Tyus Jones (PG, MIN) - Week 21 Waiver Wire Pickups

Tyus Jones is a worthy consideration as a fantasy basketball waiver wire pickup if he's still available as a free agent in your league, heading into Week 21 of the NBA season. Brady Grove recommends Jones for some active perimeter defense and reserve floor-general duties.

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Analysis: It has never been an easy path to consistency in either playing-time or role-prominence for Tyus Jones on the Minnesota Timberwolves squad that boasts Jeff Teague, Derrick Rose, and surprise-rookie Josh Okogie just at the point guard position. He has managed to produce 5.7 points, 4.2 assists, and 1.3 steals in 20.9 minutes per contest, all of which are career-high figures. Jones's poor scoring is mostly due to an atrocious and uncharacteristic 29.3% conversion-rate from beyond the arc, but it is in distributing the ball to teammates and playing perimeter defense where the former Blue Devil has excelled on the floor for the T-Wolves.

In terms of production per 36-minutes of play, Jones ranks second on the roster in assists and steals with respective marks of 7.2 and 2.3. While his three-point shooting has remained consistently horrid since the start of November, his playing-time has increased with every month from 18.1 in October to 26.5 in five games played during February. He was a member of the starting-lineup twice through those five February contests, and in that span averaged 7.6 points, 6.4 assists, and 1.8 steals per night. Tyus Jones has demonstrated that he is a more efficient compiler of assists and steals than other Minnesota backups like Okogie or Jerryd Bayless, and his time on the bench has been steadily declining as a result of this despite a season-long slump from long-range. With this playing time, he has proved that he can put up robust figures as a floor-general and perimeter-defender. The issue is then his probable ceiling for time on the floor for a team that plays D-Rose and Jeff Teague a combined 57.9 minutes per game. However, with the month-by-month increases he has been seeing in MP, it appears as if coach Ryan Saunders is liking what he sees out there. In deeper formats, Jones can shoulder a significant load across several statistical categories.