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Only one Chicago Bull sits in the top three in net rating, plus\/minus, true shooting percentage, assists, and steals. It\u2019s not $100 million man Josh Giddey, sophomore sensation Matas Buzelis, or former All-Star Nikola Vucevic\u2014it\u2019s 25-year-old, 6-foot-1 point guard Tre Jones.<\/p>\n
Jones ranks third in net rating, first in plus\/minus, third in true shooting percentage, and first in both assists and steals. Through two games, the former San Antonio Spur is averaging 12.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 4.0 steals while shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three.<\/p>\n
However, those numbers are completely unexpected. Jones wasn\u2019t even projected to start. Chicago entered the season planning to feature Giddey and Coby White in the backcourt, but White\u2019s lingering calf strain has kept him out of the lineup and is expected to sideline him for at least another week. Naturally, most assumed Ayo Dosunmu or Kevin Huerter would slide in next to Giddey as the starting two guard\u2014but Jones\u2019s playmaking and steady hand have proven invaluable to the first unit.<\/p>\n
Giddey is a preternatural passer, but he\u2019s not a quick-twitch point guard comfortable initiating the offense under heavy ball pressure\u2014that was White\u2019s job. And Chicago quickly learned that when defenses face-guarded Giddey, there wasn\u2019t another reliable option to organize the offense.<\/p>\n
Donovan has entrusted Jones as the Bulls\u2019 secondary playmaker, and it\u2019s paid off. He\u2019s averaging 8.0 assists per game and leads the team in drives at 18.0 per contest, fifth-most in the NBA. On those drives, he leads the league in both passes and assists, and the points he\u2019s generating have been a major boon for Chicago\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n
Jones isn\u2019t just vital to Chicago\u2019s offense; he\u2019s equally important to the Bulls\u2019 league-best defense (yes, they lead the NBA in defensive rating). In the team\u2019s 110\u201398 win over the Orlando Magic, Jones drew the Desmond Bane assignment and held him to just six points as his primary matchup, while Bane scored 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting overall. Jones\u2019s relentlessness at the point of attack and ability to fight through screens visibly disrupted Bane\u2019s rhythm.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Chicago didn\u2019t have another player suited to defend Bane. Normally, that responsibility would fall to Isaac Okoro, but the 6-foot-5 wing instead matched up with the 6-foot-10 forward Paolo Banchero. Even at 6-foot-1 and under 200 pounds, Jones has increased the Bulls’ starting lineup’s versatility.<\/p>\n
Jones isn\u2019t your typical versatility-increasing guard. He doesn\u2019t fit a coveted archetype in today\u2019s NBA, which helps explain why he signed a modest three-year, $24 million contract in the offseason. Regardless of his stature, modest athleticism, and unusual reluctance to shoot from deep, he\u2019s more efficient and savvier than 99 percent of the league\u2019s players, which is both why he signed at a discounted rate and why the Bulls chose to re-sign him.<\/p>\n
Through just two games, he\u2019s already proven himself indispensable. Jones might not have been the flashiest re-signing over the offseason, not even on his own team, but he\u2019s firmly in the running for the best bargain-bin signing of the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tre Jones was a modest re-signing, but through two games, he\u2019s proven to be Chicago\u2019s most efficient, versatile, and bargain-worthy addition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":114616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n