Thunder End of the Year Report Card: Ty Jerome

Ty Jerome stuck to the script in his second season with the Thunder.

Leading into the 2021-22 regular season, the Oklahoma City Thunder were backlogged with backcourt prospects. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander returning from injury, two first-round selections in Josh Giddey and Tre Mann, Theo Maledon fresh off a strong rookie campaign, the guard spots appeared to be locked up. Ty Jerome kept the rotational door open.

After starting last season with the Oklahoma City Blue, Jerome capped his sophomore season atop the bench as a distributor and sharpshooter. This season, he continued to stay true to his archetype.

In the combo guard’s 48 games this season, he averaged 7.1 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists across 16.7 minutes.

Overall Grade: C

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Despite being one of Oklahoma City’s better pieces to close last season, Jerome was essentially written off as a guard candidate leading into the season. The 24-year-old etched his presence early into the year, winning a positional battle between himself in Theo Maledon in the opening month of the season.

Jerome had been a much more sporadic contributor this season in comparison to the last as his wavering field goal numbers did leave him in murky waters during some parts of the season. However, the former Virginia Cavalier showcased his high levels of IQ to mark 2.3 assists to a measly 0.8 turnovers – yielding almost three assists to each turnover.

Unlike last season, Jerome lacked a major burst during his second season with the Thunder. But, due to a hernia suffered in February, he was left out of the Thunder’s roster exploration post-All-Star break.

Offensively

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On the offensive end, Jerome lived up to all expectations as a distributor. Though, a stark perimeter plummet stunted his success.

As aforementioned, Jerome’s adept ability to manage the halfcourt tapped into the stat sheet, claiming an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.9. Ever since his collegiate days, Jerome has thrived utilizing intelligence over athleticism as without a quick handle or acceleration – his patience up top has made him a hard puzzle for opposing defenses.

Jerome took a major pitfall from distance as after shooting 42.3% last season on 5.1 attempts, he dipped to shooting 29.0% on 3.9 launches. Playing alongside SGA and Giddey, it was expected that Jerome would play second fiddle as a ball-handler and rise up as a catch-and-shoot presence. He shot just 29.9% off-the-catch. In the frontcourt, his 30-foot standstills were in his repertoire, but the hit rate was spotty.

Defensively

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Jerome was not an elite presence on the defense side of play. But, he did find his moments averaging 0.6 steals.

The 6-foot-5 guard had his greatest moments in the passing lane as he snuffed out 1.3 deflections per game, but once defending on-ball, the dynamics changed.

He was a non-factor in blocks, logging just three, and his shot contesting ability ranked dead last among standard-contract players (2.0.) In essence, he was pesky, but was not a major intimation around the basket.

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