Dillon Jones is predictable.
The spots he fills as he strikes across the Thunder’s apply facility, continually evolving as a nervous rookie, are sometimes chosen for a similar causes.
On the baseline, ball on hip, yapping Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderthe ear of ; planted on the black benches on the sidelines, caught watching a teammate’s coaching even after his personal had completed; or ducked out with coach Mark Daigneault, declaring his spots on the sector and nodding.
Jones, deep down, is curious. Concerning the NBA ecosystem. About what motivates gamers. About individuals, relationships. On individuals’s relationships with cash.
Curiosity has been the driving power behind Jones’ growth a month into the Thunder’s season, which opens a four-game street journey Monday evening in Sacramento.
For the reason that summer time, Jones has been demanding, as Daigneault likes to say, “the solutions to the examination,” primarily attaching his desk to that of the professor within the hopes of not skipping a step throughout his rookie courses.
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A newbie’s innocence would not final lengthy. Jones is each delighted and embarrassed. He performed important minutes for an injury-laden membership Thunder Workforce and in addition made his G League debut on Friday. He is visibly grateful to be part of the NBA whereas enduring the lengthy journey forward to remain there.
Jones has been in demand extra lately, with OKC’s harm reviews necessitating a chosen binder in the course of the first month of the season. However he’s unorthodox and his corresponding function remains to be being labored out. Its building gave rise to a variety of brainstorming.
He’s listed as a tricky 6-foot-6, 235-pound winger outfitted with a degree guard coronary heart and Chuck Hayes‘ body. He has but to make use of his capability to make the most of his girth as a defender or in opposition to smaller defenders.
What weighs on him essentially the most is the attitude.
Proper from his introductory press convention, Jones dropped the bars on the query of what a man like Gilgeous-Alexander would wish after being the man at Weber State. A late first-round choose on a staff that clinched the No. 1 seed within the West a yr in the past, that prospect will typically be questioned.
Threatened by his placement, buried in a staff that gained some championship credibility earlier than his arrival. Pulled by human feelings. Jones is unusually introspective, seemingly extra perceptive about his harsh actuality.
It isn’t his time but.
However the 23-year-old is reminded each day of the unpredictability of an NBA course, which may act as a ready room or a bullet practice. When he will get dressed, within the locker subsequent to him is Aaron Wigginsa late choose who has made a reputation for himself as an efficient participant. On the opposite facet of the room are Alex Caruso And Isaiah Hartensteinevery of which has gone from unknown to coveted.
“No person talks about how Lu (Dort) needed to make sufficient pictures for individuals to protect him all through his profession, and the way Wiggs needed to learn to play effectively,” Jones mentioned. “It’s straightforward for individuals to like them now, however they needed to undergo the identical course of I did to determine it out.”
So Jones asks pointed questions. What routines ought to include, what a exercise ought to appear to be, how typically one ought to lug across the speaker assigned to inexperienced persons. Generally too sharp. Jones bought so deep within the weeds that he bumped into some good bother.
“He’ll sit there and discuss all day about recognizing angle on a play within the New Zealand sport for 4 hours – which is nice, Chet was like that,” Daigneault mentioned. “And what that tells you is that they love the sport and so they have an unimaginable ardour for his or her craft. We would not have it another manner.
“However to turn into the perfect participant you might be, you must give attention to crucial issues. …They’ll get into the smallest particulars and thus lose the large image.
Jones’ G League debut was a humbling expertise. Essential as somebody who noticed little time with the faculty staff, nonetheless attempting to develop impactful NBA expertise and escape his head to make clearer reads – however humbling nonetheless.
The OKC Blue has its wants. He additionally is aware of the Thunder need Jones to do the identical actions he would with the bigs. It is a troublesome line to stroll. Jones accepts what’s requested of him, and he would not costume up as Cam Thomas simply due to the newfound freedom.
“I feel on the finish of the day,” Jones mentioned, “so long as my intentions are in the fitting place, this stuff will translate to the place I’m right here.
“Everybody on this planet has bosses,” Jones later added. “And everybody has a job to do when their boss tells them to.” It is simply one thing I heard from them that I feel may assist me as a participant. I simply do what the individuals above me assume is greatest for me.
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Jones acquired one in every of his bitterest NBA classes final week. It was voluntary. The sort of sport he’ll swirl round his mouth and spit out in disgust.
Hartenstein, who made his season debut Wednesday in opposition to Portland, was comfy. Too comfy. He began throwing passes to everybody with opposable thumbs, flicking his wrist with Prince’s wardrobe flash. Amongst them was a behind-the-back cross to Jones.
The rookie caught it below the rim, untouched and freed from any defenders. The cleanest layup he is made in 4 years, he remembers. He ruined every thing. He hated himself for that.
“Taking part in like that, for a rookie it looks like it’s so deflating at instances,” Jones mentioned. “However (Hartenstein) did job of selecting me up and (letting me know) that that is occurring.”
This wasn’t Jones’ first second that felt like a rookie. It will not be his final. However Hartenstein isn’t the one one to simply accept it. Jones started operating down the listing of veterans to consolation and educate him, all of whom had seen a model of him that he hadn’t at all times been capable of current, from Gilgeous-Alexander to Dort to n’ irrespective of who, lastly asserting that he wasn’t attempting. to speak in regards to the impression of every. He could not assist it.
However the gamers search him, information him, as a result of he sought them first. Curiosity may by no means kill Jones. This was his ally in understanding his place throughout a foggy yr. Curiosity gave Jones simply sufficient consolation to remain put all through his rookie research.
“It’s not at all times going to be like this,” Jones mentioned Saturday. “Sooner or later you’ll get your likelihood.” Sooner or later you can be a longtime participant.
“However as a rookie, if I am simply right here indignant or pouting as a result of I am not taking part in as a lot, or if issues aren’t going the best way I need them to, or if I do not appear to be I I had at college, that will not assist me in three years, after I’m alleged to be counted on.
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This text was initially revealed on Oklahoman: Thunder Rookie Dillon Jones’ Curiosity Accelerates NBA Studying Curve
