The Boston Reboot of Perry Jones III

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On July 14, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics completed a trade that sent forward Perry Jones III and Detroit’s 2019 second-round pick to Boston in exchange for a conditional second-round pick in 2018.

Coming out of Baylor, I didn’t know much about Jones and didn’t expect much, still I have loosely followed his progress, or lack thereof, since he was drafted into the league by the Thunder. Why? Well, I’d like to say something cool like I have a good eye for talent or that I believe in the Oklahoma magic machine that produced Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. The truth is that I got his rookie card in a pack of NBA Hoops and remember some mild buzz about his status as one of the best available forwards in that particular draft class.

Jones never took off in Oklahoma. He was active on social media and always gave off a positive perception of his experience, mostly from the NBA D League, while he struggled to find regular playing time. Mostly, Jones ended up behind the Thunder’s other players. Including their stars in Ibaka and Durant. The addition of shooter Steve Novak and the 2015 Las Vegas Summer League revelation of Mitch McGary pushed Jones further down the list, and this is probably part of why Oklahoma made this move.

Money always matters. This is true in life, but particularly true in business, where the personal aspects can be lost or discarded when they don’t match dollars. Even if Jones has upside, he won’t find it behind players like Ibaka, McGary, Novak or the Slim Reaper. Oh, and Kyle Singler. More importantly, the Thunder let Harden go for salary cap reasons. The cap is set to go up, but teams still need to maneuver until that big payday arrives. Moving Jones will potentially save them a chunk of change now that they have locked up center Enes Kanter on a long-term deal for big bucks.

In Boston, Jones will have the opportunity to try it again. At just 23, Jones is young and has a lot of physical and basketball IQ maturation ahead of him. The Celtics have a lot of players that play some variation of forward so it will be a challenge for Jones. A quick look at Boston’s roster shows a logjam similar to the Thunder, though maybe not as talented. Primarily, the Celtics will run players like Jae Crowder and Amir Johnson every night. Further down the depth chart they have Jonas Jerebko and Jared Sullinger.

In 2012, DraftExpress wrote that Jones was the highest ranked prospect in a weak forward group. They also said that he looked average at best from a statistical perspective. I think that those two lines sum the Jones Experience thus far.

Maybe Jones was just the best available at that time based on what was known. Maybe the Thunder just explained away his poor stats. Still, maybe Brad Stevens can make something work here. The youth of Jones leaves him a large opportunity to grow, just like the Celtics tried with Sullinger before going on the open market to acquire Johnson.

Jones might now work with the Celtics, but they absorbed his salary into space without surrendering any assests. The one area that Jones has excelled in, shooting from the around the elbows down to the baseline, could be an asset to the Celtics. Shooting from that range is the only place that Jones has consistently remained above average during his short career in the NBA and it could be the key to him staying in the nightly rotation for Stevens.

Whatever the result for Jones, a change of teams was probably the best move for player and team. Jones will have a chance to work into the system of the league’s best young coach, providing depth, while the Thunder look to ease their salary cap and tax burdens. We should remember that Jones came into the league as a highly rated, average player and we can hope for more, but shouldn’t expect it.

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