Someone put a curse on both of our Joneses.

K usually ignores players coming out of the game and they walk/run right by him and the teammates and other coaches give him fives. K always pats Matt on the shoulder or ass when he comes out of the game.

He snubbed him after a bad play in the last game. Can't remember the context.

Open and got by his man for a drive, but botched the shot (maybe blocked), I think. Kind of tentative the whole drive.

Yeah, Jones has had a rough year and a half on offense.

He's shooting 40% from three. News is not all bad.

rhfarmer said:

Yeah, Jones has had a rough year and a half on offense.

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I wouldn't call this year "rough", unless you call being subject to lame-ass bitching by TDD "rough". His two-point percentage isn't great, but it's 10% better than last year, and the sample size is small enough that if he hit two layups he'd be about where Tyus or Justise are. I would say that Matt raising his 3pt percentage from 29 to 40, and raising his FT% from 56 to 70, is a lot more indicative of improvement than it is of stasis.

It's another case where the coaching is more problematic than the player. I think Matt has a good skillset for the 8th man role, but he apparently isn't being taught to always do the right thing - take a 3 or pass, never dribble. Popovich would teach him, Van Gundy would threaten to waive him. His 3pt rate (3pt attempts per FG attempt) is actually not that dumb (55%) but it should be at least at Cook's level (64%), and given that Cook is much better at everything else on offense than Matt is, it really should be closer to what Semi's rate was (89%). Matt is shooting 40% from 2 and 40% from 3 this season. His 2pt% is by far the worst on the team and his 3pt% is 2nd best behind Sulaimon. I trust that the same coaches who figured out that a zone might work against terrible shooting teams will figure out that Matt and Sulaimon are most valuable as Spurs basketball players.

I understand the argument, and maybe I'm too much of an optimist, but I feel like this is a case of the stats being better suited for description than prescription.

Matt hasn't been great on drives this year, but he hasn't done so poorly that I think he should abandon them and just become a jump shooter. In other words, he's a sophomore, and a 6'5" guard with a 6'7" wingspan, and it he's at least a credible threat to drive, it should help him be able to get a little more space from his defender (which Matt needs to get his three-point shot off, anyway).

Yes, Matt would likely be the focal point of the offense for about 200 teams in the country, but Matt plays for Duke.

Danny Green would be the runaway NPOY in college basketball right now, with his 6'6" height and 6'10" wingspan, but he plays for the Spurs against NBA competition. He shot 46% from 2 and 42% from 3 last season. With that reasonable 2pt%/3pt% split, and a significantly better FT% than Matt (79% compared with 70%), and a significantly better assist/turnover than Matt (1.4 compared with 1.1), and great size and wingspan for his position, Green should be even more inclined to drive than Matt. But he plays for the Spurs with Parker/Manu/Kawhi/Duncan, and his coach is the best, so his 3pt rate was 63% last season compared with Matt's 55% this season.

So let's be steadfast Duke optimists and say Matt is going to bump his FT% up close to 80% eventually, even this season. Let's also say Matt is really a 46% shooter from 2 right now and has gotten unlucky. Let's also say Matt's 6'7" wingspan gives him as much of an advantage driving in college as Green's 6'10" wingspan does in the NBA. Let's also say he has gotten unlucky with turnovers and is really a 1.4 assist/turnover guy like Green. Even with all that ridiculous optimism, Matt's 3pt rate should still be higher.

Matt will obviously keep getting better. At his current rate of improvement, he'll have the best qualities of Kyle Korver and Michael Jordan as a senior. This is just not the season to be experimenting and working on less than ideal aspects of his game during real games. Next season should basically be a throwaway if the good freshmen leave. He can do whatever he wants on offense then. I'll still complain, but it won't be because I expect a deep tournament run next season.

Not really concerned about Matt as an offensive player. He's good for a groan once a game, but that's all. Just wish he was actually a defensive stopper/swiss army knife like people optimistically portrayed him to be.

Matt dribbled one step inside the three point line and took a shot in the first half against Pitt. Plays like that just demonstrate that he doesn't have it figured out yet, and that's OK because he's like 19. I have nothing against Jones, he's just a kid.

It took Cook three years to become consistently brilliant in his role, and even when he has an off shooting night, which is rare, he does things like get 10 rebounds.

childress22 said:

rhfarmer said:

Yeah, Jones has had a rough year and a half on offense.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't call this year "rough", unless you call being subject to lame-ass bitching by TDD "rough". His two-point percentage isn't great, but it's 10% better than last year, and the sample size is small enough that if he hit two layups he'd be about where Tyus or Justise are. I would say that Matt raising his 3pt percentage from 29 to 40, and raising his FT% from 56 to 70, is a lot more indicative of improvement than it is of stasis.

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I promise you that I'm joking about 90% of the time.

Although I love your sincere and well researched responses.

I love this guy. Good guy. Getting better on the court.

^ Lol. Now not getting kicked off the team results in praise.

My favorite player.