Not much speaks more loudly about Tyus Jones’ game than one word.
Winner.
“I hate to lose,” Jones said.
In a highly successful freshman season at Duke, he showed just how much he hated to lose by sparking the Blue Devils to a national championship. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound point guard was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four. He was in Denver on Monday working out for the Nuggets, who are preparing for the NBA draft. They have the No. 7 pick Thursday.
“Winning is the best metric, and he’s done that everywhere he’s been,” said Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly. “I thought his best moments were the biggest moments. I thought some of the shots he hit in the tournament were kind of game-changing shots. It’s part of the reason why we’re so high on him as a prospect.”
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Most draft projections have Jones being selected midway through the first round, but good workouts like the one he had in Denver can help his stock.
“(I) look forward to trying to win at the NBA level,” Jones said, “and if you have to prove yourself in workouts prior to the draft, that’s just what you’ve got to do. Nobody made me leave school — it was my decision, my family’s decision, so it’s just one of those things where you can’t complain about it.”
D’Angelo Russell and Emmanuel Mudiay are considered the top two point guards in this draft.
Asked to compare his game with those two, the 19-year-old Jones said, “I think I’m more of a pure point guard, more of a pass-first. Not necessarily only looking to score. I’d say I’m more of a complete, pure point guard compared to those two.”
Jones averaged 11.8 points and 5.6 assists per game in his freshman season at Duke and made 37.9 percent of his 3-point attempts.
“I think he’s a natural leader,” Connelly said. “He’s won at every level. It’s hard to discount the success — not just at the high school level, but with USA Basketball and then carry that right on to the collegiate level, carrying Duke to probably an unexpected national championship.”
