PHOENIX — For those not too locked in on the NBA as a whole, you may have missed the emergence of 2019 Suns first-round pick Ty Jerome in Cleveland with the Cavaliers ahead of Friday’s matchup with Phoenix.
It’s yet another example of how long it can take guys to break through in the league and how the right opportunity might take years to emerge.
Jerome was a draft-day acquisition by the Suns, who took on the contract of Aron Baynes from the Boston Celtics in order to get the No. 24 pick, giving up a 2020 first-round pick from the Milwaukee Bucks to do so. Baynes became a key cog in Phoenix’s initial ascent across the 2019-20 season, a.k.a. the bubble year, playing the best basketball of his career while filling in for Deandre Ayton’s 25-game suspension.
Jerome, on the other hand, was the forgotten part of that trade. It’s important to read the following and realize how quickly teams can move on from young players — sometimes for legitimately good reasons — only to send that player floating into a limbo they are going to have to work their ass off to escape.
Jerome got hurt at the start of training camp in Phoenix and didn’t debut until the first week of December. He struggled to separate himself from then-second-year guard Elie Okobo to earn the backup minutes behind point guard Ricky Rubio, with Jevon Carter earning some playing time too. Jerome noted pre-bubble that he was injured after initially performing well.
This made it easy to be critical of the trade a year in. Our own Kevin Zimmerman went on to note that this would essentially be Jerome’s redshirt year.
In an amusing twist with hindsight, the eight games in the bubble were going to be better for Jerome than anyone else given how meaningless the contests appeared to be. But Phoenix was on to something and had also signed a free agent point guard by the name of Cam Payne who came into his own. Carter and Payne each played 20-plus minutes per game as backcourt “94 Feet” playing with loads of positive two-way energy. Jerome only saw the court three times for a total of 13 minutes.
Three months later, Jerome was a part of the trade package sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Chris Paul. Two days later, the pick Phoenix gave up to Boston was eventually used by the Memphis Grizzlies to select Desmond Bane 30th overall (oops!).
In a testament to how freaking hard it is to evaluate talent in the NBA, two great franchises in the Thunder and Golden State Warriors got long looks at Jerome over the next three years, unable to find a consistent role for him.
Cleveland signed Jerome as a free agent in 2023 on a two-year, $5 million deal. All of that was guaranteed, an indication that the Cavaliers not only saw something in him but far more than other teams after the Golden State stint was just on a two-way contract.
In another wild turn of fate, Jerome was on the end of the bench behind established returnees Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell and … Rubio. A month after Jerome signed, however, Rubio stepped away from the team to focus on his mental health and later retired, opening the door for someone like Jerome to earn minutes. He did, owning a rotation spot on opening night. But in his second game of the year, Jerome suffered a season-ending injury.
Cleveland, though, was encouraged enough by what he showed that summer and this last summer to have an open mind about him going into this season. And under a new head coach in Kenny Atkinson, Jerome is flourishing, averaging 11.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game while shooting 50.3% from the field in 19.7 minutes per game for a title contender.
Devin Booker, who has referred to Jerome as his “rook” in the past, loves what he’s seeing.
“Incredible. Super proud of him,” Booker said. “We’ve remained in contact through the season. He always had the pace, he always had the IQ for the game and we’ve always talked about just taking advantage of your opportunity. He’s the type of guy you can throw into any system and he can elevate your team in many ways.”
All of Jerome’s skill-based, slower-paced prowess as a 6-foot-5 point guard who can play on or off the ball has come together with his high basketball IQ. He’s figured out how to exploit NBA defenses.
It, of course, helps that he’s got a cemented role on an awesome team full of threats for him to play off of. He’s also playing for a coach who believes in him and knows how to utilize him, something Booker and Kevin Durant both hit on.
“Always thought Ty was a unique player,” Durant said, noting he thought Jerome was playing solid basketball before his breakout this year. “A big guard, almost a traditional type of point guard. … Always felt like Ty had that type of game. Although, his 3-point shot definitely has gotten better, way better, but when a coach trusts you and puts confidence in you to control the offense when you’re out there and make plays, that’s the fun part about the league and Ty is taking full advantage of it.”
The crafty and smooth elements of Jerome’s game where he just looks a step ahead are all there now and it’s wonderful to watch.
For those who believed in him as a prospect, the deficiencies with athleticism have indeed been made up for by the overall feel he has with the ball. He’s shooting a bottom-tier 50% at the rim and gets away with it because he’s at an absurd 58% from the midrange, per Cleaning the Glass.
Jerome can routinely set up those middy looks, especially as a catch-and-shoot guy, because like Durant said and as Booker put it: “It helps that he’s shooting the [expletive] out of it.”
Jerome is at 41.8% from deep on 3.5 attempts per game this season. And while that’s a part of his game that was there in college, as we’ve seen for countless prospects, it has become more reliable as a pro now that he’s figured out a bunch of other stuff.
Jerome loves one-legged touch-shot runners that look like the first cousin of a floater but from deeper out. Something to always like in a draft prospect is when they comfortably score and get to their spots through contact. That’s really what unlocks Jerome’s scoring.
Jerome is an outstanding teaching example of how someone can play downhill basketball to put pressure on a defense without a quick first step. Give him a solid screen and get guys moving off the ball and Jerome will get you a great look.
He’s a game-changer. Jerome has taken over a handful of games for Cleveland this year, quite the dynamic for a team with Mitchell and Garland to have at their disposal. This second half against Memphis was some of Jerome’s best work.
YouTube video
That confidence you see right there has always been a staple.
“He’s always been like that — it’s just on full display now,” Booker told Arizona Sports. “He’s fully in rhythm and he’s somebody that can sustain it. I like it.”
At 27 years old, Jerome is now positioned to earn himself a big payday this summer. He’s proven himself as an interchangeable third guard who can play on or off the ball, a piece any team would want, especially those with star backcourts like Cleveland.
Jerome definitely deserved a break like this from the basketball gods when the stars aligned after the way he bounced around for a half-decade to begin his NBA career.
Booker was asked why this phenomenon exists, how we constantly see players require two, three or maybe even four stops before it all clicks.
“Situation. You look at the style of play — I don’t know if he directly fits into the NBA today from an athleticism standpoint but you get a good coach that can trust you and understand his IQ for the game,” Booker told Arizona Sports. “And Cleveland has a great system too. You feel like whoever they throw out on the court, if guys are injured or not, they still have a culture that gets them through.”
The lesson for guys in this situation, as always, is to keep trying to outwork everyone else. If Jerome would have changed his attitude before his first training camp with Cleveland, he likely never even builds up the trust to fill in for Rubio. If he understandably would have been frustrated enough after getting hurt for his big opportunity to let it affect his routine, Cleveland probably looks elsewhere for minutes this season. But Jerome stuck with it, took his craft seriously and showed what he was about when no one was watching.
Now he’s showing what he’s about with everyone watching.
“Just continue to grind,” Booker told Arizona Sports. “It’s the NBA. If you don’t have that mentality, you can get left behind. He’s not the type of person that would like that.”