Dwayne Jones won’t be shooting threes any time soon

In the interest of temporarily turning this space into DwayneJonesDigest, we’re taking this morning to follow up Kolsky’s musings from yesterday on his confusion about the Austin Toros’ center’s current lack of a roster spot in the NBA. I’m not entirely clear on that matter either, though Ridiculous Upside’s Scott Schroeder shed some light of his own on it earlier in the week.

For Jones’ part, he believes economics were at the heart of his latest setback.

That came in Dallas, where Jones worked out last week with reports circulating that he would be signed shortly thereafter alongside free agent swingman Von Wafer. The Mavs chose to sign only Wafer, leaving their presumed big man search ongoing.

I spoke with Jones Tuesday about his perspective on the workout and what he heard after the fact.

“What I was told is that it was kind of a financial decision,” Jones said. “They thought they were gonna be able to bring in two guys, me and Von Wafer, and I guess they were later told they would have to make a choice between us. They decided to get get Von, which is understandable.”

Jones confirmed the workout went well from his end and that he got some positive feedback from Mavericks brass.

“It was a pretty good workout; it was just kind of getting familiar with the plays and the coaching staff,” Jones said. “It wasn’t like me going against somebody or something like that. They were really positive about my progression.  [Mavs GM Donnie] Nelson said he’s been watching me for a little while and said I’ve definitely improved over the past year, my time in Austin.”

I don’t know enough about the Mavs’ finances to speculate over the veracity of what Jones was told. I also don’t know if there’s anything going on beneath the surface with the big man. But as for what’s been plain to see on the court this season, Matt hit you with the numbers yesterday (and I’ve done the same earlier this season), so the short-short version is this: The man has dominated the glass, played solid defense and scored efficiently despite not having an especially advanced set of shot-creation skills. The first two points seem enough to get him a job somewhere in the NBA; the third is in an indicator that he understands his role and would be comfortable looking for tip-ins and put-backs as his main means of scoring. In any event, whether it’s an issue sight unseen or simply that, as Scott Schroeder suggests, his progression curve hasn’t been steep enough, it remains a bit strange that he hasn’t gotten so much as a 10-day this season.

But speaking of knowing one’s role, Jones indicated that he is who he is (and who he is going to be) in terms of skill set.

“At this point I think everybody kind of knows what I can do. I don’t think I’m gonna go out there and start shooting threes, and all of a sudden, they’re gonna be like ‘Let’s pick him up now.’”

Good thought, Dwayne, though some more refined post moves probably wouldn’t hurt. The real reason I bring this comment up, however, is for an excuse to share one of my favorite anecdotes of All-Star weekend in Dallas.

When Jones and I chatted at Dream Factory Friday Night, he said while he understands his role in the Toros’ offense is to make plays around the bucket, he can shoot the ball better than many observers realize.

“I can hit some threes, but I wouldn’t go that far,” Jones said in describing his range. “I would say probably about 18 [feet].” Jokingly asked how coach Quin Snyder would react if he took a three in a game, Jones said in jest, “If I make it, it doesn’t matter.”

Later that night, Bakersfield big man Brian Butch answered my question about what people don’t know about his game by saying, “At 6-11, I don’t know if people know I can shoot. That’s one of my strengths.”

I cut Butch off, jumping on him with basketball’s version of “All the athletes want to be rock stars, and all the rock stars want to be athletes,” relaying my conversation with Jones and asserting that many big men seem to want to show people that they can score from deep.

Butch, who can shoot (34.9 percent on threes this season), laughed and said, “But I actually do shoot ‘em in the games.” The next day, he canned two threes en route to winning the MVP in the D-League All-Star Game. Justice served.

Goofy tangent aside, I also checked with Jones yesterday about the possibility of his going abroad before season’s end, as Scott reported at RU on Monday that the Filipino National Team has interest in the center.

“No, not at this time,” Jones said. “I’ve got my feet entrenched in being here in Austin and focusing on building it here. I’m focused on getting back to the NBA, but I don’t want to turn my back on the Toros right now. Unless something that I can’t pass up happens, I’ll probably just stay here.”

Perhaps that opportunity he can’t pass up will be with one of the Association’s 30 franchises.

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Two programming notes:

1. The Armor’s recent four-games-in-five-nights stretch on the road kept Tre Whitted understandably busy this week. He expects to return to the blogging scene next Tuesday.
2. Our man Kolsky hits the podcast scene, talking all things NBA! Check him out here.