts of his play, and persona, give me the least pause; while some of the more nebulous grumbles seem to me more discouraging.

On paper, PJ3 seems tailor-made for the power three, a role player for which Danny has searched unsuccessfully the past decade. He has great size and length, for a four much less a three; excellent mobility and agility; good speed both straight-line and lateral; and the ability to score both outside and at the rim. Yet he plays without with a lack of assertion that negates much of what should be an overwhelming physical edge. His former coach tried to employ him as a Swiss-army-knife defender, and he did a pretty impressive job as the primary defender on some of the elite players in the league. On the other hand, when off the ball he has a reputation of losing track of his assignment and missing help rotations. His outside shot seems to have excellent range, good form, and is taken with confidence; sadly, thus far this confidence is not born out by any resulting efficiency. While he is a good finisher at the rim when on the move, his physical gifts have not translated into an effective or efficient post-up game.

Like Russia, Jones is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma—but who better than Brad Stevens to unwrap this versatile tool and free the beast. Scott Brooks, his former coach at OKC, did his best Doc Rivers imitation in his disdain for rookies, or youth for that matter. In spite of some impressive practice performances Perry was firmly slotted into the small slice of playing time remaining after MVP candidate Kevin Durant ate his fill. Then when veteran role players were acquired, Brooks sat both Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones who languished on the bench until each was dumped in Luxury-Tax avoidance moves this summer. A title contender with a veteran coach with a penchant for veteran players? I'm pretty sure I have seen that play out before. Undeveloped (too little coaching), dispirited and dis/mis-used, first-round talent whose lights were barely lit and then stifled under a basket--heck, I'm a little sorry the Thunder wouldn't pay Danny to take Lamb also.

Jones got his chance to emerge from Durant's shadow last year when Kevin was recuperating. He had a great game, a couple of good ones, and then suffered a severe knee contusion that kept him off the court for weeks; by the time he came back, other solutions were in place and then the acquisition of a couple of veterans pushed him permanently to the bench. Many sniff with disdain and proclaim that PJ3 got his chance and failed to take advantage—I read it as he got a chance and after a solid start, he fell to the injury bug and then to the tried and true(?) “limited vets are preferable to unproven youth” folly.

Of more concern to me are the failures in off-ball defense and missed rotations. After three years these basic defensive fundamentals should no longer be a mystery, in fact they should be an ingrained habit. We are only one year into the James Young experiment and we've certainly seen the sad result of a flat learning curve, but after three years you expect a player to figure it out, if they are ever going to do so. The “Celtics Way” and Stevens Ball are predicated on understanding the big picture and the individual's shifting role in both the offensive and defensive schemes. This isn't basketball 101 where "arrrrgh, me beat you," is the whole story. This is advanced basketball and the chain is only as strong as the weakest link—i.e. you can scarcely afford weak links. If I had to name the two highest-impact facets of the Brad Stevens era, I would choose BBIQ and character. This may ultimately be the litmus test that eliminates Jones, and Young, from the Celtics parquet party.

Another caution that worries me is Jones' lack of developing a post-up game. I see a lot of Jeff Green in PJ3 and while not every player needs to be an alpha dog, your more talented players do need to leverage their advantages to best benefit the team. Slightly less concerning is the lack of improvement in his efficiency shooting outside. I see that as more a factor of confidence (if the shot is not “broken”) that can improve with opportunity and experience.

The final fly-in-the-ointment is Jones' knees. The human anatomy puts enormous strain on these fickle joints and basketball increases the strain, and danger, exponentially. The same knee that was surgically repaired was the site of the severe contusion that laid him low almost as soon as he got his big “chance.” We need look no further back, or afield, than Leon Powe to find a career lost to knee problems. While we haven't heard the dread micro-fracture phrase, Jones' meniscus issues have already led to one arthroscopic surgery. Here is hoping that this worry is a non-issue.

I think it is safe to say that watching this Perry Jones III story play out in camp, and perhaps the season, will be one of the most interesting aspects of this fall. By Christmas (or the first game) PJ3 may be no more than a footnote (and a second round pick in Danny's pocket). On the other hand no off-season pickup has more potential to pay huge dividends, in which case the cost/reward disparity will be off the charts.

62 days to camp



bob
MY NOTE:  PJ3 is a free roll of the dice.  The downside is zero, since OKC paid us to take him, but Lawdy, Lawdy, Lawdy is the upside huge!  His anatomy might not make him a 10 year player but he has the size and athleticism to be one of the great difference-makers on this Celtic team IF he can stay focused.  The good news is that he knows he isn't going to get another, better chance than this one and that is a powerful motivator.


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bob this kid has yet to prove he has the durability to play in this league, its not so much the skills, can he stay on the floor?

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob this kid has yet to prove he has the durability to play in this league, its not so much the skills, can he stay on the floor?

cow,

Same with Sully.  Sully has only played 172 games out of a total possible 246, and he was a starter or solid rotation player so he would be expected to play if he was healthy.  Jones has played 143 out of 246, but from what I understand his lack of games were due to Coach's-DNPs and not so much due to injuries or surgery.  He missed 4-6 weeks due to arthroscopic surgery on his miniscus, so that might be bad, but came back next year and filled in for Durant fantastically until he got a deep bone bruise on his knee.  We'll see.  In the battle between James Young and PJ3 I ask myself the question "can/will either of them become a solid rotation player or can/will either one of them come in and win a game for us?".  I am not convinced, undersized and handicapped-skillwise, that James Young will ever do that for us.  His defense is as unreliable as PJ3's, his shot selection is limited and he's undersized for SF and lacks the skills to play SG.  PJ3, other than defense, has all those things over Young.  He had a 32 point game.  Could you see James Young ever having a 32 point game?  I can't, not unless the other team completely ignores him from 3.

James Young has trouble making it through summer league and camp without going down with an injury.


bob


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agreed bob Young isn't quick enough or good enough ball handler to play the 2, as a 3?....come on man, that a joke as he can't defend either position, but would get run over as a 3.

cowens/oldschool wrote:agreed bob Young isn't quick enough or good enough ball handler to play the 2, as a 3?....come on man, that a joke as he can't defend either position, but would get run over as a 3.

cow,

Or shot over. 6'6" is short for today's 3s.

Miami - Udonis Haslem, 6'8" and Gerald Green, 6'8"
Orlando - Aaron Gordon, 6'9"
Atlanta - Korver, 6'7". Young? Defend Korver?
Charlotte - MKG, 6'7"
Chicago - Doug McBuckets, 6'7".
Cleveland - James Jones, 6'8"
Detroit - Danny Grainger, 6'8" and Marcus Morris, 6'9"
Indiana - Glen Robinson III, 6'6"
Washington - Otto Porter, 6'8"

Here are some of the top teams in the east and their back up SFs. Could you see 6'6" Young holding his own on offense or defense against any of them? I could see PJ3, at 6'10" - 6'11", doing ok. Even if he's not as quick as them he could use his length to buy himself some space. Young would have to be right up on them.


bob


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I don't see Young making this team, his only hope is at the 2.

Jones seems like a low-risk with great potential and marginal knees. I have confidence in Brad's ability to get the most out of that potential. Unfortunately, Brad's not a doctor too. So the greatest influence on whether Jones stays or goes may be neither Jones himself or Brad but, rather, the Celtics medical staff.

Sam

cowens/oldschool wrote:I don't see Young making this team, his only hope is at the 2.

Agreed.  Unfortunately, I don't see him making any NBA team.

I don't think Jones sticks around either. The good thing with Jones is he didn't really cost us anything, so the risk taken is almost zero.

I have my doubts about Young ever being the player we hope he can become.

Cow nailed it.  Young does not have an NBA level handle to play either the 2 or 3 position.  If he had handle and it was just a matter of him becoming a more consistent shooter and defender it would be very hard to see the Celtics cut him.

Perry Jones is a player with Big time PO-tential but very little to show for it.  The injury bug was there when he played at Baylor and his NBA tenure has not been encouraging.

Either one of those players (Young and Jones)can be cut or traded and it will not be impactful for Boston.

The notion that a fresh start is on the horizon with the Boston Celtics is probably not going to happen.  My best guess is that Young will get another year to show something because he was a first rounder and DA may not be ready to give up on him yet.  But If and when Young gets a chance to play he must produce.  RJ Hunter is already miles ahead of Young except in physical development.

dboss

I am not sure that a severe bone bruise last year is something that I would consider as an injury that is going to cut PJ3's career short.  If he had an operation last year on the knee that would be a different consideration. Two or three years without a knee operation could very well mean that his knee is better than we might think.  And, I am sure that the Cs medical staff is already working on a long term rehab program with him.

I think that he is going to win the starting small forward position by playing great in the pre-season.

Young may or may not make it whether Ainge keeps him for another year or not.  6'6 guys are a dime a dozen and there will be even more of them available next year.  Young may have to shine this pre-season just to prevent him from either spending the year in Maine or even getting cut (if he can't be traded).

Wow, that's a bold prediction, Clyde. I'm hoping it will be either Jones or Turner who starts at the "3" because it's more important to me who doesn't start. I like Crowder off the bench and at the end of games.

There definitely could be some surprises in the Celtics starting lineup and rotation this season, and Danny could mix the whole thing up with the dialing of a finger. I believe that the one thing we all have to be careful about is anointing the recently drafted guys as starters—or even rotation players. It's so easy to fall in love with their Summer League showings, when they may take longer than we might think for them to join the core.

Sam

Sam