© Jeremy Brevard, USA TODAY
2020 NBA Re-Draft: Where Do Devin Vassell, Tre Jones Land for Spurs?
Looking back, the San Antonio Spurs secured some highly-underrated talent in the 2020 NBA Draft.
With the No. 11 overall pick out of Florida State, the Spurs selected Devin Vassell out of Florida State. Then in the second round with the No. 41 overall pick, San Antonio took Tre Jones out of Duke.
As both these guys get set to enter their third year in the NBA, they do so with a rebuilding Spurs team that will be relying on them in order to have sustained success throughout the 2022-23 season.
Both Vassell and Jones are fixing to be starters this season, making it interesting to see where they would be reselected in a hypothetical 2020 re-draft based on their growth up to this point.
Bleacher Report recently did this and had Jones and Vassell both move up from their original selections.
Jones shoots all the way up to the first round of this re-draft at No. 27 overall while Vassell moves up one spot into the top 10 at No. 10 overall.
Here's the complete top 10 of the re-draft:
No. 1 - LaMelo Ball, Charlotte Hornets (originally picked No. 3)
No. 2 - Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves (originally picked No. 1)
No. 3 - Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers (originally picked No. 12)
No. 4 - Desmond Bane, Memphis Grizzlies (originally picked No. 30)
No. 5 - Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers (originally picked No. 21)
No. 6 - Immanuel Quickley, New York Knicks (originally picked No. 25)
No. 7 - Obi Toppin, New York Knicks (originally picked No. 8)
No. 8 - Onyeka Okongwu, Atlanta Hawks (originally picked No. 6)
No. 9 - Saddiq Bey, Detroit Pistons (originally picked No. 19)
No. 10 - Devin Vassell, San Antonio Spurs (originally picked No. 11)
With or without Murray, Vassell was already primed to become one of the team's leading-scorers next season. Now he's a clear choice to potentially be the go-to scoring option for coach Gregg Popovich after finishing as San Antonio's fifth-leading scorer (12.3) last season.
And on defense, Vassell's ability to play and anticipate open passing lanes effectively helped him finish second on the teams behind Murray in total steals (76).
In the play-in loss to the Pelicans, Vassell finished with a season-high 23 points on an impressive 7-13 shooting from 3-point range, also a season-best.
As for Jones, in the final seven regular-season games, he never played less than 17 minutes and even had five-straight games of 30 minutes or more. And still, he only committed five total turnovers in that span and had zero turnovers in five of those contests.
He also scored in double figures in the final six games of the regular season and proved he can do it at an efficient rate. Jones led all qualified Spurs guards in field-goal percentage (49 percent).
In fact, Jones' total career points with the Spurs (507) is coming close to reaching the total that nine of the last 10 Spurs second-round draft picks combined to score with the franchise (716). One could even make the argument that he's the best second-round pick the Spurs have made since selecting DeJuan Blair 37th overall in 2009.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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