Perry Jones Is Finally Turning Potential into Productivity

Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Watching Perry Jones III emerge over the last two games has been like watching a kid finally figure out how to stay upright on his bicycle. It’s taken years of tentative uncertainty but a light has come on for the silky smooth 6’11” Baylor product.

Jones’ talent has never been in question. The former five-star recruit and mixtape god does things that defy logic for a man of his size. It’s taken extreme circumstances, however, for Jones to turn his immense potential into productivity. The major issue with Jones throughout his career has been his mentality. Aggressiveness does not come naturally to him. To compound the issue, the coaching staff never really found a for place for him. As such, he ultimately settled into a role in which he spent a majority of his time watching much of the action while floating around the three-point line.

With the loss of Durant, Westbrook, Jackson and four others to lengthy injuries, Jones has found himself as the team’s go-to scorer. This obviously won’t be sustainable once Durant and Westbrook return but it does mark an important ‘aha moment’ in Jones’ career, as he transitions from knowing that he needs to be more aggressive to knowing how to be more aggressive.

Last season Jones was a spectator. In 12.3 minutes per game, his greatest value came as a guy who could hit the corner three on kick outs. The problem with him spending so much of his time drifting beyond the arc was that he wasn’t nearly as effective from above the break. More problematic was the fact that this role negated much of his strengths: length, ball handling, and athleticism.

In the Thunder’s season opener against the Portland Trail Blazers, an admittedly nervous Jones scored three points on nine shots in 31 minutes, while starting in place of an injured Durant. Once Westbrook went down in the second game against the Clippers, however, there was simply no one else to rely on. Jones responded in resounding fashion, scoring a career-high 32 points, including 23 points in 27 minutes once Westbrook left the game. In an encore performance against the Nuggets, Jones led the team in scoring once again with 23 points on 18 attempts.

In addition to his scoring, PJIII has also showed tremendous versatility. Jones, who stands just shy of seven feet tall, serves as the team’s point guard when Sebastian Telfair isn’t in the game. During the Denver game, Jones brought the ball up the court against a press and facilitated a guardless offense consisting of Kendrick Perkins, Nick Collison, Lance Thomas and Andre Roberson for long stretches in the second and fourth quarters. During that stretch, Jones was responsible for marking Ty Lawson, Randy Foye and Nate Robinson in a 2-3 zone.

Jones seems to lack the motor to be a true defensive stopper but he possesses the mobility and length to ably defend much smaller opponents. Against big men, he still struggles to hold his ground but he’s most often asked to mark the other team’s small forward. According to NBA.com, Jones has been an above average defender this season, holding his opponent to a 36.8% defended field goal percentage. In terms of rotations, Jones still gets caught standing around more than he should, but his ability to recover quickly helps to compensate for some of the mental lapses.

On offense we’ve seen a much more aggressive and focused Jones. Instead of meandering around the three-point line, Jones is moving without the ball, posting up smaller defenders and not settling for jump shots. He’s been particularly effective off the dribble, resulting in a number of made runners and pull ups around the free throw line. So far this season he’s shooting a smoldering 8-of-11 on shots between five and 14 feet.

He’s also done a much better job of making shots above the break so far, looking confident and decisive in his release. Tellingly, he’s taken far fewer corner threes than last season, which made up 62.3% of his total three-point attempts in 2013-2014. Certainly it’s an asset that he’s a capable corner sniper and his role will have to shift back to a more complimentary capacity once the stars return but it is important that Jones has learned to think in terms of utilizing his athleticism and getting to the basket, rather than waiting for kick outs. As you can see below, Jones is still figuring out how to finish through rather than shy away from contact on drives to the rim, particularly from the left side.

It’s very early in the season and Jones could still easily regress to the guy who settles for threes and defers to his teammates once order is restored, but it seems that he is finally starting understand what it means to be aggressive. Jones’ current 23.5% usage rate clearly isn’t sustainable long term. Nevertheless, Coach Brooks would be well served to continue to employ him in ways that keep him active and capitalize on his versatile offensive skill set once Westbrook and Durant return to action. One way to make this happen is to use him more regularly as a secondary ball handler in ‘large ball’ lineups, where Jones can post up smaller defenders and work off of screens, as we’ve seen over the past two games.

It remains to be seen whether Coach Brooks will figure out a way to more effectively utilize Jones’ strengths once the team is back to full strength, but for now let’s all sit back and enjoy the show.

All data for this article provided by NBA.com and Basketball Reference.