Tenth Pick Tournament Round One: Terrence Jones vs. Perry Jones III

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Published: June 6, 2012

It’s Tournament Time here at Hornets247! Who will be the Hornets 10th overall selection voiced by you, our readers!

Perry Jones III

(By Jake Madison)


Look, a Jones will advance to the second round, but I implore you, dear Hornets247 reader, to make it the correct one. That is Perry James Jones III and not that scrub Terrence Jones.

Jones III Smash

With Anthony Davis on board as a sure thing, Dell Demps can take a chance on Jones III without the risk of botching the Hornets draft. Even with Davis on board the Hornets are still a few years away from serious contention. That happens to be exactly the same time frame that Jones III needs to develop and I say the Hornets should go for the home run.

Jones III has both the height and size (6-foot-11, 235 pounds) NBA teams drool over. And Monty Williams has said how much he covets length. We’re starting off well.

Jones III is a very versatile player with freak athleticism which allows him to play at the 3, 4 or 5. His strong ball-handling skills allow him to drive past his defender to the hoop from as far out as the three-point line. He can play in the post and get his shots off easily due to his size. His footwork in the paint shows strong potential and Jones III shows a nice finishing touch on close range shots. One of Jones III’s other strength is he has tremendous range on his jump shot, being able to hit from behind the arc.

And you want to know what is also important? Throwing down monster dunks. Davis is great on the alley-oop, but if you watch his dunks they aren’t thunderous, Blake Griffen-esque smashes. I want a player who will get the Hornets on SportsCenter’s top ten by throwing the ball down with the force of Mjölnir (yes that is an umlaut). No matter what someone says, there are points for style.

On defense, Jones III will mature into a strong defender. His athleticism will allow him to defend multiple positions and he’ll have no problem switching onto a quicker guard on the pick and roll. His court awareness was lacking at times this season, but working with a defensive minded head coach like Monty should remedy that.

Let me say this again: 6-foot 11, 235 pounds, 7-foot 2 wingspan with the athleticism of Josh Smith. The dude just oozes potential.

The Jones III detractors will are going to try and sell you on a few key points: His apparent lack of motivation and motor, his disappointing stats, and the fact that he never really dominated. Let’s address those.

Jones III himself even admitted that his biggest problem is “My motor. To be able to keep playing consistently throughout the entire 40 minutes of the game.” Yeah it can be concerning to hear a player admit that. However, I look at the admission as a positive: Jones III knows what his shortcomings are and what he needs to work on. And he’s doing just that. Jones has looked great in pre-draft workouts–let’s be honest: who doesn’t?–and feels more confident than ever. That is exactly what I want to hear.

His stats and lack of domination go hand in hand. During his sophomore season at Baylor, Jones was part of a well-rounded team that won a school record 30 games. Jones III saw that things were going well and the team was winning so he went with it. There isn’t a need to rock the boat when a team is winning and it is refreshing to see a player focus more on that and less on his own numbers. ” I didn’t feel pressure to be a great scorer because I had so many other people who could score around me,” he said. I find that unselfishness to be an asset.

Another factor may have been the offensive game plan of his college coach Scott Drew. Drew let the offense run through point guard Pierre Jackson who isn’t much of a distributor instead of his star big man. This led to the stagnation of many of Jones III’s stats from his freshman to sophomore year. Even Jones III agrees saying, ” I don’t think [I was used well]. Not at all. Seeing the player that I’ve become over the past month or so, I wasn’t used well at all.”

Put Perry James Jones III on the Hornets and let him work with the smart basketball mind of Monty Williams for a season or two and I promise you the results will be fantastic.

Sounds like a steal at the 10th pick to me.

Terrence Jones

(By James Grayson)


Oh Jake, how naive.

Well a nice little case for PJIII there but I have to say that it should be Terrence Jones who should be going through to the second round, not the man from Baylor.

A lot of the same criticisms of PJ have been laid onto Terrence as well.

The difference?

Terrence has shown that he’s more NBA ready and less of a risk. A lot of this was fleshed out in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments in which his versatility was integral to victories. While many laud PJ’s versatility it’s been made known that he has little interest in playing positions outside the small-forward position. His stubbornness in this department will set him back in his development.

It’s my belief that Terrence Jones is more ready to take to the NBA game and make an immediate impact. If the Hornets drafted PJIII he would be yet another Al-Farouq project and could hinder two players careers instead of one.

Terrence also has the benefit of being able to work well with Anthony Davis. When Jones was playing extremely well on the offensive end it seemed at times that Kentucky’s front line was unstoppable.

I look at Terrence to be a Lamar Odom type in this league. He has the talent to develop into him, being able to shoot, handle the ball and grab rebounds.

Looking good in workouts is always and usually is easy to do, especially when playing against Mr. Invincible. Jones’ in game ability is noted and has stepped up to the plate for a winning program.

The thing to note about Terrence is how good he is defensively right now. While he might not have a flash time going up against the likes of Kevin Love he will be able to shut down and limit stretch fours and even try to slow down the likes of Lebron James at the three position.

Averaging 1.3 steals and 1.8 blocks per game Terrence outshone PJIII’s 0.8 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. For all that length Jake was talking about it sure is difficult to understand how a player much shorter than he is able to play much better defense.

These defensive traits will surely win over Monty Williams who we all know dreams of Gregg Popovich’s and Doc Rivers’ defensive schemes.

Even when T.J. played P.J. there was a clear winner. Terrence had an all-around superb game hoisting Kentucky to a victory with 12 points (on 7 shots), 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Meanwhile PJIII struggled until late putting up 17 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and turning the ball over 4 times.

The problem with PJIII and his “disappearance” is that, even when there was a set run for him, he rarely stepped up to the plate. Consistently being put in the post, backing down, then throwing out to poor three point shooters would waste valuable time. Not just that, but he would drift around the perimeter rarely looking interested in going in for the rebound.

Terrence Jones’ model is a little bit different. After displaying some of his offensive talents in his freshman season he was asked to take on a bit of a different role this past season. Many point to this as him, “shying away,” but the truth is that Kentucky was very staked and he worked he way on the boards, in transition or shooting the occasional three-point shot (which he’s better than PJ at doing by the way).

While both these players seem to be very similar, it’s clear that there’s one who’s more NBA ready than the other and that’s Terrence Jones. Playing under great coaches, a great and successful program, having NBA ready skills as well as playing with the Hornets future 1st overall pick all give Terrence Jones the edge over PJIII.

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40 Comments

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