Not long after the NBA Draft, the Sixers signed David Jones to a two-way deal. The Memphis product showed why during several summer league flashes.
You’re forgiven if you didn’t watch the summer league finale in Vegas. Actually, you’re forgiven if you didn’t watch much of summer league at all.
But in the Sixers’ final game against the Boston Celtics, David Jones had his finest performance. The Dominican-born rookie was outstanding, scoring a game-high 23 points while stuffing the stat sheet with eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks in a 103-98 win.
Jones is still a raw player, but the athletic lefty showed off an intriguing skillset that should be on display in Delaware with the Blue Coats — and maybe occasionally with the Sixers — while on a two-way contract.
The now 22-year-old Jones moved from the Dominican Republic to West Virginia while in high school so that he could pursue better basketball opportunities. Jones got a Division I offer and decided to play at DePaul, where he recorded the first triple-double in school history. After two years there, he transferred to St. John’s. Sadly, Jones’ father passed away in the middle of the 2022-23 season. After a coaching change, he entered the transfer portal again and chose to play at Memphis for his final collegiate season.
While the Tigers had just an OK season, Jones was excellent throughout 2023-24. He averaged 21.8 points per game, good for second in the conference, on 45.9/38.0/79.7 shooting splits.
What makes Jones so impressive is his knack for finding the ball. He averaged 7.6 rebounds a game at 6-foot-4, and also notched 2.2 steals per game. He’s a great athlete with an exceptional motor. He flashes as a shot creator and was Memphis’ No. 1 option last season.
While he hit 38.0% of this threes on a high volume last season (6.5 attempts per game), Jones failed to shoot over 30% from three in his previous collegiate seasons. There are a couple reasons to believe the shooting could be real. He steadily improved as a free throw shooter in college. He also made 38.9% from deep during summer league play.
It’s critical for Jones to make shots because of his size. While his athleticism and dogged play style help mitigate some of those concerns, hitting threes makes Jones much more viable as an NBA prospect.
What was maybe the most impressive during Jones’ summer league run was his ability to make shots off the dribble, including threes. As mentioned, he has potential as a shot creator, though his handle can get loose at times. He got more comfortable as summer league play went on, but even in the final game he had a strange moment where he deked his defender … and himself, dribbling the ball out of bounds.
He’ll have time to polish his game while in Delaware. The Blue Coats have had a decent success rate with G League guys graduating to the NBA. Just last year, Ricky Council IV and Jeff Dowtin, Jr. demonstrated that — and how effective the Sixers’ player development can be under Rico Hines.
Jones will have to prove that his shooting is real, his size isn’t an issue, and that he can take care of the basketball. He’ll get a long look in Delaware and likely be heavily featured in the Blue Coats’ offense.