Tre Jones Is Ready To Lead Duke Basketball
The sophomore point guard is healed, focused and ready to go
Does Duke have a super-star?
Does Duke need one?
Mike Krzyzewski danced around those questions last Friday, following Duke’s Countdown to Craziness intrasquad game.
“We don’t have the separation on this team that we’ve had the last few years. So, that’s not bad, if there are enough guys who can play and we have enough guys who can play.”
There’s no question Duke has been a star-driven team in recent years. Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett were consensus first-team All-Americans last season but it goes back further than that. Duke has had at least one All-American every year beginning in 2009, at least one NBA first-round selection every year beginning in 2011 and at least one one-and-done freshman beginning in 2014.
Tre Jones certainly has received that kind of recognition during the off season. Duke’s sophomore point guard was voted pre-season first-team All-ACC, is a Cousy Award nominee as the nation’s top point guard and has made many pre-season All-America teams.
Krzyzewski has made no secret of his high expectations for Jones, calling him the “engine that makes things run.”
“He’s lighter, he’s quicker, more athletic,” Krzyzewski said last month. “He’s the guy who helps us make great decisions. We’ll depend much more on him. Shooting is a part of it. I think he over-passed last year. He’s always confident but he looked at times too much to pass. He’s really become a good layup maker. If we’re going to be really good he’s going to have to be really good.”
Jones certainly didn’t look like an All-American in CTC, two points, one assist, 1-10 shooting.
In fact, backup Jordan Goldwire looked like the All-American, with eight points and four assists.
And of course, Jones and Goldwire were matched up against each other.
Time to get off the Jones train?
Not so fast. There are several reasons to take the longer view here.
Krzyzewski referred to the scrimmage as Duke’s 17th practice, nothing more, nothing less. A snapshot.
Jones had multiple off-season surgeries and sat out most of the summer, thus slowing down the familiarization process with the freshmen. He didn’t start working hard until late August.
Then there’s his mother Debbie, who joined him for the pregame introductions. Debbie Jones has been battling cancer and she’s kicking its derriere. Tre Jones generally plays cool and composed and he was anything but Friday night. It’s not hard to connect the dots here.
And about those assists. Somebody on the other end of those passes has to co-operate. Jones consistently found wide-open teammates who missed wide-open shots. Matthew Hurt, Alex O’Connell and Wendell Moore combined for 2-for-14 on 3s and many of those misses came off Jones passes.
And Jones did not have the opportunity to pass to Vernon Carey, a combination that promises to be very productive this season.
So, I’m not at all worried about the single assist.
But Jones missed all three of his long-range shots, after shooting an underwhelming 26.2 percent from beyond the arc last season.
A very, very small sample size. But the burden of proof is on Jones.