Timberwolves acquire Tyus Jones in trade with Cavaliers
The Minnesota Timberwolves will acquire Duke point guard Tyus Jones in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
In the deal, the Timberwolves will send the the No. 31 and No. 36 picks in this year's draft to the Cavaliers, who selected Jones with the No. 24 pick, according to Wojnarowski.
Cleveland went 53-29 and earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference this season before falling to the Golden State Warriors in the Finals.
Minnesota, which finished with the fewest (16) wins in the NBA, selected Kentucky big man Karl-Anthony Towns with the No. 1 pick in the draft.
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Below is SI.com's pre-draft scouting report of Jones:
Bio: Here we have the rare case of a player who is still being undervalued despite a March Madness breakout. We’ve seen players of Jones’s ilk before, point guards who bring cliché strengths to the table: he’s a gamer, a guy who makes his teammates better, who simply understands how to play the game and almost always impacts the game in a positive way. Mudiay and Russell are the headliners, but Jones should be the third point guard off the board. At worst, the Final Four MVP looks like a steady backup. At best, he’s somebody’s point guard of the future.
Strengths: A natural leader and distributor, Jones is a cerebral player who gets the job done. He was regarded as the top point guard in his class for much of high school, and his teams have almost always won. He checks all the intangible boxes, including a notable competitive streak. Don’t expect him to be a big-time scorer, but he won’t need to be in order to have success. Jones looks suited to step into a backup role immediately, and it’s tough to bet against his track record. Considering the number of special NBA guards who’ve had plenty of success without sexy athletic attributes, Jones could be a steal in the middle of the first round.
Weaknesses: Jones doesn’t fit the current chic mold of a big explosive ball-handler and will have a shorter leash as a result. Trey Burke could be a recent detrimental point of comparison, though Jones has better size and is a more instinctive playmaker at the same stage. As a freshman he quieted the talk about his inconsistent perimeter shooting (37% from deep). The next thing he’ll have to show is whether he can cut it defensively as a pro. The million-dollar question is if Jones’s lack of athleticism will overshadow his considerable strengths. It’s a critique we’ve seen successful point guards dismiss plenty of times before.
