Perry Jones III Has to Seize Golden Opportunity with Oklahoma City Thunder
It only took two full years.
Now entering his third season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Perry Jones III will finally get a chance to prove his NBA worth.
He has been unable to while stuck behind Kevin Durant, who's missed a total of two regular season games since Jones joined the team. But now Durant is expected to be out the first 6-8 weeks of the season, and the Thunder have nobody else to really turn to.
I'm sure Jones would have liked if his opportunity came under different circumstances, but after being sent down to the D-League nine times as a rookie and having only received 12.3 minutes a game last year, you take these opportunities however you can get them.
“I got to step up to the challenge,” Jones told Darnell Mayberry of the The Oklahoman. “That’s a big spot to fill. So I need to step up to the challenge and just take it on head on.”
With Durant out and Andre Roberson at the 2, the Thunder are looking at Serge Ibaka, Anthony Morrow, Grant Jerrett, Lance Thomas and Nick Collison as the only options at the 3 and 4 spots. Not only has Jones quickly become a key member of the rotation, but his performance over the next two months might ultimately make or break his future individual value.
Jones' rookie contract doesn't last forever. Though it hasn't necessarily been on him, he's running out of time to build his case for contract No. 2.
A poor 2014-15 season would be a bad look, having spent three years in the league without much to show for it.
It's been an interesting ride for Jones. A consensus top-10 recruit and highly touted prospect out of high school, Jones underwhelmed as a freshman at Baylor and did little as a sophomore to alleviate the concerns scouts initially developed.
It led to a massive slide down the 2012 draft board, where the Thunder got him at No. 28 overall.
Those concerns ultimately stemmed from the uncertainty surrounding his NBA position. Jones lacked traditional power forward bulk and the fundamental strengths of a swingman or wing.
Out of college, he scored an ugly .654 points per play in isolation and .795 points per play on post-ups, per DraftExpress' Joseph Treutlein, numbers that reflect an inability to create high-percentage shots both inside and out.
Jones is ultimately at his best cutting and slashing to the basket off the ball. Last season, he actually finished an above-average 63.4 percent shooting at the rim (as listed on NBA.com), where he can elevate over traffic for easy buckets.
Still, to really make an impression this season and help build up his credibility, Jones is going to have to capitalize as a shooter and perimeter scorer.
Of his 181 shots last year, 89 were taken outside 16 feet. That type of shot selection just comes with the territory of playing small forward in the pros.
The good news is that Jones showed some promise in 2013-14, even if the sample size was small.
He connected on 16 of 38 (42.1 percent) of his corner three-point attempts last year, per NBA.com, and a respectable 36.1 percent of his total shots from behind the arc.
Without the ability to create, Jones will have to keep the pressure on the defense as a shooter in order justify regular minutes.
Because quite frankly, there isn't much value tied to a 6'11" forward who doesn't create, shoot, block shots or rebound. He actually only grabbed 8.4 percent of the available rebounds while on the floor in limited action last year.
At the end of the day, the Thunder will be looking for offense from Jones—someone who can finish the plays that find, whether it's off a drive-and-kick, backdoor lob or fast break.
And he had some encouraging stretches for the Thunder in preseason, having scored a total of 41 points over his final two games with four three-point makes.
But for Jones, this is about more than just trying to fill Durant's shoes as much as possible. It's about reminding the rest of the league he still exists, and that this is only the start of what could be a potentially relevant NBA career.
This is Jones' chance to prove his physical tools and skill set translate to offensive versatility, as opposed to the "tweener" outlook that caused him to slip so far in the draft.
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